iOS 9, thoroughly reviewed

Apple gives the iPad a lot of love as iOS goes back into spit-and-polish mode.

Read the whole story

 

[InlineRanger]

Another data-point for those thinking about upgrading their 5S:

1) There is a slight, but noticeable decrease in overall smoothness/speed.
2) Apple maps feels much more cluttered, particularly the Yelp-like "Nearby" feature and when editing directions

Positives:
1) Ad-blocking

Neutrals:
1) Siri upgrades aren't very useful
2) Increased battery-life comes from features I mostly deactivate anyways. Under-clocking seems the most useful.

Negatives:
1) Multitasking switcher is a serious downgrade, IMO
2) Two spotlight menus (swipe down, swipe left) feels like clutter.

 

[InlineRanger]

Abhi Beckert[/url]":33dw9cnn]

InlineRanger[/url]":33dw9cnn]1) Multitasking switcher is a serious downgrade, IMO

How long have you used it?

I've been running the betas and have had time to get used to it. For me, multitasking (on iPhone, dunno about iPad) is leaps and bounds better on iOS 9. In particular I often don't even need to switch apps anymore, just opening the multitasking screen lets me read the content in the previous app then just exit the app switcher and continue what I was doing.

Only a few hours, because Apple is going to stop signing 8.4.1 soon. I'm sure a lot of it comes down to personal preference, the phone model and how someone uses their phone, but...

The biggest issue was orientation and selecting apps. iOS 8 lets you know the relative position of at least 5 apps (two icons partially cut off), while iOS 9 only shows three. It feels like it's easier to position an app window for selection in iOS 8. I noticed in iOS9 that the windows were more on a knife's edge, so to speak, making it slightly harder to go where I needed.

The animations seemed laggier on my 5S. While this will probably be (mostly) solved in the next point release, it made the app switcher seem less polished. It also probably contributed to the increased difficulty in selecting an app that I noticed above.

I think it's easier to dismiss multiple apps at the same time on iOS 8. Since the windows are overlaid on iOS 9, you need much more accurate finger placement.

While the windows in iOS 8 are small, it's still easy to read the content. I suppose I never thought this was an issue that needed fixing, so I never noticed the benefit after I upgraded. You're right though, iOS 9 definitely has improved there. Except I will note that part of each window is cut off.

I don't find Handoff useful, so that change didn't sway my decision.

 

[InlineRanger]

Abhi Beckert[/url]":2cmnfvmw]You should give it more than a few hours though before making up your mind. I started ambivalent and now it's my favourite new feature in iOS 9.

Apple should let users downgrade whenever they want. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Od. There's no lag on my 5S, it's perfectly smooth 60fps animation even with scrolling through (literally) hundreds of apps in the switcher.

Maybe we have a different perception of lag. Now that I'm scrutinizing iOS 8 to see why I favor it, I even notice some occasional stuttering there too. I guess the more linear, even-sized movement of apps across the screen makes it less noticeable for me. I had to do a fresh-install to get back to 8.4.1 too... so maybe I got a phone made on a Friday?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Just put 3 fingers on the screen with your left/right fingers roughly close to the edge and swipe up, it dismisses 3 apps at a time. If you flick fast enough, you only have to slide your finger about a fifth of an inch to close the app.

I know how to do it... It's just easier on iOS 8. Stick three fingers side by side anywhere near center of screen and swipe up. The targets are larger.

The problem wasn't the size, the problem was that only the current app (which I already had full screen a moment earlier) has all the text visible, the other two apps had massive amounts of text cut off.

On iOS 9 the *previously used* app takes up most of the screen and only it's right edge (which typically has no text in a left-to-right language) is clipped. I haven't checked, but I bet if you speak a right to left language the switcher works the other way around and so the left edge will be clipped instead of the right edge.

You have that backwards. The previously used app takes up most of the screen. The current app is placed to the left. While it's minor, iOS 9's clipping also doesn't take into account apps and websites that format text into multiple columns (e.g. weather, stocks, non-mobile websites).

It's a trade-off. iOS 9 enlarges the app window, but sacrifices orientation. iOS 8 emphasizes orientation, but has a lot of wasted space. I guess I prefer better orientation, since I'm usually there to switch between apps.

