Almost two weeks ago, I was sitting in the iPhone line in front of the Apple store here in Buffalo, NY. I meet a few people spent some time talking about the iPhone and I must admit that I really had a lot of fun. Now that I'm two weeks out, do I still like my iPhone? Does it still bring excitment or just a lot pain and frustration? I must admit that it has not all been peaches and cream. I've had a few complaints along the way, so I will do my best to give a fair review to the iPhone.
Design.I'm holding my shiny new iPhone in my hand right now. As I turn it over and look at it, I'm still impressed with the design of the device. It feels great in my hand and is not to heavy for my liking. Everybody that sees my iPhone (those that I let hold it) are also equally impressed with Apple's design. It is definitely an eye catching design and much better looking then many of the smartphones out now for At & t (Treo, AT & T 8525, Blackberries, Nokias, etc.) The iPhone's casing also holds out well against abuse as is seen in PC World's iPhone stress test video.
iPhone as a phone.
Well, herein this area are some of my complaints. I do not like the speaker phone volume as it is quite low and pretty much useless for me. Even in quiet places, it can still be hard to hear the caller. Most people say that I sound good on the phone, although I'm not crystal clear. I don't mind scrolling thru my list of contacts with a flick here and a tap there. It works for me since my last phone I had to press the down button a bunch of times to get to some of my contacts. Merging calls is fairly easy and that impressed me. I do like the headphones w/ the built in mic that came with my iPhone as I think they work rather well. Not sure though how legal it is to drive with these things on though! Overall, it works ok as a phone. I've gotten some signal losses here and there in places that I should have signal. So that is somewhat annoying. I think the best part though is some of these issues could be cleared up in a software update (I hope).
iPhone as a internet device.
The iPhone is an amazing internet device. The fact that I can view websites as they were designed on my phone is an wonderful feature. No more stripped down versions or broken versions of the sites that I visit as I did with my Lifedrive. I do have the full internet in my pocket and not some watered down version. When the multi-touch, it's also quite easy to zoom in and zoom out. For this reason, I have found myself leaving my MacBook at home because of this capability. Safari needs flash support and I hope it gets it soon, although I'm not sure how practical it would be for battery life and all the ads you would get to see! Cut and paste is also missing which is something a blogger really needs when commenting or referring to another site. Overall, it's a great experience surfing on the web.
iPhone as an iPod.
Despite your small storage area, the iPhone as an iPod is quite amazing. From the cover flow to the fullscreen videos, you'll have an iPod that is sure to please. The videos on the device look crystal clear even at intense scenes. I have watched several hours of video on it and I am quite pleased with it. Music qaulity is excellent and I have not noticed any distortions or the like on the iPhone. When a call or email come in, the music fades out and lets the call ring or you here your email arrive sound and after you've ignored the call, finished the call, or the email sound is done, your music fades back in. Nice, very nice! I think as with many other reviews, most people will not like the small storage space available for music and videos. Keep in mind that most movies will take up around 1 GB of space. That's not a lot of room for someone with lots of music and videos. Also you do not have the repeat options available for your music.
iPhone as a camera.
The picture quality is rather good in well lit areas. Once you are in a dark area, the quality suffers. Having the Photos app is quite helpful as it works like iPhoto on your device. All your pictures are grouped into rolls of film. While you can show a slide show or flick thru/zoom your pictures, there is not much else it can do. You can email pictures, but only one at a time. I would like to see the option to send multiple pictures as I've had the need to do this on several occasions.
Other applications.
Google Maps is a blast to use and very helpful. Already its been a huge help to myself and my family. The calendar application works great with iCal and I've had no problems using it. It's simple to set up an event on the iPhone. Some have knocked the notes app on the iPhone, but I'm a big fan of the application. It's very much like a stickie pad and I use to use those all the time. You Tube is nice, but only useful with WiFi as the quality is greatly reduced with Edge. Speaking of Edge, it is slow, sometimes its quite fast, but it is still slow most of the time. Would be nice to see Apple unlock 3g on the phone (not sure that is even possible with the iPhone). Battery life is amazing and after 400 charge cycles the battery drops to roughly 80% or so of its original battery power(this is according to Apple). This fact has been greatly misreported by several media sites. The weather app is cool, but I would like to see it updated so that you can tap on a day and see a hour by hour, a written weather report, etc. Stocks app is great if you are into that, I'm not. SMS is really cool with the threaded conversation (Palm gets kudos here for starting that).
Other dislikes.
I want 3rd party apps. I really do. I think having 3rd party development will only further cement the iPhone into being top dog in the smartphone world. It would probably kill the likes of Palm if this happens though. Wallpaper behind the homescreen would a nice option as well. I really want cut and paste, too. I do not mind the iPhone being on the At & t network as I was already a customer with them prior to the iPhone. I'd probably be upset though if it was exclusive to another cell phone provider.
Conclusion.
I do not understand the haters of the iPhone. It is a wonderfully designed and developed device. It has flaws to be sure and it may not meet all your needs, but what smartphone does? For me, the iPhone is an awesome device despite some of its lacking features and some issues. I do think that the iPhone will get way better prior to October as Apple has hinted at updates before Leopard. So those of you will complaints may see some of them taken care within a software update. The iPhone may not be a revolutionary device, but it converges all your mobile devices (iPod, cellphone, internet, media player) into one device without the usual compromises of a converged device and does it with style and flair.
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