Comments on: Everything that can be iPhonelike, will be

By: mathiastck

mathiastck — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 02:06:37 +0000

Do you really need a landline phone? I switched to T-Mobile’s hotspot at home, now my home phone is a blackberry curve. Unlimited calling over wifi, and I can continue a home call on the road, without using minutes.

VOIP on wireless is here, and even offered from a Tier 1 carrier

By: Nater Kane

Nater Kane — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:42:46 +0000

until devices like the iPhone or iPod Touch have tactile feedback, how can anyone (let alone someone so concerned with accessibility issues) say that the iPhone’s interface is great?

Until Apple ships a device with the tactile touchscreen technology that Immersion is developing, I’d feel like a hypocrite buying one.

Simply put, if you HAVE to look at it in order to interact with it, then regardless of the bells and whistles, the UI is not something to jump up and down about… unless you have impaired vision, and are pissed as hell that you can’t play with the cool toys.

By: Chris Hester

Chris Hester — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:38:31 +0000

Do any other 400D users find the single LCD better than the dual LCD setups on most other DSLRs?

Aye.

…collaborate with Canon or Nikon on a great digital camera whose interface is iPhone-like (instead of incomprehensible icon and push-button driven)

There have been some compact cameras that used a display like this. They did not go down well.

By: Matt Wilcox

Matt Wilcox — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:14:24 +0000

I wouldn’t want my DSLR to be touch screen, for any functions. I have my face smushed up against the LCD when taking shots for one thing, for another, finger print streaks on an image critical screen? No thank you. For another, it’s intrinsically less secure if you have to hold the camera with one hand but gesture with the other. I wouldn’t want the increased risk in dropping my expensive toy because the interface requires me to hold it less securely.

I can not remember once, in my two years of using my DSLR, having to page through all the images stored on it. But, that may be more to do with my shooting/review style than anything else, and I can see why some people might shoot/review in that way.

I think too many companies are jumping onto the gesture/touch thing without thinking about it critically first. I like tactile feedback, I’m faster with it, more accurate with it, and more comfortable with it. Which is why I don’t have in iPhone, it’s far too annoying for text, and I use text more than I use calls. iPod Touch however, is far better suited to it – great intuitive interface, and far less need to type. A scenario where touch screen excels.

By: Alexis Brion

Alexis Brion — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 10:33:51 +0000

Oh, I wish some day Apple could work with other companies. Although they are actually more close that many other companies. Lets see..

By: Dan Halpern

Dan Halpern — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:46:34 +0000

Everything will be iPhone-like… but not compare to the iPhone. As you said, a simple touch screen is not enough, and no one will match the intuitive interface.

This is actually a tremendous blow to ingenuity – which occurs across all industries when a ‘cool’ aspect hits the market – as everyone decides to copy the iPhone, there will be no other leaps forward, and all devices will become homogeneous, boring, unhip pieces of technocrap.

By: Jeff Croft

Jeff Croft — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:00:53 +0000

Land-what? People still use those? :)

By: Josh Stodola

Josh Stodola — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:58:25 +0000

@ Mark Douglas

Well of course I don’t really need to, I could always pull over to the side of the road and do what I needed to do. But, the key here is that I don’t have to pull over. And of course I feel safe, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it. One hand on steering wheel, both eyes on the road. My brain can easily respond to tactile feedback without any distraction. Jealous?

By: jon

jon — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:46:17 +0000

@dean: “Why can’t I have just a dedicated device that works really well and doesn’t try to do a plethora of other things that it doesn’t need to do?”

the iphone isn’t for you then. find some free w/contract phone that does nothing and stay on a $20/month prepaid plan.

By: Andreas

Andreas — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:04:54 +0000

I agree on the advantage in design that Apple holds (and probably never will let go).
Just have a comment regarding the landline phones.
Don’t know about your opinions in the US, but in Europe (or at least in Sweden) I am looking forward to a future with mobile phones and flat rate subscriptions.

Personally I wouldn’t mind throwing out my land line phone and exhange it with a charger/synchronizing unit from Apple.. ;-)

By: Ian Lloyd

Ian Lloyd — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 09:22:37 +0000

As you say, it was/is somewhat inevitable. Just like it was inevitable that AJAX techniques proliferated, but not always with the same level of quality. The downside – in both examples – is how these whizzy interfaces can be designed to look great, behave great but also be usable for blind people. No tactile button feedback and no suggestion, as far as I can tell, that it’s high on anyone’s priorities. I love my (hacked) iPod Touch but wonder how I’d feel if I lost my eyesight and was unable to not just use the ipod Touch for any of its functionality, but also all the *other* alternatives that have copied the touch screen interface (blindly, hah!). Suddenly, everything’s being shut out for me, and I’ll have Apple to thank. Better look after the old mince pies, then.

By: Justin Bell

Justin Bell — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 06:57:51 +0000

I agree about cameras needing better interfaces. One thing I like about my Canon 400D/Rebel is that it uses the rear LCD screen to display data that in other DSRLs, gets crammed onto a small, old-school LCD. I find it so much easier and quicker changing the ISO or white balance with the visual feedback of a large, context dependent LCD screen. Adding a touch interface option – or something (as well as keeping the buttons) would make it much easier to use when you not in the “holding up to your eye” mode.

Do any other 400D users find the single LCD better than the dual LCD setups on most other DSLRs?

Come on, Zeldman, the iPhone UI is not a leap of any kind. Essentially, the UI uses the point and click metaphor on a 2D surface for navigation (they’ve just replaced the mouse with your finger; that’s not revolutionary, but simply a change in input device).

Care to name any other popular devices that use multi-touch, and therefore, decent gesture-based interfaces?

By: Seth Milliken

Seth Milliken — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 04:56:14 +0000

A sincere question for the iPhone detractors: have you actually used one yet?

By: Dean Collins

Dean Collins — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 02:39:35 +0000

Email from my camera? That’d be just one more crap feature that I neither want nor need that I’d have to pay for then never use. I already have to put up with crap like that on my printer and my scanner and my phone. Why can’t I have just a dedicated device that works really well and doesn’t try to do a plethora of other things that it doesn’t need to do?

By: Mark Douglas

Mark Douglas — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 01:49:58 +0000

@Josh Stodola-

Do you really need to do that “many things on my phone while I am not looking, with one hand, WHILE DRIVING”?

Must make you feel safe and secure.