Now that iOS 4.2 is out and we ’ve lauded its best features , it ’s time to take a look at its biggest omissions . ( It ’s only fair , right ? ) We took an loose survey ofMacworldeditors to find out the most - hoped - for feature film that still are n’t here , then whittled the tilt down to the top ten .
Better notifications
Push notifications were a welcome addition in iOS 3 , letting applications and services apprise you — via alarm tone and onscreen content — of event , updates , and other information . But let ’s be honest : iOS ’s notifications feature is fair at best . Only one notification can seem on your equipment ’s screen at a meter — if you do n’t get a chance to read or act on a message before another one comes in , you usually finish up losing the first . And do n’t forget those times you ’ve taken your speech sound out of your pocket or bag and do the habitual unlock swipe … only to realize there was a notification on the silver screen that you ’ll never get back . Or those multiplication when you ’re follow a telecasting or playing a game and a telling pops up — if it ’s something that ask an action , you usually have to halt what you ’re doing and switch to another app , because if you just dismiss the presentment , you ca n’t go back and retrospect it later . ( Did we mention that notifications are average , meaning youmustdeal with them when they seem ? ) As we observe in our iOS 4 wishlist before this twelvemonth , Apple would do well to spend some time with a few webOS and Android phones , which handle notifications much more elegantly .
Improved multitasking
Perhaps the big melioration deliver by iOS 4.0 wasmultitasking , which let you “ fly the coop ” more than one app at a clip . But we apply the news in quotes because , for the most part , only one app is actually running at any moment in metre . Other apps , most of which are essentially sleeping , seem in iOS 4 ’s multitasking shelf ( approachable by double - squeeze the Home release ) for quick project switching . Apple does provide a few API hooks to allow limited background tasks — such as let a pic app finishing upload image to Flickr , or enabling an audio app to pour music — but apps that do n’t fall within a narrow range of functionality are forget out in the common cold .
Apple has n’t provide true multitasking because of concern about performance and battery life . And we get that — in fact , we appreciate it . But now that we ’ve had a penchant of multitasking , we ’d care to see Apple stretch the feature to give up for a few other eccentric of tasks . For example , we ’d like apps for consuming downloaded content — RSS readers , Twitter node , news show apps , and , of grade , Instapaper — to be able toperiodically download updated contentin the background , rather than making us expect each time we launch them .
Also , the current effectuation of the multitasking ledge leave a lot to be desire . For example , apps stay in the shelf — even if you have n’t used them in day — until you manually remove them . If you tend to use many apps , the shelf becomes little more than an endless string of icons , making it less useful than switch between apps using the Home screen . An option in the configurations app to “ Remove unused apps from the multitasking ledge after#hours / days ” would go a long fashion to streamline the summons .
More Mail features
It ’s great to see the iPad at long last get the best unexampled feature article of iOS4 Mail : a unified Inbox , multiple Exchange accounts , threaded discussions , distinction synchronise , and MobileMe alias sustenance . And Mail on the iPhone , iPad , and iPod touch continues to be a unanimous app that gets the most of import things right . But we ca n’t help but wish that — over three years after Mail first debuted — Apple would bring a few more ofttimes - request features from Mac OS X Mail onto iOS . Just a few exemplar admit the capableness to scar all as record and delete all ; broadcast to e - ring armour link groups ; flag message ; and choose between multiple signature tune . More ambitious wishes admit on - gimmick folder editing , junk - chain mail filtering , smart folder , and more dominance over schoolbook when viewing and composing messages .
Better application data sharing/syncing/access
One of iOS ’s most significant barriers to productiveness continues to be the deficiency of a robust way for program to share data and documents with other apps . Apple has taken a few baby steps in the right direction — with iOS 3.2 on the iPad and iOS 4 on the iPhone and iPod touch — by have apps cross-file themselves for picky type of files ( for example , PDFs , Word docs , and school text file ) . That way , when you receive one of those types of files in , say , an e - mail substance , you may launch the data file in one of the apps that hold up it . But this is more of a kludge than a solution — for example , if you require to open up a Word written document in two different apps , you ask to save a freestanding copy of that file in each app . As much as Apple seems to be trying to avoid it , iOS require some sorting of cardinal file - depot area where software can portion out data and document with each other .
likewise , getting documents and dataontoyour iOS twist is still a painful sensation , and the process differs wildly between apps . Some ask you to drag documents in and out of iTunes when your iPhone , iPad , or iPod skin senses is tie via USB ; others sync via MobileMe , Dropbox , or another online Robert William Service ; still others let in some variety of built - in Web server that mount a volume on your Mac or Windows PC for channel single file ; and a few backing only the atomic number 99 - mail method mentioned above . orchard apple tree needs to make this process simpler and render a way for app developers to incorporate this Modern - and - improved method into their apps , so that get documents onto your iOS machine — and , just as significant , being capable todosomething with that information once it ’s there — is as well-off as it is on a Mac .
iCal to-do syncing
Judging by the seemingly galactic act ofto - do - listappsin the App Store — many of them using third - company programs or cloud services to synchronise with your computer — you’d think Mac OS X and Windows did n’t admit any way to track tasks . But they do . In fact , on the Mac , that feature is a prominent part of iCal , a program that otherwise syncs cleanly with your iOS devices . It ’s been over three years , Apple — can we please synchronize our iCal tasks with our iPhones and iPads ?
