How Apple Is Giving Design a Bad Name
I believe Apple is designing things the way they SHOULD be. Their new products are, in fact, actually amazing, and even <i>futuristic:</i><p>* The out-of-the-box&#x2F;first-power-on experience on any Apple device remains unparalleled.<p>• Just hold the AirPods case near your iPhone and open it, and they&#x27;re seamlessly paired. Complete with &quot;YourName&#x27;s AirPods&quot; automatically set up in the Bluetooth settings.<p>• AirPods do not require cumbersome Bluetooth unpairing&#x2F;repairing across your Apple devices; just select them from the output device menu on your Mac&#x2F;iPad&#x2F;Apple Watch.<p>• Audio syncs perfectly between both left and right AirPods. They have considerable range (I&#x27;ve tested them through multiple walls on different floors.) They both have separate batteries (with their own battery meter, which only shows up when they don&#x27;t have the same amount of charge). They can be used individually to conserve battery or keep one ear open.<p>• AirPods&#x27; microphones only pick up your voice, even in a loud environment.<p>• The Touch Bar. Apps SHOULD have a context-sensitive input device. Nobody should have to learn and remember what each FN key does in each app.<p>• On the Touch Bar, you can just bring your finger down on buttons like Brightness&#x2F;Volume and just slide your finger left&#x2F;right without lifting it. That is, you don&#x27;t have to tap, raise finger, then move your finger to the slider control to drag it, even if the knob appears in a different area away from your finger. A minor but VERY nice design and attention to detail.<p>• It takes time to recognize where the Touch Bar can improve input speed compared to just keyboard&#x2F;mouse&#x2F;trackpad, but there definitely are moments where it&#x27;s <i>faster;</i> For example, when I&#x27;m editing a contact&#x27;s phone number, the buttons for labels like &quot;Home&quot; or &quot;Work&quot; appear on the Touch Bar. It&#x27;s quicker than using the mouse pointer to open the dropdown list, and it&#x27;s not possible to have keyboard shortcuts for each label (including custom ones) but they can be easily shown in a scrolling list on the Touch Bar.<p>• The new MacBook Pros. Modern computers SHOULD have a single type of port, and we should be able to use any port for charging.<p>• Unlocking my MacBook by just raising the lid if I&#x27;m wearing my Apple Watch. I need to be physically close to the laptop and the Watch notifies me every time it happens.<p>* Touch ID on Macs. Can&#x27;t wait for third-party apps to use it for authentication like on iOS.<p>• Being able to seamlessly copy&#x2F;paste across your Apple devices is one of those things you never knew you needed, but you&#x27;ll sorely miss when you work on devices that don&#x27;t have it.<p>So, no, Apple is not giving design a bad name. They are actually doing a lot of things right. They do have many flaws yes (especially on the software side, some of which are very frustrating) but their biggest mistake is setting themselves up to be a target of the tall poppy syndrome [1], and it&#x27;s getting rather tiresome.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Tall_poppy_syndrome" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Tall_poppy_syndrome</a>