In my last post I started my review of the iPhone having two month's use under my belt. The last post covered the first two applications on the top row: SMS and Calendar. This post will finish up the top row with my thoughts on the Photos and Camera applications.
Photos: First, let's look at the good. The photo albums are a great way to keep photos organized and works well on the iPhone. In like manner, the "Camera Roll" is a good way to categorize recent photos taken with the iPhone. After choosing an album, the thumbnails and the ability to "flick" through them makes it extremely easy to find the picture you are looking for. Finally, the presentation capability built into the iPhone is unmatched on any other smartphone.
Other nice features include the ability to "pinch" the image to resize it, the ability to rotate the phone for landscape images, and the ease with which the user can email an image (or upload to .mac if you have that service--which I don't).
All-in-all, the features available make the photos application powerful and easy to use. But there is also a lot missing that would be expected in a smartdevice in this class. First, I keep many photos on my phone. It would be nice to have access to the properties so I can see when a photo was taken and the file's name. Related to the photo's properties, it would be nice to be able to name a photo in the Camera Roll and assign it to an album--including the ability to create a new album. In turn, iTunes should be sophisticated enough to sort all this out and keep your photos in sync on the desktop.
Another feature available on other smartphone such as the Treo is the ability to attach multiple phones to a single email message. While the argument that single attachments are a performance issue with the EDGE network, it isn't on WiFi where I spend a lot of time.
Camera: it is really hard to criticize the iPhone's camera. Sure it could be a higher resolution, but realistically the 2 mega-pixel camera is more than adequate for photo assignments where I wouldn't have a higher resolution camera available. The color, contrast, and low-light capability are better than any camera I've seen on a phone. I even like the fact that the shutter does not close until you lift your finger from the camera button (as opposed to the typical camera which closes the shutter when you depress the button).
The big disadvantage, as mentioned in numerous reviews and blogs is the lack of a camcorder function. Originally, I did not think this was a big deal, but I never realized how often and how many videos I took with my old Treo. The lack of a camcorder is a major feature gap for the camera.
I will be publishing my thoughts on the second row applications in the near future. In the meantime, if you have comments or additional suggestions for Apple, please let me know.
Walter W. Casey, Ph.D.
Sent from my iPhone
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