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My ‘Apple Makes a Bonehead Move’ Post Creates Some Interesting Conversation

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Looks like I stirred up quite a conversation over on one of my favorite gadget blog sites, Gear Diary. My post last week about Apple removing the screen rotation lock capability from the side switch (I called it a bonehead move) made plain my views on the subject in terms of how that move affected my personal use of the iPad. I wasn’t alone either as many have pointed this out.

But some of the gang at Gear Diary think I’m the bonehead (which is entirely possible). Dan Cohen thinks I’m whining unnecessarily, as do Judie and a few others in the chat they had on this post. But Michael tries to come to my defense with his comments.

Bottom line here is that there are different viewpoints on issues like this, and whether or not you agree with someone else’s opinion is going to be a very personal thing depending on your usage scenario. Me, I still think it was a boneheaded move on Apple’s part. As I’ve used the iPad more and more since actually writing that initial post my opinion has been reinforced the more I work with the “new and improved” design choice.

15 Comments

15 Comments

  1. Xavier Lanier

    11/29/2010 at 4:08 pm

    I’m with you on this one Warner. Press and hold already equaled mute. Double the buttons for the same function.

  2. Rob

    11/29/2010 at 5:25 pm

    what they should is provide a setting that allows the user to determine how they want to use that switch – for muting or locking.

    • Xavier Lanier

      11/29/2010 at 5:43 pm

      That would be the logical compromise.

      • Yogh

        11/29/2010 at 8:10 pm

        It would be a logical compromise, but one that probably won’t happen. The whole aim of iDevices is to be as simple as possible and adding settings to change the hardware configuration definitely breaks that.

    • Kevin Purcell

      11/29/2010 at 7:09 pm

      The fact that people argue passionately on both sides proves this is a need. If only Apple was more responsive to customers current wishes that they believe should be our future wishes.

  3. Michael Anderson

    11/29/2010 at 5:46 pm

    This long weekend my wife’s sister and family visited, and my brother-in-law has had an iPad for a couple of months and brought it. His isn’t updated to iOS 4 yet … and when I showed him how he’d have to screen-lock after updating his first question was ‘how do I turn that off’. Mentioning that he couldn’t, his thought was ‘oh well, like most upgrades you get stuff you hate with stuff you want’.

  4. Jeff Jackson

    11/29/2010 at 5:50 pm

    How dare you suggest that Apple has made a mistake. Everyone knows that Apple is perfect. No Apple computer has ever gotten a virus or crashed or had a design flaw of any kind. You’ll be lucky if Apple settles out of court when they sue you for defamation.

  5. Anonymous

    11/29/2010 at 6:18 pm

    Still agree on the “bonehead” part, but think it happened when they broke the product consistency in the first place. Short-sighted move by Apple.

    • Yogh

      11/29/2010 at 8:07 pm

      Agreed.

      • Flash

        11/29/2010 at 11:01 pm

        Actually, what product consistancy. The iphone can be used upside down. The screen display wont rotate to that orientation. You can’t rotate the application screens either, even to landscape. The volume controls are on the opposite side of the device relative to each other. The screens are of different ratios, so even Apple apps don’t look or operate the same on both devices.

        I have both an iphone and ipad. And yet somehow I had no problems moving from device to device. Not once did I hit the screen lock on my ipad and wonder why it still made noise. In my personal opinion (whick is worth basically nothing), these devices are different enough that even though they share an OS. they should be treated as different platforms. I miss the sceen lock. At least now I wont wear the button out and I can buy cases that cover it, because I’m never going to use it as a mute switch.

        Microsoft did the same with the tabletPC. tried to force a desktop usage style on a device with a different usage ideom. And look what happened there.

        Gordon

      • Flash

        11/29/2010 at 11:01 pm

        Actually, what product consistancy. The iphone can be used upside down. The screen display wont rotate to that orientation. You can’t rotate the application screens either, even to landscape. The volume controls are on the opposite side of the device relative to each other. The screens are of different ratios, so even Apple apps don’t look or operate the same on both devices.

        I have both an iphone and ipad. And yet somehow I had no problems moving from device to device. Not once did I hit the screen lock on my ipad and wonder why it still made noise. In my personal opinion (whick is worth basically nothing), these devices are different enough that even though they share an OS. they should be treated as different platforms. I miss the sceen lock. At least now I wont wear the button out and I can buy cases that cover it, because I’m never going to use it as a mute switch.

        Microsoft did the same with the tabletPC. tried to force a desktop usage style on a device with a different usage ideom. And look what happened there.

        Gordon

  6. HG

    11/29/2010 at 9:01 pm

    I’m with Warner… Good old Steve Jobs thinks he can decided what we want. Well I’m just going to jailbreak and add my lock switch back. :) No whinning or anything I’m just doing it. It’s my iPad so I can put it back. :-)

  7. Rodfather

    11/30/2010 at 12:12 am

    #teambonehead

  8. GoodThings2Life

    11/30/2010 at 3:08 am

    This one-size-fits-all mentality is precisely why I have a 20-year hatred of all things Apple. People eventually grow tired of being told what they want… sometimes it’s the small things that set us off. Sometimes it’s the big ones. Sometimes it’s years of consistently irritating qualities.

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