[Nfbmo] cell phones

[Gary Wunder]

I am an iPhone user, but I too miss the friendly buttons found on a keypad.
There are times when I find it difficult to be fast enough to enter
selections on menus that one gets after the telephone is answered. Calling
the Jernigan Institute is a good example. Using NEWSLINE is another. It is
not that it's impossible; it is only harder than it used to be when the
phone buttons were very defined and one new spatially exactly where they
were.

Having said all of this, I think it is clear that cellular technology is
definitely migrating away from buttons and toward touchscreens. It is
probably something we all should become accustomed to. The iPhone is
definitely usable, and although I think there are friendlier cellular
phones, I can't think of any pocket computer that has as much power. The
iPhone makes a wonderful radio. When I am traveling and want to listen to my
university radio station here in Columbia Missouri, the iPhone brings it in
just as clearly as if I were here. When my radio station conducts its pledge
drive and I've already pledged, I can avoid listening to the rest of the
drive by finding another public radio station. When I listen to an a.m.
radio station on the iPhone, it's audio quality certainly rivals what I hear
when I listen to it through an a.m. radio. If I sleep through weekend
edition on Saturday, it is just a few clicks away. Text messages are a snap
to dictate. They aren't always perfect, but most people who text don't
really care. They simply think we have invented yet another abbreviation and
are too shy to admit they don't know what it is.

When coupled with a braille display, the iPhone is a good way to get email,
and to create and maintain a good contact list. It has a good voice
recorder, but again I do not like the interface for that recorder as well as
I like a recorder with buttons. There are so many applications designed for
the iPhone that the question is seldom can the iPhone do this but do I want
to go to the trouble of doing it on the iPhone.

I have frequently told people that the iPhone has a rather steep learning
curve. This morning my wife set me straight on the message this
unintentionally conveys. She said that it sounds to her like I am saying "I
learned to use the iPhone, but I'm not at all confident you have the ability
to do it." This is not at all what I have intended to communicate. I simply
want people to understand that the iPhone is not something they are likely
to be comfortable with after the first 15 minutes of use.

If someone decides to migrate to the iPhone, might I suggest that you hold
on to your old telephone for a few months, learn to use the iPhone with an
alternate phone number, and then, when you feel comfortable with it, make it
your primary phone. It can be really frustrating to own a phone that you
can't answer or hang up easily. It is difficult to get used to the idea that
before the iPhone is a phone, it must be switched to the telephone mode.
Debbie initially decided that she wanted an iPhone, decided she hated it,
gave it to me, got herself an iPod, got comfortable with using the iPod for
her music, and then decided that she could take another whack at the iPhone.
She is now a successful user, but I can tell you that she was not happy with
her first iPhone and I had little choice but to take it.

Enough of my ramblings about this device: I'm going to tune into psychic
radio and see if I can figure out how many of you will be getting an iPhone
in the near future.

Gary