Ed.Williamson's Full Review: Apple iPhone 3G Black (16 GB) Smartphone
Right after they came out with the new iPhones a couple of years ago, a friend on Epinions asked if I had rushed out and gotten one. I said no, that new stuff like the iPhone usually had a few bugs in them at first, so I'd wait a while. Well, I got one recently and I am totally blown away. Here are some of the things I like about it.
1. The phone itself is very good with good coverage. AT&T has a wide coverage area which means that not only do you get generally great phone service, but your through-the-phone internet service works just about anywhere too. Recently, on a trip, my wife wanted to check our bank balance and lamented the fact that we would have to wait to get to a hot spot where she could use her laptop. I said "What about your iPhone?" Her eyes lit up and in two minutes we had the bank balance.
2. The contact list feature is wonderful, especially with imported pictures of the family and friends in it. This is way cool. Once you have your pictures imbedded into the contact list, every time it rings you have a huge picture of whoever is calling on the screen. I wish they had more than 250 contacts available, but it forces you to narrow things down to your closest contacts that way.
3. The calendar/schedule feature is the best I have seen on a phone or PDA. I have tried a lot of PDA and Phone calendars, but this is by far the best. You can put in new stuff while you're right on the phone, and it is 3X faster than most out other apps like it there. I have long been searching for something which would actually outdo my Day Timer and this may well be the key to paperless for me.
4. The web interface is the best on any phone or handheld PDA; it's about 75% of what you get at a computer when tracking on the internet. No, the internet experience is not the same as with a laptop, but Apple has made it about 75%, which is a loooonnngg way from anything else you will find out there in handhelds or phones. You just have to be a little more patient, but it's (nearly) all there. You've got the internet in your pocket now. And no searching for WiFi hotspots.
5. It has an easily added no-brainer APP connection to FACEBOOK, which is very popular. I love Facebook, and it's nice to take it with you instead of waiting to get to a computer. If you are in a holding pattern, you can catch up with your friends this way. 6. It also has built-in UTube, also popular these days. Ditto for UTube. Another App to let you catch up on the world's most interesting video clips. 7. The built-in Google Maps and groundlevel navigation is magic for seeing the places your friends are, providing you get the address (off the browser or otherwise). This APP really blows my mind. Do you remember what your first house back in Slobogan looked like? Go to Google maps and it will take you to a picture of it---and just about any other place in the country. Like something out of scuence fiction. It has to be seen to be understood fully. 8. The apps are actually very useful and lots of fun. These are great for tons of things- and cheap. I was skeptical about the "APPS" feature, because I have had experience with apps on other devices in the past and found most of them to be junk. Well, a few of these are worthless, but the majority are cool. And inexpensive. I really like the one from Franklin Covey.
9. You can see a weather radar map on your phone that will tell you if you are in for bad weather, and how bad. Ever been driving and wonder if you are heading into a hailstorm? The internet maps on the iPhone will tell you. You can stay in the clear.
10. . The camera is fun. It is the best 2 mp camera I have ever seen. And fun.
11. You get to see who called you and you missed their messages, and you get to choose who you call back and you can delete the rest. Great for women who are being stalked. And for anyone who has a telemarketer on their tail. Not to mention that guy you barely know who has a great stock deal for you you'd rather sidestep. But ahhh, if you see Ms. Wonderful, you gp right to her, with no password hassles, just straight to that sweet voicemail. 12. The phone lock is easy to set up and easy to use. Security is much easier on the iPhone than on any other phone I have seen, and with the "For Your Eyes Only" App, you get internal security inside the outer security layer.
These are a few of the best reasons I like the iPhone. Pricey? Yes. But it is incredible, and far ahead of anything else.
Quibbles?
1. The touch-keyboard is still something pretty marginal and something you have to be patient with. My old tactile keyboard on my Treo was better. But this is an okay compromise for everything else you get. Still wish there was a little more space between the "O" and the "P" keys though.
2. It's fragile, and Apple doesn't offer insurance. Tightwads. I ordered a $50 "Hummer"-style case but you shouldn't have to do that. Makes you wonder if Apple wants you to break it so they can sell you a new one. 3. You can't change the battery and put in a freshly charged one. Okay, so it's a tiny battery and hard to get to. Even so, Apple should have figured out how to do what everyone else does. Does it really add that much revenue for proprietary replacement to cause the customer such aggravation?
4. You can't slide in an SD card. A major no-brainer, an SD card would be a big help, especially with MP3s and pictures. 5. With the big-memory 16G iphone, the user should have the option to designate some of the memory over to add more contacts. Some of us have about a thousand contacts (Okay, so I have a big family- it's a ethnic thing) and with all that 16 G memory an option to use some of it to expand the contact list is only logical.
6. Give the customer something besides $5.00 headphones with your $300.00 iPhone. What a crackbrain bummer that one is. Hello to Marketing? Get a brain.
On balance, the iPhone is the best cellphone in the world today, for many reasons. But it still could be improved a bit. And without much engineering. Far smaller companies do it everyday. When you're the best, you shouldn't go cheapjack on the little stuff.
Overall? If you need a new cell phone, you should get one. Don't settle for anything else, because anything else is going to be second best. And you only have one life, and a few bucks shouldn't hold you back from having the best. The iPhone is the Tiger Woods of cell phones in 2009. But like Tiger, sometimes it misses that last putt.
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