01-12-2007, 12:34 PM

I applaud Apple for their efforts in interface design - the multi-touch looks to be fantastic.

I am worried about the lack of physical keyboard to provide tactile feedback. If you've ever watched a youth text message a friend, they can blaze through it with the phone still in their pocket - not a likely scenario with the iPhone.

The auto-rotate via accelerometer worries me as well. What if I'm showing a photo to a friend beside me, and I don't want the screen to rotate as I swivel the phone? I think this is a case where Apple is trying too hard to predict what the user wants and misses some use-cases. Many tablet pcs have dealt with the screen rotation issue quite elegantly, providing a single button that allows you to rotate it quickly when you want.
I wouldn't be too surprised when the next killer accessory to the iPhone is a keyboard with dedicated feature buttons.

The placement of the speaker and microphone at the bottom of the phone is an interesting choice. I'm sure that there is fancy technology to prevent feedback, but wouldn't it have been better to put the speaker close to your ear and the microphone close to your mouth? Perhaps the iPhone was intended to be used as Steve Jobs demonstrated - held in front of you as you are looking at it. What is worrisome about this use-case is all the environmental noise that would be hard to distinguish from the users voice. Also, is the speaker going to be loud enough to use in a crowded area? Is it going to be so loud that it's annoying to bystanders?

01-12-2007, 12:42 PM

The speakers are only for the speaker mode. Not when using the phone like a regular phone. The mic is sensitive enough to pickup you voice wherever you place it, it doesn't have to be stuck in your mouth.
Students who blaze their thumbs in their pockets are not really the target makret for a 600$ phone, are they?

I think the visual feedback will be enough. David Pogue claims it's hard to type on, though.

01-12-2007, 01:43 PM

ah. I do type texts QUITE fast and i wonder how it will be on the iPhone. but ive noticed with any phone it takes a while to get used to.

And the accelerometer- my canon powershot SD630 has it also. It definitely can be an annoyance when it flips back and forth a bunch, when passing it to a friend to show them a picture.

01-12-2007, 02:56 PM

Im sure you'll be able to turn many "features" off if you really wanted to

01-12-2007, 04:49 PM

I find myself wondering if Apple is going to incorporate this touch screen technology into the next iteration of the Cinema displays or iMacs... this could be a whole new way of interacting with your computer, but I am not sure I want fingerprints all over my screen!

01-12-2007, 05:35 PM

Do you use your finger to navigte through the iphone?

01-12-2007, 06:11 PM

Apple is not the first to use a soft keyboard in a PDA, Windows CE devices had been using it for a long time, but this is not as important as knowing that most users (not only teenagers) actually ask for a regular keyboard. HP had some market studies done about this when they started with smartphones, it is interesting that a few years ago, when smartphones and similar devices started to appear, the ones with keybords where actually more expensive than the ones without it, yet those were more popular. My father, who has been using PDAs for a long time now, still misses his HP LX95 because of the keyboard.

01-12-2007, 10:36 PM

i worry about the non-keyboard issue too. i personally don't like any of the phones offered without then simply because software or hardware can and does malfunction/lock up screen wise and that makes the devise unusable until it is either soft reset or a hard reset. even a mobile version of OS X is just software with the same limitations.

01-12-2007, 10:59 PM

I think we should wait until they are on the street to worry about what might or might not work.

01-13-2007, 09:55 PM

With this kind of technology in a phone it's kinda like Apple and Nintendo got together on this one. lol

Having a HTC Universal, I must say that I would be very interested in this device when it hits the UK market.

Windows Mobile is ok but this would/should sync alot easier.

I personally love the idea of the screen auto rotating. The other advantage is that it looks to be designed for finger usage not stylus.