Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

iPhones are hard to use

blog.fawny.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

621–630 of 652 posts

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#621

Post by dkonofalski »

emdowling wrote: post #550
screye wrote: post #32

I have been an android-windows user for the longest time, and using Apple devices is among the most difficult things I've had to do. I have used windows phone, linux, chrome OS, Blackberry's palm-like UI over the years, but I have gotten the hang of each over a small period of time. Apple devices however, are simply counter intuitive for me. Apple seems to design UI for 2 types of people. 1. Old Apple users 2. The pe…

I feel the same way, but in reverse. I've been using iOS since the iPhone 3G and have built apps for it. I know iOS inside out. I recently started a new job where the vast majority of our customers use Android. I therefore chose my work phone to be Android, so I could use the same platform that our customers use. Wow - is it confusing! Nothing is intuitive, and I genuinely find it very hard to use and get into a rhyt…

Most people use different devices in the same way they use their preferred devices and get frustrated when they don't produce the exact same results.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#622

Post by dkonofalski »

toasterlovin wrote: post #264
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.

To be clear: whatever the button is called, it doesn't have any text on iOS (which, as far as I can tell, is what OP was talking about). It's just an icon of a pencil writing on paper.

To be even clearer: It's literally one of only 4 buttons on the main Mail screen (the others being Back, Edit, and Filter). If you just go to Mail and don't even attempt a guess, that's on you.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#623

Post by dkonofalski »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #316
new_here wrote: post #275

This is another case of Apple being held to a higher standard than competitors in the market. Apple literally revolutionised the smartphone market with the simple usability of the iPhone. Of course, there are things that can be improved (with many decent suggestions from the author that most power users would agree with) but based on the author’s mild annoyances and casual observations that elderly, visibly challenge…

> Compared to the accepted norm that malware apps are almost routinely found in the public Google Play store. To add to the author's list of things that iPhone users don't know that Apple keeps hidden, several orders of magnitude more iPhone users have been infected with malware than Google Play Store users despite the Play Store having several orders of magnitude more users. https://www.macrumors.com/2015/09/20/xcod…

That is flat-out untrue. There are several orders of magnitude more Android users that have been infected with malware than iPhone users. In fact, there have even been Android phones that were compromised within the supply chain and released into the wild. You're either being disingenuous or you're using a very narrow definition of "infected".

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#624

Post by dkonofalski »

bobthepanda wrote: post #98
nrb wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well there are many ways to get there, tap the Tips app that is preinstalled on the home screen on a newly setup iOS device. As I said, it also sends a notification shortly after device setup directing you there.

I've literally never seen the Tips app. Granted, I haven't had a new device in a while; but I don't recall this being present when I bought my iPhone 7, and it certainly didn't show up when I upgraded to iOS 12 over the weekend. And as someone who has had iOS devices for a while, I'm not sure that I would ever get it, since my first thing is usually to just transfer a backup to my new phone. The point is, devices use…

It showed up in iOS 9 and gave you both a push notification and a message during the initial update to iOS 9 (whether that was an upgrade on-boarding or a setup as a new device).

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#625

Post by dkonofalski »

CarVac wrote: post #281
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess they end up being soft buttons on the screen.

In inconsistent places. In many UIs they're on the top left. In the browser it's on the bottom left? So weird.

It is consistent but it may not be obviously consistent so I agree there is room for improvement there. The upper left back buttons are always to go to a different "screen" or function. The bottom back buttons are to navigate pages. The confusion with the browser comes simply from the fact that people mix a screen with a page because websites all look different. You're not going to a different screen within the app but you might assume so because you're going back to a different website.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#626

Post by dkonofalski »

devinus wrote: post #28

I recently switched to iOS from Android after years on Android. I'm coming from being a daily macOS user for almost a decade. I would argue that iOS should no longer be considered the more "user friendly" of the two. That might have been the case years ago, but iOS seems to expect prior experience with what I can only guess are iOS paradigms specifically. Almost every important action I need to take in an iOS app is…

Examples, please? I disagree that anything essential is hidden behind gestures.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#627

Post by jcheng »

jacobush wrote: post #604
ashildr wrote: post #579

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lost count of the people who complained about their iDevices features not working properly because they intentionally (so they thought) turned them off. Having eg location services turned off by default and not ask about it will just lead to tons of people complaining that directions don’t work properly. And asking them the moment they open the builtin maps application will make them close the app because ‘it does…

I think you will find much of this is because of the current balance struck between privacy invasion and usability. If brilliant minds were put to it, I am sure location services could be mostly client side and not server side. And so on. Just writing it feels heretic and crack-pot, except it wouldn't have to be.

Location services are client side. You turn it off if you don't trust client side apps to have access to your location.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#628

Post by dublin »

submeta wrote: post #344
bb88 wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or under pull down menus... or context menus... or... Force touch just seems like a different form of right mouse clicking.

I know a few people who - even after trying - can't make "force touch" work properly. I love it and try to show them. But they can't seem to make the effort to learn it.

I know at quite a few people that have not upgraded their iPhone 6-vintage phones simply because they found 3D/force Touch to be a really significantly negative feature, and just flat don't want it.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#629

Post by lern_too_spel »

dkonofalski wrote: post #623
lern_too_spel wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Compared to the accepted norm that malware apps are almost routinely found in the public Google Play store. To add to the author's list of things that iPhone users don't know that Apple keeps hidden, several orders of magnitude more iPhone users have been infected with malware than Google Play Store users despite the Play Store having several orders of magnitude more users. https://www.macrumors.com/2015/09/20/xcod…

That is flat-out untrue. There are several orders of magnitude more Android users that have been infected with malware than iPhone users. In fact, there have even been Android phones that were compromised within the supply chain and released into the wild. You're either being disingenuous or you're using a very narrow definition of "infected".

Prove it. I showed half a billion infected iOS users. Show me anywhere close to as many infected Google Play users.

Re: iPhones are hard to use

#630

Post by Bud »

Green_man wrote: post #170
Bud wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Form over function" is not "Apple's way". Apple's way is function, period, paragraph. And often, what "function" means is, don't bury the user under 200 options they will never use. Make choices. Be willing to say "no" to having every single option front and center. Added to this is the obvious point that with a touch interface on a small screen, you cannot make everything obvious. It's impossible.

is that what putting usb ports on the back of an iMac is? function, period, paragraph, and publication?

Where would you suggest the ports be located on a desktop computer whose sides are not thick enough to accommodate any ports?

Perhaps they should be located in the middle of the screen? ;)

Post reply on HN