Gadgetory

pocket now's iPhone 7 coverage is brought to you by D brand to buy the best fitting skin for your phone or tablet please visit D brand calm I want to try something a little different for this topic the purpose of this video is not to pan apple for being Apple but to engage in a critical discussion with gadget fans on what might improve a product and we're aiming for an examination of one of the most popular features on the single highest profile line of smartphones available today my thesis statement is this the iPhone camera app is not an intuitive app by this I mean it's certainly easy to use but this ease of use is derived more from familiarity than it is from good design I liken it to how most car dashboards work you have to take your eyes off the road to see how fast you're traveling this isn't really good design not in an age where we could have heads-up displays but we're all really familiar with this method of checking our speed but I digress getting back to the iPhone here are three points which support my argument point number one a confusing mix of modes and settings navigating the iPhone camera app this scrolling action for moving between modes is fairly ingenious and often copied by Android manufacturers but what constitutes a mode changing from photography to video that makes sense that's a fundamentally different action but moving from a four by three photo to a square photo that's just a crop this could be in some other collection of settings I argue this is a strange vestigial option to prioritize on a modern iPhone the iPhone has shifted to a widescreen display an Instagram now allows people to upload photos of different aspect ratios why continue providing a square and not offer a 16 by 9 crop we don't have a special mode for filters those are right here in the corner so why maintain a wholly specific mode when a crop could be moved to some other part of this app point number two moving targets it's a common talking point in tech circles that consumers don't shoot like pro photographers as if that somehow excuses the inclusion of features or controls what the iPhone app beautifully illustrates is that consumers have actually grown to become fairly sophisticated and how they create their own personal content and we should celebrate how Apple has managed to bring complex ideas like high-dynamic-range to people in a way which was easy to use and understand however the control interface for these settings found on the left side of the iPhone camera app aren't necessarily well implemented think about what's happening when you're in the process of trying to take a photo you should be focused on your subject in your composition if you do need to adjust something say activating the flash it requires a two-step process which forces you to follow a tiny moving text menu ditto HDR ditto the timer even after years of reviewing iPhone cameras I still need to take my eyes off of the road as it were to hit these small moving targets and while not common I still often miss the setting I'm trying to hit people who rely on iPhone cameras more than I are undoubtedly better at adjusting these but not because they're so well designed instead those individuals are more familiar with where those targets land on the display point number 3 where the rest of my settings lastly I just can't proclaim a camera app is well-designed if key components of controlling the camera require you to actively leave the camera app to make adjustments the iPhone can shoot a high-quality 60 frame per second 1080p and UHD video but to achieve that quality is a setting here in the camera app No you have to go home go to settings then scroll down to photos and camera then skip past photo organizing settings to activate a grid and change your video and slow-motion options we've criticized Samsung for removing you from your composition window when adjusting things like photo and video resolution but at least those options are still in the actual camera app not buried in the general phone settings again it's argued that most consumers don't care about adjusting these kinds of settings and I find that to be terribly reductive and more than a bit insulting if any company could improve the user experience for techy options like these it should be Apple I personally believe people will rise to the quality of the tool they are presented if people aren't shooting higher-quality video on their phones maybe it's not because they don't want high quality video but instead for some people it could be that these aren't the easiest settings to locate so how could we improve the iPhone camera app first and foremost there should be a focus on never removing the user's eyes from the composition window one company which does this very well is HTC sometimes information on screen might be a bit dense but even when adjusting options your composition is always visible I'd argue for simplifying the modes we scroll through on this main view at least getting rid of the square crop in favour of a setting above the shutter which could change the aspect ratio between full sensor square and full screen a simple three way toggle would be easy to use to that last point all buttons should toggle in place if you tap on the flash or HDR controls they should cycle in that same location so you don't need to move your thumb you shouldn't need to hunt for an option which is moved lastly all camera settings should remain in the camera app or there should be a direct shortcut built into the app to take you to where that menu lives in the phone settings Instagram for example has a fantastic set of options behind this gear icon in their app moving to the phone settings all you have here are notifications and app refresh settings hardly mission-critical stuff for using Instagram service so there's my argument folks and some ideas on how we might improve this camera app do you agree disagree drop us some comments down below and strike up some conversations with your fellow YouTube viewers proper debates are fun pocket now so I phone coverage is brought to you by D brand check out D brand calm to customize your iPhone with a real-time preview D brand skins are designed to add grip texture and kill those jet-black iPhone fingerprints they ship worldwide and iPhone skins start at under 10 bucks if you're interested links are in the description below as always thanks so much for watching be sure to subscribe to this channel for our full coverage of the iPhone 7 our real cam review is coming very soon and helps that with some sharing on your favorite social networks for pocket now I'm Juan Carlos Pagnell some gadget guy on Twitter and Instagram and I will catch you all on the next video you