saulrosenbaum.com / 48 hours of iPhone

So I’ve had my iPhone for about 48 hours - I’m a bit torn about it, it’s a great ipod, it’s a tremendous mobile browser, it’s a darn nice 2 MegaPixel camera - but honestly it’s just an okay phone - 70% of my issues revolve around the form factor - it’s thin, slippery and awkward, it’s got zero tactility (is that a word?) the top feels pretty much like the bottom, so it’s more than a little awkward to fiddle with in the car unless you actually stop to look at it… I don’t want to write a long form review, it’s been done to death - I’ll just mention a few things that jump out at me.

• Mobile Safari - excellent, especially if a site is designed to accommodate it (FYI - this column width - kicks ass on the iPhone).
• Ipod - clean & elegant, Apple continues to impress me with their ability to restrain themselves feature-wise.
• Keyboard - I was concerned, I have somewhat ‘sausage’esqe’ fingers but I seem to have no issues whatsoever - for the most part error free.
• Calendar - the little dots to signify events is just weak - ‘Steve’ get the ipod UI team to look at the calendar UI… NO TASKS!, um 2007!
• Maps - Not hugely impressed YET, but as soon as some smart programmer hacks some GPS software to triangulate your position based on overlapping wifi coverage - the map integration could get very nice, very fast.
• Clock - (seriously) very nice UI, Timer has the single most gratuitous UI on the whole iPhone.
• Notes - Did we really need the legal pad metaphor? I’m a tad insulted.
• YouTube - the video looks amazing..simply amazing.
• Edge - Not fast, not slow - when I’m in the middle of nowhere I don’t care that it’s slow.

Like I said it’s a great little toy gadget - am I glad I bought it? Sure, I’m a UI designer and a web developer, and a 19+ year mac user - and buying myself an iphone was a no-brainer, am I going to miss my old cell phone? probably, but only when I’m on the phone.

Tagged: iphone