Review

Review - iPhone

Thursday, July 5th, 2007 at 12:00 AM - by

I got my iPhone last Saturday, which means I've only had it for four days as I sit down to write this piece. And while I'd like to spend a lot more time with it before I write it up, fearless leader Bryan Chaffin says that's not an option. So here it is...

Let me start by saying I'm not going to offer you the laundry list of features and specifications. If that's what you're looking for, there are dozens of pages on the Web including Apple's iPhone pages that have it all. I hope, instead, to provide you with real life observations and opinions drawn from four days of life using an iPhone exclusively.

My testing methodology: As soon as the iPhone was activated (which, by the way, went flawlessly for me) and charged up, I forwarded both of my phones to it. So since Saturday afternoon any and all phone calls I've made or received have been made or received on the iPhone. Furthermore, I put all three iPods -- my iPod video, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle -- in a drawer to better simulate the iPhone being my main/only iPod.

Ready for my thoughts?

OK, first and foremost, it is amazing piece of technology. With all the hype, promises, and expectations I felt certain I'd find something lacking or some significant shortcoming. But that just isn't the case so far. I have a few bones to pick (more on that shortly), but I've yet to find anything that even comes close to being a deal-breaker for me. I've been around this business for a long, long time and I can't remember ever being this blown away by a new product, even a new product from Apple.

iPhone is just brilliant. I keep looking at the way it does things and thinking, "it couldn't be much easier." For example, I love using a Bluetooth headset with my cell phone but I've never been able to figure out how to tell my previous cell phones that I wanted to direct a call to the phone rather than the Bluetooth headset. If the Bluetooth headset powered up and within 30 feet of the phone, the call went to the Bluetooth headset. Period. I know I could press some buttons on the phone or headset to switch the call from headset to phone, but I never remembered how to do it and the few times I tried I accidentally disconnected the caller.

With iPhone there are buttons on the screen that let me choose to use the Bluetooth headset (Jawbone in the picture below), the phone, or the speaker phone. I click the one I want and that's that. At any time during the call I can click the appropriate button and switch from headset to phone to speakerphone.

Isn't that the way it should be? I think so...

Here's another example. My old phone had Internet access but I never, ever used it because it was so awful. I know it could find nearby restaurants and such but after trying it once I never tried it again. Between the tiny screen, typing on a 12-key numeric keypad, the multiple menus, and the confusing user interface, it was too much trouble for even a geek like yours truly.

The iPhone, on the other hand, makes it so easy I know I will actually use it and not just for the sake of this review. Here's all it takes to find pizza near my home: I tap the Map button, type my zip code and the word "Pizza," then tap the Search button. In a few seconds a list of pizza joints near my house appears. Another tap and that list is displayed as push pins on a street map.

One more tap and I see directions from my house to the restaurant. How can you not love that?

In addition to lots of things my old phone might have been able to do but I never did, iPhone does some things I didn't expect. Take a gander at the picture below. I'm using the Safari application and am tapping a phone number on a Web page. When I do, iPhone does something really smart -- it pops up a little box asking me if I want to dial that phone number now.

That's just so cool; Safari doesn't even do that on my Macs!

Another thing I didn't expect -- iPhone is a better iPod video than my iPod video. The screen is much bigger, offers the option of a widescreen aspect ratio without big black bars, and displays far richer, deeply saturated colors. This picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice but check it out anyway:

It rocks having a screen that's only slightly smaller than my whole video iPod.

OK. Now for those bones...

First and probably most annoying to me is that iPhone does not (yet) support voice dialing. As I mentioned earlier, I love using a wireless Bluetooth headset with my mobile phone, mostly so I can drop my phone in my pocket, click a button on the headset, and reach my wife at home by saying, "Lisa at home," or call my daughter's cell phone with, "Allison mobile." While iPhone works great with both of the Bluetooth headsets I've tried with it so far (and the Bluetooth hands-free system in my friend Dan's new BMW), the iPhone doesn't support voice dialing. Bummer.

Actually, I'm not as bummed about it as I could be, mostly because I suspect Apple can add this feature with nothing more than a software update to the phone. And I hope they do so sooner rather than later. We'll have to wait and see.

