This Should Work

It’s a small step in the direction of Stormtroopers on Speeder bikes. Someone in the UK invented a helmet to help bikers with asthma breath better ( and look cool/scary while doing so).

and I’m still not going to buy one. But it’s easily the coolest mobile device I’ve seen.

I was at a meeting yesterday with some folks from another tech department and as the meeting was winding down, one of the guys stood up and I saw the device on his hip. “Hey, is that the iPhone?” I asked.

“Yes it is.” he said as he pulled it out of the holder to hand it to me.

“How did you know it was an iPhone” someone asked.

“Saw a device with a large screen and one button at the bottom. I don’t know of any other device with that design.”

After unlocking the phone by sliding my finger across the screen, I started the Notes program to get a feel for the the virtual keyboard. I started by trying to type my name. No problems with my first, so I started typing my last name a little faster which turned out horribly. I kept typing-trying it using both two thumb typing as well as one finger typing-with moderate success.

I next flipped through photos and tried the “pinch” move to zoom in on photos and it worked as advertised. The iPod functions work well enough, but I found it a little tedious to sroll through the music library with my finger. I’m used to using the click-wheel on my iPod to quickly move through my library; it seems easier to move my finger in a clock-wise motion then to drag my finger vertically on the iPhone screen.

The web browsing was pretty impressive, but I was using the wi-fi and not cellular network.

If this device were not a phone, I might buy one if the price was $499 (as opposed to the current $599 + 2-year contract). Even though it’s one-third the capacity of my almost maxed-out iPod (8GB vs. 30GB), I would consider it because of the wi-fi capabilities. There are rumors of a new touch-screen iPod due in August, but if it’s just a prettier way to scroll through your music, then I’ve got little need for it.