An open letter to Apple

Hey Apple,

I don't understand. Why would you take an OS that looks great, feels great, and has become as identifiable and inimitable as your Mac OS.... and redesign it to look like Android? I thought they were your rivals, not your heroes.

Anyone who wants Android will buy Android, because it's cheaper and they have more choice about which hardware to run it on. If they're spending dollah on Apple, it's because they really like what you do. Like me. I love the iPhone. I went Mac in 2006 and never looked back, and since you put out the iPhone each iOS has been a phenomenal piece of design. Glassy, liquid, futuristic, beautiful. You managed to take a flat surface and give it the illusion of tactility. Amazing! I've liked every iOS you've put out - until this one.

Now, the thing is, I haven't upgraded. And I'm not going to.

My boyfriend has iOS 7. All my colleagues have it. Some of my friends have it. I have to deal with it as part of my job. I've had a good play with it... I've seen friends wail as iOS7 inexplicably deleted their favourite albums (not the others, not the whole lot, just their favourites..!) from Music... or all of their contacts (only to then return them again an hour later)... and don't get me started on the battery issues.

But, shallow as this'll sound, the thing that really bites is the way it looks. Bugs can be fixed, performance issues improved. But once we upgrade to iOS 7 we're stuck with those plinky-plonky, flat little buttons, and that horrible pre-school, aggressively pastel screen glare. It's like how someone would draw an iPhone OS if they'd never seen an iPhone - a cheap, ill-informed imitation. Nope - I'm not going near it. I. Don't. Want. An. Android. Phone. Especially not with the prices and hardware/software restrictions that come with the Apple lifestyle. And if the time comes that I have no choice but to upgrade to iOS 7 (or a future iOS that looks like it), I'll accept that I've had my time with Apple, and retire unhappily to dull, anonymous Android-world with at least a little more change in my pocket.

Please redesign iOS7. Please reclaim the iconic design that everyone loved. Please. 7 blows. We hate it. PLEASE.

Living in the future

Yesterday I taught my boyfriend how to use a record player.

It's not that he's not good at this sort of thing. He is better at technology than most - indeed it is his bread and butter. But I had to tell him which part of the record you place the needle on. This is the world we live in now. A record where boys have never played records.

He can now say with pride that the first vinyl record he ever played was Fear of a Black Planet. There are worse places to start.

Foiled again

Fie! I have mislaid [I must stress the temporary nature of this word] the charging adaptor for my camera, and so cannot show you my newest purchase. It's a damn shame. The weekend will be spent rectifying the matter. [...and finishing She, attending a friend's barbecue, sourcing unusual bulbs and finishing the dress I started a couple of months ago].

Until then, have a photo of Liv Tyler, making an oversized jumper look far better than anyone has any right to.


[Image: Style.com]