Former Apple designers say that Apple has lost 'the fundamental principles of good design'

[petem]

In other news, the Earth isn't flat.

 

Noooooooooooo :wub:

[ShadowCaptain]

Apples logic is to basically make it thinner by trading in battery life and nuking performance.

 

Huh? iPad has amazing battery life, macbooks have AMAZING battery life, the iPhone has decent battery life

 

iPad/iPad pro/iPhone 6 - chart topping performance for mobile devices

 

Macbook - decent performance, super well build, beautiful laptops with insane battery life

 

 

 

Nope not sure i follow YOUR logic here

[RedRound2]

There laptops are shit

 

I have no clue how its related to context, but you're objectively wrong. Their laptops are among the best in the market in terms of build quality, battery life, product life, support (both software and hardware), etc, etc

[Prysin]

they are right though... simplicity at the cost of all controll is about as useful as putting low profile street slick tires with fat rims on a car to drive on ice and snow.

looks cool, handles terribly.

[crystal6tak]

I have no clue how its related to context, but you're objectively wrong. Their laptops are among the best in the market in terms of build quality, battery life, product life, support (both software and hardware), etc, etc

Perhaps he meant the macbook with a single usb type c slot?

 

I have nothing against the rest of their macbook. I'd actually buy a macbook pro, install windows and get a vinyl skin for it if I had the money.

 

But the halved CPU performance and only single usb type C slot is just too ridiculous to justify the new macbook's price and build quality. (Still... I see people around who bought this laptop... uugh)

[atrash]

Pre-Cook Apple is best Apple.

 

But cooked apple (pie) isn't that bad either.

 

They are still great right now but definitely not the best in an era where the competitions has finally catch up and some even doing better products than them.

[RedRound2]

Perhaps he meant the macbook with a single usb type c slot?

 

I have nothing against the rest of their macbook. I'd actually buy a macbook pro, install windows and get a vinyl skin for it if I had the money.

 

But the halved CPU performance and only single usb type C slot is just too ridiculous to justify the new macbook's price and build quality. (Still... I see people around who bought this laptop... uugh)

 

It's more of a concept laptop right now like how the Air was in the beginning. Plus its an addition to the existing line up so i don't see why people have to complain about it

 

The CPU performance is just the matter of time it will be as powerful as the Pros after two or three generations. The one USB Type-C is too brutal especially when you use the same port for charging so hopefully Apple will add another one in the next version

 

But the main reason people buy the laptop is because its a very very beautiful product. I've considered multiple times to get it instead of Pro just because it looks soo good

[Dabombinable]

It's more of a concept laptop right now like how the Air was in the beginning. Plus its an addition to the existing line up so i don't see why people have to complain about it

The CPU performance is just the matter of time it will be as powerful as the Pros today after two or three generations. The one USB Type-C is too brutal especially when you use the same port for charging so hopefully Apple will add another one in the next version

But the main reason people buy the laptop is because its a very very beautiful product. I've considered multiple times to get it instead of Pro just because it looks soo good

Functionality>looks

[RedRound2]

Functionality>looks

 

that depends on the person. For me functionality and looks are equal priority (maybe looks a bit higher). I don't care if its best in the world if it looks like shit

[Thorium19]

Apples design is generally very good if you ask me, but in the last year or so they've made a number of large blunders.

1) Apple watch design, it's not exactly aesthetically pleasing, unlike a moto 360 or huawei watch, it's very much a "samsung did this so we will" design if you ask me.

2) New magic mouse, who the hell would ever put the charging port on the bottom and think it was a good idea, no matter how fast it charges.

3) Apple pencil, what a massive load of bollocks designing that was to put a male lightning charger on the top of it, so your ipad looks like it's got a phallic object attached and will break oh so easily.

4) Camera bump, it's generally accepted that camera bumps are a pain in the arse, don't look great aesthetically and clearly show all the space that could have been given to a bigger battery.

 

Apple have let Jonny Ive run rampant in recent years, and it's time someone stopped him and his team and gave them a reality check, because they're digging their own graves at the minute.

[Misanthrope]

Apples design is generally very good if you ask me, but in the last year or so they've made a number of large blunders.

