Too many features makes the phone confusing

[Apple blogger]

Okay..bringing features is a good thing ..and it won't make it confusing .. But remembering all the inbuilt features is a tough task..
But won't it increase the cost of the phone?
I mean Samsung has made updates to their hardware but most of them to the software.. They are giving atleast 20 new features and they will likely charge more for it .. According to me they may keep it $100 less than the current iPhone..
If we go to see over all, the phone has a lot of features and may be worth the price , but if we check individual features and see if we are using it ,the phone might be over charged..

Besides Samsung hasn't included many new features on its own but has copied most of them from bb10 and iOS ..

 

[marc11]

So let me boil down the OP's post to a few words...the new Samsung phone has a boat load of really cool feature, non of which iOS has so they are deemed unndeed because he/she cannot have them on iOS. As soon as the iPhone offers something like 100 pictures in 4 seconds to get the best one or removing unwanted items from pictures or no touch gestures, then they are needed and cool.

Really, too many features? Ha ha ha, tell that to BMW, Mercedes, any house builder, any appliance maker...lol too many feautres.

 

[thehustleman]

More features is always better than no features.

It doesn't complicate things, just don't use them if you don't want or need them

 

[Vegastouch]

To me the perfect visual representation of this is this screen shot of the Settings toggles from Android Central's hands on with the GS4.

How is that confusing? It is a simple button layout to turn off or on whatever features you want and you can see them all at once by just swiping down.

----------

Okay..bringing features is a good thing ..and it won't make it confusing .. But remembering all the inbuilt features is a tough task..
But won't it increase the cost of the phone?
I mean Samsung has made updates to their hardware but most of them to the software.. They are giving atleast 20 new features and they will likely charge more for it .. According to me they may keep it $100 less than the current iPhone..
If we go to see over all, the phone has a lot of features and may be worth the price , but if we check individual features and see if we are using it ,the phone might be over charged..

Besides Samsung hasn't included many new features on its own but has copied most of them from bb10 and iOS ..

They didnt last year. Was still on par with all the other subsidized phones. And they dont charge as much as Apple does for more memory. And if you wait 6 months, you can get one cheaper still.

 

[matttye]

How is that confusing? It is a simple button layout to turn off or on whatever features you want and you can see them all at once by just swiping down.

It's the amount. The layman probably won't know what some of that stuff is. Clearly there won't be that many options by default, but I know that many toggles would confuse people

 

[Drunken Master]

More features is always better than no features.

It doesn't complicate things, just don't use them if you don't want or need them

As long as it's not necessary to dive into all the features to get the most out of the device.

There is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to adding too many features to a phone.

We need less but better.

 

[cynics]

Having two different paths to get to the same setting isn't a bad thing if they're both logical, like you've pointed out with the iCloud thing.

I'm not sure what you mean with the Facebook one, as settings > general > usage > Facebook doesn't exist for me. Unless you mean to see how much data is being used by the Facebook app? However that is the same for every app: settings > general > usage > [app name].

It wouldn't be logical to have the notification settings in the settings app itself because the Facebook app can be uninstalled. Unless the settings app becomes more dynamic and apps can add to the default OS menus, this is something that cannot be helped.

How would Settings > Apps > [app name] > then everything about that app not be logical?

Granted I agree with you if the settings menu wasn't restructured for such.

Android for example, simply because I know it. You have sections, Hardware, Data, Storage, Security, etc. Want to see your battery life...easy it's under hardware. Want to change your password...it's under security. There is no reason or anything to motivate you to click something else. What does "general" mean? I'm in the settings do I need more general settings?

The thing I like the most is app settings are IN THE APP. If I want to change app settings I change them. iOS is a mixture of both. Adobe reader for example, there are different screen settings in iOS settings and in the app settings.

If I wanted to change my lock code on my iPhone my first guess might be settings > privacy. Which is obviously wrong. If I wanted to limit ad tracking to increase my privacy I'd certainly say settings > privacy....still wrong. Privacy is for apps.

I just don't find it intuitive what so ever. And there have been plenty of people that ask me about settings and I show them how to accomplish something. Usually has to do with location services. And very very rarely do I find people have the restrictions turned on for location services even though they rely on find my iPhone, which is easily defeated by just turning it off. The reason why is because its not that intuitive, its not explained and thus not always done.

 

[thehustleman]

As long as it's not necessary to dive into all the features to get the most out of the device.

There is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to adding too many features to a phone.

