First of all, iPhone4 does not mean iPhone 4G! Apple has branded their phone in a way that suggests it has got 4th generation mobile broadband capabilities whereas it doesn’t. As far as I’m concerned, the upcoming HTC Evo is the only handset so far equipped with such a feature. But it doesn’t really matter anyway as here in the UK there are at the moment no 4G infrastructures.

Then comes the feature that should transform the way we communicate: video calling. Video calling effectively combines audio and video, and is indeed a step ahead of traditional phone usage. But this is no breakthrough. Six years ago, I was already using a phone (manufactured by Sharp at the time) that allowed me to talk and watch my interlocutor at the same time. But the video calling concept never really took off and fell into oblivion until now. However the main issue that resides in the iPhone4’s new feature is that it only works through the WiFi. In other words users need to be connected to a WiFi network to place video calls. And this goes without saying that the receiver must also possess a phone capable of interpreting and displaying the video signal.

This brings me to my third point: the iPhone4 WiFi capabilities. Apple’s handheld devices are not particularly renowned for embedding powerful WiFi aerials, be it the iPhones series or the iPad. The iPhone4 surely doesn’t escape the rule. Proof is Steve Jobs’ Keynote speech last April: his demo of the iPhone4 was plagued by slow WiFi connection issues.

And last but not least, many iPhone4 customers reported signal reception issues, depending on how they were holding the device. This is certainly bad press for the device, especially as there are no quick fixes for the problem. In response, Apple told its customers “not to hold the device the wrong way”. This was a bit uncalled-for and shows that Apple should definitely start thinking about doing some sort of user research.

In sum, the iPhone4 is definitely far from being the perfect next generation mobile device. But don’t get me wrong; the new iPhone is a nice piece of electronics and my intention was not to discard it. Yet it is still not as good as you think.

Before opening the box I’d already heard the damming reports of the phone immediately losing reception when held in the hand.  This sounded ridiculous and I felt like one of the many geeks who had been over excited by a new gimmick and potentially bought it before all the teething issues had been resolved.  It is true, and I have experienced this problem with reception when on calls.  It’s a hideous design fault and even worse that Apple didn’t uncover and rectify the problem before launching the product.  Apparently, Steve Jobs is instructing users to use tape or nail varnish to resolve the issue – but having bought what is supposed to be such an iconic and sophisticated designed product, I’m not going to be ruining it by plastering over Apple’s mistakes.  I have instead had to resort to buying a case for the phone, which means that I no longer experience the loss of reception, but I am now carrying a beautifully designed product within a not so beautifully designed rubber case.    

Anyway, I’ve managed to get over this major design fault and believe it or not, I’m actually really happy with the iPhone4.

Out of the box, even before switching on the phone, it does feel pretty smart and sophisticated. The stainless steel rim and glass back completely convert the phone from feeling soft and curvy (as on 3G/S), to sleek and sexy.  The phone doesn’t actually feel that much thinner in my opinion and it may be a preconception based on the metal material used on the rim, but I can certainly notice the 2grams of extra weight in the 4GS.

As soon as you switch the phone on, the excellent high resolution screen is remarkable.  Images are crystal clear like photographs and colours are bright.  Talking of photographs, the camera is far and beyond the 3G offering – but as I mentioned in my previous blog, it wasn’t a challenge to create an improvement the original camera. With this great feature and integrated flash, you really don’t need to carry around a dedicated digital camera to take shots day-to-day.  Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to try out the FaceTime video calling feature as none of my close friends have managed to get their hands on this hot new phone, but I’ll be sure to blog my experience when I’ve used it.  

I’ve only experienced the 3GS iPhone as a guest user on a friends’ device, so it’s difficult to compare the speed of the device but I am not noticing the 4G phone to be that much quicker when surfing the web (unless connected through wifi, when it’s super speedy!).  I assume this won’t change dramatically until 4G is available throughout the UK…but for that, we could be waiting a while.  This isn’t a show stopper for me.  It’s great to be able to use the Internet whilst out and about, but I really don’t want to be one of those people that have their phone stuck to their hand; constantly checking Facebook or surfing mindless pages on the Internet.  I’ll stick to a book or the newspaper for that kind of entertainment, but having said that – it will be great to answer all those questions that come up and the only response I’ve recently had is “I’ll Google it when I get home”.  Now, I can Google it, there and then.

