Apple sure did brag a lot about applications taking full advantage of the large four-inch iPhone 5 display canvas space, but one thing that really should be re-thought now that the screen has a taller profile is the puny multitasking App Switcher. Surely with the extra vertical real estate, Apple could have thought of a better idea than a simple row of icons?
A recent concept by The Verge has become a viral sensation today as to what the multitasking App Switcher on the iPhone 5 should look like. The concept takes full advantage of the extra vertical pixels to show previews of the applications in the App Switcher with the icon of the application overlaying the previews. Since the previews of the applications are nothing more than screenshots of the taller display, this pushes the maximum height of the App Switcher up by a considerable amount.
The concept also re-thinks the iPod controls, which are accessed from the multitasking App Switcher by simply swiping to the left. Instead of simply viewing a Music application icon, a rotation lock icon, and three button controls, the concept demonstrates that the music controls can be placed at the bottom, while integrating a volume bar right into the iPod controls without having to swipe to the left yet again. The size of the Music application icon has been reduced and to the left is the album artwork with the song information beautifully displayed in the center.
The best part of the concept is the options panel, which is where the rotation lock button is moved. The panel also includes a toggle for Wi-Fi, a toggle for Bluetooth, and a toggle for 3G. Below the toggles, we find a slider for the screen brightness. It would probably be better if the 3G toggle were for cellular data in general, as the iPhone 5 takes advantage of 4G LTE and a toggle for 3G seems dated. Apple also had the courtesy to make brightness a little easier to get to in iOS 6, but it's still a pain having to navigate through the Settings application to get to it.
To put things into perspective, below is a side-by-side comparison of the iPhone 5 concept next to the existing iPhone 4S App Switcher (compliments of The Verge):
For sure, the concept takes better advantage of the space provided not only by the taller four-inch display, but it also takes better advantage of the linen-colored real estate that the multitasking App Switcher contains. The current App Switcher feels so roomy that it feels like space is actually being wasted.
In many previous jailbreak tweaks, we have seen the multitasking App Switcher remodeled in forms of card switching and double-row switching. This concept is different because it keeps Apple’s switcher fundamentals in mind, while offering more information to the user per square pixel.
Perhaps in the future a jailbreak tweak can bring these ideas to life, but first we have to have a jailbreak for the iPhone 5. Regardless of the iPhone 5 jailbreak's progress, I'd love to have a switcher like this on my iPhone 4 as well. Do you like this App Switching concept?
Sources: The Verge via iClarified
Reply
