14 ms·

You can tell that was done by designers going for "ooh pretty" with usability somewhere down the priority list. "Fold to unlock"? What does that mean? Apple ha

You can tell that was done by designers going for "ooh pretty" with usability somewhere down the priority list. "Fold to unlock"? What does that mean? Apple has spent years teaching users about the "Slide to unlock" metaphor and now you want to change the wording? I need to fold my phone? wha? The contacts list with only pictures of contact's faces, because in the real world I have pictures of EVERYONE on my contact list, my lawyer, the plumber, that guy I met at the conference who quickly swapped numbers with... The app icons with no names was already dealt with in the post. I do like the keyboard though.

supercoder 14y ago
Agreed, most of these only work due to the contrived examples. The first one only looks good because of the background, uniform nature of the icons and omission of app titles. Think it's going to be a stretch to have all apps adapt the same icon style and users restricted from changing the background. Nothing wrong with looking to apply a few fresh coats of paint,but unfortunately Apple actually have to think about how it works in the real world, not just how it looks. People just randomly pointing to things that look half good and saying iOS should be like that is not being helpful.
- seanmcdirmid 14y ago
  How many people on hackernews can't tell the difference between concepts and real designs? I guess a lot. Blame the bad title in the blog entry.
bmunro 14y ago
The keyboard looks like the stock Android keyboard, but with black keys instead of the grey that Android has.
joshuamerrill 14y ago
If anything, I think "fold to unlock" better expresses Apple's current visual style, which is that every element of the OS must exist in physical space somewhere—i.e., the multitasking tray exists "below" the home screen, the notification center exists "above" it. The current lock screen doesn't really "exist" anywhere relative to the rest of the OS.
- baddox 14y ago
  Fun fact: if you swipe up from the lock screen to reveal the camera app, you can then swipe down from the top to bring the lock screen back down.
  - joshuamerrill 14y ago
    Wow. Did not know that. Thanks.
- rurounijones 14y ago
  I would argue that the lock screen is a special case since it is totally divorced from the rest of the OS in terms of usage, it may be common to go from app to multi-tasking tray and back etc but I would argue that locking and unlocking a device is a special scenario. There is also that part of me that naturally thinks "If I can fold it using action then I can unfold it using the opposite action" which would not work in this case. Although seeing as how someone else commented that this is available on jailbroken iphones I think I am on shaky ground on this one.
  - saurik 14y ago
    > Although seeing as how someone else commented that this is available on jailbroken iphones I think I am on shaky ground on this one. Just because some people like it, and even choose it, doesn't mean that it makes much sense. One minor issue is that if it were to fold in a way that felt physically realistic it would require going slightly above and below the screen, which it can't do (due to it being a screen), so there's something slightly unrealistic about watching it fold: some people don't notice, but some people will; the people who do notice may never be able to get past it. However, we actually can ignore the whole problem of squishy design arguments: how do you deal with the PIN code lock? If you have a PIN set, the actual implementation of Unfold seriously unfolds the lock screen to show... another lock screen (?!)... that has the PIN keypad (ok, I guess)... and when you type in your PIN it disappears using the original animation. That's just... weird, and almost looks like a bug it is such a kludge when you see it.
saurik 14y ago
You're going to find this crazy (and honestly, after having tried it I agree with you: it didn't quite make sense), but the "Fold to Unlock" is not just concept art from a designer: that's a popular modification you can download for free and install on a jailbroken iPhone, and tons of people really like the concrete implementation. http://www.iphonehacks.com/2012/05/unfold-brings-fold-to-unlock-concept-to-life.html http://www.iphonehacks.com/2012/05/unfold-brings-fold-to-unl...
- mwilcox 14y ago
  There's a big difference between intentionally installing a modification on your device and having it installed by default, though. iOS's popularity is largely due to its intuitive UI.
  - saurik 14y ago
    I can only imagine you missed my parenthetical? Like, reading your comment, one would presume that rather than saying "that's not just the design of some crazy designer, that's actually a concrete implementation that people like, but yeah: it doesn't make sense" I had said "no, you are wrong: Apple should do this, because you are totally wrong and a vast majority of people actually like it"... it isn't even "the most popular thing in the world of jailbreaking" or anything (although it is somewhat unreasonably popular for what it is ;P).
    - mwilcox 14y ago
      Rereading your comment, I did kind of skim past that bit, sorry. I was mostly referring to the little bit at the end in regards to 'lots of people really liking' it.
  - joshuamerrill 14y ago
    > iOS's popularity is largely due to its intuitive UI. I think that's true, which is why I'm so interested in iOS 7. IMHO, iOS has become much less intuitive—where I once found that ordinary users could understand and use most of the functions of the device, I find that no longer the case. For example, I find it unintuitive that the Home button does different things depending on how many times it's tapped, or for how long. The notification center gives no indication that it exists at all. The multitasking tray must be swiped left—twice—to reveal a volume control. Etc, etc.
oe 14y ago
The list of faces bugs me too. It's also heavily used in Facebook demos. But in real life people are either ugly or don't have a sensical profile picture from which you could recognise them.