We need less but better.

No such thing as too many features.

Features are what makes one thing better than the next.

To get the most out of any device you have to use all the features.

Even an iphone. If you aren't using SIRI, icloud, or buying movies from iTunes then you aren't getting the most out of the device

If you aren't taking pictures while shooting videos you aren't getting the most from the device.

If you aren't using panoramic camera you aren't getting the most from the device

 

[IFRIT]

To me the perfect visual representation of this is this screen shot of the Settings toggles from Android Central's hands on with the GS4.

They were just demostrating the amount off toggles it was possible to have showing if someone wanted.

 

[matttye]

How would Settings > Apps > [app name] > then everything about that app not be logical?

Granted I agree with you if the settings menu wasn't restructured for such.

Android for example, simply because I know it. You have sections, Hardware, Data, Storage, Security, etc. Want to see your battery life...easy it's under hardware. Want to change your password...it's under security. There is no reason or anything to motivate you to click something else. What does "general" mean? I'm in the settings do I need more general settings?

The thing I like the most is app settings are IN THE APP. If I want to change app settings I change them. iOS is a mixture of both. Adobe reader for example, there are different screen settings in iOS settings and in the app settings.

If I wanted to change my lock code on my iPhone my first guess might be settings > privacy. Which is obviously wrong. If I wanted to limit ad tracking to increase my privacy I'd certainly say settings > privacy....still wrong. Privacy is for apps.

I just don't find it intuitive what so ever. And there have been plenty of people that ask me about settings and I show them how to accomplish something. Usually has to do with location services. And very very rarely do I find people have the restrictions turned on for location services even though they rely on find my iPhone, which is easily defeated by just turning it off. The reason why is because its not that intuitive, its not explained and thus not always done.

I'm not saying it's perfect, there are some clear improvements that could be made for sure.

Apps are already in settings, just scroll down to the bottom and they're all listed there. Facebook is different because it's an iOS built-in menu rather than a menu added by the app. The notification settings being in the settings menu would make no sense if the app was not installed. iOS would have to do one of two things for it to do what you want:

1) Allow third party apps to modify the built-in iOS menus.
Or 2) Detect when Facebook is installed and modify the menu accordingly.

I would rather the notifications be in the app anyway so that they can be updated independently of iOS. Facebook is always adding new features

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No such thing as too many features.

Features are what makes one thing better than the next.

To get the most out of any device you have to use all the features.

Even an iphone. If you aren't using SIRI, icloud, or buying movies from iTunes then you aren't getting the most out of the device

If you aren't taking pictures while shooting videos you aren't getting the most from the device.

If you aren't using panoramic camera you aren't getting the most from the device

Better is subjective though. By your logic, the slowest phone in the world would be the best if it had the most features. I wholeheartedly disagree.

The device that has the features YOU want is what's important, not the one that has the most features.

 

[cynics]

Ok how about this (yes I'm nitpicking but this is something important to me). Emailing a PDF. How do you do it in either OS.

Android, compose email, attach PDF. Attach is a feature built in. You can attach any file. Zip, PDF, mp3, any proprietary file your company may uses, doesn't matter.

iOS, not too much more difficult but if you don't know it's impossible. Open a 3rd party PDF app that supports sharing with email (you will most likely be limited to the OEM email app) then share the PDF with email, then compose. You will also be limited to apps that can share their files so you can only really send pics, videos and pdf's by using 3rd party software. You can only send one PDF at a time per email too.

Attach is a "feature" that makes things less confusing. Most people that have used a desktop know how it works. So why leave it out of iOS? Certainly not because more features are confusing.

Sharing,

I'm looking at photos on my phone and I want to share with Dropbox.

Android, click share with Dropbox. Any file you want, PDF, zip, mp3, etc etc

iOS, back out of the camera roll. Open Dropbox. Press +, press upload here, select camera roll or whatever folder, find the photo, then upload. Once again you are limited to pics and vids unless a 3rd party app supports sharing with Dropbox. This is weird anyway. I have photos set to share with Dropbox but that's only possible from messages, not the camera roll.

Regardless more features that make the device easier to use.

I think the issue is some people haven't actually TRIED the features to realize that the COULD benefit from them. Not all just some. Something is always the best if you've known no other.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

I can't wait to be confused with the S4. It's better than jailbreaking my way into confusion.

 

[matttye]

Ok how about this (yes I'm nitpicking but this is something important to me). Emailing a PDF. How do you do it in either OS.

