The iPhone ... Was It Worth The Wait?
Larry Magid Gives His First Impressions Of Apple's Much-Hyped iPhone
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Big Buzz After iFriday
Just next door to CBS Studios in the General Motors building, iPhone fanatics get what they've been waiting for. Are they satisfied? Michelle Miller reports.
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Tommy Oyarzun reacts to being the first to purchase an Apple iPhone at the Apple Store on Friday, June 29, 2007, in Salt Lake City. (AP)
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Clayton Carmen, 9, left, and Tim Holman, 9, right, watch the first customer unwrap his new Apple iPhone in front of the Apple store in Lyndhurst, Ohio, on Friday June 29, 2007. (AP/The Plain Dealer, L. DeJong)
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Screenwriter and director Kevin Smith smiles after purchasing two iPhones, Friday, June 29, 2007, at the Apple store at The Grove shopping center in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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In The Spotlight
The iWait
People are camping out and lining up to be among the first to get Apple's new iPhone
With the exception of four anointed reviewers from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Newsweek, as far as I know no journalists were able to get their hands on the Apple iPhone until the day it was released to the public, Friday at 6:00 p.m. local time. I got my loaner phone at exactly 6:00 p.m. west coast time about two seconds after the doors opened at the Apple store in Palo Alto, California.
That didn't give me any time to test it prior to my first TV shot at 6:02 and I had precious little time with the device for my subsequent radio and TV segments that aired at live at 6:20 and 6:30. But as I write this column, it's already 11:00 p.m. on Friday night and I've had the iPhone for five hours. That's hardly enough time to do a full fledged review but certainly enough to report on my "out-of-box experience" and share my first impressions of this innovative device.
My overall thought is that the iPhone's software represents a truly remarkable accomplishment. Sure, the device's ultra thin case and large 3.5 inch display are nice touches, but what really stands out is the user interface that can best be described as inspired. Regardless of how well this device ultimately does, it will always be remembered as the phone that broke the mold from which all others were fabricated.CBS News technology analyst Larry Magid shows off his iPhone and talks about how popular it made him around town during his first weekend with the new device. (audio)
The big difference – like it or not – is the touch screen and the lack of a physical keyboard. While my very first experiences with the touch screen were frustrating and – five hours later – I still find myself making some mistakes, I can certainly understand the advantage to being able to dynamically re-define the keyboard depending on the task at hand. I can also understand why the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg, who had two weeks to use the machine before writing a review, found that after five days of use, he "was able to type on it as quickly and accurately as he could on the Palm Treo he has used for years."
I haven't had five days of practice yet but I have already discovered the device's ability to correct mistakes as you type. Of course Walt's comparison between the iPhone and the Palm isn't setting a very high bar. I've never been thrilled with the keyboards on any of the handheld phones from Palm, Blackberry or any other vendor. Let's face it; unless you have extremely thin fingers, you need a decent sized keyboard to be able to type accurately. Even after five hours, I'm finding myself making about the same number of mistakes on the iPhone as I typically make on Blackberries or other smart phones I've tested.
Over time, with any device, you tend to get better which is why I think – in the long run – most people will find the touch screen acceptable, though I'm sure there will be some who'll never get used to doing without the tactile feedback of a physical keyboard. Before I can be sure, I need at least a few more days with the iPhone.
I do miss the telephone keypad that you get with regular cell phones. True, when you press the iPhone's green phone icon, the iPhone's touch screen turns into the visual representation of a full sized phone keypad, but there's no way that the smooth glass surface can give you the feel of a real keypad. Of course, I'm not all that thrilled with dialing phone numbers from a Blackberry, Treo or Windows Smart phone either. I still prefer the regular keypad that you get with ordinary cell phones.
When it comes to browsing the web, I give the iPhone a mixed review. The good news is that the phone's version of Apple's Safari browser is by far the best browser I've ever used on a hand held device. While surfing the web on a 3.5 inch screen remains far less satisfying than using a full sized desktop or laptop PC, Apple has found a way to mitigate the limitation of screen real estate letting you use your fingers to shrink or expand web pages by pinching (to shrink) or spreading a thumb and finger on the screen to expand text by tapping on it twice.
You can look at a full web page – albeit with microscopic text and graphics -- and then quickly expand it so you can actually read the text on that portion of the page. Using your finger to push the page one way or another lets you easily scroll in any direction. It's not perfect, but it's by far the best tiny screen interface I've seen.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
CBS News technology analyst Larry Magid shows off his iPhone and talks about how popular it made him around town during his first weekend with the new device. (audio)



'Tis even sadder that an adult photographer chose children who cannot make proper consumerism-related decisions as his/her subject. Sadder even still that an adult editor also selected the shot. Were there no adults to be photographed and used instead? Shame on you, CBSNews.com.
