Apple Insider has revealed couple of patents filed by Apple which could bring further improvements to iPhone's user interface.
The first filing appears to be a feature which will allow immediate access to global application settings and the second filing could bring improvements to iPhone's notification dialog that informs users of communications missed when the iPhone is in the locked state.
The first patent filing shows application icons on iPhone's home screen that have "i" in the top-right corner of the application icon similar to Apple's Dashboard widgets. However, the "i" icons will remain hidden and only show up after some sort of multi-touch gesture which will allow users to change application settings.
As per the patent filing:
"The user interface has a plurality of application icons. In response to a first gesture, the GUI changes the appearances of the application icons whose corresponding applications have user-adjustable settings."
"In response to a second gesture on a selected application icon whose appearance is changed, the GUI displays user-adjustable settings of an application that corresponds to the selected application icon. In response to one or more additional gestures, the GUI changes one or more user-adjustable settings of the application that corresponds to the selected application icon."
This feature should allow users to change global application settings which should significantly cut down on the time taken to change individual application settings.
The second patent filing shows improvements to iPhone's notification dialog that informs users of communications missed such as missed calls, new text messages and voicemails right on iPhone's home screen when the iPhone is in the locked state.
As per the patent filing:
"In response to detecting an interaction by a user with the device, the plurality of icons display notification information for the plurality of communication modalities. In response to detecting an unlock interaction by the user with the device, the device is unlocked, and a communication in the plurality of communications is presented that was received while the device was in the locked state, or information about the communication is presented."
So the filing suggests that the notification dialog would not only remain visibile when the phone is unlocked but will also provide links to directly return a missed call, reply to a new message or listen to the new voicemail.
It could probably be a feature that shows up when Push Notification service is released which is Apple's solution to run iPhone Apps in the background.
It is important to note here that Apple like so many other companies, patents ideas and so these features might never see the light of day. However, I won't be surprised to see these minor improvements in iPhone's user interface in future iPhone firmware versions.
What's your take on these patents?
[via Apple Insider]
Top iPhone Hacks Categories:
Hacks
iPhone Applications
Unlock iPhone
JailBreak iPhone
iPhone Tips & Tricks
iPhone Games
iPhone News
What next?
Looks like Apple took a page from "Intelliscreen"…no wonder they didn't allow them to sell it in the App Store! Big Brother Apple wins again.
Have you seen the new iPhone ATM application?
Check it out at: http://moneyology.com/moneyology-videos-4.htm
Well folks, this certainly seems like a great idea. Universal settings changes means Apple will probably force Apps to update and share a particular cache for data (and thus settings), which would also open it up for (get ready) COPY AND PASTE!!!!
Think about it. Rather than have the OS waste processing power and therefore use extra battery life, make all Apps draw settings from one location which can be edited by global settings! If they all draw this data from one location, that means the user could place any data in that location and it would be read and acknowleged by the Apps. Thus: Copy/Paste.
Simple, really. The only issue I have with this idea is that it still allows Apple to use Push Notification, which will be useful, but not for all apps. I at least want the option to drain my own damn battery thanks!
As per the reference to Intelliscreen… well frankly this is not even close to Intelliscreen. Apple didn't like Intelliscreen because it ran as a background process, and basically hijacked the lock screen. Since that goes against developers guidelines Apple couldn't allow it to be sold. Plus, the app can't be made witht he dev kit's limited tools anyways so it doesn't matter if it wasn't against the rules, it couldn't be done.