Dear Apple,
Having just spent a significant amount of time trolling your website and learning about the shiny new iOS 7, I have a number of things to say.
1. No.
2. Don't.
3. Ugly.
4. Unnecessary
5. Why?
Sincerely,
E. R. E.
I'm sorry. I hate it. I have looked at it from afar, and then seen small examples of it up close, and I am not impressed. While I understand that there are a couple very nice technical things, I am not impressed with the overall interface.
And here's why.
The average age of iphone users is not currently 3 years old. Do I think the new simplistic primary color-ish design would be adorably appropriate in certain settings? Yes, in a fake cell phone for my 3 year old niece.
I look at my iphone 5 sometimes, at the beautiful interface, the smooth design, the sleek glass, and it makes me oddly happy. It's beautiful to look at. It's light and shadow, art and simplicity, all combined.
Until. Now.
I may be convinced to download the new iOS sometime. I may like it against all odds.
But for now, no thank you. Its new simple looking buttons and shadowless text pages and unpleasant "we are trying to be like Windows without admitting it" is absolutely not appealing to me... (If I have just insulted Windows OS I apologize...)
This has really thrown me into a technological crisis. I adore Apple. I hoped to buy an iPad someday. My macbook has served me faithfully for a year now, and things designed by Apple are normally intuitive, simple, and beautiful. Seeing that fade in The Ugly New iOS has depressed me. What am I going to do? I have always assumed when the next iPhone hardware redesign came out (presumably next year, if Apple follows their pattern), I would get it and happily renew my contract with practically reception-less Sprint. (A call failed with my sister today. Three times. She is in the same state and had perfectly good reception... this is a sprint-in-enumclaw problem.)
But now, I wonder. Am I a diehard Apple fan? I guess this proves I am not. I would have said I was, up until this new iOS. I think it is a mistake. The bottom line-- the graphics don't appeal to me. There may be loads of helpful new features. I'm sure there are a few benefits, but I am not sure it's worth staring at an ugly screen long enough to find them. The colors... ugh. Though I dislike putting the word "Ugh" in a blog, I really can't come up with anything else that fits.
I may someday rescind this blog, but for now, I will stay in my happy iOS 6.something world and still try to love Apple despite the way I am disappointed right now...
5 comments:
First off, I am not pro-apple. iPods and iPhones are merely "big names" in gadgetry, and I do tend to flock to those since they are more easily accessible and in the past I have found them to be more user friendly. Currently Im typing from a pc and dont see myself ever getting an ipad or macbook. So I'm not some scarf-wearing-coffee-sipping hipster dude who just buys everything apple makes (because you dont ever need to wear scarves or sip hot coffee in AZ, you see....oh, did you think I meant something else?)
There, have I abdicated enough? Ok, good.
Technically, I dont know a whole lot about the new iOS. The timestamps on texts are neat, they have definitely upgraded a few things to make the phone even easier to use, if that was even possible. The stock weather app is flashy, I approve.
But I completely agree with you on most everything else. The tiles look lifeless and fake. Especially iTunes and Music, I mean seriously? What 1st-month graphics design drop-out thought those colors would be a good idea? I can see the exchange now:
"Hey I got an idea, why don't we take the tiles and make the colors more boring and more 2 dimensional...."
"That's a great idea son, what's your name?"
"It's Jared, but with a G and a Y, Gerryd."
I also think the iOS 6 looked "slicker". I like metallic and silver colors, they're more "techy". It says "you are holding an advanced piece of technology", whereas now it says "One of your lame peers got to design this.."
Yes, that fade....dislike. Is there a way to get rid of that altogether? I feel like I'm waking my iPhone up to get to work, like a parent. Maybe that's what "Gerryd" is used to, so he built it into the phone....*sigh, smh...*
With regard to music - I think theres currently a bug in the new iOS that just imports everything, even if you dont want it on there and have it set to only sync certain artists (like I do). Big dislike. The music interface itself isnt all that bad, it plays music videos more easily now, but still shares the cheap look of the rest of it.
I also feel like it chews through battery power faster, but you wouldnt be able to comment on that since you havent dl'd it...
13 formsehe
You're not pro apple. While this was a fact I was aware of, it still makes a tear come to my eye..
Kidding. Over it.
Cause wasn't the whole point of my post that I might not be pro-apple any longer?
Lifeless and fake! Yes! Those are two words that I was trying to find.
Umm, do you have any idea how hard I laughed when I saw Gerryd? Cause that's perfect.
Yup. I was talking with some friends and one of their points was that Apple has always looked like it was sleek and from the future.
And, as I pointed out, they are supposed to be cool, techy, innovaters. This is an epic fail in that department...
No captcha, what is going on?
Okay.
I see no point in posting an entirely new entry to my blog to continue a rant started above. Why start an entirely new rant, when this one is working out so well?
