Rick tells me, with more than a chortle in his voice, that Apple are to offer bug-fixing iPhone software update… oh goody… If you follow my pathetic twitterings you’ll know that I’m unlucky when it comes to iPhones. I was planning to take this one (my second) back because it doesn’t work (none of the apps stay open) and doesn’t do 3G (which for a 3G phone is sort of lame).

I think of Jef Raskin every day when I go to the Contacts app on the iPhone. Jef gave us (well me at least) the notion of interface notation which is a means of quantifying whether or not one interface is more efficient than another. And every day… the iPhone’s Contacts app is screaming at me, “IF THE KEYBOARD WAS ALREADY OPEN WHEN ENTER THE CONTACTS APP, I COULD BOTH TYPE AND SCROLLY-SCROLLY TO GET TO MY CHOSEN CONTACT”… Which in Raskin terms, would be a demonstrably better interface, taking fewer clicks in more situations - like a win-win scenario. Part of this whole problem is brought on because the Contacts app seems to freeze when you open it (anyone else get this?).

I must be particularly unlucky with iPhones because someone on the GeekUp list managed to drop theirs in the bath, and following some very precise “what to do when you drop your iphone in the bath” instructions (worth a read for when the innevitable happens), managed to get it going again. Astonishing! … that someone on the GeekUp list bathes.

I wonder if Apple do any real usability testing anymore. Apart from my iPhone glitches, I’m starting to notice (like you do when you notice something, then see it absolutely everywhere) that I do seem to spend a LOT of time working around the interface.

Here’s an example. Whilst downloading some software, I went to the “stacks” icon to go an select it but as my mouse got nearer the stack moved off-screen. It’s quite hard to explain and almost comical to watch, the end result is spending lots of frustrating time doing things like moving windows, closing windows, hiding the desktop just to do something very simple (like open the thing you’ve just downloaded).

These interface avoidance techniques suggest to me that Apple are (conceptually) broke. Or is it just that I need a 6 foot screen.

As an exercise, watch yourself today as you use the computer and notice those things you do that really shouldn’t need doing, that you manage to do almost “in a dream” on the way to “getting things done”… and after a while you’ll be as boring, frustrated and insane as I am.