iOS: Boring?

[anc1en7z]

I think that because Apple has been trying to catch the enterprise market, keeping the same UI is good. Companies don't want to lose productivity when they issue a new software update because all of the different things have moved etc. This is probably the same with most of the population, who don't care about having fancy UI's etc, they just want a phone that works, and they know where everything is.

 

[throys]

PS.

All this said above may get me called a "fandroid" (clever... ) or a hater as of recent days due to she madness going on.

I'm a fanboy of technology, period. I like to see things evolve instead of users taking sides and defending their choice to a bloody end. Sure, I carry a "forbidden" Samsung device. Is that worth hating me over it despite the fact that most know little or nothing about me.

Put down the torches and pitchforks people and perhaps these boards can be a great place to talk tech or even a few Q and A's.

I use to be developer of HTC devices with windows mobile and in the early days thats what we did , customising devices etc and to be honest majority of users who aren't in tech like us don't even cares or know about customising their phones. Most cares about the functionality of the phone, making calls, texts, surfing n socialising.
If there are 1m users who jailbreak their phone to customise or themed it, they are 26m users who don't , out of those are ones who don't care, ones who are not bothered and others don't even know about it. This goes for android users and apple users or all smartphone users.
So in apple point of interest 1m users on one hand who likes customising and the other hand 26m users who aren't bothered, they will care for the majority.
My device is run on stock OS themed , I initially tried JB but always returned back to Stock OS not saying it wasnt good but I rarely used it.
Don't get me wrong I would love to see some new ideas and new innovations in future iOS releases but frankly don't mind waiting.

I have used all platforms of smartphones and because I liked simplicity with less bugs etc I ended up with apple. And other main reasons is their ecosystem.

 

[Tunster]

iOS boring? Anyone who thinks that has too much time to care about it. If you really want something that's not boring in the mobile OS world, Android's there. However, I don't get the "flexibility" of it. Okay, you can add widgets, tweak stuff and roll on other ROMs day after day.

In general, iOS looked ahead of it's time and still does. The small tweaks at every major release keep it ahead IMHO. It's designed to be easy to use and major changes just confuse the lowest-denominator user and all over again you'd have increased traffic of people coming into the Apple shop to seek support.

Better get the design right first time (like iOS) than keep changing it (Android) just to suit the next phase of development and a few techies.

 

[CTHarrryH]

Some of the suggestions while OK really wouldn't for me increase the function which is really what I care about. Weather on the icon would be nice but then it is another app running all the time and using battery.
A nicer UI, and I'm not sure what they means, would be nice but not to sacrifice ease of use and function. I don't look at my phone and use it so it looks great or because it amuses me just to look at the screen.
I'd rather have Apple spend its time on function rather than looks.
I guess I have things that I'd rather get excited about than the UI on a phone.

 

[Ungibbed]

I use to be developer of HTC devices with windows mobile and in the early days thats what we did , customising devices etc and to be honest majority of users who aren't in tech like us don't even cares or know about customising their phones. Most cares about the functionality of the phone, making calls, texts, surfing n socialising.
If there are 1m users who jailbreak their phone to customise or themed it, they are 26m users who don't , out of those are ones who don't care, ones who are not bothered and others don't even know about it. This goes for android users and apple users or all smartphone users.
So in apple point of interest 1m users on one hand who likes customising and the other hand 26m users who aren't bothered, they will care for the majority.
My device is run on stock OS themed , I initially tried JB but always returned back to Stock OS not saying it wasnt good but I rarely used it.
Don't get me wrong I would love to see some new ideas and new innovations in future iOS releases but frankly don't mind waiting.

I have used all platforms of smartphones and because I liked simplicity with less bugs etc I ended up with apple. And other main reasons is their ecosystem.

I have coded for most mobile platforms from the old Palm Pilot to some of the latest hardware including iOS. I also from time to time have written reviews on such devices which some were wonderful and some were outright awful. From feature phones to tablets, I've been there.

Often on some complex devices such as the Windows Mobile devices, one that annoyed me most lacked a simple feature making the phone entirely useless. That model was the HTC 8925 Tytn II or known more common as the AT&T branded "Tilt". The problem I had was due to this phone being one of the early 3G devices on the new network is when the tower near my house stopped pushing 3G signal. The old Tilt before the WM 6.1 update lacked a fallback to use standard EDGE or basic GSM protocols. I had a brick with no service while my old iPhone had a full EDGE signal.

Many would agree that despite how flexible Windows Mobile was, it was the worst nightmare for anyone using it as a first smartphone. You had option overload!

In stark contrast at the time were the earlier iPhones and the new 3G model which added many features that for the asking price of my original 8GB model that I paid retail for and then having to start with new cell service on AT&T on top of that. Regardless, starting that first contract with the retail price of the iPhone locked you in a two year agreement despite the service I've already had on T-Mobile (13 years now with them)

I loved the neat featres and eye candy on the iPhone as well as the look and quality feel of the phone itself. I ended up buying two additional iPhones and added my sister and brother in law to my AT&T service as I knew they would love them.

