iPhone 14 Pro Max I miss the Steve Jobs & Johnny Ive era…

[eyoungren]

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.

The malls got hit hard once online shopping became a thing. I've seen at least two that I frequented as a teen go under. One is still functioning but it's near a major freeway so that's probably why its still hanging on. That and in the early 90s there was a movie theater built next to it. The mall probably gets some of that traffic.

There's a mall out here where I live now that is still open, but it's largely driven by small businesses now. And the major one up north is two levels. It's in a prime spot so not going to go under any time soon. Major chains there, along with an Apple store.

It's just really sad.

 

[fatTribble]

Ahem…clears throat…

View attachment 2158010

At some point I had to watch them. They were pushing the newer book club and some employees had never heard about OtherWorlds. The newer book club had a lesser discount. I usually had to get managers involved.

EDIT: I have all my Xignals out in the garage somewhere…

Whoa! You just made my day! 🥰🤓
After I worked there they got pushy with their new club. A friend of mine managed a store. It was heavily pushed by management.
I was a rebel. If people qualified for the discount I’d just give it to them. Then I’d suggest the club if they’re interested. Most people liked that.

 

[Reason077]

You could add Apple's and any widgets that third party apps supported. For instance, there was a Twitter widget and a Facebook widget. You could respond to tweets/posts from the NC.

Those were not 3rd party widgets back then, though. They were made by Apple and included with iOS 6. IIRC, you didn't even need the FaceBook/Twitter apps installed to use them: you put your login details directly into the Settings app!

 

[Reason077]

I’ve been hoping Apple would add iOS style widgets to the Mac launchpad for years.
Launchpad has basically been neglected since it was introduced… 13 years ago.
Not sure why it hasn’t kept up with the iPhone in the iPads home screen when that’s what its original purpose was to be.

Yeah, Launchpad seems a bit pointless on macOS. So many better ways to launch apps, it's just redundant. But if they made it fully customisable with iOS-style widgets and made it so you could swipe right to get to it just like the old Dashboard... I would become a huge Launchpad fan

 

[sparksd]

I’ve had Face ID fail exactly zero times on any iPhone since it came out.

Same here on 14PM & M1 12.9.

 

[arkitect]

I’ve had Face ID fail exactly zero times on any iPhone since it came out.

I wish I could say the same.

Face ID fails at least once a day.

Bright sunshine on my face? Fail!

Complete darkness? Fail!

Winter and my face is only barely covered with a large scarf? Fail!


Now, Touch ID on the other hand?

Works 99.9% of the time… and even in the dark.

Lucky -- It fails every day, a couple times at least, on my 13 Mini

Same here. Hit and very miss.

Maybe I need a new face?🤣

I mean, I know I'm getting old, but hell, surely my face isn't changing that fast!

Face ID is almost as bad as the UK's implementation of facial biometrics at airport passport control…

 

[SYCAMOREGRAD]

People are saying that's the 5G antenna which is fair. But that's beside the point since the OP is saying that it's ugly and poor design. Pointing out that it's for 5G does not address the issue.

Yes but he thinks it’s ugly on purpose, which it is but for a different reason. That’s why ppl are trying to inform him. But whatever…

 

[Yaboze]

Apple has moved on a bit from "Form before/over Function". Things are getting a little thicker, notches being introduced and ports added. I like the newer direction better, because the devices still look good but have more ports, better cameras, thinner bezels, etc. .

 

[4743913]

PlaySkool, Fisher-Price and Tutor Time.

this describes exactly what Apple thinks of its users..

 

[Tozovac]

Take a look at the awful skeuomorphic iOS UI under Scott Forstall before Ive took charge and made it beautiful as one example.
Ive has his haters on here but they forget that Apple would be a footnote in history of it hadn't been for him and Jobs, their taste and attention to details.

You're mostly right.

Praising Ive across the board without any *asterisk is essentially focusing on his hits and ignoring any significant misses. To the best of my knowledge, Ive was heralded as a hardware design guru/expert/genius. Yes, he created some real hits in the hardware realm, and I think it should be noted that this was during a time of lots of low-hanging-fruit waiting to be exploited. There was quite a bit of fluff, bad design, etc., in the world of laptops, Mp3 players, desktops, etc.

I had never read or heard of Ive's genius contributions to the software/operating system interface side until after Steve's passing and Scott's riddance, where it would seem Apple's leadership thought that if Ive could do "A" really well he should be able to do "B" very well, even without any counter-balancing from folk like Steve.

Like many, I contend that once A) Ive lost his tempering soundboard in Steve, and 2) once all the low-hanging fruit was minimized away, leaving Jony with needing to force-invent new things to remove or minimalize in an effort to implement more of his secret sauce (sometimes resulting in solutions to non-problems, and "fixing" things that weren't truly broken but could just benefit from further refinement) did he lose some of his shine.

Your last statement holds water only until around 2013 or so IMHO.

 

[Tozovac]

flat edges (uncomfortable)

Funny, I find flat edges to be infinitely more securely grippable and less soap-bar slippery. I much prefer a little bit (or a lot) of effort input into the design to make it a bit more robust and resistant to shattering. I'd love a Sony Sports Walkman type of iPhone that wouldn't need a case. To each their own!

this describes exactly what Apple thinks of its users..

Fisher Price My First iPhone/Mac describes what many users think of iOS7 and Yosemite !!!

 

[Cartossin]

I think the 12 pro is the best iphone (at the time) ever. I've had the 3GS, 4, 5, SE, 6, X, 11 pro. From what I can see, the 14 pro is even better. You're nuts if you think there's been a better iphone. The stainless steel sides are excellent and grippy to my hands. I even use a dbrand skin that keeps them exposed. While steel scratches, it stays mostly shiny and contributes to my phone's enduring visual appeal over 2 years later.

