iPhone Home screen redesign?

[ian87w]

It's actually hilarious. Basically iOS Home screen becomes MiUI/eMUI. Full circle. Back then, the Chinese Android skins like MiUI/eMUI copied iOS look point blank, even foregoing the app drawer. But unlike iOS, you can add widgets to the same home screen. So you can have a relaly messy home screen with widgets and apps icons all over the place.

Now iOS joins the club.
And they copied the app drawer as well, at least the concept.

 

[michael9891]

They *STILL* don't let you arrange icons how you want. The new iOS homescreen is an improvement but it isn't even close to as good as Android's homescreen.

And until they sort this stupid annoyance, I'll be sticking with Android. No matter how good the rest of the OS & phone is.

 

[Ludatyk]

And until they sort this stupid annoyance, I'll be sticking with Android. No matter how good the rest of the OS & phone is.

Icon rearranging isn't the biggest draw for me on Android. It's the multitasking, and how well the Status Bar/Notification are intertwined.

And I get the best of both worlds of using the iPad. Getting iPhone features along with iPad tweaks. Then having the Note 10+ with its Android features on top of Samsung offerings. Definitely enjoying this setup!

 

[michael9891]

Icon rearranging isn't the biggest draw for me on Android. It's the multitasking, and how well the Status Bar/Notification are intertwined.

And I get the best of both worlds of using the iPad. Getting iPhone features along with iPad tweaks. Then having the Note 10+ with its Android features on top of Samsung offerings. Definitely enjoying this setup!

I just find it completely ridiculous you still can't do this one simple thing. I don't have OCD, but I like things neat & tidy and having all my apps shuffle where I don't want them is something I'm not prepared to tolerate anymore. Especially on something that costs over £1k.

 

[drinkingtea]

I love the redesign. There's only one small thing missing now: keyboard haptic feedback. Otherwise, I am thoroughly content. I definitely cannot ever see myself switching to Android again, especially now that I own an Apple Watch.

 

[Awesomesince86]

I have always liked the Windows Phone UI, with Live Tiles, and stuff. If iOS 14 looks a little bit like Windows Phone that's cool by me.

At the end of the day, smartphone OS's in general are are so alike now, there's only so much a design team can do. Make phone calls, send and receive texts, do e-mails, surf the web, use GPS navigation, play music, etc...

Seems you can't go wrong with either, I think stock vanilla Android 11 is and will be great, and it seems iOS 14 has the much needed updates and revisions a lot of people have been looking for, and iOS has come a long way.

The last version of Windows phone was actually really really good from a UI standpoint. The problem was that Windows was a dead OS at that point in the smartphone space so no matter how good it was, it was always going to fail because there was no 3rd party app support. I had a lumia Windows phone for a while for fun at it was really nice. The home screen was the best ive used on any device to this day. If Apple copy that, it would be a really smart move on their part.

 

[flybub]

I like the update. Android has notifications and multi-tasking nailed, other than that I prefer the iPhone and this update will drive me back to iPhone (currently Note 10). I think the widgets are really well done and I prefer the widgets panel of the iPhone because everything looks uniform (the new scrolling widget is awesome). There are some widgets on android that look like they're still stuck in Ice Cream Sandwich.

I'm not a fan of the App Library, but if Apple does one thing well it's making small changes to current designs to make it better. So I don't doubt for a minute that this will turn into a statement of the OS.

 

[Awesomesince86]

The big question for me is how buggy will iOS 14 be? Apple recently has a reputation for feature updates being really buggy and then fixing all the issues in the next release. Hopefully thats not the case this time around.

 

[Shanghaichica]

To be fair with PiP, it has been on iPadOS. So they are just bringing it over to iOS. I did find it funny though how Craig was talking about how great the UI for PIP was, etc. I was like, " Yep looks like how it works on iPad".

It was on android first though, before it was on the iPad.
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Realize this impacts far fewer users but the iPadOS pencil enhancements are pretty damn cool.

Some of the pencil features like the line and shape drawing was available back on the original galaxy note. Very cool though nonetheless.
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They *STILL* don't let you arrange icons how you want. The new iOS homescreen is an improvement but it isn't even close to as good as Android's homescreen.

Maybe in another 10 years we’ll get themes and launchers.

 

[nfl46]

The big question for me is how buggy will iOS 14 be? Apple recently has a reputation for feature updates being really buggy and then fixing all the issues in the next release. Hopefully thats not the case this time around.

I am using it now, and it is rock solid. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think it wasn’t a beta.

 

[Awesomesince86]

I am using it now, and it is rock solid. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think it wasn’t a beta.

Good to hear!

 

[Awesomesince86]

Funny to already see people in the iOS forum saying stuff like..."I never liked the look of widgets on Android but for some reason they look really good on iOS".

 

[Shanghaichica]

Funny to already see people in the iOS forum saying stuff like..."I never liked the look of widgets on Android but for some reason they look really good on iOS".

