Let me start by saying that I may be a geek but I’m far from being a gadget head. And when it comes to cell phones, the newest and coolest on the market has never excited me. I’ve always humored the cell phone salesperson with a nod and a weak smile, then end up getting whatever free phone comes with my plan.
I’m also a bit of a tightwad. It takes a compelling argument to get me to spend the equivalent of 5 days of the median American household income on any single item.
And a final disclaimer: I don’t worship at the temple of Apple. I own a Mac and think it’s nice, but I’m OS agnostic.
But after looking through the Macworld Keynote photos yesterday, I’ve been longing to get an iPhone.
I think I’ve been uninterested in all the smart phones I’ve seen because they’ve felt too clunky, unintuitive, and buggy. I would love to use a hand-held device to search Google Maps when I’m on I-465 (in the passenger seat), respond to an email when waiting in line at the grocery store, or jot down notes in a meeting. But I don’t care enough to use it if I’m going to be fumbling around with a clunky piece of hardware, or if I have to use proprietary software or employ a Rube Goldberg hack to sync data with my desktop.
Apple promises to change all that with the multi-touch interface, sensor technology, and built-in Safari browser and rich HTML email client software that works. And one of the things that sets Apple apart from Microsoft and most of the top technology companies is that when they promise that something will be “revolutionary”, it usually is.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Ian // Jan 11, 2007 at 10:25 am
I too want an iPhone, and I want it because of the touch screen, OSX, cool factor, WiFi, and all-around beauty of it. But I don’t think I’ll get one for these reasons:
1) Cingular only! The Edge.
3) Is the email limited to Yahoo!? Too many cornered “deals” so suit me.
4) My current phone, the Treo 650, takes the notes, googles the maps, surfs the web, pops the email
5) Sprint has a $10 unlimited data plan!
6) When my current contract runs out in November, I may change my mind
I am hoping that by then, things will settle down and we’ll have lots of real-world data and reviews to read.
2 Kenny // Jan 15, 2007 at 10:45 am
Well…I am a borderline Apple fanboy, but not to the degree that most are.
Personally, I love what Apple has done: they’ve taken what’s truly “broken” about cell phones, and revolutionized (hopefully) the interface.
Here’s what I think is a major flaw, though: the lack of any kind of tactile feedback when using it as a phone. Without the little bumps and buttons, how can you operate the phone without devoting your undivided attention to it? I used to have a Treo, and that was my major hangup with the phone software.
I’m hoping that when I get a chance to play with one, it will become clearly obvious why that’s not an issue. Those guys know a thing or two about usability after all.
3 ade // Jan 15, 2007 at 11:59 am
37signals had a great thread regarding the tactile feedback at http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/188-iphone-not-touchy-feely.
I do think it’s a really good point. I hate having the keypad audio up, and it would be inconvenient to dial when you can’t stare directly at the screen.
Maybe the problem could be solved with subtle vibrations under your fingertips?
4 Kenny // Jan 17, 2007 at 11:22 am
I have a feeling that they might integrate a lot of auditory response into the interface, assuming that most users might conduct their calls with a Bluetooth or wired earpods. I got my wife the Nike+ kit for her iPod Nano, and the software gives her little voice prompts on her progress as she’s running.
I guess there’s also the belief that we think we “need” tactile feedback in a phone, because years of crappy interfaces have forced us to interact with our phones like that.
I’m anxious to see some usability geeks get their hands on a working model….
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