The iPhone II will be better, so if you can wait, wait. Having said that, I love my iPhone, and I’m glad I didn’t wait more than 3 minutes past 6.05pm on that cold Friday evening to buy it. It will be a commercial success, provided February 2008’s SDK allows third party developers enough access to do what they are already doing with the various hacks available today. But enough of what will be, and more of what is..
Packaging
The iPhone is packaged with Apple’s usual attention to detail. Once you get past the difficult to remove plastic vacuum packaging, you lift off the lid and sitting inside a clear plastic shelf, expose the iPhone. Underneath the manuals are packaged inside a light cardboard envelope, along with the lint free cloth, dock, USB cable, and mains plug.
The phone’s aesthetics
The iPhone is larger than any of my previous phones from Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, or Sony-Ericson, and about the same weight as an old 30GB Video iPod. I’m not keen on the silver bevel, but the screen is superb, as posted elsewhere its very tough to scratch, which bodes well for its long term use.
Activation & Syncing
I was warned at the O2 store that it could take up to 8 hours before my new phone was operational, but it only took 20 mins (I was an existing O2 Customer), and within an hour i was syncing music and taking calls. A couple of issue with the syncing;
1) I could only sync with Outlook and Internet Explorer. I would like to sync with Firefox too.
2) Ringtones is not operational by default, (although a work around exists).
Other than that, syncing is a breeze with simple features, such as when more than “a user defined %†of data is being changed in the sync it can be set to warn you before syncing.
The Interface
The interface is the reason this phone has had so much free advertising. If Apple replaced the multi-touch surface with a stylus based touch screen, the phone would still be memorable. Never mind the touch interface, which makes you think like this is the way it was always supposed to be done, the intuitive nature of the software is the real star.
That’s not to say the phone is not without its flaws. There are improvements i and others on the blogosphere have noted, that are necessary, some of which need to come sooner rather than later if Apple wants to retain control over its product. Just in time then as they announce February 2008 as launch date for the developers SDK, providing the ability for third parties to install (we hope) applications that do not rely on a permanent connection to the web (Open Office, Picasa Mobile please!).
iPhones lack of functionality
My early experience with phones from Nokia focused on navigating the software quickly, and they did a great job at a great pace. My last two Nokia phones the 6800 and N73 were slow to run applications installed by default, such as the photo browser which took 10 seconds to go from the start menu to seeing the photo. In an effort to chuck more functionality in the phones, no one took a step back, talked to customers and realised that they were finding it harder to sort through these additional functions, as a result most were not using them, and no one wanted more functions if it slowed down the primary operation of the device, the phone.
The lack of all this additional functionality begins to show after you have used the iPhone for a few weeks, but it doesn’t remove from the fact that I’ve used all the functions of this phone, and now want more, rather than having so much to begin with I couldn’t see the wood from the trees.
The iPod
The best iPod ever? Yes, but its still not perfect. More on this later.
Google Maps
This is the normal internet version, with some functionality enhancements for the iPhone. Double tap to zoom in, two fingered tap to zoom out in Google maps, very nice. The functionality extends to Map view, Satellite view, list with directions to and from locations, bookmarks and integration with your contacts, so you can add your favourite Italian restaurant.
iPhone - Safari
Maybe the best app on the iPhone is Safari. The web in your hand, not ground breaking on it own.. but coupled with the touch interface, tab zoom in and out of full screen web pages, bookmarks, tabs (very cleverly done Apple, i smiled when i saw what you did here). I’ve never surfed as much on the go before.. ever. Oh.. and the Search engine defaults to Google, but can be changed to Yahoo!
Some notes of caution: I’m finding Safari crashes when using Digg, probably the endless scripts those comment pages use. Without plug-ins (Flash, WMP, and Divx et al), and the ability to save web content locally this version of the web is limited.
The Pinch Functionality
The pinch function can be used in most apps, including Safari Mail, and Photo apps. It’s smart, but can take a little getting used to. The Google maps double finger tap to zoom out and single finger tab to zoom in work exceptionally well, and maybe better than the pinch function, although maybe thats because i find it easier.
Mail syncs with outlook without effort and manual setup is simple enough (wish it could be simpler). First time i ever used email on a phone was a Nokia 6800, then again i tried on my N73, then i gave up. I haven’t read email on my home computer since i’ve been using the iPhone… well maybe once.
The Camera
Its bad when compared to my older Nokia N73. No video, no flash, poor quality and a little pointless. It is better in bright light, but better isn’t great. No Auto focus either. I will say, it’s better than nothing, but only just.
Complaints and Recomendations for iPhone I software updates and iPhone II
1) I miss not being able to fast forward, rewind and stop play my music whilst the iPhone is in my pocket. Apple could solve this by adding some buttons in a future version (maybe on the back of the phone), or using the existing volume buttons, enable double click, so one click increases the volume, and two fast clicks change the track. The menu button can act as a stop play function. Yes in the settings you can enable to iPod function, which when you double tapping the menu button, brings up a back, forward, play, and stop play on screen menu, which is very nice, but not the same as physical buttons, you can touch without needing to see them.
2) I WANT TO SAVE DOCUMENTS ON MY iPhone! That includes saving anything from the web, including images.
3) I WANT TO ACCESS AND EDIT MY SAVED DOCUMENTS ON MY iPhone.
(Sorry i had to make those two very clear just in case Apple was listening)
4) Create Copy and Paste functionality. Two-finger-tap-hold, scroll (left, right, up, down) and release (automatically brings up list function, (copy & paste). You see.. easy, now chop 2 it!
5) Include two stick-on plastic screen protectors in the packaging, Apple forgot to do this with the Video iPods as well. I know its available by third parties, but I’m asking nicely. (I’ve since found out that the iPhones screen is very scratch resistant, and so far mine hasn’t got a scratch on it).
6) Headphone jack. I wonder when commercial thoughts took precedence over design and functionality? Apple deeply recessed the jack into the iPhone, making me unable to use my Sony headphones. Bad move, now my music sounds worse, and i listen less often (I’ve since had to purchase a converter available at the O2 Store, but it’s awful). I feel this is a bad one, that most other phone companies have in common, but even they have been coming round to the idea of using standard RCA jacks instead of proprietary ones. Must have been a f*ck up.
7) The photo app reminds me of Picasa, and I’m thinking you should join forces with Google on this. Picasa functionality on the iPhone would be sweet.
Let us select songs on the iPhone as our Ringtones.
In conclusion i would like to state my personal opinion, that all mobile phones should follow these basic points;
a) Make phoning people easier.
b) Make phoning people faster.
c) Additional products should repeat a) & b) replacing “phoning†for the additional products name.
I think Apple really nailed this one on the head. Sometimes more is just more, without adding value to the product. Making sure that your existing products are the best they can be, before adding more functionality is a smart move on Apples part. Although i agree with previous comments on the blogosphere that Apple most likely ran out of time to add the functionality, it helped them concentrate on making what functionality was left, better.
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