Yesterday, to celebrate Independence Day, I engaged in a very American activity: shopping. While I was at the mall, I stopped by the Apple Store to check out iPhone firsthand. Yes, I actually got a chance to play around with the new, cool phone that everyone is talking about.

 

Overall, my conclusion is wow—finally a consumer-grade rather than business-focused smartphone. iPhone was pretty comfortable to hold, and I found its features for the most part impressive.

 

At first, I admit I was a bit concerned about the usability of the touch-screen keyboard that pops up whenever you set out to complete a task requiring typing. On my initial attempts I kept pressing the wrong letter because the “keys” are pretty close to one-another.

 

But then my husband, who was fiddling with another of the iPhones on display next to me, suggested that I try holding my finger down on each “key” to get confirmation via the larger letter that pops up above the “key.” (See this video for an example.) If you press and hold down, the letter isn’t typed—that happens once you remove your finger. In fact, if you keep your finger on the screen, you can scroll sideways/up and down until you find the letter you want.

 

With this new method, the touchscreen keyboard suddenly became usable and I excitedly began exploring the Web functions of iPhone. I mapped out a route to my sister’s place in Boston, and noticed as I did so that iPhone is its own sort of GPS tool since you can scroll through point-by-point directions after mapping a trip.

 

I also typed in “Chinese food” and my ZIP code, and quickly found several options. I was duly impressed by how easy it was to select the restaurant I wanted, and simply by tapping the screen initiate a call to that eatery.

 

I was also pretty impressed by iPhone’s Web browsing capabilities. Unlike with traditional smartphones, iPhone actually uses a full version of the Safari browser to load regular Web pages, not being limited to content designed specifically for mobile devices. It’s very easy to shrink or enlarge Web pages using the famous finger pinch. I also appreciated that fact that, when typing in URLs, a special “.com” button appears on the screen as a shortcut to save typing time.

 

I admit, though, that I probably wouldn’t spend a lot of time reading Web pages on the iPhone’s screen; big thought it may be big compared to other smartphone displays, it’s still a lot tinier than a desktop or laptop monitor. For in-depth, text-heavy research, my computer still is a better tool.

 

Playing around with iPhone, I quickly began to understand that a new type of Web is emerging—the mobile Web. This Web is not about surfing and reading pages of text (though you certainly can do that with iPhone) but rather about quickly looking up and then using information convenient at a particular moment or in a particular location. With iPhone, I could find a nearby Chinese restaurant, give a call to check their hours, and then map my way to the eatery. Very cool.

 

I definitely see the potential of iPhone to revolutionize the consumer smartphone industry. The only thing I see standing in the way of a real revolution is connectivity infrastructure; until wireless Internet coverage (preferably WiFi or WiMAX) reaches near 100 percent in the majority of locations, iPhone’s usefulness will be limited. We’re well on our way to such coverage, of course. (Some areas are there already, others have a long way to go.)

 

If you’ve tried out iPhone yourself, let me know what you think.