The Curious Case of the iPhone

[Vincent Ferrari]

<p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1226154481.usr18053.jpg" /></p><p>When the iPhone launched on June 29, 2007, the lines to get one were tremendous.&nbsp; I waited on line for about 8-10 hours to get mine.&nbsp; A lot of people waited a lot longer, and in New York City if you didn't get yours before the weekend was over, you had at least a one-week wait to get your hands on your own.&nbsp; No sooner did people get them in their hands than a disgruntled group of non-buyers began explaining to anyone who would listen that the only thing selling the iPhone was hype.&nbsp; Accompanying that argument was the repetitive pointing out that there was "nothing new" about the iPhone and that everything we were seeing in it had been done before. <MORE /></p><p>In essence, those arguments are at least partially true.&nbsp; Apple isn't the first company to have used a touch screen.&nbsp; For years, companies like HP, Dell, Toshiba, and HTC have been cranking out device after device with touch screens.&nbsp; I'll even ignore the fact that Apple was one of the first to ever use a capacitive touchscreen on a mobile device, and is definitely the first to cover their touch surface with glass instead of plastic.</p><p>Many people who never bought one bemoaned the interface.&nbsp; It was too simplistic.&nbsp; It didn't offer "skins."&nbsp; You couldn't customize anything.&nbsp; it was just "there."&nbsp; According to the so-called experts, this was Steve Jobs' way of ramming a user interface down people's throats that was his vision for how a phone should work and people had two options: take it or leave it.&nbsp; Others bemoaned the lack of third party applications, a to-do list app, note synchronizing, Exchange support, a physical keyboard, video recording, cut and paste, the fact that it wasn't a 3G phone, and the fact that it couldn't make a cup of coffee merely by dialing it in the middle of the night.</p><p>Oh yeah, and it was "too expensive" for the average consumer.</p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1226154473.usr18053.jpg" /></p><p>By rights, the iPhone should have fell flat on its face from minute one, and if any of these objections that were raised were serious, we'd be reading about how Apple shareholders voted out Steve Jobs and cancelled the iPhone project altogether.&nbsp; Of course, that didn't happen.</p><p>What did happen, however, was a minor revolution in the phone market.&nbsp; Despite their lumbering nature, many phone companies were slapped in the face with the fact that their objections simply didn't matter to Joe Consumer (a distant relative of Joe the Plumber).&nbsp; Companies responded, as they usually do, with poor knockoffs of the iPhone that completely missed the point.&nbsp; Toward Christmas of last year, Verizon was touting its Voyager as the best touchscreen phone on the market.&nbsp; "Touch does more when it's on 'The Network,'" the ads reminded us.&nbsp; In the end?&nbsp; The Voyager flopped.&nbsp; You couldn't get one at all around Christmas, but you could easily get one now.&nbsp; Verizon then launched the Samsung Glyde, the LG Dare, the Venus, and so on.&nbsp; Again and again touting that "touch" does more on their network.&nbsp; Again and again, these competitors fell flat on their face, enjoying minor success on day one and complete nothingness thereafter.</p><p>Sprint tried to go after Apple, also.&nbsp; They launched a gigantic ad campaign for their Instinct, the phone that was going to knock Apple off its pedestal.&nbsp; It had everything.&nbsp; Turn by turn directions, mobile TV, picture messaging, and so on.&nbsp; The hype machine was in full force.&nbsp; If you got this phone on the "Now Network," you'd be the envy of the neighborhood, and yet today, a mere few months after its launch, I've barely seen one on the NYC Subway.&nbsp; Despite the number of competitors, I still see way more iPhones; first generation ones as well as 3G ones.</p><p>How can this be?&nbsp; How can all these competitors show up with more features on better networks and yet people are still buying the iPhone?</p><p><PAGE /></p><p>Today, on <a href="http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/11/07/how-apple-wins-the-s.html" target="_blank">Boing Boing Gadgets</a>, Joel Johnson makes an excellent introduction to a recent Consumer Reports article pointing out how satisfied iPhone owners actually are with their purchase:</p><blockquote><em>"According to the 2008 "Business Wireless Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study" by J.D. Power &amp; Associates, Apple's iPhone - a smartphone with no turn-by-turn directions, copy-and-paste, physical QWERTY keyboard, user-installable programs, expandable flash memory, or removable battery - rates a perfect five-out-of-five in the "Features" category, winning out over HTC, Motorola, Palm, RIM, and Samsung. There's only way to interpret that data: for iPhone owners, Apple has provided every feature that matters, even if that means leaving some features out"</em></blockquote><p>The reason Apple keeps succeeding where others are predicting failure is that most of the iPhone works the way it's supposed to consistently and reliably.