 

[InlineRanger]

SraCet[/url]"zvqt9ua]

InlineRanger[/url]"zvqt9ua] ... I think it's easier to dismiss multiple apps at the same time on iOS 8. Since the windows are overlaid on iOS 9, you need much more accurate finger placement.
...

I can't think of a reason why you might want to dismiss multiple apps.

There are really only two cases where you would need to close an app manually:
1) The app has gotten itself into a bad state and restarting it might fix whatever bug you've run into.
2) The app registers itself as one of the select few classes of apps that are allowed to run in the background, e.g., a turn-by-turn navigation app, or an audio playback app, etc., and you want it to stop doing whatever it's doing (like audio playback) without futzing with its UI.

Otherwise there's no benefit to manually closing an app.

Scrolling through 20+ open apps to find the one I want isn't a good experience. After awhile, the multitasking window just becomes another set of home screens. Usually, all I'm interested in is working between a set of my most recently used apps. Sure, they usually get clustered near one another, but why have the clutter of all of my apps listed?

If having every app open in the multitasking view was a benefit with no downside, why wouldn't Apple just preload every single app into memory on boot-up?

 

[InlineRanger]

PSA:

If you want to downgrade to iOS 8.4.1, you likely have less than a week to do so before Apple stops signing the .ipsw file. Note that if you decide not to upgrade to iOS 9, Apple will leave a perpetual red badge on your Settings icon as a "friendly" reminder. Sigh.

 

[InlineRanger]

SPCagigas[/url]":33yvyub1]

InlineRanger[/url]":33yvyub1]

SraCet[/url]":33yvyub1]

InlineRanger[/url]":33yvyub1] ... I think it's easier to dismiss multiple apps at the same time on iOS 8. Since the windows are overlaid on iOS 9, you need much more accurate finger placement.
...

I can't think of a reason why you might want to dismiss multiple apps.

There are really only two cases where you would need to close an app manually:
1) The app has gotten itself into a bad state and restarting it might fix whatever bug you've run into.
2) The app registers itself as one of the select few classes of apps that are allowed to run in the background, e.g., a turn-by-turn navigation app, or an audio playback app, etc., and you want it to stop doing whatever it's doing (like audio playback) without futzing with its UI.

Otherwise there's no benefit to manually closing an app.

Scrolling through 20+ open apps to find the one I want isn't a good experience. After awhile, the multitasking window just becomes another set of home screens. Usually, all I'm interested in is working between a set of my most recently used apps. Sure, they usually get clustered near one another, but why have the clutter of all of my apps listed?

If having every app open in the multitasking view was a benefit with no downside, why wouldn't Apple just preload every single app into memory on boot-up?

1. I think you're pulling a usage case out of your rear-end to justify a flawed argument. Would you really scroll through 20+ apps in the recents list instead of going directly to the app on the home screen? I don't think so -- the vast majority of times I use the recents list is to switch between one or two programs repeatedly, not to go back to something I ran yesterday morning. Aside from that, according to Gartner stats, the average smartphone user has about 40 apps on their device -- on an iPhone 5, that's just over two pages of apps on the homescreen, even if you don't use any folders. There's no way it's faster or easier to scroll through 20 recent apps than it is to swipe one or two pages and tap on the app you want to use.
2. I don't think you understand how iOS multitasking works.

Maybe you misunderstood my argument. Of course I wouldn't scroll through 20+ apps through the task switcher, and obviously saying 20+ is hyperbole to make a point.

My point is that the multitasking view collects more app windows than is necessary, hence why I find three-finger swipe to dismiss useful. This has nothing to do with battery life, or RAM or performance. It has to do with me thinking that having more than the apps I'm working with open is a poor user experience, especially in terms of clutter. (Yes, I realize the most recent apps cluster together).

Maybe I don't know how multitasking works? Apple never deigned to teach me the intricacies of their software design. My experience is that apps tend to accumulate in the multitasking window over the course of a day, certainly more than the 3-5 most recents I'd actually want to switch between. I haven't sat there to check, but maybe Apple kills suspended apps after a period of time. My experience is that they aren't killed after an hour of suspension, a period of time long after an app would be justified as being "recent" to me.

So tell me, what is the Apple-sanctioned way to use an iPhone? Because the "it just works" way isn't working very well for me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