The iPhone form factor is the future

Yesterday, it was reported that the Safari browser integrated into the iPhone had a flaw that could allow hackers to take over the phone, doing things like making phones calls, sending text messages, or performing other functions that could end up costing a user money. Other reports questioned the existence of the flaw.

At the end of the day, however, whether this particular flaw exists or not matters little. As the previously linked BBC news article notes, it's a simple fact that as smartphones acquire more and more features, the attack surface area will increase, and it will become increasingly likely that a problem will be discovered. Phones are becoming more like desktop computers, and though they are unlikely to ever have quite as many avenues for attack as a desktop computer, they will certainly have more than the simple low-end phones that have been the norm for most of the history of the mobile phone market.

In other words, the hack potential is not reason to avoid an iPhone. Argument to avoid smartphones, maybe, though that's as silly as avoiding desktop computers because it might catch a virus at some point.

I finally got the chance to try out an iPhone this past weekend. Fortunately, I did this before Apple stores started to charge $5.00 just to view the phone, an attempt at controlling the crowds of window-shoppers at Apple stores, but would have ensured that I wouldn't have tried it out in the first place (which is, apparently, a hoax - that'll teach me to glaze over a Digg reference and use a link without reading it).

I can't honestly think of many bad things to say about it.

A lot of people find the touch-activated keyboard to be a bit complicated, and to be honest, most of my problems were keyboard-related. Lack of tactile feedback (a fancy word for keys you can push) was not a problem. The problem was that the keys are simply too small. Using my thumbs to tap out messages and/or addresses, Sidekick-style, is simply out of the question. Perhaps a length-wise keyboard would be preferable, or else a way to page between groups of keys, with everything below the letter 'n' on one page, and everything above 'm' on another.

The iPhone keyboard follows QWERTY conventions. Granted, there is some logic to that, as QWERTY was designed to ensure keys in standard words are spaced far apart (essential in older typewriters to avoid page strike keys from getting tangled). However, even though I am a blistering fast typist, my fingers know where the keys are, not me. That's why the keyboard paging system previously described might make sense, as it would allow the keys to be larger, and it's easy to remeber that everything above the letter 'm' is on page 2. QWERTY, however, might make sense on a length-oriented keyboard.

I had some difficulties with Google maps. Some of those problems were keyboard-related, but others were UI-related (I couldn't figure out how to do simple address searches, as opposed to directions). I'm sure in future the user interface will be improved (and I'm positive that I would have figured it out eventually).

The good things about the iPhone are numerous. Once you manage to get to a web page (and I did note that I got better with the keyboard after ten minutes), I love how easy it is to navigate around it. You widen things by using your fingers to widen it, using gestures that I knew how to use, admittedly, from articles I've read, so I'm not sure if that is obvious to ordinary users. You shrink it by doing the opposite motion. You move the map or page around with your finger. All intuitive user interface conventions, and the way phone interfaces should always work from here on out.

I loved the way I could navigate photos on the iPhone. The same zoom gestures functioned here, but the navigation system wherein you move between photos with your finger is awesome.

Where the iPhone form factor will be truly spectacular in coming years is in wireless TV. The screen is big enough that I could see myself watching movies and / or TV shows on the device. Granted, it isn't a TV substitute, but if you are stuck on a bus or a plane, it's a great way to watch shows. Europe recently standardized on DVB-H for TV broadcasts over cell phones. No one will watch such shows on screens any smaller than the one found on an iPhone.

The iPhone, in other words, has clearly thought about where consumer phones are heading. Increasingly, consumers are doing less and less business-oriented things with their computing accessories. Watching TV will clearly be an important use for phones of the future, at least in my opinion. Apple, as a consumer products company, has clearly designed the iPhone with that in mind.