&nbsp; The UI in version 2.1 generally doesn't crash much.&nbsp; It's not immune from crashing, but it's very stable.&nbsp; The E-Mail app works.&nbsp; Sorting messages, downloading them, responding, attaching pictures, and working with multiple accounts is all relatively painless.&nbsp; Adding a new account is a click or two and a username and password.</p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1226159546.usr18053.jpg" border="1" width="364" height="265" /></p><p>The much-maligned "push" synchronization with MobileMe just works, despite some initial hiccups.&nbsp; No complicated setup, no server adjustments, just a username and password and you're on your way.</p><p>Without going feature by feature, the iPhone simply does what it's supposed to do and does it really well.</p><p>Where other companies fall flat is that they over-promise and under-deliver.</p><p>They promise you feature after feature after feature, only to have a customer find out that the feature isn't that great.&nbsp; They promise synchronization with your desktop computer only to tell you that you have to use MS Outlook on Windows XP or better.&nbsp; They promise video capture and later you find out that their idea of video capture is 260 x 74 QIF video that's unwatchable on anything less than your phone.&nbsp; They promise music downloads, but charge $2-$3 a track (or a monthly rental fee) and the "download" is locked to your phone for all eternity.&nbsp; Lose your phone?&nbsp; Tough.&nbsp; They promise a "touch" screen, but it's usually either plastic (the Voyager / Glyde / etc.) or needs a stylus (Windows Mobile).&nbsp; They promise "push e-mail" and then tell you that you need a special server and corporate e-mail.&nbsp; They promise you a "replaceable battery," when in reality you won't need to replace it before your contract is up and you're buying a new phone anyway (and if you do grab a new battery it'll set you back $75).&nbsp; They promise picture messaging, but then in some cases you can't send the pictures outside of your own carrier's network.&nbsp; They brag about giving you access to your IM lists, and then tell you that every incoming and outgoing message will cost you one SMS message.&nbsp; They offer 3G service, but don't mention that it isn't available everywhere and don't offer WiFi on their phones to compensate (Verizon, I'm looking directly at you!).</p><p>You're probably starting to see the point.</p><p>The iPhone's success isn't that it's another touch screen phone, only this time backed by Apple's mythical "hype machine."&nbsp; Its success lies in the fact that it has a UI designed for your fingers, not a stylus, and the team that developed it actually had a goal of making the best and most usable device on the market, not the one with the most features.</p><p>in a few weeks, we'll see the launch of RIM's effort to climb out from sameness and produce something new; the BlackBerry Storm.&nbsp; It'll only be available on Verizon at launch (wow, you mean a one-carrier phone?&nbsp; I thought only evil Apple did that?) and will have all the features you've come to know and love about Blackberry handhelds with the addition of a web browser that's finally more than a glorified WAP browser and an on-screen keyboard that sort of kind of simulates a real one.&nbsp; I guess RIM's assertion that no "serious business user" would go without a physical keyboard went out the window now that they're trying to cash in on the "I don't want an iPhone" market.</p><p>Will it sell?&nbsp; Probably.&nbsp; Like most "iPhone killers" it'll do really well in the opening weeks and then fizzle like a can of soda that's been left open for a week.&nbsp; RIM still doesn't understand that features aren't what sell phones; well-implemented features that don't overpromise and underdeliver do.&nbsp; As long as RIM is not singularly focused on the Storm, it'll be just another also-ran in the great dustbin of touch screen phones that never really attained mass-market appeal.</p><p style="text-align: left;">I'm not saying Apple got everything right with the iPhone.&nbsp; I am, however, wholeheartedly agreeing with Joel from Boing Boing Gadgets.&nbsp; Apple's success is grounded in the fact that for most users (ie: the mass market at large), the iPhone is everything they need and want in a device.&nbsp; That, and not the hardware, is going to be the hardest thing for its competitors to overcome.&nbsp; Churning out features is what they're good at, but churning out well-thought out features, even if there are fewer of them, is what makes the iPhone great.</p><p><em>Vincent Ferrari is an Apple fan, videoblogger, blogger, writer, and all-around geek from the Bronx. He works in the IT Department of a cellular phone company that shall not be named, and lives in a very comfortable apartment with his lovely wife, two lovely cats, three Macs, two iPhones, and God-knows-how-many iPods of varying age.</em></p>

