iPhone… is it really all that?
Posted by Brett Tackaberry on January 10th, 2007
Like many a web designer geek, I was glued to macrumors.com’s live feed from Steve Jobs’ keynote yesterday. I was particularly interested in the possible iPhone announcement. Half because I’m a big fan of Apple’s approach to product design and was keen to see their take on the cell phone, half because I need a new phone. (Anybody find the “buy now” button yet?)
I realize that I’m like the 1 billionth person to blog about this and technically I’m a day late, but after sending the link to the iPhone site to my parents, my in-laws, friends and co-workers and running through all the little interactive guided tours with my wife last night to show her how totally awesome this phone is, I got thinking about how you’d actually use it.
Yes, the graphics are awesome. Based on OSX, core animation and all that jazz. They look fantastic. Yes, it’s small. Yes, it’s slick.
Yes, the user interface is revolutionary. To call it anything short of that would be… um… selling it short. But I think there’s a fault: from what I can tell there’s only 1 actual “key” (if I’m understanding the photos correctly). 99% of the interaction with the device is done via a touchpad. A really amazingly intelligent and intuitive touchpad, but a touchpad nonetheless.
What’s missing? Tactile feedback. Something that I consider a critical part of the user interface: when I press the button, I feel it “click” and then the number appears on screen. How is this feedback compensated for on a touch screen? Maybe it’s just something we’ve all become accustomed to with the current method of inputting information into our computers, phones and just about every other similar device, but I’m not sure how easy a transition it will be for those of us who use one.
I think the biggest “hangup” (pardon the pun) is that using the iPhone will require a lot more concentration to account for the lack of feedback. You really have to fixate on the screen to make sure those virtual “keys” you’re pressing are actually being hit. It’s hard to tell in the demos on the Apple site, but maybe there’s a little click noise or some other auditory cue to compensate for the keyless input method.
Maybe it’s not the most accessible or useable product, but I don’t think Apple really minds. They’re aiming to sell 10 million phones (1% of the North American market). This is a luxury item for those who can afford it. Much like the iPod, it’s meant for those early adopters who “get” Apple’s approach, love gadgets and are willing to forgive little drawbacks as a simple reality of being on the “cutting edge”. Heck, most people will probably embrace this as a great new feature rather than a shortcoming. It’s all how you look at it.
Steve Jobs said this device is 5 years ahead of its time and maybe he’s right. Maybe he’s jumped the gun a bit on calling this a “revolutionary” user interface. But that’s what we (and by we I mean me and the Mac geeks worldwide) love about Steve Jobs: he is THE Mac evangelist. If he doesn’t believe in this stuff, how are we supposed to?
Oh, and I’m not ragging on the iPhone. If these ever make it to Canada I’m definitely grabbing one. Look how awesome they are!!!
January 10th, 2007 » 11:55 am
This is possibly the first Apple product that has me excited about it. I really couldn’t care less about the iPod and I’d like to get an Intel Mac laptop someday but my Dell XPS does just fine for now. But this phone has so much promise but yet seems to be missing out on a few key things.
While I love the inclusion of wifi (the one thing missing from my Nokia 6882) that exclusion of 3G is just plain stupid. I use my 3G service on a regular basis and don’t want to have to rely on having an available wifi connection.
Memory should be expandable, that’s just a simple thing that any multimedia/smartphone should have.
And now I’ve heard rumours that only Apple developed apps can be installed?! That just sucks. The coolest thing about Symbian OS is that there are thousands of little apps out there that I can install.
It’s a great first step, but I just don’t get why Apple didn’t go all the way. They hit a homerun but stopped running at third base.
January 10th, 2007 » 1:51 pm
Who knows what kind of considerations Apple has in mind when they design these things the way they do. I totally agree that the exclusion of 3G and expandable memory completely sucks. Maybe they have a good reason. Perhaps including those features would have pushed the price higher than they felt the market could bear. Seems like $500-600 is already pushing the limit of what people would pay for this. I recognize this isn’t an entry-level phone and shouldn’t be priced as such, but $600 is a lot of money (to most of us).
January 13th, 2007 » 8:03 am
The iphone is very slick, obviously. I agree about the usability aspects of a touch screen. It’s going to take a little while for people to get used to this lack of feedback via touch. I was curious, though I didn’t hear it during the presentatin, whether there would be audio feedback available. So when you touch a button it makes a “beep” or something to know you’ve completed the task of pushing the button. Another way Mac could have resolved the lack of “feel”, would be to show graphically the button being pushed down with a “beep”. This may not produce the actual feel of pushing a plastic button that we’re used too, however it would simulate the kinethestic effect of pushing the button.
As for the iphone only allowing Mac downloads, I find this odd and short sighted. Yes, I’m calling Mac short sighted…settle down all you Mac lovers there’s a point here! :-) There was also an article in CIO magazine recently that compared the different operating systems OSX, Linux, Vista, etc. I’m curious, have none of these organizations heard of using the web as a platform? Why continue to make products that will only work on a specified platform when the future is about the web? For example, why spend hundreds of dollars on Office 2007 when you can use openoffice for free? Plus openoffice, in my opinion is more stable anyway.
All that said, I’ll likely wait for the next release. 5 hours of battery life is too short, in my opinion.