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iOS Weirdness

I like the promise of iPadOS 13 (the rebranding of iOS for iPad), but I can't say I'm very pleased with the iPadOS 13.1.2 implementation. It appears the designers have been fixated on users with the large-screen version of the iPad Pro - on the normal size screen the interface is now cluttered and occasionally I have to move the keypad out of the way when previously I didn't. However, that said, the full keypad can now be pinched down to a floating phone-sized keypad occupying less screen area. The home screen icon size & layout can be restored to "normal" (for 10" users) in settings.

People might like the new facility to choose their home screen background, but I have never been a fan of that (even on desktop operating systems). For me, that should be reserved for screensavers, but if you like your workspace icons camouflaged by a busy distracting background of your latest holiday photo, go ahead (on the desktop, I use different plain-colour backgrounds to differentiate between user and admin logins). There's no harm in offering choice, but I wonder why they've decided to play catch-up with something that practically every other operating system has offered since Windows 3.1, after all this time without it?

There are some goodies: the major one so far as I am concerned is that any (updated) app running in iPadOS should now be able to access files on external USB (and NAS I think) drives without using a third-party app to import them first (for which I was using FileExplorer). I have used a cheap Chinese Lightning to USB/SD adapter and browsed a micro-SD card (in an SD adapter) for video files recorded by a GoPro knock-off using Files - and they play!

Highlights (promised, but not all yet explored):
  • External file access (mentioned above)
  • Screen "Dark Mode" (switch to essentially white-on-black instead of always black-on-white)
  • Configurable notification area now available directly on the first home screen, with widgets
  • Extended multitasking with app slide-over (not available on all models)
  • Font manager & installable fonts
  • Zip/unzip available through the OS
  • Safari requests desktop site by default
  • Download manager in Safari
  • Attachments to calendar entries
  • Multiple instantiations of the same app
  • Direct access to WiFi settings etc by long press from the Control Centre
  • "3D" touch actions (time, not pressure) for dock icons etc
  • Shortcuts macros available as home screen icons (and dock)
  • Dock icons groupable (may have been possible before - didn't notice)
  • Video editing in Photos supports crop and brightness/contrast/colour adjustment
  • Taking screen shots in Safari offers the option to use the whole web page instead of just the screen when opened for editing
Typically, the new features make some third-party apps redundant. But these things come at a price. Some bugs have been introduced (which might get fixed), and other features downgraded:
  • Switching away from and returning to Safari doesn't always preserve the current zoom (even if it was 100%), even if done by home button actions and not swiping.
  • The reply button when reading an email has moved (just needs getting used to).
  • The Dolphin browser app is broken (crashes on start-up).
  • Video clip editing in the Photos app no longer offers to "save as new clip" (but it does in Files).
  • "Insert Photo or Video" context menu option in Mail now opens an image selection pane without a "use" button, just an "X" - selecting a photo inserts it in the email immediately, but if it's a video that takes so long (while the video compresses) there's no feedback. All inserted images are shown selected, so you can't insert the same image twice even if you want to (with that particular method). (To insert a photo, click the camera button and you get the proper selection pane with a "use" button again.)
  • The "Reply" hover action over selected text in a Hummy.tv forum post doesn't work (strangely, "Quote" does work).
  • Auto-correct text (in composing forum posts) is even more mental than it was before.
  • I like Shortcuts (essentially a macro facility), but why does it rely on having Siri enabled to do anything really useful, when it doesn't need voice recognition for the facility in question (eg: turn Bluetooth off properly)? Work-around: enable Siri (ugh!), but set it to only activate on a long press of the home button.
  • Battery power seems to be draining faster.
 
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I found a log of apps with major/minor/no issues under iPadOS13:

forums.macrumors.com

 iOS 13 Working, Broken and Meh apps

for people who are interested in running iOS 13 Apps with no issues — A — Accuweather Activity++ ADT Pulse Affinity Desktop Affinity Photo Airbnb Air Canada Air miles Alarm.com AliExpress Altimeter+ Amazon Amazon Alexa AMC Theatres Amex AnyConnect AnyList ANZ Apollo Argenta (Belgian bank)...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
...but it seems I don't need Dolphin any more, as Safari now requests the desktop site (which is what I used Dolphin for).
 
Discovered another highlight: taking a screen grab while viewing a web page, and opening the screen grab for editing, gives you the option to use the whole web page instead of just the part on screen. Nice.

(I've added it to the list above)
 
13.1.3 has cured one niggle, specifically:
Black Hole said:
Switching away from and returning to Safari doesn't always preserve the current zoom (even if it was 100%), even if done by home button actions and not swiping.
Click to expand...

