A day in the life

To illustrate, a typical day goes something like this: When the iPhone alarm wakes me up each morning, a swipe of the screen silences the alarm and brings up the Weather widget. With one gesture, I have enough information to plan my wardrobe and departure time, all before I'm even sitting up. Because the iPhone remembers the last-used application before it locks itself, any app can be used in this way.

Next, I click on the Home button to get to E-mail and the Calendar so I can prepare for the day mentally. Once I'm out of the house, the iPhone is linked into my car stereo, so it's always on as an iPod. And because my iPhone is also how I keep in touch, I never miss an e-mail, a text message or a phone call because of loud music -- the music mutes automatically when a call comes in. Since I commute daily, Google Maps lets me know what kind of traffic I'm facing, which helps me plan my routes.

Once at work, most of my day is spent staring numbly at progress bars, waiting for software to install. For those idle moments, dynamic content by way of the iPhone's mobile Safari browser and YouTube access is a godsend. The iPhone's media capabilities and its always-on cloud connectivity break the monotony, and since it's also my communications device, it keeps me always accessible. That's a downside, too: I'm always accessible.

Focusing on my iPhone use startled me into realizing that if my iPhone broke, or if Apple suddenly stopped making it and I had to use another brand, I'd be lost. I wouldn't know which device suited me, despite all of the competition in phones out there, because, in one way or the other, they're all wrong for me.

I felt that way before the iPhone's release, but now that I've used Apple's design and have grown accustomed to it, how can I go back? I tried to figure out why that was and realized that Apple made a few key design decisions early on in the iPhone design process that just happened to evolve into exactly what I was looking for.

Compatibility, multitouch nailed it for me

Obviously, based on your own needs and wants, your mileage may vary, but I was always specific about exactly what I wanted in a phone: one that comes with Mac software, easy connectivity and no hassles. So right off the bat, Apple nailed it for me by making the iPhone automatically Mac compatible, seamlessly importing my contact and calendar information. Of course, Apple didn't stop with Mac users; the iPhone works on various flavors of Windows as well, meaning it offers out-of-the-box cross-platform support. Who else does this?

Advantage two for the iPhone is multitouch. Everyone seems to be doing flat screens now. There were a couple of touch-screen devices on the market before the iPhone, but their interfaces were tacked on to existing mobile operating systems, which seem to be programmed to spite users. Plus, rival touch screens were the opposite of responsive, giving those awful bank ATM touch screens a run for their money. Not surprisingly, the design never caught on except with the most forgiving -- or masochistic -- early adopters.

It is because of this experience with touch panels that the mainstream media, consumers and cynics watched with curiosity when Apple first presented the ground-up redesign of OS X and its apps for mobile devices. The fact that the entire interaction lived and died by the intelligence and responsiveness of the touch screen was instant debate material, and every competitor was quick to dismiss the technology. Flash forward a year later and everyone who had dogged the idea now has their own touch-screen "iPhone killers."

But only Apple has multitouch matched to a user interface that's clever, intuitive and slick enough to take advantage of the technology. The lack of intuitive multifinger interaction alone makes any so-called iPhone killers merely iPhone wannabes, relegated to an audience comprising those that who can't or won't buy an Apple product for whatever reason.

With the iPhone, the simplicity introduced in the iPod remains, and the multitouch interface make all functions equally accessible, regardless of what feature they offer access to. From purchasing music to finding the nearest gas station to navigating through songs, iPhone's multitouch capabilities and Mobile OS X make things easy. The iPhone actually feels more like what must have been the original concept for the iPod in the literal sense: my entire life in my hands, with the ability to instantly sync with my computer, though no longer bound to it.