OK, hate is a strong word, given that I’ve never run a mac as my daily driver. But still, whoever on the iPhone design team decided to use a non-standard audio jack is just plain stupid.
Whether you call it a bad engineering choice – if they actually thought they needed the structural strength for the case, thereby meaning a smaller jack size – or a thoroughly evil business choice – if they simply decided to force lock-in for headsets – it was a bad choice no matter what.
I mean, sure, Apple’s got this pretty design and wow factor as huge selling points. And yes, their user interfaces are very different than the rest of the world – they are so good they’re like magic 80%+ of the time, which most people like. And the other 20% is well understood, and either you don’t mind (most humans) or you can’t stand it (geeks who need control). But that’s the software side.
Headphone jacks? 3.5mm TRS connectors have been pretty darn standard for decades now, especially for audio purposes. If they wanted small, they could have gone for the normal 2.5mm TRS that cell phones have made standard for years now. But no, Apple had to go out and do something that was almost a standard, but wasn’t. If I were in any worse of a mood, I’d compare their design choice here to Microsoft’s, but it’s been a pretty good day, so I won’t go quite that far.
But now I think of it, I do know a handful of people who’ve worked at Apple. Maybe someday I’ll get to meet the “genius” who made the final decision on this one, and get to call them stupid. Normally I’d call them dumb, because as a very small person reminds me, stupid is not a nice word. But I expect better design than this from Apple, so in this case, I’m sticking with stupid.
So – tips for over-the-ear iPhone compatible headsets, especially ones that double as phone headsets (i.e. mic too)? Preferably ones not sold by Apple, please.
I’ve never succumbed to the Apple Designer Religion. I hate their user interfaces. I’ve never used one that I find “intuitive”. Any time I’ve had to do some configuration on a friend’s Mac, I’ve had to fight it tooth and nail to get the information out of it that I need, and into it that I’ve wanted.
And the iPod I was given was just as bad. It is totally useless for what I want to use it for.
Both faults are directly attributable to bad UI design. A lack of flexibility. It may be that they are populist machines, and wow 80% of the people out there who have no clue or desire to do anything other than what they say you can do. But to me that’s as bad as Microsoft’s attempt to think for you.
Jo
lol.
There is a old joke “What platform does Microsoft software run best on?
A slide projector.”
With the Apple stuff, there is no doubt that the tech-unsavy really appriciate how intuative doing the core features are. But when you want to do more customized things, the customization just isn’t there.
My thoughts on the iPhone:
I really like where they’ve gone with the browser. I won’t buy another MS Smartphone until they match that experience.
Touch keyboards stink. After using the stylus keyboards on PDA’s and full screen phones, they are a pain. There is a reason why 90% of the MS smartphone’s now have “blackberry – style” keyboards, the really are that much easier. They suck up a ton of space, but they are very practical.
It’s really expensive. You can get a BlackJack II which has many of the same capabilities for $99 vs. 399. And the media player of choice, I’ll line my 80gb zune against anything Apple is offering right now, both on features and on design. Wifi podcast syncing is so killer unless you always charge you device on your computer.
Its classic apple to have a great UI but no ability to do custom apps. So if I want thier stock program, great, but if I want a 3rd party application, no dice.
It doesn’t suprise me that week 1-2 you love it, but after that minor frustrations compound. Though you don’t sound as grumpy as dennis 2 weeks in on his MS smartphone.