iPhones are hard to use • Hacker News Board

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#351

Post by wingerlang » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 6:39 AM UTC

jpeg_hero wrote: post #59

aaaaaaaaaab wrote: post #47

>What can press-and-hold do that people don’t know about? >Directly move a scrollbar. (Fails most of the time due to tiny narrow hotspots you’re expected to hit on the first go.) I couldn’t get this to work. >Show a magnified absolute-centred duplicate of nearly anything onscreen you cannot actually manipulate, like whatever is in the title bar. (Try pressing and holding on the battery icon.) Neither this one. Do I n…

I couldn’t get either to work too. Maybe they took them out in iOS 12? I have scrollbarred before on prior Ios releases

I'm on 11.2.1 and I can't get it to work.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#352

Post by aidos » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 6:39 AM UTC

fit2rule wrote: post #340

bonestamp2 wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Text size is part of the onboarding now.

If its important enough to put in on boarding, its important to have it handily available through easy to access means during regular use.

Why? The initial setup is for the things you set once and never need to change. I tell my phone I want it in English during on boarding - and then I never need that setting again.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#353

Post by b1daly » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 6:41 AM UTC

TimTheTinker wrote: post #334

rangibaby wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

I think the word you're looking for is discoverability (or perhaps visibility ). The problem with Solaris, Windows, and other desktop workstations at the time was that the second (and even third) mouse buttons were required for many workflows, especially in applications---i.e. a lot of functionality was only available from the right-click menu or via the middle mouse button. This introduced a lot of unnecessary compl…

Discoverability is a very hard problem on the small screen. I’m amazed at how often I actually know a function exists, and I try every conceivable type of interaction I can think of to no success. Then I google it.

Damn the little tip about tapping the clock to jump is so handy, I have actually searched for how to do this and never came across a description of this feature.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#354

Post by mooze » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 6:41 AM UTC

hkai wrote: post #233

Is that true that mostly Chinese people use Assistive Touch? I've seen them doing it and I couldn't figure out why.

Can confirm. Many a time the owner of an iPhone has had to shift the floating dot around to show me something on their screen. Such an eyesore...almost as bad as the notch.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#355

Post by lloeki » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 6:42 AM UTC

TimTheTinker wrote: post #329

eridius wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not about to try it right now (don't want to mess up my contacts) but I'm pretty sure you can just tell Siri that "suchandsuch is my wife" and she'll update the relevant Contact cards for you.

This is correct. "so-and-so is my wife" => it will update that contact's info (and yours). Then later you can say "text my wife I'm on my way home" and it will. "call me Mister Smith" => it will update your contact's nickname and use that to address you "Take me home" (or to work/etc.) => it will bring up directions in apple maps to the "home" address on your contact

If you ask Siri "call my wife" before that, Siri will tell you he doesn't know who your wife is and ask for a contact name, then ask for confirmation, and finally persist the information and proceed with the call.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#356

Post by cpuguy83 » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 6:42 AM UTC

songco wrote: post #138

nilkn wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it’s worth, I use 3D Touch pretty much every day. The number one usage for me is moving the cursor around while editing text. I actually did it while writing this post; I decided I wanted to add a comma after “worth” at the beginning and did so easily with this feature.

I also use 3D touch many times every day. Mainly for mobile payments, example: 1. Pay for bus fare: unlock->find app->3d touch->select "show payment barcode" 2. Instant payment in restaurant: unlock->find app(e.g. wechat)->3d touch->"show payment barcode"/OR "scan barcode" to scan restaurant's bar code for payment Without 3d touch you need one more step to open the app, and maybe more steps to find menu for payments(…

Most (all?) 3D Touch actions can be handled by a long-press these days.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#357

Post by cpuguy83 » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 6:43 AM UTC

krrrh wrote: post #113

stiGGG wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since iOS12 you can do this by holding the spacebar on devices without 3D touch

On devices with 3D Touch you can also press harder to activate text selection, which is something I use daily.

Long press does this.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#358

Post by fit2rule » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 6:47 AM UTC

aidos wrote: post #352

fit2rule wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If its important enough to put in on boarding, its important to have it handily available through easy to access means during regular use.

Why? The initial setup is for the things you set once and never need to change. I tell my phone I want it in English during on boarding - and then I never need that setting again.

Eyesight changes over time. People learn new languages, and want to switch. Making these decisions for the user and then forcing them forever is decidedly un-user-friendly.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#359

Post by coldtea » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 6:51 AM UTC

rtpg wrote: post #245

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…

I get that, but I do think that saying that text size is an advanced feature is just not true. Loads and loads of people are older than 40. Loads of people just have weaker eyesight. Apple has really good accessibility tools, and it would make a _lot_ of sense for there to be a dedicated part of the onboarding for accessibility.

>Loads and loads of people are older than 40. Loads of people just have weaker eyesight.

Even so, all of those people have to change their text size just once or twice. They can look it up when they need to. It's not like it's a feature they need to use everyday.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#360

Post by coldtea » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 6:52 AM UTC

fit2rule wrote: post #340

bonestamp2 wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Text size is part of the onboarding now.

If its important enough to put in on boarding, its important to have it handily available through easy to access means during regular use.

I don't think so. What's important for setup is not important everyday. Some things you just need to be able to set once and forget. No reason to put those things front and center.