On Good Design
Your design issue made for enjoyable reading, although in your cover story on Helio's Ocean phone, you fell under the spell of Helio's marketing ("Soul of a New Mobile Machine," May/June 2007). Helio sacrificed the defining feature of a desirable portable communication device--slimness--for the dubious benefit of rounded "pill" corners. There is good reason why size reduction has always been the holy grail of cell-phone manufacturers: smaller is better. But instead of working toward slimness, Helio painted Ocean black and put a silver girdle around it to make it look thin. This does not make it any easier to carry in a shirt or pant pocket. The Ocean is the antithesis of good design. Contrast that with Apple's "Snow White" design language, as described in the same issue ("Different"). Apple's decision to use perpendicular sides on its machines led to savings in plastic, packaging material, and shipping costs.

What's more, Ocean is opening stores in the most expensive retail locations in the country and providing "spa treatments" for phones. This is a return to the excesses of the tech bubble. No wonder Helio has burned through much of its $440 million in funding and lost $192 million last year.
Chris Cole
Redwood City, CA