In my previous easy I highlighted the fact that iOS 5's notifications are still obtrusive as they hide critical UI elements in some apps. My solution for this was to have iOS 5 resize apps below notifications using the same double height status bar method employed by the phone app, voice memo app and tethering function. The issue with this, I conceded, was that some apps don't resize properly to make room for the double height status bar. Apple must have also observed this resizing issue, regarded it as being unacceptable and chose to have notifications conceal all apps consistently rather than some apps inconsistently. Personally, I would have written off apps that didn't resize much the same way apps that didn't multitask were with iOS 4. Users would have naturally gravitated toward apps that do resize just is I found myself doing so with multitasking apps after the release of iOS 4. As it stands currently, notifications in iOS 5 are unacceptable and un-Apple in their implementation.
At the same time as my musings, rumours were surfacing regarding the next iPhone. Sites such as 'thisisnext.com' ran very exhaustive articles compiling the most credible rumours of what the iPhone 5 had in store. One rumours that struck me as odd was the suggestion of a larger 3.7" screen. Apple has stayed very true to the 3.5" screen of the original iPhone and to change it now would cause some very serious headaches for app developers. Also, that extra .2 of an inch isn't much, maybe enough for another line or two of text on screen. Why bother go through the trouble adding it? It seems like an odd move from Apple which has distanced itself from the numbers game one-upmanship of the rest of the tech industry.
A line or two of text though, that could be handy for notifications. In fact, bumping up the screen size by .2” would provide exactly the right space for notifications to slip into. My back-of-the-envelope calculations confirm this. By my calculations iOS 5 notifications are 6mm in height. Expanding the iPhone’s screen in all directions to accommodate 3.7” would result in 2.8mm of additional screen width and 4.2mm in additional screen height, but constraining the screen width to that of the existing iPhone and only increasing the screen height to accommodate 3.7” result in... 6mm of additional screen height!
Picture it, on the iPhone 5 old, iOS 2 to 4, apps would no longer be covered by incoming notifications; they would instead appear in the blank space made available by that .2 of an inch. This would be a genius move by Apple: what couldn't possibly be fixed through software (having all app developers code their apps to resize below notifications) would instead be fixed through hardware. Ideally Apple would then learn from the mistakes of the past and place stronger restrictions on new 3.7" screen apps, requiring them to resize properly upon the arrival of a notification, that or disallow apps for using that space at all.
If Apple does this it will have paved the way for one of the best notification systems in the mobile space next to WebOS's. Yet, in an all too common move Apple will have thrown older generation hardware owners under the bus, leaving them with obstructive notifications and a subpar user experience.