Question(s): Would you want your nine year-old(s) to be as wide-eyed and lightning-struck as are those two kids over just a freaking phone--one they won't even own? Or, might you like them to be more excited over toys actually suitable for kids their age?
And it's usually better to use the investment as long as possible. IMHO, of course...
Get real, you know there were adult fanboys everywhere with the same expression on their faces.... :)
And after the ballyhoo has dies down what then? The quest for the next "thing" that will make us happy? I'm sounding now like Palmer Joss in the movie Conact so I'll quit.
Just my opinion.
This is a Perfect example of how MATERIALISTIC, COMMERCIALISTIC our "Society" has become.
What will the IPhone give you that you TRULY need??
Nothing.
Are people really THIS plastic that a stupid phone causes near riots, waiting in huge lines for 2 days etc??
They are all excited, till the time comes whent he device fails due to shoddy workmanship from being slammed together at the fastest speed possible on an assembly-line to meet te demand.
QUality is the FIRST thing to go out the window when the maker has to RUSH to get products made.
The other idiot who rages against capitalism doesn't have anything either. That usually results from not working and just whining.
Get a life.
Get a job.
Get an iPhone.
Get a Slave Job.
Buy *** you don't need.
Try to feel Happy about all the Useless Junk you just bought.
CRAPITALISM:
Capitalists control the public%u2019s behavior telling them to %u201Cwear these clothes, eat this food, have these ideas.%u201D They prescribe a rigid schedule where people willingly are overworked with little sick time and little vacation time. They self-servingly call this %u201Cthe work ethic%u201D.
It's just a phone, America. BFD.
Posted by bbbbbfan at 10:13 PM : Jun 30, 2007
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Excellent! Well said!
The other idiot who rages against capitalism doesn't have anything either. That usually results from not working and just whining.
Get a life.
Get a job.
Get an iPhone."
Posted by desertrat200 at 07:50 PM : Jun 30, 2007
Actually, my husband and I are enjoying a well-deserved, well-financed, debt-free retirement. One reason it is well-financed is that we didn't feel the need to buy the most recent gadgets, no matter how pretty they were. We didn't deprive ourselves, we were just selective. iPhone is, afterall, a phone. You probably own about a million other gadgets that do all the rest. It is not necessary to carry your life with you in your pocket nor to validate your credit line by buying every new toy. You say "get a life". There is life beyond electronic gadgets.
Posted by UnderMyBoot at 08:48 PM : Jun 30, 2007
I'm sure your means of expressing yourself in such a thoughtful manner serves you well in your business, eh?
20 hour days, eh? You probably work 8 and spend the other 12 apologizing for your "charisma".....
Even a gadget man as myself prefers to standardize on a solid item for years; and not ditch one product for the next every time it comes out. (Especially if customer support is a field one works in.) That tends to get expensive and that trend isn't reversing either.
The iPhone is mere iHype. Combine that with Apple's history of iWaste (google it, there's a website out there that rightly tells of Apple's wrongs) and the people saying all iPhone detractors can't afford one or are just envious are full of sawdust and incapable of much thought apart from basic stereotypes.
http://www.badapple.biz
dukeudevil - how dare you insult the overlords of Apple! They can do no wrong. Only we do wrong for criticizing their hyped products.
My media player is an applet on my PDA. I did not need a $400 iPod. (sheesh)
My cell phone does what it needs to do. I need no iPhone.
If I bothered to get a Smartphone (PDA+Cell phone), it'd be little different from the iPhone. Except all-in-one products are usually all-or-nothing. More disposable garbage, just like how people are.
dukeudevil - how dare you insult the overlords of Apple! They can do no wrong. Only we do wrong for criticizing their hyped products.
My media player is an applet on my PDA. I did not need a $400 iPod. (sheesh)
My cell phone does what it needs to do. I need no iPhone.
If I bothered to get a Smartphone (PDA+Cell phone), it'd be little different from the iPhone. Except all-in-one products are usually all-or-nothing. More disposable garbage, just like how people are.
had to pay $75 later for some muffler stuff....
but Methuselah is aiming for 969 years old like who he's named after.
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by trskrap
July 4, 2007 7:37 AM PDT
- Just because 95% of new 'toys' are more of the same, doesn't mean that the iPhone is more of the same.
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Reply to this comment
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See all 34 CommentsJust as the first graphical user interface with a mouse was ridiculed and dismissed by the masses (1984's Macintosh - don't mention the 1983 Lisa), didn't mean that it wasn't revolutionary.
Ditto with the first iPod in 2001.
Ditto with the first iPhone in 2007.
Face it boys, the rules have changed for mobile phones, for MP3 players, for desktop computers, for laptop computers. Touch Screen interfaces will be everywhere in 5 years.