Privy

Recently, there was a debate held in my company about when to choose best design and when to go for an optimal design. The debate, according to me was a success, as people brought out great points for either option. One person supporting optimal design gave the classic example of the American pressure sensing pen vs Russian Pencil.

Now, I am a very opinionated person and unfortunately, I was only a part of the audience. I tried desparately to get the microphone during the audience round, to no avail. But, my blog is the best place for me to speak out my mind infront of anybody who cares to listen (read actually). Let me take one more example and then I will throw my opinion in this regard.

Somebody said iPhone has the best design and iPhone is a success. Now, this made me wonder, it is really true? Or, are people confusing the external appearance of the phone to its design? Now, one very important feature missing in iPhone is the very simple “cut”, “copy” and “paste” feature. It was missing so you would think, maybe they forgot. The original iPhone did not have it, neither does iPhone 3G.

If iPhone really were a great design, it would have been very easy to extend it, to add features like the above. However, it turns out that the current design would require a major change to implement the above feature. So, iPhone is not a best design, but today it is definitely the best product.

So, my valuable opinion goes… There is no such thing as Optimal design, but only an optimal solution. It is either a Good design, Better design, Best design or bad design for that matter. One may never choose a bad design, but it might turn out to be one. We generally aim for an optimal solution and depending upon its comparative degree, we choose either a good design, better design or best design.

It might turn out that Google’s Android has a better design than an iPhone. But under the current circumstances iPhone has a more than an optimal solution. This might change, however, in the future. Both Google and Apple are great companies.

T-mobile G1

The highly anticipated Googe phone G1 has been finally released to much anticipation. The phone had an advantage or disadvantage of being pitted against the iphone. It’s success or failure is bound to be measured in terms of how well it can compete against the holy grail of phones.

This comparision is however a little unfair to G1. One thing is for sure, Google wanted to play it safe and wanted to test for itself the potential of the platform in the most usable way. So beautification was never their primary motive. But the capability realisation was indeed so.

The inclusion of a physical keyboard with exclusion of a soft keyboard summarizes it very well. The primary aim for google is to increase the penetration of its services in the mobile segment. When you use Google search, you need to “type”. Unless Google brings out some kind of a visual search, this is not going to change in the near future. Or the kind of gesture typing is perfected. Hence, the importance of keyboard.

The phone has been thus far well received for a variety of reasons, though not a run away success like the iphone. But, it has definitely changed the battlefield. iPhone made people realize the potential of smart phones. GPhone made people realize the potential of open source. Both are game changers in their own right.

T-mobile G1

The Google Phone is about to be released in a week. This is a combined effort from Google (and OHA), T-mobile and HTC for software, network and hardware respectively. There are manly implications of too many cooks as against Apple’s lone cook cooked iPhone.

Android has gone through a rough phase with speculations that it is getting delayed and might as well be forgotten. However, it is being released on schedule. Many questions arise now that will it be a half baked effort to meet the dead lines or it was just a communication issue.

Whatever, Android is back to grab the headlines. Android Market, an apps store similar to the one on iPhone is touted to bring either success or failure to Android.

People however forget that Android is not only restricted to the phone. It will go in netbooks, embedded devices, televisions, refrigerators and may be future real android’s. Don’t take it lightly, though.