A bunch of users here have expressed interest in (or curiosity about) the iPhone from the Pocket PC perspective. I know you guys really want an official site review, but for now here's one from a long-time handheld-computer and Pocket-PC user (a little off topic in this thread, but most of the posts are already about the iPhone anyway).
Until this year, I avoided smartphones as they were large and heavy, or had tiny screens, or lacked various features the were important to me. Recently a bunch of really cool devices have come out (or been announced) such as the Nokia N95, Helio Ocean, and HTC Kaiser. None of them are ideal, but rather than go through each of their pros and cons, I'll write about the iPhone's (from which it should be clear as to why I didn't go with a different device).
It's long winded, but whatever... if you're not interested in the iPhone, don't read it.
Starting with the iPhone's numerous deficiencies that I've come across in the week I've owned it:
- While the EDGE network can be reasonably quick, it's sometimes excruciatingly slow
- There is no voice recorder
- No video recorder
- No GPS
- No included chat program (but there are webapp solutions)
- No installable apps
- No non-webapp games
- No SSH client (though there are webapp solutions - that you can setup on your own server or use someone else's if trust them)
- No Terminal Services (Remote Desktop) client
- No expandable memory
- No swappable battery (though its life is excellent)
- You can't send/receive data through BT
- You can't mount it as a drive
- You have to use iTunes to manage all the media (not that I mind iTunes, but having options is always nice)
- The camera resolution isn't the best and it has significant shutter lag (worse than many "cheap" cell phones)
- Push email options are limited
- There are still questions about how it'll work with Exchange
- You can only view Office documents
- Audio and video formats are limited
- No flash or java support in Safari
- Mapping and web-apps require an EDGE connection or wifi
- No search functionality in the PIM apps... WTF!?!
- You can't copy/paste (this one is especially perplexing)
- It's a closed system with both the hardware and software controlled by a single vendor
That's quite a list, eh? Anyway, clearly the iPhone isn't for everyone. However, despite all that, I still decided it meets my needs better than the competition. Here's why:
[1] OS X Platform
I don't have a lot of experience with recent flavors of Symbian, so I can't comment on it. But my years with Windows Mobile and its predecessors haven't always been rosy. It's often temperamental and sluggish, has a mediocre interface, intermittent syncing issues, wretched browsers (yeah, I tried many), and unreliable alarms (WTF). I also found that I had to routinely reset all my PPC/WM2003/WM5 devices because of weird behavior.
Just so I'm not accused of being biased against Microsoft, let me say that Palm has its problems as well... it was great for simple PIM back in the day, but fell short once multimedia and Internet-connectivity was added; it's crash-prone in its current incarnation and also lacks a decent browser. Not to mention that its task-switching model is limited.
In contrast, the iPhone has been rock solid. It's very responsive... there is no lag whatsoever. For anything. I've seen a few Safari crashes, but nothing that's taken down the OS or caused problems in other apps.
[2] Form Factor
I went through two VGA Windows Mobile devices before going back to a lowly iPaq rx1955 because I want something with wifi that was pocketable enough to always carry. Like the rx1955, the iPhone is small, thin, lightweight, and ergonomic (the curves make it even more comfortable and pocketable than the dimensions indicate). Except for the N95, all the smartphone alternatives I considered are larger and heavier than the iPhone (and have small screens).
[3] Web browser
Despite lacking video on most sites and flash, Safari on the iPhone still blows away every other mobile browser I've used. It starts and renders quickly and accurately, and the intelligent zooming and rotating is fast. It remembers where you were if does crash.
To be fair, I haven't tried the recent betas of Deepfish or Opera mini 4, but the reviews I've read didn't inspire confidence.
[4] Media Playback
640x480 h.264 video was also silk smooth on my HP rx4700 and Axim X50v (with 3rd party software). However, the playback interfaces on those devices was mediocre-at-best. And battery life lasted only a couple hours when watching a movie while I get 6+ hours of real world playback on the iPhone.
As far as audio goes, the iPhone's album-view is not only pretty but is actually quite effective since recognizing music by pictures can be done so quickly. And sometimes seeing an album cover will jog my memory about a song and prompt me to play it (more-so than an album title would). It's not a terribly important feature and I classify it as mostly eye-candy, but it's still nifty.
[5] Application Integration
All the apps work very well together on the iPhone. One example is how the browser identifies untagged phone numbers and prompts to call when I tap on them. Overall, everything is tightly integrated.
