
Some thoughts on mobile - mh_
http://cdixon.org/2013/06/01/some-thoughts-on-mobile/
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danso
I agree that tablets lend themselves to more graceful interaction in _some
scenarios_ , and that the cognitive delight of the interface is itself a
feature that may spark new kinds of uses.

However, I have to place bets that the future of touch is going to be 99%
consumption. And the production that's done on it will be "production-lite".
Can anyone who currently produces multimedia at a professional level -- e.g.
video, photos, music -- imagine that a sophisticated touch interface will
replace their keystrokes and mouse?

In other words: is it possible for touch-gestures to replicate even just a
handful of the keyboard commands (nevermind the keyboard + mouse combos) that
we take for granted? And if so, would this new set of physical interactions be
more intuitive to learn than Ctrl-A, Ctrl-Z, Ctrl-C, Alt-Tab, etc. etc.?

I don't think so. Sure, "Alt-Tab" and "Alt-tilde" don't map to natural human
experience the same way that swiping four-fingers (or is it 3?)...but maybe
that's the point. The function provided by Alt-Tab is very computer-
dependent...multi-tasking between running programs. If "Alt-Tab" seems too
non-natural of a "gesture", it's because it's handling a non-natural concept.

Already, we can see the problem with how Apple has tried to map iOS features
to multifinger swipe. Does anyone else have problems remembering what 3
fingers in one direction does versus four fingers horizontally? And that's not
even getting to the imprecision of detection, which I'll concede is something
that will improve vastly in the near future.

But it's been about 6 years since Apple made the touch interface ubiquitous.
And it's still cuss-word-excruciating to do something as simple as highlight a
select few words out of a line (especially if they're in a overflow input
field), copy and then paste them.

And 5 years later, Apple still hasn't come up with a better way to "Undo"
something than by shaking your device. I wonder how many production
professionals here could retain their sanity with Cmd-Z?

~~~
monsterix
> And it's still cuss-word-excruciating to do something as simple as highlight
> a select few words out of a line (especially if they're in a overflow input
> field), copy and then paste them.

vs.

> "I think there are lots of kinds of content that can be created on the iPad.
> When I am going to write that 35-page analyst report, I am going to want my
> Bluetooth keyboard. That’s 1 percent of the time. " Quoted from OP/Steve's.

Aren't the functionality that you mention like highlighting, selecting,
pasting text come within that 1% '35 page analyst report' frame that Steve
indicated?

IMHO, content created via iPad shouldn't be seen through lens of existing
content, i.e text (HTML coded characters), images and plugins around it.
Keyboard and desktops are good for that type of content. But with the iPad and
tablets there could come by another form of content which rides on touches and
gestures?

~~~
doktrin
> _Aren't the functionality you mention like highlighting, selecting, pasting
> text come within that 1% '35 page analyst report' frame Steve indicated?_

I can't speak for everyone's use case, but cutting and pasting text is
certainly not something I only do at work or in 1% of situations. Sure, there
are ways to circumvent it by building in functionality directly, but it's a
consistent and jarring reminder of a touch screen's current limitations.

~~~
monsterix
Yes, cut-paste is certainly a very fundamental functionality given the
existing landscape of computers, existing content and the way people have
expressed using the medium so far.

I find typing on iPad's virtual keyboard clunky enough that I generally doodle
my messages to my friends/wife when on the iPad. Good thing is that I am able
to write in Hindi, my mother tongue, by doodling!

Cut-paste experience on the iPad is horrible. It's not just clunky rather an
impossible feat for my fingers given the text being in a small area that I
want select and paste elsewhere.

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programminggeek
People who want touch to not replace traditional keyboards are the same people
who still like terminals. I like terminals, but I also see two year olds able
to pick up touch interfaces while I see adults struggle with a mouse and
keyboard.

That's a huge shift.

~~~
LockeWatts
The difference being that the number of things you can do with a GUI as
opposed to a CLI is much greater than the number of new things a touchscreen
enables.

