On iOS 5 & Notifications (includes MobileNotifier review):

Notifications are the single worse aspect of iOS. The notification pop-up blocks what you’re doing until you dismiss it, there’s no way to see previous notifications, and it’s way less attractive and useful than notifications in WebOS or Android. Notifications become even more important when you factor in the rumored iOS 5 system-level integration with Twitter (and other services, like Facebook and Foursquare), which constantly need to keep you updated on the go without having to open a specific app.

For any iOS notification system revamp, I’m looking for a few core features: - Non-blocking notifications that remain on screen until dismissed - Ability to see the last few email messages (or calls, texts, etc) with sender and subject preview - Notifications grouped by type, so I can see emails, Facebook, Twitter, texts, voicemails, etc. - Notifications shown on the lockscreen - Unobtrusive status bar icon, displaying how many missed notifications (perhaps by type) and a slide-down tray to view them.

MobileNotifier Review: I recently jailbreaked my iPhone 4 for the first time in order to try out some Cydia apps, knowing that I’ll probably be doing a full restore on my iPhone anyway in the coming weeks in an upgrade to the iOS 5 beta. There have been many Photoshop mockups and actual working Cydia attempts to refine iOS’s notification system, which only shows how bad the existing notifications on iOS are and how much demand there is for an overhaul. I had read about MobileNotifier, a notification service replacement which is fairly highly rated. Furthermore, the UI looks good, and follows my preference by clearly taking design clues from the notification systems on WebOS (which I consider the holy grail of notification UI), and the Android tray. Additionally, it’s been widely rumored that the developer of MobileNotifier has been hired by Apple to work on notifications, so it seemed like perhaps MobileNotifier could be viewed as a proof of concept for things to come from Apple in iOS 5. I had to try it, and I wanted to really like it. Unfortunately, I don’t really like it, and have uninstalled and reverted to the awful standard iOS pop-up notifications. Here’s why, and where such a notification system would need to be improved upon for an Apple-release:

Positives:

• I love the non-blocking notification bar at the top or bottom of the screen, ala WebOS.
• Shows notifications on the lock screen (kind of - see below)

Negatives:

• The MobileNotifier bar doesn’t show any info about the incoming notification, other than the app, without clicking on the notification bar. This greatly reduced it’s utility for me. I shouldn’t have to click it to see info at a glance. For an email alert from Boxcar, for example, it should at least show the sender and subject line so you know what it is. Even the standard pop-ups display more info.
• The notification bar only displays one notification at a time, so if there’s an SMS or missed call, in addition to an email, you have to go into the “Missed Notification” tray view by double tapping the home button and then clicking the missed notifications bar at the top of the screen to expand the list. Too many steps. I’d like to be able to see and dismiss the notifications from the non-blocking notification bar, without having to enter a separate interface.
• The non-blocking notification bar only displays for a few seconds, then disappears, and it doesn’t display at all on the lock screen! So if I’m not using my phone when a notification comes in, and I pick it up a minute later, there is no notification on the screen. I’d have to go to the missed notification tray to see what I may have missed, if anything. This is unnecessary, and greatly reduces MobileNotifier’s utility. There is also no status bar icon showing how many missed notifications there are. You have to open the tray by double-clicking the home button to see this.
• Double-clicking the home button to see the tray isn’t as easy nor intuitive as a multi-touch gesture like for example, sliding two fingers down from the top status bar.
• Having to clear the “Missed Notification” tray just becomes another hassle. I want to see the missed notifications, but don’t want to have to keep clearing something else to get rid of the absolute one. Suggestion example: if I check my mail in the Mail app, perhaps the missed mail notifications automatically get dismissed.
• On the Lockscreen, missed notifications have to be expanded to view them, and then, you can’t do anything with them. You still would have to unlock the phone, double-tap the home button, and then interact with them from the Missed Notification tray. On the lockscreen, notifications should be displayed automatically (without requiring expanding a list), and should be grouped by type, displaying for example, the last missed call, SMS, voicemail, and last two or three email messages all at one time. The Cydia app Lockscreen Info has a good UI here.
• I use Boxcar for email notifications, because Mail doesn’t support local notifications (fix this, Apple). With MobileNotifier, if I click on the incoming mail notification, it opens Boxcar - not Mail. This isn’t MobileNotifier’s fault, but decreases it’s utility.

Here are a couple good mockups demonstrating some notification UI concepts. I can’t say there is a single concept that is perfect and blows me away in all aspects. However, if Apple took the good bits and pieces from various mockups, and WebOS/Android, it could create a dynamite iOS notification and lockscreen information system, with a fantastic UI to boot.

• I really like this one. The slide down notification tray & status bar icons here are brilliant, much better than the double tap.

• Being able to see multiple notifications with a swipe in the notification bar is a good idea, especially if they were grouped by type/app.

• Excellent lockscreen notification/info UI
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