Rethinking the iPhone

Over the past few years I’ve been an iPhone loyalist of sorts, carrying one iPhone or another in my front left pocket day in and day out since shortly after they first arrived on the market. However, the iPhone 4 hasn’t really grabbed me - other than the improved camera - so I’m a bit adrift.

Before the iPhone, I was a huge fan of the T-Mobile Sidekick (née Danger Hiptop) phones, due to both the clever and smooth UI as well as the fantastic flip-out keyboard. Especially with the Sidekick LX, I got to the point that I was nearly able to touch-type with the thing, and could easily hit 30-35 words per minute with minimal peeking at the keyboard.

Since I’m also very fast at typing on the computer keyboard (I frequently do near real-time verbatim capture of notes during research interviews), I was very frustrated when I first started using the iPhone virtual keyboard. The problem is that, rather than wearing off, the frustration has just increased - to the point where I also carry around a tiny notebook and a pen rather than trying to tap notes-to-self into the iPhone.

And yes, I do use the ‘type like mad and let the iPhone autocorrect the stream of characters’, which works reasonably well for long prose but is lousy for email addresses, URLs, abbreviations, and pretty much everything else that I am actually using the iPhone for.

We bought a high-end Blackberry recently in order to test some applications for a client, and I thought that the legendary Blackberry keyboard would solve the problem. However, the only outcome of that test was a deep feeling of sadness for anyone carrying a Blackberry and dealing with that combination of operating system and physical keyboard. Really, I mean that - I just want to walk up and hug them, and give them a coupon for some sort of modern mobile phone.

So a week or so ago, I got out the old Sidekick LX and charged it up, thinking about possibly activating it while it’s still possible (T-Mobile just stopped selling Sidekick devices, so I’m guessing we’ve got 12-18 months before they shut down the entire back end service). Unfortunately, technology has passed the platform by, and things I’ve grown to rely upon just aren’t there any more (IMAP, primarily), so the Sidekick went back into the drawer.

All that said, I recently posted a report that we did on the Google Nexus One and Android UI, and despite the report being somewhat critical of the rough edges on the Android, it sparked a renewed interest in Android phones. A few days later, I found myself standing at a T-Mobile store staring at the Android-powered MyTouch 3G Slide - which is somewhat of a evolutionary next step beyond the Sidekick - and marveling at its fantastic little keyboard and excellent layer on top of the Android OS. And now with a bit of research, I’m finding other goodies like the Motorola Flipout (pictured, not yet available in the US market).

Ahh, the joys of being off-contract…