Hands-on with ‘OS Experience’ for iPad

OS Experience

OS Experience is an upcoming jailbreak tweak that allows for true multitasking on the iPad. It’s a tweak that’s similar in function to the Quasar tweak that released a few years ago, but it’s much more in-depth and functional than Quasar.

After testing OS Experience for the past couple of days, I can definitely tell you that the ambition behind this upcoming release is remarkable. OS Experience brings a desktop feel to the iPad, which is unlike any other jailbreak tweak for iOS 7. It’s like Mission Control from OS X on the iPad.

We had a brief preview of the tweak yesterday, but we now have our very own hands-on video walkthrough of OS Experience. Check after the break for all of the details.

The most remarkable thing about OS Experience is that it allows you to interact with multiple apps at once. For example, I had three apps running on screen at the same time, and I could watch them all update in real-time. I could even tap and manipulate the features of all three apps at once.

If you’ve ever used Mission Control on OS X, then you’ll very much know what to expect from OS Experience. This tweak does a fine job in porting the look, feel, and functionality of Mission Control on the iPad’s screen.

OS Experience incorporates a variety of new gestures that allow you to maximize, minimize, move and adjust the size of windows. Users can view, create, and destroy multiple desktops as well. You can even move windowed apps between desktops using a simple tap-and-drag gesture. All of this can be done using multi-touch gestures. Despite my usage of it in the video, you don’t have to use the Home button at all to control OS Experience.

OS Experience 2

OS Experience won’t be for everyone. It changes the way that iOS works so much that it’s bound to be polarizing on some level. Getting used to all of the gestures alters the fundamental nature of iOS. There’s a definite learning curve to using OS Experience, and I imagine that not all will be up to the challenge.

And then there’s the aspect of performance. While the tweak worked quite admirably on my A7-equipped Retina iPad mini in most instances, I can definitely see the animations and true multitasking putting a hurt on lesser hardware. Even on my beefy hardware, I ran into some glitches when swiping between apps, and a few choppy animations here and there.

OS Experience 3

OS Experience is still knee-deep in development, and is scheduled to be released sometime in the next two weeks. Developer Evan Swick plans on charging $9.99 for his work, and I don’t blame him. While the cost is high compared to the average Cydia release, OS Experience isn’t the average Cydia release. It’s apparent that Swick poured a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into this tweak’s development, and for it he should be appropriately compensated.

That said, here’s hoping that Swick goes with some sort of trial-based system for new customers. OS Experience changes the way that iOS works at such a fundamental level, that it’s inevitable that some will not like it despite its grandeur.

What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below.