The author mentions that new programs like powerpoint were invented when the
GUI was created, and thus concludes there will be a similar shift in the
tablet space.

That conclusion doesn't actually make any sense. A GUI allows you to see the
graphics you're designing. A touchscreen does not provide you with any new set
of information, merely a new way to manipulate that information.

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snowwrestler
I don't see any reason to believe that a switch to "Android first" is imminent
for most developers, particularly those in the U.S.

Not only are iOS users much better sources of revenue, but the iPhone
continues to be the best-selling phone in the U.S. _plus_ the iPad is growing
3x as fast as the iPhone did _plus_ the iPod touch has sold 100 million units.
It's not a small market.

On top of that is the diversity issue. Android may have greater total
marketshare, but to access that full marketshare, developers must target and
test a huge variety of hardware specs and OS versions.

~~~
Zigurd
It isn't about iPhone and iPad as end-user products. And with device costs
being fairly low, I don't think BYOD is going to have a lasting influence.

The reason Android has an advantage in enterprise IT projects is that you have
the full range of options, from an app-store download to heavily customizing
an off-the-shelf Android product to building a fully custom software load.
That's more flexibility in configuration and deployment than you have with
Windows. You can turn Android into a mobile "dashboard" for every role in the
enterprise.

Compelling enterprise software will go deep into the environment, be sensory,
be partly wearable, and be heavily customized, down to the hardware. I have
clients who are making operating systems based on Android for their products.
I expect that kind of embedding, plus lots of micro-controller-based sensors
and acutators, will appear in industrial and office equipment, that tablet and
handset devices will interact with. That's where Android, for now anyway, has
a leg up.

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e12e
I think there is a strong future in touch - and I think it'll enable a lot of
the things the mouse should have (and did, sort of). I think (hope) we'll see
real styluses become an integrated part of the touch experience, probably with
a couple of buttons (and possibly the use of both "ends" - eg: one for draw,
one for erase).

(This is just as we don't finger paint as much as we use brushes, pens,
crayons and pencils). Maybe just "finger tip"-like styluses.

I also thing basic multi-touch will go further, with more "snap-to", select-
and/or-do-what-I-mean-like behaviour will become the norm (eg: double-tap >
select sentence).

I hope we'll see some development in the line of smalltalk and similar
meaningful GUI environments.

When I first saw the intro to the ACME-editor[1] for plan 9, I thought: Wow,
that might get me off vim -- when I get around to buying a stylus -- there's
no way I can work like that with a mouse - my RSI is far to troublesome for
that. But for something like a high-precision windows 8/GNU/Linux tablet --
why not?

[1] <http://research.swtch.com/acme>

------
Zigurd
The article is right about a lack of vision regarding what kind of software
you can run on mobile devices. Android is a subtle and expressive OS. It has
yet to see the best software written for it.

Enterprise software for mobile devices is not going to be distributed through
a retail app store. So the app store model really has little influence on the
development of enterprise software for tablets.

Enterprise IT, and software vendors, will soon start targeting big-budget
development projects at tablets. But that's only part of a big change that's
coming. The whole idea of being tethered to a cubicle so you have a work
surface on which to put a computer is going to go away. Tablet software is
going to be a key element in making that workplace change work. But it will
start slowing and experimentally.

------
monsterix
Interesting post!

Tablets are definitely a new and a separate category. FWIW, there must have
been reasons why Steve dismissed smaller tablets (or phablets) earlier... and
that seems to be the new type of content that could come by with larger
surfaces.

Handwriting and doodles?

iPad introduces doodles and handwriting very nicely with its immersive
experience and ample space to express that way. Mind you it is not about HW
recognition, but only real handwriting. Such content wasn't possible or easy
enough on pre-PC devices like desktops or even smartphones.

Well, that's what we hustlers at Bubbles (<https://bubbleideas.com>) think and
are betting on - we're trying to reinvent mails with doodles and handwriting.
Also another pointer to share here is that lately note-taking and note-sharing
has already moved doodles, so what would be next? :-)

[Edits: Additions/subtractions etc.]

