...the App launcher program in iOS is infuriatingly bad. Fer chrissakes, you can't even keep the icons where you want them.
...the icons all look pretty much the same. WTF is the use of an icon if it is not instantly recognizable? That's the entire point pf using icons!
... Just badly done from the ground up.
I'm not sure what I'm reading here. Are you actually an iOS user?
First: what is "the App launcher program" exactly? I haven't found that "infuriatingly bad" program anywhere on any of my iOS devices...? I just tap an App icon, and that app launches. ??
Second: The iOS icons themselves (Apple provided) most certainly do NOT look "pretty much the same". If you can't tell your Calendar icon from your Phone icon from your Maps icon, maybe some reading glasses are the answer?
Otherwise, APP icons all have the same dimension, yes, it's true... so therefore you say they all look "pretty much the same"? Imagine the visual chaos if app-icons were random sizes and shapes?
The App Icons are designed by the App Developers, not Apple? So how are you connecting their icon design to a general failure of Apple's mobile OS? It makes no sense...
Last: your final quote "just badly done from the ground up" is hyper-generalized, and without qualification at all. And it begs the question. If it was so badly done, would the iPhone be selling so well?
The numbers tell a different story. They say, "hey, this phone and its OS aren't bad at all!"
Not perfect, but not "badly done" by any strwetch of your or anyone else's fevered imagination.
Oh, and as for the ad, the words that came to my mind while watching it were, "The latest revolutionary mirage from Microsoft..."
And I love the LoA film... the ad is a cool concept, in context, but taps all the wrong metaphors in my book... Zune, Kin, Courier, etc... "they're going to be HUGE..."
You have a point. Powerfully underlined by the fact that if you say something like, "My favorite all-time band was the Beatles", most teens will answer, "Who?"
Even a group as well-known and iconic as the Beatles is not part of the current generation's popular consciousness...
Besides, what kid cares about four guys in suits with floppy hair when you're being mesmerized by Beyonce Booty shaking across your new iPad screen?
LoA is a classic. Those who know it well enough for this ad to be meaningful are either older, "classic" film fans, or vested in the industry somehow. It isn't a small demographic, and MS got to drop some coin on just being "creative". I don't think it works well (in another post I said I think it evokes the wrong metaphor with that "mirage" concept)... but as evidenced by the posts here, it does work for some, and that might be enough to have met their targets with it...
I agree though. If we polled the entire (movie-going) world, I would venture that the vast majority have neither seen, and possibly not even heard of the film.
First: what is "the App launcher program" exactly? I haven't found that "infuriatingly bad" program anywhere on any of my iOS devices...? I just tap an App icon, and that app launches??
The springboard wasn't designed to contain 9 pages of icons. I don't know if I'd call it "infuriatingly bad", but it's not great. The ability to organize icons via iTunes was a very welcome improvement, as were folders... which takes us to point 2.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tribalogical
Second: The iOS icons themselves (Apple provided) most certainly do NOT look "pretty much the same".
Newtron was talking about folders (e.g. They finally allow folders, but the icons all look pretty much the same) and the folder icons do pretty much look the same. iOS can actually guess what folder you are trying to create (i.e. "Games", "Utilities", "Photography" etc etc) so it's not too much to ask that it apply a relevant folder icon as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tribalogical
If it was so badly done, would the iPhone be selling so well? The numbers tell a different story. They say, "hey, this phone and its OS aren't bad at all!"
I like to put a big fat line between discussions about a products quality and its sales or potential sales. Market share doesn't always equal quality and conversations that start to take the path of "XYZ product is the best because it sells lots" and "ABC product is crap because no-one bought it" are on the road to nowhere.
Nowhere is this concept more relevant than an Apple forum.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tribalogical
but taps all the wrong metaphors in my book... Zune, Kin, Courier, etc... "they're going to be HUGE..."
If WP7 is the same quality as the Zune I think a lot of people will be happy campers. The Zune is a very good product and the Zune software is rock solid (although no Mac version makes it a non-starter for some).