1) Apple watch design, it's not exactly aesthetically pleasing, unlike a moto 360 or huawei watch, it's very much a "samsung did this so we will" design if you ask me.

2) New magic mouse, who the hell would ever put the charging port on the bottom and think it was a good idea, no matter how fast it charges.

3) Apple pencil, what a massive load of bollocks designing that was to put a male lightning charger on the top of it, so your ipad looks like it's got a phallic object attached and will break oh so easily.

4) Camera bump, it's generally accepted that camera bumps are a pain in the arse, don't look great aesthetically and clearly show all the space that could have been given to a bigger battery.

 

Apple have let Jonny Ive run rampant in recent years, and it's time someone stopped him and his team and gave them a reality check, because they're digging their own graves at the minute.

 

Agreed on everything except the last part: They have more money than ever and more sales than ever before. They literally can afford to get stupid because people are so fascinated by their brand.

[Dabombinable]

Agreed on everything except the last part: They have more money than ever and more sales than ever before. They literally can afford to get stupid because people are so fascinated by their brand.

Steve Jobs gave us products that were actually decent. Cook used Job's success to start moving products that range from meh to shit.

[Misanthrope]

Steve Jobs gave us products that were actually decent. Cook used Job's success to start moving products that range from meh to shit.

 

I'm not denying that. I'm just stating that you do not appreciate how big they are. They have more money than the US government ffs. Among the biggest of all time. Look at companies like Coke and Pepsi nobody really agrees that they products are the best tasting by far but the inertia alone can carry them probably for another 100 years.

 

Apple deals in tech which is a lot more volatile but it would still take like 20 years of constant failures for them to go under and just a handful of eventual homeruns to keep them going.

 

(EDIT: maybe not you specifically just continuing on my original reply)

[CommandMan7]

They make stupid decisions more and more often nowadays... It used to be that every compromise and restraint had a purpose, now it seems like they do what they want and use "better appearance" as their excuse. But they know they can get away with it, based on the simple principal that most people DO judge a book by it's cover. If somebody made a car that looked just like a Lamborghini but performed like a SUV at a normal price, I bet that it'd be popular, or at least successful.

[Guest Kloaked]

Pre-Cook Apple is best Apple.

 

I keep seeing people say that, but yet even when Jobs was around people still bitched about Apple.

[Jerakl]

But cooked apple (pie) isn't that bad either.

 

They are still great right now but definitely not the best in an era where the competitions has finally catch up and some even doing better products than them.

 

I knew someone was going to make that joke.

 

 

I keep seeing people say that, but yet even when Jobs was around people still bitched about Apple.

 

By "best" I mean, I think the company as a whole was at their best when Jobs was around. People will always whine about big companies for one reason or another.

[vetali]

Not many people actually read the article here.

 

Its a shame the font is too small and hard to read for them. If only there was an option to change that...

 

"Fonts that are thin, coupled with low contrast." You can also bold the font. A majority of ios is white/light gray on black text. Can't contrast too much more than that.

 

And finally, saying that other companies (assuming google because it was lightly mentioned at the end) followed in the design of apple... well:

 

iOS 6:

 

 

Android 4.0:

 

[Yoinkerman]

Ya, tell us something we don't know.

[NickTheMajin]

I miss skeumorphism a lot. It was one of my favorite things about Mac OS X and iOS. Apple is my favorite company but I really do wish Apple had stuck to their own. One of the best things about the iPads was that everything looked how you would expect them to look in real life. The Notepad was yellow lined paper, the calendar had leather stitching, the music album carousel was awesome and now that's all gone in favor of "flat minimalistic design". iOS had a charm to it when everything was skeumorphic. iOS 7 ruined it in favor of flat and transparency. 

 

Design side too. The iPhone 6, 6S, and the plus models are the only iPhones I've ever had to use with a case. They're too fucking slippery otherwise. The iPhones 4/4S and 5/5S had amazing designs. The 4 lines with the Glass and Steel that felt rigid and premium and the 5 lines with the solid aluminum with chamfered edges that glistened when the sun hit it. The new phones are big aluminum bars of soap. 

