6 ms·

The iPhone is the worst...

27 points by GICodeWarrior 16y ago

geekam 16y ago
I just can't seem to make up my mind. Android Vs iPhone Vs Palm
- th0ma5 16y ago
  I'm not an authority but in my mind, Iphone == Wowness and simple magic, Android == Open hacking and Google cloud, and Palm == getting things done with a proven organizational tool. Now all of those things you can probably do with each of the others, and I'm sure one could dispute each as well, but advice is only good to pass along, and not often of much practical use (perhaps, heh bastardized wilde quote)
  - Qz 16y ago
    Might want to update your mind, your information is outdated.
    - th0ma5 16y ago
      Okay, iPhone is hard to use from a IxD perspective? Android isn't really open? BB is the new Pre? Advice sucks, in general, and so does making phone choices for others! :D
- tjarratt 16y ago
  I suggest you spend an hour in a store and try each of the devices. Don't buy one immediately, but try to remember the things that bothered you the most on each platform. Picking the device that has the least memorable issues works well for me. Picking a device based on the "wow" factor, or based on which features you like the most is giving into all of the marketing and positioning these companies create to get you to buy the device. Since (to a degree) you can accomplish the same tasks with one as you can with the others, you should pick the one that causes you the least discomfort. Joy will follow. edit: disclaimer, I like android devices a lot, but I use an iphone. I've spent approximately 10 minutes watching someone else use a palm pre.
w1ntermute 16y ago
iOS notifications are as disruptive as notifications on a mobile device can possibly be. A box pops up in the middle of the display, interrupts whatever might be taking place at the time, and prevents the user from doing anything else with the device until one of two things happens — the user must either interact with the notification (dismiss it or open the related app) or turn the display off and back on. I've never used an iPhone before, so I had no idea this was the case. This seems like a fatal design flaw. How can you just interrupt the user like that? Edit: after reading about it a little online, it appears that the iPhone doesn't have an LED light that blinks when you have a SMS, email, missed call, etc. - do you really have to turn on the screen just to see if there's anything new?
- cscheid 16y ago
  It is incredibly painful, and there are some egregious offenders which I find hard to believe went through any testing (I'm looking at you, New York Times iPad app).
  - smackfu 16y ago
    Are there any people in the world that want headlines to be alerts? And not even very important headlines.
  - chrisbolt 16y ago
    It's not hard to disable push notifications for any given app.
- sudont 16y ago
  It's part of a bad trend at Apple. Used to be the best part of their operating system was how unintrusive it was: non-focused applications could never overlay a notification over a focused app. However, that behavior was changed with the Spaces feature, or at the same time.
- AndrewDucker 16y ago
  I believe that notifications is one are where Android does it better. You have a bar at the top (where the clock and signal strength is), and any sms or emails or any other notifications appear at the top. You can then drag this bar down to see more details, and selecting (for instance) the sms notifications will then open the sms app.
brown9-2 16y ago
Can someone explain more about "iPuke"? I'm curious about this as a prospective first-time iPhone owner.
- tjarratt 16y ago
  I've used several iOS devices heavily in the past two years and I'm not even certain what he's talking about. At no point have any of my devices become unusable due to notifications. If you can create a scenario where a dozen or more notifications pop up at once, and all vie for your attention, then you have my admiration, because that would be an awful bug. Unless you frequently schedule alarms to go off when your friends are going to be SMSing you and create twitter notifications, and you miss several calls at the same time, this is unlikely to be an issue. I suppose there is a small chance that Apple's push notification servers could bug out and delude your device with notifications, but everything I've read and seen about their architecture (from the perspective of a 3rd party app developer) indicates that this is designed to be impossible. Notifications (because they are disruptive) should not be able to render your device inoperable.
thought_alarm 16y ago
I disagree about YouTube; I love watching video on my iPad. I have no opinion of widgets. And he's completely wrong about multitasking; as an iOS developer and iOS user I think the iPhone's approach to multitasking is marvellous. Other than that, it's all true (although, my mom seems to think that the iPhone auto-correct is great). I think everyone should own an iOS device. I think the iPhone generally represents the highest-quality hardware and software that's currently available and I often recommend it to people, but it still does not come close to replacing my Blackberry as an email and messaging device, for exactly the reasons he mentioned.
- slantyyz 16y ago
  My personal view is that the three most interesting phone GUIs are iOS, WebOS and Windows Thingamajiggy 7. They take slightly different, yet opinionated approaches to the smartphone use case. I'm probably going to get flamed for it, but Android's UI to me seems to be lacking a concrete "design opinion", so to speak.
  - LordLandon 16y ago
    I'll always take functionality over design. I don't care how many rounded corners a notification has, but I do care about it not demanding my immediate attention, and waiting in line like everything else. If apple designed the most beautiful volume control menu that you've ever seen, would you give it up for hardware volume buttons?
    - slantyyz 16y ago
      Not sure we're talking about the same thing. Don't hardware buttons require design too? I was probably unclear, but I meant design of the user experience, not interface chrome.
PCheese 16y ago
I also can’t add words, so the only way to get iOS to remember an unknown word is to add it to the address book That is false, and this should be a good tip if you were unaware of the technique. Just add the words in Settings : General : Keyboard : Edit User Dictionary… No need to add them to the address book.
- zacharye 16y ago
  That's only the case if you have certain international keyboards enabled, which is why many people don't know about it and why it wasn't mentioned in the article.
glhaynes 16y ago
Then, it’s ridiculous that there is no way to close an app without saving its state. The iPhone is easily the worst when it comes to clutter in the app manager, and the solution would be all too simple. How about a long-tap on the home button to close an app, fellas? If you're worrying about "clutter in the app manager", you're using your iPhone wrong.
- ugh 16y ago
  A little pointer that might help people who are confused by the “app manager” and think it’s cluttered: think of it as merely showing you the apps you recently used because it’s just that. It’s not an app manager. Nobody would complain about a cluttered “Recently used” list on a desktop OS.
  - tomerico 16y ago
    Almost correct. The main problem to me is that GPS apps still run in the background when you close them, and they KILL the battery life. So every time I want to exit my GPS, I have to close it, double tap, press and hold the icon and close it.
    - ugh 16y ago
      I tend to think of this as a “bug” in the OS and I think that it’s very much Apple’s task to come up with a solution. You shouldn’t have to do that.
      - glhaynes 16y ago
        Seems like perfect new rejection criteria: "Your app will be rejected if it continues to use location services in the background without making the battery life implications clear to the user and showing an option to easily turn this function off."
- royalpineapple 16y ago
  Actually, he's wrong on that point. there is a way to force quit an app without saving its state. Press and hold the sleep/wake button for several seconds, until the Slide to Power Off control appears. Release the sleep/wake button and hold down the Home button for another 7-10 seconds. The app will quit and return the user to the Home Screen.

