1 post tagged “editorial”

Now that we've all seen the iPhone, introduced at the Macworld Keynote in January, I find a number of the mainstream press, bloggers, podcasters and general conversation discussing how disappointing it's going to be.  It's as if Steve Jobs really does have a "reality distortion field" and that field wears off after about 45 days.  Noticing this, I decided to get a reload of the Jobs' fairy dust and viewed the infamous keynote one more time.

After watching the keynote I came away with even more excitement about this phone.  The joy of using this phone will be similar to the joy of using an iPod or Mac--things will work well and in an elegant fashion.  The little details of the iPhone add up to an amazing user experience never before enjoyed on a hand-held device.  Apple has a way of creating a full experience, unlock most companies, and that experience consists of many tiny, little nuances in design and functionality that bring much joy to the user. 

After the honeymoon period, I think iPhone users will continue to love the device.  I do believe that there will be some adjustments necessary to make the phone function in the positive (albeit few) ways that current portable phones operate.  There's also some things I would like to see on this phone that I can never get satisfaction on with other phones:

• One handed operation: driving down the street and locating a number and dialing that number may be a bit of a challenge.  However, with voice recognition, most of that should be overcome.  I wish someone would make a voice recognition phone that recognizes each number.  With bluetooth headsets jammed into our ears, it would be nice to have the option of not holding any phone while driving.  Voice recognition in mobile phones goes way back to the Fujitsu and Motorola "voice-dialer" in car mobile phones.  You would think after 10-15 years, we'd have some improvement in this department.  I want to be able to say, "Dial 206-555-1212" and it dials it.  I think the iPhone may be the first device to offer this level of functionality in the future, because it's a software driven device that will probably see regular updates, as opposed to firmware devices that never seem to be updated.
• Typing: a lot of journalists have commented that the iPhone will not replace the Blackberry or other "smartphones" as a business device.  I'd have to agree on some level.  People that are really into their Blackberry's are most likely people that must interact with their office constantly and often travel.  For them, the integration to the office email system and the ability to write lengthy emails to respond to an issue are important.  Those people may keep their Crackberrys.  As a business person who doesn't live in enterprise email and who doesn't travel abroad often, I see the iPhone fitting in nicely.  Plus, its capabilities far outweigh that of any smartphone.  Why? For me the multimedia features are impressive and will come in handy.  If I need to take a screenshot of a Web page and ponder it with others, I can do this on the iPhone, because I can actually see the image.  And, with the image, I can shoot back a commentary on what needs adjusting.  Typing longer emails, however, or entering a long post like this in a blog, probably won't work well with the iPhone.  Curiously, no one has mentioned the fact that the iPhone uses bluetooth and that there's a possibility of a bluetooth driver for bluetooth-enabled input devices.  We have the input devices now for a variety of product--enabling them to work on iPhone should be cake.
• (to be continued)

You know what?  We're so close to launch, I'm not longer going to continue this!  Watch the blogs for a post-WWDC announcement.  At least Steve said at "D" it will be around by the end of June!  We're in countdown land now!  We hope our Sony Ericsson will hold up for a few more weeks!