I never got my hands on a Kin but it actually looked to have some endearing properties as well. It was probably one of the better budget feature phones for the short period of time it existed. Its problem was that it was priced and sold like a smart phone, not anything to do with its hardware\\software.
Was Courier ever an official product? I thought that a few concept pics were leaked and that's all that came of it. Don't quote me on that though!
However, and as I've said, if you don't get the LOA reference you're left with "Arabic", which, given the political passions of the day, seems like a kind of risky choice.
Because folks are going to associate any phone ad with the Taliban? That's a stretch. In any case, it's exceedingly hard to miss the LOA reference because the clip is labeled as WP7 LOA Ad.
There's nothing all that risky about creating a themed LOA ad for a LOA event you're sponsoring and it's hardly the first themed win phone ad they've done.
I agree though. If we polled the entire (movie-going) world, I would venture that the vast majority have neither seen, and possibly not even heard of the film.
Well, the folks going to these secret cinema things are not largely old fuddy cinema lovers but young folks. They've sure heard of LOA now and probably think it's rather cool.
"Didn?t see 15,000 cinema fans in Bedouin attire surround camels and 1930s British Army officers in North London over the weekend? You probably weren?t at Secret Cinema.
...
Walking into a Secret Cinema event is akin to walking into a festival that exists only to celebrate a single movie. This time artificial streets, market stalls, attractions -- even sand-filled deserts and real camels and donkeys -- became the set upon which performing actors and, of course, thousands of attendees, got to spend a costumed evening exploring in the build up to a screening of the three-and-a-half hour British cinema epic."
Because folks are going to associate any phone ad with the Taliban? That's a stretch.
Doesn't have to be the "Taliban" per se, that's not how vague animosity works. There have been recent examples of passions getting inflamed over flimsier associations. Not saying it's reasonable or logical, just that Middle Eastern seems like a surprising choice of motifs at this moment.
Quote:
In any case, it's exceedingly hard to miss the LOA reference because the clip is labeled as WP7 LOA Ad.
There's nothing all that risky about creating a themed LOA ad for a LOA event you're sponsoring and it's hardly the first themed win phone ad they've done.
Well, again, what we've been talking about is how the clip plays online without the aid of the occasion to anchor it. And I'm not talking about themed ads in general, I'm talking about this particular theme. There are several rightwing bloggers that are absolutely maniacal about ferreting out evidence of undue Muslim influence, which they regard as a nefarious plot. I'm really not joking here, they've managed to whip up some tempests in a teabag that you would have thought would have been completely ignored as loony.
Second: The iOS icons themselves (Apple provided) most certainly do NOT look "pretty much the same".
Reread what I actually said, look at the screenshot to the right, and then ask yourself if maybe I was correct:
The icons all look basically the same, totally destroying any utility that icons may have. The UI blows chunks. It couldn't be much worse.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tribalogical
It makes no sense...
Har!
Quote:
Originally Posted by tribalogical
Last: your final quote "just badly done from the ground up" is hyper-generalized, and without qualification at all. And it begs the question. If it was so badly done, would the iPhone be selling so well?
Maybe Steve got advice from Ray Croc? Dunno.
Maybe for the same reason Tata outsells Bentley? Dunno.
My guess is that overall, it beat out the competition by appealing to some sort of lowest common denominator customer. It does well, despite its UI flaws.
I just installed iTunes 10 and had a chuckle to myself. Clean lines, a calm color scheme, no flashy icons, and a serious attempt to tone down the heavy "buttonize" effect on every UI element.
It looks like Apple have been hard at work copying notes out of Microsoft's UI design book... it's no wonder the Apple faithful are tearing up the blogosphere in search of blood
Microsoft never does anything new. Its like they love sloppy seconds or something. But then again they have such a large installed OS base that they can make money selling old junk. To bad its more food for the trash islands.
Comments
...the App launcher program in iOS is infuriatingly bad. Fer chrissakes, you can't even keep the icons where you want them.
