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I've always admired some of the things marco writes about, this is not one of them. While article is a depressingly one-sided article (marco's prerogative, tot

by iamdave 16y ago

I've always admired some of the things marco writes about, this is not one of them. While article is a depressingly one-sided article (marco's prerogative, totally fine with me), he misses a very big point, that for the sake of full disclosure should at least be expounded upon beyond a dry-wit analogy to Desktop Linux. Android and iOS are moving in two different directions, and have benefits for two different crowds. While they both enjoy their share of people who play by the party lines, and will gladly pull out their iPhone or Android Phone the minute the opportunity to use an application presents itself, it doesn't stray away from the fact that the two platforms should not be compared to one another. Where the iPhone shines in brilliance, quality, and polish, Android reigns supreme when it comes down to making the phone do what you want to the core. That is not, however in the least bit to say that hacking the Android platform is inherent to its very existence. I'm not going to beat the "one is open the other is not" horse, because it's already dead, but it's very hard to ignore the obvious that Android is a pragmatic platform that prides itself on the berth of UX centric platform evolution where the iPhone gives users features, and expects them to work with those features withdrawn from the scope of downloading Apps.

xenomachina 16y ago
Speaking of having benefits for different crowds: when he mentioned the "why-is-this-here moments" his inability to understand that different people like different things became pretty clear. Why is it so hard to believe that some people may actually want a physical keyboard? Yes, it typically makes the phone bulkier and/or uglier, but for some people the extra utility it provides is worth it. Apple's approach has often been "we'll tell you what's good for you". That's how we got iMacs only available in Steve Jobs's favorite shade of blue (later more colors were added) the green "resize this window to Apple approved dimensions" button in Mac OS X, and now the one-size-fits-all iPhone.
- Legion 16y ago
  Yeah, when he listed the physical keyboard as a "why is this here" example, I knew the guy had nothing to say that was of any value to me. I certainly have no problem with people liking the Apple Way (typing this on a 13" MBP, charging my iPad in the other room), but I find it endlessly annoying when someone feels incredulous that someone else might want something outside the strictly-defined Apple bounds.
- samstokes 16y ago
  I don't think he was saying that any physical keyboard is superfluous, so much as that the Droid's keyboard, which is terrible, is superfluous. Something about the design of the Droid keyboard - the flat keys, the squishy response, odd placements of some keys - makes it much harder to type on accurately than my Nokia E71 whose keyboard is nearly half the size. And the fairly decent predictive / autocorrect functionality of the Droid's virtual keyboard gets deactivated when you're using the physical keyboard, so there's nothing to rescue from typos. It's actually faster to use the virtual keyboard, so you really do wonder why the physical keyboard is there. No-one who's used a Blackberry for a while will be in any doubt of the value of a good physical keyboard.
  - iamdave 16y ago
    Blackberry user here, and to this day I defend the primary point of me continuing to use a physical, full qwerty keyboard is the responsiveness, and the user centric design of the keyboard. Case in point of this having two shift buttons on either side of the spacebar, both iOS and the Android platform lack this logical affordance (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/application-mistakes.html http://www.useit.com/alertbox/application-mistakes.html). Great points, Sam.
drivebyacct 16y ago
I agree with everything, but couldn't disagree more strongly with the notion that they shouldn't be compared to each other. Big picture, it's MS, RIM, Apple, and Google in the smartphone market. It's undeniable that they will be compared in reviews, in consumers' minds, in businesses' when deciding which platform to go with internally.

by iamdave 16y ago

xenomachina 16y ago

Speaking of having benefits for different crowds: when he mentioned the "why-is-this-here moments" his inability to understand that different people like different things became pretty clear. Why is it so hard to believe that some people may actually want a physical keyboard? Yes, it typically makes the phone bulkier and/or uglier, but for some people the extra utility it provides is worth it. Apple's approach has often been "we'll tell you what's good for you". That's how we got iMacs only available in Steve Jobs's favorite shade of blue (later more colors were added) the green "resize this window to Apple approved dimensions" button in Mac OS X, and now the one-size-fits-all iPhone.

Legion 16y ago
Yeah, when he listed the physical keyboard as a "why is this here" example, I knew the guy had nothing to say that was of any value to me. I certainly have no problem with people liking the Apple Way (typing this on a 13" MBP, charging my iPad in the other room), but I find it endlessly annoying when someone feels incredulous that someone else might want something outside the strictly-defined Apple bounds.
samstokes 16y ago
I don't think he was saying that any physical keyboard is superfluous, so much as that the Droid's keyboard, which is terrible, is superfluous. Something about the design of the Droid keyboard - the flat keys, the squishy response, odd placements of some keys - makes it much harder to type on accurately than my Nokia E71 whose keyboard is nearly half the size. And the fairly decent predictive / autocorrect functionality of the Droid's virtual keyboard gets deactivated when you're using the physical keyboard, so there's nothing to rescue from typos. It's actually faster to use the virtual keyboard, so you really do wonder why the physical keyboard is there. No-one who's used a Blackberry for a while will be in any doubt of the value of a good physical keyboard.
- iamdave 16y ago
  Blackberry user here, and to this day I defend the primary point of me continuing to use a physical, full qwerty keyboard is the responsiveness, and the user centric design of the keyboard. Case in point of this having two shift buttons on either side of the spacebar, both iOS and the Android platform lack this logical affordance (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/application-mistakes.html http://www.useit.com/alertbox/application-mistakes.html). Great points, Sam.

drivebyacct 16y ago

I agree with everything, but couldn't disagree more strongly with the notion that they shouldn't be compared to each other. Big picture, it's MS, RIM, Apple, and Google in the smartphone market. It's undeniable that they will be compared in reviews, in consumers' minds, in businesses' when deciding which platform to go with internally.