Everyone is talking about this, so of course I have to get my two cents in, right? Yes I know I"m late to the party on this one.
Actually, the main thing that gets me the most about all this iPhone 4 stuff doesn't have anything to do with the product as much as it has to do with every blogger and PR person's idea of Dieter Rams philosophy on design. So let's just clear that part up first. Rams ten principles of good design are:
- Good design is innovative
- Good design makes a product useful
- Good design is aesthetic
- Good design makes a product understandable
- Good design is unobtrusive
- Good design is honest
- Good design is long-lasting
- Good design is thorough down to the last detail
- Good design is environmentally friendly
- Good design is as little design as possible
Apple (and really Jonathan Ive, since he's the head of design at Apple) hits a lot of these. iPhone 4 is innovative, aesthetic, understandable, unobtrusive, and as little design as possible (which I would call "simple" but I'm trying to make a point here using Rams's words) but it isn't long-lasting or environmentally friendly (hello new model every year, meet Dieter Rams). It isn't thorough down to the last detail, because of the antenna problems (yes, if you aren't having these problems you need to accept there are a lot of people who are) and because of that flaw the product isn't as useful as it could be since it's usefulness is based almost solely on being able to comunicate with a cellular network. Apple has hit way more of these than they've missed, and while the few they've missed are big ones, I can not deny, as a designer, the iPhone 4 is a beautiful piece of gadget to look at.
But ultimately it's a phone, and it needs to work like a phone, not a "beautiful old camera" to totally take a quote out of context. This, however, isn't the biggest user experience problem the iPhone 4 has. Apple's response to any complaint's about the phone's performance is iPhone 4's biggest UX problem. "Don't hold it like that" and "Just buy a case for it" don't make for a good experience, and this is a prime example of something most companies fail to see when they design a product. Customer service is a big part of the user's overall experience with any product. Effectively saying "hold it differently" or "spend more money" isn't a solution, and it's leaving a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. And that's too bad, because the iPhone as a product line is a fantastic product, it's just got a big UX problem they need to clear up, and that's Apple.