Bone #2 is that the earphone/headset jack is recessed in such a way that none of my third-party earphones -- Shure, Future Sonics/Atrio, or Able Planet so far -- work with my iPhone. I asked my contact at Apple why the jack was designed in such a manner and he explained that iPhone would have been somewhat thicker if the jack wasn't recessed the way it is.

Fair enough. As it turns out I have received two press releases so far from RadTech and Belkin, which both offer an adapter cable for under $10. And, in fact, the RadTech one (aka ProCable - Audio Extension Cable 3.5mm Male - Female) as shown below just arrived. It works great and will set you back a whopping $6.95.

So, much as I don't like the recessed headphone jack or having to use an adapter cable, I can live with it if that's the price we pay for a slimmer iPhone.

Finally, and this isn't much of a bone, but I wish iPod games worked on the iPhone. I've grown fond of both iQuiz and MiniGolf and would like to play them on my phone.

I would also like to mention that while cellular wireless Internet access (e.g. AT&T's EDGE data network, not 802.11 Wi-Fi) can be slower than Internet access on other hand-held devices, I didn't find this terribly bothersome. For one thing, I seem to do much of my Internet-related iPhone stuff when I'm within range of a Wi-Fi network, which is noticeably faster than using the cellular (EDGE) network. Even so, the EDGE connection speed didn't bother me much for the things I used it for such as finding a pizza joint, sending and receiving a few e-mail messages, getting driving directions, and so on.

So while the Internet speed issue isn't really an issue for me, if you expect to do a lot of Web surfing and e-mailing over the cellular (EDGE) network, it may be an issue for you.

One last thing: There is no way I can tell you how well the iPhone resists scratching and other cosmetic issues after just four days. For what it's worth, I haven't put it in a case yet and I've carried it around in my pocket, unprotected, the whole time and it still looks brand new. PC World Senior Associate Editor Eric Butterfield went several steps further -- he scrapes, scratches, and drops an iPhone onto a variety of hard surfaces (including a sidewalk) in this video.

NOTE: I know the photos in this review aren't very good. In fact, they pretty much suck. I'm sorry. I did what I could but the front of the iPhone is so shiny and reflective that it's difficult to get a decent picture.

The Bottom Line

iPhone succeeds in almost every way. It's easily the best mobile phone I've ever used. It's a better iPod video than my iPod video. And it's an awesome hand-held Internet device. If I were allowed to use half stars I'd rate it four and a half. But since I am limited to whole numbers I'm going to have to rate it a 4.

Just The Facts

iPhone from Apple, Inc.

MSRP US$499-$599

Pros: Great phone, excellent iPod, beautiful screen, easy and fun to use, highly usable Internet applications, slick design.

Cons: Expensive, no voice dialing, recessed earphone/headset jack doesn't work with many third-party earphones, occasional slow Internet access, no games.

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jotto4 said:

member since 25 Jun 2001 with 26 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Jul 04, 2007 11:50 am

good review and I agree, this phone is amazing. I'd love to share my feedback as well.

Background- I'm a blackberry user in a corporate PC world. I have never spent a penny of my own money on a PC, only Macs (2 non-intel powerbooks and an intel iMac in our house now).

Purchase - waited in line with a buddy for an iphone (Flatirons Crossing, Colorado). 5:15-6:20. back in my car by 6:45. very easy and worth it. to lend color to how badly i wanted this phone, last friday was also the day that my wife and i got back from the hospital with our second child. everyone was sleeping and I (with permission) snuck off to buy the iPhone. gone a total of 2 hours. thanks honey!

Initial experience - great and simple packaging, well engineered, beautiful finish, flawless activation through itunes (i'm a current Cingular/At&T user), huge "wow" factor at simplicity of GUI. feels smaller in hand than expected, usable screen size bigger than expected

6 days of daily use, PROS & CONS list

PROS

-amazingly sharp screen quality

-can view excel, word and PDF's (couldn't do this on my blackberry)

-Photo app is supreme - everybody at work asked, "do you have pictures of the new baby?" I whip out the iphone and they freak out on how cute my kid is and how sweet the photos look and flicking a finger to advance to the next blows everybody away. (no camera on my previous blackberry)

-Google Maps - almost worth the price alone. outside sales manager who needs to drive to find places all the time. no more looking up an address at my desk, drawing a little map on a post it and sticking to dashboard when I drive. truly perfect fit for my needs

-can collect email from all of my email accounts (except my work)

-predictive text works better than expected (though not in EVERY app)

-Safari. period. not some crappy mobile web app. i NEVER used the web app on my blackberry. that's a lie, i did a couple times and got so fed up, i never did again.

