Why didn’t anyone tell me…

I should preface this with my opinion so people can see why I’m doing this. I think the iPhone is an incredible device. I wanted a video iPod and my older phone broke. What better way to combine batteries? I picked up the iPhone and in many ways it’s changed how I think of mobile devices and their place in my little world. It’s dead useful. But it’s generation one and shows all the signs of being so. There are many things they’ve done right, but there are a couple use-case scenarios that need polish. I’m not saying everything they did is great – it’s not perfect – but it’s SO MUCH BETTER than any alternative that it’s worth putting up with.

So on to the gripes.

Audiobook positions on a traditional iPod are 0:00 to 8:30:35 (hours:mins:seconds). On the iPhone, they’re “Chapter N”, 15:30, with the counter resetting within each chapter. One of my normal situations is to use the car-kit compatible older iPod (3G) and my “other iPod”, the one I carry around to listen to books. I sit down, look at where I am on the carryabout iPod, dial it in on the car, and resume listening. I then reverse the process when I get out of the car. Well, I can’t do that any more. Rather annoying. Either update BOTH firmware sets or go back to the old way. Please?

I’m still not sure why video is treated like a second-rate  content type in iTunes. Is there some problem in letting people sync playlists of videos to an iPhone? I rather expected to be able to use the same workflow as music to keep my video list on the iPhone. Drop in a playlist, set the iPhone to sync that playlist, and I’d be done. Currently I have to plug in the iPhone, open the settings for the iPhone itself, and tell it from an alphabetic checkbox which movies to show. What was wrong with the way you already trained me?

Why is it that when you’re in CoverFlow, you can’t scrub within a song?

We lost the fine-grain seeking ability of the iPod when we went to the iPhone. Could someone put a soft-wheel on the screen for seeking very small amounts? Audiobook listeners everywhere would love you. Trying to scrub a very little amount in a file that represents 8 hours is next to impossible.

One-hand-no-eyes usability of the iPhone is seriously impaired. Typical scenario: I’m out walking the dogs. I have one hand full of leashes. I missed what the narrator said when the garbage truck rolled by. To rewind, I have to :

1. pull the phone out of its holster or pull the holster off the belt so I can see it,
2. look at it,
3. turn it on,
4. swipe the screen,
5. turn it vertical, wait for it to realize it’s vertical,
6. press the seek backward button, and then find what I missed.
7. return iPhone to previous belt position.

Compared to the iPod:

1. Flub around belt with free hand until I feel the clickwheel.
2. Press and hold the rewind button to find what I missed.

Compared to iPod with remote:

1. Feel bottom of shirt where I always hung the remote, in the same position and orientation.
2. Press and hold the rewind button to find what I missed.

See also adjust volume:

iPhone:

1. Flub around belt to find iPhone.
2. Find tiny buttons, all 3 identical to insensitive fingers.
3. Find tiny buttons, all 3 identical to insensitive fingers. This takes twice as long as it should. These buttons are TINY.
4. Press one, hope it’s the right direction.

iPod:

1. Flub around for clickwheel. Finding center button.
2. Rotate finger around in correct direction.

iPod with remote:

1. Flub around belt for remote.
2. Press correct button.

This also applies to starting music from a “cold start” – you just press Play on a remote and it was turned on and running. Not so with the iPhone. You have to press either power-on button on the main unit before the headset “start” microphone-button works, unless it’s in its screen-off-but-on state – usually about a minute I think.

So am I going to turn around and sell this because of these? No, but will it influence my recommendation to happy iPod customers? You bet.