« Colour Coded Options | Main | Iconographic Norms »

On / Off / Reset or Fade to Black

To what extent do you rely on the electronic objects you carry? What are the consequences if they don't work? How do they fail? If and when they do fail what steps can you take to recover?

When confronted with a frozen mobile phone are you someone who removes the battery? Long-presses the Off switch? And what if, like the crashed/frozen iPod Nano above - the device doesn't have an off switch? Or a battery to remove? You simply get to watch it fade to black when the battery eventually runs out (which isn't normally that bad, except that I'm about to board a flight to Taipei - and no way to recharge it once the battery is drained).

Given the range of tasks for which people rely on their mobile phone Apple will no doubt design their upcoming iPhone to be more robust than its iPod (as would most companies who make dedicated music players and mobile phones). But given the technological complexity and software interoperability issues that are part of many of today's devices what is the likelihood of it crashing or freezing? When the device fails - how will it fail?

Almost everyone appreciates the elegance that Apple brings to design. To what extent is our actual and perceived reliance on mobile phone's dependent on it failing elegantly?

Update: Looks like the Nano reset involves a game of one-handed Twister. Cheers GP.

Writing from Narita | May 10, 2007 | Permalink