I have finally gotten my new 3G iPhone and have been using it for a few days now. It is an amazing little gadget. Quite honestly it is like having a little computer in my pocket, that I can use to call people. Let me tell you the things I like about it so far.
I love the interface. It is very intuitive to use and easy to navigate. Having a new MacBook Pro with the gesture enabled touch pad, I was somewhat used to the interface already. Not having an iPhone previously may have hindered me in accomplishing some tasks more quickly, but all in all, I really think most people could pick this phone up and use it with little problem.
The design of the phone itself is great. It is sleek, sexy, and slim. Again, I didn’t have the first generation of the iPhone, so I can’t really compare it, but I wouldn’t say that the back feels plastic. The phone feels very comfortable in my hand while talking or using the applications. I know some people have complained about how wide it is to hold and use as a phone, but I have no issue, and my hands are relatively small.
The Wi-Fi is very nice. Surfing is very fast when connected to my wireless router. Again, like having a small computer in my hand.
The App Store is outstanding! The app store is a native application right on the phone, also. You can install applications right from the phone. No need to download into iTunes and then sync the phone to get the app. This is a great feature for those that want to get new apps, but may not sync their phone to iTunes too often. The variety of applications for the iPhone is astounding, and so far it seems like most of them are well thought out and fit a need. In fact, I find myself hardly using the Safari browser on the phone, just because there is an app to do most things I would do within the browser. This is a great feature, since it is almost like bookmarking a website without having to go there.
The GPS that was added seems useful. Many of the apps have a location facet to them that allow you to either broadcast your location or find things near your location, including other iPhone users. The best part of this is that they do ask you before acquiring and using your location. This is great for people that would prefer not to let the world know where they live. While there are no turn by turn directions like some other phones, I find I don’t really need it. I have a GPS unit in my car, and the Google Maps application is good enough for me.
I really like the keyboard. While everyone else I hear says that they hate it, I find it works well for me. I have already gotten pretty used to it. While I probably won’t be writing blog posts of this length on it, I find that is is more than enough for a short email or Twitter post. Since that is all I really need to type, it works fine for me.
Now lets talk about the things I don’t like about the new iPhone.
While the phone does support 3G, it is not available where I live, and doesn’t appear to be coming any time soon. Because of this I have turned off the 3G radio, which does improve my battery life.
While we are on the subject of battery life, it isn’t great. I do have the 3G radio off, as well as bluetooth, and wi-fi unless I am near a wi-fi hotspot. This has given me a good full days worth of charge while using it moderately during the day, but if I used it more, I don’t think it would last all day. I have not really used it as an iPod since I have an 80gb video iPod also. I do need to charge the phone every night to maintain use each day. I can see where people that use it more than I would need to charge half way through the day to get a full days use out of it.
There is no cut and paste. I know everyone complains about that, so I had to add it here.
Overall, I can easily say that this is the best cell phone/smartphone/pda/mini-computer that I have owned. I stepped up from a Palm Treo 650 on Sprint to get the iPhone, and I must say that I am happy that I have. It is a great device, and does exactly what I wanted it to do.
Look for future posts to talk about the applications that I have tried out and to find out which ones I love and which I hate!
