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Am I the only one who thinks that this is very unusually terrible design for apple?

F

fs454

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Dec 7, 2007
1,987
1,876
Los Angeles / Boston
Okay, I mean I think the iPad could have been a lot more than it is, but I also think it's going to impress, sell, and be generally awesome, but seriously, this one screenshot just screams "WE DIDN'T TRY TO MAKE THIS UNIQUE AT ALL!"


Screen%20shot%202010-02-23%20at%205.09.07%20PM.png



Seriously? The stretched iPhone home screen with gross looking extra space? It's very unlike apple to do something like that. Am I the only one who thinks this is gross and tasteless?


My apologies if this has been discussed to death.
 
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What the hell kind of a thread is this? :confused:
 
Not really given it's a sim and dosnt need the black boarder as that is what you hold the ipad by.
 
I didn't like the iPad at first, but after some thought I may end up getting one. I could really use something like this.

I don't think the design is terrible. The space between the buttons is a bit odd looking but it actually makes sense. Tablets have failed in the past due to taking a regular mouse based interface and trying to make it touchable. This led to some pretty cumbersome operation, not to mention developers had to develop for a tablet device.

With the iPad, anything made for iPhone/iPod touch is compatible and after playing with the SDK its not terribly difficult to make something that runs full size on the iPad. The whole iPhone OS is also made specifically for touch interfaces, not mouse interfaces so everything ends up working really well.

I think a lot of people expected Apple to come out with something that was completely new and unexpected but honestly theres not much to be done with a tablet. You can only integrate so much before the price and weight of the device skyrockets.

I would like to see one in person.
 
I have to agree. The exterior design of the iPad was far more impressive to me than the software interface of it.

Very unusual of Apple. :\

I was quite disappointed with the interface actually. I was hoping for some cool stuff that was speculated in the blogs and news. (Cool way of reading magazines, websites, etc.) This doesn't really change the way that we interact with content and media-It's just like what other people said. A huge iPod touch with a good exterior design, or a better version of the Kindle.

On the other hand, I really like how the Contacts, Mail and iBooks(store?) apps were designed. They look really... "Real". iTunes/"iPod"/Music app and Notes was designed terribly though. I expected better from Notes, and iTunes looks absolutely terrible. I could really imagine myself using the Mail and Notes app (Just the typing part though.). The sidebar of the Notes is indescribable.

The grid formatting of the apps wasn't really good and the unusual appearance of the dock has made me decide to postpone my purchase to the second version of the iPad.
 
The thick black border around it put me off at first, but then I understood the concept of having a place to hold it. A lot of thumbprints are destined for that border, so now it makes sense.

Seeing some of the videos from the designers was helpful in understanding some of the choices. I don't think it is terrible. Quite the opposite.
 
In regards to the software end of things Apple have struck gold with the gigantic popularity of the iPhone so why bother innovating when they could already use an existing interface?

iPad looks nice in terms of design....it's just nothing new!
 
Same thing happened when the 3GS was launched. People whined and bitched and moaned about the lack of change of design.
 
fs454 said:
It has, so you're not a fan, but apple's approach is simplicity in design and ease of use. You cannot deny that they've attained this on the iPad and like all other apple products made it good looking too.

If you don't need such a device, then don't buy one. Vote with your wallet.
Click to expand...
 
hush your mouth! If Steve Jobs says its a revolutionary new device, then its a revolutionary new device!!!! I vanish you! :rolleyes:
 
This has been discussed to death. Some people love it some people hate it. Just like every other product ever released.
 
"Am I the only one who thinks that this is very unusually terrible design for apple?"


Yes I believe you are.
 
fs454 said:
Screen%20shot%202010-02-23%20at%205.09.07%20PM.png



Seriously? The stretched iPhone home screen with gross looking extra space?
Click to expand...
All that empty 'wallpaper' space between may appear to make little sense… but you see that little flower button beside the unlock button? — It turns that wallpaper into a slideshow. If you realize the iPad can act as a photo frame as well, I think it makes sense.

(But I also do agree that the space could be used for more things such as showing upcoming iCal appointments, the weather, etc.)
 
Am I the only one who thinks that this is very unusually terrible design for apple?
Click to expand...

I dont think it is terrible, but I do think it is an unusually lazy design for Apple. I am referring only to the hardware here, I think it is quite obvious the software was in an unfinished state when demo'd. But the hardware is much more derivative of the iPhone then I expected.

Perhaps the iPhone/iPod Touch design was just that good that there was nothing to improve? It can be a brave decision for a designer to resist the temptation to change simply for the sake of change and change nothing. Maybe that is what happened here?

Maybe Apple wants people to consider it 'just a bigger iPhone!' and feel more comfortable moving to it since they already 'understand' how to use iPhone?

Maybe Steve canned a long running project in the final year of development and they had to scramble to get a workable design together for launch?

I dont know, but I was surprised by how derivative the iPad's appearance was.
 
FCDP said:
This kind of new lock screen interface and homescreen would have been a dream: Concept UI Video
Click to expand...

That looks awesome - whoever came up with that truly was thinking outside the box and came up with something that looks cool.

So why - seriously - why didn't Apple try and make something special/unique?
 
ss957916 said:
That looks awesome - whoever came up with that truly was thinking outside the box and came up with something that looks cool.

So why - seriously - why didn't Apple try and make something special/unique?
Click to expand...

Yeah it's pretty genius. Thinking outside the box is what we're use to expecting from Apple, and are a bit let down by the lack of creativity with the iPad UI.

He based his UI off of the way we would hold the device:

500x_appletabletrender.jpg


Which results in this kind of homescreen:

500x_inote_rightmen.jpg


And his lock screen is just gorgeous:

500x_inote_unlock.jpg


It's clear this guy was thinking the primary orientation would be landscape over portrait.
 
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