One under-used feature of iOS that most of us could probably go without is Spotlight. Especially with the birth of Siri on the iPhone 4S, Spotlight has continued to become more and more under-used as its aging interface becomes less convenient than all of the rest of the shortcuts in iOS. If you’re one of the many that doesn’t use Spotlight, then check out this new concept by
Cody Sanfilippo that completely reinvents Spotlight for iOS.
The interface is absolutely gorgeous. Not only does it make Spotlight more useful, but just look at the eye-candy appearance of everything that appears as a search result and also take a look at the way the interface functions; application icons at the bottom of the Spotlight interface act as a type of application filter. Being that the application filters are scrolled through horizontally, this means a lot less vertical scrolling for the user to find content via specific applications.
When you tap on one of the application filters at the bottom of the interface, all search results return in interfaces that resemble their respective applications. For example, when tapping on the Notes application to filter search results for Notes the user may have on the device, results appear in yellow notepad-like paper and not just in white cell search results like they do in the real Spotlight on the iPhone. The same happens for the rest of the applications, including Messages, where search results appear as iMessage-like chat bubbles.
When filtering between applications for search results, more content for each application is displayed. For instance, in Spotlight for iOS currently, searching someone’s name yields their name in your Contacts application. In the concept, searching for someone’s name yields their entire contact card and not just their name. This kind of preview saves the user’s time because they don’t have to wait for the corresponding application to launch and show information because it’s all readily available in the search results interface.
The interface includes a built-in Siri interface invoking mechanism that can be used to invoke Siri without needing to hold down the home button. From here, you can speak to Siri to get feedback from her and results will appear in the Spotlight interface. For App Store searches, this new Spotlight concept includes a built-in App Store search engine and will show results of App Store applications allowing you to install them right from Spotlight or open them from your device right from Spotlight. In addition, searches for music and media on the device yields search results with play buttons right next to them so you can start listening to them immediately. Not too shabby, eh?
This Spotlight implementation isn’t a jailbreak tweak, but maybe with a little hard work, Cody and a daring iOS developer might be able to make it a reality some day. One thing is certain: this interface could take great advantage of the iPhone 5’s taller display. Apple, take some notes!
Do you think this Spotlight concept is iPhone-worthy?
Sources: Cody Sanfilippo via
TUAW
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