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iPhones are hard to use

blog.fawny.org

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Re: iPhones are hard to use

#231

Post by ynniv »

Last night, while putting my children to sleep, I tried to change the volume on my wireless headphones and instead called 911. It also woke up the children because it makes a loud noise like a car alarm. After I cancelled the impending call to 911 (I hope), it switched to trying to call my wife instead.

I can see a case where this would be valuable, but I'm not an old man and not likely to be in an accident where the only thing I can do is press the not-the-volume side of my phone a few times. On top of that, it was only a year ago that this was an inconspicuous shortcut for disabling your Touch ID from an attacker or the police. Now it makes an alarming in what might already be a tense situation. If you have an iPhone, you probably want to review your "Emergency SOS" settings to better understand what the few remaining buttons on your phone do.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#232

Post by jpindar »

saagarjha wrote: post #196
julianz wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never been able to understand why mail apps insist on the word Compose. Is it an American thing? I've never wanted to compose a piece of text, and never heard the word used in that way.

What word would you use to describe the action of creating a new message?

write or create or new

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#234

Post by nighthawk454 »

biofunsf wrote: post #222
nighthawk454 wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I also moved it so it's the very first option listed for quick access It took me a second to realize that "Request Desktop Site" is available in the Share Sheet. I use it by long-pressing the refresh button.

hah I only discovered that long-press option just a couple months ago! Long pressing there also gives me a "request without ad blockers" button which I've found super useful as well. A bit weird this option isn't in the Share Sheet like desktop mode is... also isn't it weird that this is called the "Share Sheet" but has lots of buttons for non-sharing related things?

Yeah, "request without ad blockers" is great. Very inconsistent that it isn't available in the Share Sheet.

The whole "Share Sheet" is rather confusing. It has three categories of actions in one screen. Potentially useful options are hidden wayyy down the list (like this Request Desktop Option). Even more options are hidden inside "More" menu all the way at the end. Which is also where the re-ordering controls are – although I just realized the icons can be reordered with drag-and-drop.

All in all, not very discoverable for a feature with such high utility.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#235

Post by chrisgherbert »

fredgrott wrote: post #8
starpilot wrote: post #4

Are any of these issues handled better on Android phones?

considering the market share in the US for android at above 80% what do you think the reason might be other than the one you just asked about?

Worldwide market share for Android is around 80%. In the US - and in other wealthy western countries - it’s closer to 50%.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#236

Post by wvenable »

philliphaydon wrote: post #178

My mum is 68 now. I first got her a windows phone. I taught her how to make calls. That was it. Then a month later I got a string of text message. Hello Son Is This Working ? She worked out how to send texts. I upgraded her to an old iphone. I sent it to her in the mail. She worked out everything including how to take photos. I told her about LINE and she found the App Store and downloaded it. Her phone died so I bou…

My parents have an Android tablet -- I'm not sure when they got it but they've had it for years. They needed new phone so I got them an iPhone and an iPad. I figured it had to be easier for them than an old Android but they trouble with the sort of same things -- connecting to Wifi, getting email, etc -- so they mostly continued to use that tiny old Android tablet.

After 6 months number of "send from my iPad" messages is finally starting to increase.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#237

Post by wvenable »

aetherson wrote: post #219
philliphaydon wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My mum went from Windows Phone to iPhone without issue. I didn't have to teach her anything about the iPhone. To me that suggests either Windows Phone / iOS are similar (they aren't) or intuitive.

I mainly use Android, have an iPhone, and the differences are constantly tripping me up. To the point where the claim that iPhones are user-friendly feels intuitively completely wrong to me. I always want to point to the wifi thing, or the lack of periods and commas on the keyboard, or the terrible home-screen arrangement/customization stuff as ironclad proof that the iPhone is less user-friendly. But that's not actu…

I went from iPhone to Android and struggled but now I have serious trouble using iOS devices.

I'm now convinced the greatest UI innovation this century is the Back button. If IBM PC keyboards had a big dedicated "back" key the world would have a been a much better place.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#238

Post by threatofrain »

aetherson wrote: post #189
philliphaydon wrote: post #178

My mum is 68 now. I first got her a windows phone. I taught her how to make calls. That was it. Then a month later I got a string of text message. Hello Son Is This Working ? She worked out how to send texts. I upgraded her to an old iphone. I sent it to her in the mail. She worked out everything including how to take photos. I told her about LINE and she found the App Store and downloaded it. Her phone died so I bou…

Once you get used to one O/S, the other becomes harder, because instead of just not knowing any of the conventions, you've actively trained the wrong ones.

I also propose that people's behaviors become less variable as they age, and thus they are less likely to spontaneously discover new pathways.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#239

Post by pasta »

karmakaze wrote: post #129
varenc wrote: post #110

Most of this article just lists semi-advanced features that people don't know about. I think that’s Apple’s intention... Having every feature and option up in your face can reduce usability and make simple tasks harder for the average user. Apple wants a product that's easy for anyone to use and that often means keeping non-essential features out of the way. I’d be more interesting in seeing feedback for Apple on how…

The problem lies in what's semi-advanced to one is critical or basic to many others. Apple has been known to hide (aka. make subtle) basic operations. How often have you wanted to load a page in 'desktop mode' in mobile Safari? It's there, just invisibly so. The UI does not teach in the name of clean/minimal design which is Apple's way: form over function. Edit: it's the equivalent to not putting keyboard shortcut ke…

Or clearing the cache in Safari. The only options I know is to go to the settings and then find the Safari app.

This is not so nice when you only want to reload the page while clearing the cached files.

Could have been something like a long press or double tap on the refresh button.

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