iPhone 3.0 User Interface Details
Sebastiaan de With — aside from gritting his teeth and almost blinding himself in one eye while reproducing the incomprehensibly pin-striped logo above — has bent his design-focus and Cocoia blog towards an analysis of Apple’s new iPhone 3.0 user interface:
Sometimes, I’m considering if other companies in the cellphone / personal media player market have caught up to Apple’s care to details and design sensibilities, but then things like these make the reality very obvious to me:
Apple’s still the leader of the pack by several tail lengths.
If you’re into the details of user interface and design, give it a read and let us know what you think about the look and feel of iPhone 3.0.
June 27th, 2009 at 8:18 am
Apples so called “attention to detail” I keep reading about is complete bull. The settings menu is completely disorganized. Easiest fix ever. But now we’re on software version 3.0 and it’s still the same. The normal fanboy excuses of battery life etc don’t apply here.
Thank God for SBSettings. Any chance they would ever allow it in the app store?
__Love my jailbroken iPhone
June 27th, 2009 at 8:35 am
@Joe – I tend to disagree – IMHO the settings menu is pretty easy – ever tried the settings menu on a WinMo phone – now that’s a disaster!!
June 27th, 2009 at 8:38 am
SBSettings definitely rocks
June 27th, 2009 at 8:46 am
I agree with shane blyth. I’ve almost jailbroken my iPhone only for SBSettings and his add-ons !
June 27th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Being a first time iPhone user I didn’t really find anything wrong with the menu system, that is..until I installed SBsettings and realized how bad it was “out of the box”
June 27th, 2009 at 9:10 am
People tend to, as the previous comments suggest, confuse design with usability when it comes to UI. Apple’s attention to detail is indeed in its design of its products and for the most part, always has been. I far prefer SBSettings over the native Settings app – it is far more usable. The Settings app is not the finest example of Apple’s design approach, much less usability. The examples provided on the Cocoia blog are great design illustrations. I’d love to see the Settings app re-engineered – maybe more voices shouting out to Apple will have a positive influence over time. We’ll see…
June 27th, 2009 at 9:45 am
I love the simplicity and minimalism of the Iphone but there is such as thing as being too simple.
I think the idea of pages should be refined so that we have greater control on what is on them. I dislike having to organize apps according to a page (ex: Page 1 Apps, Page 2 Games, Page 3 Information Apps, etc). Categories gives me more flexibility to have it how I want it but I would prefer something native.
I like the idea of spotlight but I wish it were more tightly integrated instead of swiping to the far left. How about being able to use some sort of gesture to bring it up on any page.
And speaking of pages again, how about instead of pages Apple takes a cue from Palm with WebOS and lets our most used apps be the “pages”.
The dock at the bottom of the screen is very simple and easy to use remaining stationary at the bottom of the screen but it could be much more powerful. How about replacing all the four Icons with a launcher of sorts that can take you to your secondary apps (i.e games and media apps). You could also integrate spotlight into it if you want.
The Lockscreen is completely useless. Maybe Apple could give us an option to use extra information by having useable widgets loaded to the Lockscreen: weather, new mail, stocks, twitter, number of voice messages, number of new text messages etc. Perhaps a quick calendar widget with upcoming appointments.
One other thing Apple could also do is provide more functionality when a notification pops up. When you get a new message and you are not in the Messages App you generally have to exit the app and go into the message app. This is such a waste. Why not have an ability to enable a quick reply feature so that as soon as someone messages you can quickly respond. They can make it where it is not too obtrusive.
Apple could also take some cues from SBsettings and perhaps build a gesture based control panel that can pull down, materialize, etc from any screen so users can have quick access to functions like WiFi, Bluetooth, 3g, etc.
Anyway I like the article from the Cocia Blog but it really doesn’t go deep enough into the UI. It doesn’t try to reevaluate it in depth nor does it suggest whether other developers particularly working with Android or WebOS have created anything better. The blog post also doesn’t talk about what Apple could learn from the other developers or try to imagine what an Iphone 4.0 OS would look like.