27 points by GICodeWarrior 16y ago

geekam 16y ago

I just can't seem to make up my mind. Android Vs iPhone Vs Palm

th0ma5 16y ago
I'm not an authority but in my mind, Iphone == Wowness and simple magic, Android == Open hacking and Google cloud, and Palm == getting things done with a proven organizational tool. Now all of those things you can probably do with each of the others, and I'm sure one could dispute each as well, but advice is only good to pass along, and not often of much practical use (perhaps, heh bastardized wilde quote)
- Qz 16y ago
  Might want to update your mind, your information is outdated.
  - th0ma5 16y ago
    Okay, iPhone is hard to use from a IxD perspective? Android isn't really open? BB is the new Pre? Advice sucks, in general, and so does making phone choices for others! :D
tjarratt 16y ago
I suggest you spend an hour in a store and try each of the devices. Don't buy one immediately, but try to remember the things that bothered you the most on each platform. Picking the device that has the least memorable issues works well for me. Picking a device based on the "wow" factor, or based on which features you like the most is giving into all of the marketing and positioning these companies create to get you to buy the device. Since (to a degree) you can accomplish the same tasks with one as you can with the others, you should pick the one that causes you the least discomfort. Joy will follow. edit: disclaimer, I like android devices a lot, but I use an iphone. I've spent approximately 10 minutes watching someone else use a palm pre.

w1ntermute 16y ago

iOS notifications are as disruptive as notifications on a mobile device can possibly be. A box pops up in the middle of the display, interrupts whatever might be taking place at the time, and prevents the user from doing anything else with the device until one of two things happens — the user must either interact with the notification (dismiss it or open the related app) or turn the display off and back on. I've never used an iPhone before, so I had no idea this was the case. This seems like a fatal design flaw. How can you just interrupt the user like that? Edit: after reading about it a little online, it appears that the iPhone doesn't have an LED light that blinks when you have a SMS, email, missed call, etc. - do you really have to turn on the screen just to see if there's anything new?

