Linked List: September 23, 2013

Monday, 23 September 2013

Some nice observations on the design details.

Update: I think Curtis misunderstands how Touch ID works, though:

#14. Touch ID works well, but there’s a 1-2 second delay. When the phone is locked, using Touch ID to unlock is kind of unwieldy; you have to place your finger on the home button sensor, press the button, and then release the button — while still resting your finger on top of it — before Siri activates. It works, but feels strange.

Touch ID has nothing to do with clicking the button, and there should be almost no delay. Certainly not two seconds. You don’t need to press and hold the button to get it to scan your finger. You just rest your finger on the sensor — no click necessary — and it works. When the phone is asleep, you do need to wake it up, so you can do that with a click of the home button and then just keep your finger on the button, resting without pressing. There is no race condition with the press-and-hold action to activate Siri.

Try this: rest your finger on the home button while the phone is locked. Wake the phone using the power button, not the home button. Instantly unlocked.

Rob Enderle’s 2013 Mobile Forecast ★

It’s hard to be this wrong.

SteamOS ★

Valve:

As we’ve been working on bringing Steam to the living room, we’ve come to the conclusion that the environment best suited to delivering value to customers is an operating system built around Steam itself. SteamOS combines the rock-solid architecture of Linux with a gaming experience built for the big screen. It will be available soon as a free stand-alone operating system for living room machines.

Interesting that they’re giving it away to anyone who wants to make a box that runs it.

Behind the Scenes With Microsoft’s Surface Designers ★

CNet’s Tim Stevens goes behind-the-scenes in Microsoft’s hardware design studio:

First among Bathiche’s fixes is the new Touch Cover, barely distinguishable from the previous version externally, yet vastly different on the inside. What was basically one sensor per key, about 80 total, is now an array of 1,100 discrete sensors that can detect exactly how hard your finger is pressing and where it landed — even if it landed between keys. This enables gestures and a new level of accuracy that the original Surface lacked. Along the way, his team added backlit keys and increased the rigidity of the typing surface. “We went from 80 sensors to 1,100, we added a light guide, and it’s thinner. And it’s stiffer. That’s cool,” Bathiche says.

That is cool, and indeed many of the most interesting innovations in this new line of Surface tablets lie not in the devices themselves but in their accessories. But just as with the first Surface, these innovations run the risk of receiving a giant collective shrug from the public. People just don’t get excited about accessories, regardless of how innovative. Microsoft doesn’t include any of the keyboards in the price of either tablet. This lets users choose whether and which keyboard cover to purchase, but it also has the side-effect of relegating these devices to footnote status.

I think that’s Microsoft’s problem exactly. First impression seems to be that these second-generation Surfaces are very nice upgrades over last year’s — but I’m not sure they have anything that is going to give them traction in the market.

iPhone Opening Weekend Sales: Nine Million ★

Apple PR:

Apple today announced it has sold a record-breaking nine million new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c models, just three days after the launch of the new iPhones on September 20. In addition, more than 200 million iOS devices are now running the completely redesigned iOS 7, making it the fastest software upgrade in history

That iOS upgrade number is more impressive to me than the iPhone sales. Worth noting: no breakdown or even a hint at how sales are split between the 5S and 5C. Apple is not going to reveal that.

Microsoft Announces Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 ★

Points for perseverance. Not sure how these are going to sell any better than last year’s models, though.