I ask that everyone take a deeper look into the Iphone UI with objectiveness. It has great features but it has some nasty flaws.
June 27th, 2009 at 9:50 am
I have to agree with most of the comments on here which state that the sbs settings rock. 1 slide of the finger and I can control bluetooth, 3g, and a host of other functions. Apple does a good job but it could be great.
June 27th, 2009 at 9:56 am
@Carolinamic
The problem is that Apple as of late hasn’t really been doing a lot of innovating. Leopard is pretty much a service pack and the Iphone 3gs while very nice hardware is limited by Iphone OS 3.0 which does nothing to really push the bar and take advantage of the new capabilities. In truth, OS 3.0 should have been OS 2.3. I’m not sure why they wanted to branch out to 3.0.
June 27th, 2009 at 9:59 am
@rapidblue
I am not concerned with other phones. I am not satisfied with just being better than bad.
Picture this though. I can’t leave bluetooth, wifi, 3g, location info on all day because it would drain the battery down completely. So, when I am at home, I switch off Bluetooth and location info and switch on wifi. When o get in my car, I turn off wifi and turn on Bluetooth (my altima has bt built in). Then, when I get out of my car, I switch off bt. This used to take several minutes out of my day.
Now enter Sbsettings: with the Extra few minutes I saved, I was finally able to put more of my time into solving the whole space -time continuum problem and invent a time machine. I also was able to perfect my “game” and am now dating 4 supermodels.
Now, what was your argument for Apples settings menu?
June 27th, 2009 at 10:03 am
@truth
I see you on here alot complaining about the same things. Almost all of the problems you mentioned above are solved by jailbreaking. Don’t think about it. Just do it. It takes 10 minutes.
June 27th, 2009 at 10:11 am
@Joe McG
Actually I have Jailbroken. If you read my posts then you would see that I maintain a jailbroken phone. Secondly, this thread was a discussion on UI. Since most people want to talk about the same things we already know I wrote a post that discusses the things Apple could change and improve upon. It’s really sad that in order to get the most functionality in your phone (for some features already native to other devices) you have to basically “hack it”. And even with jailbreaking there are still some things missing.
June 27th, 2009 at 10:25 am
im currently a NEW jailbreaker. And the results are amazing!!! SBSsettings and themes should be accepted in APP store. apps like My Battery. jus gave my phone its own personalization which makes me wanna use it and show it off even More. Big ups to Devs & the great developers!!!
June 27th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Can’t wait for 3gs jb just 4 sbsettings.
June 27th, 2009 at 10:45 am
@BBYM
Amen to that. As soon as the 3gs is jailbroken I will get one.
June 27th, 2009 at 11:06 am
Honestly I think those extra enhancements will come soon. The 3.0 software upgrades were about the things that were lacking. I think this time around will be those touches people are putting out there. Many of you guys have great ideas I hope that they read some of these posts. I also think 4.0 software will come before next June. Eventually some of these other mobile smartphones are gonna get it right. I think Apple knows that. At least let’s hope so.
June 27th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
tail length?
June 27th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
@Truth:
This is a really good idea.
Anyone who has more than a few apps ends up with a nightmare of pages where nothing can be found.
If you could categorize each application, and then have it appear when you selected that category from the launcher, things would be so much easier to maintain.
This is the way menu systems are evolving in virtually all Linux distros.
Apple could supply standard categories, (menus) or you could add your own, and add an application to more than one category).
And one thing (the ONLY thing) I saw in the BlackBerry Storm was the ability to expand the menu by rotating the device horizontally.
Apple could use this too. http://www.iconocast.com/00018/Z2/News6_0.jpg (Other than that one neat feature, the Storm totally sucks.)
June 27th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
i have sbsettings downloaded but there ia NO icon. how do u use it?
June 27th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
@Joe McG:
Maybe you should visit the Apple store and see if you can take them up on their free battery replacement within the warranty.
