So I’ve been using the iPhone for about a week and here are my thoughts:
Not “the Best iPod Ever”, but definitely a sweet phone. The title of “Best User Interface Ever” would be deserved, though.
Honestly, when I think of problems the biggest annoyance is the little headphone port. They might have had their reasons for making the weird recessed port, but to me it seems like they just wanted to sell their own headphones. And while I think Apple makes good hardware, their flimsy or overpriced and rebranded headphones just aren’t in that category. A step backwards from my iPod nano, with which I can use all of my headphones and enjoy music…
On the brighter side, listening to music with coverflow and flipping through album covers with your fingers is a great experience. The Nano or even iTunes has nothing to compare to it.
The interface is just gorgeous and real easy to use. No need to get a manual or anything, you can just start using it and everything is pretty intuitive. And looks gorgeous. Did I mention its gorgeous? I think I might have.
I haven’t actually made too many calls yet, but the audio and stuff seemed pretty clear. Sometimes it wasn’t loud enough but I think that might have been because of my settings. Sometimes I haven’t been able to hear what someone was saying but that might have been because of how I was holding the phone or becasue they were mumbling/on speaker. I’ll have to see how well it works in a crowded and loud environment. (Edit: it’s a little tough with loud stuff going on but that’s with any phone)
There’s no way you’ll see me using that included headset thing. The concept is cool but those things are just too uncomfortable and I hate them—same exact way I feel about the regular iPod headphones. If you’re a serious talker, it might be a good idea to get one of those headset things. Otherwise it works wonderfully for talking in a nice quiet environment, and it’ll get you by in a loud crowd. SMS works great though, for those kinds of situations.
Also sometimes its a bit too easy to call people, I’ve accidentally done it a few times while browsing through my contacts. Like, I think that clicking it will open up their info, etc. but instead it just calls em. Then I’m frantically tapping “end call end call.” This happens especially while trying to edit a number or something. I guess the confusion is caused because sometimes you click a name to open their info and sometimes you click a name to call it…
The glass screen is great. The glass screen rules. All hail the glass screen. Er, and the display. They both rock. The high resolution display (like 170 dpi or something) totally rocks. And the iPhone has proven to be totally sturdy and scratch/drop resistant (I haven’t put it to extreme torture but it is so far totally scratch free.) Good to know, so you won’t need to baby it and worry about nicking the screen. Which would be really bad since you’re constantly rubbing the thing. (Solid-state memory also rocks).
As far as I know there’s nothing like this out there, and honestly I think just this makes the whole thing worth it.
Speaking of which, it’s pretty important to keep the thing clean. It comes with a nice little microfiber piece, and I already had another similar one with my keyboard, so I wipe it down a lot. It can get kinda greasy pretty fast, but it’s no big deal. The biggest thing to be careful for is getting small particles on it. One because they’re annoying as you go over them with your fingers, and two that’s probably a great way to scratch and grind it up while you’re cleaning it.
A better headphone port. I’ve got two awesome headphones: Sony EX-51s (earbuds) and Sennheiser HD595’s (high end cans), as well as a headphone amplifier. None of them will fit (without some surgery, at least). This was extremely disappointing, and I end up using my nano a lot still to listen to music. This is probably my biggest complaint.
If they insisted on doing their recessed proprietary port thing, they should’ve at least included the adapter. Now I’ve got to go get the Belkin one for 10 bucks before I can actually listen to my music. Not something I would expect with “the best iPod ever.” The best iPod ever would let me use some good headphones. Natively.
And I saw the Belkin thing—it’s like 2 inches long! I tried to get one anyways, but when I went to the Apple store they said they couldn’t find any. (I ultimately ended up modding my EX-51’s to work with it. I’ll post a guide to do that later [I have to get another pair now first so I can do it again]) I’m still bummed that I can’t use it with my amp but I’ve been using it a lot with my EX-51’s now and it’s great.
Hybrid view in google maps. I absolutely love that feature and use it a lot when im broswing maps. The iPhone comes with map and satellite, so I’m real disappointed that it doesn’t include the hybrid view (which is there on google maps). It would also be cool if you could download the map so that you wouldn’t have to rely on EDGE while out in the field. I understand the whole package could be many gigs so it’d be cool to just sync up with like the Los Angeles area or something. Or wherever.
The ability to see your plan info in iTunes. Something like: minutes used, SMS used, etc. I checked on AT&T’s site and there’s a thing to see how many minutes I’ve used but it’s not working right now. And there isn’t even a thing for SMS, so I don’t know how I’ll know when I approach that 200. (Edit: it wasn’t working a few days ago but I guess now it is up. The info at att.com/mywireless has it all and is
pretty useful, but it would be nice to be able to access this info via A) the phone or B) iTunes.
Music plays in silent mode? That’s kind of odd to me, and could possibly get you into trouble.. if music starts playing when you expect the phone to be super stealthy. But I guess as long as the ringer doesn’t go off when you don’t expect it, things should be alright.
