Worker Bees Blog

I was on the phone today with two cool chicks, one from Weblogs Inc and one from Gawker Media (see, we really CAN all get along) and one asked me for my five-minute iPhone review.

Here's what I said:

1. The web browser is just beautiful
It imported all my bookmarks from Safari, and it doesn't display the crap version of the web I get on my Treo (where images don't display and many links don't end up working.) No this is the beautiful web, and it's just fun to use your fingers to scroll around and zoom in and out.

2. I don't believe "intuitive" means immediate, but rather repeatable
I switched to a Mac after a lifetime of PC use, and it was frustrating. If you're familiar with one way of doing things, learning a new way is difficult, no question. Intuitive, to me, doesn't mean that I can find everything quickly the very first time. It does mean that once I find it once, it's pretty easy to find it again. Unlike some apps, OS or gadgets that equally frustrating on the 100th use.

3. YouTube is entirely different on the iPhone because it's all about the art
I don't use YouTube on my computer. The screen is cluttered, nothing about the UI says "Come. Explore." On the iPhone, as each video fills the beautiful screen and you watch it in its entirety without visual distraction, it's different. It also loads way faster and plays with less jitter and stop/start action than on my compputer...don't know why. I like YouTube this way...I guess because I don't care what all you peons have to say about the videos :)

4. The keyboard is surprisingly easy to get used to
I have fingernails, and I find the Treo buttons damn near impossible to use accurately. I can usually get out a phone number in one try, but typing email or txt? I don't. I avoid it. Or, if I have to reply, I get out my stylus, bring up the on-screen keyboard, and tap out my message. Within one minute of using my S.O.'s iPhone I had the hang of the keyboard and was far more accurate than I've ever been with the Treo.

5. Like it or not, we use the phone in our cars here in California, and the iPhone probably isn't so good for that.
Someone desperately needs to develop a voice-dialing or voice-command system for the iPhone. It's a killer app.

6. The phone quality seems fine
No one has noticed anything amiss in my calls. Not to mention that unlike the buggy Treo that can't keep a pairing relationship with a bluetooth headset, the iPhone seems to be just fine being monogamous with my headset.

7. People can complain about the slow edge network all thy want, but...
I dig the way the iPhone seeks, reports and remembers WiFI networks, and nothing could be slower than a Treo that freezes half the time when you're trying to download email anyway.

Did I mention it's pretty?

Labels: iPhone