Design and Interface
Let’s start off with the design and interface. We like it! It’s sleek, it’s sexy and even though it’s a bit thin (not too anorexic) it’s light and really easy to use. The singular button only simplifies the whole usage of this device. Having a scratch resistant large display is a bonus, so ladies, go ahead, keep those nails long, it don’t matter. What makes the iPhone really stand out is, of course, the fantastic interface with Apple’s ‘Cover Flow’ technology incorporated. It’s awesome and extremely easy to use and navigate through. This is something unlike any touch screen device you have ever come across. What we did find that didn’t bode too well with us was the onscreen keyboard. The letters are too close together and you would end up typing the wrong alphabet more times than you’d want. Till you get used to it of course.
But from Internet usage to scrolling through the menus to moving through videos and music in the iPod music player it was a pleasure to work with. The idea for simply using your fingers instead of worrying about losing a stylus is a great idea. All this makes the iPhone extremely user friendly. We gave it a 4 in this section.
Media
I must have said this enough already, but let me stress one last time that through their latest offering — the iPhone — Apple has the first step towards a different direction with regards to interactivity in mobile phones. To have the legendary iPod bundled with a phone, I’m sure some of us have wondered if it was a possibility. And sure enough, the iPhone is just that reality. We have to give points to the iPhone for integrating a great music player, and we definitely like what we saw. But the iPod application we are talking about goes one step ahead, and offers more in terms of how well you interact with your player. We like the Cover Flow system that allows you to graphically engage yourself with the playlists and the album artwork.
While it’s great to have speakers to what seems like the next generation iPod, the speakers themselves do absolutely no justice to the quality of the application. In today’s day and age, we are constantly looking towards simplifying things, yet Apple’s inclination to weigh their customers down with an ‘iTunes’ only attitude is only making them take a step forward and sleepwalk back again. But because of the sound quality and interactivity with the player itself, we thought it quite right to give it a 4 rating in this part.


