Steve Jobs Hates Buttons

ElvaWSJ writes "While many technology companies load their products up with buttons, Steve Jobs treats them as blemishes that add complexity and hinder their clean aesthetics. The iPhone is Steve Jobs's attempt to crack a juicy new market for Apple Inc. But it's also part of a decades-long campaign by Mr. Jobs against a much broader target: buttons. The new Apple cellphone famously does without the keypads that adorn its rivals. Instead, it offers a touch-sensing screen for making phone calls and tapping out emails. The resulting look is one of the sparest ever for Apple, a company known for minimalist gadgets. "

Comments

Re:Buttons!?

[PFI_Optix]

Great. So those of us who are able to drive and talk safely should suffer with the rest of you?

It's really not that hard to drive safely while using a cell phone. Dial by touch, and only when traffic conditions permit a split-second distraction; heavy, high-speed traffic means you should probably wait. And just talk, there's no need to get animated the way a lot of drivers do. If things get difficult in traffic, get off the phone or just stop the conversation for a minute. Be attentive AND FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, DON'T BLOCK YOUR OWN VISION WITH YOUR ARM.

Or get a $30 bluetooth headset and use voice recognition. It works for me:

1) Tap earpiece
2) Say "digit dial"
3) say number
4) Say "yes"
5) talk

Re:Buttons!?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Great. So those of us who are able to drive and talk safely should suffer with the rest of you?"

Oh for God's sake! Go look up the dictionary definition of "SUFFER" would you? Jesus Christ! Go back in your SUV and guzzle your Frappacino, you pasty yuppie doughball!

Re:Buttons!?

[NeutronCowboy]

Thank you for pointing that out. I strongly suspect that the distraction of talking on a cell phone comes not from the cell phone part, but from the talking part. I know I occasionally stop a conversation with a passenger because I need to focus on traffic. The same rule ought to apply to talking on a cell phone.

Though texting while driving should be illegal. You can't text without taking your eyes off the road. Stop lights might be ok, but I rarely find that I need to reply to a message while driving, and that said reply can be sent out in the time I'm at the stop light. Might as well just wait then. As for stop and go traffic - judging by the number of fender benders that happen during stop and go traffic, I'd say it requires more attention than regular highway driving, not less.

Re:Buttons!?

[PFI_Optix]

Didn't read the post I replied to, did ya? I'd put "electric shock" in the "suffer" category.

I guess you'd file it under "slightly inconvenient tingling sensation that doesn't cause discomfort at all"?

Oh...and..YUPPIE??? Die.

Re:Shortage of buttons makes iPod difficult to use

[crabpeople]

"Changing tracks, play/pause, seeking, and volume can all be done without looking. Hold down fast forward/rewind instead of using the scroll wheel to seek, and then you can still change volume with scroll wheel."

Unless you accidentally hit the menu button and get thrown out of the volume control. Or the opposite, which happens to me all the time where your trying to switch tracks and your hand slips a little causing the thing to change volume. Once you have the levels on your deck EQ and sub and everything set just right, its really annoying to have to reset the ipod volume or risk distortion. And this is just me who uses it all the time. Give a passenger the ipod and they will without fail accidentally change the volume.

"These are not often-used functions for most people"

Exactly. If your not "most people" you either adapt or fuck off. Even microsoft products are generally more configurable than apples and microsoft are the king of forcing you into all kinds of crazy behaviors.