Android, compose email, attach PDF. Attach is a feature built in. You can attach any file. Zip, PDF, mp3, any proprietary file your company may uses, doesn't matter.

iOS, not too much more difficult but if you don't know it's impossible. Open a 3rd party PDF app that supports sharing with email (you will most likely be limited to the OEM email app) then share the PDF with email, then compose. You will also be limited to apps that can share their files so you can only really send pics, videos and pdf's by using 3rd party software. You can only send one PDF at a time per email too.

Attach is a "feature" that makes things less confusing. Most people that have used a desktop know how it works. So why leave it out of iOS? Certainly not because more features are confusing.

Sharing,

I'm looking at photos on my phone and I want to share with Dropbox.

Android, click share with Dropbox. Any file you want, PDF, zip, mp3, etc etc

iOS, back out of the camera roll. Open Dropbox. Press +, press upload here, select camera roll or whatever folder, find the photo, then upload. Once again you are limited to pics and vids unless a 3rd party app supports sharing with Dropbox. This is weird anyway. I have photos set to share with Dropbox but that's only possible from messages, not the camera roll.

Regardless more features that make the device easier to use.

I think the issue is some people haven't actually TRIED the features to realize that the COULD benefit from them. Not all just some. Something is always the best if you've known no other.

Apple wants to eliminate the file system - I think that is the main reason why there's no attach feature.

Something does need to be done about sharing I think. It would be great if apps could register themselves as 'receivers' for certain kinds of files, then any app that shares a file can send it to any app that receives it. Likewise, apps that can share files should be able to register themselves as 'sharers,' so that apps like mail can access their files - i.e., to attach.

That is still not as powerful as having a file system but infinitely better than what we have now.

 

[Vegastouch]

It's the amount. The layman probably won't know what some of that stuff is. Clearly there won't be that many options by default, but I know that many toggles would confuse people

True but i doubt the guy that said it was confusing is one of those layman's. Maybe he is, i really dont know. Maybe a phone that does a lot more is just overwhelming to think about if you dont even try to use it.

 

[stridemat]

MOD NOTE

Temporarily closed.

Carry on.

 

[Drunken Master]

No such thing as too many features.

Features are what makes one thing better than the next.

To get the most out of any device you have to use all the features.

Even an iphone. If you aren't using SIRI, icloud, or buying movies from iTunes then you aren't getting the most out of the device

If you aren't taking pictures while shooting videos you aren't getting the most from the device.

If you aren't using panoramic camera you aren't getting the most from the device

What you listed are just a few features.

I think what TS is referring tons of options and features on Android devices.

 

[onthecouchagain]

Ok how about this (yes I'm nitpicking but this is something important to me). Emailing a PDF. How do you do it in either OS.

Android, compose email, attach PDF. Attach is a feature built in. You can attach any file. Zip, PDF, mp3, any proprietary file your company may uses, doesn't matter.

iOS, not too much more difficult but if you don't know it's impossible. Open a 3rd party PDF app that supports sharing with email (you will most likely be limited to the OEM email app) then share the PDF with email, then compose. You will also be limited to apps that can share their files so you can only really send pics, videos and pdf's by using 3rd party software. You can only send one PDF at a time per email too.

Attach is a "feature" that makes things less confusing. Most people that have used a desktop know how it works. So why leave it out of iOS? Certainly not because more features are confusing.

Sharing,

I'm looking at photos on my phone and I want to share with Dropbox.

Android, click share with Dropbox. Any file you want, PDF, zip, mp3, etc etc

iOS, back out of the camera roll. Open Dropbox. Press +, press upload here, select camera roll or whatever folder, find the photo, then upload. Once again you are limited to pics and vids unless a 3rd party app supports sharing with Dropbox. This is weird anyway. I have photos set to share with Dropbox but that's only possible from messages, not the camera roll.

Regardless more features that make the device easier to use.

I think the issue is some people haven't actually TRIED the features to realize that the COULD benefit from them. Not all just some. Something is always the best if you've known no other.

This post makes me really sad. It's all true. And it makes me resent the iPhone.

 

[daveathall]

I would rather have features and not use them, safe with the knowledge that if needed at a later stage they can be used, rather the feature be absent from the outset, never to be available.

I am not technically savvy and TBH, I don't like reading instruction manuals, but if there is a feature on my phone that I rarely use but need it on the odd occasion, I just Google, "how do I use **put feature** on a Nexus 4" TBH, I find it very simple rather than confusing.

