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Although I'm a perfectionist and I believe a lot of these issues should be addressed, the tumblr itself bothers me. It's the logical culmination of Fail cultur

Although I'm a perfectionist and I believe a lot of these issues should be addressed, the tumblr itself bothers me. It's the logical culmination of Fail culture where hipsters in armchairs laugh at the inadequacy of everything while producing nothing. All these things could have been constructive criticism in another context, but here they just serve to further someone's twitchy compulsion to be entertained for another 5 seconds on the internet. Yes I'm getting surly in my old age.

lechevalierd3on 13y ago
Well we don't say Parisien are unpleasant persons for no reason.
lewispollard 13y ago
Not everyone can offer constructive feedback, but most people can have the problems brought to their attention and understand them. Even if you had constructive criticism, how exactly would you go about alerting a developer at Apple?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- romain_dardour 13y ago
  My point exactly. We love all things Apple, and I want to see those fixed.
  - vvhn 13y ago
    I've only been running iOS since it GM'ed ( which wasn't too long ago) but havn't seen some of the stuff shown there. iMessages certainly do that on my 4S. The notification badge on the Applications icon is always on top. I run into the battery low notification every day and it hasn't yet disagreed between values shown at the status versus the 20% and 10% thresholds you get these alerts from. Are these possibly from an earlier beta ?
    - romain_dardour 13y ago
      This is GM
    - iclelland 13y ago
      The battery notification looks identical to that in iOS6, and probably has the same behaviour. If you run your phone with the display off, say from 21% battery down to 11%, then it will cross the 20% reporting threshold. The next time that you unlock the phone and activate the display, you will get the notification. It's not inconsistent; nor is it just being "optimistic" -- it may be poorly worded, but it consistently displays that same message every time you unlock the phone after the battery drains to 20%. If the person who took that screenshot had waited another ten minutes, then the battery would probably have reached 10%, and the 10% notification would have been shown instead.
      - selectodude 13y ago
        It doesn't show that message every time you unlock. Just once, after it hits 20 percent. And then again, once, after it hits 10 percent.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
- marrs 13y ago
  Surely this is constructive. There is nothing there that cannot be acted upon. Any dev could treat these as a collection of bug reports.
janlukacs 13y ago
here's the thing though, If google would have released an UI as bad as this (just my oppinion as an iphone user) all the tech press and the hardcore apple fanboys would have trashed it online and offline for months. Who will be the role model from now on for "near perfection", "attention to detail"? Just look at this: http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/hon.jpg?w=600&h=600 http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/hon.jpg?... and tell me how you feel about it :)
- marrs 13y ago
  You're upset that the cover is obscuring the word "iPhone"? Or is "hon" a euphemism for something and I'm not getting it?
  - scep12 13y ago
    It's very sloppy. Especially for Apple.
    - arrrg 13y ago
      Eh. Apple has always been phoning in their accessories. They were never particularly good. I don’t see this as indicative of anything, it's just Apple being sloppy as they always are with these kinds of things. Where it counts Apple does not typically exhibit this behaviour, as evidenced by both new iPhones.
      - somebehemoth 13y ago
        I don't agree. Most of Apple's accessories are extremely stylish and complement their hardware: iPad smart cover, keyboards, mouses, chargers, ear buds, and monitors. I think the iPad smart cover alone demonstrates that Apple has the capability to make cases/covers for their mobile devices that are both functional and stylish. What accessories, besides the iPhone case discussed here, do you think Apple has made that are sloppy?
    - jfarmer 13y ago
cdash 13y ago
As opposed to hipsters in armchairs proclaiming every release the greatest thing since sliced bread.
jcutrell 13y ago
I think the visual explanation here offers credence to the criticism. This certainly isn't "hipster" culture - this is design critique. The worse thing would be if people blindly said things like "iOS7 is just not intuitive" and went on to drink their PBR and evangelize about Phonebloks - instead, these are real examples of why iOS7 could be better. At the very least, this thread is instructive for learning designers. I know as a younger programmer and designer, when someone said that "JavaScript has the weirdest quirks", it was useless unless someone showed me the quirks. Along came Douglas Crockford's Good Parts, which, while critical of the bad parts, was very instructive. I think this can function in similar ways. It's not just "Fail" culture rearing its stupid head - the tone is far from embarrassing to Apple, and instead is generally descriptive of legitimate design failures.
- roc 13y ago
  The number of obvious bugs [1] included lends a lot of weight to the impression of it being more about sniping than criticism. [1] z-index, text overlap, mixed states, etc. These are not questionable design choices. They're bugs. And lumping them in only detracts from the site and the many legit design gripes (problems of focus, alignment, contrast, usability, etc.)
  - HelloMcFly 13y ago
    Are bugs in the UI not themselves part of the UI? If their goal is point out "sloppiness" in the UI, why should obvious or slightly less-obvious bugs be excluded?
    - derefr 13y ago
      Because it's very likely that anything that would be seen as a "bug" will be fixed in updates; whereas things that are the result of intentional (bad) design, like lack of information hierarchy, probably won't be fixed, because they won't be seen as incorrect. (Which is, nominally, what this tumblr would be for pointing out.)
      - 13y ago
ahunt09 13y ago
I think that it's more complicated than just criticism of a less than perfect UI. I think it's an expression of the Apple community's concern that without Steve Jobs, Apple will no longer be able to produce the highly polished products that the community has come to expect.
- madeofpalk 13y ago
  > Apple community's concern that without Steve Jobs[...] The Apple community isn't concerned about a lack of Jobs, it's a portion of the non-Apple, Tech community that likes to shout this one out.
ynniv 13y ago
Criticizing Apple for poor design is like criticizing IBM for being unreliable: rather important because that's why people chose them in the first place. I'm still hoping that iOS 7 is an elaborate prank, and will be replaced by something worthy of Apple before the majority upgrades.
mcphilip 13y ago
That's a super cynical way to interpret this. I found the tumblr useful in aiding me in my decision whether to immediately upgrade to iOS 7 or not.
- slantyyz 13y ago
  Putting the "meh" UI esthetic aside, I didn't want to upgrade because my iPhone 4 had become a pig under 6, and 7 performs a hair worse than 6 in terms of speed and battery life. There are, however, some valid reasons to upgrade in spite of iOS 7's drawbacks (don't get me started on how the new lock screen keypad makes it harder for me to unlock my phone with just my thumb). * Call blocking has "finally" (gruber's favorite line lately) been implemented properly -- if you are one of those people who are increasingly getting more telemarketer calls on your cell number, this is a huge deal. * Safari runs faster on iOS7 than iOS6. 90% of what I do is browsing, so this can be a tradeoff that is well worth making.
MartinCron 13y ago
You're not getting surly, you're being empathetic. It's a good thing to rebel against the cheap comedy that is Fail culture.
wehadfun 13y ago
It probably took hours to create this tumblr and the author did not get paid. I think this tumblr is fantastic. We need more people like this. Ready to call out crap.
- sxcurry 13y ago
  Crap? Really? I upgraded yesterday and think it's amazingly good, in spite of a few minor issues. Do you have any concept of what it took to imagine, develop, implement, test, and distribute something like this to 100 million devices? Crap, really?
- awj 13y ago
  > We need more people like this. Ready to call out crap. We already have plenty of people ready to call out crap. Half the discussions on this site devolve into someone arguing about perceived flaws in something. What we actually need is people pushing up the level of discourse. A stream of pictures and pithy sarcasm isn't useful until someone else comes along and responds to it. The world needs more thoughtful analysis and advancement, we probably have enough tumblrs full of snarky images.