Although I realise this isn’t something new to the 4G, one thing I am totally impressed by on the iPhone are the zillions and zillions of apps that are available – there literally seems to be something for everything.  And, now with the iPhone4 new feature you can organise them into folders which is imperative given the volume of apps available.  Initially, when delving into the app store I went into overdrive, installing anything free.  However, in reality I wonder which apps will be really useful day to day and which ones really don’t have any place in adding value to my life.  It’s interesting to see which companies have and have not decided to create a dedicated iphone app.  In my next blog, I’ll be looking at which companies are really missing out from not having an app and which apps really have little to no use.  So, if you have any thoughts about that do comment…if not, watch this space.

So, what are some of the new features of iPhone4 that are going to be so special? For me forward facing video calling, is going to be a really good feature (in the main). A number of my close friends live all around the UK so being able to actually see their faces when we chat will be a real bonus and make them feel much closer. This is great. But, I don’t want all my friends, family and colleagues to be able to utilise video calling. What about when I’m working from home in my PJs? Or not feeling I’m looking my best? What’s the etiquette with video calling  if someone asks you to video call, how can you decline without them thinking that you’re hiding something? It will be interesting to monitor social rules around this feature and how they unfold as it becomes more widely used.

Multi-tasking is an essential feature of any smart phone which was overlooked in the launch of the first iPhone. As the number of functions and apps on such a device is so high, the ability to simply switch between them becomes more and more essential and I have never found the Home button on the iPhone good enough to support this. Parallel to this is the new feature to be able to organise apps into folders. Again, given the huge number of apps that are available this is essential to provide come kind of organisation on the Home screens. Currently I see people swiping through pages and pages of vibrantly coloured icons, in the hope of finding the app they’re looking for. 

iBooks is one feature I won’t be utilising. The Apple advert for this app uses a Winnie the Pooh book as an example where there is just one sentence of text displayed on the screen below a large illustration. The advert looks great, displaying such a simple page of a children’s book, but I moved on from Winnie the Pooh a while ago and I can’t imagine the 3.5″ inch screen being a comfortable reading experience for longer books. I know some people have got into the e-reader craze, but these have much larger screens than the iPhone and I therefore don’t think this is one of the top features of the iPhone4.

There area number of other features of the iPhone4 including a 5m.pixel camera which although will be useful, it’s expected in a phone these days. The original camera on the iPhone was way behind, so Apple are only just keeping up with competitors by offering this and I don’t see it as a super-selling feature. Similar to this, they are promising an extended battery life on the iPhone4 which, as far as I’ve been told from friends was horrendous on the original iPhone. Again Apple are just correcting flaws of the older iPhone and these aren’t unique selling points. I did read today that Apple are patenting solar panels to be used in future iPhones to enable users to extend the power even further by simply using the sun. So do I continue my wait for the iPhone until it includes this feature too? I think not. Given UK summers the use of solar panels is probably pretty limited…

I hope to be the proud owner of an iPhone4 at the end of the month, so look out for my next blog reviewing my new toy.

• Connect to my wireless network. All fine, except main CTA (after writing password) was amongst letters and looked equally grey)
• Watch YouTube videos – Eddie Izzard – great experience with the iPad sitting on my legs, picking it up every so often to show my husband who could also participate at a distance.
• Write document – using both hands, feels a bit weird but improving as time goes by.
• Browse the web to check Sandown racecourse events and buy something for my husband – easy
• Browsed photos – again same as with videos – good experience and easy to share with close by people, but how do you delete an album?!
• Read news – great BBC interface

These are the type of tasks I would be doing on a regular basis. I feel the iPad does what it’s supposed to do: browse content more so than create it. A thing to have on your knee and use in the relaxed environment of your lounge.