-edge is pretty decent, wifi is awesome.

-without the rubber case i bought, the iphone feels as sexy as it looks in your hand

-turning phone and having image rotate is both cool and functional. makes reading webpages easier. plus, if you are typing in a username/password for a website, the keyboard gets wider and keys bigger when in landscape mode.

-so easy to use, my mother in law was able to figure it out with very little coaching. I think she'll buy one too. Heck they switched to Macs and bought iPods when they saw how easy they were

CONS

-cannot copy/paste

-sound quality while talking on phone below average ("tinny" and low volume) I know, I shouldn't be driving with the phone against my head. the speaker isn't loud enough for me to drive hands free and i hate my bluetooth headset. plus, that will burn the battery of the iphone out faster

-speaking of battery, with average daily usage (for me), must charge iphone each day (8 hours usage according to iPhone). could get 2.5 days out of one charge on my Blackberry

-cannot email a group. you can group your contacts in address book, but cannot email a group as a whole on iPhone. not good when you have 11 sales reps working for you. can't even multiselect with a sweep of the finger (or some other nifty way Apple could have come up with)

-predictive text not in every app

-not seemless or native to MS Exchange environment (i'm the sole guinea pig in a large company in Denver)

-no option for a username while trying to join locked networks. cannot get on our corporate network because I can't enter my username AND password.

-camera a little grainy indoors, sucky in low light.

-wish landscape keyboard mode was available in mail app. would make it much easier to type long emails.

-headset jack issue as Bob pointed out above.

-cannot eliminate apps from home screen. (not a big deal, but a little customization would be nice)

In summary, i'd love to say the iphone is to smartphones (treo, blackberry) as the Mac is to PC's. does everything a PC can (and then some), but more simply and elegantly. I can't say that completely because of the cons listed above and the lack of native support in a corporate environment. would I return the iphone, Hell no. am I an early adopter who can deal with the workarounds until Apple makes this work in the biz world just like a treo or blackberry does now, yes. if you are not, wait several months to buy one. most expensive, but best convergence device i've ever had.

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gslusher said:

member since 13 Nov 2002 with 2001 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Jul 04, 2007 12:59 pm

Quote
jotto4 wrote:
-speaking of battery, with average daily usage (for me), must charge iphone each day (8 hours usage according to iPhone). could get 2.5 days out of one charge on my Blackberry

You may be using the iPhone more, as the published battery life for BlackBerries is less than that for the iPhone. The official BlackBerry site gives talk time at 3.5-4 hours, depending upon model, vs 8 hours for the iPhone. Of course, you probably don't use your BlackBerry to listen to music or watch videos.

Another "Pro" to consider is the built-in memory, considerably larger than any other "smartphone." (Most come with 64 or 128 MB.) Even with an SD or micro SD card, the 8GB iPhone beats them. Most smartphones apparently are not compatible with the new SDHC cards, so they are limited to 2GB cards. You'd have to buy 4 cards to equal the memory in the iPhone and you'd have to carry them around. I read a comment on another site complaining that the iPhone's memory is not expandable. When asked, the commenter noted that he had ONE 1GB card for his Treo. The most popular iPod is the 4GB Nano.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Jul 04, 2007 5:34 pm

Hmmm... I can't quite buy Apple's explanation for the headphone jack. The current 30GB has it's headphone jack properly placed all the way to the edge of the case and it's THINNER than the iPhone!

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Jul 04, 2007 6:58 pm

Quote
Guest wrote:
Hmmm... I can't quite buy Apple's explanation for the headphone jack. The current 30GB has it's headphone jack properly placed all the way to the edge of the case and it's THINNER than the iPhone!
Not sure I buy their excuse either, but you DO realize there is a significant different in technology, components and build quality between an iPod and an iPhone, right?

