I thought this was gonna be more a nostalgia/reminiscing thread. What I miss from the Jobs/Ive era was the whimsical/outcast of Apple products. The hidden treasure, the funky looking, ganja, Bob Marley, surfer, graphic/printshop types. There was always something mysterious when you walked in an office and saw a Mac in use. OMG! They don't Windows! I guess the misfits, the ones who was just not into Access and Publisher. The Photoshop 6.0 and Illustrator 9 on the G3 Bondi Blue crowd. I really need to reach out to Isaac, was such a nice fellow. I remember him making all those logos in Illustrator on a G3 iMac, 256 MBs of RAM running Panther. Where are these people, where did they go? He looked so much like a young hippie Steve Jobs.
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iPhone 14 Pro Max I miss the Steve Jobs & Johnny Ive era…
- Thread starter DoNoHarm
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Just look at that beautiful skeuomorphic design... I miss the Scott Forstall days.
Those skeuomorphic back buttons look so intuitive. They look like buttons. They are so much better than the stupid flat design versions which look like less-than signs.
“Design is how it works.” - Steve Jobs
The 5G antenna would be impaired without the cutout — so it is required to ensure effective device operation. Bad design would be something that looks great but performs poorly.
Regarding hardware :
Apple seems to be doing some compromises between form and function, which I think it a good thing.
Also its Mac products are now of much better value - even the entry MacBook Air has become a very powerful machine with little compromise.
As for the iPhone hardware, it's good. Except maybe for the physical size the cameras which I think seem a bit out of proportion.
Now as for Software :
Contrary to hardware, there seem to be a missing talent at Apple to lead its macOS software. It lacks in coherence and some Apps (Music) have been needing a thorough update for years.
Services (iCloud, Continuity…) seems to worked better and better. Except for Siri.
Back to the topic of nostalgia… I miss a little more affordance in the iOS UI. There is very little distinction between static and interactive elements. Too many features are "hidden". I disliked the skeumorph-thing UI but I agree it was a lot more discoverable (buttons being buttons and most apps following common guideline and behaviours).
But overall with its new Mx chips I would say Apple is on a roll. Let's hope it software quality can take example.
Apple seems to be doing some compromises between form and function, which I think it a good thing.
Also its Mac products are now of much better value - even the entry MacBook Air has become a very powerful machine with little compromise.
As for the iPhone hardware, it's good. Except maybe for the physical size the cameras which I think seem a bit out of proportion.
Now as for Software :
Contrary to hardware, there seem to be a missing talent at Apple to lead its macOS software. It lacks in coherence and some Apps (Music) have been needing a thorough update for years.
Services (iCloud, Continuity…) seems to worked better and better. Except for Siri.
Back to the topic of nostalgia… I miss a little more affordance in the iOS UI. There is very little distinction between static and interactive elements. Too many features are "hidden". I disliked the skeumorph-thing UI but I agree it was a lot more discoverable (buttons being buttons and most apps following common guideline and behaviours).
But overall with its new Mx chips I would say Apple is on a roll. Let's hope it software quality can take example.
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But there was no way to add 3rd-party Notification Center widgets without jailbreaking, right? You could only add Apple’s built in ones.
Personally I don’t recall ever using NC widgets much. But what I really miss is the old full-screen Dashboard feature in macOS, which you could customize with whatever widgets and layout you wanted.
Dashboard was so easy with just one swipe to instantly see everything - no weird key combos, or scrolling and poking to find a widget. Most importantly, Dashboard widgets would stay in the same location so you could find them instantly.
The macOS Notification Center widgets are just so dinky and useless in comparison - I wish they would bring out a modern equivalent to the old macOS Dashboard, as a full screen that you can swipe to access just like the home/lock screen widgets on iOS.
Absolutely. The list of stupid design ideas is very long by now, and includes these "features" commonly complained about:
flat edges (uncomfortable)
heavy (ditto)
fat phones (ditto)
face ID (can't tell you how many times I've seen this fail and have to punch in a number code)
notch (yuck)
dynamic island (what a laugh)
ludicrously ugly camera protrusions
A live frog slowly frying in a frying pan gets used to the heat, as we all know. That's the modern iPhone user. They're subjected to a steady drip of dumb out of Apple, yet they mindlessly hop on each new phone, assuming that what Apple does is right and that they just have to get used to it.
Ribbit.
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I’ve had Face ID fail exactly zero times on any iPhone since it came out.
Oh yes! I could write a book.
Every recent apple device I purchase is becoming a disappointment. Still, I prefer (or maybe used to) the Apple side of things, but, where is the meticulous attention to details that we're used to since the iPods?
Nowadays, hardware and software are just a flashy version of what used to be.
And HomeKit/HomePods could have a whole chapter alone. Every update just brings more bugs.
Software design decisions in iOS and iPadOS, wtf? I'm starting to admire the Chinese phones softwares compared to what we're holding right now. And hardware, once a notch now an island, like we're already used to the ugly camera island in the back. Boxy designs that hurt your fingers. Thicker than my old iPhones already.
Even in marketing campaigns, the amount of fake advertising of things that already existed in previous versions and making it sound like brand new features is insane.
I don't think loyal Apple fans that walked in that parade 20 years ago are still proud and satisfied. At least I'm not.
Unspecific. im not seeing any bugs with my HomePods, I’m seeing added features like temperature sensing, but don’t let that keep you from making baseless arguments.
Does the Chinese phone software have a mode where it relay all sensor data elsewhere while attached to a balloon? 😜
For years I would go to the mall, get a coffee and mostly just walk around. It was the town square for me. I would almost always have a nice conversation with an employee or another shopper. One of my friends tells me that I’m resistant to change. I tend to think that I miss something I used to enjoy as our local malls are depressing shells now.
