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IPhone 4

daringfireball.net

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Re: IPhone 4

#121

Post by rglullis »

blasdel wrote: post #80
rglullis wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What has Gruber developed for Apple, exactly? His "projects" page shows nothing Apple-related: http://daringfireball.net/projects/

What? Every single one of those is Apple-related -- one is a low-level review of differences in 10.4, and all the rest were originally written as itch-scratching extensions for BBEdit, which is an ancient Mac-only commercial text editor, and his last day job was for the company that produced it as some sort of tech-support / help-writer.

I would say that they are BBEdit-specific, except for the review of differences on Tiger. That's only tangentially related to Apple. It's not like he wrote something for the iPhone and/or Mac.

Re: IPhone 4

#122

Post by bbatsell »

apu wrote: post #120
mrshoe wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the iPhone 4 gives the original iPhone a serious run for its money in the industrial design department. The 3G and 3Gs weren't even close, in my opinion. A rounded blob of plastic isn't very exciting.

Except this is exactly what was said about the iPhone when it came out -- that it was amazingly designed. If good design is supposed to be timeless, how can once-beautiful pieces of design now be considered as "rounded blob[s] of plastic" that "isn't very exciting"? This is the kind of fanboyism that really turns off a lot of us. Thought experiment: if Apple came out with a new phone with the exact design of some pre…

He's contrasting the "rounded blob of plastic" (the design of the 3G and 3GS) with the original iPhone design, which had a mostly-metal flat back, and, as you acknowledged, was heralded at its release.

Re: IPhone 4

#123

Post by dmnd »

thwarted wrote: post #94
blasdel wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has no palm support because you're not supposed to put your palm on it -- it's meant to be held by the thumb and pinkie at the sides (like the pilloried hockey-puck mouse). If it was shaped to rest your palm on it, you wouldn't be able to use any of the multitouch features without fully removing your hand first.

And I think that may be part of the problem: I didn't find that to be a comfortable position to use the mouse even for short periods of time, having to hold my fingers and palm up and not having a resting, but still moving the mouse, position. I found it extremely hard to get fine control of positioning while clicking, I'd always end up moving the mouse slightly while clicking (incidentally, I have similar issues wit…

Lots of people do use a mouse like this, however: http://www2.razerzone.com/MouseGuide/html/advantages.php

Re: IPhone 4

#124

Post by adbge »

phreeza wrote: post #39

He talks about how awesome audio and video quality on Facetime is. Yet, these are supposedly just SIP and H.264/AAC, or am I missing something there? Does Apple add some magic juice to these open protocols/codecs?

Haven't you heard? If it's Apple branded, it's obviously better. It's like the placebo effect, but instead it's the Apple effect (which, if you've been paying attention, makes it even better!)

In all seriousness though, I don't understand why Gruber posts this garbage and feels compelled to defend Apple at every turn. We don't need Apple's every action fucking analyzed to death by someone who is obviously too invested in the company to be objective. If I want to read this type of inane pandering, I'll ask the hipsters at Starbucks for the URL to their blog.

Re: IPhone 4

#125

Post by terrble »

jherdman wrote: post #15

"... but I’ve had fun trying out FaceTime with a few iPhone 4-enabled friends" This sentence is absolutely delicious to my mind, specifically the use of the word "enabled". It's as if to own a device was to somehow be an upgrade for one's person. Is this how we've really all come to think of devices now? Are they extensions of our bodies? A whole raft of questions has drifted to the shores of my mind.

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Haraway/CyborgManifesto.htm...

Re: IPhone 4

#126

Post by Encosia »

gojomo wrote: post #77
Chump wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do speed tests count as a measure local usability? http://www.cultofmac.com/the-iphone-4-death-grip-is-real-but... versus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYmVpoccPnc

I would trust an unaffiliated speed test app or website server-side analysis much, much more than any count of signal-bars. My point is that people are putting a lot of stock in signal-bars, assuming if there are 4-5 bars local service is good (and conversely that drops in signal-bar count mean bad service). That's not my experience in SF at all; the correlation used to exist, but in the last year, it broke. I can ha…

I can completely, 100% pause the progress of the "Xtreme Speedtest" app with very light pressure applied by two fingers.

A little over 2,200kbs untouched. 0kbs when lightly holding it with two fingers.

I'm starting with 5 bars reception here in my office too, not a weak signal.

Re: IPhone 4

#127

Post by billmcneale »

brianwillis wrote: post #51
blehn wrote: post #29

Apple is so good at making buttons, it’s almost enough to make one wish they made button-laden devices. Oh come on...Pro mouse, Mighty Mouse, Magic Mouse, current and previous gen macbook trackpad buttons, the previous gen desktop keyboards, iPod click-wheels, Apple Remote...these are some of the worst buttons I've used. Apple has made some decent buttons (I think the current and previous gen MBP keyboards are well m…

Is is truly surprising how the company that took the mouse mainstream now can't make one that's simultaneously aesthetically pleasing and a joy to use.

Allow me to push the irony further.

Apple makes great computers, great phones and sucks at pretty much everything else.

Microsoft, a company that found out in the mid seventies that the software business would be much more profitable than hardware, is making software of questionable quality but manufactures fantastic keyboards and mice.

Universe, you win.

Re: IPhone 4

#128

Post by ubernostrum »

solutionyogi wrote: post #2

I am sure he wouldn't have downplayed the 'signal' issue if it was an issue with an Android phone.

I am sure he wouldn't have downplayed the 'signal' issue if it was an issue with an Android phone.

Considering that similar issues were reported with the Nexus One, why don't you go find the 10,000-word "LOL DROID SUXORS" rant that Gruber -- as just another Apple fanboy, aiming to make the competition look bad whenever possible -- undoubtedly wrote about it? Then you can link it here and use it as justification for your post.

Re: IPhone 4

#129

Post by martythemaniak »

One has to read Gruber's review and Ars Technica's review of the iPhone 4 to see the difference between a fan boy and a level-headed writer.

Before I clicked the link I bet myself I would not see a single criticism and Gruber was predictable in his praise. The iPhone 4 is perfect, like every other piece of anything Apple puts out. yawn

Re: IPhone 4

#130

Post by thewileyone »

axod wrote: post #27
elbrodeur wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a designer, Helvetica Neue (even without italics) is a huge step in the right aesthetic direction. His original point was not so much about the font, but about the platform. He lays the groundwork, showing that the platform was higher resolution and therefore it made more sense for a font that displayed better at higher resolutions to be used. I think it's a valid point and a great critique -- how is it contradict…

Surely it's like saying "Ford pay so much detail to every part of their cars, it's amazing the level of care put into each and every model" and later saying "Of course Ford did forget to include wheels on this particular model"

Gruber and Apple has perfected the sandwich method.

For Apple, anything negative results in this type of response: positive, negative, positive.

For anything not-Apple, response is: negative, negative, negative.

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