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Jul 04, 2007 9:00 pm

Well then I find it irresponsible of "fearless leader (as in Moose and Squirrel?) Bryan Chaffin" not letting you have at least the "Steve Jobs" suggested amount of time to get acquainted with your iPhone. So therefore, I find your review incomplete, mostly uninformed, and biased.

And there is one major drawback, of many, surprised that you didn't find it, but then . . . . , that made me not want to get one just yet and that is no Voice Dialing. With more and more states outlawing, soon all, the use of cell phones in moving vehicles, and people will, the iPhones GUI invites trouble. As I have read in other reviews it has been pointed out that the reviewers do use their phones while in a car and that what it takes to dial, they'd end up wrapping their car around a tree and more. I am very surprised that such a "revolutionary technology packed" device is lacking in this area thus making this device dangerous. And I find it typical Apple not to divulge a full feature list until a device is released. Knowing what's missing would have many not buy. And if you did and did not like what you "didn't get", you face a 10% restocking fee. That's not real customer friendly. Matter of fact that's kinda shifty.

I look forward to your review after you have had more time with your phone.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Jul 04, 2007 10:28 pm

Quote
Guest wrote:
Quote
Guest wrote:
Hmmm... I can't quite buy Apple's explanation for the headphone jack. The current 30GB has it's headphone jack properly placed all the way to the edge of the case and it's THINNER than the iPhone!
Not sure I buy their excuse either, but you DO realize there is a significant different in technology, components and build quality between an iPod and an iPhone, right?

Nope, I'm pretty sure all four connector 1/8" jacks use the same "technology." The components and build quality are/should be absolutely identical (or are iPhones built in some special, luxury Chinese soldering station, lovingly hand-crafted by the most skilled machinist with masters degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering?).

I've worked in manufacturing for years. To me, the most obvious answer is the simplest: Nobody thought to check to see if third party headphone jacks would fit. The designer wanted the contour to remain nice and round when the plug wasn't in place, so he or she recessed the plug. They then probably checked it against the only headphone jacks they had available, Apple's - which all have thin shrouds. The weird excuses they have come up with are just what they could come up with, shooting from the hip, about a problem no one at Apple knew existed. Well, that's my theory anyway (either that or it's some evil plot to force to only use Apple's headphones ).

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DoctorMac said:

member since 16 Oct 2006 with 32 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Jul 04, 2007 11:18 pm

Quote
Guest wrote:
And there is one major drawback, of many, surprised that you didn't find it, but then . . . . , that made me not want to get one just yet and that is no Voice Dialing.

Ummm... did you even read the review? I could have sworn the lack of voice dialing was the first bone I picked:

Quote
"First and probably most annoying to me is that iPhone does not (yet) support voice dialing. As I mentioned earlier, I love using a wireless Bluetooth headset with my mobile phone, mostly so I can drop my phone in my pocket, click a button on the headset, and reach my wife at home by saying, "Lisa at home," or call my daughter's cell phone with, "Allison mobile." While iPhone works great with both of the Bluetooth headsets I've tried with it so far (and the Bluetooth hands-free system in my friend Dan's new BMW), the iPhone doesn't support voice dialing. Bummer."

As for having to write the review sooner rather than later, I have to agree with Bryan. People want to know what the iPhone experience is like today, not in a few weeks. I have no doubt I will write about it again (and probably again and again) in coming months, but what you read here is how I feel -- my opinion -- after four days of intense use.

Speaking of my opinion, heck yes I am biased and darn proud of it. The review above, like all of my reviews here, is an opinion piece, not an editorial or news story. I'm pretty sure the word "review" appears twice at the top of the page so you won't mistake it for news.

I'm not sure what is the real story about the 1/8-inch plug, but I got a little adapter for a whopping $7 and all is well. Of course I wish Apple hadn't done it that way. But as I said, in the big scheme of things it's not a deal breaker, at least not for me. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

Regards,

Bob LeVitus

Reviews Director

iPod Observer

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papamaui said:

member since 28 Jun 2001 with 46 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Jul 05, 2007 4:01 am

If the iPhone call volume seems low ... it probably is ... but Settings is not the place to go to increase it! Instead, while making a call, just use the volume adjuster on the side of the iPhone. You can only adjust the phone's call volume during a call!

