Two Months Late: iPhone review
I wanted to wait, because a product like the iPhone needs to be tested for practicality before it can really be reviewed. But my impressions after two weeks haven’t changed in the two months since I wrote the first draft of the review. So I will be changing almost nothing. In other words, I was looking for something to go wrong so I could write about it. But nothing did, and I waited in vain. So I give you, the iPhone review:
The activation process was extremely easy, and a very new way of going about the whole process. When I got home I bought my Mac out and while watching the Red Sox game I updated OSX and iTunes, then plugged in iPhone. Itunes went right into the AT&T page which asked what if I had an existing account. Then it asked what my number was, and my account information.
That was it, iPhone activated in a few minutes and it was ready. But ultimately the usefulness of the phone comes from general daily use, so my guess is that a review isn’t going to do it justice. For example, I’ve had it for a week now and while I love it I haven’t really used it casually. But in the book store just an hour ago I couldn’t remember the name or the title of a book that was recommended to me. Knowing where the amazon link was on the Accelerated-E forums I took out my iPhone and hunted it down. The edge network is not the fastest in the world, and the service wasn’t good deep inside the mall. But after five minutes I had the title and author and was able to track the book down.
So what it comes down to is usefulness, the successful combination of an iPod and a Cell Phone. Lets first look at size.
On me at all times are three things; my cell phone, my wallet, and my iPod. Will the iPhone become a suitable replacement for my phone and iPod? At 8gigs it’s a long shot. But let’s look at the size and design of these objects. Just to see exactly what the shift is going to be like.
Combined into this:
And the comparison as these two toys merge into one:
But the look, feel, and use are minor compared how well the iPhone functions in it’s three main areas. As a Phone, as an iPod, and as an Internet Communicator. Even if it’s useful to search the net in the middle of a bookstore, it might not be practical if the network is too slow and the browser is slow. I consider everything else an extra feature. Something that we get as a part of the overall gadget, the fusion of those three functions mentioned above.
So let’s break it down:
Phone: The iPhone makes it’s function as a phone priority above all. When listening to music in iPod, the music fades out and is replaced by your ring tone. The screen changes from the album art and asks if you want to answer, displaying the number (or contact name). This also happens for video, and it also happens when using any of the other apps. Say you are browsing the Internet in Safari while listening to music, it goes though the same steps. After your phone call is finished, the phone returns to whatever you were doing before, music and videos play where you left off and it takes you back to whatever web page you were looking at.
The contacts are very well done, while looking at your contacts if you want to go to the “M” names you tap the tiny “m” on the alphabet along the side and it scrolls down for you. Clicking on the name brings you into that persons contact information. So if you have multiple numbers programed in for this person you can pick which one you want to call here. One tap on the number will make the call. It seems like a lot of steps, you might just want to click on the name and have the phone call the person. But the contacts list servers other purposes as well. If you don’t want to call someone, for example, and instead want to send them an email. That will be stored within his contact information. In some applications they make it easier, when you want to text someone and you bring up a blank message you can search your contacts and if that contact has one phone number it won’t take you to the contact screen but will just add his number.
Ultimately the Contact list serves as an address book as well as just a phone list.
SMS messaging is the best experience I’ve had on a phone yet. Normally SMS is more akin to email, this uses an iChat like skin to give it a more chat like appearance. Your conversations with individual people are isolated from each other as well. The lack of picture messaging is a disappointment, but I can use email as easy as SMS and without having AT&T using one of my 200 messages or charging me.
Ipod: This is, hands down, the best iPod on the market. The screen is absolutely wonderful. On a normal iPod video couldn’t see myself watching a two hour movie, on the iPhone I look forward to watching video on it. It’s everything I wanted from the widescreen ipod.
The rest of the features are pretty standard. Coverflow works just as well as jobs promised, and the fact that the album art rotates to show the track list adds a nice way to quick access to the music without having to go to a new menu. Even when you are just listening to a song in standard mode the album art is displayed and you just tap the option in the corner and it turns to show the track list. A very nice feature.
The real problem with the iPod function are more annoyances than anything else. You can’t start video from cover flow or the podcast menu. The audio begins but no video is displayed. When this happens you need to stop the audio from playing, go into the video menu and start it again. This is something that will probably be fixed in a software patch.
The other problem is you cannot manually manage music in the iphone. This creates an extra step. On a normal iPod you can pick the option to manage your music and that allows you to just track what tracks you want from your library to the device. Now you need to drag those tracks into a playlist first, then sync the play list with the Phone. This is just a bit annoying, and doesn’t really impact how the device works.
Internet Communicator: The real compliant that I have about this feature is that the cell network is slow. Other than that it’s probably the best browser experience that I’ve ever seen on a cell phone. It really is safari on the phone, and the touch scrolling makes looking at a full size web site on the tiny screen very bearable. This gives you access to the whole Internet, not a slimed down version that you get on most phones.
Really, that sums it up, it’s basically a full web browser on a cell phone and it works great. There are some issues with crashing, and the fact that it doesn’t support flash is kind of a kick in the face. But the integration with the youtube app is very sleek. When you click on a youtube link it takes you right to the youtube app and tries to load the video, if it isn’t available yet it doesn’t load but the library of compatible videos is growing everyday.
Other Apps: The port over of the yahoo stock and weather widget was a really good idea, it’s really quick to just see what the temperature is or look at stocks quickly (if you look at stocks).
The Calender program is very good, and works just like iCal.
Youtube app is ever growing, the network shows some problems but over wi-fi it works very well. When on the edge network you get lower quality but somewhat watchable videos. All the most viewed and featured youtube videos are already ported over (which means I can watch OK GO on Treadmills anywhere)
The Notes program is a bit too simple, but works very well for what it is. The yellow notepad background can be annoying and I hope they change that soon. Lack of landscape mode is annoying as well.
Viewing photos on the iPhone is very fun, I never saw the purpose of carrying photos on an iPod but I see showing off photos to people on this screen.
Google maps is almost fully functional on the iphone. It lacks some of the new and advanced features but the full maps, driving directions, and satellite view are there and work very well with the touch screen zoom. Google maps also works as a phone book, by having an area in a screen and searching for a business the app will look for that keyword in the surrounding area you have it focused on and deliver the results. So if you are looking for something in New York all you need to do is zoom onto New York; and the iphone won’t give you results from Flordia. When you find the business you just check their info and from that screen it’s a single tap, and you’re calling the business you were looking for.
Conclusion: After two weeks with iPhone I can’t live without it. It does seem kind of sad, but at the same time it makes sense. After a few weeks with my iPod I could never go back to CDs, and on the same level I can’t go back to not having my iPod, phone, and the Internet in my pocket. The little annoyances will disappear as software updates are rolled out.
But this really is a radical new way of doing a consumer product, nothing right now exists that has the same kind of “wow effect” and ease of use. After just picking up the iPhone I was doing things right away without even thinking about it. I don’t think we can have that same effect with a normal smart phone, looking at a blackberry with it’s big keyboard and millions of icons is a bit overwhelming in comparison.
The Battery life is also amazing, my iPod (which is now four years old) got maybe 11 hours at it’s hight. I was able to listen to five hours of audio without having the battery drop, a great innovation in battery management and storage. Of course when the huge screen goes on, it starts to drop much quicker.
If I could go back I’d buy the iPhone again, and again. We’ll see the longevity of the product is in six months and a year. Maybe I’ll still have a working iPhone, maybe I’ll have a brick. But right now the iPhone stands as the most impressive consumer electronic I’ve ever seen. It’ll be exciting to see what they do with it in hardware and software in the years to come.
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