Skeuomorphism in iOS is not the only culprit

Technology, , , , ,

There has been a lot of hubbub about iOS, post Steve Jobs and, especially, post the shuffle at Apple. If you have read tech-writers’ opinions, you would know that a lot, and I mean a lot, of them are bickering about iOS being a bit too, ummm, Skeuomorphic. Designers, app developers, and a lot of tech enthusiasts are urging Apple to clean iOS off the inherent skeuomorphic elements widely visible across the current version of iOS and most importantly across the horde of default apps on iOS devices.

I agree with a majority of those view-points, and only some of the suggested overhauls seem absurd to me. Also, I kind of find it difficult to accept that skeuomorphism is the only reason why every Tom, Apple and Harry would be happy with an iOS ‘DeForstallization’. Why has skeuomorphism become such a perfunctory complaint among us all?

Let’s go back to pre-2007 — 2007 being the birth year for iOS. Think about how smartphone interfaces looked — those UI elements, the functions, the colours, and the intuitiveness of the design elements. Few would disagree if I say that touch-enabled devices of those times did not come close to what we have today. Of course, it had a lot more to do with technological advances than with core design of the interfaces. But, the answer to why skeuomorphic elements are omnipresent in iOS, probably, hides in the minds of those involved in launching the operating system.

Skeuomorphism is:

“a physical ornament or design on an object made to resemble another material or technique.

Back then, we could not have foreseen the capabilities of a touch-screen enabled interface. Someone using an iPhone (we’re referring to the iPhone because the iPhone basically revolutionized touch on screens for interactions beyond calling and texting) would have found it hard (well not that hard actually considering there was the ‘touch and check, or trial and error’ option available always) to decipher if a flat interface element was actually an action element or no. That person would have to spend a good amount of time with the device to reach up the peak of the learning curve. Could Apple have afforded to let users take that extra time to adapt to a revolutionary but hard to understand device? Consider that, it must have been a make or break situation for Apple. I don’t think Apple actually wanted to risk answering that question based on usage statistics. Maybe I’m wrong in what Apple thought back then when they were developing the iOS interface pre-launch. But, knowing Apple, I’m sure they not only wanted to nail the ‘connection’ between the user and the device but also wanted to make that connection simple enough for anyone to pick the device and be a pro user within minutes. How else would they have made it simply work.

Fast forward to today, we have witnessed close to 6 years of the iPhone legacy and 6 beautiful devices. What has not changed is iOS! The design elements which defined the core experience of iOS have been untouched for almost 6 years of the product’s life — of course you could argue that Google managed to pick a lot of elements from iOS and better those elements over the course of time, but then nobody is complaining about it. That is eternity innit by today’s rapid upgrade-or-die paced tech industry standards? Yes, it is. Which is why everybody out there has become bored with the unchanged UI design of iOS. Everyone is talking about how the interface needs a refresh, how the design has become stale, how Apple should stop playing safe with the software design, or how skeuomorphism is such a big ball of shit my cat doesn’t play with anymore.

Truth be told, I agree that skeuomorphism doesn’t resonate with us once it crosses that line between analogy and replication. You know what I mean? So in essence, it’s not that skeuomorphism doesn’t have a role to play in staling out the freshness from iOS. But, I think skeuomorphism is also bearing the brunt of a frustrated clan of followers who are just plain bored with the fact that there hasn’t been a significant change to iOS in spite of a rocking 6 years of profiteering.

Nobody is claiming that iOS hasn’t improved; people are saying that iOS deserves to be better than what it currently is, and that it can be better than what it currently is simply because we are bored. But then, for those who love to base their urges and requests on strong grounds, wouldn’t Android’s maturity be a silly reason to generate enough brouhaha for an iOS re-design? And that, I think, is why skeuomorphism has to take the blame and, if Apple succumbs, sacrifice its legacy of making things Simply work.

So what’s new

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So what’s new?

I have not yet upgraded my MacbookPro to make it the dream machine I want without hurting my pocket as much. FYI, my pockets aren’t that deep yet. Never mind, I’m still looking for that well-wisher who can get me the required hardware.

Manchester United won the Premier League (#20) thanks to a hat-trick from RVP (#20). It was a good first half, and I felt bad for Rafael because he didn’t get to net a second stunner goal, which would have been very similar to this one here.

We are shifting to a new residence in this god-damned city. The address is ____, uh sorry were you interested in partying at my place? Buzz off! Not happening. Because parties are so 2010. I’m older now, more mature, more sensible, and yada yada. Cut the crap! Actually, I’m broke. Maybe later, I would love to have you around.

My job doesn’t suck. Nnuf said!

Iron Man 3 sucked. I think people need to understand that a superhero movie needs a super-hero in a costume saving the planet or whatever, not a super-sucker in a costume trying to save his lass.

I am a sucker for awesome typography and good design. And I’ve been trying to get my blog look in a particular way that I would love. As of now, I’ve chosen this Twenty Thirteen theme by the guys at Automattic. It’s a great theme. Looks clean, has good seriffonts, isn’t messy with sidebars, is responsive, and  is a single-column layout. Not perfect, but sweet! #YouKnowWhatIMean. I’ve been thinking of self-hosting the blog, but I have filed it under low-priority because there are way too many things going on in life which need attention.

