I didn't buy an iPhone, but I was lucky enough to run down a few features on one this weekend. Sadly my camera wasn't up to macro video on a backlit device (silly Casio), but I did manage to snag a few pics that give a little peek into the average operation of the iPhone.

A couple of things caught my attention while playing. Yes, it was designed by angels. But it was heavier than I thought it would be, given previous descriptions. That's glass and battery folks, make no mistake. As usual, Apple's engineers have balanced the thing so it doesn't feel awkward. Typing wasn't bad, and the mantra "trust the keyboard" is true. The balance and weight feels good in your hands as you type, unlike some smartphones I've used. However, you can't flip the keyboard while typing. That caught me completely unaware. I called up a new Safari page, and when it went to type in the URL, I had meant to try thumb-typing. But you have to back out of the keyboard first, which wasn't exactly intuitive. In fact, it reminds me of old frustrations with modal dialogs in pre-OS X days.

Another curiosity was bringing up the movie playback interface. Initially I had trouble activating stuff easily because I was using a light touch. The Apple fanboy in me was afraid to poke the glass too hard, I suppose. But once you realize this was designed to take the kind of abuse an old boxer like C.K. might dish out, you realize the thing is pretty tough. Clearly this is also to prevent accidental brushes from bringing up controls, but I had to be told how to bring up the playback stuff (you don't just touch the screen). One neat trick: playback of embedded QuickTime content goes fullscreen. That was a nice touch.

From what I was told, Notes don't sync with anything! Sure, the new page flip is cute and the trashing a note eye-candy is cool, but what's the use of this? I guess it's a compelling reason to upgrade to Leopard, since it'll most likely sync with Mail's new Notes feature. Plus, there appeared no To-Do mechanism. That, for me, is a big problem. I'm constantly setting timed reminders. Without that, a lot of my GTD functionality is broken on the iPhone.

Almost everything else really was butter. Tasty, salty butter. The Timer, for example, is a dream for parents. It is incredibly easy to set for variable time-outs, or those inevitable "just 5 more minutes!" But the killer app has to be Google Maps. It's no Garmin GPS thing that'll talk you through your next stop, but it does a great job of providing you with relevant, important information when you need it. And it does this so easily I found myself giggling at the novelty.

You can tell Apple was testing how tight they can get manufacturing with those nano's before they made this thing. The space around the SIM slot is minute. Sure, you can't use a lot of headphones with the thing, but if you look at the construction, there's not a lot to do about that right now. The owner of this unit had it in his pocket, with keys, most of the day. And not a scratch was to be seen. They're definitely using a better coating these days!

Aside from a few inadequacies, everything works like magic and is truly a revelation to use, much like the first Mac. Be sure to check out the gallery with more commentary on the apps I tried out (including the nifty Calculator). After only 20 minutes, I'm in love. The battery died, however, with timely reminders, so I ended my love affair until my current phone contract expires.