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Even at version 5, Apple's iOS lacks some basics we take for granted
on traditional desktop and notebook PCs - and most competing tablets.
Now that Apple has iOS-ified the Mac with OS X Lion, it's time for Apple add
some standard Mac features to iOS.
Newton MessagePad
Mac OS X is built on Unix, and its appearance and structure are
rooted in the Classic Mac OS. iOS, the operating system introduced with
the first iPhone in 2007, is firmly rooted in Mac OS X, but the
appearance was drastically modified for use on a small touchscreen
device - although you can definitely seem some influence from Apple's
ill-fated NewtonMessagePad (1993-98, see
The Story Behind
Apple's Newton), which had an icon-based launcher along with a row
of fixed apps at the bottom of the display, which could be used in
either portrait or landscape mode.
Like the early Mac OS, the first version of iOS didn't support
multitasking, nor did it have third-party apps, keyboard and mouse
support, or a way to print. iOS 2 added the App Store, which
allowed users to download and use additional Apple and third-party apps
on their iPhone or iPod touch. The iPad, launched in 2010, added
keyboard input, and iOS 4 introduced a rudimentary form of
multitasking - multiple programs could be open in memory, although only
once would be active at any given time.
After five years of iOS, Apple introduced OS X 10.7 Lion for the
Mac, which came with an iOS-ified launcher and a host of new features
that had become part of iOS. Longtime Mac users have been frustrated
with Lion's lack of support for PowerPC apps, backwards scrolling, and
a host of other oddities that make sense on a touchscreen but not on a
real computer.
Turning the Tables
I've been using personal computers since the Apple II+, Macs since
1986, and iOS since June 2011, when my wife and I each got an iPhone
3GS. (My wife is a former Windows user who came to the Mac kicking and
screaming when her unbranded Windows PC died and all I could provide
her with was an eMac with
OS X 10.4 Tiger
installed. She has since become comfortable in the Mac world.)
Printing
She asked me a question that stumped me last week: "How do I
print from my phone?" Good questions! We have four printers, all long
since discontinued: Brother
HL-5250DL and Konica Minolta Magicolor 2430DL in my office (b&w
and color laser printers with USB and ethernet), and Brother
DCP 7020 multifunction laser printer/scanner/copier (USB) and
Kodak EasyShare 500 USB/Bluetooth dye-sublimation photo printer in
her office.
Technically, iOS 4.2 and later support printing, but AirPrint only
works directly with recent HP, Brother, and Epson printers designed to
support AirPrint. Sorry, but I'm not going to buy a new printer when I
already have four that work just fine.
You are supposed to be able to activate AirPrint on any Mac running
OS X 10.6.5 or newer and iTunes 10.1 or later, using a "hidden" feature
to allow printing from iOS 4.2.1 and newer. There's a donationware
program called AirPrint Activator that
is supposed to turn your Mac into an AirPrint server, but I haven't
been able to make it work on my Mac mini running OS X 10.6.8.
My wife can print wirelessly to the Brother HL-5250DL connected to the
Mini by USB, but my iPhone doesn't see an available printer.
Curiously, there seem to be AirPrint solutions for Windows and
Linux.
Keyboard and Mouse Input
I'm a writer. Although I can get by using the onscreen keyboard on
my iPhone, it's not a fast way to work, it's too easy to hit the wrong
key, and autocorrect comes up with some interesting results. Editing is
also a pain, as there's no mouse to quickly grab a work, phrase, or
paragraph. You have to use the magnifying glass to pick the position of
your cursor, and there's a backspace key but no forward delete.
There are a host of iPad keyboards available, and also a fair number
of Bluetooth 'boards for the iPhone and iPod touch. But to really be
able to use your iDevice for text input, it should have both a keyboard
and a precise pointing device, such as a mouse, trackball, or trackpad.
Touchscreens are not made for editing.
Both of these technologies (output to a printer and input with
keyboard and mouse) have existed in the Mac OS since the beginning,
have been part of OS X from the start, yet have been missing from
iOS since the first iPhone shipped. (I don't consider AirPrint a real
solution until Apple provides AirPrint server support for Mac OS X
10.6.8 and OS X 10.7 Lion.)
One More Thing
While I'm at it, I'd like to share one more thing I'd love to have
on my iPhone - a VNC server. There are a host of VNC client programs
that let your iDevice access and control your Mac or PC over the
Internet, but the only app I've seen to let your access your iDevice
from a PC is Veency,
which requires you to jailbreak your iDevice.
I'm sure that's not for lack of trying to get Apple to approve
Veency and provide it through the App Store, but it probably does
things Apple doesn't approve of. A shame, since this could be another
way to use a mouse and keyboard with your iDevice, as well as an easy
way to make screen captures from your computer.
And, of course, if iOS had keyboard and mouse support, getting a
program such as Veency to work with your iPhone would be even
easier.
Apple, now that you've iOS-ified the Mac, isn't it about time you
have iOS rudimentary features like printing to existing printers and
working with Bluetooth keyboards and pointing devices?
Dan Knight has been using Macs since 1986,
sold Macs for several years, supported them for many more years, and
has been publishing Low End Mac since April 1997. If you find Dan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.
Links for the Day
Mac of the Day: Blue & White Power Mac G3, introduced 1999.01.05. The most colorful Power Mac introduced an innovative 'drawbridge' enclosure.
