“Back in July, not long after Apple Inc.’s iPhone was released, I told those plagued by iPhone lust ‘to get over it.’ Alas, I was unable to follow my own advice. That’s why I bought an iPhone a few weeks back — after learning that I could ditch Lotus Notes and my crummy CrackBerry at work and use Apple Mail for work e-mail and the iPhone. That combo proved to be absolutely irresistible,” Scot Finnie reports for Computerworld.
“Using the iPhone is an absolute joy. I’ve been using cell phones for about 15 years, but the iPhone is the first mobile phone that I actually enjoy using. Things I never bothered with before — like texting — are suddenly easy and fun to do; before they just seemed like a bother,” Finnie reports. “The Safari browser included on the iPhone delivers the best browsing experience I’ve ever seen on a mobile device. There’s literally no compromise other than the size of the screen. You can see the Web with either an emphasis on width of the screen or length, and switching between the two is as simple as rotating the iPhone 90 degrees.”
“Less than two hours after I first turned on my iPhone, I had copied all the songs from my old iPod, as well as my calendar entries, photos, bookmarks and Web-based log-in info to the iPhone. I’d also set up voice mail and run through all the settings screens. All this happened so simply and quickly that I rapidly began thinking of the iPhone as more of a portable extension of my Mac than a separate device,” Finnie reports.
“Rounding out the features and programs are a camera, YouTube access tool, stocks reader, Google Maps, Yahoo Weather, world clock/timer/alarm clock, calculator, notes and settings. The two best features of the iPhone, though, are the large touch screen and the finger-gesture user interface, which is ahead of its time. Apple’s software and user interface design are superb,” Finnie reports. “The iPhone hardware is, like most Apple hardware, a model of industrial design and simplicity.”
“I’m carrying my iPhone everywhere. For the first time in my life, I get all the hubbub about why cell phones can be cool. I guess it took Apple’s user-interface design to make it work for me. I’d probably have forgiven several additional minor peccadillos for that one primary advantage,” Finnie reports. “To put it simply: Apple hit a home run with the iPhone.”
There is much more in the full article, including areas where Finnie thinks Apple can improve the iPhone, here.
Just like the Mac, Apple’s iPhone ruins its owners; forever causing them to decry, either silently or loudly, the inadequacies of other devices claiming to be in its class. When we are forced to use a Windows PC, it’s a festival of cursing “the idiots who designed this mess.” It’s the same situation now with cell phones/mp3 players/mobile devices; after iPhone, they’re all just amateurish junk; time-wasters with which we can no longer be bothered.