iPhone : It's The Small Things
Yes, yes, another iPhone post on the web. This should be #7,987,456 on the Google page rank when searching for iPhone but I have to get this out.
Everyone asks me why I spent $600 on a cell phone. I have to say that the best part of the iPhone is the combination of all the small things which makes this phone a lot of fun to use. Even making a call is more fun. I know thats weird to people who don't own an iPhone. People who own the iPhone know what I am talking about. I think the greatness of the iPhone is a combination of all the small things that Apple thought out.
Here is a list of my favorite the iPhone's small features:
- Size and Weight - The fact that the Apple engineers were able to cram all the things that the iPhone needs for it's features (fast processor, great graphics, touchscreen, iPod, etc.) into such a thin and small form factor is amazing and is by no means a small feature. The thing that I consider even greater is the amount of detail and attention that went into the size and weight. The size and weight is the first thing that people notice. They are amazed that their cell phones which are 'just phones' are so much more clunkier and larger. Even the size of the RAZR is horrible compared to the iPhone and that was supposed to be the RAZR's biggest feature. I like the fact that the weight is really nice. They could of put a plastic or a lighter metal body on the iPhone to make it lighter. That is probably what most cell phone engineers may have done because they think that lighter is always better. The fact that the iPhone has a little weight to it is really nice and provides a nice balance. Everyone, even people that want to hate the iPhone, are impressed with the iPhone size and weight.
- Back to sleep after a call - When the iPhone is sleeping (display is off) and someone calls, the screen turns on and displays the caller id information right before it rings. Once the call hangs up, the phone goes back to sleep. That is so cool. Not many phones do that. Honestly, what else do you want to do with your phone. You received the call, you were interrupted, and now you can just put the iPhone back down or in your pocket and go back to whatever you were doing before you received the call without worrying about the battery life, etc. Well thought out. I always had to turn the screen on my XV6700 and Treo 700wx back off after I received a call.
- Slide to <function> - Everyone has probably seen the Slide To Unlock photos which are the default screen when the iPhone turns back on manually. This function is needed so that the user does not do something unintentional such as touch a button while the phone is being held or moved, etc. This was very nicely implemented and thought out. The other function that this serves is that if you require people to slide their finger across the screen once they pick the phone up, they instantly get it. They know that the screen is a touch screen and that functions they want to get to can be performed through touch. Very smart. There are other Slide To functions that are needed when certain events occur. There is the Slide to Answer when the user gets a call when the iPhone is sleeping because you do not want to accidentally answer the call in your pocket. There is the Slide to Power Off to make sure you really want to power the phone off. There is the Slide to Cancel when the iPhone is syncing to make sure that the user really wants to stop syncing. There are several more but they are escaping me at this point.
- Call Back function on failed calls - I was skeptical about the phone service I would get through AT & T as I have had Cingular before and I absolutely hated the service. I dropped a call every nine seconds. The good news is that AT & T put a lot of money into their service and it is much, much improved. It is the best phone (not data) service that I have had to date. To be honest though, I have dropped calls from time to time. The iPhone makes this less painful. If there is a dropped call from either party (you or the person you are talking to), the iPhone defaults back to a screen that has a very large Call Back button with a message that shows the call failed. This is awesome because on all my old devices, the phone would go back to the home screen and I was forced to look up the number again and call them back. The iPhone allows me to call the person back with a single touch.
- Display off when talking - My biggest gripe with all the touch screen devices I have had in the past is the fact that I do a lot of unintentional stuff when the phone is up to my ear and I am talking. I think I have played a full game of Solitaire unintentionally while having a conversation with another person. Apple obviously knew of this problem and they came up with a nice solution that turns the display off when it gets close to your ear or it is put in your pocket. This is probably not hard to do but it probably is hard to do elegantly. Apple engineers did a really, really nice job here.
- No Removable Battery - Jamie, you're crazy you say. This is one of biggest gripes from users you say. How could this be one of your favorite features you say. We'll I think that not having a battery, and therefore an exposed, removable battery door, solves two issues. One, it solves the issue of the battery door becoming loose and falling off like has happened with most of my past phones. If this happens, it is very annoying. Two, not having an exposed battery door makes the device more sleek and nicer looking. These two issues are more important to me than not being able to change the battery myself. I don't think this is much of an issue for me because I probably will move on to the second generation iPhone before my battery needs to be replaced. I am supposed to get 400 charges out of the thing. That is more than a year. Plenty for me. It works for the iPod so it will work for the iPhone.
- Transitions - This is probably a pretty obvious feature for many. I think it is a small feature to most manufacturers (and even consumers) but it is not a small feature for Apple. The user interface is one of the main reasons the iPod claims almost all of the MP3 player market. The nicest user interface feature on the iPhone is it's nice smooth transitions. I am talking about how the background moves to the foreground and the app interface then takes it's place. Its the way that the call screen flips around when you want to access the keyboard. Its the way that the browser and photos rotate when you flip the phone around. It's the way that the screen bounces when you reach the top or bottom of an email or web page. Its the way that new messages fade in when sending SMS. And have you sent an email from your photos? The photo gets smaller, the email form flys out from behind and then the photo enlarges to fill up the email body. It makes sending photos via email fun. Doing these similar tasks on other devices is not as fun. When I flip my Lenovo X60 tablet, it converts to landscape or portrait a la the iPhone. But guess what? On the tablet, the screen goes blank and then reappears in the new mode. The iPhone shows the screen rotating. So much more fun. When I scroll down past the end of a document in Word, what happens? Nothing. The screen does not bounce like an iPhone. Subtle, useful, and so cool.
So I do not care about the fact that the iPhone does not have Exchange integration yet. I can work around that. I don't care that it does not have cut and paste. I can work around that. It has gotten me to realize how far behind not only phone manufacturers are but also manufacturers of touch devices in general. I'm talking about every manufacturer from clocks to tablet PCs. The iPhone has shown what is possible. I think this will show manufacturers that consumers are now thinking a lot more about user interfaces and the small things. Don't make the small idiosyncrasies turn into big pains for the consumers.