I think they do look better on iOS from what I’ve seen so far. However the home screen is still far better on android. This is still the same grid of icons. You can’t put your apps anywhere you want. You can’t use different themes or launchers.

And still no split screen apps. However Apple have tried. Well done Apple.

 

[MarkX]

Split screen apps on a phone is not something I’d imagine a lot of people are looking for.

Whilst 6.5 inch may be big for a smartphone it’s way too cramped to run 2 apps simultaneously. That’s where iPads come in.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Split screen apps on a phone is not something I’d imagine a lot of people are looking for.

Whilst 6.5 inch may be big for a smartphone it’s way too cramped to run 2 apps simultaneously. That’s where iPads come in.

If you can run pip on a 6.5 inch screen then I don’t see the difference between running two apps. I have a galaxy S5 here which is only 5.1 inches and I can comfortably run 2 apps on the screen.

 

[michael9891]

Split screen apps on a phone is not something I’d imagine a lot of people are looking for.

Whilst 6.5 inch may be big for a smartphone it’s way too cramped to run 2 apps simultaneously. That’s where iPads come in.

I'm probably in a minority, but I often use Google Keep & a calculator in split screen. So much easier than switching between apps.

 

[yui4]

I use calculator and notes in split screen when calculating monthly finances, etc.

I have Done it on both the note 10 + and now s20 ultra.

it’s a nuisance to keep flipping backwards and forwards

 

[MarkX]

I have tried using split screen but even on bigger phones like we have these days I just found the experience a little cramped.

I suppose having used a dual screen pc setup for years has spoilt me.

 

[Ludatyk]

I have tried using split screen but even on bigger phones like we have these days I just found the experience a little cramped.

I suppose having used a dual screen pc setup for years has spoilt me.

Maybe, the experience is little cramped. I suppose you might be right about that. However, its just the idea that its there as a option to have in a pinch. But I've been that person to dismiss the notion that the iPhone would officially support PiP. Due to what you mention the screen being cramped. And now that its here... there's honestly no stopping Apple for introducing SplitScreen.

 

[Sensamic]

What amazes me is that iOS 14 is compatible with iPhone 6S.

Just embarrassing for android manufacturers to see this.

 

[Ludatyk]

What amazes me is that iOS 14 is compatible with iPhone 6S.

Just embarrassing for android manufacturers to see this.

Yeah, I don't think they care. Android is flooded with so many phones. It's a highly competitive market and being honest.. it doesn't benefit Samsung or any other OEM to support Android for 3+ years. Apple only has to compete with itself for iOS. And they have the luxury to have this highly successful ecosystem built with a popular AppStore. As well as accessories for the iPhone with Apple Watch and AirPods to make up for users who don't upgrade.

 

[mi7chy]

What amazes me is that iOS 14 is compatible with iPhone 6S.

Just embarrassing for android manufacturers to see this.

Another way to look at it is it takes Apple eight years to copy some of Android features and they're not even as good. For example, Apple is finally addressing one of the biggest iOS annoyances with incoming calls taking up the whole screen but it's unclear if it's no longer blocking you from doing anything else or if you can swipe away the notification so it stops ringing and times out to voicemail because sometimes it's inappropriate to answer like when in the restroom and rejecting a call is rude.

First 2/3 of WWDC 2020 about Android features on iOS put cross platform users to sleep. They should've just skipped to the MacOS on ARM announcement.

 

[Ludatyk]

First 2/3 of WWDC 2020 about Android features on iOS put cross platform users to sleep. They should've just skipped to the MacOS on ARM announcement.

Put cross platform users to sleep? Idk about that. The presentation alone was A+... I was intrigued with all the transition and how polished the production Apple put into it. Android didn't even provide us with some form of virtual conference this year, maybe I'm wrong... but I haven't read anything otherwise.

 

[jamezr]

Put cross platform users to sleep? Idk about that. The presentation alone was A+... I was intrigued with all the transition and how polished the production Apple put into it. Android didn't even provide us with some form of virtual conference this year, maybe I'm wrong... but I haven't read anything otherwise.

But you have admit. As far as new features go in IOS these were pretty much taken right from Android.
Don't get me wrong...They ALL copy from each other but these new features in IOS have already been in Android for quite some time.
I welcome the home screen widgets......just wish they would let me arrange my damn icons in any order i wish when moving the widgets.
Would love to have 5 rows of icons and I might be able to have nothing but widgets on my home screen

 

[Tig Bitties]

I'm a huge Nexus / Pixel fan, but gotta give big props to Apple for supporting old devices. iOS 14 will be supported all the way back to the iPhone 6S, a five year old phone. I think the best Android does is the Pixel line for official update support, and thats only going back to the Pixel 2 XL, older Pixel / Nexus phones are SOL. Most other Android manufacturers are even worse on software support.