> In Microsoft's defence, Apple haven't done anything to fix the problem of people with several screens of apps, which is basically impossible to navigate enjoyable. I almost always use Spotlight to open apps that aren't in the first two screens nowadays.
If you are wanting a single screen with access to all of your apps... I'm not sure there is a way to that. iOS provides three ways of opening an app: springboard, spotlight, and Siri. Springboard is pretty good, and when combined with folders you can store quite a lot on just the first page.
I am not aware of a UI idiom that would provide access in a way you imply.
I'd like a single folder for each application type, then an alphabetical list of apps - maybe working something like the contact list. As it is I am stuck with dozens of folders (for each letter of the alphabet, and because of 12 app per folder limit, I have four "Games S" folders.
I actually feel the opposite way. If the search is fuzzy and incremental with good visual feedback there's no way I'd rather launch things than typing their names, except maybe dedicated keyboard shortcuts. Of course, something else is needed for discovering apps.
This is true on a computer, but on a mobile device I suspect you're in the extreme minority; typing an app's name on an onscreen keyboard is an order of magnitude or two more complex than tapping its icon after a swipe or two, especially when familiar with the layout.
No. There is nothing enjoyable (meant to write "enjoyably") about having to use the search feature for something as simple as opening as finding and opening an app.
Those two sentences contradict each other.