iPhone and long nails – recipe for text disaster
April 2, 2010
And so I have finally relented to the technological tyrant that is Apple and have treated myself to a nifty little iPhone. Yes, it’s lovely – looks great, feels great and I can now call myself a ”proper” journalist (Rory Cellan-Jones told us in a lecture last semester that noone would take you seriously in the journo world if you didn’t have one!) But I have also experienced some teething problems.
There's a gap in the market for a nail-friendly iPhone
Basically, my long nails are making it hard to type letters on the touch keypad and I’m finding myself looking like Mini-Me from Austin Powers as I use my little finger to type a text. Hardly the slick action I expected from my iPhone purchase. I’m frustrated that my index-finger nail can’t be used instead of the finger and my friend Lizzie informed me I’m not the only woman who has been annoyed by this. An article by the LA Times in June 2008 (OK, I’m two years behind but better late than never) says that nails can’t be used because the iPhone only reacts to swipes of the finger. This is not good for women with long nails, like myself, and the sad fact is, there doesn’t seem to be any progression towards developing a nail-friendly iPhone. What a shame – definitely a gap in the market.
Although the iPhone has an automatic word search if wrong letters are inputted, there have been times where I’ve pressed the button that’s two buttons down to the one I actually want, and a random word comes up instead, so the word search isn’t always effective.
On the plus side, the apps are very impressive and I’m especially excited to use the aroundme app when I’m at work experience at new! magazine in London Bridge next week. And maps is a handy tool as I am not the best at directions, so I will definitely use that frequently. I also love the fact that you can see the message history you’ve had with somebody as sometimes you ask a question, forget what you’ve asked, they respond “yes” or “no” and you’re sat there for 10 minutes trying to remember what you asked. With the pretty colour co-ordinated speech bubbles containing past correspondence, I know exactly where I am.
Overall the iPhone is a sexy, useful accessory, even if my nails are getting in the way of typing coherent text messages. I may have to sacrifice long nails in my quest to become a “proper” journalist – “Such commitment,” I hear you ladies say. Absolutely.
