A common refrain is that computers are too complicated for ordinary people to use. Yet mostly when I see people sat with a notebook on their lap I don’t see frustration. The confusion tends to come when something doesn’t work as expected. Naturally bad design plays a big part in this but the biggest stumbling block comes when a dialog box like this pops up:

What is an average user to do when confronted with this? Everything after the first line is utter gobbledygook. Even to a software developer much of this is unintelligible — you’d need the source code to get much a clue about what’s going on and most vendors do not share.

So, if almost no-one has a chance of understanding this, why are users asked to make a choice? It’s bad enough that the application crashed but why force the user to make a decision about something they don’t understand?

Worse, let’s remember that this is actually an improvement over what has come before. Remember the “Unrecoverable Application Error” in early versions of Windows?

I was therefore fascinated when I realised what my iPhone was doing. Initially I thought that the software was just very reliable, which was pretty naïve of me.

When an iPhone application crashes you just get returned to the home screen. No nasty error message with impenetrable text and confusing options; often you’re not even aware that anything bad has happened. Behind the scenes the crash is recorded and is reported back to Apple next to you sync with your computer.

It would be easy to conclude that “no error message” is the way to go, however the iPhone has a couple of other qualities that makes it work. Firstly the applications seem to save their state regularly, which means that even if there is a crash you rarely lose anything of significance. Contrast this with most PC application which tend to crash only when you have an hour of unsaved work. Secondly, while not automatic, relaunching the crashed application is almost instant.

The result of these three elements together is that users are not punished for finding defects in the software. Isn’t that the way it should be?

There’s this feeling in the Mac community that you should avoid the first iteration of any new Apple product. Yet back at the beginning of this decade I went out and foolishly put £350 down on a first generation iPod. Sure, it looks clunky now. It’s bigger and lower capacity than the current revisions, has a monochrome screen and the scroll-wheel actually rotates. But for a version one product it was remarkably well rounded.

The same is kind of true of the first generation iPhone. Most complaints have been about missing features like GPS or 3G data. This side of the Atlantic there have been complains about the lack of MMS (which is pretty lame for such an expensive phone). But, for me, the only significant missing feature is a to-do list. Yes, I know I can use the Notes application, but will that sync with iCal? (No in case you didn’t know.)

In fact, Where I Think iPhone Went Wrong is probably not something that will make any list of bullet points on a Jobs Keynote. It’s pretty much a single use-case: one handed operation.

One of the things that really bugged me about Windows Mobile¹ is that almost everything required the use of the stylus. Not only was the stylus small and easy to lose, it requires both hands to operate the phone. Not great when you’re trying to make a call while carrying a latte or juggling several items at the supermarket and calling your significant other for advice on which to purchase.

The iPhone is way better than Windows Mobile in this regard, but there are two areas where it doesn’t work quite so well:

• Multi-touch. Clearly this is a key feature for Apple, and rightly so. The pinch gesture is unique as far as I know, intuitive and works well. But you need two hands! One to hold the phone, the second to swipe the screen. Let’s say you open a graphical email message. The sizing is all wrong of course and you need to zoom in. In addition to the pinch you can also double-tap. Except that’s quite tricky to do with your thumb and half the time you end up accidentally tapping a link and switching over to Safari. What I’d like to see is something like the Photos application. If you’re holding the machine vertically and a landscape image appears you simply rotate the handset. The same trick works with wide web-pages, but not mail messages. Pain.
• Orientation awareness. This is kind of related. Why does Safari know which way you’re holding your phone but mail does not? Worse, except by experience, how can you know which applications support switching orientation and which do not? (You can’t.)

These probably sound like very small points but when everything else works so well they stand out. I don’t think this is really a fundamental problem. It’s just fit-and-finish, that final 10% of software development that takes 90% of the time.

I am hoping that Apple gets around to fixing it soon — I need this much more than the much-hyped and almost due “enterprise” functionality — but if not then the title of this post allows me two follow up posts entitled “Some More of iPhone’s Greatest Mistakes” and “Who is this iPhone Person Anyway?”² I am looking forward to not having to write them.

