Thoughts on the iPhone

Fig 1: Self-referential photo - a photo of a photo of myself taking a photo

(1) Singtel really needs to re-examine their concept of "reserving" an iPhone. I made my reservation a few months ago, and when collection day came around last week, I was told to select a one-hour time slot to collect it in, and I STILL had to queue to collect it. That's ridiculous. Reservations help the supplier: they gauge demand, place an obligation on the customer to commit, and in doing so, make it easier for Singtel to avoid over-stocking or lack of availability. In return for the customer's committment, the usual quid pro quo is to extend some privileges to the reserver - in this case, not having to wait in line for a product expected to have long queues. I've spoken to people who had it worse, who collected on the first day rather than the third as I did, and who feel the same way.

(2) Battery life: this seems to be a main complaint about the iPhone, but if anything, the battery life problems result from the fact that I use my iPhone much more than my Nokia - whereas the Nokia sits in my pocket unless I'm messaging or calling, the iPhone is always out - I'm using the PDA functions, I'm playing games, I'm using the GPS, I'm keeping track of my accounts, I'm posting to my tumblr blog ... As a result, the battery drains dramatically fast. I haven't even used it as an iPod yet, but that would completely kill the battery within a day.

(3) That tiny keyboard. Almost everyone I show my iPhone to asks "is the keyboard really un-usable?" The answer is: it takes getting used to. It'd be nice to have the numeric keypad text entry we're used to on Nokias and other phones, but the text messaging interface is usable. The threading of text messagings more than compensates - to be able to see and scroll through the history of a text conversation is one of those features that you never knew you needed until they gave it to you.

All in all, the iPhone is every bit the phone I wanted. I've started using it for things I never thought I would with a phone - mobile blogging, for example, straight from the phone to tumblr. I should take this opportunity to plug my tumblr blog again, since I expect it'll be seeing much more action. I intended it to be more a photoblog, but now it's morphing into something where I can post quick ideas and pictures as and when they come to mind, all powered by the iPhone.