unboxinghttp://rarepattern.com/taxonomy/term/198/atom/feed2007-06-01T11:35:08-05:00Unboxing the Apple iPhonehttp://rarepattern.com/nodes/2008/unboxing-apple-iphone2008-03-25T21:53:04-05:002008-03-25T22:31:17-05:00Laura ScottLast week, after suffering through the appalling un-usability of the Blackberry 8830 "worldphone" throughout DrupalCon -- which followed more than a year suffering from my worst technology purchase ever -- I bit the bullet and swallowed my distaste of Apple's increasingly closed-and-controlling technology, and my lingering resentment of AT&T Wireless (ugh) by going into the Apple store and buying an iPhone.
Yeah, I know. I'm sooooooo late to the party.
I was drawn by the user interface, not the newly "opened" application development path that has gotten all the press. The user interface was enough.
And wow, did my interest ever pay off!
This "phone" has the highest screen resolution I have seen, not just in terms of pixel resolution but also what they do with it. They aren't afraid of going small. This means that the iPhone is the first "smartphone" with a real web browser -- no wonder the iPhone Safari ignores handheld stylesheets. And it's not just the browser that enjoys this detail -- its all the appls. This means that reading emails is not a matter of having to suffer through some clunky awkward font, such as what Blackberry offers.
The iPhone just makes it easier to read stuff.
The fact that there are no real applications available to add to the iPhone is somewhat of an annoyance, although the default apps aren't bad. To be sure, there are some "webapps" available, but in generally they pretty much suck -- all running through the browser with minimal usability.
And the iPhone "keyboard" simply sucks. The buttons are too small, and the "smart" spelling tends to override what you're trying to type.
Don't even think about using txting abbreviations. The iPhone will "correct" those "typos" into totally irrelevant words.
Why the iPhone keyboard won't display horizontally across the landscape orientation of the screen is beyond me. We surely could use the extra space between the buttons.
Lift the lid and you see your iPhone (wrapped in an easy-to-remove cellophane).
Funny that this device, which costs 20-30 times more than a DVD, is so much easier to unbox. It's so nice to be treated as a valued customer instead of a guilty-by-default thief.
Remove the iPhone and you are left with a plastic tray with an easy-grip tab. (Boo to Apple for using cycle 7 plastic! How much more would it have been to use easy-to-recycle cycle 1 or cycle 2 plastic? It would have been nice to have a totally recyclable package.)
Each item is easy to unbox. No tools required. Easy. Usable. Inviting.
Are there any product lawyers reading this?
]]>Last week, after suffering through the appalling un-usability of the Blackberry 8830 "worldphone" throughout DrupalCon -- which followed more than a year suffering from my worst technology purchase ever -- I bit the bullet and swallowed my distaste of Apple's increasingly closed-and-controlling technology, and my lingering resentment of AT&T Wireless (ugh) by going into the Apple store and buying an iPhone.
Yeah, I know. I'm sooooooo late to the party.
I was drawn by the user interface, not the newly "opened" application development path that has gotten all the press. The user interface was enough.
And wow, did my interest ever pay off!
This "phone" has the highest screen resolution I have seen, not just in terms of pixel resolution but also what they do with it. They aren't afraid of going small. This means that the iPhone is the first "smartphone" with a real web browser -- no wonder the iPhone Safari ignores handheld stylesheets. And it's not just the browser that enjoys this detail -- its all the appls. This means that reading emails is not a matter of having to suffer through some clunky awkward font, such as what Blackberry offers.
The iPhone just makes it easier to read stuff.
The fact that there are no real applications available to add to the iPhone is somewhat of an annoyance, although the default apps aren't bad. To be sure, there are some "webapps" available, but in generally they pretty much suck -- all running through the browser with minimal usability.
And the iPhone "keyboard" simply sucks. The buttons are too small, and the "smart" spelling tends to override what you're trying to type.
Don't even think about using txting abbreviations. The iPhone will "correct" those "typos" into totally irrelevant words.