I find the most comfortable position is with lying on my thigh as I have my legs crossed and writing with both my index fingers.

I kept picking it up as I watched TV and chatted with my family, either to show them something to do with the conversation or look up something on Wikipedia / Google / Google maps.

The iPad is not a necessity, it’s an indulgence. It’s not a work tool, it’s a lifestyle object.

Frank Ma, our man in China, offers a fascinating insight into the mobile state of play in his own vast marketplace. Chris Holmes takes Apple’s latest toy home for the weekend but fails to be seduced by its good looks and charming first impressions. Jamie Barnett examines why Betfair is odds-on to turn its first-to-market mobile betting advantage into solid returns. And finally, Guy Stephens explains why ‘on-the-go’ points to a bright new future for customer service.

I would be very interested to hear from you directly with any feedback.

Paul

In this issue:

Mobile habits made in China

My weekend with the iPad

Gaming cuts loose

Customer service ‘on-the-go’

For the record, I started writing this article on the iPad which I was given to test-drive for the weekend, but its not currently very easy to get any copy off the device when typing in Pages, I had to give up and resort to my laptop.

The brief for this assignment was to use the iPad in as many real life situations as possible. With devices as richly functional as this, there’s a temptation to play with all the apps and gadgets incessantly simply because they’re there. Instead I put my regular computer away and committed to using the iPad for everything for which I would normally use my laptop.

Tasks I performed:

• Connect to home network -- unbelievably easy.
• Browsing the web -- relatively easy, but it takes two clicks to close a web page or navigate between open tabs, which is counter-intuitive. Also you can’t open links in new windows unless it’s coded into the link HTML code.
• Check Gmail -- images don’t display in emails and there’s no easily identifiable option to turn them on. The ‘Compose Email’ link is now a new button. Typing is only usable if you write it all in one go and don’t make mistakes as correcting or going back is extremely difficult.
• Browsing photo albums on Picasa -- very easy, crisp and clear.
• Watching movies -- Avatar in hi-res looked incredible and the built-in speaker was really good, but it’s hard to get the iPad in a watchable position on your lap as it slides. around a lot. No matter what angle it’s impossible not to get screen reflections.
• Booked a table for Sunday lunch -- easy apart from navigation issues, and there was no Wi-Fi in the restaurant and no 3G in this iPad model.
• Researched and created a spreadsheet for an info-graphic project -- easy but formatting was basic and there’s no way of exporting data.
• Browsed for a recipe -- had iPad when cooking, which was very handy.
• Wrote this article -- or attempted to

Navigating web pages is easy and the iPad really comes into it’s own as a display device. Unfortunately some web pages simply aren’t designed to work with touch screen input and I often had trouble making fields big enough to select, getting drop downs to scroll, and selecting from closely grouped links, even in landscape.

Typing itself is cramped and there’s no tactile response like with a physical keyboard despite the pleasing sound of your fingers hitting the glass. There’s also a slight delay between pressing the key and the on state appearing which can be a little off putting, Landscape mode should add extra keys not simply make the keyboard bigger. Quirks like the apostrophe being omitted from the first screen completely ruins rhythm. You can’t key back and forward and it’s very hard to place the cursor with just your finger. There’s no delete button, only backspace, and no tab key.

Ergonomically, the iPad is hard on the wrists both carrying and typing. Realistically, you’d never type one-handed on this thing because even simple touch navigation is agonising. It’s heavy enough to avoid holding in one hand for any length of time, let alone prodding at it repeatedly with the other hand. The only practical way to use it is flat on a table or on your lap, and even then you need a case or something under it to prevent it slipping.

Where the iPad truly excels is as a book replacement: the resolution is incredible and text looks crisp and clear. Cooking was a breeze as the iPad is way more convenient than any hefty cookbook, and I could turn pages with damp or dirty hands without worrying about marking them permanently (although I was deathly afraid of getting flour or water in it). What’s missing, I think, is innovative content worthy of this new paradigm, if indeed that’s what the iPad is. Apple has always been very good at creating devices a few steps ahead, so perhaps the iPad is just a little too far ahead and is waiting for us to catch up.

