The iPhone ... Was It Worth The Wait?

Larry Magid Gives His First Impressions Of Apple's Much-Hyped iPhone

(CBS)  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.

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.

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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)

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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.

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.

[dukeudevil]

'Tis sad that those two nine year-olds in the article's photograph have also bought into consumerism frenzy, especially given it's a product they'll likely not own for at least a couple of years. (Will it be that long? How many times are parents willing to stand their ground and say no?)

'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?

[hypnotoad72]

It's interesting the photographer would aim for the happy children. I wonder if he's making a point...

And it's usually better to use the investment as long as possible. IMHO, of course...

[peacethinker-2009]

Gee, you'd think this thing cures cancer.

[tvgenius]

For dukeudevil:

Get real, you know there were adult fanboys everywhere with the same expression on their faces.... :)

[jolsonbear]

Wow, Apple has done so well with its MP3 players for dummies who want to pay more to listen to thier music. Now it looks as if they could corner the market with Phones for dummies who want to pay more for phone service. Maybe they ought to consider coming out with thier own line of computers---with a proprietary operating system that would require higher prices for compatible software and devices!

[hypnotoad72]

Aw man, they changed the picture! :pout:

[shanev137]

Hey CBS...how much you gettin paid to promote the iPhone? Why don't you just run a full web page ad for them. It would be more honest.

[faircomments]

iPhone represents a new way of thinking in terms of how we use a portable device in this information and wireless communication age. The Mac operating system was what allowed the break through. This product will be embraced by the early adopters (more of these folks in the knowledge age). Eventually, the world will adopt the glass top touch screen as we all get use to it. Look at Star Wars or Star Trek! The movie creators all visualized a glass top screen! Now it is happening through the availability of technology. The price is really not expensive for what you are getting. For some folks who just want a phone as a commodity, that is fine too. You get them free now from many service providers.

[lkrupp-2009]

P.T. Barnum said there's a sucker born very minute. Boy was he right! Don 't get me wrong, the iPhone is probably a wonderful product and I'm an Apple fan, but what does it say about our culture when things like the iPhone, the PlaySation 3, the Wii, et al, cause such a consumerist meltdown. People lining up days beforehand to get the latest gizmo doesn't bode well for our culture or our nation in my opinion. It's like taking anti-depressants to deal with life instead of, well, just dealing with life.

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.

[tim8559]

there is already plans for an upgraded verson posted at this website: WWW.FELONYMILLS.COM

[candojj1]

To TC KeLLey who believes the Stephen Jobs compensation package is $1 a year - you are a moron. That might of been true a while ago, but look into the 10-Q filings and his entire compensation for 2006 it was $687 million. Aapl that is the MNC (multinational corporation has built relationships with many African nations and secret factories to bring jobs to these countries. Here you will find the sickness definition of MNC and why the suck the capitalist life out of these countries for their own gain and at the expense of those trapped slave workers, and within that page you will find a link to the names of the 250 multi national corporations of the world which you hold in such high esteem. You should boycoyy this company and have protests outside the stores because of the slave labor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnational_corporation

[generey]

Sorry, but this is a classic example of the intelligence (or lack thereof) of the human race.
Just my opinion.

[fascistusa]

BRAINWASHED.

This is a Perfect example of how MATERIALISTIC, COMMERCIALISTIC our "Society" has become.

What will the IPhone give you that you TRULY need??

Nothing.

[nothappyatall]

People are insane, the mega-corps get people all worked up and in a frenzy over a dam PHONE!!!
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.

[desertrat200]

All the whining appears to come from those who don't have (or can't afford) an iPhone.
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.

[fascistusa]

Get Brainwashed.
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.

[candojj1]

Seeing that you work 20 hours a day then perhaps you should examine to whom you are slaving and why capitalism is your God. You seem to forget that many of us have grand children with Ph.D.'s and are not rednecks who are trying to get an enlarged *** or a longer motor home or a bigger boat or whatever. We might see the world as humanity, where we live with others. With people who starve when there is plenty of food. With people who die when there is plenty of medicine. Instead we see our democracy gone. The democracy of Jefferson where people cared for each other is history and we have no right to celebrate it. So get yourself a hummer cause you're a bummer! You have no idea what it's like to be macheted by starving people and living in Darfur and have aids and be urbanized and become a slave at age four. Perhaps your children in their next life, or you yourself should experience this, or better yet - be reincarnated as a barking dog!

