Friday, June 20, 2008

A recent conversation with a co-worker regarding the iPhone 3G got me thinking about the Home Screen layout.  As I was telling her about the new iPhone calling plan prices and it’s (supposed) lack of built-in SMS it made me realize, the SMS button, as well as others, are somewhat in the way.

With the ability to move home screen icons around as you wish, there is one missing component (in my opinion).  What if there are standard iPhone icons that you don’t use or need?  Sure, you could move them to another screen, creating an island of misfits, but is that the best use of your nine precious Home screen iterations?  That’s when it hit me.  The attic.

Pack it up and put it away.

Boxes seem to be the main object that fill peoples attics and more often than note, they’re filled with things that we don’t use often.  After looking at the home screen of the iPhone, some people may see just that; tiny boxes filled with things they don’t use or need.  You could throw them away, but who would want toss out such treasured memories as stocks, SMS, or that whiz-bang calculator?  Why not put them in a location that doesn’t cause them to get in the way.

Movin’ on up.

When you make your home screen icons dance, you’ll notice that you can drag them from side-to-side, creating a new screen, or down into the “dock” area.  As they say, the only direction to go is up.  Why not create an attic for icons?  If they are needed in the future, let the user pull them back down and if not, leave them to collect dust.  Now where did I put those photos…?

Thursday, August 23, 2007

As an avid user of Apple’s iMovie, I met the iLife ‘08 announcement with both awe and trepidation.  The newest version of iMovie is more than an upgrade.  It’s a rebuild.  From the ground up, top to bottom, brand-spankin’ new.  What has changed is the way that people will edit movies with this software.  Gone is the timeline.  Say hello to snippets and “skimming” (which is a cool feature, regardless of how new the interface is).

The question is, did Apple make a mistake with this redesign.  If you frequent Apple fan sites, you might think so.  After reading and listening to much debate, I’d have to disagree.  This is not their top-level professional program.  That distinction is left to Final Cut.  It’s designed for the consumer, the average consumer, the one that wants to quickly throw together a video or two and show their friends and family (or the whole world if they upload it to YouTube).  This is what I mainly use it for as well, although from time to time, I’ll get a little crazy with the Cheez Whiz.

After looking at the time it takes me to set up a normal clip in iMovie HD versus what it could take me to set one up in ‘08, I think I’ll take the plunge, letting the pieces fall where they may.  If nothing else, it’s taking a fresh look at an “old” process and possibly making it a better one.  Ain’t progress grand?

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

A little more than a month ago I purchased my “dream phone”, a 4GB iPhone and have been impressed on a daily basis by what I am able to do with it.  When the iPhone was first announced in January of this year, I began to salivate over the possibility of a phone that I might actually like, let alone one that would be easy to use.  Before I get into the review, I’d like to take a brief trip down memory lane…

I remember it like it was yesterday.
I was one of the few that stood in line on launch day to get their hands, or at least lay their eyes upon this mythical device.  After an hour in line, I walked out of my local AT&T store clutching my loot like it was pure gold.  From the moment I opened the box, I was amazed.

Apple always seems to nail the little things, the small details that most take for granted.  I however,  seem to relish these miniscule items and am in awe of them with each product I buy.  After lifting up the iPhone boxes cover I sat, dazed looking at the shiny jewel that laid before me.

Nestled in it’s acrylic tray, like a Rolex or fine piece of jewelry, the iPhone was ready to be activated.  Underneath the phone and tray, Apple had neatly packed a slimmed-down AC adapter, USB/20-pin connector, and a mounting dock.  Oh yeah, I seem to remember an instruction pamphlet in there as well. 

After pressing the sleep/wake button, I placed the phone into it’s dock and began the activation process.  Again, a wave of awe as I enjoyed activation from the comfort of my desk chair as opposed to standing around in a wireless store waiting for the dots to be connected.

Once the activation had been taken care of it was time to sync and customize the phone, again a seamless process.  After talking to a friend that had recently activated a phone with Sprint, I found out that it took him almost a half an hour to format an image correctly so it could be used with the caller id.  I told him that it had taken me a minute to do the same thing with the iPhone.  That was almost the end of our conversation.

Day-to-day use.  How does it stack up.
The iPhone is the first smartphone that I’ve owned so I can’t compare it to anything else on the market.  I will say that before I bought it, I did look at offerings from Palm and Blackberry, but just didn’t like the way that they worked.  I also didn’t like the interface setup, which is a huge selling point for me.

I can say without hesitation that having a device that allows me to stay connected to the people that I need to be connected to at all times is a great feeling, especially when trying to get a business off the ground.  I have sent many e-mails from the passenger seat of our car as my wife, son, and I drive down the interstate.  As a phone, it rocks.  As an e-mail device, it rocks.  As an iPod, it rocks.

Shortcomings and glaring issues.
As much as a “fanboy” that I am, I do have a few items that I’d like to see improved on the iPhone, preferrably by a software update or two.  The first item is the calendar application.  I have waited a long time to be able to sync iCal with a device as seamlessly as I can sync with the iPhone, however not all of iCal’s features show through on the phone.  I wish there would be the ability to have multiple calendars on the phone as there are within iCal.  Also, the ability to add meeting attendees and integrate contact information and address mapping would be a great benefit.

The other main item that I wish was different is the e-mail application.  A bulk delete/move feature would be well-used as would the ability to add new folders to an IMAP account (such as Archive and Action Items).  The camera could use some improvement to, but just having a camera on me at all times is a benefit that I didn’t have before.

Does it live up to the hype?
From someone who didn’t think that Apple would make a phone in the first place, this device suites my needs to a “T”.  I look forward to getting many years of use out of it and hope Apple is able to continue to innovate with other products similar to the iPhone.