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Focusing on iTunes to argue that Apple can't design simple software anymore seems a little bit unfair, while on the other hand I understand that it might be the

by Twisell 11y ago

Focusing on iTunes to argue that Apple can't design simple software anymore seems a little bit unfair, while on the other hand I understand that it might be the only Apple desktop software used by people who run on MS Windows. But still, it really not representative of the Apple ecosystem IMHO. 3D Touch on iOS for instance is a state of the art demonstration of how to transparently and smoothly add a layer of functionality to an existing interface.

npunt 11y ago
Yep, iTunes is a place where Apple tests new UI concepts against a rather complex data organizing problem, and its always been a bit of a hodgepodge of ideas.
jamstruth 11y ago
I seem to remember seeing a lot of commenters in the iPhoneSE announcement thread saying that they'd completely forgotten that 3DTouch even existed. It may be "smoothly" integrated but so much so that nothing has visibly changed, nothing to indicate that there is a new feature or where it's usable.
- LoSboccacc 11y ago
  It's like the first iteration 3DS, nintendo mandated that every game must also be able to run in 2d for compatibility and usability, so noone could really push the feature into new territory
richardw 11y ago
I dunno. How about Apple forcing me to sync my music via their dumb cloud thing if I happened to have enabled apple music at some point? I have a phone linked via a cable to a computer, want to get two songs on the phone, can't do it unless I sync multiple GB of junk via the internet. Then they won't let me sync a song via their cloud because it's a voice MP3 I bought ages ago and isn't high bitrate enough?! Kill. After much Googling all I could do was turn off apple music, sync to the device, re-add itunes music. IIRC there are two levels/types of cloud, one where you can add music and the other where you sync everything via it. Whatever, it's just something my mother shouldn't have to know about. On the iphone, the "for you" icon is a heart. The "like" icon is also a heart, but the relationship between the two is tenuous. The "plus" button adds a song to my music but I still have to hit "download" to keep that song on my device. I have to double-opt-in to music I want? Make it easy to add music! To really say you like something there's plus, download and like. And then there's still the 1-5 rating, which I just had to click around for 30 seconds to find again. No idea if Apple will feed me more of liked-plussed-downloaded-5-star music than simply liked. I haven't found 3D touch that useful. I try it all the time but it just feels gimmicky. Half-push to get something, full-push to get the same thing I'd get if I just touched it lightly. Sometimes it's a menu, sometimes it opens up a preview, sometimes a combo preview and menu. I'd bet 70% of people just don't use it because it's too faffy. And I just remembered Airdrop, where the "air" part seems to be more representative of Airdrop reliability than anything else. Does it want wifi? Proximity? The moon in a given phase? What incantations must I perform to move this photo two feet? Why can it see the ipad but not the other phone, when the other phone can see this phone? Can I add a favourite set of devices so it can find each other a bit more quickly? Apple are fantastic at simple interactions, when there's one button and three things to do. They can distill better than anyone. But make things slightly tricky and they overload one button with 100 features and start falling over their feet.
- hutattedonmyarm 11y ago
  >I dunno. How about Apple forcing me to sync my music via their dumb cloud thing if I happened to have enabled apple music at some point? I have a phone linked via a cable to a computer, want to get two songs on the phone, can't do it unless I sync multiple GB of junk via the internet. You can turn off the iCloud Music Library and sync via cable
  - richardw 11y ago
    I did figure it out, but it wasn't obvious. It just seemed a weird interaction - take a long-standing and obvious feature away because they're pushing the iCloud service.
  - Ensorceled 11y ago
    You cut out the part where they said: "After much Googling all I could do was turn off apple music, sync to the device". Why? What point are you trying to make? It's not obvious and not simple. I also had to google how to do this. Are you claiming that this was obvious and easy?
ricksplat 11y ago
3D touch is a pain in the hole - always going off when I don't want it, and otherwise not really there whenever I do want to use it, to any useful degree. It's just another distraction for app developers too, away from creating value. I'd far rather the effort went into that went into providing a more stable dependable ecosystem.
dave2000 11y ago
I had a nightmare trying to free up space for an iPad software upgrade. I couldn't see what was backed up. The apple site had placeholder text in the area devoted to this topic. There was some way of syncing a folder with the contents of what was being backed up but this didn't work and there was no progress meter.

