The iPhone will hit stores later this month and I decided I wouldn’t remain in the 1% of blogs not to post something about it. All the following thoughts are coming completely from web rumor and my own speculation, so like any online iPhone diatribe…it’s all BS.
When I first saw this thing back in January I was blown away and vowed it’d be the first iAnything I’d come to own. Yeah, that’s right, avid music guy that I am, I’ve not fallen for the bouncy white ear bud propaganda and bought into the idea that spending a couple hundred bucks on a bulky mp3 player is OK. But that’s another rant.
Now that release time for the cellular water-walker is getting closer, I’m not so sure. Some things make for a convenient assimilation – D and I have both been on Cingular for years, and our Motos are getting a little dated so we’ve been thinking about upgrading the phones. It’d be nice to have a phone I could use as a media player (music and photos mostly, I don’t care particularly much about watching movies at 3.5 inches wide. Surfing the web isn’t uber-important for me either, I have all kinds of laptops which can do that so much better. I would like to use the future device as a way to shuffle files around (hopefully transferred wirelessly), but that’s icing on the cake. On the other hand, it goes without saying that syncing contacts, calendar events, and texting should be a breeze in any new phone I get.
Today news / rumor that the iPhone wouldn’t support Flash hit the web and I’m not happy about that at all. I’ll hold out hope that this may be just misreported or if not, at least fixed in a firmware update. I also read a report which stated it won’t sync to Outlook on a PC, and another which said it will, but only via iTunes. That would be a deal breaker so I’m anxiously awaiting something more concrete about that. And lastly I’ve read that regardless of what it syncs to, it can’t sync wirelessly, which (if true) is surprising and disappointing for a ‘smart phone’.
Perhaps the biggest downfall of the iPhone will be its biggest selling point – that sexy touchscreen. When you factor in that (1) you must look at the screen to operate it and (2) you’ll have to take gloves off in the winter to use it, it just doesn’t seem all that “smart”. I’m also worried about the screen’s durability. One thing about having a flip phone is that I’ve gotten quite used to tossing my phone in my laptop case or a coat pocket with other stuff (even, gasp, keys). I know this isn’t like an iPod screen, but Apple has yet to prove they can manufacture things that are beautiful and durable. Lastly, in situations which involve the “soft-keyboard” it seems to takes a huge amount of space away from that awesome screen. And doesn’t it seem as though it’ll be really tough to type notes or sms on the tiny touch keyboard?
It’s too bad that they were so in love with the touchscreen that they forgot usability. Typing is a tactile thing damn it. The touchscreen paired with a slide qwerty would have been killer! You know like this:
Some more thoughts: I guess this is “you have to use it to see” kind of thing, but in Apple’s voicemail demo where are my other message options besides delete and call back?
Also in the “I really need to try it first” category is the means in which everything is scrolled. Be it contact lists, your music library, or whatever it all seems to have the same finger slide interaction. The inertia modeled “scroll throw” looks cool, but if I want to listen to “Sisters of Mercy” do I really have to scroll past hundreds of others? Even if it zips along pretty fast that just doesn’t seem efficient. There needs to be a way to type a letter (or three like “SIS”) to skip down.
At the end of the month I’ll be rushing out just like everyone else… to play with one, but I doubt I’ll be lining up to buy one. If the RAZR taught us anything it’s that good looks and marketing hype only go so far (sorry, you guys that actually bought one). Now if it only could turn water to wine…