[dma1965]

I have been a diehard Windows Mobile user since the days of the first Compaq iPaq. I was surfing the web with my Pocket PC before anyone knew it could be done. I have had more Windows Mobile phones than anyone I know (there are 3 sitting in a drawer right now).

I could not understand the iPhone hype until I got one, and let me tell you it is not hype that makes this the best mobile device, bar none.

Sure, I was annoyed at all the new users who showed me their nifty new iPhone and told me that they could surf the web. Wowee! I exclaimed. I have been doing that for 8 years (9 years if you count my Palm Vx and Omnisky Modem). Get a real phone, I thought.

You bet I found it irritating that the new iPhone users had to show me that their phones could play video and music. Oh, and they could get email too! Eat dirt, loser, I silently sneered.

Just this past week my beloved AT&T Tilt decided to synch my Exchange calender over and over again until my battery died. I called Patrick Gilbert, CEO of 4Smartphone, and asked him if something was up with the Exchange server. He told me that there was no problem. "Great!" I exclained "Now I have to troubleshoot yet another Windows Mobile problem, because I either have to be tethered to a power line all day, or turn off Exchange Syncing, which means I will not get my email, which is my business lifeline."

Then Patrick told me something that blew me away. He told me he was using an iPhone, and would not go back to Windows Mobile any time soon.

Holy crap! Patrick Gilbert using an iPhone! I had to hear more about this.

He told me how pleasant the experience was, some of the missing parts, and some of the great parts as well. I hung up the phone in dismay, and went down to the local AT&T store to have another look at that lame iPhone I was so sure was for losers.

I asked if I was eligible for an upgrade, and it turns out I was. I was told I had 30 days to try it out, and could return it if I did not like it for a modest restocking fee. The salesman also told me that there was no way I was going to return it, because it is the best phone he has ever seen. Yeah right!

I really wanted to hate the iPhone, and it gave me plenty of chances to hate it. No copy and paste, no document creation, no ability to schedule sync times, no GPS routing application, and the list goes on.

Yet I dwell on the "minuses". The "pluses" quicky took over. Tons of free and useful applications in the app store helped. Applications to do just about anything I found useful. Like ones that found things to do nearby based on my location. Cool applets for every kind of lookup imaginable. Then there are the games, which I normally did not like, but look so good on the iPhone I just have to play them. Then there is the unbelievable HTML email and web browsing experience. You have to use it for a day or two to truly understand how marvelous this is.

Then, of course, is the whole multimedia experience. Applications which smoothly stream my iTunes to my phone as if the song was on my phone. Fluid video watching with no hiccups. Crisp photos and one tap uploading to my gallery on MobileMe.

Sure, Windows mobile can do most of this. But on Windows Mobile it always felt like a job. At least 50% of the time something that should work as expected fails miserably. On the iPhone, it just always works, and is actually FUN.

I need routing capabilites on my phone for GPS, and my Tilt is now no longer synching and is used solely as a Navigation device in my car (only until a suitable application comes out for the iPhone). It now sits in my car waiting for a trip.

Goodbye Windows Mobile. I am leaving you like a bad relationship. I must now look up a recipe for preparing crow, since I will be eating plenty of it. I am glad I downloaded that recipe search application from the Appstore.

[Phronetix]

I think the idea that Apple feels they know what people use and need, then they actually act confidently in delivering it is one that elicits two responses.

The first is outrage. A defiant, "you can't tell me what I want and need", somehow fed by the idea that Apple is unjust in deciding which features to exclude, or include. The thing is, if you don't like it, don't buy it. It really is that simple. I really don't have the time to listen to people bemoan the fact that Apple didn't do this or that for them.