lechevalierd3on 13y ago

Well we don't say Parisien are unpleasant persons for no reason.

lewispollard 13y ago

Not everyone can offer constructive feedback, but most people can have the problems brought to their attention and understand them. Even if you had constructive criticism, how exactly would you go about alerting a developer at Apple?

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
romain_dardour 13y ago
My point exactly. We love all things Apple, and I want to see those fixed.
- vvhn 13y ago
  I've only been running iOS since it GM'ed ( which wasn't too long ago) but havn't seen some of the stuff shown there. iMessages certainly do that on my 4S. The notification badge on the Applications icon is always on top. I run into the battery low notification every day and it hasn't yet disagreed between values shown at the status versus the 20% and 10% thresholds you get these alerts from. Are these possibly from an earlier beta ?
  - romain_dardour 13y ago
    This is GM
  - iclelland 13y ago
    The battery notification looks identical to that in iOS6, and probably has the same behaviour. If you run your phone with the display off, say from 21% battery down to 11%, then it will cross the 20% reporting threshold. The next time that you unlock the phone and activate the display, you will get the notification. It's not inconsistent; nor is it just being "optimistic" -- it may be poorly worded, but it consistently displays that same message every time you unlock the phone after the battery drains to 20%. If the person who took that screenshot had waited another ten minutes, then the battery would probably have reached 10%, and the 10% notification would have been shown instead.
    - selectodude 13y ago
      It doesn't show that message every time you unlock. Just once, after it hits 20 percent. And then again, once, after it hits 10 percent.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
marrs 13y ago
Surely this is constructive. There is nothing there that cannot be acted upon. Any dev could treat these as a collection of bug reports.

