iPhone gets the details right

Five minutes in the life of an iPhone:

I've been using the iPod part of my iPhone a lot to listen to music at work (instead of an actual iPod), partly because it's so much fun to glance over and see the big, bright album art while songs are playing. Yesterday, I needed to call two local newspapers. So, sitting in my office and listening to music, I used my laptop to look up the phone number of the first newspaper, then walked outside to make the call. I grabbed the iPhone and kept listening to music as I walked outside.

When I got outside, I navigated to the phone part of the iPhone. The music kept playing as I dialed the number. When I pressed the Call button, the music gently faded out, and the call went through. Soon I was talking to the first newspaper using the hidden mic in the iPhone ear buds. While I was talking, I was put on hold, and I realized I could use the phone to look up the other newspaper's number while I was waiting. I went to the Safari app and started searching for the second newspaper's number. When I did, a thin strip appeared at the top of the screen with the text "Touch to return to call". Neat.

After I finished my first call, the person at the other end hung up. The phone figured out the call was over, faded the music back in and started playing where it left off. Meanwhile, I was looking at the web page with the second phone number I needed to call. I noticed the phone number was underlined, like a hyperlink, so I touched it. A confirmation box appeared with Cancel and Call buttons. I touched call, the music faded out, and the second call happened.

This time, the iPhone didn't detect when the call ended, so I pressed the "Touch to return to call" strip, which took me back to the phone screen, where I touched End Call. Once again, the music faded back up and resumed where it left off.

I've never owned a smartphone before, and maybe your smartphone works this well, but I came away from this brief experience feeling satisfied about how well Apple had nailed lots of little details.