Hacker News Reader

Comment by hellllllllooo | Hacker News Reader

Tried to use Apple's email client on a friend's phone to send and email to myself and 1 other person. I entered both emails with a space between them and it didn't handle it considering it a single email address. Tried to go back to add a comma between them and I could no longer select the space. Finially added a comma and the client didn't recognize it as a delimiter. In the end I deleted the addresses and started again finially figuring out what it wanted. Generally I'm confused by Apple's great reputation for design.

The back button being furthest place away from the thumb on the iPhone was another thing that never made sense. I think ppl just get used to it but a lot of the good design is really good marketing.

View on HN

The back button being placed at the top is because it's the clearest place to put an indication of a hierarchy. Remember, iOS has always made it explicit where a back action will take you — the arrow button isn't just an arrow, it also contains text that tells you where it's going.

It makes perfect sense to put such a control at the top of the screen next to the title. The interface is clear: you are here, you can go back where you came from — and these two things are grouped together.

Android has now adopted this which is great, because it's still a crapshoot where the hardware back button will take you on an Android phone — back in the navigation hierarchy? Out of the app entirely and into a different one? Will it just dismiss a popover? In the past moreso than now, the button's behaviour could almost have been described as entirely arbitrary.

I just switched to iPhone after 6 years of Android. One feature I really like is the reachability setting, being able to swipe down at the bottom to bring the top of the screen within thumb's reach so I can use it one handed. That lets you press back buttons or access URLs easily. You can also swipe from the left side of the screen so you never really need to use the back buttons. You still need to use reachability or two hands if you’re trying to press Done or something, but there were cases like that on Android too and the reachability setting helps those cases. I also love being able to move the cursor by pressing on the keyboard. I do still use the gmail app, so that’s a win for google.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com