Trends That Need to Die #1
First off, Happy New Year -- now back to business...
First trend I hope dies in 2009: Touch-based UI. Apple is good at one thing -- making bad ideas ridiculously cool. Controlling a 10,000 song library with a touch-sensitive wheel? Bad idea.
Sending an e-mail/text with a touchscreen keyboard is really cool. Unfortunately, it really sucks. First touch screen recognition isn't super reliable so you improvise. Apple did that well. However, the things that allow us to type fast is that sensory feedback in our fingers that tells us we pressed a button and know where the other keys are. Not really possible with modern touchscreen technology. So in the end: Bad idea.
I miss buttons, buttons let me pause, skip, and power off/on while the device sits comfortably in my pocket as I keep my eyes on more important things.
That's really all I have to say. And keep in mind: I hate Apple so I'm a little bias.
January 19th, 2009 - 12:02
I agree. There’s a certain limitation to the usefulness of touch that I’m not sure device designers have really come to terms with. A single big screen device seems like the ultimate ideal for a portable computer. Hell, it’s in Star Trek. But it can’t do everything and many things it can do, it doesn’t do all that well. Not every app is like google maps. This is why I’m very skeptical about touch screens for desktops or laptops. For a small handheld device, you’re going to be making compromises anyway, but there’s no good reason to bring it to larger displays unless the cost difference is minimal.