MiPhone

Having played around for a couple of weeks now with my shiny new iPhone, I thought it was about time I posted something about what I think about it.

First of all- a bit of context; one of my summer jobs about 10 years ago (and subsequently my first full time job after university) was in the research and development department for a mobile phone company. This meant that I had a free phone—and free connection— at a time when mobile phones were still seen as the expensive tools of busy executives who had to be constantly in touch with the office. (Not like the industry today, where you can get a free handset, free connection and an iPod/ games console/ cashback thrown in to tempt you into signing up.)

I've been using Microsoft smartphones for the last few years (specifically a Motorola MPx200, and an Orange C500 and O2 XDA mini-s- both rebranded devices made by HTC), so the idea of a multifunctional device isn't new to me. (Before those I had a phone where the camera and MP3 players were attachments that plugged into the phone- big up to the old T68i.) So I've installed applications and hacked homescreens. I've surfed the mobile web and checked my emails on the go. I was listening to my MP3s through my phone before iTunes came to Windows, and I've even watched an entire film (Kill Bill 2) on a 2.2 inch screen on a long coach journey.

In other words, I'm a bit of a phone nerd (just one of the many flavours of nerd that I lay claim to.) So I'm well aware of the limitations of a camera without a flash, and that touchscreens, internet access and mobile-as-a-platform aren't exactly breaking news on the mobile front. I've also got a pretty good idea of the difference between a feature that I'll show off to my mates and a feature that I'll actually use on a regular basis.

Nevertheless, overall I'm impressed by the new iPhone. The key difference with the overall package is that it feels like it's been designed from scratch by someone who knows exactly what they want. In contrast, my Microsoft handsets always felt like they started with the Windows idea that they then tried to transform into a portable device- either desperately clinging on to the mouse pointer paradigm (replicated with the stylus) or trying to do the same job with a 'normal' phone keypad- which is fine for normal phone functions, but not so useful when trying to navigate a website- a problem that's not so much the fault of the phone as a problem with websites that haven't been designed with accessbility in mind.

I think that's the key to how the iPhone 'just works'- it's an interface designed to be used with fat, imprecise fingers, rather than a tiny but accurate stylus. Newer handsets have dealt with the problem in part, with elements of the interface that can be used with fingers instead of a stylus, but the stylus is still needed for many of the phones functions.

It's also changed the way I behave. "Always online" is nothing new- like I said, I've had a web browser in my pocket that I've taken for granted for the best part of six years now. But theres a difference between something you can do and something you can do easily, and when that device is both as easy to use as the iPhone and on an unlimited data tarrif, it changes your attitude towards it. As a result, I use it differently. Quite a lot, in fact.

It's that speed of use that I think has had the biggest impact— I'm not talking about WiFi or 3G connections, the mobile equivalent of the top speed, but how fast it goes off the mark; the 0-60mph. Because rather than boot up my laptop, if I just want to look something up on Wikipedia, for example, then it's much quicker to just do it on the phone. So things that I would have made a mental note to look up later on and then forgot about, I now actually look up straight away.

The Applications are another big plus point. Again, a phone that you can install applications on is nothing new, but it's both the ease with which you can find and install them through the Applications Store, and the range of applications that are available that make the difference. I think we've yet to see how powerful the mobile platform can be- when applications can use not only the internet connection but also integrate information from the handset (such as your contacts information and location through the built in GPS), there is the potential for some incredibly useful tools- both for consumers and for website owners. More about the mobile as a platform later on...

What this really means for Apple (and their network partners) is that the idea of the mobile walled garden that networks have been chasing for years and are only just starting to let go of has been realized- not by cutting off access to websites (the web browser experience is virtually identical to that on the desktop) but by creating new services that are, at least for the moment, exclusive to O2 and Apple customers (in the UK.)

In Part 2 of this post (because I've got a lot to say about this thing), I'm going to talk about some of the problems with the phone; the drawbacks of Apple's tightly controlled platform, how O2 have fumbled the launch of the device, and why the iPhone really is still 'just a phone'- as opposed to a pocket PC.