Apple Phone Show Episode 11

iPhone's Accessibility and Safari for iPhone

Run Time: 31:00

Host:

Scott Bourne: Podcastgearguy.com, OnlineMediaTips.com and iLifeZone.com

Special Guests:

Chris Breen: MacWorld Magazine and Playlist Magazine

Andy Ihnatko: Colossal Waste of Bandwidth and The Chicago Sun Times

Let's just get right into it, shall we?

Can people with physical challenges really use the iPhone? Someone who's completely blind? Probably not. The iPhone is a mostly visual device, but people who aren't completely blind may have less of a problem then you would think due to the bigger buttons while dialing. Shelly contacted us to tell us that the potential for usability on the iPhone was much higher because, unlike the BlackBerry, there are no small keys to deal with. Cory, a listener with cerebral palsy, loves being able to just tap a name and make a call. The big bright screen works well for him and his limited ability to move. Other listeners have pointed out that the zoom feature, large keypad, and other features, do actually make it easier to use. The phone is also TTY compatible with the purchase of an adapter. On balance, Apple has done a good job of making the phone accessible for the disabled, and we'd love to hear from you at applephoneshow@gmail.com. Share your thoughts with us and we may use them in a future episode!

And now the real Andy Ihnatko from the Chicago Sun Times with his opinions on Safari for the iPhone.

Andy says most browsers on other phones are like a BLT without bacon. Seriously lacking. Safari is one of the superstars of the iPhone. Andy finds himself grabbing his iPhone for a quick web lookup more often than his PowerBook. As long as he doesn't need Flash, the iPhone is an able substitute.

Scott points out that Flash being missing is one of those big honking counterpoints to the iPhone's claim of a desktop browser. Andy isn't fully convinced that it matters that much, and says that Adobe doesn't really want you using Flash for a whole site interface anyway; it's meant as an enhancement. Andy has had numerous discussions with people who don't get that idea. Flash is becoming more important, but that could be said for not having Real Player either. There are logical limits to how much you can put into a phone interface.

Scott says that before the iPhone Devcamp, he spoke to developers and Adobe employees. Adobe hopes that Apple will put Flash into Safari. Walt Mossberg thinks that it'll be coming very shortly. Scott points out that there are plenty of phones out there that don't do Flash and Andy notes that even though there are mobile versions of Flash, no mobile version guarantees full compatibility with Flash-based sites.

A reader on the Apple Phone Show blog claims there hasn't been a good unbiased review of Opera vs. Safari. Andy points out that Opera is out there for a lot of phones that can run Java and there's a very good new beta. Opera pushes the page through a proxy that will translate the page onto your smaller screen before your phone opens it. Andy says it's the closest implementation of the iPhone browser possible that could run on a wide range of hardware. Safari's big feature is that it renders pages correctly as they render on your desktop and it's familiar to Safari users with added zooming, etc. Opera is close to this. The nice part of Safari is that the UI disappears to a degree where as in Opera it doesn't. It's also not as accurate at rendering pages. It's not as fast as Safari, and it's not a touch UI in the same way Safari is. Opera is a beta, and it does work on a wide variety of phones, though. All those things taken into consideration, if the iPhone is a 10, Opera is a B- according to Andy with everything else being a C or D-. Andy points out that even with a weaker browser, some people would still choose that weaker browser over a better one if it were on a 3G phone. It all depends on the pages you visit.

Andy visited New York and used his iPhone for all his news and blog reading because the place he was staying didn't have WiFi.

Andy points out that even though you have to install it, it's not like a typical install. You click on a URL on the Opera site, and it installs. It runs some tests to make sure you can run Opera and then just works. Andy points out that this is very different from other phone software installations.

Scott asks if Flash on the iPhone would "seal the deal." Andy isn't sure but he concedes that having it would amount to huge "shut the hell up" points. Alex Lindsay thinks that there's a chance Apple won't put Flash on the iPhone because they have futuristic plans for Quicktime. Andy doesn't necessarily agree with that based on the amount of pull you need to make that happen.

And now the news with Chris Breen!

There's lots going on in the iPhone universe.

1. Hackers have yet to unlock the iPhone. DVD Jon has done a little bit of decrypting of the activation process, but no one has unlocked it for application installs or AT&T's network. So far, nothing to show for it. Chris points out that people have bricked their iPhone trying to hack it to put custom ringtones on it. Advice? Don't. If you do, running the Restore from iTunes may help, but no guarantees. Be careful out there.