I always leave all of that stuff on All day, Every day.
June 27th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
I have a question, what i understand the iphone have two speakers, but i only get sound from one of them. is that the point or is it broken??
June 27th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
@only1jonarius
Just swipe up at the top of the screen. A box will drop down and that is sbsettings. Also if you have a 3g you can go to extra setting in sbsetting and enable the percentage battery which is listed as “numeric battery”.
June 27th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
@Gustaf Hagstrom:
That’s a little off topic Gustaf, and would be better asked and answered in the forum.
But the iPhone only has one speaker at the bottom. The other thing that looks like a speaker is the mic.
There is, of course a ear speaker, which does not get loud enough to hear away from the ear.
June 27th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
unlike the majority of the comments, i love 3.0 and i think they made many small usability fixes and added a lot of great new features! i have jailbroken in the past and hated it in comparison to the 100% Apple interface. The stability on iPhone 3gs with 3.0 is astounding!
June 27th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
@Truth ‘preciate it
June 27th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
@Jesh I’ve found my iPhones to be more stable after jailbreaking. There was just too much going on that was not user conntrollable in a stock fashion. Jailbreaking was the best thing done to the iPhone. It takes a pretty good device and makes it a stelar device.
@Truth You should check out Intelliscreen. It makes the lockscreen extremely usable. It does have conflicts with a few apps, but the issues are avoidable. On a new 3G S I’m sure there would be no real issues at all. With all that extra power and all.
Now for the topic. Apples UI is nice, but it really lacks in the wow department. Jailbreaking can change that if you have the right Illustrator and Photoshop skills. 99% of the themes out there are the pooz. Big thanx to Apple for changing plists and UI element names in 3.0 or what ever it is they did that’s mucking up my personal UI
I’m just not down with the “This us how Steve Jobs wants it to look and it better stay that way” train of thought. It’s my device and I want it to fully represent me. Thus why I ripped it asunder and then put a sick custom blue candy and green true fire paint job on the back case. Us I fixed my light leakage issue in the process.
June 27th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
@IRoc
I might just install intelliscreen. I just wish there was something more native…something that used moveable widgets.
June 27th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Can someone please make a quick reply feature on jailbroken iphones!!!!
June 27th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Never mind just load the xsellize source and download quickreply app and while your’re at it pick up the intelliscreen.
Thank God for JBing.
June 27th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Sorry for the multiple post but once you get quick reply, respring, and press the up button on the volume rocker.
June 27th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
@iRoc I wouldnt say jailbreaking makes it more stable, adding extra code could never do that! but i will say it allows much more customizing. I prefer to stick with the reliable apple code and let them bring out the updates.
June 28th, 2009 at 3:06 am
It’s frustrating that users like me know so very little about jailbreaking. I hear warnings about the risks and on the other side, I hear about all the extreme benefits that are missing from the iPhone right “out of the box.”
I guess I am “old school” about my phone. It sadly, leaves me waiting for Apple to decide that all those great jailbroken features are worthwhile to add.
The 3.0 UI is fairly good. But customization is the biggest gap for me. Customization leads to great usability. I want the right to choose how my iPhone looks and responds to me. Second, the current UI does not lend itself to smooth data/app management. For example, whenever I purchase a new app, I secretly sigh knowing I am going to spend 10-15 minutes reorganizing my pages. One app affects all the pages before it as I “slide” it into the position I choose.
What if Spotlight was the main page? What if, in addition to a basic search, we could see action items like message counts, calendar data, tasks, etc. in addition to “hot keys” for our favorite apps? What if all those pages of apps were basically hidden until one of these “hot keys” was selected? What if the Spotlight “Home page” could have a customizable background image? Just a thought.
June 28th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Oh on the iPhone this page takes forever to scroll down. Apple please revamp page scrolling.
June 28th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Ditto what truth says!!! There really needs to be a way to jump straight to the bottom as there is a way to jump to the top!