New Concept Splits the Screen Vertically to Multitask, Complete With Toggles and More

[Anthony Bouchard]

Another concept is hot off the press from human interface designer Sentry_NC, the designer of Auxo, Sunday afternoon. The concept is actually another type of App Switcher, this time splitting the screen in half and displaying verically, rather than appearing at the bottom of the display in a horizontal way like Auxo does.

The way the concept works is interesting. The user places their finger on the touch screen right above the home button, and slides up, similarly to how the user would when using Zephyr. Then, the application the user is in splits in half, and reveals a column of applications that are suspended in the device’s memory over a classic, Apple-esque linen background.

The really interesting part about the concept is that as the user swipes up and down between applications in the switcher, the part of the display that was split in half actually updates in real time to show the content of that application. The user does this by dragging their finger up and down the column over each application, and the selected application icon will appear lit up, while the deselected application icons appear dim to demonstrate the lack of focus.

At the top and bottom of the vertical-style App Switcher are arrow buttons, and a close button. The close button lets the user close the App Switcher, while the arrow buttons let the user scroll through all of the applications suspended in the device’s memory.

While in the vertical switcher, the user can swipe to the right to reveal toggles, which look a lot like the toggles in Auxo. The user can also swipe to the left to review vertical music controls, including album art in the center, a volume slider on the top, and a brightness slider on the bottom.

A full video demonstration of the concept can be seen below:



For a mobile-friendly video link that works with our mobile app, tap on the link below:

YouTube Link

One thing we might be concerned about with this type of App Switcher implementation is whether or not it will play nicely with certain applications, especially with keyboards. Zephyr, another jailbreak tweak that performs an action by swiping up from the bottom of the display, actually had to come with “keyboard disables” and “disable in certain apps” features to let the user circumvent possible bugs. Something like this might be required in an App Switcher implementation like this.

According to the creator, the concept is just an “experiment, not a product” at this point in time, so we’re unsure if the concept will actually become a jailbreak tweak in the future. Regardless, the concept looks like the creator put a lot of time and energy into it, and it would sure make a really interesting change for iOS if it were ever made.

Sources: Sentry_NC

[thazsar]

Pretty cool! Would be nice if we could control it w/ our thumb for ease of use.

[emmanravalo]

i see a tweak coming....

[mlee19841]

^^ looks great.

[Junnito]

It's cool

[JerseyScottie]

hm.. ICS esque. Though im sure if android used an apple feature everyone would be up in arms.

[Mrteacup]

hm.. ICS esque. Though im sure if android used an apple feature everyone would be up in arms.

Honestly just stop.

[buttamix]

Not sure how i feel about this concept in particular

[fanboyfanboy]

I like it, but the real time updating when selecting apps has me puzzled if the hardware is capable of performing this with no lag, like on older devices if you have enough apps running there's a noticeable lag when switching to one as it is.

[Anthony Bouchard]

I like it, but the real time updating when selecting apps has me puzzled if the hardware is capable of performing this with no lag, like on older devices if you have enough apps running there's a noticeable lag when switching to one as it is.

New devices would handle it just fine. I really haven't found anything yet that can slow the iPhone 5 down. It seems to take everything I throw at it. I can only speculate, however.

[fanboyfanboy]

New devices would handle it just fine. I really haven't found anything yet that can slow the iPhone 5 down. It seems to take everything I throw at it. I can only speculate, however.

The 5 isn't what I'm worried about. The speed of that phone is incredible, I'm just wondering about the 4S, while most things I do on it run fine, some things do push the limits of what it's capable of, and one can only imagine how bad it would be on the iPhone 4 and iPod touch 4G as both of them lag just running a simple tweak like barrel

[Raybeast]

New devices would handle it just fine. I really haven't found anything yet that can slow the iPhone 5 down. It seems to take everything I throw at it. I can only speculate, however.

Once you start getting your LaunchDaemons and MobileSubstrate filled, you will think otherwise! :P

[pkmaximum]

Do people not realize this isn't a good concept for the iPhone, because it eliminates the ability to use the task-switcher with one hand. To use this conceptual style task-switcher you need to have one hand supporting the device while the other slides up across the screen. The traditional (current) task-switcher allows you to use the thumb of the hand that is supporting the iPhone to control the task-switcher.

[thazsar]

Do people not realize this isn't a good concept for the iPhone, because it eliminates the ability to use the task-switcher with one hand. To use this conceptual style task-switcher you need to have one hand supporting the device while the other slides up across the screen. The traditional (current) task-switcher allows you to use the thumb of the hand that is supporting the iPhone to control the task-switcher.

This is exactly what I thought, too. I sent Sentry a tweet stating that it might be better if we could swipe up diagonally from the right or left corner which would split the screen diagonally and then his multitask bar would show.

This isn't very aesthetic but its more comfortable than even the current method for multitasking!

Try it w/ Activator -> In Application -> Screen Bottom - Left -> Activate Switcher

It just doesnt work that well on the Springboard if you use Scrollingboard....

[slickric]

hm.. ICS esque. Though im sure if android used an apple feature everyone would be up in arms.

Really? How so?

[thekirbylover]

Once you start getting your LaunchDaemons and MobileSubstrate filled, you will think otherwise! :P

54 tweaks (just counted the number of dylibs in /Library/MobileSubstrate/DynamicLibraries) and still nothing is slowing my iPhone 5 down at all. This amount of tweaks would make my first gen iPad choke (in fact, I do think I have slightly less than this on my iPad).

[DA_GHOST]

This in my opinion will be sick but should be half off for people who've bought all their other multitask tweaks

[teej1410]

Not sure how i feel about this concept in particular

I like it. One thing about having stuff in the middle of the screen is it doesn't matter if you use your left hand or your right if your just using one hand. You don't have to have that awkward reach with your thumb.

[Shigoroku]

I've tried Auxo and Zephyr. They only make me wish longfully that we could get WebOS 3.x-style multitasking in iOS. There used to be a crappy version (multifl0w) that I purchased in Cydia to try once and uninstall. It just didn't work correctly. It's not even available for iOS 6.

A proper implementation allows you to access the home screen without ever pushing a button, which Auxo currently does not. It takes two upward swipes to close the app in WebOS (one to activate the card switcher and another to swipe the card off the screen). With Zephyr, I accidentally swipe apps off the screen constantly...even after adjusting settings to minimize it.

Might have to study up on making jailbreak tweaks and do it myself.

...I also don't like what Auxo does with music controls in the switcher. The brightness slider is nearly impossible to grab (especially if you've just stepped out into the sun and you can't see it). Why is the AirPlay control next to the brightness slider instead of the media controls?!