Update: Arrgghhhhh!!! No it hasn't.
 
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Now up to iOS/iPadOS 13.5.1. That "we" issue doesn't seem to be a thing any more, although the auto-correct continues to be almost as bad as it is good (I set an elderly friend up with an iPad recently, and left auto-correct turned off to avoid the confusion it would cause!).

I'm going to use this post to log irritations in the hope that somebody might see it and do something (Apple don't seem to take any notice of bug reports unless they agree they really are bugs - from my perspective they definitely are!). Don't take this as evidence that iOS is crap in the iOS v Android debate - it isn't, and Android is at least as bad.


1. Apple doesn't understand speech marks and quotes

The quote ' and speech mark " available directly on the keypad (and any keyboard) are non-handed - they stand in as either the start or end mark, but are not the proper typographic quotes and speech marks which are different for start and end. This is easiest to illustrate using a serif font:

Keyboard characters (non-handed): ' "

Typographic characters (handed): ‘...’ “...”

These special characters are accessible from the keypad by a long press of the standard key and then glide to the required character on the pop-up (the pop-up disappears if you take your finger off, so grabbing these screen-shots took a bit of dexterity!):

1592126266718.jpeg

1592126307983.jpeg

Okay so far... except they are displayed on the pop-up menu in reverse order! For the quotes, the open-quote is third from the left, and the close-quote is second from the left. Ditto speech marks: the open-speech is fourth, and the close-speech is third. What's worse, it's not easy to tell that from the pop-up menu - you only find out once the characters are inserted and you have a good look (assuming you are aware of this and know what you are looking for, but in my experience many people don't have the eye for it).

Note that some languages use the subscript version of the mark to open, and the (English) close or open mark to close. Other languages use «...» (and those are the right way around on the pop-up menu!).

Note that if you are using a word processor with automatic punctuation, it is probably substituting the correct mark for you when you just type ' or ".

Status: ongoing.


2. Apple designers think the world uses their iPads the same way they do

When composing an email on a normal-size (ie not 12.9"!) iPad in landscape, the keypad obscures the completion suggestions for CC or BCC and it is almost impossible to use. I believe this is because "they" think everyone uses an iPad like a phone, ie in portrait, and don't bother to test alternatives. For me, it is not natural to use these things in portrait. Physiologically, we are evolved for landscape - that's why TV is landscape. Video in portrait is like looking through an arrow slit.

The keypad is much smaller in portrait too - that might be OK for the under-30's, but I prefer a larger keypad (and still hit the wrong keys).

This illustrates the problem (although I have had to redact the content):

1592129021947.jpeg

The suggestions menu can't be moved, and closing the keypad doesn't help: the completion options disappear at the same time (it would make sense to keep it on-screen with the keypad closed, or draggable). The work-around is to flip to portrait temporarily (ugh!), although I can just about get enough room to scroll the suggestions if I first scroll the email up so the CC / BCC line is at the top of the window.

Status: ongoing.

More to come when I remember or come across them.
 
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prpr said:
This is why people use real computers rather than these toys :duel:
Click to expand...

I know that's in jest, but in case there's anybody out there who doesn't realise: tablets are a lot more convenient for casual use that desk-bound computers, or even a laptop – and "casual use" is (I guess) 99% of non-office users' requirements. And, for my money, Apple iPad is best-in-breed.

That's why, when lockdown set in, I set up another close elderly friend "supported user" with a second-hand iPad Air2 (the sweet spot - the cheapest model which is not outdated). She was using a Win10 tower desktop just for email (essentially; but previously used Word [in "naïve mode"] as a club minutes secretary, then I migrated her to OpenOffice Writer when I explained about document templates and not having to re-invent the wheel for each issue of the minutes - it was easier for me to support OOo than Word), which had become inconvenient because the PC is in her son's bedroom and he is now working from home.

(Her son is an Android fan and refuses to have anything to do with iOS because of all the usual arguments - but the arguments are irrelevant when what you actually need is absolute ease of use.)

Being a typist, she missed having a keyboard. I would have recommended a clamshell keyboard like I use (effectively, it turns the iPad into a mini notebook), except it's a bit of a pain if you want to release the iPad from it for (say) photography – I type so much it's worth the inconvenience. She decided she didn't want one of those, so I got her a cheap BT multi-purpose iOS/Android/Windows keyboard, and a table stand for the iPad, so she can use the iPad alone on her lap or set it up on the dining table as a "computer".

Then I discovered my mistake: "why is shift+2 '@' not '"'?" The keyboard is marked " on shift+2, and @ on shift+' – which is typewriter layout not Apple layout (I don't know the history, but for some reason Apple decided on their own layout of keys instead of using traditional typewriter layout). Not only that, but the keyboard is also US (shift+3 is marked # not £) but so long as the iPad is set up for UK localisation shift+3 does £ (and various other mismatches).

