iPhone therefore i Am

Author's Rating:

Pros: great ipod, brilliant internet, easy usage, beautiful screen, simple to operate

Cons: no third party applications, only available on AT&T, slower 2G network

The Bottom Line: 
If you are already an AT&T customer, it's a no brainer. If you're on another network, it is a good reason to switch, and generally worth the early termination fee.

Author's Review
I am a macintosh guru by profession, and have been on apple computers since before the mac was invented, and long before macs were cool, so of course I was in line on day one when the iphone went on sale.

I came from owning a Treo, and having mastered it (with all of it's glitches) over the course of three years, so it was with some trepidation that I made the switch. I have used all makes of "Smart Phones", blackberries, Treos, and now the iphone. It should be no surprise that the far away best of the three is the iphone.

The device is slim and beautiful. A pleasure to hold and a dream to use. It is far from perfect, but after 6 months on the market, it is only in the beginning of it's life, and will evolve for years to come.

The internet usability on it is it's strongest suit. With a full version of Safari, you can easily surf to any website just like you would on your computer. You can zoom into any part of a website with ease. The mail application is simple and intuitive, and despite many people's fears, the virtual keyboard is a cinch to use. It easily auto-corrects, and has left me wishing my home computer was half as good at knowing what I meant to say.

The multi-touch screen is a unique and brilliant interface device, every bit as innovative as the mouse was in it's day. Pinching and spreading your fingers can zoom in or out on maps, photos or web pages. You can flick through your itune albums with ease.

The other internet features are also very helpful and include google maps, stocks, youtube, weather and the itunes music store.

The ipod usability is as good as any ipod out there... maybe better.

Videos look gorgeous on the widescreen handheld device.

Photos have never looked better on any phone or handheld device, and the built-in camera takes surprisingly good pics, although they are not great in low light.

And the phone functions are simple and intuitive as well. It syncs with your computer (mac or pc) simply, and has good sound quality, works with almost all bluetooth headsets and offers an amazing feature called visual voicemail that allows you to listen to your voicemail in any order, rather than in the order the messages were left.

In short, unlike many phones, the iphone is 90% software, and only 10% hardware, so when new features are added you only have to download them, rather than purchase a whole new phone to take advantage of them. There is nothing out there that compares with it, and it will have a long and glorious history.