Talking about attention, I would rather have HTC pay some attention to marketing the HTC One. In spite of the fact that, the One is an awesome creation in terms of design, HTC seems to be playing too much of a nice guy in this race for smartphone market share dominance. Samsung has done a good job marketing its Galaxy series in India. There are discounts, cash-backs, free storage and/or flip-covers, and any random offer you can think of. Plus, there is the fact that the Galaxy S4 can pretty much fetch the cola from the fridge for you. It is that feature rich. So much for redundancy and bloatware.

Marco Arment  sold Instapaper. Yahoo bought Summly. Google bought Wavii. One of my best friends will soon be a proud owner of a brand-new LGGoogle Nexus 4. And I need to buy a couple of shorts for the Gurgaon summers.

Logging out now.

Apple and fingerprint technology in the next iPhone

Technology, , , ,

MacRumors posted an article in which Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at KGI Securities analyst, says that the next iPhone will most likely sport a fingerprint sensor.

Apple will be including a fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 5S, indicating that Apple’s 2012 acquisition of AuthenTec is ready to bear fruit for the company as a differentiating feature for the next iPhone.

and that

iPhone 5S will have a fingerprint chip under the Home button, improving security and usability

Most likely so, the fingerprint technology under development at Apple directs not only to an implementation of fingerprint sensors for unlocking home screens but also to a system-wide, secured access to online payments, which are yet to pick speed in spite of various ‘Wallet’ services being offered across multiple mobile platforms.

Having bore the brunt of the tech community over the release of an under-utilized Passbook app, and, dare I say, Apple Maps in its seemingly back to beta-revision to iOS last year, Tim Cook and Jonathan Ive would avoid revealing any unfinished products this year around. And, even though Apple is not very vocal about accepting its goof-ups (think of Antennagate or Scuffgate), they make sure that subsequent releases provide discreet updates to the consumers.

By the time, Apple sends out invitations to this year’s iOS and/or iPhone updates, it would’ve been almost a year since Apple bought Authentec. That would mean that if Ming-Chi Kuo is accurate in his speculations, you could expect fairly major, ‘finger-secure’ updates to the whole online payment services that Apple has offered to its consumers.

Upgrading the machine

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There comes a time when old seems slow, new seems ruthlessly fast and horribly expensive. Not much you can do about it, but I am thinking of engaging the dark side to upgrade my Macbook Pro through some DIY.

I have owned a Macbook Pro since 2009 and it still kicks ass maybe because it hasn’t had to deal with any major processing aside from an infrequent need for gaming. It runs Mountain Lion (briefly Ubuntu Quantal Quetzal), has 4GB of RAM and a 2.26GHz processor (C2D). The two complaints I have against it are its hard drive – mere 160GB – and its boot-time – 33s. A lower memory means frequent deletion of hard drive space. And that means a limited on-the-drive music collection plus those occasionally loud, fan-spin noises.

There have been about four revisions to the MBP line-up since my mid 2009 machine. I definitely don’t intend to let go of my machine simply because this is my first laptop and it has served me well. It still does! Since buying a new MBP is out of question, I have decided to rip apart my machine and upgrade it myself.

So, this is what I am thinking:

As of now, both these purchases combined are going to cost me approx. Rs. 8000/- more in India. And that is a big price if you earn as much as I do and as timely as I do!

And, here’s the plan:

  • Ask a friend (or a friend’s friend) who is dropping by India to get the components from the US – if you can help me here, well and good. Else, I’ll go figure.
  • Once I have the components, one trip to the Nehru the Places can land me with some neat, shiny tools for the handy-work
  • Upgrading the machine would be cake walk. I know!

But, here’s the question:

  • Anybody know someone who has upgraded the RAM and HD of their laptop (PC/Mac) without upgrading the processor?
  • The above upgrades would definitely improve performance. But, would those upgrades be worthwhile if I am not upgrading the processor (it’s a Core2Duo 2.26GHz)?

Any help/advice would be deeply rewardedappreciated. If you have nothing to add, stick around for a month and I’ll definitely post something about the machine upgrade.

If the Facebook phone is what it seems to be…

Technology,

…then I’ll sure as hell never be pro it. And, I am not even getting in to the arguments about privacy or personal data being sold on ads.

It’s just plain resentment of the opportunity to forever be connected to this forum. To forever be notified of your friends’ life-log. And above all, to care about all those unimportant things, you could live without before Facebook. What do I mean by unimportant things? – think of your closest school friend whose activity on a website hardly mattered to you back when you didn’t have Facebook. Guess you get my point!

Back to the Facebook phone or Facebook OS or Facebook launcher or whatever it be you want to call it, basically it represents Facebook’s effort to become the anything and everything of your lives anytime in your lives. How do you guys live with that constant shadow following you around night and day – on your laptops, mobiles, tablets, and e-readers!

These are some people saying some stuff about Facebook, and I like the fact that this stuff stands true even today:

“Facebook’s coming at it from a corporate position. It’s basically like AOL in 1997 — everything is there and there’s no need to go anywhere else. I don’t know if they’re even considering what users want anymore. It’s all about how to maximize revenue and all that crap. It’s wanting to be everything to everybody possible so they won’t have to go anywhere else.” – by Matt Haughey through here.

And

“It is not ‘your’ Facebook profile. It is Facebook’s profile about you.” – through here.

And finally from the horse’s mouth, here comes:

“Beginning today, we are giving you a greater opportunity to voice your opinion over how Facebook is governed.” – through Facebook blog.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever looked at Facebook to ‘voice your opinion’. Barf!

So you know what I mean? The Facebook phone is not for me. Damn, I don’t even have the Facebook application installed on my phone and ‘mostly’ won’t install it on my next phone. In spite of that, I will surely stay connected with you.