cscheid 16y ago
It is incredibly painful, and there are some egregious offenders which I find hard to believe went through any testing (I'm looking at you, New York Times iPad app).
- smackfu 16y ago
  Are there any people in the world that want headlines to be alerts? And not even very important headlines.
- chrisbolt 16y ago
  It's not hard to disable push notifications for any given app.
sudont 16y ago
It's part of a bad trend at Apple. Used to be the best part of their operating system was how unintrusive it was: non-focused applications could never overlay a notification over a focused app. However, that behavior was changed with the Spaces feature, or at the same time.
AndrewDucker 16y ago
I believe that notifications is one are where Android does it better. You have a bar at the top (where the clock and signal strength is), and any sms or emails or any other notifications appear at the top. You can then drag this bar down to see more details, and selecting (for instance) the sms notifications will then open the sms app.

brown9-2 16y ago

Can someone explain more about "iPuke"? I'm curious about this as a prospective first-time iPhone owner.

tjarratt 16y ago
I've used several iOS devices heavily in the past two years and I'm not even certain what he's talking about. At no point have any of my devices become unusable due to notifications. If you can create a scenario where a dozen or more notifications pop up at once, and all vie for your attention, then you have my admiration, because that would be an awful bug. Unless you frequently schedule alarms to go off when your friends are going to be SMSing you and create twitter notifications, and you miss several calls at the same time, this is unlikely to be an issue. I suppose there is a small chance that Apple's push notification servers could bug out and delude your device with notifications, but everything I've read and seen about their architecture (from the perspective of a 3rd party app developer) indicates that this is designed to be impossible. Notifications (because they are disruptive) should not be able to render your device inoperable.

thought_alarm 16y ago

I disagree about YouTube; I love watching video on my iPad. I have no opinion of widgets. And he's completely wrong about multitasking; as an iOS developer and iOS user I think the iPhone's approach to multitasking is marvellous. Other than that, it's all true (although, my mom seems to think that the iPhone auto-correct is great). I think everyone should own an iOS device. I think the iPhone generally represents the highest-quality hardware and software that's currently available and I often recommend it to people, but it still does not come close to replacing my Blackberry as an email and messaging device, for exactly the reasons he mentioned.

slantyyz 16y ago
My personal view is that the three most interesting phone GUIs are iOS, WebOS and Windows Thingamajiggy 7. They take slightly different, yet opinionated approaches to the smartphone use case. I'm probably going to get flamed for it, but Android's UI to me seems to be lacking a concrete "design opinion", so to speak.
- LordLandon 16y ago
  I'll always take functionality over design. I don't care how many rounded corners a notification has, but I do care about it not demanding my immediate attention, and waiting in line like everything else. If apple designed the most beautiful volume control menu that you've ever seen, would you give it up for hardware volume buttons?
  - slantyyz 16y ago
    Not sure we're talking about the same thing. Don't hardware buttons require design too? I was probably unclear, but I meant design of the user experience, not interface chrome.

PCheese 16y ago

I also can’t add words, so the only way to get iOS to remember an unknown word is to add it to the address book That is false, and this should be a good tip if you were unaware of the technique. Just add the words in Settings : General : Keyboard : Edit User Dictionary… No need to add them to the address book.

zacharye 16y ago
That's only the case if you have certain international keyboards enabled, which is why many people don't know about it and why it wasn't mentioned in the article.

glhaynes 16y ago

Then, it’s ridiculous that there is no way to close an app without saving its state. The iPhone is easily the worst when it comes to clutter in the app manager, and the solution would be all too simple. How about a long-tap on the home button to close an app, fellas? If you're worrying about "clutter in the app manager", you're using your iPhone wrong.

ugh 16y ago
A little pointer that might help people who are confused by the “app manager” and think it’s cluttered: think of it as merely showing you the apps you recently used because it’s just that. It’s not an app manager. Nobody would complain about a cluttered “Recently used” list on a desktop OS.
- tomerico 16y ago
  Almost correct. The main problem to me is that GPS apps still run in the background when you close them, and they KILL the battery life. So every time I want to exit my GPS, I have to close it, double tap, press and hold the icon and close it.
  - ugh 16y ago
    I tend to think of this as a “bug” in the OS and I think that it’s very much Apple’s task to come up with a solution. You shouldn’t have to do that.
    - glhaynes 16y ago
      Seems like perfect new rejection criteria: "Your app will be rejected if it continues to use location services in the background without making the battery life implications clear to the user and showing an option to easily turn this function off."
royalpineapple 16y ago
Actually, he's wrong on that point. there is a way to force quit an app without saving its state. Press and hold the sleep/wake button for several seconds, until the Slide to Power Off control appears. Release the sleep/wake button and hold down the Home button for another 7-10 seconds. The app will quit and return the user to the Home Screen.