iOS
Missing iOS 9 features that should have been there a long time ago
iOS 9 is an incremental update to iOS 8 which focuses on improving performance and stablizing the user experience rather than revamping the user interface. A week after iOS 9 was released, Apple started rolling out two swift mini-updates, iOS 9.0.1 and iOS 9.0.2, in order to fix bugs and issues that users had been having with the new OS. We’ve done a bug summary for iOS 9 already so if you’re having bug issues, you can check that out to see if there’s any way you cani mprove your iOS 9 user experience. This time around, we’ll be taking a look at all the features that Apple seemingly forgot to include in iOS 9, and did so without thinking too much.
iOS 9 features a lot of new tools and functions, but Apple still didn’t implement a few things that should have been a given for any mobile operating system, some a long time ago even. Apple haters have always had a point when saying that Android is ahead of iOS when it comes to features, and that is still evident with iOS 9 and the iPhone 6S family of devices. A few of the issues that iOS 9 has are minor and have workarounds, but the fact that the company did not give enough attention to them, even though they’re small features proves that iOS 9 still has a long way to go before it’s perfect.
One of the most annoying missing iOS 9 features is the lack of customization when it comes to the home screen. One outrageous missing feature is icon placement. Unless your entire home screen is filled with icons and apps, you cannot move and arrange your icons according to your preferences, and that’s a big no-no for any user interface on any smart device. The choice of a static home screen can be explained away by Apple’s desire to make iOS 9 easy to use, but such a minor feature should have been part of the system anyway. Users like to have their home screens looking like their own, regardless of what software they’re using. Many fans of the company see the constant ignoring of such a menial, small request as an affront to sensible users and sensible requests on the part of Apple, and I agree. Moving icons around on your own home screen is not such a big deal and the next iOS 9 update, most likely iOS 9.1 (coming in a few weeks, apparently) should add the functionality, otherwise opinions of iOS 9 will remain below average – at least from a customization standpoint.
Still within the UI aspect of iOS 9, we can find yet another omission: changing wallpapers. While Android users can easily change their wallpapers with a few taps, iOS 9 users are going to have to dedicate quite a few minutes to choosing a new wallpaper. That’s because Apple still hasn’t come up with a way to simplify customizing the home screen, like Google did. Instead of long-pressing the screen and going into wallpaper settings like on Android, iOS 9 users have to go to Settings, then General, then Wallpapers and then go through a few additional menus until they can change their wallpaper. This process is tedious, cumbersome, and overall – a hassle. Apple should change that swiftly if it wants people not to hate on iOS 9.
Another surprisingly counter-productive “feature” in iOS 9 is switching between video recording modes. The new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus finally have support for 4K recording, which is tremendous news for all iPhone fans. While handsets like the LG G3 had 4K recording almost two years ago, the iPhone family had been left behind when it comes to video recording features. By adding in 4K recording to the iPhone 6S camera, Apple stepped up the game. It also took a step backward, though, seeing as switching between 1080p recording and 4K recording is nearly impossible. Ok, it’s not impossible, but it’s cumbersome as hell and there’s no reason why it should be this way.
Instead of adding a switching button or slider to the camera app in iOS 9, Apple decided to tuck the settings that control video resolution away in the Settings menu. Many see this as a rookie move and believe iOS 9 suffered a blow in user experience with this choice. In order to enable or disable 4K recording on the iPhone 6S, users have to go to Settings, then proceed to scroll until they find the camera app and its settings and modify recording resolution there. Wouldn’t it have been a hundred times simpler to put a toggle for 4K recording in the camera app like every other manufacturer does? This one UI choice that Apple made in iOS 9 is laughable, and should be fixed in iOS 9.1.
Speaking of the camera app (about which you can read up on in our iPhone 6S vs Galaxy S6 camera comparison), it has another minor flaw in iOS 9. With the new version of the OS and the improved camera on the iPhone 6S family, Apple added a new mode to the camera app: Live Photo. Live Photo is essentially a 3 second animation that your smartphone will create if you tell it to. It’s got sound and everything and occupies about 4 MB of space for each Live Photo. Other devices that have similar Live Photo features in Android have a way of showing users a preview of these photos – or at least identify them somehow. iOS 9 doesn’t have such a feature.
