Why is the new iPhone 5S still a disappointment?
The new iPhone is a big deal, and while it’s still quite a lot of hardware to get to grips with, its also a very, very big deal in terms of software.
In this week’s issue of Computerworld magazine, the company’s CTO Michael J. Sullivan describes how it’s not as good as it could be and what the future holds for the new model.
Sullivan starts off by saying that the iPhone 5 is still a great phone, but it’s going to take a while to get used to, and he’s not so sure that Apple is ready for that yet.
“This is the first iPhone we’ve made that has not had any major design updates,” he says.
“It’s very different from any iPhone we have made in the past.”
Sullivan says that the biggest design change is that the home button has been moved up from the bottom, so you can swipe up from there to get back to the main home screen.
“The way you interact with the phone is much more responsive,” he adds.
The next big change is the addition of the headphone jack, which has now been moved into the middle of the phone.
It’s also made a lot more comfortable to use.
The new model has been designed to be a “complete device”, meaning it can’t be used as a “passport” device for certain purposes.
But there’s still room for improvement.
Sullivan says there’s a lot that needs to be done to make the iPhone even more user-friendly.
“We want the user experience to be as easy as possible, so we have to do a lot,” he tells Computerworld.
The biggest of these improvements is in the design of the software, where Sullivan says Apple has improved its “mixed mode” interface.
“As soon as you open the screen and switch to mixed mode, we make a huge leap forward in terms the way we’re handling notifications, animations, transitions and other things that are going to be going on when you are using the device in that mode,” he explains.
“Mixed mode is an important thing.
It gives us a lot to work on.”
Sullivan also says that Apple has taken some design cues from other devices in its lineup, including the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the HTC One.
“One of the most important things is to make sure the experience is as easy and seamless as possible,” he continues.
“That’s one of the things we’re doing, and we’re really pleased with how things are working.”
It’s a big change from what we’ve seen in previous iPhone models.
“There was a lot less of a sense of refinement to it, and a lot fewer surprises that came out,” Sullivan says.
Sullivan doesn’t think this is because Apple’s been working on it for too long, though.
“I don’t think there’s been a lot, I think it’s just because we haven’t really had a lot time to work with it,” he notes.
“But that’s OK.” “
We don’t want to be doing things in a way that just doesn’t look good,” he concludes.
“But that’s OK.”
The new phone will be available in the US and Australia starting this coming Friday, and it will cost $1,699.99 (around $1.19bn at the time of writing).
Apple’s pricing for the iPhone 6, 6 Plus and 6S will be $1 (around £1.04bn) and $1 $1 ($1.09bn) respectively.
