Steve Jobs Hates Buttons 713
ElvaWSJ writes "While many technology companies load their products up with buttons, Steve Jobs treats them as blemishes that add complexity and hinder their clean aesthetics.
The iPhone is Steve Jobs's attempt to crack a juicy new market for Apple Inc. But it's also part of a decades-long campaign by Mr. Jobs against a much broader target: buttons.
The new Apple cellphone famously does without the keypads that adorn its rivals. Instead, it offers a touch-sensing screen for making phone calls and tapping out emails. The resulting look is one of the sparest ever for Apple, a company known for minimalist gadgets. "
How is the buttonless iphone to use (Score:3, Interesting)
I've got a little T-Mobile Dash/ HTC Excalibur and i can actually type really quickly on its tiny keyboard. I find it hard to believe that without feedback it could be better.
Re:Buttons!? (Score:3, Interesting)
Tactile Feedback (Score:5, Interesting)
In the EU there is already legislation to make software, websites and devices accessible. The buttonless iPhone must score pretty low on the accessibility scale.
Does he hate blind people too? (Score:2, Interesting)
Great idea for products that already exist (Score:2, Interesting)
Cell phones have been around a long time. People should be working to simplify them now. However I still like my cell phone with buttons from last year because I could call people before the iPhone released.
Re:Tactile Feedback (Score:5, Interesting)
Why should the other 99% of the population abstain from it?
I'm all for developing devices that make life easier for disabled people.
I'm very strongly against making life more difficult or limited for the rest of us in order to cater to them.
Doesn't hate buttons. Hates Genericy (Score:5, Interesting)
The iPhone does in fact have five physical buttons - a sleep/wake button, a home button, a volume up/down button, and a silencer (OK, technically that's a switch).
But then you are discounting the noise less real, even if lacking physical feedback, buttons that appear on the screen in each application, tailored to each task. If these are not real buttons, than neither are membrane style buttons as on the Timex-Sinclair ZX-81 of old.
That tailoring is what Apple really likes, being able to arrange input aspects just so for each task. Perhaps the best example of this is the keyboard for the web browser on the iPhone; why have a space bar when entering URL's? This is replaced by "/" and ".com" keys which makes a tremendous amount of sense.
Apple loves task focused UI, and a mostly virtual button approach allows them to get closer to that than would be otherwise possible on a smaller consumer device built to perform a number of very different tasks.
I'm just waiting. . . (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes, yes, I am all for personal responsibility, but I am also for sound design in products. Asthetics should take a back seat to functionality when it comes to appliances and gadgets. If he thinks buttons cannot be made attractive, may I point Jobs at practically every new(ish) phone on the market, particularly the Motorola Razr and the Samsung Sync.
let's discuss this story (Score:0, Interesting)
IPHONE IS AN IFAILURE. LOL
Re:Problem is.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Such a good idea, Apple already did it. (Score:3, Interesting)
Apple agrees with you. This is why they included two very real volume control switches on the side of the iPhone (small enough so they are not easy to accidentally change). And also why the headphones include a small clicker device that you can use to pause, play, or skip tracks.
Aesthetics arent everything. For instance, i much prefer a thumb keyboard than a virtual one.
And I greatly prefer a tailored virtual keyboard to the tiny thumb keyboards. Once you get used to it, I simply can't image why you'd prefer "real" buttons that cannot change according to task to present a better layout.
Seemed fast for me--here's why (Score:5, Interesting)
- No pressing required - Because I didn't need to press the buttons down--just touch them--it felt easier and faster to type. It's more of a smooth easy motion from button to button.
- Predictive targetting - In the middle of common words, I was able to trigger the correct next letter even if I didn't nail the button image exactly. I even experimented with it a bit, going successively faster and sloppier (aw yeah), and it was surprising how imprecise I could be and still get the word right or mostly right.
- Easy correction - With the touch screen and "magnifying glass" cursor control, it was easy to go back and correct mistakes after typing. So I found that it was best to just plow through typing the entire thing, and then go back and make corrections if needed.
It's definitely a different style. For me, typing on phones usually works best if I get it exactly right as I type. The iPhone is more like touch-typing on a regular keyboard--just blast through and correct after the fact if needed.
And like touch-typing, there is definitely a muscle-memory aspect to the iPhone. The keys don't have a feel to them, but they are always in the same place. I was faster after about 15 minutes because my fingers were "calibrated" to where the keys are. Those with good hand-eye coordination (gamers for instance) will have an easier time with this IMO.
Re:Buttons as Features (Score:2, Interesting)
No matter how slick an interface is, for almost all my electronics, I'd rather have a button for primary functions.
Juvenile Spam Garbage (Score:3, Interesting)
Is there some slashdot rule I am just finding out about how everyone here is twelve and likes to say "cock" a lot? Are we going to be assailed with right-wing propaganda and poo-poo jokes a la South Park on a daily basis now?
If this kind of overt spamming/gaming of the thread can happen on slashdot, what's the point of even trying to moderate at all?
Re:Problem is.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Buttons!? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Buttons!? --handsfree cell phone use (Score:3, Interesting)
So while it is obvious that having a handsfree device is better than occupying your hand with the cellphone (don't get me started about people who smoke while driving), unless you completly separate the driver from the passengers you haven't solved the problem. Even then, I often talk with my wife (in person or on the handsfree cellphone) to help keep myself awake on cross country drives, so I am not sure that would be an improvement.
Re:Buttons!? (Score:2, Interesting)
If those things are true, will "I drive better on the phone than most people drive not on the phone" soon be treated like "I drive better drunk than most people do sober."?
Re:Problem is.... (Score:2, Interesting)
Mine are not like that. for the wife of the client,I have a "WATCH A MOVIE" button that automatically sets everything up and brings her to the DVD selection pages so she can browse and select the DVD in ne of the 3 300 disc changers to watch. same for Watch TV that presents her with graphical icons of her favorite channels and a little scrolling window of what is on right now on her favorite channels.
That is why the Control system was $8,000.00 ($2500.00 remote, $3400.00 control processor, plus lighting control, and other items to make sure that no matter what button you push the system just plain old works.
Investigate Crestron, It will blow your mind with what it can do.
Re:Yea, We Need More Thinking Like This... (Score:4, Interesting)
Back when I was a teen, you HAD to learn to drive with a multitude of distractions. We used to joke that the driving test for gals would be driving while putting the makeup on...but, for guys, you had to pass the driving test consisting of driving down the street with a beer can in your lap, a cigarette in one hand while you shifted gears and fiddled with the stereo with the other one.
It got even more complex if your girlfriend was in the front seat with ya...as that you were also trying to keep an hand on her too...
Bah...if you learned to drive like the old days....adding a cellphone to the mix is nothing!!
Fewer presses (Score:3, Interesting)