6. The Interface

We've seen so many iPhone screens and read so much about the device's user interface that it's almost unnecessary to discuss it. But, let me give you a quick once over from my perspective.

First here's one piece of information that might not be obvious. The iPhone has a skin (finger) touch screen. There is no stylus. I and most new iPhone users have already experienced one situation where we wished it did. Keep reading.

There is a button on top of the iPhone. You use it to turn the phone on and off. It took 12 seconds for the phone to go from fully off to fully on. Typical of almost all smartphones, things like the phone itself and alarms do not work when the phone is powered off. You can also use the button on top of the iPhone to put the phone into and awaken it from power saving sleep mode. In sleep mode the phone is fully functional. So, for example, it can receive calls and sound alarms.

Using the graphical user interface you can set the delay before the phone goes into sleep mode to 1-5 minutes or Never. You also set can set a passcode (password) that has to be entered when the phone comes out of sleep mode.

The easiest way to take the iPhone out of sleep mode is with the iPhone's mechanical Home, button which is below the display. This wakes up the phone (immediately), puts up a little graphical slider and asks you to slide the slider to unlock the phone. You swipe a finger from left to right to move the graphical slider. If you've chosen to use a passcode, you have to enter that before you're allowed back into the phone. If you were anywhere but on the main menu (Home) screen, in email for example, you see the last screen you were on.

If you ever get lost in menus, the iPhone has a great way to get you back on track. Just push the good old Home button and the Home screen pops up immediately.

Speaking of immediately, I have been really impressed with the sheer speed of the iPhone. We're talking around one second for the phone to move from screen-to-screen. There are a few cases where it may take a little longer, but the wait is still hardly noticeable.