4 ms·
I don’t know where the idea came from that a featureless rectilinear slab is somehow the ideal design for a phone. Of course people are perfectly welcome to th
by jmull 9y ago
I don’t know where the idea came from that a featureless rectilinear slab is somehow the ideal design for a phone.
Of course people are perfectly welcome to their own opinions, but there’s a deeper design principle here to let an object be what it is.
If all you do with a phone is look at it and tap on it then a plain rectangle is very good.
But you also hold the phone up to your head to talk into it and hear the person on the other side. Orientation is important.
It’s also probably the best camera you’ve ever owned, which intrinticly have a lens and depth. Why try to pretend one of the most important aspects of the phone doesn’t exist? (There have been some truely great camera designs over the years... how many of those were featureless, symmetrical rectangles? But now we think that’s somehow the ideal design??)
And the phone looks back at you, listens to you, and senses your environment. All key features. So why try to sweep those important sensors under the rug? Orientation is important here too, so again you want an orientation, not a symmetric featureless slab.
Sorry to jump on you, but I think your examples aren’t good.
- Shivetya 9y agoI guess we are trapped by lack of UI innovation so the form will be the driver still. for me I like many "sci fi" representations where the phone is everything, it just happens to work for calls. need a bigger display, point at something appropriate. need it to be private, well with tracking and directional displays we can get there. With regards to the X, +, and other phones, its not the form factor that was important, it was how you gained access. I think Apple emphasized the edge to edge screen too much when it was evident the notch was in violation, and should have wholly focused on what face id would give us. I do not understand why they cannot move some gestures only on X to other devices though.
- throwawayjava 9y agoI see what you're saying, and agree, but the description you give reminds me of this: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_QNmG5af9rFs/R3ypiFV0XaI/AAAAAAAAAu4/VOYdzb_GeRY/s400/New+Image2.JPG http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_QNmG5af9rFs/R3ypiFV0XaI/AAAAAAAAAu... Or, to be a bit less flippant about it: * flip phones * phones with slideout keyboards * blackberries * palm pilot stylus The featureless slab beat all of those for a few important reasons, but probably the most important is aesthetic. Even the iPad Pro, which has a stylus, is much more aesthetic, and so less nerdy, than the old palm stylus. So I also understand the ambivalence toward deviating from the featureless slab.
- heavenlyblue 9y agoWhat you're speaking about may not be a question of aesthetic, but rather a question of functionality (hidden keyboard - clean, no-accidental-presses keyboard) and size.
- throwawayjava 9y agoThere were a lot of factors, but I think aesthetics was a major component. The iPhone was a lot more than one more addition to the smart phone wars. IMO it created a product class for a bunch of consumers who probably never would've bought a blackberry or palm pilot. For a lot of reasons, some related to timing and others related to design. But a big component was the marketing, and aesthetics was a big reason for the success of the marketing.
- heavenlyblue 9y agoSadly, I've got to disagree with your point of view, and you do seem to have a hugely engineer-y viewpoint on what is "aesthetic". There's a functional aspect going together with the novelty factor in introducing a new, touchable screen that does not require physical buttons to be controlled - but it is just a matter of driving the wave of what is fashionable today (or well, tomorrow). The lack of detail _can_ be aesthetic, but it does not mean that something with a huge amount of detail could not be as aesthetic. Depending on when and where you're introducing your product: - single-button switch supporting voice control for your lights? Works for me. - voice-controlled power drill? Not so much (unless it's actually a hired human handling the power drill with his own hands and listening to my commands).
- throwawayjava 9y ago> but it does not mean that something with a huge amount of detail could not be as aesthetic Yes, that's why my initial comment indicated I agree with jmull.
- badsectoracula 9y ago
- whytaka 9y agoInvisibility is minimalism is simplicity is easy is good.