Forum iPhone app

Posted by: Kamera on 18 May 2011

Not sure where to post this.

Could we have some control over font size like the twitter app.

Regards

Andy

Posted on: 18 May 2011 by James L

Can't you just use the zoom/magnify feature on the i-phone?

Posted on: 18 May 2011 by Kamera

Thank you for your reply. The app does not support zoom, at least not on my iPod touch. Although, even if it did, I would prefer the option to set the font to 20 pt as on the twitter app, which I can see easily, rather than zoom and scroll. Regards Andy

Posted on: 19 May 2011 by Mike Hughes

I can never get my head around why anyone would produce an app without involving/consulting the intended audience. Again and again the same old mistakes are made - no option to go landscape; no font size adjustment; no search function; no ability to arrange forums in the order you want them; no ability to remove forums from your view; no ability to tweak colour schemes (for accessibility reasons); no ability to edit your own profile. Those are just, y'know, off the top of my head. Don't worry though. The most inessential of the above will appear in the next version followed around a year later by the actual features everyone wants. Oh, then there's tech support. If it runs only on office hours in one time zone and takes half a day to respond then, er, it's probably going to (further) damage your reputation. Any of this sound familiar? Earlier today I asked Nationwide BS via Twitter whether there would be an iPhone app. Don't worry they say. We have lots of surprises for you in due course they say!!! I ask them why not involve us to avoid mistakes like the above list? Oh that's a good idea they say. We'll discuss that. Had never actually occurred to them. Unbelievable!!' Mike

Posted on: 19 May 2011 by Steven Shaw

What bugs me is that you cant see the thread title fully, and it chops it off. Surely it must be possible to wrap the text onto two lines.

Posted on: 19 May 2011 by TomK

It doesn't handle long posts properly either. But that's been known about for a while too.

It's all so disappointing.

Posted on: 19 May 2011 by Gale 401

I didnt bother with the Naim app,

I just made my own and click on it.

It works for me.

Posted on: 19 May 2011 by Gale 401

If everyone chose a nice colour blue to write with it would make reading loads better.

Posted on: 19 May 2011 by James L

Dudes, we've gotten all so picky in this technological age.

Having lived through a couple of recent earthquakes, natural disasters tend to realign our priorities.....

I'm happy to have running water, a flushing toilet and mains power.

All the rest is gravy.

Posted on: 19 May 2011 by Jon Myles

Originally Posted by James L:

Dudes, we've gotten all so picky in this technological age.

Having lived through a couple of recent earthquakes, natural disasters tend to realign our priorities.....

I'm happy to have running water, a flushing toilet and mains power.

All the rest is gravy.

Can't help but agree.

The Forum App serves its purpose.

What exactly do we expect Naim to do?

Might as well berate BMW for having a rubbish sound system in its Mini.

Or Microsoft for not having a good phone.

Posted on: 20 May 2011 by Mike Hughes

Whilst an iPhone app is most certainly a first world problem in comparison to earthquakes etc. I do think it's bizarre to dismiss criticism of the app on that basis. Using that argument you may as well close the forum down. Naim has a reputation built on two things. One is the products. The other is the customer service. Part of the latter is to do with the running of the Forum and, now we are more than a decade into the 21st century, smartphone apps and immediate access to things like contacts, emails, browsing and... customer service are not just a little add on. They are integral and they are where this is all going. It's not just some frippery. Get it wrong and you do huge repetitional damage to one of the two core parts of what you offer and that's what's going on here. That Naim are not alone in doing that is fair comment but misses the point by such a distance. as to raise serious questions about what people think Naim is. An app is a core part of the experience and that's only going to become the case more and more. Thus it should never be released without customer testing and feedback. Few people come back to an app that doesn't work for them in the same way that a number of people have left the forum as it doesn't work at all well on mobile now. Will Naim survive this? Of course, they have worked in the past few years to design new product road maps and get new custom. Will it damage them? Yes, it already has. They don't yet completely understand their new customers and these are people who will use such things and will reject them and the company for shoddiness, and, let's be clear, that's exactly what this is. Shoddy and not even half finished. Oh yes, and I totally agree re: the subject header business. Unbelievable really. No ability to save a post as a draft either when connectivity goes down; images don't always work well wither. Mike

Posted on: 20 May 2011 by James L

Fair points Mike.

I have an i-phone but I don't feel the need to contribute to any forum via a small hand held device no matter how sexy the app is. I save it for when I'm in front of my Mac Book.

Posted on: 20 May 2011 by Mike Hughes

James, I am visually impaired to an extent (thus I find Gales last comment offensive and ignorant) so I am more aware than most of the limitations of small screens. However, the iPhone is wonderful in this regard and there are numerous apps I use on it with no text issues e.g. newspaper apps are far easier than the real thing for me. Had it occurred that perhaps the reason you don't use the app is precisely because it has all the deficiencies listed? Mike

Posted on: 20 May 2011 by James L

Hi Mike H

Don't get me wrong; I'm lucky in that I'm perfectly happy reading all sorts of content via the iphone but when it comes to using the screen keyboard then I'd rather not.... I don't reply to emails for example until I'm back in the office. Likewise forum stuff.

Posted on: 20 May 2011 by Kamera

I think that as hoop.la seem to provide the App, and they are in the forum business, their forum app should be a little better. It might be a work in progress, I do not know.

Terrible things happen in this world every day, I do not see how this has a bearing on the standard of an iPhone App or anything else hi-fi related.

Would this make sense, Q. My volume control is stuck what can be done? - A. Don’t worry about it there has been a disaster somewhere.

I would think that a lot of people here on the Naim forum are Naim customers because they seek excellence. I believe we should always try to make every single product or service as good as it can be, hence I gave I little gentle feedback.

To those of us with visual impairments increased font size would be very helpful indeed.

Regards

Andy