iPhone: it makes you smile

iPhone: Time Magazines Invention of the Year

I just got back from playing with an iPhone in my local O2 store. I must say that it is truly phenomenal. Using this thing just makes you smile.

Two things make using this phone an incredible experience: 1. the interface and 2. the seamless wi-fi.

The interface really does make you smile

I'm sure we've all experienced trying to use a shoddy user interface, one that just doesn't work as expected and only frustrates. And phones really have been the worst offenders in this department for many, many years. In a rush to get new features to market, or sell the coolest-looking phone, handset manufacturers and operators have been forcing rubbish into our hands and pockets for too long.

But the iPhone has got it right. If we put aside issues of cost and locked-down software, and just look at the interface - like the iPod before, this is a revolutionary device.

It just feels natural. Simple. Intuitive. And it's really as easy as making sure all the little touches are right. Like when you reach the bottom of a web page or e-mail it does a cute little bounce, or when you attach a photo to an e-mail the photo shrinks down and the blank e-mail pops up around it, or when you accidentally miss a key while typing it automatically corrects you.

You immediately and intuitively know how to do what you want to do. Things feel almost real inside the beautiful screen of the phone as you move them around, stretch them out with your two fingers and send them flying across your view with one flick of your finger.

This is what technology should be like!

Wi-fi snazziness

As well as doing all the normal things like calls, SMS and voicemail shockingly well, it's the seamless wi-fi access that really makes some apps stand out.

The iPhone automatically connects to any wireless network in range, including all of The Cloud's wireless access points in the UK. Web-browsing is actually pleasurable for the first time on a hand-held, a zoom-tastic Google Maps app is available in your pocket whenever you need it and you can purchase music with iTunes and listen to it right there and then, wherever you are.

When there's no wi-fi, I understand O2's EDGE network is used. EDGE is like GPRS++ but not quite as good as 3G. I don't think this matters too much. We're moving towards a time where broadband wi-fi is being rolled out across major cities and I imagine will soon be part of the fabric of space-time.

I certainly want one.

I really hope this inspires better interface design across the board and everyone to stop accepting crap design.

As for me, from now on I'm not accepting anything less than smile-generating technology.