BlackBerry CEO calls Apple's iPhone user interface outdated

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  • Reply 81 of 291


    You sound like a pre-BB10 blackberry user with those comments.  I remember blackberry folks making the same comments when the first iPhone was released.


     


    The changes that need to come to the iPhone (to name just a few) are true multitasking (double clicking on the home screen and flipping between apps is not considered 'true' multitasking), a better native email experience (there is a reason why iPhone users were jumping over each other in order to get a third party email app - Mailbox), a more intelligent predictive keyboard experience, and find an alternative to constantly having to use the home button - this is probably my biggest gripe.   


     


    Lets stop beating around the bush. The primary reason why Apple does not want to re-write iOS is because the app catalog will reset to zero.  From my limited knowledge of phone technology, I dont believe you can just add multitasking capabilities to the current OS. 

  • Reply 82 of 291
    richard getzrichard getz Posts: 1,142member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by macxpress View Post



    I tend to agree that the UI of iOS is outdated. Not much as changed since the original iOS. I'd like to see some differences. Maybe Jony Ive can make this happen in iOS 7. No sweeping changes so it makes it harder to use, but just changes to refresh the interface. I'd like to see some new features as well. Except for Siri (which isn't a big deal to me), there really hasn't been anything earth shattering coming out of Apple these days. You can only sit and watch yourself on top for so long before people start to catch up. If you wait until they catch up, its already too late...Its only a matter of time before someone does just this if Apple doesn't do anything to stay ahead.



    ***Waits to get lambasted for this post***


     


    So the unlock moves up by it's hight and a row of icons the same size as the camera icon are displayed for user quick reference apps such as the weather, flight information, stocks, news, etc? 


     


    I like that! 

  • Reply 83 of 291
    igrivigriv Posts: 1,177member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anonymouse View Post


     


    And, not just "what" is "outdated" or "stale", that's too simplistic, but what about it specifically is, and why is it? If one can't answer those questions, one is just blowing hot air.


     


    I see a lot of posts in this thread about how Apple should add this feature or that (often things of very little general utility), but none of this tacking on features is "updating the UI", it's just tacking on features.



     


    The big UI upgrade was supposed to be Siri, but that is still in alpha, as far as I can tell. Anyway, tacking on features is not a UI update, but notice that Apple has claimed (with some justification) that they are not making bigger displays because that would be incompatible with the current UI. Since people WANT bigger displays, the UI should be updated to make using them fluid.

  • Reply 84 of 291
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by kevt View Post


     


    ... the App launcher is visually dull, uninformative, lacks functionality and customisation options. Even when it was introduced it was hardly innovative: the resemblance to Palm OS launchers would make even a Samsung lawyer blush. ...



     


    First, what the hell is the "App launcher"?  I wasn't aware iOS had one.  


     


    This statement alone shows how completely out of touch you are with the average iOS user in that if you asked a hundred people to tell you what the "App launcher" in iOS was, I would think the only answer you would get is "my finger."


     


    Secondly, the resemblance to Palm is superficial at best, as is the resemblance of Palm's home screen to Newton's (which is where they got the idea from in the first place).  

  • Reply 85 of 291
    quest01quest01 Posts: 69member
    Personally I don't think they should make any aesthetic changes to ios7, I'm against them adding widgets and live wallpapers. Also I don't think they should add anything to the lock screen either like brightness settings and shortcuts like wifi on/off etc.. just keep everything in the settings. If they change anything, make things simpler with what you already have.
  • Reply 86 of 291
    igrivigriv Posts: 1,177member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by RichL View Post


     


    As Henry Ford didn't say: If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.



     


    Henry Ford also made the Model T in any color as long as it was black for twenty years, and wound up being an also-run to GM, who was a bit more open minded in listening to what users wanted.

  • Reply 87 of 291
    rednivalrednival Posts: 331member


    It seems to me implementing a OS X Dashboard like feature would be the best thing to do to shut up the press and competitors on this issue, at least for a little while.   One option would be added to the settings pane with only 3 options or so under it (so you could make the dashboard the home screen, for instance), plus an area to add/remove widgets.  


