Sunday, July 18, 2010

An icon-free iPhone front page

This is partly to say thanks to Jaromir for my new iPhone wallpaper, and partly to point out what many surely will not have realized: that with iOS 4, you can now have an empty front page, and yet access to your favorite apps from there, via one or more folders in the dock (or whatever it's called in iOS).

This is my new primary screen on my  iPhone 4:


By the way, I can understand Apple being a bit strict regarding icon spacing and size on the small iPhone screen, but on the iPad, I really hope it will become more flexible when iOS 4 is released for it in the fall. You ought to be able to place a few more icons in the dock, change icon size and spacing to your liking, and so on. Resolution-wise, the iPad's screen is at least as big as most PC screens were in the nineties, and the OS should reflect this, methinks.

2 comments:

M. Pipolo said...

A classic example of form over function!

Me, while I do appreciate select new features in iOS 4, folders is unfortunately not really one of them. Why? If I place an app in a folder, it then requires two taps instead of one to access, AND between taps I have to wait for Apple's smooth but patience-testing animation before tapping the second time. I know I must sound like a curmudgeon, but this is the 21st century: we shouldn't have to sacrifice the ability to quickly open apps for a smooth animation.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

You must be even more impatient than I am. That animation (icons sliding away) takes less than half a second. No longer than it takes to swipe to a new page, it seems to me.