When the Apple iPhone appeared with its single 'simple' page of app icons, S60's folders of icons were ridiculed by some. As Justin points out here, with iPhones now filling up with page after page of disorganised icons, a system like S60's hierarchical folders is sorely needed. Some fans are now acknowledging the sense in S60's UI after all(!) (via this week's Carnival of the Mobilists)
Read on in the full article.
Well, this is the dilemma, any interface is easiest to use when there are the fewest functions, but smartphones are supposed to offer a wide range of functions.
Personally I think the best solution may be that "Vase" concept that was publicised earlier this year where the whole phone interface starts out blank, like a new house. You add functions using a setup wizard, which means you only add the functions YOU want, and because you added them you know exactly what they do and where they are. It avoids having mountains of unnecessary icons that you never touch, and makes the user more familiar with the interface.
Here's the original article:
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/Might_an_empty_Vase_be_better_than_a_full_N96.php
Clearly the iPhone App icon system is broken with anymore than about 3 pages worth. I expect it to be fixed by Apple within a month or two.
Personally, being able to swipe up, down, left and right would be quote a nice solution.
Clearly the iPhone App icon system is broken with anymore than about 3 pages worth. I expect it to be fixed by Apple within a month or two.
What!!!! Are you kidding? The object behind the moving screen on the iPhone is to allow you to customize the screens the way you want. I have 4 screens worth of apps. I sent one for communcations apps, one for games and entertainment, resources, etc.... I then arrange the icons on these pages in the way that suits me best.
As for Apple fixing something that you deemed broken, I doubt it considering they did not fix it in the 1st Gen iPhone and apparently in the Apple forums and on other sites no one is complaining about this.
Yes, but every single time you update an application (there's always at least one every day), it gets inserted in the main home screen! i.e. it forgets where you put it.... grumble....
slitchfield wrote:When the Apple iPhone appeared with its single 'simple' page of app icons, S60's folders of icons were ridiculed by some. As Justin points out here, with iPhones now filling up with page after page of disorganised icons,
I said this ages ago!
The reason the iphones UI is so simple is because it has a lot less going on.
For example, theres no fine tuning on camera settings. Of video settings (none at all in that case).
Bluetooth, MMS, I could go on.
All these functions require settings, and the only way to do this is to have it in menus.
Yes S60 has a lot of confusing places to find things, but for people that use the phones in detail, there is no other way around this.
If you want to fiddle and have more functions, you have to settle for more complexity.
I have said many times that it would be very interesting to see how apple would cope with making a phone that has all the options a nokia does.
Glad to be proved right for once 😉
Oh, and before the flames arrive, Im not saying one UI is better than the other. In my opinion the iphone doesnt have a direct rival from Nokia to compare (yet).
People are sacerficing one thing for another when choosing phones. Want the simple pretty interface at the cost of features? Or more features and the ability to fine tune them with a more complex interface?
I predict when the 5800 'tube' comes out, its going to get a slating for the UI being nowhere as good. Although you will be able to do quite a bit more with it.
slitchfield wrote:Yes, but every single time you update an application (there's always at least one every day), it gets inserted in the main home screen! i.e. it forgets where you put it.... grumble....
I agree 100000000000000000000000%. This is something that Apple should fix or should have thought of in the first place. After using an N82 and an iPhone, I have to admit that my N82 sees less and less action. It is a great phone but I find that the iPhone (really and iPod with phone) fills about 95% of my requirements. Sad, as my N82 just sits in my desk draw now.
Sad, as my N82 just sits in my desk draw now.
I thought the main selling point of the N82 was its camera, which is much better than the iPhones?
Well, the iPhone is the #1 camera-phone on Flickr. Are you gonna write an article about it Steve?
I guess not.
Well, the iPhone is the #1 camera-phone on Flickr. Are you gonna write an article about it Steve?
I guess not.
An article on AAS talked about it sometime back, in case you didn't notice.
Also, being #1 on flickr only means most photos uploaded on flickr were taken with an iphone, the reason behind that is, photos taken with Nokia phones are so rich and detailed that the file size becomes a little overwhelming to be affordable on a packet data connection.
Photos taken by an iphone are viewable only on the phone and at times completely unusable on the PC, hence the small file size, which makes it easier to upload.
I use the N82 sometimes for photos, but to say that this is the main selling point is to confuse or not fully understand the feature list of the N82. Yes, the camera is great but this is not why I bought it.
For taking real photos I use my Nikon D300.
You guys dont get it. With Apple in general and iPhone in particular, every shortcoming is a 'feature' and every thing they add is a 'revolution'. So, the broken SMS interface and camera are a 'feature' because serious users dont use them. And you know, in Apple reviews full stops are banned! Only punctuation allowed is an exclamation!!!!
3G - whew!!! Who could have thunk it? True, 3G/HSPDA is available on my three year old Nokia s40 set, but hey, APPLE 3G is different! it is the real 3G! I bow to you, Steve Jobs.
That camera is great too, better than anything offered on any other phone. Because a BROKEN APPLE CAMERA is better than anything else. And that interface - it is supposed to be beautiful and 'groundbreaking'. Who had ever seen a touchscreen phone before iPhone?
So you are supposed to have 'pages' of icons! how revolutionary! So that I can operate my phone with the pain, slow speed and lameness of a PC! Even Windows Mobile couldnt do that! Bravo!
So what if you can stare all day at those pretty anti aliased fonts and shades, while Nokia get mobbed for adding menu transitions to S60 FP2? What if all those icons and that big pancake of a form factor deliver everything a one year old Nokia s40 could do? So what if some of humanity finds that interface not so good? So what if hanging out in iPhone forum usually displays iphone users' curious lack of expectation from Apple, as well as pathetic knowledge about what a smartphone should be? So what if you can't actually get anything done on an iPhone except browse the web and listen to music?
To hell with all of that. iPhone rulezzzz, the rest suxxxxxxoorrrrrs.
Ok, perhaps no more caffeine for you today.
8-)
En contraire, Talhamid should have some more caffeine - that was an enjoyable rant! Particularly liked the bit about Apple having the real 3g.