Stylus and buttons. Rest in peace?
The herd effect is a terrible thing. It is only one individual in the herd to be frightened and run, as everyone runs, even without understanding what is the matter. A herd of animals is necessary for survival. But does this need a flock of people? Think about what based your choice of new phone, car, washing machine? On personal experience, comparing functionality, design, statistics, service centers, an objective description of the advantages and disadvantages? Or, maybe, on a beautifully processed photo on the manufacturer’s website, which has little in common with a real device? On an advertising banner with a beautiful advertising slogan? On the opinion of millions of lemmings who can not be wrong? :)
The most unpleasant thing is that it became “not fashionable” to look at “fashionable” things with a critical eye: after all, “so many people have already looked at them and everyone likes it, so I like it!” :) It’s just that companies earn a certain reputation - and there are already a lot of fanatical fans who are eagerly catching any announcement and are proving with foaming at the mouth that the new device N is a super device! This free PR attracts new adherents who may and will be unhappy with the purchased item, but are afraid to admit it even to themselves.
')
Too much has become dependent on fashion in the world of gadgets. The fashion for functionality is still tolerable, although we already have almost no opportunity to buy a phone without a camera :) But the fashion for the style and interface is not so straightforward. After all, style is unique, this is what distinguishes the products of one company from other devices. Style is when you see something and say: “Ooooh, this is exactly Sonapanic!” :) Therefore, it is always sad when the market is filled for several years, for example, with “Killers of iPhones” and nothing original appears.
The interface fashion is even more dangerous. Undoubtedly, the interface must evolve and the good ideas of one person must find their place in all devices. But often two problems arise. The first is when someone tries to copy someone else's interface completely, achieves external similarity, but completely forgets the minor “convenience” for which the original loved :) The second is when the meaning of a function prizes to the skies and on a wave of approving shouts from enthusiastic users becomes literally a religious dogma. And anyone who tries to refute it, is immediately burned at the stake by the masses without trial.
Actually, I wanted to talk about several successful interface elements that have recently become “unfashionable”. Just as usual, I was distracted by global considerations :)
A huge number of copies broken in the battle of the adherents of capacitive and resistive screens. I'm not going to participate in this battle, especially since the capacitive screens have already won :) I do not argue that there are enough fingers for commonplace everyday use and it is even convenient that you don’t need to get a stylus for everybody. I do not understand one thing: why it is impossible to complete the device with a capacitive screen stylus? After all, styluses for this type of screens exist, work and cost to the final buyer only from $ 1 a piece. Who does not want to - will never get it out of the nest, but why should those who want to search and buy (and most importantly, wear it) separately?
Which field for Minesweeper is convenient to play with your finger on the phone? 10x5? Well, let's admit, the on-screen keyboard is also quite small, and we almost always fall on it, but this is a sapper - here any mistake is a loss! :)
How can I draw a detailed drawing with my finger? And you will not get to the right pixel, and you can not see anything because of your own hand.
Yes, even getting into the right cell of the spreadsheet is not always convenient.
Again, another consequence: due to the lack of a stylus, all interfaces become finger-oriented, i.e. the controls are getting bigger and they fit less on one screen. This means that either there will be more screens (intricacy), or the “unnecessary” itself will simply be abandoned (excessive simplification, loss of functionality).
In my opinion - the best way to scroll through the pages of electronic books. In the era of the last dinosaurs of the CCP kind, this wonderful control element almost disappeared, but, to my great happiness, in communicators it returned as a volume control that is perfectly intercepted by the readers and reassigned to turning pages.
As a volume control, it is also good - it is always pleasant to have hardkey buttons for this function.
I do not know what else to say, the industry has improved - honor and praise to her! :)
Just want to note that the best five-way joystick is the one with no joystick :) And there is a separate central button and a four-button rocking around it. For the last good joystick I saw in the iRiver player of the iFP-300 series (by the way, the player is still working and I still don’t know what to replace it with). But Sony Ericsson joysticks were generally able to make anyone turn into a passionate joystick. But I somehow managed :)
So here. Of course, if there is a sensor, everything can be done with it and any number of any buttons can be displayed on the screen. But opportunity and convenience are far from the same thing. I believe that at the moment to abandon the joystick early. And in phones / smartphones, and even more so in players. Now everyone is rushing around looking for an alternative, HTC inserts a trackball, a mouse sensor, many even reach outright marasmus and insert another touchpad into place of the joystick :) HP pioneered this second-to-last iPaq 4700 PDA. Just the touchpad prevented me from buying this model, and my friend, who still bought 4700 and 3 years, told me that the touchpad is cool, eventually found the strength to admit that from the very beginning I was not thrilled with it solutions.
The worst case is the complete absence of the joystick. It is almost possible to forgive the platforms that immediately appeared without it, such as the iPhone or Android: they were originally sharpened by fingers and there simply was no baggage of programs using hard buttons. But the experience of Nokia, which released a lot of sensory models without hard buttons in general and, thus, deprived users of the new version of Symbian of ALL the luggage of applications of previous versions, can not be called reasonable. As far as I know, the owners of 5800 sat for several months without the possibility of editing documents of office formats, while third firms finished their symbian offices under the sensor. But personally, I did not find this problem, so if I lied, I ask you not to beat with your feet :)
Again the game. Well, is it more convenient to play arcade with a sensor? The speed of reaction, accuracy in time, the speed of several successive clicks will always be on the side of real buttons. In addition, the finger on the buttons does not block the screen.
