Another serious problem with the iPhone interface is the placement of the 'Cancel' button in the "New Contact" screen. There's no reason to let the user throw away their just-entered contact in one step, especially when the 'Cancel' button is placed where the 'Back' button is on other screens.

Yep this is a problem. I also don't like how I have to press 'Save' to store the contact. Too often have I entered in all the information only to hit the Home button and lose the entire contact.

Also in Mail, the 'Trash' button is at the bottom directly over the Home button. Sometimes I try to push the Home button and slightly miss, deleting the message I was reading. In the worst cases, I'll hit 'Trash' and then the Home button, not even realizing that I have deleted a message. I wish I could just disable the 'Trash' button as I use Gmail and don't need it.

But in Mail, the Trash button makes you confirm the deletion. You'd have to accidentally press the 'Trash' button, and then accidentally press the 'Delete Message' button too (which is bright red and a whole inch away from the Home button).

Not necessarily. There's a setting which makes the Trash button delete without asking confirmation. Not sure if it's on by default.

Thank you. I have "Ask Before Deleting" turned off. I am also unsure what the default setting is. Nonetheless, Apple should not put delete buttons near the most-used button. Especially on a touchscreen with zero mechanical feedback.

Ive been visiting this site for a while...were not alone!

http://pleasefixtheiphone.com/

The lack of Multimedia messaging on apparently the worlds most advanced phone is my biggest gripe.

With the e-mail functionality so well done, mms seems a little redundant. I would call it ahead of its time for dropping mms. However... I will say the way it handles it is annoying... You have to log in to some site to view it? Why not just convert it to an e-mail?

While the iPhone is ringing, if you tap the power button twice quickly, it will send the caller to voicemail. A single tap will silence the ring. I thought most iPhone users googled lists of iPhone tips and tricks.

I prefer this over fumbling around trying to push the "Decline" or "Answer" button. In fact, I would argue that Apple has a better design. Here's why:

If your phone starts ringing in, say a classroom, and its stuck deep in your bag annoying everybody; you don't have to pull it, look at the screen, and annoy everybody even more. Instead you can reach in your bag, find the power button, push it, and be done with it.

Google? For whatever reason as soon as I got the first call I didn't want to answer on the iPhone my first instinct was to press the power button. I think I've used this trick on other phones before the iPhone came out, but I'm not entirely sure. It just felt like the natural thing to do.

Thanks! I knew about the single click, but not the double...

I've never noticed this problem. But then again I'm not popular enough to have to decline very many calls.

Can someone recommend other useful articles on context vs consistency?

Jakob Nielsen's useit.com is a great source where you may find many interesting studies covering these subjects.

sorry you got downvoted for that perfectly innocuous comment you made, which also happens to be your very first. don't take it personally.

me and at least one other person voted you back up to 1, which usually happens after unfair downvotes.

I'm not sure if this is true for HN, but I've noticed elsewhere that some people seem to dislike Nielsen and his work, often because their first experience with him is his website, which looks old and ugly.

What these people often fail to realize is that while the website isn't flashy and "nice", it accomplishes its goal, which is to convey information. Nielsen is one of the leading UI experts, and the way I see it you can disagree with him, but you can't just ignore him or write him off, because he can back most, if not every, of his claims with empirical data from the studies he's conducted.

Nielsen's site certainly accomplishes its goal, but what the goal is, in my opinion, is more subtle and complex than simply the conveyance of information.

I would suggest that Nielsen's site, by virtue of the fact it is a site about usability, makes the reader question the decisions of Nielsen's site carefully. In turn, this promotes dialog on what effective design is.

Perhaps this is a bit of a stretch as I am no expert on usability, but I couldn't help noticing my mind wander and wonder at the title of his site, why is the 'use' in red? Why did he choose the "stickies" colors? Why in that order? And so on.

Nielsen readily admits that the usability of his site is bad, but it is distinctive looking.

Again, I would say the same thing-- A "bad" usability website underlines the importance of "good" design, and promotes dialog in the process.

It's alright. I wouldn't even have known that if you didn't tell me. At this moment there seem to be more people appreciating that comment. I'm glad but I do tend not to take things like that too personally.

So thank you for the advice and voting me back up. :)

My biggest peeve is that 'End Call' is a full-width button that I end up hitting very often mid-call. Why couldn't it be a slider too?

I suppose the proximity sensor that turns off the screen when the phone is pressed against your ear during a call is supposed to prevent this from happening (though the proximity sensor itself is definitely not problem-free).

This is yet another moment where I'm glad the G1 has retained physical Send/End buttons on the phone, so that I can always just know exactly where to press at any point to start and end calls. Fewer buttons does not always create a better interface...

On a similar vein I've always wished for a "call back and delete" button on the voice mail.