> - seeing notifications requires swiping down specifically from the top left
Not really, swiping from anywhere on the top (except top-right) works. This is consistent with the other gestures: swipe up from the lock screen to unlock it (just like you would open a roller shutter); swipe down to lock it again -- and see the notifications. You can also simply hit the side button.
> - turning on the flashlight requires swiping down specifically from the top right
You can turn it on from the lock screen, as others have pointed out.
> - turning the phone off requires holding two unrelated buttons
Yes, so that you don’t turn it off by mistake. Smartphones are not devices you turn on and off; outside of OS updates they stay on forever.
> It makes me wonder if they intentionally design their products to be exclusively usable by tech-savvy people.
I would say the opposite. When I think of tech-savy people, I think about mouse and keyboard; when I think of non-tech-savy ones, I think about tactile displays and gestures (and voice).
My 92-yo grandfather barely knows how to make his printer work but has no trouble remembering the most common swipe gestures: it’s hard to forget about pinch to zoom or swipe down to 'close' the phone and swipe up to 'open' it again.
I've been using ios devices for a decade and half and empirically I'm worse than 50/50 in terms of successfully invoking the show-me-notification gesture. Hitting the power button twice in sequence (lock->wake) has been my heuristic.
Not really, swiping from anywhere on the top (except top-right) works. This is consistent with the other gestures: swipe up from the lock screen to unlock it (just like you would open a roller shutter); swipe down to lock it again -- and see the notifications. You can also simply hit the side button.
> - turning on the flashlight requires swiping down specifically from the top right
You can turn it on from the lock screen, as others have pointed out.
> - turning the phone off requires holding two unrelated buttons
Yes, so that you don’t turn it off by mistake. Smartphones are not devices you turn on and off; outside of OS updates they stay on forever.
> It makes me wonder if they intentionally design their products to be exclusively usable by tech-savvy people.
I would say the opposite. When I think of tech-savy people, I think about mouse and keyboard; when I think of non-tech-savy ones, I think about tactile displays and gestures (and voice).
My 92-yo grandfather barely knows how to make his printer work but has no trouble remembering the most common swipe gestures: it’s hard to forget about pinch to zoom or swipe down to 'close' the phone and swipe up to 'open' it again.