...the icons all look pretty much the same. WTF is the use of an icon if it is not instantly recognizable? That's the entire point pf using icons!
... Just badly done from the ground up.
I'm not sure what I'm reading here. Are you actually an iOS user?
First: what is "the App launcher program" exactly? I haven't found that "infuriatingly bad" program anywhere on any of my iOS devices...? I just tap an App icon, and that app launches. ??
Second: The iOS icons themselves (Apple provided) most certainly do NOT look "pretty much the same". If you can't tell your Calendar icon from your Phone icon from your Maps icon, maybe some reading glasses are the answer?
Otherwise, APP icons all have the same dimension, yes, it's true... so therefore you say they all look "pretty much the same"? Imagine the visual chaos if app-icons were random sizes and shapes?
The App Icons are designed by the App Developers, not Apple? So how are you connecting their icon design to a general failure of Apple's mobile OS? It makes no sense...
Last: your final quote "just badly done from the ground up" is hyper-generalized, and without qualification at all. And it begs the question. If it was so badly done, would the iPhone be selling so well?
The numbers tell a different story. They say, "hey, this phone and its OS aren't bad at all!"
Not perfect, but not "badly done" by any strwetch of your or anyone else's fevered imagination.
Oh, and as for the ad, the words that came to my mind while watching it were, "The latest revolutionary mirage from Microsoft..."
And I love the LoA film... the ad is a cool concept, in context, but taps all the wrong metaphors in my book... Zune, Kin, Courier, etc... "they're going to be HUGE..."
mirage....
Seen? Try "heard of" instead
You have a point. Powerfully underlined by the fact that if you say something like, "My favorite all-time band was the Beatles", most teens will answer, "Who?"
Even a group as well-known and iconic as the Beatles is not part of the current generation's popular consciousness...
Besides, what kid cares about four guys in suits with floppy hair when you're being mesmerized by Beyonce Booty shaking across your new iPad screen?
LoA is a classic. Those who know it well enough for this ad to be meaningful are either older, "classic" film fans, or vested in the industry somehow. It isn't a small demographic, and MS got to drop some coin on just being "creative". I don't think it works well (in another post I said I think it evokes the wrong metaphor with that "mirage" concept)... but as evidenced by the posts here, it does work for some, and that might be enough to have met their targets with it...
I agree though. If we polled the entire (movie-going) world, I would venture that the vast majority have neither seen, and possibly not even heard of the film.
First: what is "the App launcher program" exactly? I haven't found that "infuriatingly bad" program anywhere on any of my iOS devices...? I just tap an App icon, and that app launches??
The springboard wasn't designed to contain 9 pages of icons. I don't know if I'd call it "infuriatingly bad", but it's not great. The ability to organize icons via iTunes was a very welcome improvement, as were folders... which takes us to point 2.
Second: The iOS icons themselves (Apple provided) most certainly do NOT look "pretty much the same".
Newtron was talking about folders (e.g. They finally allow folders, but the icons all look pretty much the same) and the folder icons do pretty much look the same. iOS can actually guess what folder you are trying to create (i.e. "Games", "Utilities", "Photography" etc etc) so it's not too much to ask that it apply a relevant folder icon as well.
If it was so badly done, would the iPhone be selling so well? The numbers tell a different story. They say, "hey, this phone and its OS aren't bad at all!"
I like to put a big fat line between discussions about a products quality and its sales or potential sales. Market share doesn't always equal quality and conversations that start to take the path of "XYZ product is the best because it sells lots" and "ABC product is crap because no-one bought it" are on the road to nowhere.
Nowhere is this concept more relevant than an Apple forum.
but taps all the wrong metaphors in my book... Zune, Kin, Courier, etc... "they're going to be HUGE..."
If WP7 is the same quality as the Zune I think a lot of people will be happy campers. The Zune is a very good product and the Zune software is rock solid (although no Mac version makes it a non-starter for some).
I never got my hands on a Kin but it actually looked to have some endearing properties as well. It was probably one of the better budget feature phones for the short period of time it existed. Its problem was that it was priced and sold like a smart phone, not anything to do with its hardware\\software.
