iSmudge er, iPhone unvieled by Jobs at Macworld 2007

Steve Jobs is amazing. Years ago, long before Apple and Steve let me down (I’ll call them the Pepsi years) I was a real student of Apple products and the Apple company. That adoration stemmed from a trip with my Father to the Perth Convention Center (god knows what year) when the Apple Lisa was making its first tour around the world. Dad had read somewhere about the Lisa, and the revolutionary new user interface that Apple had made and was using for the Lisa. My father saw this as the true breakthrough it was in personal computing, enough to go see one in the flesh the first opportunity that he could. One Apple Lisa test drive later we were both stunned and hooked. Apple went on to make some wonderful little Mac’s using the mouse and UI that we saw that day with Lisa but until yesterday, Steve and Co. haven’t wowed me to that degree. Although I am am Apple and Steve Jobs fan, I am far from an Apple groupie. Their various blunders over the years left me out in the cold and I abandoned Apple and their elitist attitudes for over a decade. Two years ago, with one good design move after the other, they had resold me on their PC’s and OS. I haven’t regretted my move back and it is now hard to imagine going back to a PC. Mac’s are far from perfect but they are far better than a PC.

With this in mind I’ve eagerly awaiting the Apple iPhone. It has not disappointed and neither did Steve in his unveiling at MacWorld 2007. The keynote is worth watching, even if you’re not much into gadgets or computers you should watch the specific part of the keynote where the iPhone is unveiled. Why? Because it will impact your life if you use any kind of mobile phone or PDA. Why? Because Apple has hit a home run with their new phone user interface. It’s really brilliant in the same way that the mouse was. Many of the hardware functions of the new iPhone are amazing as well but it’s the UI that really stands out to me as revolutionary and enduring. It’s just that much better. Watch the keynote and judge for yourself.

I could write all day about how great this device is but I’ll stick to one of my key hopes that I’ve written about before. Namely, my hope that Apple would use an industry standard 3.5mm jack for the headphones. They have. They are the first SMARTphone manufacturer to do that. Congrats gang – awesome. It’s the attention to details like this that have put you back on top. Since I could go on and on about the superlatives I’ll end with a wish list and some comments.

Wishlist:

Sport or ruggedized version
Make a sport version (one that will keep rain and sweat out of the innards) and a ruggedized version that can handle the typical bumps and bruises that phones or pda’s take. This thing looks as delicate as…well a video iPod. And that’s pretty delicate. Gleaming chrome looks pretty but feels bad and looks far worse. You have no option but to either trash the looks (scratches and finger smudges) or put it in an ugly case. We don’t want ugly cases, we want good looking materials that can handle a drop and still look good. The Samsung BlackJack I have is significantly better in this regard, using that black hardened plastic that many phones use to ward off their bumps and bruises. The iPhone does not look like it will hold up to hard use like a good phone or BlackBerry will. They have to fix this, especially when these devices are running $499 and $599 a pop.

Must have 3G – EDGE won’t cut it
The phone was announced on Cingular. No worries. Why don’t we have the 3G HSDPA version instead of clunky old EDGE at launch? Cingular has already released 3G SMARTphones to their user base in the BlackJack and Cingular 8525 and Palm Treo 750. Why would we spend $500 for yesterday’s technology six months from now when the iPhone is released? Steve acknowledged that future versions will include 3G but I would hope that by their launch date of June that 3G is already included. Otherwise they could kill the impact of this device. When you think of the Mac is there any key area where the computer is significantly behind on technology? No, they’re either using leading edge stuff or at least the equivalent to what’s on the market, not something older.

iSmudge
My last wish is really a call for some better screen hardware and isn’t really something that Apple can overcome right away. I’m billing the iPhone the iSmudge. That 160ppi 3.5 inch screen is a beautiful display to be sure. Too bad it’s also one big finger grease and lint catching screen destined for immediate bad looks the minute we get our greasy little hands on it (literally). Although Steve and Apple are dead on that a touch screen is a good intuitive interface, they also look terrible and they get damaged very quickly. Steve mocked the use of a stylus and I agree with him on many levels but the stylus also saves the smudge factor and it’s far more precise than a thick manly finger! We will really have to wait and use this device to see how well the keyboard and other critical pieces of the screen work but there’s no getting aroung the glare we’ll all have to deal with once the grease hits to pod. It’s livable, but it’s not good. I’ve lived through it on a number of devices, the latest was my Cingular 8125 which always looked like Pig Pen from Snoopy.

Make no mistake. I’ll buy one. I won’t do so until they have a 3G version, but as soon as that happens, and the wad of money is in my bank account, it will be done. The benefits of the current iPhone far outweigh the negative and I have faith that Apple will continue to push for better iterations as they move forward. Oh, and work on that price as well. I have a hard time believing your market penetration will be iPod like at that price point. As a geek I’ll gladly figure out a way, but most people can’t stomach that kind of price tag.

Congrats Apple, congrats Steve!
[tags]iPhone, Apple iPhone, iSmudge, Apple iSmudge, Steve Jobs, Macworld Keynote, Macworld 2007[/tags]