iPhone: Revolutionary
iGrab
There was an iPhone at a party I attended tonight. The proud owner, who without shame would accept the label “geek,” needed little coaxing to show off his new toy.
What was interesting, though, was what happened next. I got scant time with the device initially, as a crowd formed — made up of not just geeks, but housewives, businesspeople, even senior citizens. The hype, it seems, has penetrated the American psyche. (Remember: I live in the middle of Georgia, 75 miles from Atlanta. Small-city, USA — and deep in The South, at that. That people are excited here.…)
Later, when the crowd had cleared and I had a better chance to look, touch — ahem, MultiTouch — and seriously think about, I have to say: it is revolutionary.
I’ve been an Apple user for a long time; indeed, since the Apple II days. My first exposure to a Mac is clearly etched in my mind, and although it took a while to be able to afford one, I eventually landed a (much-upgraded, for the time) Mac Plus. I’ve had nothing but since, and have to say that I enjoy using my Mac(s) every day.
The reason is because, way back when, the combo of mouse and graphical interface “clicked” immediately with me. (Pardon the pun.) Perhaps it is the visual learner, perhaps the artist, perhaps the geek, some mix of the three, whatever — but from that moment forward, IMHO, no one’s done it better than Apple. For me, there could be nothing but.
While the iterations have meant significant developments — the MultiFinder, iMac, OS X, Aperture — only the original Mac exposure itself has had a greater impact. The iPhone brings together several disparate items into something that’s usable. Something that makes every other phone/PDA/smartphone/ultraportable I’ve ever seen look like a complete piece of junk.
Admittedly, I only had a brief exposure, and I can immediately see some problems. The interface requires extra clicks to get places — you can’t immediately dial a number from the music section, for instance. Or the keyboard, which is just too small for fat fingers (true of other smartphones and PDAs, but still). The portrait/landscape switch is both easily fooled and sometimes flat-out wrong. And, I’m sure, more details Apple will certainly improve in iPhone 2 or 3. Knowing them, it’s already the drawing board.
That said: in the big picture, it’s still a revolution. The truly mobile computer is here.
Am I going to get one? No. Holding strong; the price and improvements needed are still enough of an obstacle to prevent purchase. As I said, though, an iteration or two down the road.…
Steve Jobs and Apple, nicely done. Congratulations — no Reality Distortion Field™ needed. This one’s the real deal.
Update: Forgot to mention in the original post that the iPhone’s owner waited in line with as many as two dozen others at the same North Macon store I mentioned below. Apple may have some left over from iDay — or not — but two dozen, there, is astonishing. Living up to the hype, Apple?
TrackBacks: 0
Posted by Giles, Sunday, July 1, 2007, at 1:24 AM.
Posted to Computers | Flickr | Personal | Technology
Comments:
Come on. It ain’t the phone that is awesome, it’s the marketing hype!
Perrito’s comment linked to a photo espousing the Nokia N95 here. (The link was stripped out by Movable Type, which doesn’t allow attachments in comments.)
Take a look at it. Quite a list of features yet to come on the iPhone, huh? Agreed. I would love GPS support, for instance. But you’re missing the point.
It is that awesome. It’s the interface, pure and simple. Understand what MultiTouch represents.
N95? Cool, sure. But laden with features doth not a revolution make. It takes a paradigm shift in interacting with those features to qualify. iPhone wins, hands down.
Well, at least, most of those features…;)
I haven’t had the chance to pick one up yet, but I agree with most of the comments mentioned here. It seems like the iPhone is first, just that, a phone, and there should be some default feature that would let you dial a phone number immediately from any point during your navigation.
Also (again, not having actually tried it), it seems like the mini keyboard would take quite a while to get used to, and doesn’t seem too appealing to use to enter in too much text.
This all being said, anything Apple comes out with makes me immediately think “how can I go on living without this”, which is frustrating and exciting all at once.