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iPhones are hard to use

blog.fawny.org

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Re: iPhones are hard to use

#291

Post by Twisell »

graeme wrote: post #179
Bud wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the user manual. Which is, btw, one of the very best user manuals you will ever see. It's very easy to find, and the fact you haven't found it tells me you probably didn't bother searching, since almost any Google search finds it instantly: https://support.apple.com/manuals/iphone And no: Apple does not "believe their product is so easy to understand that people will just get it". You just made that up. It's...sur…

I'm an avid apple user and honestly had no idea that manual existed. They could do a better job advertising it. Is there anything in the box mentioning it? Edit: and according to the article, the manual doesn't cover a lot of the hidden features described in the article. I learned at least five new things: select multiple pictures, announce calls, swipe right for forward, and a couple others I don't recall. I would r…

When he got his first iPhone, my dad found it and proudly told me that he manage to download it all by itself.

It’s purely anecdotal but as far as I’m concerned I would rate discoverability as good enough.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#292

Post by reitanqild »

rangibaby wrote: post #286
karmakaze wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Steve Jobs was heavily against hidden functionality (sorry there is a word for it I can't remember off the top of my head). It's why Macs had one-button mice for so long. It wasn't until the third major revision of the OS that iPhones got copy+paste!

> Steve Jobs was heavily against hidden functionality (sorry there is a word for it I can't remember off the top of my head). It's why Macs had one-button mice for so long.

That doesn't make sense at all to me: The right click button on a mouse is visible.

The Mac way of hiding it behind the ctrl key was non-discoverable and non-obvious to me.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#293

Post by krispbyte »

paddy_m wrote: post #122

Here is a recent annoyance. I use bluetooth headphones and a bluetooth speaker. I want my bluetooth headphones to never be louder than $x, I want my speaker to have the full volume range. There is only one volume control (under Settings > Music > Max Volume) for the whole phone, and that doesn't seem to control max volume for notifications/other apps. This frequently leads to me leaving the max volume on high, then s…

I can change the volume on my headphones independently from the phone so I have it in low. Mine are brandless Chinese headphones btw.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#295

Post by Izkata »

flukus wrote: post #284
codetrotter wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the Android phones came on the market, I was extatic. Linux, in my pocket! However, Android did not live up to my expectations at all. I don’t know what I was hoping for, but Android was not it. After a while I came to understand that for me personally Android was a bad fit, and everything I had envisioned about running Linux on my phone was ill-adviced. Linux and FreeBSD are my main two operating systems I run…

When android first came out they were apps like tasker ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.dinglisch.... ) almost immediately that showcased pretty clearly a lot of things you could do on android but not iOS, a lot of examples are here: http://www.crunchytricks.com/2016/10/tasker-profiles.html My personal favorites are to turn off wifi if I'm not at home or work, turn off bluetooth if I'm not home, tu…

I've a fun one: The BlackBerry KEYone and KEY2 have a physical button called the Convenience Key that can be set to any app or shortcut. I set mine to a Tasker shortcut that changes what it does based on the day and time (mostly based around my daily commute, for bus prediction times and an e-reader).

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#296

Post by soared »

subroutine wrote: post #290

Reading one of the referenced articles by Don Norman [1], I find this statement immediately true... > "What kind of design philosophy requires millions of its users to have to pretend they are disabled in order to be able to use the product? Apple could have designed its phone so that the majority of people could read and use the phone without having to label themselves as needy, disabled, and requiring assistance."…

Are you complaining that after getting a new device, it’s taking you a while to get used to it?

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#298

Post by subroutine »

soared wrote: post #296
subroutine wrote: post #290

Reading one of the referenced articles by Don Norman [1], I find this statement immediately true... > "What kind of design philosophy requires millions of its users to have to pretend they are disabled in order to be able to use the product? Apple could have designed its phone so that the majority of people could read and use the phone without having to label themselves as needy, disabled, and requiring assistance."…

Are you complaining that after getting a new device, it’s taking you a while to get used to it?

No, I'm complaining that things which seem like 'features' are nested under 'accessibility'. But maybe I'm reading too much into it.

edit: Anyway that was Don's main point.

edit2: oh I also found this kinda funny, as another example: Note I've turned on 'reachability' in the 'accessibility' tab. This accessibility option allows people using their phone with one hand to swipe down at the bottom of the screen to shift icons from the top-half to the bottom-half, so if you're an 'inaccessible' like me who doesn't have thumbs that reach the top corners of the screen, you can still use those apps.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#299

Post by mixmastamyk »

saagarjha wrote: post #228
jodrellblank wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you even turn facial recognition off? Open the Photos app, search for "people", and it will pull up photos of people's faces. Tap on one to make a full screen picture, and swipe it up , it will show "Related" people and pictures. You can tap on someone to find more photos of them. Even if you never tagged them with names. (You can also search Photos for general terms, like "flower" or "snow" or "food", it's doing…

Just curious, why would you want to turn facial recognition off?

Or rather, why would one want devices recognizing and creating permanent records? Police can unlock by pointing it to your face. Apple may have a better track record than most, why I own an iphone, but unlocking a device was never a burden to me. It's a button press if you've done it recently.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#300

Post by mixmastamyk »

jodrellblank wrote: post #213
mixmastamyk wrote: post #115

My top 5 annoyances: - Too many features I'll never use, that mostly can't be removed. Less is more. i.e. I'll never use Siri or facial recognition. Never owned a bluetooth device. "Screen Mirroring" What? in the Control Center. Yet those and more always in the way, sometimes draining battery. - When radios are off to save energy, constantly nags about connection with modal dialogs that prevent use of the home button…

Can you even turn facial recognition off? Open the Photos app, search for "people", and it will pull up photos of people's faces. Tap on one to make a full screen picture, and swipe it up , it will show "Related" people and pictures. You can tap on someone to find more photos of them. Even if you never tagged them with names. (You can also search Photos for general terms, like "flower" or "snow" or "food", it's doing…

I don't think so, but doesn't change the fact that I don't want it and never will.
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