     


    No need to go crazy and fundamentally change the whole interface.  That would be a mistake.  Just bring something from OS X to iOS.  It would open a whole new market in the App Store for widgets, and it would look radically different without BEING radically different.  Apple could even curve the "stolen from Android" crap by using advertising and marketing to point out that Android stole the widget idea from Apple first.


     


    I'd be shocked if Apple doesn't do something like this soon, though they'll probably come up with something similar but better and then port to OS X.

  • Reply 88 of 291
    igrivigriv Posts: 1,177member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by JollyPaul View Post


     


    He is a self serving d-bag with a valid point. The iOS interface is dated. I still have hope Apple has been working on something for the past few years and will surprise us this year. Letting another year goes by with a largely static iOS would be very damaging.



    How is he self-serving? Blackberry is too far behind iOS to be a credible competitor, so think of him as an outside observer.

  • Reply 89 of 291
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by bluefish86 View Post


    This.


     


    An overhaul would be a huge mistake, but they've been sitting still for too long.


     


    Everyone keeps asking what Apple could improve:



    1. Home screen. It works fine for <50 apps, but when you're up to 200+ it gets really clumsy. You either put in constant effort to keep it rationally sorted (folder size limit and lack of nested folders means re-categorizing as apps get added and deleted), or end up with 8+ unorganized screens like my wife.


    2. Multi-tasking. Which apps are still running? What if there's an app I want to keep running, and others I want killed immediately? Automatic management is great, but the ability to give manual hints would be fantastic. Yes you can manually kill an app but its SLOW to get to. What about a fast way to flick back and forth between a pair of apps rapidly? Currently the double-press on home is really cumbersome. Gestures on the iPad are great but the iPhone needs a parallel.


    3. Rapid access to settings. Ie toggles for bluetooth, wifi, tethering, airplane mode, airplay etc... This has been something people have wanted forever.


    4. Document management. The current system works for now, but it's already starting to get unwieldly. You have to go into the app that "owns" the document, and count on that app to give you a (sometimes very long) list of other apps to open it in. Then each app has its own copy, and you have to remember which is newest. There is no way of picking a default app to handle a document type.


     


    How could these things be improved? (not all ideas are compatible with each other)


     


    Home screen



    • Add a section (ie half a page, or even a full page) that gets automatically populated with the most used apps, not the most recent apps.


    • Make the far-right page be all your apps in an automatically-categorized list. Make it so that apps no longer have to live on other pages, this can be the only page they exist on for lesser-utilized apps.


     


    Multi-tasking



    • Swipe up from the bottom to show the multi-tasking tray. Only show apps that are still running. Add a check to each app icon that means "try to keep me running at the expense of other apps". Change double-press home to "immediately quit the foreground app".


    • Allow interacting with the foreground app while the multi-tasking tray is still open on "tall" devices. All apps already support the shorter aspect ratio for legacy devices anyways.


     


    Settings



    • Add a notification center widget for the main toggles.


    • Make a new splash-page for the main settings app that puts these settings front and center right away


    • Add a screen that can be popped up at any time without interrupting the current app with access to these toggles, perhaps launched from the multitasking tray or notification center.


     


    Documents



    • Obviously security is a huge concern here, but you could implement an implied-consent system based on a system-controlled "open file" screen that only grants an app access to a document when a user picks it. Automatic versioning would limit the damage an app could do, since the user could always roll back the document. "Recent documents" for each app could be built into the open file screen, adding convenience while maintaining the consent system.


    • To keep user friendliness,  make it a document library sortable based on document type, name, date saved, saved by app etc... similar to the "Music" interface. No direct filesystem exposure to the user. Only documents openable by the app show up in that app's open dialog. Obviously there would be a master "Documents" app that allows the user to see them all, manage them and perform a "Open With..." and "Share" functions. Apps like Mail could use the same interface to pick attachments.


     


    So don't say there's nothing Apple could improve.



     


    I was going to do a point by point rebuttal but there is so much repetition in this "list" and so much of it is based on extreme edge cases that it just isn't worth it.  


