Full Review

There is no shortage of iPhone reviews out there, so undoubtedly if you're reading this one you're having some analysis paralysis...the inability to make a decision. Well let me tell you a little about my experiences with the iPhone, and help you make a qualified decision.

A little background here:

Mac Stuff--I "switched" to Mac about 4 years ago. I didn't see a need for an iPod until my sister bought a Mini, this even after I owned a Mac, but as soon as I played with hers I had to have one.

Phone Stuff--I've had a Cell Phone for about 6 years, in those 6 years I can count up 9 phones I've had, and of those 9 I was only really happy with 3 of them for longer than a Month. I am a power-phone user, and like to use all the features of the phone.

Now, my journey to the iPhone:
I had been without an iPod for awhile. I felt the iPhone was over-priced, underpowered since not 3G, and too delicate to take the use and abuse that a cell phone must take every day. Furthermore I like small phones (My SonyEricsson T616 still remains probably my favorite phone ever. Ever. and the Samsung slider phone I had before this Sony Ericsson wasn't bad either) and felt that the iPhone would just be too wide, too tall, and too bulky.

But like I said, I needed an iPod. Well the more I thought about it, the more I wanted an iPod Touch. I'm not a hardcore PDA person, but the calendar features on my Samsung left something to be desired, and I felt like the iPod Touch would be a perfect compromise...I'd get some PDA features without needing to carry a clunky PDA or buy an iPhone.

Refurb iPod Touch units were going for about $249 on the internet, and I was ready to pounce.

Until I started researching the iPod Touch on the internet, that is. I quickly came to the conclusion that the iPhone offered a lot more for an exra $100. Mainly: Camera, Bluetooth, Dock, Charger (Those 2 accessories alone are worth $80 if purchased from Apple), and oh yeah, it takes calls!

So here I was wanting the $349 (Refurbished Price) iPhone...but alas, that was just more than my already tight budget could handle.

Blah Blah Blah, long story short, I was able to get a killer deal on the 8 Gig iPhone, and I have never looked back!



iPhone, the best phone you ever owned...
There are a lot of things I like about the iPhone. I have found it's performance as a phone excellent, with great call quality. I like the full full full feature set, like being able to do my IMAP email on it, the great address book support, and the slick calendar. The multi-touch interface is really nice to use too. I promptly installed a Crystal Support screen film on the front, and used some gaffer's tape to protect the back from scratching. I have been carrying it just "nakked" like that for 2 months now, and it still looks really good. The chrome is a little scratched where the phone clips into it's car-holder, but that's a design flaw of the car holder, not a flaw of the Phone.

I would have to say my 2 favorite features have been the calendar and email. I use them all the time, constantly. Number 3 is just the fact that the address book is so great, and easy to keep sync'ed with my computer. On previous phones that could sync with my computer, I would keep a healthy list of essential numbers and contacts...well on my iPhone I literally just keep everybody! It's so easy to find people and keep them organized by groups, why not!

iPhone...did Apple really design this? Because they made some bone-head moves.
That said, there are some things I don't like about the phone. Number one would have to be the annoying headphone slot. You've heard it before, now you're going to hear it again. It's recessed in the body, so you have to use an adapter to use the phone, or specifically the iPod part of the phone, with many heaphones...including my favorite Grado headphones. I got a cheap adaptor off eBay and it doesn't work very good, so I am going to have to shell out more money to get a decent adaptor. If they would have just flush-mounted it in the first place we wouldn't have this problem!

It's nice that the calendar is in there, but it just lumps all your appointments into 1 category. On my computer in iCal I have several, color-coded calendars, but all my appointments are steel blue on the iPhone. Also when I create a new appointment, there's no way to create it in a specific calendar.

Speaking of that, it's the same with contacts. You can organize them into groups on the computer, but as best as I can tell...not on the phone. So when I create a new contact I have to remember to put them in the right category back at the computer.

The ability to have somebodies photo show up full screen is cool...but it presents an interesting challenge. OS X's "Address Book" program will let you keep a little square photo of your contacts. The iPhone will use that photo if you want, but then you just get a thumb-nail of the person on your screen. If you set the photo so it shows up full screen, then it looks great on the phone, but you inevitably end up cutting part of their head off on the square photo that appears on your computer. For now I've compromised at just using the thumb-nail sized photos.

Toss-ups. Things that are only slightly annoying.
Although I'd like the iPhone to be 3G, I don't find the EDGE painfully slow. I also don't do a ton of browsing when I'm away from WiFi...mostly eMail and Google maps, and the EDGE is good enough for that. I'd like to make a note here that almost everywhere I've gone I've had EDGE coverage, and I know from my previous phone...which did have 3G, that 3G just isn't in that many places yet. Even if the iPhone were 3G, and I'm sure it will be soon, doesn't necessarily guarantee that you're going to have fast internet everywhere.

I find the 8 gig plenty of space. I use a smart playlist in iTunes that automatically rotates out my music, and so I always have fresh music on it without having to do a thing.

I was a bit dissapointed initially to find out that the Bluetooth support is so limited, but it's turned out to be mostly a non-issue. The thing I use Bluetooth for the most is data transfer between the phone and computer, and the iPhone comes equipped to do that via USB, so I haven't missed Bluetooth for that. The other thing I use Bluetooth for is wireless headset. Well the iPhone has an awesome pair of earbuds with a mic built in, and I have found that I prefer the earbuds to a Bluetooth headset anyway. You don't look like a dork, and the earbuds put the call through in stereo (Well mono, but to both ears). Furthermore, in the car I use a special cord to hook the iPhone up, that has a mic in the cable, and that essentially gives me a built-in speaker phone in the car that automatically stops when a call comes in.

I can't send a photo via bluetooth to another phone, but I haven't missed that much.

I was skeptical about the keyboard at first, but you totally get used to it. If you don't believe me, just give it a week.

Battery life isn't great, but if I just dock it when I'm at my computer I never have problems making it through the day.

Bottom line
If you want an awesome, capable phone, and you're not a corporate power-user that needs enterprise-grade stuff (Look for it on iPhone in June!) than the iPhone will bring a smile to your face. If you're a total perfectionist...well then you can keep whining about everything you think you won't like about the iPhone, or you can get one and find that it really is more perfect that your silly Windows Mobile phone anyway!