Somewhat Timely iPhone Review

With Apple’s 3G, “twice as fast, half the price” 2.0 iPhone Release announcement yesterday, I think we’re all ripe to read yet another iPhone review before the new devices go on sale in the US on July 11. 

Full-disclosed: I proudly sported a company Blackberry for three years prior to picking up an iPhone about four months ago. In all sincerity, turning in my Blackberry was one of the most difficult things about leaving my last job. It felt like I was losing my best friend or being forced to involuntarily kick a habit.  Now, I ask you, is there Life after Blackberry?

I do nearly everything based on the recommendation of others.  Hence, I interviewed a lot of folks which I considered “into gadgets” and asked them which phone they would recommend to a poor old sob who just lost his best friend.  Not so surprisingly, nearly everyone said, “You should get my phone” and then they would show off their personal phone-of-the-year award winner.  All Blackberry owners recommended Blackberries.  All iPhone owners recommended iPhones.  Blackberry owners were more than happy to share the short-comings of the iPhone but their more-than-likely jealous attempts to belittle the iPhone couldn’t compete with the true excitement on the faces of those who demonstrated to me exactly what the iPhone could do.   Since there were far goofy-in-love iPhone owners than bitter Blackberry owners in the office, I purchased the 16GB iPhone as a leap of faith since I was still, in my mind, a bitter Blackberry owner/lover.

My first experience was “WTF?”  I told the sales person at the Apple Store I would like to purchase a nearly $500 iPhone.  I think they said “cool,” scanned the box, scanned my credit card using a handheld device in the middle of a crowed store and asked if they “could email me the receipt.”  As technically paperless as I may be, I reluctantly said “yes” and started walking out of the store with my shiny new phone and no tangible proof of purchase.  I didn’t get too far until I remembered I was first-and-foremost buying a phone — a phone which needs an account and phone number.  I asked the sales person where I set this up and nicely enough they said, “Download iTunes.  Plug in the iPhone.  Follow the instructions.  It’s easy.”  Truth be told, I left the store feeling a little off guard yet excited (WTF) and wondered if my Mom would be able to handle the same experience.

I got back to the office, downloaded the latest version of iTunes, plugged in the iPhone and experience was simply magical.  I receive a confirmation text message along with my new phone number within 10 minutes.  The AT&T account activation was super smooth and honestly very, very fun mostly because it worked differently than any other cell phone signup and without a hitch.  Mom would have been excite (and relieved) too.

The iPhone took some getting used to.  I suspect the reason is simple.  For a Blackberry user, an iPhone is a toy and a Blackberry is a professional tool.  I am still not completely over this fact.  Now having spent 4 months with my new toy, I still keep my iPhone hidden in my briefcase when meeting with clients.  In my former Blackberry life, I would “wear” my buzzing and blinking Blackberry like a badge of honor almost always.

All told, I am very happy with my purchase.  The iPhone rocks primarily due to all of the bells and whistles.  A guy like me that doesn’t read the manual is continuously surprised and amused by each newly discovered feature such as music fading out when a call comes in and then fading back in once the call is over or the eye glass which magnifies and helps navigate email text.  

But, remember, again, the iPhone is a toy.  It is not a business tool.  My biggest gripes (in no particular order):

1. No support for Exchange (Provided with next release.)
2. Email Auto-Check can be configured no more frequently than every 15 minutes. (I bet this issue goes away with Exchange support.)
3. No green light / red light to indicate a new message, text, missed call, etc.  (This is probably a nice to have for some.  This is the #1 Blackberry feature which I miss.  Even more than increasing the email auto-check frequency.)
4. No copy and paste support (NOT provided with the next release)
5. No “Multi-Select” functionality (All new and existing iPhones will be updated with some iPhone 2.0 multi-select functionality on 7/11.)
6. Leave the phone in the sun and the metal gets hots — really F’ing hot.
7. There’s a giant YouTube quick launch button on the Home Screen yet there’s no built in To Do List application.  
8. I’m still not used to the keypad.  I will never ever be as efficient with the iPhone keypad as I was with the raised Blackberry keyboard.  Actually, I am willing to bet no one will be.  I have found that holding the phone in my right hand while typing with my left pointer finger and right thumb provides the best results.  (I’m a lefty.  Right-handed folks may need to alternate hands and fingers accordingly.)
9. This isn’t a knock on the iPhone, but AT&T coverage simply isn’t as good as Verizon provided for my Blackberry.  The whole AT&T/iPhone monopoly kind of bugs me although I understand AT&T is in cahoots with (read: subsidizing) Apple to reduce the purchase price of the next version of the iPhone.  This may, I understand, increase the price of the data plan, however.  My source.

You undoubtedly noticed that most of my gripes are based on my own personal preferences per on my past Blackberry experience or are being addressed with the new iPhone 2.0 release.  Apple is addressing the toy vs tool issue with the introduction of “several significant enhancements,” including:

• 3G broadband wireless connectivity, which gives customers a home broadband-like speed experience when surfing the Internet, sharing files, and using media-rich Web applications
• Business-class capabilities, including e-mail, viewed on a large, touch-screen device and designed to meet the needs of companies of all sizes
• The ability for developers, including AT&T, to create customized consumer and business applications using the Apple software developer’s kit (SDK). 

Though the phone is intuitive (nearly everyone who plays with my iPhone figures it out), I suggest reading the manual unless you like surprises like I do.  Each day I find something new like the phone silence button or figuring out how to reboot the device. Yes, the phone has locked up on me twice when quickly switching between programs (but even the reboot is cool) and my browser session will be interrupted and I’m occasionally brought back to the Home Screen unexpectedly.  (This doesn’t happen enough to be a gripe.)

I know some folks were/are concerned with the price of the data plan.  My current data plan is $20/month for a total cost of $60/month.  I didn’t do a lot of shopping around but I’m not unhappy with this rate.  In my opinion it is currently reason, but as I mentioned previously the rate may be going up to subsidize the cost of the phone itself.

Since I provided my biggest (perhaps only) gripes, it is only fair to list my favorite features.  Note, this list really only scratches the surfaces as “yesterday’s” unbelievable feature are now customary and assumed:

1. Magical Account Activation
2. Visual Voice Mail
3. Multiple Email Account Support
4. Bells and Whistles like Music Fade and Text Magnification
5. Wireless Connection Detection makes me want to pursue Wardriving as a hobby.
6. All-in-one-always-there-ness.  I’ve listened to more music, audio books and podcasts in the last 4 months simply because my iPod is simply always with me.  I use the Maps and the Camera far more often than I anticipated and the Safari Browser has been used to put more than one lunch debate to rest.
7. Silly, but I love the fact that this phone can’t be turned on accidentally.  The “Slide to unload” function is genius.
8. Horizontal/vertical orientation display.  When I first saw this on the commercials, I didn’t think think it was real.

What’s next?  Well, I am not crying over buying my iPhone 5 months before the 3G     release and a significant price cut.  I will definitely consider upgrading in July for the 3x browsing speeds and GPS though.  My fingers will be very loosely crossed that existing customer rebates will come in some form.  This isn’t unprecedented.  I would like to play around with iPhone application development a bit, but it is pretty low on my Task List — especially since the iPhone doesn’t have a Task List.  

I don’t think I talked the iPhone up enough in the post, but I believe it is my honest opinion.  With the decreased purchase price and added “business features,” I think the iPhone is a steal come July.  The phone+ gets my recommendation.

Let me know if you have any questions.