Xmas iPhone?
Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 1:02 pm
Is there anyone like myself who got an iPhone this Xmas? I can't resist a tasty gadget, so I nipped down to the phone shop just before Xmas and got myself tooled up.
So, what's it like? Well, to touch it hold it and play with it in the shop is to want it. It's a shinny lozenge of glass, plastic and mock chrome, the same size, though only about half the thickness, of my Sony Ericsson 990. It's got a weight and mass about it that unusually denotes a quality piece of kit. Switch it on and you are confronted by the most perfectly rendered icons you're likely to see on any electronic consumer device. Then you start playing with it, tapping the touch screen interface, checking out the features, sending a text, sending an e-mail, making a call or playing a song. You then realize with a shock that you have only just picked this gadget up and are using it without referring to a tiresome instruction book! And that really is what the iPhone is all about - usability.
My Sony Ericsson has every conceivable feature on it, but the fucking thing is virtually unusable, due to a quirky, overly complex menu system. And if you do manage to find your way through the menu maze to access the feature you want, you invariably forget how you got there and find that you can't get out! You end up switching the phone off just to reboot it and start again! So, t'fuck with that.
But Apple are masters of ergonomics, usability and design. Their philosophy is that everything should be plug and play, be fun to use, and look great while your at it. In that I feel they have succeed with the iPhone. There are detractors of course. The say it's only got a 2 mega pixel camera - but so what? If you want to take photos you buy a Nikon. The camera facility is only there for those rare occasions when an alien spacecraft alights in front of your car on that lonely rural back road. Needless to say, I have never had recourse to use my SE 990 camera.
Another quibble is the price - but it's an established fact that quality gear, cutting edge technology and the like, cost more dough. So is this just sour grapes?
Of course some areas of the iPhone's spec don't seem to match up to those of the competition on paper, and I'm sure these will be addressed in iPhone 2. But in other areas of interface and usability the iPhone is years ahead. It's the only device I can think of that puts the Internet, the real computer Internet, in your pocket. Pages load and scroll just like they do on your PC. You just open and pinch you fingers together on the screen to zoom in and out - just like on 'Minority Report'. Yes, it's that advanced.
Even if there are criticisms that can be leveled at the iPhone Apple have done a magnificent job. I thought their efforts deserved support, backing and recognition, which is why I singed up. Hopefully, my little contribution will help take Apple Computer forward to produce ever more usable and wondrous gadgets.
Officer Dibble - No connection to Apple other than being a satisfied punter.
So, what's it like? Well, to touch it hold it and play with it in the shop is to want it. It's a shinny lozenge of glass, plastic and mock chrome, the same size, though only about half the thickness, of my Sony Ericsson 990. It's got a weight and mass about it that unusually denotes a quality piece of kit. Switch it on and you are confronted by the most perfectly rendered icons you're likely to see on any electronic consumer device. Then you start playing with it, tapping the touch screen interface, checking out the features, sending a text, sending an e-mail, making a call or playing a song. You then realize with a shock that you have only just picked this gadget up and are using it without referring to a tiresome instruction book! And that really is what the iPhone is all about - usability.
My Sony Ericsson has every conceivable feature on it, but the fucking thing is virtually unusable, due to a quirky, overly complex menu system. And if you do manage to find your way through the menu maze to access the feature you want, you invariably forget how you got there and find that you can't get out! You end up switching the phone off just to reboot it and start again! So, t'fuck with that.
But Apple are masters of ergonomics, usability and design. Their philosophy is that everything should be plug and play, be fun to use, and look great while your at it. In that I feel they have succeed with the iPhone. There are detractors of course. The say it's only got a 2 mega pixel camera - but so what? If you want to take photos you buy a Nikon. The camera facility is only there for those rare occasions when an alien spacecraft alights in front of your car on that lonely rural back road. Needless to say, I have never had recourse to use my SE 990 camera.
Another quibble is the price - but it's an established fact that quality gear, cutting edge technology and the like, cost more dough. So is this just sour grapes?
Of course some areas of the iPhone's spec don't seem to match up to those of the competition on paper, and I'm sure these will be addressed in iPhone 2. But in other areas of interface and usability the iPhone is years ahead. It's the only device I can think of that puts the Internet, the real computer Internet, in your pocket. Pages load and scroll just like they do on your PC. You just open and pinch you fingers together on the screen to zoom in and out - just like on 'Minority Report'. Yes, it's that advanced.
Even if there are criticisms that can be leveled at the iPhone Apple have done a magnificent job. I thought their efforts deserved support, backing and recognition, which is why I singed up. Hopefully, my little contribution will help take Apple Computer forward to produce ever more usable and wondrous gadgets.
Officer Dibble - No connection to Apple other than being a satisfied punter.
