You mean like virtually every password field on every system ever?

Yes.

At least on the desktop you can sometimes reveal the password. Hiding is fine for most short passwords where you have a real keyboard. It's desirable when in front of a big screen where someone can look over your shoulder.

It's not desirable on the iPhone screen. My WPA password is 40-something characters and I know the whole thing from memory. Showing the last character I typed for a split second isn't helping much. That's because I have to actively look at where I'm putting my fingers, unlike a real keyboard. So at most I see that some character was displayed, but I don't even notice what it was.

I finally got the password entered, but I also had to cycle the WPA modes on my router to get it to work. I finally ended up where I wanted. I did this based on some recommendations found on the net as a couple of times I cold swear (and did out loud) that I had typed it in correctly, but still wasn't able to connect. It's not like you get any feedback about why the connection didn't work.

I only wish that was my only complaint with the UI and stock software that comes on the Touch/iPhone. If it were all *MY* software, I'd consider it a version .6 or .7 at the most. Still a ways away from 1.0. Don't even get me started on the actual music playback iPod software. Argh, it's as brain dead as the old Nano software and doesn't even include search for crying out loud. Apple must expect that people don't keep more than 10 or 20 songs on these things, because that's what the UI is designed for.

I have never understood why it's like that.

I mean if you are crafty enough to see it on the screen surely you could just watch my fingers as they type?

I always tick the box to reveal the password if there is one, I am more than capable of either punching the person in the face (read - politely telling them to go away) or changing my password if I think someone knows what it is.

Cheers

Cris.

Too bad you can't plug in the earbuds and have it speak the passphrase before submitting it.

This is why I use WPA/Enterprise!