The second is enthusiasm. I count myself in the category of people who feel Apple almost always gets it right. I am not offended that Apple has designed only limited ways for me to get things done, or certain software to use. It works. I value function and form over freedom when it comes to things like video editing, music playing and purchasing, streaming of content, photo organizing and editing, and PIM.

I have found that I would rather not spend the hours that I used to spend tweaking my WM registry just right, or taking Pocket Informant and decluttering it the best I could. Or trying to fix the settings to make the wireless work. Instead, I accept and use the tools as they are, and get good at them. The iPhone calender is adequate and tells me enough. It could do more, and I am sure will gain features over time. I am enjoying the light-on-features and easy on the eyes version. Same with contacts and mail. On the Mac side, I have now used the first piece of software ever to its full potential (iMovie08), and I have just bought Final Cut Express to start using.

I recognize that this path is not for everyone. I hate that people get so wound up on either the side that says Apple/Steve Jobs is perfect/godlike/worshippable, or that it is evil/arrogant/irresponsible. Clearly, it is neither, and it's a waste of neural activity to get so wrapped up in this, at least in my opinion.

Good article, Vince. I like your perspective there.

Dennis

[gmontielh]

I must say that I have not yet experienced anything like the iPhone. Like dma1965 I have been on WM until last year when I switched. I must admit the I liked very much the Blackjack. But the iPhone has been working fine from day one with my corporate email, and now with Exchange sync even much better. Now I have the 3G and gave my wife the 2G and she just loves it (but must admit she had a RZR which is unfair to compare...).

As to C&P through the year in WM I found little use for it and maybe because I found it cumbersome. Although useful when creating contacts.

I do miss Excel and Word document creation capability but I look forward for their versions to finally come to the iPhone (version 2.2??). I am not impressed with what is being offered for now for such programs in the Application Store. Also, as a former Pocket Informant user, I look forward to their iPhone version. Question is, will Apple allow it?

[Menneisyys]

I'll even ignore the fact that Apple was one of the first to ever use a capacitive touchscreen on a mobile device, and is definitely the first to cover their touch surface with glass instead of plastic.

Are you sure about the latter? Most resistive touchscreens use glass on at least the WinMo, Palm OS and the Symbian platform. Very few use plastic instead.

EDIT: forget it, I see you referred to the surface of capacitive touchscreens, not the layer right under the resistive touchscreen. The latter causes a lot of misconceptions: while they're, for the most part, made out of glass, many people think they're plastic.

[ucfgrad93]

While the iPhone is far from perfect, it does what I need it to do and with almost no problems. I think the main draw for the iPhone is its ease of use, and the fact that it just works.

[Janak Parekh]

I would go even farther than you, Vinny, and say the iPhone doesn't do everything I want it to. Voice dialing would be a really nice feature. However, Apple tends to work by omission, not by inclusion. They'd rather do fewer features and get it right ("right" from their perspective, at least) as opposed to more. So, despite the missing features, the iPhone has worked better for me than many other devices.

--janak

[petvas]

The iPhone is a big success because it delivers exactly that, what the users expect: A device that works intuitive and combines a revolutionary interface uniting a phone, an iPod and an internet device. Safari is really great (ok, it crashes often but still it is much better than anything else!), the iPod is the best media player in the world and the phone feature is done very intuitive.
The user isn't confronted with features that aren't needed or don't work really well.
Apple has become a master in doing that for many many years. They have done the same thing with the Mac. They deliver features that are easy accesible and they just work. The user doesn't have to become a scientist in order to use an Apple product. Apple is really the only company in the world that has really understood the meaning of computers.
Computers were created to make our lives better and easier, not bother us with unnecessary, bad implemented functions that most people will find on Windows PCs/Mobile Devices...
Most hardware manufacters are really boring and they just don't get it. Microsoft is also sleeping...
Apple is gaining a lot of ground and if they continue like that they will become even more bigger.

To sum it up: Apple creates "experiences" (software/hardware) that work for people and not the other way around! Microsoft makes software that needs to be learned. It doesn't work for us. We have to adjust to it! They don't even think about the experience of using a computer/device. They focus on features but they don't focus on usability...

[dh]

I got my wife the original iPhone a while ago and it was not a huge success. She likes the coolness, but the device hugely underperformed as a phone.