Wireless syncing
tocopherol - mail service , contacts , bookmarks , written document — all of these thing can sync between your iOS gadget and your Mac ( or at least between your iPhone or iPad and one or more online servers ) . The amount of stuff you could transfer over the internet to your equipment is n’t slow down down either , which make the requirement of link your iOS equipment to your computer using a forcible cable seem moderately naive . We can understand not being able-bodied to sync hour of television over AT&T ’s cellular meshing , but if you ’re at household , on your own Wi - Fi web , would n’t it be nice if you could get the Modern tune you ’ve rip or downloaded to your Mac onto your iPhone , without having to plug away in ? Or revise your iPad ’s picture albums while sit on the couch ? Wireless syncing could even be restricted to files under a particular size of it , or capped at a particular amount of data , to forestall saturate your wireless mesh with tenner of GB of datum . As we say in the first place this year , “ Do n’t make us plug in our iPhones unless we absolutely have to , Apple . ”
Dashboard-like functionality
One of the nerveless features of webOS and Android phones is the power of apps to actuallydo stuffwithout being launched . For instance , atmospheric condition apps can display the current temperature , calendar apps can show you your schedule for the day , and sport apps can keep you update on the latest heaps , all by displaying information right on the house screen . We ’d love to see similar options on our iOS devices — especially on the lock concealment , so we could get whatever information is most important to us without having to unlock and set in motion an app .
Streaming your mediatoiOS devices
One of our favorite iOS 4.2 features isAirPlay , which allow you stream media from your iOS gimmick to an AirPlay - compatible portion such as the late Apple TV or an AirPort Express . But we also want to be able-bodied to do the opposite : stream mediafroma sourcetoour Io devices . For example , a 32 GB iPad ca n’t accommodate the 85 GB of medicine and movie you ’ve accumulated on your iMac . But if you couldaccessall that media from your iPad by streaming it over your Wi - Fi connection , you might find that system to be just as convenient . ( In fact , the Apple video let you do precisely this , as does iTunes ’s Home Sharing feature on Macs and Windows personal computer . ) Similarly , we ’d love to be able to play , on our iOS devices , medicine and video on connection drives — such as , say , a hard drive connected to an AirPort base place .
There are third - party apps out there right now that provide such feature , but they expect you to run extra package on your computer , and , of course , you must execute the third - company app rather of the iPod app .
AirPrint
Back whenApple first preview iOS 4.2 , the company announced AirPrint , a feature that would finally get iPhone , iPod touch , and iPad user print over a wireless meshing . A couple weeks afterwards , the company announced item of AirPrint , explaining that the lineament would let you impress directly from iOS apps to both Hewlett - Packard printers that include the new ePrint feature , as well as to printer connected to , and shared by , a Mac or Windows PC . alas , full AirPrint functionalityis missing from iOS 4.2 . You ’ll still be capable to impress to HP ePrint printers , but — at least for now — you ca n’t print to a printer deal by your computer . ( Apple ’s official position is just that with Io 4.2 , you “ can print to directly to AirPrint compatible printers without the demand to install drivers or download software . ” )
Apple has n’t officially canceled this feature film , however , so we ’re holding out Leslie Townes Hope that it simply was n’t ready — and that we ’ll see it in a succeeding update to iOS 4 .
A hardware orientation-lock switch on the iPad
Rather than a trust - for feature article that ’s still missing , this one is a pop feature Appleremovedin iOS 4.2 . The iPad ’s orientation - whorl switching — an genuine , physical switch — was one of our favorite feature film when the iPad debut . move over the iPad ’s versatility , you terminate up switch it between horizontal and erect orientation frequently — but you do n’t inevitably desire the screen flipping around at the slightest movement . So we were intelligibly bedevil by Apple ’s determination , in iOS 4.2 , to change this oh - so - convenient switch from locking the screen ’s preference to dull the iPad ’s bulk .
Why ? Our best guess is that Apple want to make the iPad and iPhone more alike but , as Lex Friedman so articulately explained , that ’s not a convincing reason : the iPad is a very different twist than an iPhone , and on an iPad , an preference lock is much more useful than a tongueless electrical switch for many hoi polloi . ( Not to mention that the iPad already had a computer hardware unspoken feature : just hold the book Down clit for a 2d or so . ) We ’d like to see Apple restore this button to its original purpose , as the procedure for toggling the screen ringlet under Io 4.2 — twofold - press home plate , swipe , water faucet , closet Home — is nowhere near as elegant . At the very least , give us an option in preferences to decide for ourselves whether the switch should be for preference locking or muting .
Runners up
Though we picked the ten not - in-4.2 feature that are missed the most by our editor , a number of other features were nominated , as well . Here are some of the more notable ones :
Of course , iOS development is n’t stopping with 4.2 . Here ’s hoping we ’ll see these features — and many more we have n’t thought of yet — in future releases .
Edited 11/22/2010 , 11:48am to add multiple - user options to the lean of runners up , since the author block to let in it . ( Thanks to commenter RayGaida for the reminder . )
