How long until Function overtakes Form again?

There is a reason the touchscreen fell out of favour the first time, and Apple addressed it... the stylus. Once you had a capacitive touchscreen it took someone to optimise it for the finger - not a geeky and easy to lose plastic or metal stick - to really get things going again.

Part of the beauty of Android is that it's not one form factor, you can have it with or without a slide out keyboard (and that keyboard can slide out in a number of different ways), you can have it with a trackball or a D-pad, and it can't be long before we see flip and 'berry form factors running Android.

2010 is the year Android goes mainstream. The iPhone will end up being to Android and Symbian what the Mac is to the PC - i.e. the (expensive) choice of the style concious, with a few redeeming features.

I should imagine you're going to get a lot of responses on this post Steve. ^_^

It's just so tempting to attempt to separate form from function. But we are coming into the post Microsoft age where form and function share DNA. Simply lumping a whole bunch of underdeveloped (and often untested!) features together into a tidy but generally unfriendly package is what tech companies used to do.

My guess for market spread? 10 years from now 95% of handheld devices will be pocket computers and 95% of those will be touch, voice and camera only controlled.

Reply to 'Unregistered': There's no reason to believe that the phone market will play out like the PC market of the 90's. People said *exactly* the same thing about the MP3 player market. The Zune was going to crush the iPod and all that...

while this article is a nice conversation starter, it is really just that - a piece to incite some debate.

but if people think about it, there really shouldn't be a debate about this. the things that win with the consumer in this day and age are the things that are popular - no matter how crippled a phone may be (iPhone, a feature phone, for example) if it is something that will gain the envy of your peers, then it is the phone that will ultimately win amongst the general public.

i don't believe that function will ever really be back in fashion. today's culture is much more obsessed with appearances and and superficial interests. as Steve quite succinctly points out..."something that looks pretty, and has a touchscreen" is the soup du jour. and will be for many more days.

the amount of people who have been aghast at my E90 Communicator, or my recent N900...their protestations of "oh my god, how can you use that thing? it's too big!". no, you simpleton...it is not too big. it's just too big for your anorexic superficial culture.

Let it go, Steve 😊

I've been there all along, with the 7710, N95 et all...

Its not just the normobs who want and easy-to-use finger touch device with a large, bright screen. I'll take a device with a capacitive touchscreen over a "classic" device (stylus/keys/non-touch/resistive). Everytime!

Just look at Evan's review of the X6. Things change. It's called progress. It's a good thing.

Dear Steve Litchfield of today, let me introduce you to Steve Litchfield of two weeks ago:

And is it just me, or is the Motorola Droid/Milestone rather ugly?

Small, classic keypad and long battery life. That's the three features most mortals are after when buying a phone because they need a phone. And statistics still show that's what people buy mostly. Trends and predictions are just that.

Some of my nephews got an ipod touch for Christmas. I must say it's the iphone done right: half the thickness (or so it feels), metal back and great at everything it does, unlike the iphone which does everything right except phone calls.

I might end up with an E52, for instance, and some ipod touch, Zune HD or any other thing for doing non-communication things. I've always thought swiss army knives are very poor knives.

"these things are designed by engineers"
I think it is the problem, the Iphone has been designed by designers and engineered by engineers, not the other way around 😉

"is the Motorola Droid/Milestone rather ugly? " You're twisting my intent here. This quote was an off-the-cuff tweet and I stand by it - the Droid is ugly - compared to its competitors, the iPhone, the Samsung i8910 HD, the Nexus One and others. Look at that appalling d-pad, look at the step/chin etc.

I wasn't dismissing it as a device - if it was indeed the most powerful and usable on the planet then I'd get it, whatever its looks.

Hi Steve,

Like you, as per my observation around me, I also agree that currently looks are very imp. for anyone who is buying a phone, especially smartphone. Also "Thin" is the new mantra.
Thinner the better seems to be most of the people's preference. They ignore the better features.

However, just having a good look and thin frame, will not help. I think call quality, battery life, etc does matter. But another most imp. feature is the UI. Currently most of the online blogs in US have touted iphone as the benchmark for UI. So any phone now that comes out, gets compared to iphone's simple UI. (which i think is oversimplistic due to lack of basic features).
People complain about iphone's dropped calls, but most of them have blamed AT&T(in US) for that, though i think iphone's RF reception is still not as good as Nokia phones, but most of the blogs online blame AT&T, which is what the normal public believes in.

Also iphone has become a status symbol now. So unless someone comes up with something better than iphone, i mean more features but better UI(simple and intuitive), till then it will be status quo.

So in short: Function and Form both are equally imp. in current and future world. None of them will overtake each other.

Size is the single most important consideration for me. Effectively ruling out most new phones except Symbian ones.

Capacitive touch screens are easier to use (with the right UI). Instead of searching in menus often used commands can be executed by using you fingers in an obvious manner (panning, zooming and rotating come to mind). This idea of "ease of use" is then captured in the phrase "touch screen", "touch screen" automatically means "easy to use" in the mind of the consumer.

You can have ease of use too with keyboard-only phones and PDA's. Press one key to zoom in, another to zoom out. Easy, but a bit harder to get used to compared to pinching. But you can do it with one hand, the other hand holding a small child, a bag or a handhold in the tube, something people apparently do all the time 😉

One of Psion's strengths was that they had a fixed set of shortcuts for common commands. One of Nokia's*mistakes was to never push a fixed set of shortcuts for their S60 phones and T9 keyboards.

"is the Motorola Droid/Milestone rather ugly?"

I don't know so much, I'm an industrial designer and I think it has a hint of Bang & Olufsen about it. It certainly is distinctive, unlike the N97 and N900 which look like an iPhone after over-indulging at Christmas!