So I made some stick-on labels to correct the keys, and started writing a description of what all the keys are for, only to find the clincher: my clamshell iOS keyboard (US unfortunately, but that's only one key) has a "keyboard" function key which turns the on-screen soft keypad on and off when needed – which you do if you want to get to emojis or accented letters. The multi-purpose BT keyboard has function keys, but none of them map to that function.

I went looking for an alternative on eBay, and hit lucky to find a second-hand but little used proper iOS BT keyboard with UK layout! So much better. It has been swapped for the multi-function keyboard now, and I am back to writing a manual*, but I am left with a mystery: what does F4 do?

D6237BC0-421F-4C77-A09E-DE82C78F1930.jpeg

I couldn't find any function when I was experimenting in Notes, it just typed "3". Now I see it in close up the icon looks like a picture of a flower, so maybe it triggers the camera shutter, or even does a screen grab (but got no feedback to that effect), but if so why would it insert "3" into typing? Very strange. F6 isn't marked with any icon (and appears to do nothing at all).

* Verbal explanations don't stick with the elderly, everything has to be written down to refer to later (and then maybe it will stick, but only by lots of repetition), and of course if I'm going to write anything down it will be thorough.

BTW: For anyone steeped in the normal PC Ctrl+C for copy, V for paste, X for cut, Z for undo (etc), iOS uses the Command key (instead of Ctrl) for that. It is a useful dodge to go into Settings >> General >> Keyboard >> Hardware Keyboards >> Modifier Keys and swap Ctrl and Command. Then the Ctrl key does what Command should do (you get back Ctrl+C for copy etc) and Command does what Ctrl should do. This has to be set up separately for each BT keyboard registered.
 
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The M$ surface range of tablets allow you to run all your normal progs on a tablet, plus convert to a laptop with a flip cover. I have the Go version and love it.

To say iOS is easier to use than other OSes is just falling for marketing hype. The untidy collection of icons in iOS is chaotic compared with Windoze and Android, both of which have slick menus. Plus, the latter allows you to choose an alternative GUI.

The surface has a full version of LibreOffice, or you can use the free online offerings on that and Android, of M$ Office. If you wish to purchase a book for your Kindle, you can do it without resorting to a workaround. Android allows memory expansion too with a cheap SD card.

So, all the usual arguments against iOS are still true. iOS has only marketing in its favour. Stick nova launcher on Android and there is no competition, apart from the surface range, which allow use of all your investment in software.
 
That's only your mantra. Having tried them all, I know which is easiest to explain to a beginner - and to my mind that means "easiest to use" not "easiest to use if you are already competent".

I also wonder how much she would have had to spend on your "solution" - I kitted her out for about £220 all in.

Perhaps, if you are such an expert as to be able to pronounce on these things, you could answer my question instead of launching your soapbox?
 
My, we are touchy today! I too have tried all of them. IOS feels dated. I agree the surface is expensive for your needs, but the best overall. As for price, are you claiming iPads are cheaper than Android tablets? No, of course not. Android with Nova is far easier to use than iOS, for anyone. You can even get OO on Android.

As for the symbols on the keyboard, I am sure they are all intuitive and just work.

I assume you are just being obtuse as usual. Did you take the test?

Dashboard or Launchpad, both obsolete?
 
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Scrat said:
Android with Nova is far easier to use than iOS, for anyone.
Click to expand...
Sorry, but I fundamentally disagree and I suggest you try teaching it to somebody elderly to verify that. All this has been said before and I see no point dredging it up again.

Scrat said:
are you claiming iPads are cheaper than Android tablets? No, of course not.
Click to expand...
When did I claim price was the primary consideration? No point buying a pig in a poke, even a second hand one.

Scrat said:
My, we are touchy today!
Click to expand...
Touchy because you have hijacked my request for information about the F4 button when you have nothoing to contribute other than parade your prejudice against iOS? Why would I be?!

Scrat said:
I assume you are just being obtuse as usual.
Click to expand...
Assume what you like, it's got nothing to do with me.

Scrat said:
Did you take the test?
Click to expand...
Isn't it a bit daft making personality self-assessments when the observer is biased or not in the best position to judge? Don't be silly.
 
I suggested an answer, mr pig in a poke!🐷🐽

Prejudice is ill informed; I am not. I could accuse you too, but will not.

Your comment earlier about clashing menus applies here on this forum. The cut copy paste menu on marking text often overlays the formatting menu on my phone.
 
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