My love-dislike relationship with iPhone

As with the million or so others that have had the chance to play with their iPhones over the last week or two, I now have formed my first overall impression of the device. I call it the beginning of my “love-dislike” relationship with iPhone.

“Love” — because where the iPhone excels (and it does so in many places), it excels so spectacularly well that it is hard to imagine ever again using any other phone. “Dislike” — because “hate” would be too strong a word to describe anything as good as iPhone. Still, there are definitely things not to like about it. Fortunately, they are almost all eminently fixable and I suspect Apple is already working on doing so. Many of them will likely be addressed via software updates arriving in the next few months.

This mildly conflicting reaction is reminiscent of how I felt after I purchased an original Macintosh back in 1984. And that’s a good thing overall. From the moment I took the Mac out of its box, I knew I was in the presence of a machine that would initiate a paradigm shift in computers; that’s how different it was from the typical PC of the time. Yet, there were also times when I just wanted to kick it because of what it couldn’t do (as one example, I couldn’t even get an external floppy drive until several months after I got the Mac). But the problems were eventually fixed and the good things kept getting better. If Apple can pull the same trick with iPhone, and I believe they will, Apple will have succeeded in capturing lightning in a bottle yet again.

As to the specifics, the “dislikes” are pretty much what I expected from what I knew about iPhone before purchasing it (I even noted several of these annoyances on a previous blog entry). The most annoying are the ones where iPhone is unable to do things that even my old clunky basic mobile phone could easily do. This includes a laundry list of items such as voice dialing and custom ringtones. Next, are things that are just more hassle to do than they should be, especially given Apple’s otherwise great design of iPhone. As one example, I already find myself getting irritated at how many extra clicks I have to make to pause a song I am listening to on iPhone’s speakers, if I leave the iPod application while the song is playing. I have to click to return home, then click to reaccess the iPod application, then click to pause. It’s much simpler—just one click—on any standard iPod (or on iPhone with the headphones plugged in; you just press the remote button on the headphone cord). Plus, if I pause a song, and shift out of the iPod application, the odds go way up that the song will be “forgotten” when I return. It happens to me about 50% of the time. On the plus side, the fact that I even have the ability to listen to songs over iPhone’s built-in speakers, something no other iPod can do, is quite convenient (even given the inferior quality of the sound).

The keyboard in portrait mode is too small, at least for my fat fingers. I make too many typing mistakes and I don’t think this will get better with more practice. The one trick I did find to be helpful is to hold down but not release my finger from a key, until I see the letter “pop up.” If it is incorrect, I can slide my finger to the correct key. If I lift my finger before doing this, it is too late. I have to delete and re-enter the letter.

Speaking of my fat fingers, perhaps my biggest frustration with iPhone is how often I select something unintentionally—either because two active buttons are too close together or because I intended to scroll but iPhone interpreted it as a click. The result, in either case, is I have to back track to where I was before. This is especially annoying in Safari, as clicking to go Back does not immediately reload the previous page, even though Apple claims that Safari is maintaining a cache just for this purpose. I instead have to wait for the page I was just viewing to load again.

Speaking of typing, iPhone could really use a decent text editor with a to-do list function, something that allows copy-and-paste and that syncs to your computer when you sync the iPhone. The Notes widget doesn’t make the grade.

But why dwell on the downsides of iPhone when there is so much to love about it?

Google Maps is fantastic, even without built in GPS. My wife and I were driving around the other day when we realized that we were near a restaurant that we had been meaning to try. The only problem was that we couldn’t recall its exact location. I pulled out my iPhone and, in a few seconds, I not only had the address but driving directions. As a bonus, the map even showed me the current traffic levels on the major highways. How cool is that?

On another occasion, I wanted to look up a word in the dictionary. Again, I just pulled out iPhone, went to dictionary.com in Safari and presto, I had my definition. I’ve read many reviews commenting on ways in which iPhone’s version of Safari is less than perfect. I guess it depends on where you started from. In my case, I started from a basic phone that had virtually no Web access at all. Now, I can read the front page of the New York Times from my phone, almost as easily as I can from my desktop Mac. It’s fantastic. The limitations are trivial by comparison.

The iPhone’s 2.0 megapixel camera is more than adequate for me. I have heard others complain that it has no zoom function and no video capability. Heck, I don’t intend to use it as a substitute for my Canon camera. I am just happy that it takes much much better quality pictures than my old phone (which had only a 1.3 megapixel camera). Plus, the photos can be transferred to my Mac with much greater ease than with my old phone (although I wish the Mac could remember what I have downloaded and not ask to re-import the same photos each time I sync). It’s also quite nifty to assign a photo to a contact, so that the photo appears when the person calls you.

As for video, it goes without saying (although I’ll say it anyway) that watching a movie on iPhone is a far more enjoyable experience than watching on an iPod with video.

Last, but certainly not least, there are all the great finishing touches Apple has put into the interface and design of iPhone. Combine that with the large multi-touch screen, which provides a much easier way to navigate than the methods on a traditional mobile phone, and you have a device that is simply a joy to use. Even for something as basic as making a phone call, I often find myself smiling at how much fun it makes an otherwise mundane task. For one example, if a friend of mine has 4 different phone numbers in my contact database (work, home, mobile and fax), selecting the one I want to use is as easy as one finger tap. Editing the contact info is far easier and faster as well.

And of course, the ability to flick or expand/shrink the screen with your fingers simply must be tried to truly appreciate what a marvel of engineering it is.

I have only been using iPhone for 3 days. It took me a week to decide to get one this soon. But I am already glad I did not delay any longer.