Despite the increasing computational capacity of our devices, the problem seems to be getting worse. User interface responsiveness seems to lie low on the list of priorities in many contemporary electronic devices.
There's not much I can add to Dennis Forbes' post except "Amen!".
I watched the iPhone demo at Apple.com.
Wow.
The iPhone is so well designed that it makes me angry that the other tools I use every day are so annoying.
And then I remember that my own product isn't that well designed (yet), and that doing good design is very hard, and very expensive, and that I shouldn't throw stones inside my glass house, etc., etc.
And the iPhone is not perfect. My Windows-based cell phone syncs my contacts, calendar, and email all day long, live over the cell network. I've never even hooked it up to my computer. The iPhone does email, but apparently needs to be "wired up" to sync other data. So there.
Microsoft gets some things right. But how can they do such a bad job on the simple stuff? Why is it so hard to lock the phone? Why are the onscreen keypad buttons smaller than my fingers?
I'm hoping Apple saves us all. Even if we don't all get iPhones, it's so incredibly good that Microsoft and others will be compelled to improve. After tomorrow, who would dare ship another mediocre smartphone interface?
(Don't answer that.)