Days 3 through 5 with the iPhone 4, My first weekend and business trip.

Well I had my first weekend with the iPhone 4 and my first business trip with it as well. The device served me, as did the iPhone and iPhone 3G, very well, but with some differences. First doing the things I normally do on the weekends like look up movies, get directions, and find fast facts all happened much faster. Since the network has not changed I must attribute the efficiency to the device. Yes the processor is much faster and I should have expected to get better performance but that is not the only factor. In my last blog I talked about how the iPhone 4 does multitasking but I did not cover how, as a user, it can work for you as a time saver. Using the multitasking menu to toggle back and forth between suspended applications is a very efficient way of getting the information or services you need in what feels like one smooth session. As an example while on a call with a friend discussing some subject from a website I was also following directions to a location. I was able to, by using the multitasking bar, jump back and forth between the site we were discussing and the directions I needed to follow very smoothly. An easy use case, I admit, but the ease in which I fell into using the iPhone 4 method of multitasking is a testament to good design choices. During a short business trip this week I found the performance and multitasking to be quite helpful in my work day tasks. Going from meeting dial in information in my calendar, to email notes, to note pad, and back to my call screen was smooth and even a little fun. 

There were two areas that it fell short for me in my first weekend. Many of the pictures taken with it came out blurry, something I did not experience with my iPhone 3G. The ones that did come out were of much better quality, of course. The second area is in entertainment for my son. Where I felt comfortable giving him my iPhone 3G to play games on in the car, I do not have the same comfort with the iPhone 4. Not just because it is a new phone but because I just dont trust the edges. I am convinced that a corner land drop from hand height will result in a chip of the front or back edge. I dropped my iPhone 3G four times all of them resulted in corner landings. All I got for those was a few scratches to the back of the device. Yes a case will solve that but the "naked" form factor of the iPhone 4 is a key attribute of staying with the device.

As part of my process I am also looking at what will happen when the iPhone comes out on Verizon. I have very little doubt that Verizon will be offering iPhones by the upcoming holiday season. It may be pre-orders with shipments in mid Jan or they may have them on the shelves for the holiday shopping season, I am not sure which. But I am sure it will happen this year. So I must also decide in this twenty five day time frame if I want to keep it or give it back, get out of my two extension with AT&T, and wait for the Verizon release. While I am having very little network issues, that I have not always had with my iPhones, it is well known that the Verizon network is better in many ways. Of course if Verizon had the crazy data usage that iPhone users produce, on their 3G network they might have some issues as well. But I am sure that Verizon will move to 4G much sooner then AT&T. This could mean there is a strong chance that the first iPhones for Verizon will also be 4G capable. Some thing to keep in mind during the decision process. 

A bit off the subject of the iPhone 4, my good friend Jon Bostrom asked me to comment about the value of a live widget model. I guess I should first explain what a live widget is. A widget is a application that normally does very few things all based around some area of focus, such as showing stock quotes, an active clock with time zones, or a twitter or Facebook status ticker. Widgets usually are active image based icons on your home screen showing information at a glance. They do this by collecting information in the background from various sources such as the internet, the device, and even your environment and pushing that information into a small image based icon. It is important to note that most widgets are easily customizable to show you the information that is relevant to you within the framework of what the widget does. Meaning that if the widget is a twitter feed widget you will be able to set it to show the twitter feeds you want to see only. The iPhone does not yet have true widgets. It does have icon based notification of changes in a application but this is not the same as a information at a glance widget working to bring you your information in real time  

Now on to the value of widgets as explained above. These have existed in the PC world for a long time now and have not taken deep root. Many people have a few widgets on their desktops for stocks or to show a cool clock but not much past that. I on the other hand use the Apple widgets in dashboard very often I have clocks showing the many different time zones I work with, unit converter, language translator, weather at a galce, and a information widget about my computers system health. So I see the high value of widgets. Yes a mobile widget model is a strong differentiator for Android right now. Apple is no doubt tracking this very closely and can at any time put out a software update to add this kind of a feature. But the question fundamentally is do you want that to be your choice if you use them or not or Steve's choice if you get to have them or not. I am mixed on the subject but if put to the line I would have to say that I would like to have them. 

Next: using the iPhone 4 as a reader (iBooks and Kindle).