Live Photos show up in galleries just like normal photos, so unless you tap a picture to actually see it full-size, you won’t know which of the photos in your reel are Live Photos and which are normal ones. That’s not such a big thing, but when trying to do bulk actions in your library, it might prove to be a cumbersome task. Since Live Photos occupy more space than regular ones, one would try and remove them from their physical storage and leave them in their iCloud libraries instead. That could be easily done with a bulk removal process, but unfortunately, that would take a long time because one can’t identify live photos in iOS 9 based on thumbnails or previews. iOS 9. should include a small upgrade in order to fix this feature – a small watermark to differentiate between photo types would be enough.
The last annoying iOS 9 issue involves notifications. When one thinks of notifications on any platform, they expect these to be easily dismissable. That’s because many of us have apps that send notifications that we dismiss immediately – such as an app being updated, a message being sent, a connection being made, a reminder, a temperature alert and the list goes on. In iOS 9, in order to dismiss a notification, first you have to tap on the X button next to the notification. Then, that action will turn the X into a Clear button which you then have to tap once more to get rid of notifications. If you have 10 notifications sitting there and none of them interest you and you want to get rid of everything because reasons, then you’re in once again for a couple of minutes of hassle. That’s because there’s no clear all notifications button included in the pull-down menu of iOS 9. Why??
Although iOS 9 brought on a slew of optimized and new features and improved the overall user experience by quite a lot, catching up with Android in the meantime in certain areas, the user interface of the new mobile operating system still needs improvement. What’s truly annoying is that all the things mentioned above are minor, small, almost insignificant tweaks that could be implemented in a matter of hours. Apple choosing not to do it seems spiteful and uncalled for. Hopefully, iOS 9.1 willmake the entire experience a bit easier to get used to. Do you have any pet peeve “features” in iOS 9? Tell us about them in the comments below!
Telegram, with 800 million monthly users, is launching a self-custodial crypto wallet. The move will solidify its presence in the vibrant crypto community that has grown from its chat platform and may attract more people to crypto.
Telegram and TON Foundation announced TON Space, a self-custodial wallet, on Wednesday at Singapore’s Token2049 crypto conference, which draws over 10,000 attendees.
Telegram has a complicated blockchain relationship. After the SEC sued Telegram over a massive initial coin offering, the chat app abandoned its Telegram Open Network (TON) blockchain project in 2020. The Open Network Foundation (TON Foundation), founded by open-source developers and blockchain enthusiasts, supports the development of The Open Network (TON), the blockchain powering a growing number of Telegram applications, including the wallet.
The Open Platform (TOP) and TOP Labs, a venture-building division, created the TON-based wallet.
TON Space will be available to Telegram users worldwide without wallet registration in November. The U.S., which has cracked down on the crypto industry and promoted many crypto apps to geofence users, is currently excluded from the feature.
A special event tomorrow, Tuesday September 12, will reveal the iPhone 15, and rumors, supply chain sources, and European Union regulators have already given us a lot of information. Last source strongly suggests that the newest iPhone will have a USB-C connector instead of the Lightning connector from the iPhone 5 in 2012.
That’s not all we expect from a new iPhone, but it could be the biggest change due to what it could unlock. That’s especially true for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, which are expected to get a Thunderbolt port that uses the same connector as USB-C but adds data, display, power, and other input and output options.
The iPhone’s hardware input and output capabilities affect its role in users’ computing lives. Samsung and Motorola, for example, have spent multiple generations of their devices iterating on how smartphones can do more for users than they might be used to. Samsung’s DeX, while awkward at its introduction, has become a surprisingly competent desktop replacement. Android may get a native desktop mode for Pixel 8, if rumors are true.
Apple has yet to prove that iPadOS can replace desktop computing, but it has the potential to transform the iPhone in this regard. The concept of a pocketable thin client, where you take your PC with you and plug it into displays and input devices to work anywhere, has been around for a long time. No technical barriers exist to making an iPhone 15 with a full-featured USB-C port that supports the latest Thunderbolt spec.
When connected to an external display, iPhones are very limited. If implemented by a developer, you can output video at a resolution and aspect ratio that maximizes a TV or monitor while removing the rest of the interface.