Fast forward nine months or so and I took the plunge and got a 3G to replace my old HP6940. While the phone does have some well known shortcomings, I just love using it.

What clinched the deal was the ability to use third party apps to custom the phone to what I really need. Here are a few things I really like:

Reading eBooks on the SSSS of the 6940 was horrible. I've always been a big fan of the eBook concept and loved to read on my old Zaurus C860 with its VGA screen. Now the joy is back using Stanza which is a great reader app.

The screen is great for videos for our wedding photography business as well. Our customers tend to be techie peopel so we include an iPhone/Touch version of their slideshow all the time.

I'm waiting impatiently for the iPhone version of Pocket Informant, but Toodledo is a great task management system in the meantime. Even better, Alex has said that PI is going to sync with Toodledo which will be brilliant.

Janak, I'm sure that decent voice dialing is on the way at some point. Say Who? works pretty well in its limited way. The developer says that it is Apple's restrictions that prevents them from making it BlueTooth enabled and easier to use.

So far I'm really enjoying the iPhone experience and I can understand why it is so popular. Now if only Apple would make a version with a slide out keyboard like the Touch Pro. For now, there is much more to the iPhone than just hype!

[Joe Johaneman]

I originally resisted the urge to get an iPhone. I just didn't need that much power from a phone, or so I thought. Why would I need a phone that could surf the web and check my email, etc? I thought I just needed a phone.

I did need a music player, though, so I bought an iPod touch (after struggling between that and a Zune.) My partner already had the iPhone. After a few weeks with the touch, I understood why I needed an iPhone. I didn't get one right away. I got a MacBook first. Then, when the 3G came out, I inherited my partner's iPhone.

I'd have to say what makes the iPhone a success has little to do with hype. If it was hype, then nothing would have been able to convince me. Instead, I had been led to the iPhone through actual use of the interface (on the iPod Touch), and through the use of other Apple products like the MacBook.

I often hear Apple compared to Microsoft, and I think it's the wrong comparison to make. Apple is primarily a hardware manufacturer and they make awesome hardware, in my opinion. I tend to wait a bit, though, while all the kinks are worked out. (I take that attitude towards any hardware manufacturer, not just Apple.)

Now that I use the iPhone regularly, I wonder how I ever lived without it. I still don't really need to check my email while I'm out (unless I know something important is coming), but I've found being able to surf the internet while away from home useful. And it wouldn't have been useful without the simple power of the Mobile Safari browser. I had a browser on my Razr, and I never used it, because the experience was awful.

[woa1]

Vincent,
Excellent post. Fully agree with everything you said.
I am a long time Microsoft user (DOS -> Win 3.1 and on through Vista) & have used Win CE from the first day it was released on a Casioppeia in Nov(?) 1996 as well as multiple Win Mobile devices (11 in total). Haven't gotten an iPhone yet living in Japan & mainly due to a ban on camera phones at work. I do use a Touch & the UI, WiFi & Web browser are best I have every seen. I use the touch on wifi to browse the web enjoyably for hours which is not something I ever did on MY ACER n311 Win Mobile device even with its larger 640 x 480 screen & the app store as well as multimedia features are best in class. I now use a HTC s621 clone for a phone & PDA & the interface is just so limiting after using the Touch.
Is the iPhone perfect as has been said above not it isn't. Can't wait for a real GPS app, MS Office compatible app, cut & paste, skype and a no camera version would be awesome!

After using almost every generation of iPods I also switched to a MacBook Pro last Xmas to see what the Apple/OS X "hype" was and all about and no plans to go back to Windows for now!

Oh, BTW, great site! I am a long time fan of Jason since early WinCE days and keep up with the Win Mobile thoughts sites. Look forward to equally great content on this site. Keep it up!!!

[Dyvim]

Yeah, like some other folks here I no longer have much patience for the folks who see the iPhone and just complain about what it can't do compared to WM and also those who invoke the name of Steve Jobs or mention "Kool-Aid". As far as I'm concerned they just don't get it. If the iPhone isn't your cup of tea, then fine there are plenty of other phones out there. But don't assume I'm a mindless, uninformed, ovine victim of the hype machine just because I've chosen the iPhone over the competition (for the moment at any rate).

