Zima Client iOS 1.6.2 – Testing and Feedback
I have now tested version 1.6.2 more extensively. There are several improvements, but I also found a few issues and areas where I think the user experience could be improved.
Music playback
Music files can be opened and played, but currently it behaves more like opening an individual file.
When I select a music track, it appears to load/download the file and then plays only that single track.
What I would really like to see is a proper music player that can play multiple tracks consecutively, for example an entire folder or album, instead of having to manually start every track.
Ideally, Zima Client should provide a playback queue with controls such as:
- Previous track
- Next track
- Play/Pause
- Repeat
- Shuffle
- Background playback
Video playback
The good news is that multichannel audio playback has improved significantly.
The videos I previously tested with 5.1 / 6-channel audio now play correctly, including the different audio tracks.
However, I found a new problem when changing the audio language.
The video is playing normally. When I open the audio track/language selection, the video picture pauses, but the movie audio continues playing in the background.
If I press Play again, the video picture continues and catches up with the playback.
When I select another language, for example German, the same thing happens again:
- The picture stops.
- The Play symbol appears.
- The audio continues playing.
- I have to press Play manually again before the video picture continues.
So audio playback itself is working, but opening or changing the audio track incorrectly pauses only the video portion while the audio continues.
Photos
So far I have not found any problems with photo viewing.
I was able to open and browse my photos normally.
Web apps / Reverse Proxy
The reverse proxy problem I previously reported now appears to be fixed.
I can finally open my apps through my configured reverse proxy in Zima Client.
This is a significant improvement.
However, I think the new web-app navigation is unnecessarily complicated.
When a web app is open, there is a button in the upper-right corner. From there I can minimize the app, and the minimized application can later be restored through the recently/continued-used apps feature. I can also see information such as memory and CPU usage.
That part works.
The navigation itself, however, requires too many steps.
To go backward or forward inside a web app, I currently have to:
- Tap the button in the upper-right corner.
- Tap the three-dot menu.
- Wait for the navigation panel to appear.
- Tap Back or Forward.
- The navigation panel then disappears again.
- If I want to navigate again, I have to repeat the whole process.
This becomes especially cumbersome when browsing a website or web application with several pages.
Navigation suggestion
Personally, I would prefer a much simpler browser-style navigation bar, similar to Safari.
The most important controls could remain permanently accessible as small transparent buttons:
Back | Forward | Refresh | Home
This would require only one tap and would make navigating inside web apps much faster and more intuitive.
The current implementation works, but in my opinion there are too many taps and menus involved for basic browser navigation.
I would prefer fewer menus and fewer additional controls, with the most frequently used navigation functions always directly accessible.
Overall, version 1.6.2 has improved several of the problems I previously reported, especially reverse proxy support and 5.1 / 6-channel video playback. The remaining video audio-selection issue and the web-app navigation are the main problems I found during my testing.
feedback@zimaos.com
Contact @Zima-777Spider
