Re: [NTLK] Welcome back Newton - iPhone interface

Hi Marty,

> > An on-screen keyboard -- how banal.
>
>The on screen keyboard though isn't quite as banal as you suggest.
>it actually uses an internal dictionary to look up typed words and does a best
>guess of the intended word (sound familiar?).

Yes, it does sound familiar, and I *hate* it! For a multilingual user like myself that alone in fact turns out to be a tremendous hindrance. My (English) Newton doubts my command of German and Italian (and I can't help it, I *must* use all three languages because those *are* my everyday languages). Writing SMSs on a Nokia phone drives me round the bend -- you'd have to switch language every time depending on the language the message will be in! So, I turn dictionaries off whenever possible because they don't work for me. (Is that possible on an iPhone?) A graffiti-like feature in my view would be a hundred times better than having to hack away at an on-screen keyboard.

While I like the iPhone's colour and the crisp looks, it's also true that there's lots of irrelevant eye-candy. Also, it's much too small for my taste. I need to SEE (as age advances, eye-sight recedes). It needs to be VERY bright, and it needs to be LOUD (my Handera is, I can hear it fine even if it is buried deep in my handbag on the backseat; I almost never hear the Newton).

I agree that the iPhone's interface is lovely and intuitive -- but I would be surprised if it weren't so (I have been using Macs since 1985 for a reason).

>How about all your email and contact info and a
>regular browser and internet connection and maps and search and ...

Err... I don't like having to be connected all the time to be able to use my device's features. I don't like being traced. I don't like being lured/manipulated into paying for unintended connection time. I don't like locked hardware. I like being able to control what's happening.

I also don't like so-called "smart" devices. Try and talk on the phone AND at the same time look something up/take notes.

I use a very much down-to-earth cell phone that can interact with the Handera and thus confine itself to what it does best: act as a phone. Personally, I don't see the need for a (low-res) camera in a phone. My small digital camera does a much better job than any in-built device. When you move house, you use a truck, not a limo with a mini-bar and DVD.

*Entertainment* is not what I need or want or expect. I don't care for canned music and that's probably why I've never been fascinated by iPods; I would use the storage space for data instead, but to get storage I don't need an (expensive) iPod.

I'd love a bright, loud, crisp-looking expandable colour device with lots of space, one that can record sound and that I can really write on and that allows me to connect to the world out there when *I* want - in short, I want a colour Newton. The iPhone simply doesn't fit the bill. For now, it's just one of those trendy do-it-all gadgets that looks cool. I hope it helps Apple get the necessary dough to produce a *really* useful device.

Gisela

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