On July 11th I got up at 5 am and went to the gym, driving by the local AT&T store (Atlanta, GA) to check out the length of the line. There were about 40 people camped out; a much smaller crowd than I expected. On my way back about 45 minutes later, I took the same route to find a crowd that was unpleasant (70 or so) but that was much less severe than I had pictured. 6:15 and I’m in line about 110 people behind. I only carry plastic, so I wasn’t as fortunate as the guy behind me, who for $60 paid the doorman to take the front of the line. He walked out in 20 minutes or so after walking through security and was indeed the first one out the door with a new 16GB black 3G iPhone. I figured almost two hours early I would be ok, but the AT&T registration system kept crashing, so it took four and a half hours instead (and they ran out of black units 10 people in front of me - white is fine).
After using my iPhone for a couple of months I have mixed reviews. On one hand, the user experience is fantastic. I never realized how easy it could be to rely on your cell phone to get you through so much of your day. My Blackberry Pearl was nice for simple things, and it kept me hooked into work 24 hours a day.
My thoughts on the Pearl… I’m really sick of viewing all of my HTML emails in actual code - too late T-Mobile :).The web experience was ok when viewing WAP enabled sites, but overall a browser that you only use when you have to. I constantly had issues syncing it with the Blackberry Desktop Manager. Looking back I feel like the Pearl is pretty ancient. On the positive side though, text emails were great and easy to manage. The searching abilities were top notch and I could easily add anyone to the chain or pull anyone down from a number of address books with ease. The calendar did exactly what I needed, and allowed me to schedule meetings while in meetings, traveling and all the other things that keep me away from my laptop. The phone was easy to use and synced with my bluetooth devices without problems. I suppose looking back the thing I miss most about the Blackberry phones is the keyboard. I go through so many emails throughout the day that I am writing or responding to emails from my cell all day long. I could type out a blog entry this long…pause…without ever looking at the keys (which really boosts productivity during long meetings).
I love my iPhone, and will likely never go back to a Blackberry. This unit is all about you. The web browser is awesome, and zooming in and out on content is a simple tap (well, double-tap). Emails render as I expect to view them, although HTML based emails from people at work tend to span the screen beyond visibility, so you then have to zoom in and scroll the email from side to side. The address book is easy to use, and ties in with Microsoft Exchange pain-free. In fact, I’m able to use the push technology on the Exchange Server where our Microsoft-based mobile users have to sync on a regular basis due to a lack of push compatibility with our network (go figure, maybe those Apple commercials hold some truth). I have all kinds of applications too, so I can easily log in to Salesforce.com via mobile with a slick and easy to use UI in an enterprise world, or find the best local dining when traveling. I find myself dropping my iPod, subscribing to podcasts, and watching videos on the plane…something I never did with my Blackberry. Even so, the fact that some applications don’t load, or purchased applications that once worked stop is extremely annoying, and that’s after their latest iPhone update v2.0.11. If I had to give Apple my biggest, “you dropped the ball here…” list I would definitely have to include the following:
- I want a responsive UI, not one that constantly lags.
- I get hundreds of emails per week, and need to reference previous emails. Where is the search functionality? If I need to respond to an email from 2 weeks ago, I really don’t want to “flick” the screen for 20 minutes to get to the email I need. Nor do I want to have to do the same to get back to the top of my inbox.
- I understand that the keyboard is going to be different, there are no keys and your using a touchscreen. Something has to happen here. My wpm on the iPhone has dropped considerably, and I find myself having to reread every email to make sure you didn’t “auto-correct” the words I use because you think you found a better match. Isn’t the iPhone supposed to “learn” based on your vocabulary? The biggest flaw there isn’t that you offer recommended alternatives to ensure proper spelling, but that you automatically change the word without me telling you it’s ok to do so. When I get on a roll and hit space without realizing you have a better word in mind, you change the word and move on. Not helpful!
- The battery needs a serious upgrade. I keep it plugged in all night, have a car charger, and plug it in to my laptop dock at work.
That’s probably a good start.
All said and done, I’m much happier with the iPhone. Having the Exchange Server package and voice and text, the $145 / month bill doesn’t bring a smile to my face (compared to $95 at T-mobile for almost double the minutes), but I’m happy none the less.
I’ll be adding links to some of the applications I’ve come to appreciate on the iPhone. What applications are you using? Anything you want to see improved?
