The iPhone
Ring, ring.Person 1: This is Jeremy.
Person 2: You've been at work how long and you haven't been down to show off your new toy?
Person 1: chuckling Where are you?
Person 2: In the testing room. Come now.
Click.
Today I experienced the iPhone.
Part phone, part iPod, part Web browser, and a whole lotta beauty, the iPhone is rocking the SQ. For those not in the know, SQ is the critical measure when developing Oliverian product ratings for the past ten years. The S is for sexiness; the Q, for quotient. When something has SQ, you know it. And when it doesn't ... (Zune say what?)
When you hold an iPhone, you immediately notice the heft of the product. Heavier than an iPod, the weight feels natural in your hand. The next thing you notice is how nice the brushed steal casing feels as it rests in your hand. A wise departure from the polished metal of the iPod. As I test drove each of the features, Jeremy pointed out how the browser automatically zooms into the column width of a particular section of the page when you double click, how flawless pinching to zoom is in the maps application (the product responds as quickly as it did in the ads), how coverflow had to have been created for the iPhone and ported to the desktop iTunes as an afterthought. As only someone obsessed with design could put it, he gave the insight, "Apple has taken Web browsing and turned it into a tactile experience." He's absolutely right. The Web has never felt so natural on a portable device.
A little later in the day, back at Jeremy's desk to talk iPhone, it dawned on me one of the reasons why the iPhone is so captivating. Do you know that feeling? When you hold a good pen? When the pen is a little heavier than some Bic toss-away you'd receive at a trade show? The way the covering of the pen rests smoothly against your skin? That feeling. The good pen feeling. Holding the iPhone is the same. The heft, the texture, the balanced perfection. It is the same.
I know a lot of people who'd shell out good money for a quality pen. For my money, and it's a lot of money, I'm sure one day I'll be shelling out for an iPhone.
2 Comments: (Post a Comment)
For me, I'm waiting for the price to drop in half and for Apple to realize that AT&T was about THE WORST wireless carrier with whom to partner.
And, I'm still startlingly old-fashioned - the last time I got a new cell, I walked in and said, "I want a phone that JUST CALLS PEOPLE." The salesperson looked at my with pity and said, "we don't make those any more."
What about your thoughts on texting with the touch screen? It seems that would be a make or break deal for someone with blackberry thumbs.
For all its sexiness, there are just too many shortcomings for me to consider it. The Edge network, no 3G, 2 year contract with AT&T, having to use their headphones, and now the report that the battery only survives 300 - 400 charges and costs $85 to replace? Ouch.
I do think its a brilliant device. I just wish the whole experience with it was as polished as its interface.
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