I can’t help feeling that the iPad could be a great device if it really could do all the things Apple is trying to convince us it can. Apple’s genius lies in reinventing paradigms; by finding new and interesting ways of doing things, and doing them better and in more interesting ways than their competitors. There’s little point comparing it to existing devices because there really is nothing else like it, and Apple should have marketed it appropriately. The closest comparison is the e-reader, which it beats handsomely, but that’s hardly a market which was screaming out to be dominated.

The iPad is a gorgeous device, well designed and well executed, and I really wanted to like it, but for all the enhancements and improvements it brings, for me it introduces too many downsides and inconveniences.

This article was written as part of our May Newsletter.

You may also be interested in viewing our 2 minute video clip on the iPad

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2iYO0Wioog

There are many reasons for this; different screen sizes, platforms, functionality and overall complexity of delivering to different handsets, but one other reason for this neglect is the attitude to online gambling generally in the major US market. Although the industry is still worth many billions of dollars in the US and it is not technically illegal, there has been a stuttering history of acceptance to say the least. The most recent twist could soon make it illegal for financial institutions to knowingly accept payment in online gaming transactions, under a law that is set to take effect next month.

Then of course there is Apple’s own ban on online gambling for its ubiquitous iPhone device. Until recently there was a blanket ban on all forms of mobile gambling by Apple – no access to betting sites or gambling apps – presumably as a direct result of the US stance on online gambling generally. Arguments to enable gambling have frequently come back to the table on a State-by-State basis, but only recently have we begun to see the first big commercial betting brands launch directly on the iPhone.

In early May, UK business Betfair became the first betting firm permitted on Apple’s App Store, immediately increasing mobile revenues for the company by 50 percent. Charles Palmer, head of mobile at Betfair, was quick to highlight the importance of usability and customer experience: “Our iPhone app takes advantage of the handset’s multi-touch interface and high-resolution screen, offering the same core exchange functionality as the main Betfair site.” Arguably though, it was another area of functionality – location-based technology – that was the key enabler for Betfair.

Betfair was an early adopter of KYC (Know Your Customer) verification. Using industry best practice, Betfair chose to deploy KYC to positively identify all its members to demonstrate that it knows who its customers are, how old they are (that they are over 18), where they are and guard against money-laundering practices. This helps Betfair satisfy demand from platform providers such as Apple to prove that they can restrict services precisely to individual national regulations.

Gamblers in the UK and Ireland can now use Betfair today to place bets as soon as their iPhone GPS verifies that they are in their home territory. Instead of just opening up Betfair’s complex main website to the iPhone, the new app has been designed to be as simple and intuitive to use on the move as possible. Not only does it add to Betfair’s already broad ability to target mobile punters through Symbian, Blackberry and Android, it sets a precedent on the iPhone for other betting companies to follow.

Cutting gaming loose across the iPhone is obviously great news for Betfair because it not only provides a new channel, but a huge first to market advantage. It provides healthy revenues for Apple, and of course is very convenient for customers who are far more likely to place bets with an uncluttered app that makes the journey of there money from wallet to betting slip that much smoother.

Despite some concerns about making gambling so easy and convenient, most would accept that this move to mobile was inevitable, and bearing that in mind, it’s gratifying to see companies using advanced mobile technologies not only to ensure security and regulatory compliance, but also to maximise the potential of small screens and compact devices to make the whole experience more enjoyable.

This article was written as part of our May Newsletter

First of all, one can wonder how these rankings are built. As it is rarely clearly stated, we can only suppose that the number of downloads of an app governs its position in the table. But again, over what period of time? Number of downloads in the last month, quarter, year? This brings in the process a lot of vagueness and can surely not be used as a success measurement tool. Moreover, as Jakob Nielsen suggests in his column about iPhone App (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-apps-initial-use.html), users download more app than they actually need and use, which corroborates the idea that the number of downloads is not representative of the usage and can be resorted to as success criterion.

