#HTE

A Brilliant UX Feature Android Has that iOS Doesn’t

You know how in movies, if a protagonist is looking at a framed photo of a loved one, then places it face down on the table, it means they’re about to do something said loved one wouldn’t approve of? The implication is out of sight, out of mind.

One of the features that Google rolled out earlier this year as part of their Digital Wellbeing initiative is Shush mode. It’s simple and brilliant: You place your phone face down, and in that orientation it avoids alerting you to anything.

The iPhone has an accelerometer in it, so why this feature hasn’t been added is a mystery to me.

Features I’d like to see added next:

- The vibrating motor is tweaked to occasionally flip the phone over from face-up to face-down and into Shush mode

- If your dinner companion attempts to photograph the meal, power is re-routed from the flash to deliver a powerful, punitive shock

- Through the harnessing of antimatter, smartphones steadily grow heavier throughout the day, reaching weights exceeding 25 pounds

- Phones are no longer able to be charged at home, at the office or in your car, but must be brought to community centers and charged behind a counter by an attendant. The charging process takes 30 minutes and during that time, you are forced to converse with someone of a different profession. Afterwards the two of you are quizzed on facts about the other, and if either person fails, both of you must start over