I also know someone who returned a 14 pro after 1 day because it got a scratch almost immediately. The ceramic shield glass is definitely easier to scratch than the older glass, but it's WAY harder to crack. To me, this is a welcome change. I don't know why people are so picky about any perceived flaw in the best phone ever.

 

[currocj]

Loved me some 90s and 80s and 70s. Bring back the Apple IIGS!

 

[brucewayne]

Just upgraded to the iPhone 14 pro and I’m pretty shocked to see the case has this ugly indented spot where the SIM card used to be. I can’t believe this passed the desk of whoever is in charge of apples design these days and I guarantee you that this would have been stopped by Ive or Jobs if they were still at Apple. And the slippery/fingerprint magnet stainless steel sides and slippery matte back case are just poor design decisions as well.

/vent

Charging ports on the bottom of a mouse, antenna bands that could be rendered useless if you held them wrong, laptops with inadequate cooling (ever try to use a powerbook G4 or early intel macbook on your lap?), butterfly keyboards, the trash can Mac Pro - those guys weren't perfect either.

 

[Chriss_m]

Jony Ive gave us iOS 7 and all it's preschool primary colors that were inspired by PlaySkool, Fisher-Price and Tutor Time.

Apple took multiple years to allow a dark mode on Mac and iOS. Apple withdrew widgets on the screen with iOS 7 (introduced in iOS 6), then took years to give them back.

You may miss that era. I do not.

I'll never understand why people try and rewrite history as if Ive's designs have not always been overwhelmingly popular.

 

[eyoungren]

I'll never understand why people try and rewrite history as if Ive's designs have not always been overwhelmingly popular.

Well, yes. His designs have been overwhelmingly popular, whether those who like his designs even know who he is or not. But, I've never been one to let popular opinion determine my own opinions.

Group think isn't my style.

 

[mectojic]

To be fair I haven't had an iPhone since the 7 Plus. Went into an Apple store, played with the 14 Pros and they felt like cheap Chinese knockoffs. Couldn't believe they were the real thing.

This is actually true. Is it the colour, or the design, but something has felt off since the iPhone 13/14..

 

[1rottenapple]

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.

Are there any phone makers following skeuomorphic design? I remember those days and yah they’re intuitive.

 

[h.gilbert]

This is actually true. Is it the colour, or the design, but something has felt off since the iPhone 13/14..

Not sure really, I think its a mixture of the blingly stainless steel, comically large cameras, and square design that makes it feel very large compared to the 11 Pros. Also the fact that the bezels, which from a visual standpoint includes the stainless steel band, are very thick for a premium phone. Combine that with the large camera cutout, it makes the screen to body ratio a lot less than other premium flagships.

My $200 Redmi Note 10 Pro feels as premium as the 14 Pro Max.

 

[fatTribble]

Since there is so much talk of Jony Ive, I’ll admit my ignorance. With respect to the iPhone, did he design what the iPhone looked like only from the outside? Or did he also design how all of the parts would be laid out inside? I’m a software guy. I don’t really know anything about hardware design.

 

[brucewayne]

Since there is so much talk of Jony Ive, I’ll admit my ignorance. With respect to the iPhone, did he design what the iPhone looked like only from the outside? Or did he also design how all of the parts would be laid out inside? I’m a software guy. I don’t really know anything about hardware design.

If I understand the relationship, in the Jobs era Steve would give a design goal and it would be up to the engineering and the design team headed by Jony to work together to make it happen and make it pretty - Ive was in charge of the exterior design and likely consulted on the actual interior layout of parts.

After Jobs death Ive was promoted to oversee both teams, which is likely how something like the butterfly keyboard came to pass - Ive wanted thin above all else and the engineering teams had a lot less power to disagree

 

[Andrew73875]

Since there is so much talk of Jony Ive, I’ll admit my ignorance. With respect to the iPhone, did he design what the iPhone looked like only from the outside? Or did he also design how all of the parts would be laid out inside? I’m a software guy. I don’t really know anything about hardware design.

Jony Ive and his team worked on how the product looked like, how it functioned and how it could be manufactured. Here's a good video on this:

 

[robertosh]

Apart from the usability vs design discussion, it's true that those products had always some "magic" that I don't feel nowadays. Maybe is just the way that they were presented, but certainly after those presentations one had the need of buying it, even if not needed. Maybe is just me, that I'm getting old and I'm tired of seeing new gadgets everyday

 

[Annv]

Apart from the usability vs design discussion, it's true that those products had always some "magic" that I don't feel nowadays. Maybe is just the way that they were presented, but certainly after those presentations one had the need of buying it, even if not needed. Maybe is just me, that I'm getting old and I'm tired of seeing new gadgets everyday

It's true that Apple has some magic in its brand. They were building it for many decades, but now it's diminishing with every new release. The current management is exploiting this magic aura, while slowly destroying it. When there's no magic left, Apple may become another Dell or Samsung.

As to the products, it's not only presentations that made them so desirable. The design was truly great. I always enjoy looking at the tech I have (in the signature; although iMac has an eye-straining screen under macOS and when working with the text).

In my opinion, poor design started slipping in with such products as the last Intel 16-inch MacBook, notched iPhones, home-button-less iPads, 24-inch iMac and Mac Studio. In all of them, proportions are off. For example, when looking at recent MacBooks, iPhones, and iPads, I have a feeling they were trying to cram as much screen real estate into available space, no matter what.

 

[StellarVixen]

I think this is appropriate for this thread. Guess what is my main grievance with this (no, it is not that one is skeuomorphic and other is not)