I miss Scott Forstall more. Love his skeuomorphism take on iOS 1-6. It looked more classy and industrial until iOS 7 came along…
We had three malls in Jacksonville. One closed due to crime, the second is going broke because of crime and the last one is losing the big name stores due to less and less shoppers, due to crime.
Back in the mid 2000s I had a candy bar style cell phone (I can't remember if it was Nokia or Motorola or something else but probably Nokia). Reading through the manual (I did that once!), they had a warning about how not to hold the phone. Basically they said don't hold the phone with your finger over where the internal antenna connected to the case. The whole "You're holding it wrong" statement always made me think of that phone.
Edit: Here's a manual (page 15) showing essentially how not to hold an old Nokia "wrong": https://www.manualslib.com/manual/111913/Nokia-1101.html?page=15#manual
That's not the phone I had -- my phone's manual had a section on how to hold to phone to not interfere with the antenna -- but it conveys the idea.
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I’d say so. I still love this video from the launch:Are you implying that iOS 7 was beautiful?
Yeah, this is correct. The window isn’t on international models.
Doesn’t especially bother me, even if being in Australia means our phones don’t have it. Would be curious to know why from a technical perspective they have the window there rather than the antenna just being behind the rear glass of the phone however.
The following article suggests maybe it’s visible intentionally so users know it’s there and to avoid gripping it, but still I’d have thought there’s still places on the rear which might avoid users grip better.
The iPhone 12’s mysterious groove is a 5G mmWave antenna window — and it’s exclusive to the US
We thought it was a SIM tray at first
www.theverge.com
And all those people in the video are operating their phones with one hand 😊 I'm sure it was emphasized on purpose.
It’s not so much the aesthetics that bug me. Function is my problem. I go to take a photo and if I don’t remember to wipe the lens I get a foggy photo. It’s the same frustration that had me shelve my HTC 10 a bit early because that phone lacked an oleophobic lens coating.
It’s really a nightmare to keep the lenses and the area around them clean on my 14 Pro Max. Everything sticks to the glossy glass around the camera of a pro model. My iPhone 11 isn’t too bad because that area is matte glass. My 14 Pro Max is a debris and fingerprint magnet. It’s so large it’s hard to not touch the lens area.
It’s also a ridiculously heavy phone and the shiny sides are only pretty until your fingerprints get on them. Then they look dirty and gross. They had since iPhone 12 to rethink the wisdom of shiny steel sides and they didn’t.
I do like my 14 Pro Max a lot. In fact it’s one I intend to keep another year. I love the purple color and I think it’s a nice looking phone when wiped clean. I just think it could be better and still be highly functional under the direction of gifted designer working in tandem with Apple’s engineers.
But maybe there IS a gifted designer or several doing exactly that and I am a heathen who doesn’t know excellent design when I see it. I’m just an old grouch who is tired of fingerprints and a huge glossy camera carbuncle.
Okay I agree with everything you said EXCEPT ‘SLIPPERY/FINGERPRINT MAGNET STAINLESS STEEL SIDES’
What in the HELL are you talking about? The stainless steel sides ARE EXTREMELY GRIPPY. Any other material Apple has used has been FAR FAR FAR MORE SLIPPERY.
The ****ing fingerprints DONT MEAN JACK ****. I care about GRIP NOT FINGERPRINTS.
I am specifically able to hold and use my phone without a case since the iPhone X THANKS TO THE GRIPPY STAINLESS STEEL SIDES.
If Apple changes them to matte titanium this year the phone will be a SLIPPERY PIECE OF ****ING GARBAGE.
The matte glass is far more slippery than the smooth glass of the iPhone X rear, but if they switch to matte metal it will be even that much slipperier.
I should be running everything Apple does. They just don’t think anymore
This is all subjective, of course, but in my opinion, iOS 7 was an aesthetic disaster and the start of a long downward spiral of Apple's GUI design.Are you implying that iOS 7 was beautiful?
Unfortunately, today's iOS aesthetic is pretty much the same and hasn't evolved much visually in 10 years. We didn't need to go from leather stitching and linen to flat, cold, boring, jellyfish interfaces with tiny navigation arrows, vast blank spaces, and a poorly implemented Dark Mode that took years and years to release. A happy medium was in there somewhere. They continue to pile onto the iOS 7 foundation, but really, iOS needs a major design overhaul.
Sadly, Apple is doubling down and continuing to extend this design language and functionality to where it doesn't belong, in macOS. They are catering to the iPhone buying masses to cross and/or upsell other products. 'Look, it's like an iPhone or iPad but in a laptop, so now I know how to use it!'
I never thought I would see boring, flat, lazy, hard to decipher and uninspired tile icons, multi-click notifications with small navigation arrows and 'x' buttons, and small, monotone glyphs and icons in an iOS style system preferences, that all look a bit too similar, in macOS. But, here we are.
Having said that, I will take iOS and macOS over anything from Microsoft or Google. I just wish Apple would bring a bit more refinement, depth, subtle texture and personality back into their interfaces. Even adding something as simple as a fade-in and out effect as you navigate to different system setting windows, etc.
But, what the hell do I know, they're bringing in billions and sitting on a 30%+ profit margin, so catering to the masses, while not great for those of us who remember the days of Thinking Different, is good for their bottom line, for sure.
Where else exactly would you recommend they put the antenna?
The original iPhone had a big plastic space on the bottom of the back for the antenna.
The 3G switched to an entirely plastic back for the antenna.
The 4 carved the antennas into the sides of the phone and it… Did not work out well.
The 5 used glass bars at the top and the bottom, the 6 used plastic bars.
It’s an antenna, who cares.
As long as it’s not being interrupted *cough* iPhone 4 *cough*, it does not matter.
Loss aversion - Wikipedia