iPhone - First thoughts
iPhone?
Oh yes, I do.
Ahhh, what an interface.
Apple's got that first idea exactly right: screw tiny little buttons! Oh wait, and by making screen area do double-duty as part of the interface, they can make the device smaller while simultaneously maximizing its screen size. What else? Remember the first-gen ipods, with their extra buttons? Now, if they make improvements to the interface, they don't have to ship a new device! Just upload it in a patch, and presto, the same device becomes easier to use. But hey, give me a configurable (dare I say, StarTrek-ish?) multi-touch interface, and I'm satisfied. Of course, I'm even more satisfied if the device is also intelligent enough to sense its orientation and the ambient illumination and then change its display to match. Way to go the extra mile, apple (and, incidentally, stretch battery life as far as possible).
There's a crucial difference between Apple products and most regular electronics; Apple products appear increasingly built to self-configure to their users. My phone has a feature to lower its illumination according to a schedule, and its brightness can be adjusted manually with the press of a button or two.. but I have to think about it, play with it, configure it. Apple products don't require that level of involvement from their users.
Apparently, it sells. Bigtime.
Hey! They threw in bluetooth too! I predict a rise in the sale of stereo bluetooth headsets with microphones..what do you know, they already offer their own. Oh, and is that the camera on the side with the screen? No? Hmm.. I guess you're not hedging your bets on full-fledged video-phoning, are we, Apple? Ah well.
I don't think I'm going to buy one of the first-gen iphones though. The core concept is absolutely right, but I'll let the first wave of purchasers do that last massive bit of user-testing it assuredly needs.
A problem with apple products (that I'm not sure they've fixed here) is that they really prefer that their devices be "black boxes" for customers. Will we be able to change the battery on the iphone? How about the SIM card? Will it instead be another impenetrable chunk of appletech, sexy, to be sure, but frustratingly delicate/difficult to repair?
Have you ever tried to get an apple product repaired at an apple store? Evelyn has--they wanted to charge her essentially the cost of a new laptop to replace her screen. Have you looked at the cost to repair an ipod lately? Not particularly cheap.
This thing isn't going to ride snugly in some little custom-made hip pouch all the time, delivering media to you at earphone length, either--it's going to be up in your face, smooshed against your ear, that deliciously smooth screen getting smeared with sweat on hot days (if it weren't already covered in grease from your dirty little fingers) gripped in not-so-steady hands while running to catch the bus. What I'm trying to say is, it's going to be dropped. Way more often than the ipod was. Even the smart people who keep it away from their faces by using a bluetooth headset are going to drop it a bit, because you still have to get it out of your pocket to control it--it does so much more than the ipod that I'm guessing you can't control it without looking at the screen. (Cellphone games for it are going to be EXCELLENT, by the by.. Does it remind you vaguely of any Sony "portable" devices released in the past couple of years? Except, of course, that it's actually portable.. and cooler.)
There's one other snag I think this device might hit (I mentioned it earlier): battery life. 5 hours of talk/video time? Sounds a little underpowered for a phone I mean to take with me to work. Worse, it's not like a regular phone that can doze lazily in standby mode when not making or receiving a call. This poor little bastard's always going to be on its feet, delivering dulcet tunes (or worse--video) to its insatiable audience at all times. Tell me how long it'll be able to receive calls after playing Bohemian Rhapsody on a continuous loop for 6 hours and showing Pirates of the Carribean: Least Satisfying Sequel Ever. How long if it's delivering the sound via bluetooth? You might actually have to avoid using it as an MP3 player to save power! But- but then you wouldn't be able to use it all the time like.. you do.. with.. your regular ipod.
Hmmm.
I've always been for the unification of "little-devices-that-fill-my-pockets-and-belt"(tm) (so they can be just "little-device"), but I'm starting to think it's going to require some new innovations in power usage, storage, and delivery. Apple appears, however, to be leading the way.
Hold on to your hats.