1. The version with the stylus is, I think, these days known as Windows Mobile Professional. There’s also a version for actual phones rather than PDAs with built in phones that works only using a key-pad. Maybe I chose the wrong WM device.↩
2. This is a reference to Oolon Colluphid’s god-busting trilogy.↩

• Everything you ever wanted to know about "Rickrolling"… - The man who sang "Never gonna give you up," the classic Stock-Aitken-Waterman pop song, makes an unexpected come back. (What's wrong with Debbie Gibson by the way?!)
• Lies and Statistics - Most people in Britain believe that Jesus rose from the dead. Or do they…?
• Our Bad. Wired Had Some Tips For Apple — We Were Wrong. - Fascinating to see how much things have changed in the last ten years.

• Dear ISP, I am not a target market - "Some things should just not be for sale, no matter what assurances are on offer or who they come from. Regardless of how the data is acquired and processed, and despite the powerful ISP friends Phorm has made since the PeopleOnPage days, spyware is spywa
• Happy now, bitches? - A fair and balanced analysis of yesterdays announcement of the iPhone software developer kit and "enterprise" functionality.
• Polls say 88% want EU referendum - About a year ago the Daily Mail (I think) published a poll saying pretty much the same thing. But they also asked "Do you understand the Libson treaty?" and about the same percentage of people said "No." (Can anyone find a link?) Is democracy best served

• Fifty years of LEGO - Best. Toy. Ever. And still going strong.
• Polish IT worker calculates exact speed of snail mail - Apparently snail mail is actually slower than a snail.
• For those who thought that the MacBook Air had no use… - It’s odd that Steve Jobs didn’t mention any of these uses though.

My first reaction was to hate it.

Actually, no. My first reaction was what a cute, almost-square book. My second was to hate it. It’s only a few pages into it and Levy is already discussing his great taste in music and disparaging mine (”… a pathetic Pet Shop Boys tune, the sort of thing that Nick Hornby would listen to on a bad day.”)

It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. But — step back — what was I expecting? Well, the blurb on the back tells you that you can learn how the iPod became the defining object of the 21st century. Having read most of Steven Levy’s previous books, the obvious point of comparison was “Insanely Great,” the story of the Macintosh. But while the Mac took several years to put together, the iPod took only around six months. In hindsight maybe it’s pretty obvious that it’s not all the trials and tribulations of putting the machine together.

So what is it? In some ways this is the technology version of Alain de Botton’s “The Art of Travel.” It doesn’t so much talk about the making of the iPod as discuss the experience of owning and using one.

For example, one chapter is on the idea of “shuffle” and how people use it and attach super-human abilities to its ability to select the most appropriate mixes while theoretically being entirely random. Even when he talks about the design it’s more along the lines of how it makes people feel. One interesting observation was that when people speak about the iPod, they invariably reach into their bag or pocket to retrieve their machine and start touching it, pressing the controls, polishing the screen. How many other gadgets evoke this kind of sentimental reaction?

Certainly much mirrors my own experience. I remember sitting on the tube on the way home from Tottenham Court Road after buying a first generation iPod, the tiny cube¹ that it was packaged in sat on my knee, and thinking, “I can’t believe I just spent £350 on a Walkman.”² Yet when I got home and started using it, any doubt vanished and quickly it became my most prized gadget.

In fact, as I type this my fifth generation iPod is on the blink. The emotional impact of this neat pile of components being on the verge of failing is quite unlike almost any other gadget I own.

Anyway, I was writing about the book “The Perfect Thing” and not my own experience, so let’s get back to the point. If you’ve ever read any other Levy books (or his column in Newsweek) you’ll know that he has an easy, engaging style and this book is no different. He covers all the bases, touching on everything from the design to downloading music from the Internet (and the fun that Apple had making iTunes) to Podcasts.

Given that it’s more about the experience of owning an iPod the fact that it’s already dated — there’s no mention of the iPhone, the Touch or the current range of Nano’s — is less of an issue than I initially expected.

Overall it’s much more of a “fluff” piece than most of his other books, but that does not make it any less entertaining or complete. Worth a read, just not as highly recommended as “Crypto” or “Insanely Great.”

1. I suppose 2001 was when the G4 cube still held the promise of being successful.↩
2. In fact I was lucky to get away with that. A number of shops, having just one machine left, wanted to charge me more that list price. I knew I wanted one but not that much.↩