Maybe I'm too easy to please, but every day since I unboxed my Kobo Forma I've been impressed with it. The backlight is adjustable down to barely noticeable for night reading with the lights off, and in bright light the e-ink looks great. The weight in the "spine" is perfect, and the rest of the unit feels near weightless. The battery lasts weeks. And the device has performed flawlessly for over a year now, which is honestly more than I expected for a somewhat niche electronics product. I use it for queued blog posts via Pocket, or some light fiction before bed or during lunch break.
Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?
101–110 of 994 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?
#102"Things" is pretty broad. Thinking of software, probably early "beta" Gmail. There was so much about the email experience that was improved by a stable web client, with what felt at the time like unlimited storage. Thinking of hardware, I've never been much for Apple products, but the iPhone (particularly early models) is undoubtedly a design marvel.
> Thinking of hardware, I've never been much for Apple products, but the iPhone (particularly early models) is undoubtedly a design marvel. I am surprised that no one else has mentioned the iPhone. It seems to me like an obvious choice. I'm speaking of the hardware, not of iOS. There's a lot to admire about iOS, but it also has its share of design flaws.
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Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
Been using an aero press for years, but the seal wears out. Need to press very carefully or the air goes out the top instead of the bottom.
I almost listed this as mine. The design is still really good for the cost. Ease of use / cleaning / disposing of grounds is a smart design. I accept that the seal will wear, I actually think not over-engineering the seal and making it triple the price adds to the design.
It's not too hard to get a replacement rubber seal, and easy to swap in the new part.
They say it will last longer if you don't store it with the seal compressed in the tube, but I always leave it like that and it still lasts years.
Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?
#104IBM Model M keyboard. Great to type on, just works. Built June 2, 1987. I've been typing on it for 20 years myself, never had any problems except issues with the third-party USB converter not playing nice with some KVM hardware. And I guess the time I spilled coffee in it.
Mine's from June 10th 1987 - they may have been on the same pallet.
If you've only spilled coffee in it once you must live a charmed life!
Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?
#105"Things" is pretty broad. Thinking of software, probably early "beta" Gmail. There was so much about the email experience that was improved by a stable web client, with what felt at the time like unlimited storage. Thinking of hardware, I've never been much for Apple products, but the iPhone (particularly early models) is undoubtedly a design marvel.
The iPad, too. I spend hours with it every day—mostly reading and watching videos—and I rarely have to think about it as a device. It just lets me get absorbed in whatever I’m looking at.
I don’t use it much myself, as I’m not an artist, but the iPad app ProCreate seems to be a masterpiece of good design, too.
Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?
#106God i love my pebble so much, oldest piece of tech I've kept, but the most reliable. Good if you can get your hands on one but I have a feeling they're going the way of the radiant cobtrol toaster in that their prices are set to go up
Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?
#107I find it interesting that most of the comments are about physical products. The 'best design' is often something that's so frictionless and easy to use that it's invisible in day-to-day use. Everyday infrastructure like steps are something that's noticeable when they're off (e.g. spaced too far apart, or too steep); most are designed well. It's easy to find things that are designed poorly. But much less tangible to…
Agreed. It's real tempting to answer, "indoor plumbing". It's really nice to flip a lever and get clean, safe water. It's real good not to need to stroll to the outhouse, too.
Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?
#108My Aeropress coffee maker. It feels more convenient than a french press, and much cheaper than an espresso machine. https://aeropress.com/ Also a bidet. Americans really need to start using it more.
Been using an aero press for years, but the seal wears out. Need to press very carefully or the air goes out the top instead of the bottom.
replacement seals are cheap $6
Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?
#109Mechanical pencils and engineering paper
Re: Ask HN: What are the best-designed things you've ever used?
#110Tonal is amazing. It is the fitness system of my dreams. A resistance training setup with digital weights that hangs on the wall. It is filled with high quality content that showcases how to take full advantage of the tech. An ai combined with a well designed adjustment system and suddenly weight training is so fun and fluid I can do it every day.
Tonal are inveterate spammers.