[smurphydej]

CD, DVD, TREO, DVR, TIVO, Laptop, Flatscreen, Plasma, Ditial Camera, Camcorder, Desktop Computer, Pearl, Xbox, PS 1,2 & 3 and I can go on. I am sure everyone that left a message has one or more of these items. I found myself on line for the Xbox for my son and it was fun. I will wait for the price to go down before I get this phone, doesnt matter what it is there is always hype about the item. Yes you have freedom of speach however before you get on your soap box look around your house at electric items. Just Enjoy

[nskduke]

It might take a year for the price to go down but I can wait.

[boulves]

The carving for an iPhone just shows us that the basic values of society have changed drastically. People are becoming children (standing in line 2 days for a gadget that is at best flawed) and children becoming orohans because nobody has time to educate them. THE WORLD IS DOOMED

[dukeudevil]

I have to agree with many here in saying all the hoopla over just a freaking phone exposes America's now very flawed sense of values all too well.

It's just a phone, America. BFD.

[barbaraf4]

"Seeing that you work 20 hours a day then perhaps you should examine to whom you are slaving and why capitalism is your God. You seem to forget that many of us have grand children with Ph.D.'s and are not rednecks who are trying to get an enlarged *** or a longer motor home or a bigger boat or whatever. We might see the world as humanity, where we live with others. With people who starve when there is plenty of food. With people who die when there is plenty of medicine. Instead we see our democracy gone. The democracy of Jefferson where people cared for each other is history and we have no right to celebrate it. So get yourself a hummer cause you're a bummer! You have no idea what it's like to be macheted by starving people and living in Darfur and have aids and be urbanized and become a slave at age four. Perhaps your children in their next life, or you yourself should experience this, or better yet - be reincarnated as a barking dog!"
Posted by bbbbbfan at 10:13 PM : Jun 30, 2007

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Excellent! Well said!

[barbaraf4]

"All the whining appears to come from those who don't have (or can't afford) an iPhone.
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.

[formrusmcsgt]

What more glaring example of unbridled materialism could we observe than to see idiots, who've gone their whole life without an I-Phone, camping out as if one more second of existence without this toy would be fatal......

[formrusmcsgt]

When you start a company, work 20 hours a day, build up something, then have some morons like you cry about capitalism--- then you will understand what a bunch of stupid f*cks you sounds like. Now I have to get back to building my "capitalist" company (yes working weekends- try it some time you d*cks). So go F*ck yourselves - off line and without any of those toys you so enjoy sticking up your azz (they were built by capitalist companies too). ROFLMFAO
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".....

[hypnotoad72]

barbaraf4 - thanks for the well-reasoned response.

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.

[hypnotoad72]

Oh, what the heck:

http://www.badapple.biz

[hypnotoad72]

boolves - very true.

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.

[hypnotoad72]

boolves - very true.

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.

[hermit22]

anyone have a couple of tin cans and a string to toss my direction to go along with Methuselah my 26 year old bucket of bolts a good 16 year old kid resurected from the car graveyard for $400?

had to pay $75 later for some muffler stuff....
but Methuselah is aiming for 969 years old like who he's named after.

[jacqueline41-2009]

By the way these people act you would have thought God came down from Heaven to say "Hi". My goodness it's just a high priced phone people. Grow up!!!

[bequialife]

We can't even get people to vote and you get time off with pay for that. But people spend the night to buy a gadget? Or buy concert tickets? I personally don't get it.

[sevenveils]

***Hey***, ***It***'***s*** ***an*** ***Apple*** ***Newton*** ***with*** ***a*** ***phone***!

[trskrap]

Just because 95% of new 'toys' are more of the same, doesn't mean that the iPhone is more of the same.

Just 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.