Issue #69
Last Update October 31, 2010
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Technology Tech Frustrations by David Katz August 11, 2009 The Kindle and the iPhone are gadgets that represent an entire view of modern technology. The Kindle allows you carry an entire library with you wherever you go, and to read it comfortably. The iPhone is the Swiss Army Knife of portable gadgets; with appropriate apps it can function as almost anything electronic you wish, so that in one package you have a telephone, still and video camera, recorder, stereo, TV set, web browser, guitar tuner, word processor, spreadsheet manipulator, email client, stock ticker, newspaper, book reader, compass, in short everything but a knife, fork, spoon and safety razor. As Samuel Johnson said in another context, “... it is not done well, but you are surprised to find it done at all.”
Along with its convenience, each of these gadgets has its built in frustrations. Kindle frustrations include limitations on the document formats it supports, relatively poor contrast between print and background, inability to expand pictures and maps the way it can expand text fonts, inability to choose alternative fonts, and lack of a touch screen that would enable the doing of crossword puzzles. Equally frustrating are the problems stemming from Amazon itself, rather than from the design of the device: Amazon's ability to reach into your Kindle without your permission and delete content, as they did in the case of 1984; the limitations imposed on interacting with the internet (understandable, considering that Amazon is paying for the air time); and a failure to test adequately the quality of the ebook files provided by the publisher, which sometime results in the downloading of an unreadable book.
With the iPhone, only a few of the frustrations have to do with the hardware. The two principle hardware-related deficiencies are the lack of a replaceable battery and the lack of a flash memory card slot, both of which would improve the device immeasurably. Of the two, lack of a replaceable battery is by far the more crippling shortcoming. Most of the iPhone deficiencies are software-related, and purposely imposed by Apple in a misguided attempt to retain control of the device. Most frustrating is the fact that each iPhone app operates in its own silo. A file created in one application is generally unavailable to another without resorting to the incredibly awkward workaround of uploading the file from one application to a third party website or a desktop computer, and then down loading it into the second application. There is no (legal) terminal application that allows the user to see all the files on the device. There is no easy way to organize and rearrange icons on the home screens beyond moving them one at a time and then dealing with the resulting displacement of other icons. The touch screen keyboard(s) do not contain arrow keys, making editing of already-typed material extraordinarily awkward. In addition, the newest version of iTunes, which is used to browse the App Store, has made it very difficult to browse apps by category, an “improvement” over the previous version whose purpose escapes me.
Both Amazon and Apple could easily correct these shortcomings, or permit others to do so, but these frustrations exist by design, not accident. They are Apple's and Amazon 's attempt to sell you, a machine and at the same time retain control over it. Please, Apple and Amazon – these are good gadgets. Let them go free!
New York Stringer is published by NYStringer.com. For all communications, contact David Katz, Editor and Publisher, at david@nystringer.com