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iPhone observed

26 August 2007 128 views No Comment

I have been playing with the iPhone every opportunity I got even before I have my own, so by the time I have my own, there really isn’t much that I don’t know about or haven’t try it yet. But of course there are something that you will notice once you have your own. Here’s what I noticed:

1) The calendar icon is “live”, it displays the actually date! – shouldn’t be such a big deal unless you are a Mac user – the icon of iCal on the Dock in your Mac will only display the appropriate date when iCal is opened, otherwise it is just a static icon always displaying Jul 17~ if iPhone can do it, why can’t the OSX that it’s based on do it??

2) Apple implementation with Yahoo mail runs surprisingly well on the iPhone because Yahoo was actually providing “Push email” style instead of just regular POP access. It’s instant, it’s better than the implementation of Gmail on the phone (Gmail put everything in the inbox even the mail you sent) and maybe even better than Apple’s own .Mac mail. The experience is even better than the actual Yahoo!Mail!! that is just sad~

3) Applications on the phone does crash – but the operation system is as solid as its big brother, so if an application crashes it will just close and bring you back to Home screen, usually no harms done. Of course it’s still annoying, but with two bug fixes in less than 2 months and more to come, i think Apple will fix it in no time.

4) iPhone will make you lazier!! In my room, if I need to surf the web, even though my desk and my iMac is right next to my bed. Sometimes I would be a bit lazy and bring my laptop on my bed and sit up and use it there instead of reaching for my wireless keyboard of my iMac. Now, I found myself don’t even want to sit up and use the laptop in bed. I would just surf the web using the iPhone while I am just laying there, not even sitting up!

5) People keep on complaining there are no native third party apps allow on the phone unless it’s access through the web. So far I found the web apps are actually pretty good, my favorite so far are meebo’s iPhone interface, iTrain – which access MTA info, iTweet – might not look as good as a desktop client like Twitterrific, but it’s really good on the iPhone, Cool Gorilla – Phone Talking Phrasebook, I can now talk German without actually saying a thing!

6) #5 being said, I strongly think iPhone needs a native feed reader app!! Google Reader mobile and iBloglines are just not working for me! I mean it works, but the experience is still lacking.