An alternative notification system proposal for iOS 5

Got a lot of comments on this. I'm not blown away by Apple's Notification Center, but I don't think this is the right solution at all.

This approach fails to distinguish itself from the existing elements of the OS. It crams more information than the current notification into an even smaller space. Fading the white-on-black text of the status bar into white-on-black notification text doesn't seem like good way to grab attention (and what about when it's not a black status bar?). How do I see what app sent the notification? The app icon takes up way less space than "Message from xxxxx" in the fully expanded notification example given. It's just too easy to miss, and takes away any ability to see what's up at-a-glance.

Tapping the status bar is also a sub-optimal interaction. The minimum-recommended size for iOS touch targets is ~40px (yes, Apple breaks this a lot), but the status bar is only 20px high. The chance of accidentally hitting a button in the current app while trying to view a notification goes through the roof with this approach.

The new banner notifications are a good mix of attention getting and unobtrusive content - I wouldn't want them bigger or smaller.

+1 for Notification count in the status bar though - I hope that makes it into the final version. I'd agree with the cloth background for the Notification Center, but it's the same background we've been used to for folders over the last year, just brighter to make it seem to float "above" the rest of the system.