New icons for iTunes and Calculator on the iPhone 2.0
Posted Mar 7th 2008 8:00PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, iTunes, Apple, iPhone, Graphic Design
We did catch this
during our liveblog of the SDK talk on Thursday, but just in case you hadn't seen them yet, it seems both
the iTunes WiFi store and the calculator will be getting new icons in the iPhone's 2.0 patch. Of course,
the App Store will apparently have its own icon as well, and we would assume, at this point, that each app will be able to take its own place on the home screen.
But while the Calculator icon change is kind of a strange one (does this mean the Calc buttons will also be square?), the iTunes change definitely makes sense. That will be the place to download music, while the App Store will be the place to download everything else.
Tags: apple, calculator, icons, iphone, iphone-sdk, ipod-touch, itunes, sdk
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
3-07-2008 @ 8:06PM
Ryan Orlick said...
Yeah I noticed that yesterday but just shrugged it off as "I'm wrong".
Reply
3-07-2008 @ 8:25PM
Bob Smtih said...
there was also an extra button on the bottom right-hand corner of the calendar app as well.
Reply
3-07-2008 @ 8:27PM
Zach said...
I would really like to know what Calendar is which with iCal, so here is hoping!
Reply
3-07-2008 @ 8:35PM
Beau said...
Bah, I want to be able to get videos and podcasts from the WiFi store too!
Reply
3-07-2008 @ 8:39PM
Frank said...
Maybe the calculator buttons are changing because the round buttons are a smaller target and hence slower to use (Fitts' Law)?
But they're also harder to hit inadvertently.
Reply
3-07-2008 @ 8:56PM
TedB said...
They have changed the calculator button before, I think during the 1.1 update.. and nothing changed with it.
Heres a pic of the original calculator button...
http://www.mobiletracker.net/archives/images/apple-iphone-1.jpg
I reallllllly do hope that someone makes a powerful scientific calculator app. That would save me all the time during classes.
Reply
3-07-2008 @ 9:15PM
JohnPQ said...
One more iPhone 2.0 post and me head is going to pop. :-)
Reply
3-07-2008 @ 9:19PM
Macroy said...
Hey--the phone on the right is in ENGLISH, too!
Reply
3-07-2008 @ 9:24PM
Ryan Valle said...
they just cant make up their mind on the calculator app...
Reply
3-07-2008 @ 9:59PM
Fernando Castro said...
I liked the one that was introduced in 1.1.1 better, those square buttons look very very weird and almost too ugly...can't understand why they have changed the icon, and just that icon so many times!!!
Reply
3-07-2008 @ 9:59PM
Brendan West said...
A). Pic of that calendar button please!
B). What's with the German screengrab?
C). This is the third revision for the calculator app.
D). I wonder when the people who complained about iCal's static date in Tiger (I'm included in this lot) will begin to complain the Maps icon doesn't follow you around... :-p
Reply
3-07-2008 @ 11:56PM
Alex said...
Here's a shot of the Calendar app in iPhone 2.0:
http://graphr.net/misc/iphone2cal.png
3-07-2008 @ 10:04PM
Larry said...
I like the older WiFi store button better, because the new icon doesn't really imply that you can download stuff from it.
Maybe you can't?
Reply
3-07-2008 @ 10:29PM
Bassir said...
Then what the hell is it for?
3-07-2008 @ 11:51PM
cbragg said...
I agree. I actually think it's actually quite confusing, especially for being an Apple icon. The old program icon said "this program is for downloading something," while the new one says "this program is somehow related to music."
If you placed an iPhone into the hand of a first-time user and they decided to play some music, what do you think they'd click? I'd be that many people, with this new icon, would click iTunes because "That's what I click on my computer, and it looks like it has to do with music." Plus, I'd guess that most people would associate iTunes as a media player first and a music store second, not the other way around.
3-08-2008 @ 2:02AM
Larry said...
Thanks cbragg.
It's also confusing because if I'm not mistaken, the icon for Music on the iPod touch is also the double crotchet.
3-07-2008 @ 11:16PM
Justin said...
How about a Address Book icon Apple?????
Reply
3-08-2008 @ 12:41AM
JClark said...
What, like the one that's there already? Is there something wrong with the existing icon? (I know it's there, I'm looking at mine right now)
Oh, and it's "an", not "a".
3-07-2008 @ 11:21PM
MATT! said...
I think one of the other reasons they changed it is that they moved the icon too. The old arrow was pointing to the iPod as if to say download to your iPod. Now that it's moved the arrow doesn't make much sense!
Reply
3-08-2008 @ 12:41AM
JClark said...
Well, since you can rearrange the icons to your liking now, I don't think exact icon placement is much of a design consideration. At least, not any more.