Remember when Nokia used to come up with the innovative, talked about designs? Those were the days, eh?!

"Also "Thin" is the new mantra."

No, it's the old mantra as well. Remember the Motorola StarTAC (90s) and RAZR (00s) flying off the shelves all over the world, simply because they were thin and would easily fit into a pocket.

Is that an N900 in your pocket or are you pleased to see me?! 😉

I would imagine that for anyone about to part with several hundred pounds/euros/dollars, looks are important; human nature says so. It shouldn't take priority over function, but the role of appearance should not be underestimated.

The whole point of the iphone is that it is incredibly functional and the appearance is a direct consequence of it. Too many people pick up on the 'pretty' angle but the iphone could not have a simpler aesthetic. I would argue there is absolutely minimal 'styling' involved and the OS is pure simplicity and that is what people like. Who else could advertise a phone on the new functionality of copy and paste?

Nokia on the other hand are style crazy with dozens of phones all looking different but with very similar functionality.

For the record I do not own an iphone but a second hand Nokia E90...!!

I think everything comes today to needs of each individual. I've seen myself as not very much experienced users tried "classic" phones and the ones with touchscreen and finally chose the most compatible with their needs, which can be any kind.

Perhaps. People forget high end phones are really fashion items and fashions vary.

Me? I've switched from a 5800 to an N86. Buttons took a while to get used to again but it feels good. 😊

I agree with this article. It makes me cringe to hear people that they just want the phone to 'look nice'. Especially when you consider that as enjoyable as the iPhone might be to use as an app platform, it's actually, by all accounts, an awful telephone.

Then again, I don't think you can avoid it when dealing with the mainstream. Someone said recently that X-Factor was to music as MacDonalds was to food. It's a bland product and you really don't want to see how it's made. Similarly, I think my head would explode if I heard the marketers talking about how to pitch their latest fashion-phones.

I absolutely want function before form, because I'm buying the phone to function rather than just look nice. I can't disagree with the designer point of view that an aesthetically pleasing object makes you feel good, but it's only when the companies profit margins are brought into play that form and function become mutually exclusive.

I think there are exceptions to this rule, and as ever it's a subjective call. For me, what some might call a boring old enterprise device, the E51 was a work of art. It was my one box solution, and yet it still looked elegant, and it was so tactilely pleasing that I couldn't take my hands off of it.

and I was all about to go with a Nokia E72 until Nokia fluffed the software again (!!!!) so in the end opted for a HTC HD2 and I wouldn't go back, just having that extra screen estate for me makes the device so much more usable and it is a pretty good phone as well - unlike the iPhone. I did love the video comparing the iPhone as a phone vs an HD2 and how hard (and inconsistent) the iPhone is as a phone (can't find the link at the mo) - I mean what about the missing ability to ignore a phone call on the iPhone from the lock screen WTF !!!!

Simon

Firstly, great rant Steve. I've had near word-for-word rants with my peers every time they've pulled out their phones to show me the latest mind-numbing UI 'feature'. These days I just wander off muttering that it's no good while the handset is in your pocket, or pressed against your ear.

The thing is that those naughty marketing people have justified their existence by turning a tool in to a toy and making huge amounts of money out of it. ...oooh, it's shiny 🙄

ILG

Case in point : Xperia X1 keyboard. Looks awesome, but sucks hairy wrinkly old monkey balls.

I believe you can have both form and function and when they come together it's a perfect device.

The N86 stands out for me as a device that succeeds here. A friend showed me their original 8800 and told me it cost them �500 way back, it's only a Series 30 phone but it looked the business even though my old 6230i could've probably trounced it in many respects.

Capacitive touch is not as good as I hoped, at least with my Palm Pre but I think the problems are generic. Obviously there are problems like difficulty using it in winter when gloves intervene, but also I found when the air is dry my fingers are dry also & don't register very well. Licking my finger before using the phone outdoors is not too attractive at -10 degrees, not to mention it is not very hygienic either.

Nokia could learn a thing or two about peoples interest in form over function. I've noticed that many acquaintances and friends of friends who loved their N95 have moved on to similar looking sliders such as the Samsung Tocco Ultra.

slitchfield wrote:I wasn't dismissing it as a device - if it was indeed the most powerful and usable on the planet then I'd get it, whatever its looks.

Oh, c'mon, Steve, lets be honest. You'd be all over that beautiful Milestone if only it was a Nokia running Symbian, and you know it. 😉

For me a phone keypad is essential sometimes, for example I can call a number in the car without looking at the phone (in a holder before you ask!). Until we have a touch screen with a raised dimple on the 5 key 😊, I'd never use a touchscreen in the car - it just can't be done without looking.

That said, on my desk I have an N900 and an iphone, and when I'm not at work, I carry a Satio around because of the camera. I'm waiting for an N86 to arrive for in the car, and am in the course of recycling something like 15 phones I've acquired over the last few years, always looking for the killer combination

"The fairly lack lustre Windows Mobile (n�e Pocket PC) was left to carry the flag after that, barring a few experiments from Nokia (e.g. the ill-fated 7710)."

Is the Sony Ericsson P series so quickly forgotten :frown:

I confess to thinking the P800 a really attractive mobile, breaking the mould so as to speak. OK back in my shell 😉

richardyates wrote:For me a phone keypad is essential sometimes, for example I can call a number in the car without looking at the phone (in a holder before you ask!). Until we have a touch screen with a raised dimple on the 5 key 😊, I'd never use a touchscreen in the car - it just can't be done without looking.

Single handed without having to look at it functionality of a keypad. I can reject a call without taking the phone out of my jacket pocket.

I can do that too, can you dial a 14 digit phone no without looking at a phone?