Maybe this is aready common knowledge, but I just stumbled upon a little time saver in the iPhone mail application. Normally when I want to delete an email, I click the message from the mailbox list and then use the trash can button to dispose of it while viewing the content.

Turns out that its possible to delete directly from the list without having to view the message content. Simply swipe your finger across the message entry in the list. Once you do this a delete button slides in that you can press to trash that spam with extreme prejudice.

No doubt, its hard to imagine what I might say here about the iPhone that you haven’t already seen on any of the dozens of news sites or hundreds of personal blogs out here in the ether. Let me just start by throwing out the obligatory: its not perfect, but man is it a joy to own and use so far.

Every non-techie I have shown it to this weekend has been floored by what it can do and the ease of navigation in the interface. It has been interesting to watch my wife with the iPhone and her brand new Razr. She sails around the iPhone with ease, while regularly cursing the Razr.

In an effort to be relevant I’ll list a few details I’ve noticed and features I’m missing that may not have received as much press elsewhere:

• If you hold your finger over a button or link on a web page it pops up a tip with the action or link listed.
• Bluetooth is weak. No sending contacts or syncing. Its pretty much for pairing with a headset and not much else at this point.
• There is limited RSS support in a web-based reader at mac.com. Clicking on a feed in Safari takes you to the web application.
• After 3 other phones and 2 previous carriers, I finally get reception at my house.
• There is no threading of messages in Mail. No searching either. 
• At first I thought there was no audio scrubbing while in iPod mode. Turns out if you tap on the album art in the “Now Playing” screen, up pops a draggable thumb control. You can also adjust shuffle and repeat here.

I feel that this device has such an intuitive and pleasurable interface that it really sets one’s expectations high. It feels so much like using a “real” OS, I find myself expecting all the luxuries I’m used to when tethered to my laptop or desk. Once I remind myself this is all on a phone, it all comes back in perspective and I think of how I wouldn’t even have bothered to explore things like email, the web or photos on a phone until a device like this came along.

In the next post I’ll go into some detail about how completely non-revolutionary or pleasurable the ride has been so far with the “new” AT&T.