The problem with the iOS Home Screen→
The iOS Home screen is conceptually broken. Not “broken” as in unusable, unstable or technically flawed. From an engineering standpoint, the iOS Home screen works. The concept of the Home screen we interact with today is broken because the Home screen wants to be a real, physical, tangible surface while providing access to the gates of the intangible: apps. Apps are data, information, connectivity, presentation, media. Digital content isn’t tangible in the sense that it exists in a physical space, unless you count the atoms and the electrons and the bits that make using an app possible. But that’s a long stretch. The iOS Home screen is based on the concept that app icons are objects on top of it; this has created a series of issues over the years.
I completely agree that the iOS Home Screen is “broken.” It’s less of a problem on the iPhone with its 3.5” display, but the issue is pretty clear on the iPad’s 9.7” display. I’m sorry, but it’s 2012, and I refuse to believe that 20 static icons is the optimal way to present a home screen.
I’m not quite sure what the solution is — I’m personally a fan of widgets despite their tendency to drain battery — but there has to be a better way. I’m secretly hoping that Apple will address this in iOS 6 with a revamped UI of some sort, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. [Macstories via Shawn Blanc]