Why the iPhone keyboard won't display horizontally across the landscape orientation of the screen is beyond me. We surely could use the extra space between the buttons.
Lift the lid and you see your iPhone (wrapped in an easy-to-remove cellophane).
Funny that this device, which costs 20-30 times more than a DVD, is so much easier to unbox. It's so nice to be treated as a valued customer instead of a guilty-by-default thief.
Remove the iPhone and you are left with a plastic tray with an easy-grip tab. (Boo to Apple for using cycle 7 plastic! How much more would it have been to use easy-to-recycle cycle 1 or cycle 2 plastic? It would have been nice to have a totally recyclable package.)
Each item is easy to unbox. No tools required. Easy. Usable. Inviting.
Are there any product lawyers reading this?
]]>Unboxing "ecological" lightbulbshttp://rarepattern.com/nodes/2007/06/unboxing-ecological-lightbulbs2007-06-07T10:30:20-05:002007-06-07T12:20:24-05:00Laura ScottOne of the great ironies of our economy is how a supposedly "good cause" can fail in terms of best practices within its own supposed area of expertise.
These lightbulbs are supposed to help the world by reducing our demand of energy. However, I can only wonder at how much petroleum was required in the manufacture, packaging and shipping of these items.
--Not to mention the ridiculously negative user experience of having to pull out bolt-cutter-strength shears in order to open the damned things.
]]>One of the great ironies of our economy is how a supposedly "good cause" can fail in terms of best practices within its own supposed area of expertise.
These lightbulbs are supposed to help the world by reducing our demand of energy. However, I can only wonder at how much petroleum was required in the manufacture, packaging and shipping of these items.
--Not to mention the ridiculously negative user experience of having to pull out bolt-cutter-strength shears in order to open the damned things.
]]>The pleasure of unboxing an 8-core Mac Prohttp://rarepattern.com/nodes/2007/06/the-pleasure-of-unboxing-an-8-core-mac-pro2007-06-01T11:35:08-05:002007-06-01T11:35:08-05:00Laura ScottIt's not just that we were unboxing a top-of-the-line Mac. It's that we were experiencing the unboxing of an Apple product.
The box itself was a little battered. Opening the box entailed cutting the shipping tape along the top opening. In fact, that's as hard as the unboxing got. No more tape to cut or structured plastic to try to rip open. One seal. That's it. (Compare that with opening your typical DVD.)
]]>It's not just that we were unboxing a top-of-the-line Mac. It's that we were experiencing the unboxing of an Apple product.
The box itself was a little battered. Opening the box entailed cutting the shipping tape along the top opening. In fact, that's as hard as the unboxing got. No more tape to cut or structured plastic to try to rip open. One seal. That's it. (Compare that with opening your typical DVD.)
[Note: Please pardon the darkness of the shots. I blame a dark room and a built-in flash.]
It's been apparent for a while that Apple knows what it's doing in terms of presentation and customer experience when it comes to the big moment when you open the package for the first time. The Mac Pro is no exception. Feast your eyes on keyboard and a black box with simple writing. No inserts. No "STOP! READ THIS BEFORE OPENING!" No 3-foot-wide fold-out idiot's guide to connecting a computer.
The stuff is neatly packaged and easy to manage. No unnecessary shrink wrap. The wrapper on the keyboard comes off very easily -- it's just there to keep dust and Styrofoam crumbs out of the keys.
The black box itself is an elegant slide box. Again, no tape, no shrink wrap.
Slide the box open and you see the mouse (again in a simple, easy-to-open wrap) and the manual banded with a simple, easy-to-remove plastic strap.
Behind the manual are the OSX discs in open, clear plastic. Note that batteries are included.
The tower is nestled snugly in the Styrofoam, wrapped in the same kind of simple static-free bag, sealed only with a sticker, that you see with every Mac you purchase.
And then there's the tower -- an elegant metal box.
Of course, the real fun starts when you turn it on. But that's for another blog post....