     


    You seem to have no idea about UI design in general and are just listing a lot of crap that you think would make your personal experience better.  UI design is about doing what's best for the most people.  It's about making it work for everyone.  Your extreme focus on multi-tasking is something that most people just don't care about for instance.  Your idea about a system wide document/file system would "break" the entire system also.  


     


    Most of what you want would be a complete hinderance to me, and probably for many others.  Again, the whole point of good UI design is to make it work for everyone, or failing that, for the most people possible.  

  • Reply 90 of 291
    storneostorneo Posts: 101member
    If he thinks it's outdated then maybe he should come up with the next best thing ad get his company back in the game?! Oh wait, he's waiting for Apple to do it so they can copy it. Idiot. It's 5 years old, but it still works well. How long did Blackberries all look and work the same? More than 5 years!!!!
  • Reply 91 of 291
    macrulezmacrulez Posts: 2,455member


    deleted

  • Reply 92 of 291
    ankleskaterankleskater Posts: 1,287member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by kevt View Post


     


    The general interface is good in the general working of the device, but the App launcher is visually dull, uninformative, lacks functionality and customisation options. Even when it was introduced it was hardly innovative: the resemblance to Palm OS launchers would make even a Samsung lawyer blush. And one of the most popular App types on the Palm platform was alternative launchers.


     


    The importance of this shouldn't be underestimated - when people try out smartphones in the shop they won't get into the individual Apps in any great depth, but they see and interact a lot with the launcher to see what's on it.


     


    Also the OS should also be smart enough to recognise when Twitter, FaceBook data is not set up. I dislike being presented with these options when I want to 'send' something. 



     


    Some good points. But I think accusing Apple of plagiarizing Palm would be off the mark. Having said that, it is a valid argument in the discuss of how much is Android/Samsung copying Apple?


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post


     


    First, what the hell is the "App launcher"?  I wasn't aware iOS had one.  


     


    This statement alone shows how completely out of touch you are with the average iOS user in that if you asked a hundred people to tell you what the "App launcher" in iOS was, I would think the only answer you would get is "my finger."


     


    Secondly, the resemblance to Palm is superficial at best, as is the resemblance of Palm's home screen to Newton's (which is where they got the idea from in the first place).  





    iOS indeed has an app launcher - It is the home screen itself. There are also various 3rd party app launchers. So I am afraid you are the one out of touch.

  • Reply 93 of 291
    igrivigriv Posts: 1,177member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by storneo View Post



    If he thinks it's outdated then maybe he should come up with the next best thing ad get his company back in the game?! Oh wait, he's waiting for Apple to do it so they can copy it. Idiot. It's 5 years old, but it still works well. How long did Blackberries all look and work the same? More than 5 years!!!!


     


    1. And look how well that worked out for RIM.


     


    2. He was not in charge at the time.

  • Reply 94 of 291
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    macxpress wrote: »
    Because its only a matter of time before something better comes out. I think his point is...you should never rest on your laurels or else you'll turn into a Blackberry. Don't think it can't happen to Apple. 

    Obviously.

    But who says that Apple is resting on its laurels? Apple has a history of innovating faster than anyone else in the industry (in some cases, innovating faster than the rest of the industry put together). It's not likely that they're going to simply stop.
  • Reply 95 of 291
    igrivigriv Posts: 1,177member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MacRulez View Post


    LOL - thanks for that. Refreshing to find someone here who doesn't take all this so darned seriously.


     


    As Henry Ford actually said, "Any customer can have a car painted any colour he wants so long as it is black".


     


    Apple's decision to lean toward a one-size-fits-all design (and no, I'm not talking about the physical device size, but the product design in general) isn't a bad one; obviously it's made a lot of people happy and made them a lot of money.


     


    But it's not the only way to design something.


     


    For example, is it truly categorically better to have one physical button that performs multiple roles, or to have separate buttons for each role?   The simplicity of Apple's single button is certainly attractive at first glance, but if you watch new users many get to Settings easily enough when setting up their device for the first time, but have difficulty understanding that they need to use that one button to return to the Home screen.   And while that one button sometimes takes you Home, at other times it works more like a Back button, and sometimes does something else. 


