I have been an iPhone user for around 3 years. I love the clean design and aesthetic of the body of the phone and the interface. Edward Tufte is a master of information design and had some very insightful ideas on iPhone interface design.
I had never thought of the home screen, photo galleries as one big surface, I typically thought of them as pages and you swiped from one to another. When designing for an interface like the iPhone, it makes sense to think of the interface as a big surface that you swipe to access different areas and options.
I have never loved the stocks application on the iPhone. I thought the design was a bit cluttered. It was interesting that Tufte feels the same way. Even more surprising is that Apple has not changed the interface of that app yet. They may feel it is not that important to update, but it seems it would be easy to update and make better. Tufte was able to create a nice pleasing design with the same functionality.
My design aesthetic is rather minimal, but that does not mean it cannot get cluttered. Tufte’s stated “Clutter is a failure of design.” I think that is very true. It can be difficult to organize a lot of information, but the goal should be clean information design. When designing any interface, it is important to remember not to add any admin debris. You want your user to have the best experience possible.