In a way I was blind-sided by the iPhone because I honestly didn't expect to like it. But after getting one for my wife, I only lasted a couple weeks before having to follow suit and get one for myself. The ease of use and the great browser combined to just blow me away. I didn't realize how tired I was of tweaking the registry, cleaning up the memory, defragging storage space, and generally trying to hack my WM device to get it to work the way I wanted it to until it dawned on me that I might never have to do those things again- and I haven't.

Is it perfect? Far from it. I have quite a laundry list of things that I wish it did, or did differently, or did better, but even given all that, for me it's still the best compromise of features, form, functionality, and usability.

I never found a WM Professional (née Pocket PC Phone Edition) device that did it for me. I loved my stand-alone Toshiba e830 (and previously e800) device, and couldn't find a WM phone that lived up to my experience with the Toshi while also delivering as a phone. I'd pretty much given up on ever going with a converged device, but for me the iPhone made going converged simple, painless, and best of all fun.

[michaelalanjones]

... the iPhone doesn't do everything I want it to. Voice dialing ...
I am currently trying to decide between an iPhone 3G and a BlackBerry Bold. One of the things that I use everyday on my [soon-to-be-replaced] Palm Treo 750 is voice command. The iPhone does not have voice dialing, but there is a freeware app that I saw on iPhoneExe.com that is called Cactus Voice Dialer. I don't know if that app is any good, but it might work.

The BlackBerry Bold is $100 more than the iPhone, but it does have a keyboard. I have had a keyboard for a long time, and I kinda like a keyboard for my thick fingers. We'll see. I am leaning towards the iPhone 3G, because I use the web more than I use text messaging. I also wish the iPhone could edit Word and Excel docs, because I use them for work a lot - the Bold can do that.

[Vincent Ferrari]

The BlackBerry Bold is $100 more than the iPhone, but it does have a keyboard. I have had a keyboard for a long time, and I kinda like a keyboard for my thick fingers. We'll see.

Truth be told, I hated the touchscreen keyboard at first, and it took awhile to get used to, but now I can't even imagine myself using the tiny little specs they call keys on devices like the Blackberry handhelds and the Dash. If you have fat fingers, you'll like the iPhone much more. The spacing is much more defined and the auto-correct as you type is pretty solid.

The trick with the iPhone is not following your natural urge to correct every single entry. Just type. Speed on. Most of the time, the iPhone is good at gauging what you meant to type.

That's the hardest adjustment to make with the iPhone, and once you do, things start getting really easy.

[Jon Childs]

I am currently trying to decide between an iPhone 3G and a BlackBerry Bold. One of the things that I use everyday on my [soon-to-be-replaced] Palm Treo 750 is voice command. The iPhone does not have voice dialing, but there is a freeware app that I saw on iPhoneExe.com that is called Cactus Voice Dialer. I don't know if that app is any good, but it might work.



I recently downloaded the free "Say Who" app. It is no frills for sure, but it hasn't missed a name from my contacts yet.

[Vincent Ferrari]

I recently downloaded the free "Say Who" app. It is no frills for sure, but it hasn't missed a name from my contacts yet.

I was looking at that one. May check it out now. Thanks for the tip!

[saru83]

Well said Vincent..

I have been a WM user for 4 years... went through over 8 devices.. yes 8 (i used to have a High-End Cellphone store so obviously i used to get them at a very discounted price)

Anyways, although i really liked the iPhone when it first came out in July'07, i didn't want to get on the hype & buy one right away.. i waited.. actually i waited till April'08 till i finally decided to get one & damn that was one of the best gadget purchases i ever made..

The iPhone simply put "It does what it is supposed to do, right"

When the iPhone 3G came out, got myself a 16GB & haven't been happier about my smartphone ever. It will just keep on getting better & better from here.. this is just the start ;)

[Janak Parekh]

I recently downloaded the free "Say Who" app. It is no frills for sure, but it hasn't missed a name from my contacts yet. Some of the apps are getting close, but what I really want is a BT headset-activated voice dial. When I'm driving, I really don't want to manipulate the iPhone itself if I have a choice. Fortunately, I don't need to drive on an everyday basis, so this is a manageable issue.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what Apple does in this regard. To their credit, they've been regularly updating the device.