     


    This ambiguity is avoided by having multiple buttons, each with its own distinct purpose.  I don't know of any formal usability studies that have been doing which might "prove" one is better than the other, but personally I think it's fine that users can choose whichever they're more comfortable with.


     


    With the OS itself, rather than reducing that experience to a wall of app icons, an alternative is to let the user customize the experience for their own tastes and needs.  I don't know what Blackberry may offer in this regard, but Android does this through Widgets.


     


    I know many here aren't fans of Widgets,  and its true that some Widgets can be written in unoptimized ways that can reduce battery life, which may be critically important for those who live in areas without ready access to electricity.


     


    And I wouldn't say that supporting Widgets is necessarily better, but neither is disallowing them.


     


    On Android, Widgets are a choice.  Currently, those who find them useful are required to choose something other than iOS, but I'd wager Apple will add support for something very much like Widgets by iOS 7, so those who don't want them can continue to not have them, but those who do will no longer be required to choose a non-Apple device.



     


    The one button is a legacy of Jef Raskin's original Mac vision (a toaster, basically), which led to three decades of one-button mac mice, and a thriving after-market mac three-button-mouse industry.

  • Reply 96 of 291
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post





    Obviously.



    But who says that Apple is resting on its laurels? Apple has a history of innovating faster than anyone else in the industry (in some cases, innovating faster than the rest of the industry put together). It's not likely that they're going to simply stop.


     


    Maybe they have a history, but they're not repeating history right now. I have yet to see anything within the past couple of years. Before, it was one after another and now its nothing. Hardware bumps don't keep you in front. 

  • Reply 97 of 291
    igrivigriv Posts: 1,177member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post





    Obviously.



    But who says that Apple is resting on its laurels? Apple has a history of innovating faster than anyone else in the industry (in some cases, innovating faster than the rest of the industry put together). It's not likely that they're going to simply stop.


     


    Apple also has a history of resting on its laurels when the going is good: IBM PC crushed the Apple II; the Mac OS (Finder) was obsolete within two years (some would say at inception), and apple papered it over with the kludgy and buggy multifinder -- the first real innovation was with Jobs second coming and NeXT, which gave us OS X. This took 15 years, by which time Windows had improved greatly; linux was created roughly midway through this period.

  • Reply 98 of 291
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,857member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by eyhab27 View Post


    ... The changes that need to come to the iPhone (to name just a few) are true multitasking (double clicking on the home screen and flipping between apps is not considered 'true' multitasking), a better native email experience (there is a reason why iPhone users were jumping over each other in order to get a third party email app - Mailbox), a more intelligent predictive keyboard experience, and find an alternative to constantly having to use the home button - this is probably my biggest gripe.   


     


    Lets stop beating around the bush. The primary reason why Apple does not want to re-write iOS is because the app catalog will reset to zero.  From my limited knowledge of phone technology, I dont believe you can just add multitasking capabilities to the current OS. 



     


    The current OS already has "true multitasking" capabilities, so they don't need to be added, nor would enabling user app multitasking in any way cause, "the app catalog to reset to zero." Let's not beat around the bush, you're talking complete nonsense.

  • Reply 99 of 291
    bullheadbullhead Posts: 493member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by runbuh View Post


    Could you please provide some specific examples over the last 10 years of a Microsoft OS that has been reskinned every year so that Microsoft can justify its outrageous upgrade cost?  Windows Phone upgrades have come for free (but who cares), XBox upgrades have come for free, and Microsoft Windows has only had three releases over the last 10 years ("Windows Vista" in 2006, "Windows 7" in 2009, and "Windows 8" in 2012). 



     


    Windows Vista


    Windows 7


    Windows 8

  • Reply 100 of 291
    piotpiot Posts: 1,346member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by kevt View Post


     


    ... the resemblance to Palm OS launchers would make even a Samsung lawyer blush. 



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