iOS 4.3 Preview: Multitouch Grows Up
I’ve had the sublime pleasure of testing out the latest beta of iOS (4.3b1) on my iPad for the past week, and I’m ecstatic. Apple’s latest round-up of improvements includes a whole new series of multitouch gestures that are very well thought out and certainly give plausibility to the rumors that Apple will delete the Home button on iPad 2.
Slide Up for Multitasking - 4 or 5 Fingers
After spending months double-tapping the Home button to bring up the multitasking bar, this gesture is a very welcome relief, as it is an effortless and much more efficient maneuver, no matter which angle your iPad is oriented.
Pinch to Close - 4 or 5 Fingers
Pushing the Home button once is a straightforward enough operation, but there is something inherently breathtaking about physically banishing an application by crushing it with your hand.
Slide Left/Right to Switch Applications - 4 or 5 Fingers
This can be accomplished by accessing the multitasking bar, but again, there is a visceral thrill to swiping through active apps, as if turning a page in iBooks. It’s much more tactile, and much more human accordingly.
The attention to detail is quite excellent in this gesture, with the apps shrinking slightly as they move out of frame, giving a 3D perspective to the action, much like the current task switching animation in 4.2, but much subtler.
Room for Improvement
While these gestures are quite impressive on their own, this is the first beta of 4.3. There’s no support for these new methods of task switching on apps and so the snapshots are often blank or unclear (e.g. Maps is a blank white page). If this is a byproduct of the multitasking API, then visual cues need to be added so that apps can be identified without needing to open the multitasking bar.
Apps that use more than three fingers such as Fruit Ninja or Magic Piano are broken, accidentally activating the new gestures just by playing happens frequently and I’m unsure how this can be remedied.
Obviously, the animations and gestures are not yet flawless, though they are remarkably polished for an initial beta release. But I’m sure Apple will improve them in forthcoming versions (Beta 2 will likely be out tomorrow or next Tuesday). They show immense promise, and could perhaps be an early look at how we will switch between full-screen apps in Lion this summer.
iOS 4.3 Preview: Multitouch Grows Up
I’ve had the sublime pleasure of testing out the latest beta of iOS (4.3b1) on my iPad for the past week, and I’m ecstatic. Apple’s latest round-up of improvements includes a whole new series of multitouch gestures that are very well thought out and certainly give plausibility to the rumors that Apple will delete the Home button on iPad 2.
Slide Up for Multitasking - 4 or 5 Fingers
After spending months double-tapping the Home button to bring up the multitasking bar, this gesture is a very welcome relief, as it is an effortless and much more efficient maneuver, no matter which angle your iPad is oriented.
Pinch to Close - 4 or 5 Fingers
Pushing the Home button once is a straightforward enough operation, but there is something inherently breathtaking about physically banishing an application by crushing it with your hand.
Slide Left/Right to Switch Applications - 4 or 5 Fingers
This can be accomplished by accessing the multitasking bar, but again, there is a visceral thrill to swiping through active apps, as if turning a page in iBooks. It’s much more tactile, and much more human accordingly.
The attention to detail is quite excellent in this gesture, with the apps shrinking slightly as they move out of frame, giving a 3D perspective to the action, much like the current task switching animation in 4.2, but much subtler.
Room for Improvement
While these gestures are quite impressive on their own, this is the first beta of 4.3. There’s no support for these new methods of task switching on apps and so the snapshots are often blank or unclear (e.g. Maps is a blank white page). If this is a byproduct of the multitasking API, then visual cues need to be added so that apps can be identified without needing to open the multitasking bar.
Apps that use more than three fingers such as Fruit Ninja or Magic Piano are broken, accidentally activating the new gestures just by playing happens frequently and I’m unsure how this can be remedied.
Obviously, the animations and gestures are not yet flawless, though they are remarkably polished for an initial beta release. But I’m sure Apple will improve them in forthcoming versions (Beta 2 will likely be out tomorrow or next Tuesday). They show immense promise, and could perhaps be an early look at how we will switch between full-screen apps in Lion this summer.
Posted 1 year ago