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Sir Harry Flashman said:

member since 08 Feb 2007 with 577 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:30 am

Quote
Guest wrote:
Quote
Guest wrote:
Quote
Guest wrote:
Hmmm... I can't quite buy Apple's explanation for the headphone jack. The current 30GB has it's headphone jack properly placed all the way to the edge of the case and it's THINNER than the iPhone!
Not sure I buy their excuse either, but you DO realize there is a significant different in technology, components and build quality between an iPod and an iPhone, right?

Nope, I'm pretty sure all four connector 1/8" jacks use the same "technology." The components and build quality are/should be absolutely identical (or are iPhones built in some special, luxury Chinese soldering station, lovingly hand-crafted by the most skilled machinist with masters degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering?).

I've worked in manufacturing for years. To me, the most obvious answer is the simplest: Nobody thought to check to see if third party headphone jacks would fit. The designer wanted the contour to remain nice and round when the plug wasn't in place, so he or she recessed the plug. They then probably checked it against the only headphone jacks they had available, Apple's - which all have thin shrouds. The weird excuses they have come up with are just what they could come up with, shooting from the hip, about a problem no one at Apple knew existed. Well, that's my theory anyway (either that or it's some evil plot to force to only use Apple's headphones ).

Sounds plausible. I doubt that they wanted to be one of the only suppliers of headphone/ear buds. From what I see there is a symbiotic relationship between Apple and the abundance of 3rd party iPod accessories.

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Terrin said:

member since 29 Jan 2006 with 350 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Jul 05, 2007 10:02 am

Yes, but to discredit the Apple insider's reason, you'd have to actually take apart the iPod and the iPhone and compare how all the components are arranged inside. A few break downs have found the iPhone packed very tightly. Apple may not have been able to move it without some undesirable consequence. Apple sometimes goofs, but I don't see that being an unthought of consequence. Of course, your explanation is a reasonable one, I just don't see it being the case.

Quote
Guest wrote:
Quote
Guest wrote:
Quote
Guest wrote:
Hmmm... I can't quite buy Apple's explanation for the headphone jack. The current 30GB has it's headphone jack properly placed all the way to the edge of the case and it's THINNER than the iPhone!
Not sure I buy their excuse either, but you DO realize there is a significant different in technology, components and build quality between an iPod and an iPhone, right?

Nope, I'm pretty sure all four connector 1/8" jacks use the same "technology." The components and build quality are/should be absolutely identical (or are iPhones built in some special, luxury Chinese soldering station, lovingly hand-crafted by the most skilled machinist with masters degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering?).

I've worked in manufacturing for years. To me, the most obvious answer is the simplest: Nobody thought to check to see if third party headphone jacks would fit. The designer wanted the contour to remain nice and round when the plug wasn't in place, so he or she recessed the plug. They then probably checked it against the only headphone jacks they had available, Apple's - which all have thin shrouds. The weird excuses they have come up with are just what they could come up with, shooting from the hip, about a problem no one at Apple knew existed. Well, that's my theory anyway (either that or it's some evil plot to force to only use Apple's headphones ).

Quote this post ↓

jotto4 said:

member since 25 Jun 2001 with 26 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Jul 05, 2007 10:53 am

Quote
papamaui wrote:
If the iPhone call volume seems low ... it probably is ... but Settings is not the place to go to increase it! Instead, while making a call, just use the volume adjuster on the side of the iPhone. You can only adjust the phone's call volume during a call!

Agreed. That is how i've done it. I discovered that i can hook the iphone into my car stereo and when a call comes in, the music fades, and the caller's voice is heard through the car speakers. The caller can hear me via iphone's mic. Very happy with this discovery.

Another "con" is you cannot invite anyone to a calendar event. This is very bad.

Thankfully, since iphone is based on OS X, a software update can fix all of these issues.

.::.:

Sent from my iPhone

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