“This year, Tim Cook introduced the riskiest hardware/software combination since the original iPhone,” Jean-Louis Gassée writes for Monday Note. “The iPhone 5S wants to be more than just ‘new and improved,’ it attempts to jump off the slope with its combination of two discontinuities: a 64-bit processor and a new 64-bit iOS. Will it work, or will it embarrass itself in a noisome backfire?”
“First surprise: It works,” Gassée writes. “The phone is sleek and attractive, the house apps are (mostly) solid, and the many new Application Programming Interfaces (API) promise novel applications. Contrary to some opinions, there are fewer warts than anyone could have expected.”
“Surprise #2, the UI: I had read the scathing critiques of the spartan excesses, and, indeed, I feel the drive for simplicity occasionally goes too far. The buttons on the built-in timer are too thin, too subdued. When I meditate in the dark I can’t distinguish Start from Cancel without my glasses. But I’m generally happy with the simpler look. Windows and views get out of the way quickly and gracefully, text is neatly rendered, the removal of skeuomorphic artifacts is a relief,” Gassée writes. “The next surprise is the fingerprint sensor a.k.a. Touch ID. Having seen how attempts to incorporate fingerprint recognition into smartphones and laptops have gone nowhere, I had my doubts… But it works.”
Gassée writes, “A personal favorite surprise is Motion Sensing… ”
Much more in the full article here.
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