iPhones are hard to use • Hacker News Board

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#421

Post by aidos » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 8:58 AM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #362

fit2rule wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Or, you know, the person can search for 1-2 minutes how to change the font, when they need to, if and when their "eyesight changes" enough during their years of using iPhones to warranty it. Better than cramming every such feature as a first priority, and making a UI that's confusing for everyday use.

Or 1-2 seconds. The 3 steps are explained at the top of the Google search:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=change+font+size+iphone

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#422

Post by fnky » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 9:01 AM UTC

This article just outlines power-user features that most people don't know anyway. They aren't really important. Even then, most of the arguments that he makes are very anecdotal.

Take for example a senior using an iPhone:

My grandmother, 77 years old, has had her iPhone for 2 years. Prior to that, she had no mobile at all and has not used a ton of technology through her life.

She learned to use her crucial apps: Mail, Safari, Notes, Calendar and Contacts by herself.

She will only ask if there are different ways of doing things if she can't figure it out by herself—which is very rare.

I agree that Settings can be cluttered to navigate, but it's also assumed that it's not an app that people use every day. Taking that into account, the General tab is usually where you find what you need when it comes to changing most settings anyway.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#423

Post by ngcazz » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 9:04 AM UTC

nilkn wrote: post #91

reaperducer wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3D Touch seems to be the Touch Bar of the mobile world. Both are great ideas, but only sparsely exploited even by Apple, itself.

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.

The ideal scenario imho would be for every interaction to require pressure.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#424

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 9:05 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#425

Post by fnky » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 9:08 AM UTC

graeme wrote: post #185

stevehawk wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had nearly every iPhone until the LG G5 came out and I switched to Android. Whenever I use my wife's phone I honestly feel like an idiot because I can't figure out 3d touch and a bunch of the other features since I missed their 'introduction' of sorts and don't know that they exist or how they are supposed to be used.

You shouldn't be downvoted for this. I was missing new apple features for years, until I started browsing the apple subreddit. There are a lot of hidden features. Seems there is a good manual online, but it's poorly advertised. The new features are often mainly announced once when you first open a system app after an ios update. I've seem my parents repeatedly close them in a rush to get to the app. There's no "show…

> There's no "show me these tips later" option either, so they never learn the new features.

There is a Tips app which is visible on the Home Screen that contains general information such as "Welcome to iPhone" and "What's New" that contains tips on how to use the new features.

The app sometimes even nags you with "Tip of the Day" notifications.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#426

Post by buboard » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 9:11 AM UTC

They failed to mention the flattening of the UI and the textualization of everything, which served nothing other than make things harder to find.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#427

Post by dave84 » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 9:11 AM UTC

Ntrails wrote: post #419

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…

sorry to off topic - but how do you get safari to force desktop? I've been hacking URLS

Press the share button at the bottom (or next to the address bar in landscape/iPad), then scroll along the list of options at the bottom and you'll see "Request Desktop Site."

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#428

Post by fergie » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 9:23 AM UTC

Is this satire?

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#429

Post by nabla9 » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 9:25 AM UTC

The problem is the "perpetual novice" sentiment.

Smartphones are sold with the underlying assumption that 'user friendly' equates to zero training or learning. The idea is that UI is so intuitive that you can simply pick the phone up and use it.

It's clear that this novice strategy has upper limit respect to the number of features.

If you spend $500 on a device that you use more than your car or computer, maybe you should spend 6-12 hours to learn it. People take courses in woodworking, knitting, why not smartphones.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#430

Post by chrishannah » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 9:26 AM UTC

I can see a few good points being made here. But I don't think if someone can't use a device properly, that it's the manufacturers fault for making it hard to use.

Also, I think there are many points being made that are either down to people being told incorrect information, or them just being plain wrong.

Regarding using Spotlight to search for apps/files: "Find a spot in Springboard (what’s that?) with no apps or folders." This is wrong, you can swipe down even over apps or folders.

"The simplest task that is functionally impossible to do (also on Macintosh): Play exactly one song." Wrong

"Apple Pay. Inscrutable and scary even in countries that have had chip cards forever, like Canada." This is not Apple's fault. Here in the UK, we've had a very good chip&pin system, which was updated to wireless readers a few years ago. And Apple Pay just works with them automatically. You'll find it hard to find a place that doesn't support it. I've heard that it's completely the opposite in the US, but does that mean the iPhone is hard to use? Also, it prompts you to set this up when you first use the phone.

"Because Apple calls its passwords passcodes, nobody has any clue at all that you can use an alphanumeric password instead of a string of six digits." Oh really.

I could include many other quotes here, but it's getting boring. But there is one point that is just absolutely fundamentally stupid - "If Apple actually cared about accessibility (it does not)". There is no way you can say Apple doesn't care about accessibility.

Another point I'd like to make - Even if there's an "advanced" feature like AirDrop, using Siri to schedule a meeting, or using an Apple Watch to receive directions, on your phone, it doesn't mean you will know how to use it immediately. And that is not by default a bad thing. But anyway, I think a lot of these features are easy to use. For example, when using the share sheet, AirDrop automatically appears at the top of the view. With names and images of nearby devices/contacts. Surely it couldn't be more intuitive?

Maybe when people spend large amounts of money on something, they should put more effort into learning how to use it? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