by Twisell 11y ago

npunt 11y ago

Yep, iTunes is a place where Apple tests new UI concepts against a rather complex data organizing problem, and its always been a bit of a hodgepodge of ideas.

jamstruth 11y ago

I seem to remember seeing a lot of commenters in the iPhoneSE announcement thread saying that they'd completely forgotten that 3DTouch even existed. It may be "smoothly" integrated but so much so that nothing has visibly changed, nothing to indicate that there is a new feature or where it's usable.

LoSboccacc 11y ago
It's like the first iteration 3DS, nintendo mandated that every game must also be able to run in 2d for compatibility and usability, so noone could really push the feature into new territory

richardw 11y ago

I dunno. How about Apple forcing me to sync my music via their dumb cloud thing if I happened to have enabled apple music at some point? I have a phone linked via a cable to a computer, want to get two songs on the phone, can't do it unless I sync multiple GB of junk via the internet. Then they won't let me sync a song via their cloud because it's a voice MP3 I bought ages ago and isn't high bitrate enough?! Kill. After much Googling all I could do was turn off apple music, sync to the device, re-add itunes music. IIRC there are two levels/types of cloud, one where you can add music and the other where you sync everything via it. Whatever, it's just something my mother shouldn't have to know about. On the iphone, the "for you" icon is a heart. The "like" icon is also a heart, but the relationship between the two is tenuous. The "plus" button adds a song to my music but I still have to hit "download" to keep that song on my device. I have to double-opt-in to music I want? Make it easy to add music! To really say you like something there's plus, download and like. And then there's still the 1-5 rating, which I just had to click around for 30 seconds to find again. No idea if Apple will feed me more of liked-plussed-downloaded-5-star music than simply liked. I haven't found 3D touch that useful. I try it all the time but it just feels gimmicky. Half-push to get something, full-push to get the same thing I'd get if I just touched it lightly. Sometimes it's a menu, sometimes it opens up a preview, sometimes a combo preview and menu. I'd bet 70% of people just don't use it because it's too faffy. And I just remembered Airdrop, where the "air" part seems to be more representative of Airdrop reliability than anything else. Does it want wifi? Proximity? The moon in a given phase? What incantations must I perform to move this photo two feet? Why can it see the ipad but not the other phone, when the other phone can see this phone? Can I add a favourite set of devices so it can find each other a bit more quickly? Apple are fantastic at simple interactions, when there's one button and three things to do. They can distill better than anyone. But make things slightly tricky and they overload one button with 100 features and start falling over their feet.

hutattedonmyarm 11y ago
>I dunno. How about Apple forcing me to sync my music via their dumb cloud thing if I happened to have enabled apple music at some point? I have a phone linked via a cable to a computer, want to get two songs on the phone, can't do it unless I sync multiple GB of junk via the internet. You can turn off the iCloud Music Library and sync via cable
- richardw 11y ago
  I did figure it out, but it wasn't obvious. It just seemed a weird interaction - take a long-standing and obvious feature away because they're pushing the iCloud service.
- Ensorceled 11y ago
  You cut out the part where they said: "After much Googling all I could do was turn off apple music, sync to the device". Why? What point are you trying to make? It's not obvious and not simple. I also had to google how to do this. Are you claiming that this was obvious and easy?

ricksplat 11y ago

3D touch is a pain in the hole - always going off when I don't want it, and otherwise not really there whenever I do want to use it, to any useful degree. It's just another distraction for app developers too, away from creating value. I'd far rather the effort went into that went into providing a more stable dependable ecosystem.

dave2000 11y ago

I had a nightmare trying to free up space for an iPad software upgrade. I couldn't see what was backed up. The apple site had placeholder text in the area devoted to this topic. There was some way of syncing a folder with the contents of what was being backed up but this didn't work and there was no progress meter.