Was Courier ever an official product? I thought that a few concept pics were leaked and that's all that came of it. Don't quote me on that though!
However, and as I've said, if you don't get the LOA reference you're left with "Arabic", which, given the political passions of the day, seems like a kind of risky choice.
Because folks are going to associate any phone ad with the Taliban? That's a stretch. In any case, it's exceedingly hard to miss the LOA reference because the clip is labeled as WP7 LOA Ad.
There's nothing all that risky about creating a themed LOA ad for a LOA event you're sponsoring and it's hardly the first themed win phone ad they've done.
I agree though. If we polled the entire (movie-going) world, I would venture that the vast majority have neither seen, and possibly not even heard of the film.
Well, the folks going to these secret cinema things are not largely old fuddy cinema lovers but young folks. They've sure heard of LOA now and probably think it's rather cool.
"Didn?t see 15,000 cinema fans in Bedouin attire surround camels and 1930s British Army officers in North London over the weekend? You probably weren?t at Secret Cinema.
...
Walking into a Secret Cinema event is akin to walking into a festival that exists only to celebrate a single movie. This time artificial streets, market stalls, attractions -- even sand-filled deserts and real camels and donkeys -- became the set upon which performing actors and, of course, thousands of attendees, got to spend a costumed evening exploring in the build up to a screening of the three-and-a-half hour British cinema epic."
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/...-cinema-review
15,000 folks in London sure as heck understand the context as does all the folks reading about Secret Cinema.
These events look insanely cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncZHo...layer_embedded
Because folks are going to associate any phone ad with the Taliban? That's a stretch.
Doesn't have to be the "Taliban" per se, that's not how vague animosity works. There have been recent examples of passions getting inflamed over flimsier associations. Not saying it's reasonable or logical, just that Middle Eastern seems like a surprising choice of motifs at this moment.
In any case, it's exceedingly hard to miss the LOA reference because the clip is labeled as WP7 LOA Ad.
There's nothing all that risky about creating a themed LOA ad for a LOA event you're sponsoring and it's hardly the first themed win phone ad they've done.
Well, again, what we've been talking about is how the clip plays online without the aid of the occasion to anchor it. And I'm not talking about themed ads in general, I'm talking about this particular theme. There are several rightwing bloggers that are absolutely maniacal about ferreting out evidence of undue Muslim influence, which they regard as a nefarious plot. I'm really not joking here, they've managed to whip up some tempests in a teabag that you would have thought would have been completely ignored as loony.
should we assume it'll vanish forever five months after it appears?
Whatever floats your boat.
Because it's the paid shills jumping in. A truly pathetic company.
How do I get one of those gigs?
I'm not sure what I'm reading here. Are you actually an iOS user?
Yes.
First: what is "the App launcher program" exactly?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpringBoard
Second: The iOS icons themselves (Apple provided) most certainly do NOT look "pretty much the same".
Reread what I actually said, look at the screenshot to the right, and then ask yourself if maybe I was correct:
The icons all look basically the same, totally destroying any utility that icons may have. The UI blows chunks. It couldn't be much worse.
It makes no sense...
Har!
Last: your final quote "just badly done from the ground up" is hyper-generalized, and without qualification at all. And it begs the question. If it was so badly done, would the iPhone be selling so well?
Maybe Steve got advice from Ray Croc? Dunno.
Maybe for the same reason Tata outsells Bentley? Dunno.
My guess is that overall, it beat out the competition by appealing to some sort of lowest common denominator customer. It does well, despite its UI flaws.
The UI blows chunks. It couldn't be much worse.
Harsh
I just installed iTunes 10 and had a chuckle to myself. Clean lines, a calm color scheme, no flashy icons, and a serious attempt to tone down the heavy "buttonize" effect on every UI element.
It looks like Apple have been hard at work copying notes out of Microsoft's UI design book... it's no wonder the Apple faithful are tearing up the blogosphere in search of blood
do you have to press the start button to switch it off?
i love it