Has Apple Committed a Grave Mistake With the Launch of iOS 8?

When Apple introduced iOS 8 in WWDC 2014, everyone was quite satisfied with the newly launched iOS which has been termed by Forbes as a mixture of “imitation and innovation” that “plugged holes against Android and set off a new war in both wearable and smart homes via smart SDKs (software developer kits).”

But in spite of the new features of iOS8, there is a small but significant implication that Apple has committed a grave mistake with iOS 8. What this mistake is and how grave it is? Is it a mistake at all? Read below to know more about it.

What Hints the Mistake?

You might have read that Apple has increased the screen size of its next iPhone, to be named as iPhone 6, from 4 inch to 4.7 inch. But so far with its 4 inch screen, iPhone has played on the principle of a one-size-fits-all approach that allows a user to reach the top of the screen corners single-handedly. Having this feature in iPhone is important because all the critical navigation commands like Back, Send, Confirm, Accept, Create are placed at the upper right and left side corners.

Interestingly, the latest iOS version has not taken this into consideration. This means no more iPhone users will be able to have one-size-fits-all approach with iPhone, because they will require using both the hands to reach out the top corner commands, especially the very important and needed ‘Back’ button.

But the issue doesn’t end here as there is another big concern. Apple has decided to keep its circular Home button. It means a 4.7 inch iPhone will be as big as a 5inch or even larger screen Android phone. So, iPhone 6 is going to be a real big phone with a circular Home button at the bottom, which will waste a considerable amount of space.

Above it, the prime navigation commands, especially the ‘Back’ button will be placed at the top of the screen and it will be inconvenient for a user to reach out the upper space of a 5 inch big device.

That is why Android and Windows had launched their big sized smartphones with the small size rectangle home button. The ‘Back’ button or other major navigation buttons are also placed in the same bottom panel along with the Home button. Using the button, user can conveniently reach out to the buttons single-handedly irrespective of the size of the device. 

So the bottom line answer to the question that has Apple committed a grave mistake with iOS 8 is it might move towards committing a grave mistake if:

•    Apple doesn’t bring some changes to the coding of mobile operating system to bring the navigation commands to a more convenient location. 

•    Apple doesn’t come up with some hardware solution for the arrangement of the important navigation commands, especially the ‘Back’ button.

•    Apple doesn’t include some gesture to resolve this issue. However, the top to bottom swipe and bottom to the top swipe, these two gestures are already taken. 

Appple iOS 8 is a great mobile operating system that amazed the developers when Apple launched it in WWDC 2014. It received a resounding success there as it filled many holes that the earlier version of iOS was suffering from. But the jump in the screen size is taking the Apple device away from its basic mantra of a one-size-fits-all approach. That is not the actual concern but the prime concern is that the new big size iPhone is not very convenient to use because of the prime navigation commands that continue to be present at the upper right and left side of the screen.