While I’m not worried about accidentally turning the phone on in the pocket (with the whole slider thing and I’ve got a passcode too), but I would be worried about inadvertently flipping the toggle back to loud mode. For those who don’t have one, there’s a small slider at the left that switches the phone from normal to silent mode. So while I think its very cool to have the silence via a hardware toggle, I wonder if it’s more foolproof than having it as an option inside the locked interface. However, if ‘Vibrate’ is on (and I strongly recommend it, if just for this feature), and you accidentally (or purposefully) toggle the switch from silent to normal (this actually happened in my pocket the other day and saved my life) then it vibrates, and hopefully you’ll feel it.
More: native horizontal interfaces. I think needing to have the phone vertical kind of limits the interface. It’d be nice if there was a horizontal version for all the sections. Could have a more roomy keyboard, etc. Youtube, Safari and iPod [coverflow] are horizontal, and some toggle between the two [Safari, iPod] but the rest are strictly vertical. And the biggest reason: it’s easier to hold.
Continuing with that, I like to put the iPhone down on a table when I type on it. Not because it’ll go faster but because while youre typing with both hands it’s pretty hard to get a good grip on its thin frame. Now I’m no pro on iPhone handholding techniques but when it’s in my right hand then my thumb goes all the way down, and it has to stay in a cramped sort of position to get to the right side of the keyboard.. It’s definitely not impossible, I walk around with it a bit. But it is a lot easier horizontally, when it can easily rest in your hands (think gameboy or PSP) and they’re not cramped together. I guess it’s an ergonomic thing.. Though I can see the problem with the usable part of the screen being very slim and wide once the keyboard is up…
Option to use iTunes playlists instead of ringtones — at least for the timers and alarms! Song ringtones never really worked for me, but there are a few ones that I can imagine that would be cool. But with the timer and alarm features, there should at least be an option to use an iTunes playlist. All of the OS X 3rd party alarm clock applications have it. If I want to use the iPhone as an alarm clock, I’d really like to be able to specify a playlist! Till then, those features are pretty much useless (to me) and are going to go unused.
Call logs! Even my 3 year old nokia phone had this. Showed a list of missed calls, dialed calls, minutes used, etc. With details. It’d be really good if the iPhone in its quest for simplicity doesn’t throw out basic functions and details. For example, I had just gotten off of a phone call and wanted to see how long I had talked for. On my old phone I could’ve just gone to my dialed numbers, and then checked call time, among other things.
Same thing for text messages. AT&T supposedly deletes them after 7 days (read that on the site somewhere, we’ll see) so they should be stored locally. I’m unable to access some of AT&T’s functions, like dialing *646# to see my minutes — it sends me a text message (which I hope isn’t counted in the 200 that they give) that says “Service Currently Unavailable” or something like that.. (Edit: I’ll have to try again sometime, it should work now)
Ability to make playlists in iTunes. I’ve set it to sync, but if I wanted to make a new playlist (lets say for going to the gym) using the songs on the iPod by creating one in iTunes (I do it on my nano all the time, but it’s not set to sync), I should be able to. I suppose I’ll try on-the-go playlists but it’d be so much easier to make one in iTunes.
The repeat/shuffle/timeline interface in iPod mode. It randomly comes and goes and I can’t figure out for the life of me how to activate it. Tapping or dragging just flips the cover so you see the songs. It’s just there sometimes when I want it and sometimes it’s not. Thats the little pane towards the top (in coverflow) that has pretty handy controls. I don’t always use them, but if I want to set a song to repeat or something, it’d be nice to be able to get it to come up with some sort of button (there’s none). If anyone knows, let me know.
Do I feel happy about this purchase? Yes, I think the iPhone is a great buy. Value-wise I’m not sure (y’know, if you don’t have the cash—because it can be pretty hard to cough up all that on a phone) but for what you’re getting it’s not a bad deal. Not a steal, but you’re not getting robbed by Apple either.
There haven’t been any big bugs or issues or anything, and all the complaints are just prety minor things. I’m sure Apple will release a new version in maybe a year or two but now’s a great time to get one.
I just can’t wait till Apple makes a 30” version of the iPhone’s screen.
Comments
This place isn't ALL about me — just mostly.
Anand
4 years, 7 months ago
http://missingmanuals.com/pogues_awesome_iphone_typing_shortcut.csp
Really good link, actually. I just tried it out and it totally works and helps with typing stuff.
rob
4 years, 7 months ago
must be nice having rich parents :) no car yet? and your getting iphones and mac pros.. jezz
Anand
4 years, 7 months ago
Is it Rob? I wouldn’t know.
Alec Ananian
4 years, 7 months ago
he works hard for the money
so hard for it honey
he works hard for the money
so you better treat him right
i was actually considering buying one, too.. but then i realized i hate cell phones and never use them. so spending all that money on one wouldn’t really make much sense :p maybe if i didnt have an ipod already, then it would be worth it.
Anand
4 years, 7 months ago
Heh. Yeah Ive never really been a big fan of cell phones and talking on em, but I guess you do need one. SMS is pretty handy, I have to say. and no need for a big laptop+evdo to check mail/browse stuff anymore.
So you finally got your iPod working? that’s good.
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