Succumbing to the Madness
This isn't really WebKit related, unless you include things that *use* WebKit. I got up early on 7/11, stood in line, and plunked down my cash for a new iPhone 3G. I knew it was going to be cool from playing with my brother-in-law's original iPhone, but until I had my own unit I really had no idea how absolutely amazing this device is.
In some ways, I'm glad I ended up having to grovel for a year to convince my wife that I deserved to blow hundreds of dollars on a cell phone. Although the guts of the phone are mostly unchanged (i.e., it's not as though it has a faster ARM chip or a built-in death ray), it seems to have matured a bit in its first year. It does have very nice network capability, the best sound quality of any mobile phone I have every used, and what seems to be a nice GPS subsystem; at least, it finds me on the Google map in seconds and provides nice a nice map overlay with a cool blinking dot showing my position as I drive around.
But I think the best way to sum up the experience is one word: Joy. The iPhone is just a joy to use. The interface fairly oozes fun and cleverness. The interactions are quick, simple, and obvious. The screen is large enough that meaningful information is presented clearly; no more cryptic error codes blinking sourly in pixellated monochrome.
So it was with no small pleasure that I stumbled across a great article revisiting some naysaying technical writers predicting the iPhone's sure failure. Most come across as buffoons (typical follow-up question, "Are you surprised at how well the iPhone has done?", answer from writer "No, I'm not surprised -- it's a great phone." Huh? Then why did you think it would fail in the first place !?!). I think the big problem is that most of these 'visionaries' are the kind of vaguely creepy men of a certain age who sport suspiciously bushy mustaches, mid-70's tinted eyeglasses, and an inexplicable penchant for secreting multiple black plastic devices on their person. I remember the IT guy at my last company who carried no fewer than three pagers, a cell phone, and a blackberry (on an improvised batman-style utility belt) to meet his exacting telecommunications needs. To guys like these, I'm sure the iPhone does seem undesirable as no single piece of consumer electronics can possibly provide the same level of bulky electronic gravitas
To me, it just feels so pleasant to have a single device that satisfies these many tasks, and doesn't leave you looking like you still live with your mother.
In some ways, I'm glad I ended up having to grovel for a year to convince my wife that I deserved to blow hundreds of dollars on a cell phone. Although the guts of the phone are mostly unchanged (i.e., it's not as though it has a faster ARM chip or a built-in death ray), it seems to have matured a bit in its first year. It does have very nice network capability, the best sound quality of any mobile phone I have every used, and what seems to be a nice GPS subsystem; at least, it finds me on the Google map in seconds and provides nice a nice map overlay with a cool blinking dot showing my position as I drive around.
But I think the best way to sum up the experience is one word: Joy. The iPhone is just a joy to use. The interface fairly oozes fun and cleverness. The interactions are quick, simple, and obvious. The screen is large enough that meaningful information is presented clearly; no more cryptic error codes blinking sourly in pixellated monochrome.
So it was with no small pleasure that I stumbled across a great article revisiting some naysaying technical writers predicting the iPhone's sure failure. Most come across as buffoons (typical follow-up question, "Are you surprised at how well the iPhone has done?", answer from writer "No, I'm not surprised -- it's a great phone." Huh? Then why did you think it would fail in the first place !?!). I think the big problem is that most of these 'visionaries' are the kind of vaguely creepy men of a certain age who sport suspiciously bushy mustaches, mid-70's tinted eyeglasses, and an inexplicable penchant for secreting multiple black plastic devices on their person. I remember the IT guy at my last company who carried no fewer than three pagers, a cell phone, and a blackberry (on an improvised batman-style utility belt) to meet his exacting telecommunications needs. To guys like these, I'm sure the iPhone does seem undesirable as no single piece of consumer electronics can possibly provide the same level of bulky electronic gravitas
To me, it just feels so pleasant to have a single device that satisfies these many tasks, and doesn't leave you looking like you still live with your mother.
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