Well, perhaps, everything that I wanted to say, especially since it's time to go home already :)
Have a good evening!
The most unpleasant thing is that it became “not fashionable” to look at “fashionable” things with a critical eye: after all, “so many people have already looked at them and everyone likes it, so I like it!” :) It’s just that companies earn a certain reputation - and there are already a lot of fanatical fans who are eagerly catching any announcement and are proving with foaming at the mouth that the new device N is a super device! This free PR attracts new adherents who may and will be unhappy with the purchased item, but are afraid to admit it even to themselves.
')
Too much has become dependent on fashion in the world of gadgets. The fashion for functionality is still tolerable, although we already have almost no opportunity to buy a phone without a camera :) But the fashion for the style and interface is not so straightforward. After all, style is unique, this is what distinguishes the products of one company from other devices. Style is when you see something and say: “Ooooh, this is exactly Sonapanic!” :) Therefore, it is always sad when the market is filled for several years, for example, with “Killers of iPhones” and nothing original appears.
The interface fashion is even more dangerous. Undoubtedly, the interface must evolve and the good ideas of one person must find their place in all devices. But often two problems arise. The first is when someone tries to copy someone else's interface completely, achieves external similarity, but completely forgets the minor “convenience” for which the original loved :) The second is when the meaning of a function prizes to the skies and on a wave of approving shouts from enthusiastic users becomes literally a religious dogma. And anyone who tries to refute it, is immediately burned at the stake by the masses without trial.
Actually, I wanted to talk about several successful interface elements that have recently become “unfashionable”. Just as usual, I was distracted by global considerations :)
1. Stylus.
A huge number of copies broken in the battle of the adherents of capacitive and resistive screens. I'm not going to participate in this battle, especially since the capacitive screens have already won :) I do not argue that there are enough fingers for commonplace everyday use and it is even convenient that you don’t need to get a stylus for everybody. I do not understand one thing: why it is impossible to complete the device with a capacitive screen stylus? After all, styluses for this type of screens exist, work and cost to the final buyer only from $ 1 a piece. Who does not want to - will never get it out of the nest, but why should those who want to search and buy (and most importantly, wear it) separately?
Which field for Minesweeper is convenient to play with your finger on the phone? 10x5? Well, let's admit, the on-screen keyboard is also quite small, and we almost always fall on it, but this is a sapper - here any mistake is a loss! :)
How can I draw a detailed drawing with my finger? And you will not get to the right pixel, and you can not see anything because of your own hand.
Yes, even getting into the right cell of the spreadsheet is not always convenient.
Again, another consequence: due to the lack of a stylus, all interfaces become finger-oriented, i.e. the controls are getting bigger and they fit less on one screen. This means that either there will be more screens (intricacy), or the “unnecessary” itself will simply be abandoned (excessive simplification, loss of functionality).
2. Rocking / Wheel button
In my opinion - the best way to scroll through the pages of electronic books. In the era of the last dinosaurs of the CCP kind, this wonderful control element almost disappeared, but, to my great happiness, in communicators it returned as a volume control that is perfectly intercepted by the readers and reassigned to turning pages.
As a volume control, it is also good - it is always pleasant to have hardkey buttons for this function.
I do not know what else to say, the industry has improved - honor and praise to her! :)
3. Five-way joystick
Just want to note that the best five-way joystick is the one with no joystick :) And there is a separate central button and a four-button rocking around it. For the last good joystick I saw in the iRiver player of the iFP-300 series (by the way, the player is still working and I still don’t know what to replace it with). But Sony Ericsson joysticks were generally able to make anyone turn into a passionate joystick. But I somehow managed :)
So here. Of course, if there is a sensor, everything can be done with it and any number of any buttons can be displayed on the screen. But opportunity and convenience are far from the same thing. I believe that at the moment to abandon the joystick early. And in phones / smartphones, and even more so in players. Now everyone is rushing around looking for an alternative, HTC inserts a trackball, a mouse sensor, many even reach outright marasmus and insert another touchpad into place of the joystick :) HP pioneered this second-to-last iPaq 4700 PDA. Just the touchpad prevented me from buying this model, and my friend, who still bought 4700 and 3 years, told me that the touchpad is cool, eventually found the strength to admit that from the very beginning I was not thrilled with it solutions.
The worst case is the complete absence of the joystick. It is almost possible to forgive the platforms that immediately appeared without it, such as the iPhone or Android: they were originally sharpened by fingers and there simply was no baggage of programs using hard buttons. But the experience of Nokia, which released a lot of sensory models without hard buttons in general and, thus, deprived users of the new version of Symbian of ALL the luggage of applications of previous versions, can not be called reasonable. As far as I know, the owners of 5800 sat for several months without the possibility of editing documents of office formats, while third firms finished their symbian offices under the sensor. But personally, I did not find this problem, so if I lied, I ask you not to beat with your feet :)
Again the game. Well, is it more convenient to play arcade with a sensor? The speed of reaction, accuracy in time, the speed of several successive clicks will always be on the side of real buttons. In addition, the finger on the buttons does not block the screen.
Well, perhaps, everything that I wanted to say, especially since it's time to go home already :)
Have a good evening!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/84472/
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