[6] Interface
It's as smooth and responsive as the ads make it out the be and is extremely well designed. It's not the pizzaz that I'm referring to... yeah it's all very pretty, but the real value is its functionality. Not only is everything intuitive and easy to find, but it effectively uses the limited pixels of the HVGA screen. When you scroll down in Safari, the header scrolls off the screen. There are few borders in the applications. Scroll bars only appear when you're scrolling (and they're proportional and translucent, which is a nice touch). The accelerometer works flawlessly, quickly switching from portrait to landscape in the browser, photo, and iPod apps.
And everything happens instantly. It really makes using other devices feel cumbersome.
[7] Large vibrant screen
The 3.5" 3:2 HVGA widescreen is vibrant. Before this, getting a screen that size and resolution meant using a larger, heavier smartphone. A buddy of mine has an HP hw6945, which is packed with awesome features but crippled by a 240x240 pixel screen. Many other cool smartphones aren't quite that bad, but still only have smaller QVGA screens or are significantly larger and heavier (Toshiba G900). The other approach is to get a N800 or Palm Foleo, but neither are pocketable and both lack a cell phone and media playback.
[8] Battery Life
At first, I was concerned about not being able to swap it, but battery life is far better than any color-PDA I've used before. Even with wifi enabled and the bright screen, I still get a full day's worth of video and browsing. Being able to charge through USB is also handy. Obviously, this has to be weighed against the disadvantage of not being able to swap in a spare (personally, ever since I misplaced one for my X50v, I decided I don't like juggling batteries).
[9] Visual Voice Mail
Voice mail doesn't suck anymore. Finally. This is an underrated feature that you don't appreciate until you've tried it.
[10] Multi-touch
While most demos I've seen involve the photo viewer, it's actually most handy in the browser and mapping app. It'll be interesting to see how this approach is developed and expanded upon over the next few years.
[11] Capacitance touch-screen
Everyone goes on about multi-touch, and it is very cool and useful. But also significant is the capacitance touch-screen. It's very responsive and -while it's not impervious- is much more durable and scratch resistant than a traditional pressure-sensitive screen. Before this, I've had to use protective cases/covers on my PDAs (they're inconvenient and add thickness and weight). It's also nice to not worry about needing a screen protector, which I'd been using on my PDAs for years (since the first few times some particle wedged under the stylus, resulting in the plastic screen getting carved up... most of you have probably experienced that sinking feeling when it happens).
[12] Wifi management and performance
Another feature I don't see mentioned often: the iPhone connects to wifi quickly, effortlessly, and reliably. With all of my Windows Mobile devices, connecting to wifi took forever. Setting up and managing wifi was a PITA. And it was unreliable... sometimes it'd connect and sometimes it wouldn't and because it took so long when it did work, troubleshooting problems was time consuming and frustrating.
[13] Synchronization
Activesync usually worked OK, but it was slow and occasionally problematic. I tried 3rd party programs too, and they were aggravating as well. The iPhone syncs quickly and I've had no issues yet.
[14] Mapping
The mapping app is fast, simple, and effective. The interface for search results is well-thought out. Same goes for routing. Sure, being integrated with a GPS would be that much better, but I don't see this as a huge omission for few a couple reasons: It's only useful when you're able to maintain line-of-sight to the satellites and it takes a while to acquire a lock. Still, Apple would be smart to support connecting to an external BT GPS and include related functionality in the mapping app.
[15] Included Memory
Whenever I added external memory to my PDAs, battery life suffered significantly (especially when I watched movies on CF... I was looking at less than a couple hours). Also, running apps off of external cards often resulted in significant lag. And I'd occasionally have mounting issues. So it's nice to have 8GB without having to worry about those sorts of problems.
Conclusion
Some dismiss the iPhone as offering nothing new, but the reality is that not only is its feature-set unique, but it's the only smartphone with visual voice mail, a capacitance touch screen, and multi-touch. It has the best battery life of any wifi smartphone that I'm aware of. It's arguably got the best web browser of any smartphone. It also has the largest hi-resolution screen and video playback of any small, lightweight smartphone. Beyond that, its features aren't new so much as enhancements to interface, usability, and reliability vs competing devices. But even those features are worth something.
However, there are many things it can't do... in fact, some may say it shouldn't be called a smartphone. I disagree with that, though its limitations are definitely significant. But no device is perfect and you gotta measure the tradeoffs against your needs and priorities when figuring out which tool is appropriate.
Even if you hate Steve Jobs or Apple, be happy that the iPhone will prompt other companies to improve their products. I'm platform agnostic and I look forward to Microsoft's and Nokia's responses.
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