4 ms·

It's an inherent issue with iOS, and one that would take a major update to solve (in other words, don't hold your breath until iOS6 or 7). Android solves it usi

It's an inherent issue with iOS, and one that would take a major update to solve (in other words, don't hold your breath until iOS6 or 7). Android solves it using a system of "Intents," where you basically just broadcast a message to the system saying, hey, I want to open this kind of file or do this kind of general action. Any app can register themselves as a receiver of a type of Intent. When there is a conflict (multiple apps can potentially handle the same Intent request) the user is given a small dialog window to choose what to open, along with an option to make that one the default.

commandar 15y ago
Intents is probably one of my single favorite under the hood features of Android as a user. Installing an app and having it instantly be able to exchange data with any other app on the system in a smart way makes the process so simple you don't really even have to think about it. It's one of the parts of Android I'd have a hard time living without.
- joebadmo 15y ago
  It's also what makes the OS-level back button so important, which full-time iOS users seem not to understand when they cursorily try an Android phone. (http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/10/31/android-hardware http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/10/31/android-hardware) I agree with this thread that this is one of the best things about Android.
  - commandar 15y ago
    In fairness, I do agree with Gruber that back button behavior on Android can be painfully inconsistent. That said, I also agree with you that it provides fairly important functionality on Android. I do wish developers would use it more consistently.
adavies42 15y ago
Assuming enough of the OS X underpinning is still present in iOS, this would be trivial to implement--it's just a matter of Apple deciding to expose the event handling stuff in a public API. (I'm not sure how it works currently in OS X--last time I looked into it, it was still a descendant of the OS 9 "Internet" control panel, only without any UI at all....)

commandar 15y ago

Intents is probably one of my single favorite under the hood features of Android as a user. Installing an app and having it instantly be able to exchange data with any other app on the system in a smart way makes the process so simple you don't really even have to think about it. It's one of the parts of Android I'd have a hard time living without.

joebadmo 15y ago
It's also what makes the OS-level back button so important, which full-time iOS users seem not to understand when they cursorily try an Android phone. (http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/10/31/android-hardware http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/10/31/android-hardware) I agree with this thread that this is one of the best things about Android.
- commandar 15y ago
  In fairness, I do agree with Gruber that back button behavior on Android can be painfully inconsistent. That said, I also agree with you that it provides fairly important functionality on Android. I do wish developers would use it more consistently.

adavies42 15y ago

Assuming enough of the OS X underpinning is still present in iOS, this would be trivial to implement--it's just a matter of Apple deciding to expose the event handling stuff in a public API. (I'm not sure how it works currently in OS X--last time I looked into it, it was still a descendant of the OS 9 "Internet" control panel, only without any UI at all....)