[dpark]

If I have to train myself to lay my phone face down, it's a design flaw. It's a design flaw because it increases the chance of damaging the screen, but more importantly because it requires the user to adapt to something that could have been done correctly in the first place.

If the user has to work around a problem with the design, that's a flaw.

[dlss]

> If I have to train myself to lay my phone face down, it's a design flaw. It's a design flaw because it increases the chance of damaging the screen

Screen damage rates for iPhone 4 are far higher than Nexus S. I take it from your message that you believe this is due to a design flaw. Interesting... I suppose I agree.

> requires the user to adapt to something that could have been done correctly in the first place ... that's a flaw.

No, it couldn't have been done correctly in the first place. The iphone 4 sacrifices 66% of its speaker volume relative to the nexus s to get side placement. That's also a flaw. Design is about tradeoffs.

[dpark]

If screen damage rates are much higher, then yes, it could indicate a design flaw.

As for the speaker, if I have to set my phone face down to hear the alarm, that's a design flaw. If the Nexus designers believe that a louder speaker is more important, that's valid, but it's not valid if the extra volume is muffled when placed on a surface in the natural fashion.

[dlss]

> could indicate a design flaw

Why the change from your earlier position of screen breakage indicating a design flaw?

> If the Nexus designers believe that a louder speaker is more important, that's valid, but it's not valid if the extra volume is muffled when placed on a surface in the natural fashion

Would you care to explain why you believe this and not the opposite? If you were hard of hearing do you think you would have written something like "If the iPhone designers believe that a side speaker is more important, that's valid, but it's not valid if the side speaker is too quiet for many users to hear"