Every so often I moan about things that Apple still doesn’t do on the iPhone that folks like Nokia have done for years. My current list (other than wanting better maps) is here.
By the way, folks wanting to pick fun at the atrocious iOS 6 Maps app need look no further than
The Amazing iOS6 Maps gallery on Tumblr.
A couple things that we have had for ages on Nokia phones (i.e., not the so-called “smart” phones): profiles and templates. There are lots of times that someone sends you a text and a standard response will do. On my old Nokias, I had things like “Thanks”, “OK”, “On my way”, “Yes”, and “No” preprogrammed. If I was busy when a text came in, I’d send back a standard reply quickly rather than type anything. It’s annoying that there’s nothing like this on iOS and this is one of the areas that Apple won’t open up to innovation.
Profiles for sounds were really useful on Nokias. I had 4 that I used consistently: Normal, Meeting, Silent, and Outdoors. Normal and Silent are just like they sound. Meeting would have a handful of notifications—maybe no notification for a text and vibration-only for ringing. Outdoors would have the volume cranked up and noisy notifications for everything. One of the great things about the profiles is that the volume level was part of it. So if I chose to have an audible beep in my ‘Meeting’ profile, I could make it a quiet one.
Sounds and notifications, though, are another place where Apple doesn’t allow innovation. Third parties are not allowed in here to make changes. That’s a shame.
Obviously, if anyone knows how to achieve some of the same effects on iOS (preferrably iOS5 because I’m no fool, I haven’t upgraded), please let me know in the comments.