Ok, so I mentioned some time ago I bought an iPhone. I even posted a review a holsters for the thing. But everyone who sees it asks me, “Well, how do you like it?”
Overall? I love it. It is simply the best phone/PDA I have used.
Physically, the iPhone is a work of art. From the full face glass front held by a chrome bezel, to the anodized aluminum back. The back is marred somewhat with the antenna cover on the bottom part. I understand it needs to be plastic so the radio signals (both GSM/EDGE and WiFi) aren’t blocked, but it really interupts the clean lines and looks out of place.
The display is nothing short of amazing. At twice the pixel density of most other phones and PDA’s, the icons on the home screen look as if they have been painted onto the glass. Album covers displayed in Cover Flow or during playback are crisp and detailed. Video playback, both TV/Movies from iTunes and YouTube over WiFi, is clean and smooth. For some applications, such as Safari (the web browser) and the iPod functions, the iPhone can detect the orientation of the display and adjust it accordingly.
Using the multitouch is easy and intuitive. Open an application by taping the icon with a finger. Pinch your finger and thumb to zoom out, move your finger and thumb away from each other to zoom in. Swipe from left to right over an email in the inbox and tap a button to delete it. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. The only downside is that the glass face is a fingerprint magnet. Expect to wipe it clean once or twice a day.
As a phone, the iPhone is one of the best I’ve had. The signal is always strong and none of my calls from my apartment have been static-y or distorted. Bluetooth bonding is easy, however the option for turning Bluetooth on and off is buried in a configuration menu. It works very well with both of my Bluetooth headsets, the Explorer 350 and Discovery 640. The included headset sounds very good (for phone calls) and the built in mic does a very good job of eliminating extraneous environmental sounds.
Contact management is decent, however the recent call list doesn’t differentiate between outgoing and incoming. My entire address book synched with no problems from my MacBook. Each caller can be assigned a different ring-tone, but contact groups cannot, which kind of sucks.
Visual Voice Mail has to be used to be believed. Basically, instead of calling your voice mail box, you are presented with a list of voice mails matched with the caller ID (or number if the caller isn’t in your contact list). You simply tap the message you want to hear and it plays it. No “press 7 to save…” or navigating any menus. If you want to delete the message you just delete it without having to listen to it.
As for the other functions, they work very well. Safari, email, and the calendar app are easy to use. In fact, this is the first time I have ever used a mobile calendar without feeling I was jumping through hoops. Most mobile phone calendar apps are painful and have a paucity of information, even on my Blackberry I use for work. In fact, I have set it up to sync with both my personal and work calendars.
The YouTube app… Ah, the YouTube app. This is a guaranteed time sink. I’ve spent (wasted) a lot of time with this app. You can browse and search YouTube for the videos you want to watch. You can also bookmark videos, but there seems no way of accessing your “favorites” list from your online YouTube account. When connected via WiFi, the videos are crisp and vivid (well, as good as the uploaded version is). However, when using it over ATT’s EDGE network the videos are downgraded in both visual and audio quality so you don’t have to wait for 15 minutes for a 5 minute video. I don’t recommend the YouTube application on EDGE. There were many issues with too much “blobbiness” in the video and with the audio being severely out of sync.
The Google Maps application works very well. Both EDGE and WiFi connections offer brisk map drawing (although EDGE is a little slower). Since there is no GPS, the application has to be provided a starting point. I recommend setting up bookmarks of common locations (I have one set up each for “Home” and “Work”). Directions are as accurate as the full blown version online (meaning right 99.9% of the time).
The WiFi iTunes Music Store? I can’t say; I no longer use the iTunes Music Store for music since Amazon started their MP3 store. The only thing I use the iTunes Store for any longer is to get TV shows (Eureka FTW!), and since you can’t purchase video over the WiFi iTunes Store it’s of no use to me. Incidentally, you can only use the store over WiFi, not when connected to the EDGE network.
This is not to say there are no cons to the device. There are plenty of things that just plain irritate me. Hopefully, Apple will address these in future updates of the firmware or the iPhone itself.
- The headphone port is recessed, so some third party headsets can’t be inserted without the careful application of an X-acto blade on the headset plugs. I had to perform surgery on my E3c headphones so the plug would fit.
- The inclueded headphone? Not so good. I mean they sound…OK, but they can’t hold a candle to my Shure E3c canal phones. The bass is a bit muddy, the highs tinny, and the sibilants sound hissy. Plus, they are extremely uncomfortable and let in too much external sound. Unfortunately, if I want to answers calls while using the iPod, or even play/pause/fast-forward songs without removing it from my holster I have no choice but to use the included headset.
- Developer lock out sucks. With the latest firware update (1.1.1), all third party applications will no longer work on the iPhone. I’m hoping this is a temporary thing (due to some careful wording by Apple regarding developing for the iPhone), but right now only web applications using AJAX can be used.
- Give me a GPS receiver. It would make the built in Google Maps application so much more useful. Plus, I could see it being used with the Weather application (it would give a forecast based on your physical location).
- Change your ringtone policy. 99¢ for a freaking 30 second ring tone? Even if I already own the song? And I can only use approved songs from the iTunes Music Store? Before the firmware update I used a great program called iToner, but now it won’t work. Fortunately, the custom ring tone I put on the phone is still there, but no new ones. Clean up your shit, Apple. You’re rapidly becoming like Sony and Microsoft with the way you are treating your iPhone customers.
If you’re looking for a new phone and already have ATT, or you have finished your contract with a different carrier and have a good ATT presence in your area, I would not hesitate to recommend this phone.
Now that was thorough! Thanks now I won’t be able to wait until my contract expires. You’re somewhat evil! :)