iFly GPS Forum

Greetings,

I've been enjoying the iFly 740b compared to my old iPad Mini 4.  In the RV, the iPad wasn't bright enough, and the buttons for all the other apps were small to hit in turbulence, particularly wrt the screen sensitivity.   The 740b is much better for brightness, and the app (even on other devices) is more usable because it typically has larger buttons.  More importantly, many of the buttons are located at the edge of the screen, so in turbulence I can put my finger on the bezel, then roll it to tap the button.  That pretty much insures a successful tap.  

The problem I have is when tapping on buttons that are on a scrolling list, such as the direct to button on the NRST list.  The same problem exists when trying to tap on spots on the map.  When there's turbulence (pretty much always here), if there's any relative motion between your finger and the screen, the attempted tap ends up scrolling the screen, and not hitting the button, or spot you were trying to tap on the map. 

One possible solution I can think of would be a delay option for all scrolling.  This would require you to hold your finger on the screen for some configurable period of time before it would scroll.  People who don't like it can set the time to 0, and others can set it to maybe a couple tenths of a second.   With the delay active, any touch less than the delay period would be accepted as a tap, not a scroll.   I think that would make it a lot easier to select a scrolling button or spot on the screen in turbulence. 

Cheers,

Rusty

I'm not a programmer, so I can't estimate how difficult it would be to implement any particular change.  As for preference, there would be a setting of zero for people who don't want it, so that shouldn't be an issue.  I used to set a touch delay on the iPad of 0.15 seconds to help with usability, but since it was a global function that applied to everything, it was definitely annoying.  However, if it only applied to the app, and to scrolling screens, I don't think it would be nearly as irritating. 

For the NRST page, which I use a lot, I'd be happy with a page up/down button as an option to scrolling, so the direct to button wouldn't try to move when I touch it.  It would also be helpful if the direct to button was the entire right half or third of the airport line, to make it a bigger target.  

Globally, maybe a scroll lock button on the screen that can be turned on and off as needed.  For smooth flights, leave it off, but if it's really bumpy, turn it on to make button selection easier. 

Cheers,

Rusty

My "quite confusing" comment was from a user perspective rather than a programming perspective.  Yes, the user option for the delay duration would allow the app to continue working as it does today, but AP has a general philosophy of trying to minimize the number of user settings--those have a "cost" in terms of additional app complexity for users and potential confusion if misapplied.  For example, someone accidentally adjusting that option without realizing it or fully understanding what it does, then getting frustrated at why "the app just suddenly got sluggish and non-responsive to my touches!"