 

And I most certainly miss the older iPads. The Air line just doesn't feel as premium to me. Something is off on them. It's like the glass feels thinner than what the older iPads use. Harder to explain than my distaste of the iPhones. 

 

The Watch is the only product Apple has done recently that I think looks gorgeous and I happily replaced my Submariner with a stainless steel one with several leather and metal bands. 

 

Fuck Apple please stop letting Jony Ive run rampant. 

[CTR640]

This is the true design:

 

[Belgarathian]

I've been a big advocate of Apple's engineering and design as my family have owned a number of units since '88 (I was the black sheep hopping between Apple and Windows). 

 

In the last 5 years, I've definitely seen things go downhill with the only thing that really excited me is the NVMe iPhone, Force Touch, Mac Pro, and the 5k iMac, rMBP (and MBP when it first launched it's 8 hour battery life). But things like the magic mouse having the lightning port on the bottom and the stylus are just plain stupid, frustrating, and physical evidence that Apple is sacrificing user experience for aesthetics. 

[Sauron]

I had caught a hint when they released one of the worst smartwatches ever made for the highest price ever set on one. And when they released a laptop that throttles so hard tablets reach it in terms of performance and doesn't have any more connectivity than a tablet would.

[Belgarathian]

Perhaps he meant the macbook with a single usb type c slot?

 

I have nothing against the rest of their macbook. I'd actually buy a macbook pro, install windows and get a vinyl skin for it if I had the money.

 

But the halved CPU performance and only single usb type C slot is just too ridiculous to justify the new macbook's price and build quality. (Still... I see people around who bought this laptop... uugh)

 

I'm not so sure... The Macbook is on my list when I look at replacing my rMBP as I've stopped using my rMBP for anything other than watching video, web, and e-mail. The small form factor and retina display are appealing to me (I was waiting for a MBA + Retina). 

[TechGod]

There laptops are shit

Nope.

[handymanshandle]

Apple hasn't gotten that bad post-Jobs, granted Apple was more innovative pre-Cook...

Though I do disagree with Cook that iPad Pros are going to be the "be all and end all" for everyone. Really it makes more sense if you were going to buy a MacBook but are less likely to use the keyboard and you prefer iOS.

Though I do think that the divide between iOS and OS X is practically gone which for iOS users is great, but for OS X purist that's kind of sad.

Yosemite and El Capitan aren't terrible from what I can tell but it's certainly not like Mountain Lion or Lion (which were probably my two favorite versions of OS X) Snow Leopard and earlier were kind of okay-ish. Though I guess for the time they were pretty good. 

 

Though modern iOS isn't bad but I think Lollipop is better, Marshmallow looks okay but I liked Lollipop.

 

Cook does kind of have a point, I guess... Granted the iPad Pro isn't a lot of things, the A9X in the iPad Pro is apparently as powerful as Intel's ULV Dual Core i3s and i5s, which is impressive but what I think holds it back is iOS unless Apple decided to add some functionality to iOS such as bluetooth mouse/trackpad support and perhaps get Adobe to make a more functional Photoshop and other Creative Cloud stuff for the iPad Pro. Because what Adobe has now on iOS seems more like a rendition of Lightroom. Maybe that's why Apple has the MacBook but if the iPad Pro is better why doesn't the iPad Pro take over the MacBook or the MacBook take over the iPad Pro? 

 

 

TL;DR Apple isn't as bad as people are making it out to be but it was sort of better Pre-Cook. After-all Apple is still extremely profitable but at the cost of those who actually know a thing or two about computers and appealing to those purchasing on a subjective basis (which isn't a bad thing but in this instance subjective consumerism isn't necessarily a good thing.) 

 

@NickTheMajin Actually I don't mind the flat design that Apple has been doing since 2013 but I guess what my issue is, is what I said above... That OS X has become essentially an extension of iOS. While that's not a bad thing, though it is unfortunate.

 

Honestly if I were to buy an iPhone, I'd rather buy a 5S before I'd buy a 6 or 6S because they're rounded and thin, which would basically make a case almost a must have rather than something just for style or protection of the phone.