supercoder 14y ago

Agreed, most of these only work due to the contrived examples. The first one only looks good because of the background, uniform nature of the icons and omission of app titles. Think it's going to be a stretch to have all apps adapt the same icon style and users restricted from changing the background. Nothing wrong with looking to apply a few fresh coats of paint,but unfortunately Apple actually have to think about how it works in the real world, not just how it looks. People just randomly pointing to things that look half good and saying iOS should be like that is not being helpful.

seanmcdirmid 14y ago
How many people on hackernews can't tell the difference between concepts and real designs? I guess a lot. Blame the bad title in the blog entry.

bmunro 14y ago

The keyboard looks like the stock Android keyboard, but with black keys instead of the grey that Android has.

joshuamerrill 14y ago

If anything, I think "fold to unlock" better expresses Apple's current visual style, which is that every element of the OS must exist in physical space somewhere—i.e., the multitasking tray exists "below" the home screen, the notification center exists "above" it. The current lock screen doesn't really "exist" anywhere relative to the rest of the OS.

baddox 14y ago
Fun fact: if you swipe up from the lock screen to reveal the camera app, you can then swipe down from the top to bring the lock screen back down.
- joshuamerrill 14y ago
  Wow. Did not know that. Thanks.
rurounijones 14y ago
I would argue that the lock screen is a special case since it is totally divorced from the rest of the OS in terms of usage, it may be common to go from app to multi-tasking tray and back etc but I would argue that locking and unlocking a device is a special scenario. There is also that part of me that naturally thinks "If I can fold it using action then I can unfold it using the opposite action" which would not work in this case. Although seeing as how someone else commented that this is available on jailbroken iphones I think I am on shaky ground on this one.
- saurik 14y ago
  > Although seeing as how someone else commented that this is available on jailbroken iphones I think I am on shaky ground on this one. Just because some people like it, and even choose it, doesn't mean that it makes much sense. One minor issue is that if it were to fold in a way that felt physically realistic it would require going slightly above and below the screen, which it can't do (due to it being a screen), so there's something slightly unrealistic about watching it fold: some people don't notice, but some people will; the people who do notice may never be able to get past it. However, we actually can ignore the whole problem of squishy design arguments: how do you deal with the PIN code lock? If you have a PIN set, the actual implementation of Unfold seriously unfolds the lock screen to show... another lock screen (?!)... that has the PIN keypad (ok, I guess)... and when you type in your PIN it disappears using the original animation. That's just... weird, and almost looks like a bug it is such a kludge when you see it.

saurik 14y ago

You're going to find this crazy (and honestly, after having tried it I agree with you: it didn't quite make sense), but the "Fold to Unlock" is not just concept art from a designer: that's a popular modification you can download for free and install on a jailbroken iPhone, and tons of people really like the concrete implementation. http://www.iphonehacks.com/2012/05/unfold-brings-fold-to-unlock-concept-to-life.html http://www.iphonehacks.com/2012/05/unfold-brings-fold-to-unl...

mwilcox 14y ago
There's a big difference between intentionally installing a modification on your device and having it installed by default, though. iOS's popularity is largely due to its intuitive UI.
- saurik 14y ago
  I can only imagine you missed my parenthetical? Like, reading your comment, one would presume that rather than saying "that's not just the design of some crazy designer, that's actually a concrete implementation that people like, but yeah: it doesn't make sense" I had said "no, you are wrong: Apple should do this, because you are totally wrong and a vast majority of people actually like it"... it isn't even "the most popular thing in the world of jailbreaking" or anything (although it is somewhat unreasonably popular for what it is ;P).
  - mwilcox 14y ago
    Rereading your comment, I did kind of skim past that bit, sorry. I was mostly referring to the little bit at the end in regards to 'lots of people really liking' it.
- joshuamerrill 14y ago
  > iOS's popularity is largely due to its intuitive UI. I think that's true, which is why I'm so interested in iOS 7. IMHO, iOS has become much less intuitive—where I once found that ordinary users could understand and use most of the functions of the device, I find that no longer the case. For example, I find it unintuitive that the Home button does different things depending on how many times it's tapped, or for how long. The notification center gives no indication that it exists at all. The multitasking tray must be swiped left—twice—to reveal a volume control. Etc, etc.

oe 14y ago

The list of faces bugs me too. It's also heavily used in Facebook demos. But in real life people are either ugly or don't have a sensical profile picture from which you could recognise them.