janlukacs 13y ago

here's the thing though, If google would have released an UI as bad as this (just my oppinion as an iphone user) all the tech press and the hardcore apple fanboys would have trashed it online and offline for months. Who will be the role model from now on for "near perfection", "attention to detail"? Just look at this: http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/hon.jpg?w=600&h=600 http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/hon.jpg?... and tell me how you feel about it :)

marrs 13y ago
You're upset that the cover is obscuring the word "iPhone"? Or is "hon" a euphemism for something and I'm not getting it?
- scep12 13y ago
  It's very sloppy. Especially for Apple.
  - arrrg 13y ago
    Eh. Apple has always been phoning in their accessories. They were never particularly good. I don’t see this as indicative of anything, it's just Apple being sloppy as they always are with these kinds of things. Where it counts Apple does not typically exhibit this behaviour, as evidenced by both new iPhones.
    - somebehemoth 13y ago
      I don't agree. Most of Apple's accessories are extremely stylish and complement their hardware: iPad smart cover, keyboards, mouses, chargers, ear buds, and monitors. I think the iPad smart cover alone demonstrates that Apple has the capability to make cases/covers for their mobile devices that are both functional and stylish. What accessories, besides the iPhone case discussed here, do you think Apple has made that are sloppy?
  - jfarmer 13y ago

cdash 13y ago

As opposed to hipsters in armchairs proclaiming every release the greatest thing since sliced bread.

jcutrell 13y ago

I think the visual explanation here offers credence to the criticism. This certainly isn't "hipster" culture - this is design critique. The worse thing would be if people blindly said things like "iOS7 is just not intuitive" and went on to drink their PBR and evangelize about Phonebloks - instead, these are real examples of why iOS7 could be better. At the very least, this thread is instructive for learning designers. I know as a younger programmer and designer, when someone said that "JavaScript has the weirdest quirks", it was useless unless someone showed me the quirks. Along came Douglas Crockford's Good Parts, which, while critical of the bad parts, was very instructive. I think this can function in similar ways. It's not just "Fail" culture rearing its stupid head - the tone is far from embarrassing to Apple, and instead is generally descriptive of legitimate design failures.

roc 13y ago
The number of obvious bugs [1] included lends a lot of weight to the impression of it being more about sniping than criticism. [1] z-index, text overlap, mixed states, etc. These are not questionable design choices. They're bugs. And lumping them in only detracts from the site and the many legit design gripes (problems of focus, alignment, contrast, usability, etc.)
- HelloMcFly 13y ago
  Are bugs in the UI not themselves part of the UI? If their goal is point out "sloppiness" in the UI, why should obvious or slightly less-obvious bugs be excluded?
  - derefr 13y ago
    Because it's very likely that anything that would be seen as a "bug" will be fixed in updates; whereas things that are the result of intentional (bad) design, like lack of information hierarchy, probably won't be fixed, because they won't be seen as incorrect. (Which is, nominally, what this tumblr would be for pointing out.)
    - 13y ago

ahunt09 13y ago

I think that it's more complicated than just criticism of a less than perfect UI. I think it's an expression of the Apple community's concern that without Steve Jobs, Apple will no longer be able to produce the highly polished products that the community has come to expect.

madeofpalk 13y ago
> Apple community's concern that without Steve Jobs[...] The Apple community isn't concerned about a lack of Jobs, it's a portion of the non-Apple, Tech community that likes to shout this one out.

ynniv 13y ago

Criticizing Apple for poor design is like criticizing IBM for being unreliable: rather important because that's why people chose them in the first place. I'm still hoping that iOS 7 is an elaborate prank, and will be replaced by something worthy of Apple before the majority upgrades.

mcphilip 13y ago

That's a super cynical way to interpret this. I found the tumblr useful in aiding me in my decision whether to immediately upgrade to iOS 7 or not.

slantyyz 13y ago
Putting the "meh" UI esthetic aside, I didn't want to upgrade because my iPhone 4 had become a pig under 6, and 7 performs a hair worse than 6 in terms of speed and battery life. There are, however, some valid reasons to upgrade in spite of iOS 7's drawbacks (don't get me started on how the new lock screen keypad makes it harder for me to unlock my phone with just my thumb). * Call blocking has "finally" (gruber's favorite line lately) been implemented properly -- if you are one of those people who are increasingly getting more telemarketer calls on your cell number, this is a huge deal. * Safari runs faster on iOS7 than iOS6. 90% of what I do is browsing, so this can be a tradeoff that is well worth making.

MartinCron 13y ago

You're not getting surly, you're being empathetic. It's a good thing to rebel against the cheap comedy that is Fail culture.

wehadfun 13y ago

It probably took hours to create this tumblr and the author did not get paid. I think this tumblr is fantastic. We need more people like this. Ready to call out crap.

sxcurry 13y ago
Crap? Really? I upgraded yesterday and think it's amazingly good, in spite of a few minor issues. Do you have any concept of what it took to imagine, develop, implement, test, and distribute something like this to 100 million devices? Crap, really?
awj 13y ago
> We need more people like this. Ready to call out crap. We already have plenty of people ready to call out crap. Half the discussions on this site devolve into someone arguing about perceived flaws in something. What we actually need is people pushing up the level of discourse. A stream of pictures and pithy sarcasm isn't useful until someone else comes along and responds to it. The world needs more thoughtful analysis and advancement, we probably have enough tumblrs full of snarky images.