 

[onthecouchagain]

I would rather have features and not use them, but with the knowledge that if needed at a later stage they can be used, rather the feature be absent from the outset, never to be available.

I am not technically savvy and TBH, I don't like reading instruction manuals, but if there is a feature on my phone that I rarely use but need it on the odd occasion, I just Google, "how do I use **put feature** on a Nexus 4" TBH, I find it very simple rather than confusing.

This fear of things being too complicated to learn is really overstated. We live in an age that is becoming more and more technologically fluent -- much of this is owed to Apple!

It's really not that hard to learn new features, at all. People are making a big deal out of nothing, which tends to be the case with Android fears.

Plus, what Cynics said here is relevant:

I think the issue is some people haven't actually TRIED the features to realize that the COULD benefit from them. Not all just some. Something is always the best if you've known no other.

 

[daveathall]

No one has ever sat in the rear of my car but I still want there to be some seats there................Just in case.............But if not, they wont be used.

 

[Oohara]

I would rather have features and not use them, safe with the knowledge that if needed at a later stage they can be used, rather the feature be absent from the outset, never to be available.

I am not technically savvy and TBH, I don't like reading instruction manuals, but if there is a feature on my phone that I rarely use but need it on the odd occasion, I just Google, "how do I use **put feature** on a Nexus 4" TBH, I find it very simple rather than confusing.

It amazes me how people get so worked up about having too many options, when they can just refrain from using them and be done with it. It's not like their experience will be worsened due to those un-used options being there.

This reminds me of all those people who seemed infuriated by the mere presence of the iPad Mini last summer, thought it's introduction didn't make their full-size iPads one iota worse. What is it with that attitude?

 

[matttye]

It amazes me how people get so worked up about having too many options, when they can just refrain from using them and be done with it. It's not like their experience will be worsened due to those un-used options being there.

This reminds me of all those people who seemed infuriated by the mere presence of the iPad Mini last summer, thought it's introduction didn't make their full-size iPads one iota worse. What is it with that attitude?

If something has thousands of features it becomes somewhat cluttered and more difficult to find what you want.

I'd rather have a clean UI that does what I want than one that has thousands of features I don't use, but that's just me. I know "you don't have to use them" (this has been repeated ad nauseum), but they're still THERE. Still in the OS. The apps are still there for me to scroll through or hide. The options are still there for me to scroll through when I'm trying to change something.

Plus there are more things that can go wrong. There was a wakelock in Google Chrome for Android that resulted in massive battery drain and was caused by the "tilt to scroll" developer option that used to be enabled by default. The more gimmicky features something has, the more side effects that can result. I'm not saying that we shouldn't introduce any new features in case there are bugs, just that more things can go wrong when there's more code and features to manage.

 

[bearboy]

This has to be the most insane topic ever here. Since when are too many features a bad thing? If you like 'em, don't use 'em. Simple as that. I don't use some of the features on my S3, but I'm not complaining about it. If I do happen to need it, I know it's there.

Geez starting to sound like an old folks home here. "In my day, we only had only these features on our smartphones, and we liked it!"

 

[mib1800]

If something has thousands of features it becomes somewhat cluttered and more difficult to find what you want.

I'd rather have a clean UI that does what I want than one that has thousands of features I don't use, but that's just me. I know "you don't have to use them" (this has been repeated ad nauseum), but they're still THERE. Still in the OS. The apps are still there for me to scroll through or hide. The options are still there for me to scroll through when I'm trying to change something.

Plus there are more things that can go wrong. There was a wakelock in Google Chrome for Android that resulted in massive battery drain and was caused by the "tilt to scroll" developer option that used to be enabled by default. The more gimmicky features something has, the more side effects that can result. I'm not saying that we shouldn't introduce any new features in case there are bugs, just that more things can go wrong when there's more code and features to manage.

thousands of options organized neatly and logically and accessed easily is much better than fewer options done badly.

case in point is ios where fewer options makes a mess. Settings are in both main and app itself with no fixed pattern. Toggles are spread all over the list. Command options are strewn all over the place like top and bottom and sometimes in a slide up (unlike in Android where all command options are logically organized in menus). Plus inconsistency in flow like press small arrow to right of item to edit but swipe right to callout out delete (unlike android where you just long press an item to edit or delete)

 

[johnjefferson]

Not sure if serious....

I think he might be...if hes 80 years old. Old people dont like confusing electronics