Changed My Life...

It's crazy... I never thought a device would change the way I use things and look at other devices... but the iphone did it.

I love my iPod. I listen to music and download podcasts to listen to NPR and other talk type radio. I never did get a video iPod. Never really thought I would need it. When the iPhone came out and it had the Video iPod features and a phone it got all our attention. Real email. The whole nine yards! Finally a all-in-one device. My Motorola SLVR played MP3s... but it's not the same simple Apple interface. It was a pain in the butt.

Now... here where the game changes. The iPhone is all touch screen. Something no one has done very well until now. There are only a few hard buttons on the phone. The most important one is the big home button on the front of the phone. At any point you select this button it will take you to the main menu. The phone's gateway. That's where you find all the features. And features there are. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll come back to that.

The second most important hard button is on the top of the phone. You press the small button once and a reassuring click noise is made by the phone confirming you made the selection. The selection of immediately locking the phone and turning the screen off. It becomes second nature to do this. To unlock the phone Apple has come up with a smart way of forcing the user to use the touch screen to slide a unlock toggle. Slick!

On the side of the phone there are 2 buttons. Well... really 3 but two of those are paired as one button to raise or lower either the ringer volume or the speaker volume depending what mode you're in. The phone is that smart. It knows what you're trying to do with this modal interaction.

Did I mention it has built in speakers? Nothing to wright home about... but they do the trick when using the phone in speakerphone mode or listening to a song or podcast in a quiet room.

Last but not least is a mute toggle right by the volume buttons. It quites not only the ring but also turns off the audible feedback of selecting and typing with the touchscreen interface.

On to the screen. The screen is amazing. The video quality is outstanding. The touch interaction breaks all standards and creates it's own. The natural motion of swiping is implemented. No more clicking on a arrow to scroll... you just thumb through the list or pages and it there. I recently picked up a digital camera with a touchacreen and I began to use it like the iPhone. Obviously it didn't work that way... but it should!... all touch screens should! It's that good!!!

As you know headphones are a problem with the iPhone because of the recessed audio jack. So far I've found that the vModa phones fit (with a little shaving with a nailfile) and that the excellent Etymotic E6i phones fit right out of the box.

Unfortunately, the iPhone does not have the A2DP protocol that will allow the use of Bluetooth headphones. However I made a chance discovery today. The Logitech Freepulse Bluetooth Headphones fit the iPhone perfectly.

While typing on the iPhone is an arguably difficult / easy process depending on who you are, I figured out a handy tip for saving at least one button press - as long as you're going to a .com site. Just like a real browser, it appears that the iPhone will allow you to type in most .com URLs without having to type the actual .com or pressing the button. Simply press Go after typing the site name and MobileSafari should automatically insert the .com for you. It's worked in every site I've tried so far at least. A mere savings of one button press to be sure, but in my opinion, shaving off even one repeated key press can amount to a lot of saved time after a while. I like it.

The phone is so visual... so simple... you over look any hurdles you may come across.

Email set up was done on my Mac. I use .mac the Apple service allowing me to sync multiple computers. I have a mac at home and at work so this really helps. You don't need it to sync but I use all the mac software with their address book and Mail email program to get all my email addresses all setup so when I sync the phone it's all updated. Settings, passwords and all.

I will say this... It sucks to get stuck with AT&T... it should be a piece of hardware that you can do what you want with. That being said... many people are creating hack for installing applications such as a NES emulator and even hacking the phone to accept any SIM from around the world.

One of the most elegant and useful application on the iPhone is the google maps app. Point to point instrucktion and visual updates through the Edge network or...

WiFi... I love it. I go to any spot with a wireless connection and the phone recognizes the signal and off you go. Checking mail and surfing the web (in Safari) on a fast DSL connection.. it's so easy to do.

The iPhone may not be the best phone for people who want just a simple phone. But the iPhone is so feature packed you'll never use your iPod again.