Then comes the question of the popularity of an app. App owners can write comments on the app description pages of the AppStore and rate them on a scale from 1 (negative) to 5 (positive). As a user experience professional, I strive to get the voice of the customer heard by my clients but I don’t consider it to be a viable success measurement method. Personal opinions are very subjective and tend to be only expressed when something goes wrong or incredibly well. Moreover, most of the app ratings derive from the ‘rating prompt’ that pops up on the iPhone when a user decides to delete an app. This biases the results in a negative way.

So how should the success of your app be measured? From a business perspective, the response is simple: the success of an app should be measured just like the success of a website, i.e. by defining and tracking KPI. Most of the apps provide a web-based service, which implies a digital connection between phones and web servers, just like there is a connection between PC and web servers. This allows data to be captured, such as number of information requests, conversion rates, app usage duration, app usage frequency, etc. In terms of web analytics tools, the capture of mobile phone applications usage is only at an embryonic stage but the trend is on the up and some of the current tools on the market are already capable of monitoring app usage.

Boasting about an app being the most used rather than the most downloaded would surely be more credible to end users!

Key criteria for being part of my Top Apps list were:

- clever use of the iPhone capabilities
- simple and user-friendly interface
- addressing a clear and defined user need

And here are the results:

Microphone: Shazam - If you hear a song you like but don’t know the name; 2 taps on your screen will do for Shazam to listen to it and return its title within seconds. Simple, powerful and efficient. That said, I’m now waiting for apps using the voice recognition function. If you know of any…

Camera:  RedLaser -  Converts the camera into a barcode scanner and recognises products when you scan them in stores. It then instantly researches the Internet for the online prices of the scanned items and tells you where you can get the best deal. Genius! Another contestant in the camera category was Camera Plus, which enhances your camera with a zoom and flash (achieved through graphical treatment) functionalities.

GPS: AroundMe - provides location-aware content. It basically gives you a list of restaurants, pubs, banks, car parks… that are in the vicinity of your current location. Yelp and Vicinity come in second and third place and fulfil the same function. GPS Alerts does it the other way round; let the app know you’re looking for a petrol station and it will beep you when you pass by one. Note that I have excluded traditional GPS apps such as Tom-Tom.

Accelerometer: The accelerometer is the feature that detects motion and that is, for instance, responsible for shifting the display from portrait to landscape when you tilt your phone. I haven’t found many non-game apps using this feature and the first clever one that comes to mind is the famous iHandy. iHandy shows a level bar enabling you to measure a surface horizontally. The unbelievable accuracy of the tool means you never have any excuse for having a wonky mirror / shelf again.

Digital compass: digital compass detects which cardinal point the phone is oriented to, provided you don’t hold it vertically. The Acrossair apps as far as I know, use the compass to its full extent and combines it with the camera, GPS and accelerometer features to produce what they call augmented reality. NearestTube for example shows you in 3D where the closest London Underground station is, depending on the orientation of your phone (see picture below).

Feel free to contribute to this post: any top apps pick or short app reviews are very welcome.

I initially went and tried out what is usually the first thing I use a mobile for, sending a text, upon realising how simple that was, I wanted to know how useful some of the applications really are – this is where it got exciting, I could fill a page on the 30 minutes spent ‘playing’ on the phone, the most useful apps for me are anything to do with travel, getting from A to B with minimum fuss – the routes can be displayed in different formats, map, satellite, text with built in compass, and the ease of use is paramount, as someone who uses the internet frequently to plan my journey, I was amazed that it was so much better on the iPhone. Not one normally for games, I spent a good ten minutes ‘driving’ (the phone acts as the steering wheel and it moves extremely well) as for playing the synthsiser, who knew I was so musical?! We even shot a short video, did a quick edit and uploaded it to You Tube within minutes.

Basically I was hugely impressed with the iPhone, it’s slick, sleek style which fits comfortably in the hand, the large clear screen, sound quality, sheer speed and the most useful applications that simply provide a cleaned up version of the internet! A great customer experience and for the first time I can see where the cost of an item like this actually holds it’s value. The iPhone is not only pretty and fun, but useful too.