Nexus 5. Marvelous beauty of a phone. Red panda is especially beautiful. Screen size was just about right at the time, the way the screen blent into the bezels was amazing, the ergonomics were awesome.
Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
641–650 of 1001 posts
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#642Zojirushi fuzzy logic rice cooker. I've owned it for more than a decade and made maybe hundreds of pounds of rice. Always perfect. Cast iron skillet. Lodge makes cheap, very high quality, pans that just work, forever (there are many brands, several are great).
Counter argument: there is no point putting money in a rice cooker. Get the cheapest and smallest one (unless you're cooking rice for 6+ people) and you will get exactly the same result. The only annoying thing with these cheaper rice cooker is that you need to unplug them when done, but I bought a switch to sit between the socket and the plug and it works fine :)
Disagree completely. Used to have a cheap rice cooker and it sucked. Getting the Zojirushi literally changed how we eat -- we used to rarely have rice, but the Zojirushi makes it so much easier to cook and impossible to mess up, so rice became a staple dinner feature.
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#643Seiko 5 automatic watch - Simple, timeless, affordable. It's just a great watch and it always will be. rOtring 600 mechanical pencil - the feel of this pencil is unlike any other writing implement I've found. It's a legend. My new goal is to find a fountain pen that I can enjoy as much as I enjoy this. Though I fear that will be a notably more expensive purchase. Yamaha Custom Series Bb trumpet - before becoming a de…
On the pencil front, I recommend checking out kuru toga pencils. They rotate the lead slightly with every cycle of applied pressure and release, so you don't get the lead worn down until you're writing at a shallow angle with a much larger effective cross section of lead. On the fountain pen side, just be aware that if you work in an office environment, you'll have to deal with low quality paper that's incompatible w…
I enjoy the Kuru Toga quite a bit! It's the pencil I'm more inclined to travel with because I wouldn't be quite so heartbroken if I lost or damaged it. And it performs so admirably!
Totally understand about the low-quality paper. I'll probably stick to roller-ball pens for the office and save fountain pen shenanigans for home where I can use some nicer paper stock.
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#644Dyson vacuum cleaners. I have never once wondered "how do I do this?" when using my Dyson. From cleaning, to extensions, switching modes, and just plain using the thing, every inch of these vacuums is designed to the utmost degree to make them not only super powerful suction machines but also trivially easy to use.
When our cleaning lady started with us, she requested we get rid of our Dyson vacuum cleaner and get a Miele. Says it all really.
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#645It took me about a second to think of Dixon Ticonderoga pencils. These are the perfect nexus of good and cheap. These things have the critical features one looks for in a writing instrument, my favorite of which is that I can put it in my electric pencil sharpener and the lead never snaps just prior to the point at which it becomes sharp. And these guys finally figured out something useful to do with that pink, rubbe…
I'll take that one farther. I've been obsessed for 25 years with their 2 1/2 pencil. The hardness seems just right to me to make a nice line, and they rarely need sharpening. There's also something analog and low quality about their graphite. It's got little hard scratchy chunks in it that I find oddly satisfying.
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#646Seiko 5 automatic watch - Simple, timeless, affordable. It's just a great watch and it always will be. rOtring 600 mechanical pencil - the feel of this pencil is unlike any other writing implement I've found. It's a legend. My new goal is to find a fountain pen that I can enjoy as much as I enjoy this. Though I fear that will be a notably more expensive purchase. Yamaha Custom Series Bb trumpet - before becoming a de…
The best fountain pens I know are from Stefan Fink http://www.stefanfink.de/en/ Not cheap, but unique and handmade.
Those are beautiful, and this is the first I've heard of them. Thanks for sharing!
Do you have any experience using a Fink fountain pen? They look gorgeous but I have to wonder if the lighter weight of a wood body would adversely affect the way it feels and writes.
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#647Dyer and Jenkins black cotton T-shirts. I wear jeans and a black T-shirt basically every day, but I noticed a lot of the black T-shirts I purchased wore out quickly and started to fade right away. So I Googled "best black T-shirts" one day and a Reddit thread led me to Dyer and Jenkins. I've been wearing them for a year now and they have hardly faded and look just about as good as when I first bought them. Dyer and J…
I've found that even a couple percent of something synthetic, like polyester, seems to make black shirts hold their color. Unfortunately, it also makes them hold odors for some reason.
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#648Seiko 5 automatic watch - Simple, timeless, affordable. It's just a great watch and it always will be. rOtring 600 mechanical pencil - the feel of this pencil is unlike any other writing implement I've found. It's a legend. My new goal is to find a fountain pen that I can enjoy as much as I enjoy this. Though I fear that will be a notably more expensive purchase. Yamaha Custom Series Bb trumpet - before becoming a de…
Re: fountain pen. If your grip resembles a "normal grip" then Lamy Safari. It's my absolute favorite, especially in this price range (less than 20USD/EUR). Charcoal Black comes with a dark nib (I'm using M size), looking gorgeous. All the matte versions are super nice to hold. For some it might be quite light in hand but for me a capped Safari provides a nice balance. With a converter it's easy to use any other ink b…
I've heard so many good things about the Lamy Safari that I'm going to have to break down and get one! I've used a Pilot Metropolitan for a couple of years now and have enjoyed it, so I'm sure I'll enjoy the Safari.
I love my Rhodia notebooks! They make fountain pens perform astoundingly well. For ages I used Field Notes steno pads because I found them so good looking, but the paper is rubbish for fountain pens.
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#649A dishwasher that only had one button: start. A dry cleaning service where they just told me to come back next day after 5p and never asked me how I want my shirts, what kind of treatment etc. For contrast most places ask several questions that I never know the answer to. The best UI is no UI.
Unless the dishwasher can differentiate between baby bottles, fine china, and greasy steel pans, it's going to need more than one button.
No I'd honestly be happy with throwing out whatever didn't manage the single program just like I don't care about special cold/30C wash clothes -- everything manages a 40C wash, at least once.
I assume enough people don't have fine china just like most don't want to "auto cook 1.5kgs of chicken" using a special microwave program, so really there should be a market for really simple appliances in this case too.
Edit: I realize there is an environmental aspect here but tbh the machine should be able to tell how dirty the stuff is.
Re: Ask HN: What're the best-designed things you've ever used?
#650The Casio F-91W Digital wrist watch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W Keeps better time than a Rolex, and is a fraction of the price. Waterproof. Has an alarm, stopwatch, and timer; all things missing from traditional wind ups. Interface is easy to use and discover. The battery last almost forever. Now, if you're asking if it's aesthetically pleasing, that's a different story. But we were talking about design…
I disagree. I have one and every time the hourly "beep" gets back on (not sure how) I have to google it to figure out how to remove it.
I don't find this watch well designed at all when it comes to intuitive features.