The hard part of it was the growing pains of the iOS itself. I had little to no problems at all since I have been using Macs for years. I still had my iBook G4 while I had to go and help them update their PC to work properly. They were lost as they didn't use any Apple software other than QuickTime.

Fast forward to more recent days, they still loved the iPhone and I did as well but I was always thinking of what could be made differently or added. We all bought the 3Gs 32GB models and loved some of the neat added features and compared one to my 3G and my Tmo BlackBerry.

I wanted different ringers for different people calling (a feature I loved on my 'Berry) along with SMS tones. Eventually that made it to the iOS.

I still have my 3GS but I dislike going through the nightmare of jailbreaking and unlocking it with each major iOS release.

What caught my attention to Android was when T-Mobile took a risky move and unveiled the original HTC "dream" AKA the G1.

I looked at the dummy for a bit and then a live model comparing it back then to my iPhone 3G. The G1 "felt cheap" to me with low quality plastics and I didn't much care for the keyboard. My BlackBerry was my bread and butter and I could type very quickly with it. I still was clumsy on my iPhone and even my iPad as I type this.

I passed on upgrading as I was long overdue for something new but my iPhone and BlackBerry combo carried me for another couple years.

What finally made me decide on a Android device was a striking new phone from (dare I say the word here) Samsung. It looked nothing at all like an iPhone but it was also the first Android device from them. It had physical send and end keys along with a few others. It smoked my iPhone in the camera department due to a high quality CMOS sensor and LED flash. The other striking part was the beautiful AMOLED display which just jumped out with rich colors and amazing contrast.

I was sold but still knew little of Android.

Samsung's first Android phone in the US was the Behold II (SGH T-939). A rather large slab with decent feel and build quality but it's software was absolute crap. Many bugs and such merging TouchWiz with Android was a really bad idea. I even wrote on that. One other MAJOR problem was it would randomly unmount your memory card (just the same as pulling a thumb drive on OS X without ejecting or unmounting it). It wiped all my data on the card and I was so annoyed with it, I went and returned it and got my Bold 9700 instead.

I did review a few better Android phones over time of some I got to keep and others had to be returned. The Motorola Cliq, Mytouch 3G, MyTouch slide (I really liked that phone), and eventually the Samsung Vibrant.

I had canceled my AT&T service but still had my iPhone 3GS. I did feel they were similar in a few ways but pros and cons were had for both phones. Side by side, you could easily tell them apart. I did like that the Samsung could capture 720p video with it growing pains gone. It did page icons like the iPhone but only in the app drawer. Otherwise you had your choice of various widgets etc.

Today, after carrying my BlackBerry Bold for so long, it died...

I needed a replacement but given the state of RIM, I didn't want another BlackBerry.

I weighed my options at the time and the best offerings were the HTC One S and the Samsung Galaxy S2.

I wanted the option of adding more storage which the HTC lacked so I bought the Samsung and I'm rather happy with it. That being said as a fan of Apple and all things Mac, if the iPhone was availible for T-Mobile, I would have gotten one.

Sure I could use my old 3GS, but I like cable modem speeds on my cell network instead of being stuck on EDGE due to my 3GS being a AT&T phone.


I hope this explains this for you (and many others throwing stones at me) of why I use my Galaxy S2. It was the right fit at the right time on my carrier that still doesn't offer the iPhone on the AWS network of T-Mobile. That and truly unlimited high speed data has kept me with them.

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

Boring is good for the average consumer.
Boring is bad for nerds.

Last time I checked, there are far (far far far far) more average consumers than there are nerds. We are on a computer message board. I think I can fairly say that the majority of posters are nerds in one way or another.


You pick up ANY iOS device and you instantly know where everything is and how to use it. There are no if, ands, or buts about it.

Hell, you can even go from iOS to OSX and have many of the same design elements there for faster pickup.

You pick up an Android phone and you don't know what you are getting.

That is the beauty of iOS and that is why bringing iOS elements into OSX is genius for desktop adoption.

 

[polotska]

If boring means mature, stable, and polished, the answer is a resounding ”Yes.”

 

[danielceleste]

Being the EXTREMELY picky person that I am, I'm actually really surprised that I haven't gotten bored yet.

 

[PlatinuM195]

I've never gotten bored with the look of the OS, I'm in an app most of the time anyway.

Although I wouldn't mind a bigger screen so I can have more real estate for reading though.

 

[faroZ06]

I think iOS just needs to NOT have that feature where it locks you out of your device after too many logins. On Android, you can get in with a Google ID, but it also doesn't prevent you from continuously attempting to get in via permutation (insecure). On iOS, it should lock after too many attempts but allow you to get in anyway with your Apple ID.

Other than that, it's fine FOR NOW. Soon or later, they will need better multitasking and talking between apps real-time. Apple has to stay on their toes, because if they don't, they could completely lose the smartphone war when the time comes for these upgrades. Just like the Blackberry...