What bugs me most is that Apple DID do this (I still hold that iPhone SE 1 is the goat) and then decided to drop it because it wasn't as profitable.

Too bad Pixel support for factory-broken screens sucks so my "well designed" Pixel has green vertical line in the middle of the screen. So detrimental to my sense of aesthetics.

Original iPhone got design right.

I don't think there's a single modern smartphone that I like. My latest favourite smartphone was iPhone 4S. No camera bump. Perfect size, fits well in my hand, operable with one thumb. Perfect display size, enough to present all information I need. Perfectly usable without ugly case.

> Perfectly usable without ugly case.

Why would you buy an ugly case and not a clean and well designed, functional one ?

If you liked the original iPhone design, getting a rounded and hand fitting case would be the go too IMHO (on the size difference, there's no way out at this point)

My previous phone was the iphone 8. It’s trully a world of difference in usability compared to the iPhone 13 I’m using now. I have big hands, so I can ise the latter one-handed, but a lot of people I’ve seen don’t.

Why not the excellent iPhone 13 Mini?

My only beef with that one was the slippery soap-bar edges if used without a case. Otherwise, yep, perfect size, disappears in pocket.

My favorite phone of all time (based on hand feel and appearance) was the OnePlus One. It had its software problems, but every phone I've held since then has been a disappointment in the hand.

I've just got a new Samsung and it's wobbling too. I hate this. Why can't they at least put the cameras in the middle? Or maybe horizontally centred? Or they could just put another bumper on the other side to make it symmetrical. I'm looking for a cover to balance this out, but no luck so far.

iPhone 17 pro max is balanced with their standard case.

Apple probably has swathes of real-world usability data showing that virtually no-one uses their phone for prolonged periods of time while it's laying down on a hard flat surface.

You may be right about the aesthetics (and Lord Jobs may well have agreed with you) but they may have made the tradeoff consciously.

One can say "they probably had data to support it" about virtually any decision. It is not really a defense from critique. It may have been deliberate, but it still feels wrong and bad.

I think the point is it feels wrong and bad to benign number of people.

Hot take: a wobbly phone is much easier to pick up from the table.

I've come to realize that barely anyone I know uses swipe typing anymore, and that this is why using it laying flat is viable in the first place

The irony is that you're still not discussing the font

That's his point. Since nobody else is, he's not going to either.

I'd rather have a wobbly phone (how often do you push on your screen when it is flat on the table?) and a proper OS than a proper phone and a wobbly OS.

Gesture navigation on Android was introduced half a decade ago and it is still broken. In most apps my edge swipe to pull out a drawer or a swipe on the right side to 'forward' are still detected as back button swipes. Editing details at the edge of a photo often gets detected as a back button swipe. Ridiculous.

The wobbling is the worst part of the hardware on my iPhone mini, annoys me probably more than fifty times per week.

Because I often unlock it when it is on the desk I also miss Touch ID a lot, because with Face ID I also have to lean forward every time for it to recognise me.

1°) Gesture navigation is entirely optional.

2°) Android followed UX/UI 101 about where to put frequently used buttons: where you can reach them with your thumb. Basic design, right ? Apple iOS: the close/back button is usually on the top left corner, unreachable by right-handed users that only constitutes 90% of people, number about the same in all countries and cultures. That's only one example, but that bag where it comes from is deep.

You should take a few steps back before displaying publicly polarizing opinions and maybe nuance your words a bit.

1) that’s like saying good UX is entirely optional - sure it is but users will still complain

2) disregarding another blatant discrimination of left-handed users: I switch a couple times per week between android and iOS devices for various reasons and the android UX is so janky and unintuitive it hurts - it might just be my particular device and it’s much better in other cases.

This might be extremely polarising but I agree with GP.

> 1°) Gesture navigation is entirely optional.

It is the default on all modern Android flavors and the overwhelming majority (>90%) of users sticks with defaults. It is likely Google is going to deprecate the navigation bar within a couple of Android versions.

> Apple iOS: the close/back button is usually on the top left corner, unreachable

You clearly never used iOS, because you just backswipe. You rarely if ever touch back buttons.

Not that I disagree although you're fighting the wrong fight. The big problem is controls being on the top instead of the bottom. Neither Apple nor Google has attempted to fix this, only Samsung partially has with OneUI. And they can't force developers to adhere to "content top, controls bottom". Ironically enough Apple had this fixed until iOS.. 12? From 7-12, the control center was at the bottom. All they had to was move the notification centre there and figure out a way to make it compatible with a gesture bar.

> right-handed users that only constitutes 90% of people

People tend to one-hand their phone with their non-dominant hand to keep their dominant hand usable.

> You should take a few steps back before displaying publicly polarizing opinions and maybe nuance your words a bit.

I use and develop for both platforms. You just sound like an angry, unknowledgeable fanboy.

Perhaps take heed to your own advice :+)

Edit: if you want an example of something that Android does way better: notification management via notification categories. I get to disable stupid promotional or "typing.." notification categories from an app, whilst maintaining functional ones. iOS should take a page from Android there.

Some of these companies are now designing the phone on the assumption you're going to case it. No other reason to make a Pixel camera bump w/ scratch-vulnerable screen stick out so far.

If that is the case, then either the phone should come with a case or it should not be marketed as a complete product.

How about making the phone more durable by adding 1 mm to its thickness, so that a 50 gram, 4 mm thick case won't need to be added.

I used my case not so much to protect my device, although it definitely does, but so I can hold onto the damn thing.

Without a case it's like holding the last gasps of a bar of almost flat soap. Also keeps it from sliding off surfaces.

If a phone needs a case, then phones should be sold with a case included. I hate cases and have never put one on my phone--and have never had a phone break or crack.

> I just can't get my head around it that even Apple, which is supposed to be THE design company, is making phones that can't lay on a table without wobbling like a barstool on a crooked floor. It just feels so broken to me. So detrimental to my sense of aesthetics.

Of all the controversial design choices, I think Apple got this one right.

I do not care if my phone wobbles when flat on the desk. I don’t use my phone like that. It’s in my hand if I’m using it.

I use my phone camera sparingly, but when I pull it out I want it to work very well. And it does. If it takes a little bump out to fit better optics then I don’t care in the slightest.

> Google phones tackled it with an elegant solution. Thanks for that. I wouldn't know what phone to use if Pixels didn't exist.

Making your entire phone choice revolve around the shape of the camera island is the oddest top priority I’ve heard yet, but I’m glad you found one that works for you.

Just so you know, HN in general does not appreciate Reddit rudeness. Your comment would have been fine if not for that last sentence.

Wasn't meant to be rude. More confused, because it's really a unique criteria to pick a phone by.

I think HN mostly doesn't appreciate any defense of Apple or other large companies. I really should stay away from any threads that turn into collections of complaints about big companies because the audience they draw is only interested in negative comments about the companies.