The iOS Settings app is a real mess. I could probably write a few dozen posts for it alone, but I ran across this again the other day and thought I'd note it. If you're traveling about and need to update your iPad's (or iPod touch) time and time zone, you'll have to use a screen where you select the proper time zone by searching for something. It turns out, you don't search for the time zone name, but a city that exists in that time zone. And not just any city will do — you need to choose a major city. The title for this selection screen simply says "Time Zone" (found under the Date & Time settings). For iPhone, you'll have to enable the option to set your time manually to see this. On a WiFi-only iPad, manual timezone selection is your only option. The iPhone screen looks like this:
So here I am, like a fool, trying to type "eastern" for my time zone, and all I see is "Easter Island". Why not let you search for both time zone names and cities? Or how about if the device is connected, allowing you to type in any city name or zip code and resolve that via an online service to a time zone? Or maybe it could use location services to let the user select from a short list of nearby time zones. Or, use a map interface to let you point at where you are (similar to the Mac's "world map" time zone selection).
At the very least, prompt the user to search for a major city in their time zone instead of leaving the user to guess at what is expected here. It isn't obvious.
Observed under iOS 4.3.3.
