[Air-L] ipad, laptop, desktop

Sun Jan 15 09:13:58 PST 2012

The new touch interfaces that we associate with "smart phones" aren't tactile but they are all about touch obviously -- instead of having your actions abstracted one level through a mouse, your hand is the mouse cursor and you can do a lot more than with just a simple mouse (multi-touch actions). Yes the lack of a keyboard with buttons where you feel the physical compression of a spring or spring-like device is something that some people miss, and that's fine, but it's not the point.

Rick, I don't get it when you say you can tell you've made a typo instinctively by feel -- all the keys on a keyboard should have exactly the same feel. You could tell by the exact placement of your finger, but the same is true on an iPhone. Perhaps it's a bit like playing a fretted stringed instrument versus a fretless one -- people learn how to do it. (Yes you have to get the note right, but you have to have your fingers in the right place initially.)

Also, the dimensions of the iPhone and Android phones are so that most people, unless they have really small hands, can hold the device in one hand and their thumb can cover the entire screen. (Whenever you see anyone saying how the next iPhone should be bigger, you know they are an idiot.)

I can't speak for Android devices, but my iPhone has four buttons and one switch (power/sleep, home, volume +/-, mute). These aren't phones, though, these are new devices that never had knobs or many buttons or switches.

Whenever a new tech comes out, we frame it in the thinking of the technology it is based on (terms, laws, acceptable uses). Horseless carriages, wireless telegraphy, smart phones. 

I, too, greatly value the feel of the key compression on a keyboard. I could go on about the terrible Atari 400 membrane keyboard when I was a kid (but it wasn't really meant for typing) or how I've saved an old IBM-style keyboard with that awesome spring action -- I haven't used it in years, and have nothing to use it with, but out of sheer emotional joy I've held onto it. Actually maybe I've never used it, I might have just bought it out of the junky used keyboard bin one day.

When I look at my iPhone (or a cousin's Android), I am astonished at how awesome it is. It's physically smaller than my first hard drive, and I don't mean the Mac footprint case it came in (and that was only 20MB), and yet it has a battery, touch screen, computes, can be a cell phone, has internet capability, has a ton of storage, some connectors, a speaker... It's thinner than my pinky finger. Amazing.

Saying it doesn't have a keyboard.... well it's not supposed to. It's kind of like pointing out how those newfangled horseless carriages don't have horses.

-Nat.

On Jan 15, 2012, at 10:52 AM, Richard Forno wrote:

> 
> I've been a Mac person for almost 20 years and have iMacs at home and on campus, and an aging Macbook Pro that will likely be replaced w/a MBAir sometime this year.
> 
> I am considering an iPad 3 this year primarily as a "gadget" and my first e-reader that also lets me have value-add (particularly email) services if I want them .... but my intention is to explore it and how it might fit into my life and habits, not change myself to fit its features.
> 
> Like Charles, I am not enamoured with typing on glass,  both due to the size of my fingers and the fact that I enjoy the tactile response of each keypress -- many times I know instinctively I've made a typo by feel as opposed to seeing the letter appear.   It's also why I have a Blackberry for a "smart" mobile phone and not an iPhone/Android .... I like the keyboards and buttons, and fact that I can use it one-handed.  (It's got a touchscreen as well, but I never use it)   I've played with iPhones/Androids and just can't get into them or used to them.  Blergh.
> 
> IMHO tactile feel is the major shortcoming of tablet devices. This recent article from a journo at the Detroit Auto Show the other week pretty much explains how I feel about interface design and tactile response -- 
> 
> The Sad Death Of The Knob, Switch And Button
> http://digg.com/newsbar/Technology/the_sad_death_of_the_knob_switch_and_button
> 
> ... just some rambling thoughts while I sip my Sunday coffee.  (make that gulp....)
> 
> GO RAVENS!
> 
> -- rick
> 
> 
> On Jan 14, 2012, at 23:17 PM, Charles Ess wrote:
> 
>> Well ... FWIW ...
>> After a year of trying, I've given up on using the iPad as a "serious"
>> computer - but my reasons are likely more idiosyncratic than not.  Can't get
>> used to a virtual keyboard - congrats to those who can!
>> Was intrigued by the Zagg keyboard, but for the first generation iPad, the
>> keys are too small and too closely spaced together for my somewhat largish
>> hands and touch-typing trained fingers.  But the OS and memory limitations
>> were the final straw - when I work, I often have scads of applications and
>> files open in ways that the iPad just can't do.
>> I can see using the iPad as a writing machine on a commute when you have
>> little else to have to access or deal with - but I commute on a bike most of
>> the time, so that's not a good idea for me ...
>> Still use the iPad as a reader - i.e., with Kindle, Nook, and other apps.
>> Great for that. 
>> Sorry you don't "do Mac" - my recently acquired MacBook Air has turned out
>> to be surprisingly satisfying.  Following the example of many wise
>> colleagues, I got it initially as a travel machine.  But contrary to my
>> initial expectations, it is has enough zip, memory capacity, and storage
>> capacity to serve as my main machine.  While not as compact as an iPad with
>> a keyboard - it's not much heavier, and is far more capacious, including a
>> full-sized keyboard.
>> 
>> Apple didn't pay me to say any of this.
>> Best,
>> Charles
>> 
>> 
>> On 1/14/12 7:15 PM, "Barry Wellman" <wellman at chass.utoronto.ca> wrote:
>> 
>>> Perhaps because I've been using one for 55 years, but I don't know why
>>> anyone would abandon a proper keyboard for a glass iKeyboard.
>>> Real keys seem more natural to me than glass keys or even handwriting (for
>>> churning out long prose.
>>> And using a clip-on keyboard with an iThing seems kludgy. Besides, the OS
>>> is awful, wonders of Siri besides.
>>> 
>>> So when I am not using my desktop (just bought a 27" screen for better
>>> editing), I am using a laptop (my old Lenovo Thinkpad X60) and eagerly
>>> awaiting the advent of proper ultrabooks this summer. (Don't do Mac;
>>> netbooks underpowered).
>>> 
>>> Just my .02. I ain't gonna argue with anybody, but curious to read others'
>>> thoughts on this list.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Barry Wellman
>>> _______________________________________________________________________
>>> 
>>>  S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC               NetLab Director
>>>  Department of Sociology                  725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388
>>>  University of Toronto   Toronto Canada M5S 2J4   twitter:barrywellman
>>>  http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman             fax:+1-416-978-3963
>>>  Updating history:      http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php
>>> _______________________________________________________________________
>>> 
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> 
> 
> ---
> Just because i'm near the punchbowl doesn't mean I'm also drinking from it.
> 
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-------------------------------
Nathaniel Poor, Ph.D.
http://natpoor.blogspot.com/
https://sites.google.com/site/natpoor/