An iPhone that projects iPadOS (or, ideally, macOS) when connected to a screen could replace a laptop for a large portion of the population, including casual computing and most of the knowledge workforce’s work tasks. The iPhone’s processors, which are used in Macs, are powerful enough for email, web browsing, video, and photo editing.
The foundations are there, and iPadOS does most of what’s needed on similar hardware. Apple could lose some of its Mac market if it did this, but it hasn’t shied away from cannibalizing its sales in other categories to lead a paradigm shift in how people use their devices.
We know Apple will announce a USB-C iPhone tomorrow, but we don’t know if it will be the same story, slightly repackaged, or a new opportunity for Apple to lead what we think of when we hear the word “smartphone.” I hope a desktop mode is being worked on for a future launch, but I don’t think it’s coming this year.
iPhone 15 with USB-C, Apple Watch Series 9, and new AirPods?
Not all wonderers lust. Some of us will form an orderly queue in One Apple Park Way’s holding area on Tuesday morning. Tim Cook and co. will unveil the latest hardware at 10 AM PT on September 12 ahead of the holiday push.
We can confirm the iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Series 9 will be shown at the major Apple event. Some things can be set on your smartwatch. Naturally, there have been many rumors. For instance, some AirPods are getting old.
Macs are always possible. I think most of us would like to see more of the Vision Pro headset that stole the show at WWDC in June.
What follows is a mix of what we know, think we know, and wildly speculate.
iPhone 15
The main announcement this time. Most intriguing about the iPhone 15 is that Apple was obliged to make it. No one in the huge glass spaceship was eager to adopt USB-C (or Thunderbolt 3). Thanks to EU regulators. Last year, the European Parliament standardized device ports.
Technically, regulators give manufacturers until 2024 to integrate the tech across handsets, but all indicators point to Apple ripping the iPhone 15 Band-Aid. For consumer advocacy and e-waste, more regional governing bodies will follow the EU’s lead.
Last September marked 10 years since Apple mandated the Lightning connector. Lightning is nasty and I loathe it. My coworkers dislike it. Family and friends dislike it. My rabbit enjoys it, but she’ll eat any cable, regardless of the ends. It’s horrible and always has been.
It’s intriguing that the iPhone 15’s ordinary model will only support USB 2.0, while the pro models will support USB 3.2.
Wireless charging will be increased to 35W worldwide. The iPhone may be one of the first phones to use Qi2, which mixes wireless charging with magnets, as Apple has done for a while. This seems secure since Apple is one of 344 Wireless Power Consortium businesses and all of the IFA Qi2 iPhone accessories.
Dynamic Island, launched on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, should be coming to lesser versions.
The iPhone 15 Ultra, which would replace the Pro Max and follow Apple’s new naming pattern, is another intriguing inclusion. It will have a 6.7-inch display with 120 Hz refresh rate, slimmer bezels, and a new “Action” button instead of Mute. The iPhone 15 Pro would have the Apple Watch Ultra’s new button. It offers customized shortcuts to the camera, accessibility options, flashlight, and Shortcuts app (if you want to be creative).
Series 9 Apple Watch
Considering the Apple Watch. The rumor mill is quiet here. That may indicate a poor year for wearables. Apple may wait till next year to go all out because next year is the big 1-0. It may wait until next year for an Apple Watch SE.
However, a new Apple Watch Ultra may launch next week. Ultra 2 and Series 9 may get new processors and colors. After embracing 3D printing for Vision Pro components, Apple may consider it for case design. However, the Apple Watch’s mass market appeal raises questions of scale.
AirPods
A new AirPods set feels natural. However, the headphones may have the H2 chip in 2024. A standalone USB-C charging case may be sold. Speaking of delayed, the AirPods Max arrived little about three years ago. I wouldn’t mind a new HomePod small.
Everything else
Apple CEO Tim Cook announces major iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, and macOS updates at Apple Park’s Worldwide Developers Conference. Images: Brooks Kraft/Apple Inc.
Vision Pro looks better almost certain. Content is still unclear, so this could be a year of demos since the “spatial computing” headset launches early next year. Games were scarce. With the SDK and Unity’s development platform out in the wild, that’s possible.
More details on iOS/macOS/iPadOS/watchOS release dates are needed. Macs are more unlikely this time, and the M3 is more likely to arrive in 2024.
The Apple Event begins September 12 at 10 AM PT. We’ll broadcast live.
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