I just spent a trying half hour trolling websites such as forbes, cnet, and random other finance sites dealing with discussions of the 5c and 5S.
Couple words.
Why?
Fail.
Seriously, hit me with your opinion.
"Hi, I'm Gerryd, and, having blackmailed the CEO of this company into letting me take over, I now get to not only destroy the interface of the new iOS, I get to turn a beautiful product of sleek metal and glass into...bright colored plastic! Betcha wish you'd listened to me before I dropped out!"
Apple, compromising quality? That's what I see when I see the 5c.
(No, that weird sentence wasn't intentional, it just...happened.)
The 5s looks like a solid product to inexperienced, non-techy-blogger-me. Yes, they have branched out a little in the color arena, but within the parameters of elegance and quality that I expect from Apple.
Does a fingerprint sensor make me thrilled to pieces? Not really. Lots of products out there already have a shoddy fingerprint sensor security in some way, shape, or form. I just hope that Apple's is a bit more reliable than most. Normally I would have simply assumed they would be, but now...I struggle. ;-)
Congrats, Apple. You get to create a product that is lesser than the 5, delete the existence of the 5 (seriously, on the apple website it goes from 4s to 5c and 5s... :'( ), and sell a cheaper product at a higher price. Good job, you can maybe learn to manufacture this for a while to fit the consumers demand. But didja have to compromise, just to up production volume? That's what it looks like to me....
And...one more thing... Since when does Apple promote and sell cases?
If Steve Jobs were here.....
50 Thinabi
*cracks knuckles* A lot to get to...haha
There was a time when Apple was *the* techy innovator, and it really wasnt that long ago! But, there's nothing new under the sun, and I'm sure corporate espionage is a real, common thing, so it's no surprise someone rose to the challenge of competing with Apple. And whenever a company sees their competition gaining market share, and improving upon their ideas, its only natural to try and mimic *that*, and most definitely there's going to be some muddling along the way. Which is why we have iOS7 ;)
When one single company is top dog, they can afford to be elitist, they can afford to ignore the requests of outsiders or fringe consumers of their product, ya know? They dont have to be all-inclusive. The very unfortunate, I think, side affect that competition has in business is that it tends to lower the least common denominator of your consumer base, if that makes sense. When you cant afford to be elitist, when you cant afford to make people a little longer than they want, etc, you have to make your product more pallatable to the masses. And unfortunately the masses are getting dumber....Which is why we have iOS7. Again ;) Ok, your 2nd post!
Youre a camera and photography expert/maven, have you had a chance to test out the 5C? I only ask because I heard it has an upgraded camera....("C" for camera, get it? Which conversely means 5S = 5 stupid plastic?)
I have to admit I like added color options....just not as a big "Hey look at this! Major apple product release! Come stand in line again" type of release, ya know? Maybe do a little marketing, but this hardly qualifies as an "S" release akin to the mass hysteria that 4S induced.
"Thats what I see when I see the 5c" may have been unintentional, but it sure was cool! Bravo
Gerryd thinks that adding more colors to the iPhone will match his on-again-off-again girlfriends outfits better. He's just trying to get in sweet with his lady Em! You can't knock him for that ;) Seriously though, "The adventures of Gerryd and Stacey" needs to happen. You supply the rants and we'll get it rolling...haha
So, they dont even show the regular iphone 5 on the website? Wow, thats cheesy marketing, and an indirect slap to the face of anyone who stood outside in line for 3 days outside an Apple store that "We dont care about what your dedication to our brand". Though admittedly, Gerryd and Co are deserving of such....
ofheeke 1036
Deep down inside, I like to believe that Apple still is the techy innovator. That's why I weep a little for these dark days. Someday they will come back, right? sigh..
I have not tested out the 5C. Perish the thought.
I am not sure what the c and s stand for, but the s is actually still being produced in metal. Thank goodness Apple has retained at least a modicum of respectability. They have diversified the colors a slight bit, but thankfully not much on that one. There is hope dawning on the horizon, in the form of sleek metal and glass. The problem is, it makes me feel nostalgic. Which implies that it is a thing of the past...great, I've come full circle. ;-)
If you want added color options though, you have always had the option to get a colorful case. They're really not that expensive.
Oh wait. You have always had the option, and yet you still went with... a white case. ;P which looks kinda not white anymore...haha.
Gerryd needs some serious help-- doesn't he know that his girlfriend is only with him for the Apple notoriety? Sugardaddy...
Is it Stacey? Idk about that. To be decided. haha. I'll supply the rants, you supply the wit, and who will do the drawings? hmm. This could be problematic. Of course, they don't need to be good illustrations, right?
Yah, they don't show it. But really, I was thinking about it more, and while it may be a slap in the face, it really just provides people like you and I with exclusivity rights. "Oh, this? This is The Iphone 5. No no, you can't get one." ;)
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