I also agree with Vinny on the touchscreen keyboard. I'm faster on it than on my Blackberry almost all the time. The only time I find it slower is if I'm typing non-English words/nouns.

--janak

[jgrnt1]

I resisted for a long time and I still won't ever by a Mac (I like to build my own PCs). I did, however, break down and buy an iPhone 3G a few months ago. I have to agree with most of the earlier comments. There are still some glaring omissions, but what it does, it does very well.

I had to customize the heck out of my WM devices to make them livable and, for the most part, enjoyed the constant tweaking. But after all this time, WM and ActiveSync/WMDC still were unreliable. I can't tell you how many times WMDC has lost all the data on my phone, requiring me to set up a new partnership and resync.

I'd like the Safari crashes to go away, but they're not as frequent as they used to be and the browsing experience is hard to beat. I still want Flash support, but not having it has been a minor annoyance.

Email through our company Exchange Server is exceptional, though landscape support would still be nice.

Not being able to create documents or directly copy them off the device is a problem sometimes, but I'm living with it.

Like many others, I find the positives far outweigh the negatives.

One of the many very pleasant surprises has been easy access to internet radio. There are several free and pay apps with lists of stations. My favorite is Tuner Internet Radio. They've cataloged hundreds of stations and sorted them by genre. I travel a lot, mostly by car. I have the iPhone patched directly into my car stereo. I have good 3G coverage during much of my driving, but even with Edge, I can keep many of the stations playing the whole drive. At home, I've patched the line out from the iPhone cradle to the stereo in my office, so I can keep listening through the iPhone.

I have a dedicated ebook device (iRex Iliad), but I find myself leaving it home much of the time and using the iPhone for reading. It's not the same experience as a dedicated reader, but the convenience is hard to beat.

I have a multi-zone Sonos system in my house. The new Sonos controller app is great and incredibly convenient. I only have one Sonos controller, so I had to remember to carry it with me through the house, or go get it to change music. Since I always have my phone with me, it's no longer an issue. Just one more reason to play with the iPhone.

[Todd Allcock]

I took my kids to a childrens' museum on one of our vacations, (I forget which one- in my ten years of parenting I've hit a lot of childrens' museums nationwide!) :) and there was a exhibit about taste buds, and genetics. Visitors were encouraged to taste a piece of test paper that had been soaked in a chemical called PTC (phenylthiocarbamide) which tastes incredibly bitter to a certain percentage of the population, but absolutely flavorless to the rest, who were incredulous that half of us were gagging at the taste of these paper strips! (Ok, you're thinking "What in GOD'S NAME is this clown talking about?"- don't worry, I'm getting there!)

To me, the iPhone is like PTC- some of us just can't taste it...

I'm a long time Pocket PC user (and Pocket PC Thoughts reader) who upgraded (downgraded?) to Windows Mobile phones a few years ago. When I saw the original keynote with Steve Jobs showing off the iPhone, I was impressed and very desirous of it, until it was actually released. I was very disappointed with the touch keyboard (nearly a decade of stylus use makes you fairly quick and deadly accurate!) lack of 3rd-party apps (a problem long since fixed in spades!) and lack of "business" support (Office doc editing, OTA sync, etc.) I dismissed it as a cute but overpriced toy (this was before the $200 price cut, after which I upgraded my opinion of the iPhone to a cute and fairly-priced toy!)

Recently I bought my wife one, since her WinMo smartphone was getting a bit long in the tooth, and she absolutlely LOVES the iPhone. I've had the chance to play with it extensively, and like the paper PTC test strip, I just can't taste the "fun" or "excitement." It's not a bad little phone, but I really just don't get it, I guess. The browser in nice- certainly the best mobile browser I've used, but not by the orders of magnitude others heap praise upon it. It fails to render the same problematic sites my WinMo phones couldn't render (in particular a terribly over-javaed corporate site I occasionally have to log in to enter data- I actually have to use Remote Desktop from my phone to use IE 6 on my home PC to access the site when mobile!) Safari is certainly nice with the "real web" look and zoom in/out, but not that much nicer than the Opera Mini browser (with "real web" look and zoom in/out) that I use every day.

I own a rarely-used 1st-gen iPod Nano, (my only other Apple product) so I only have a passing familiarity with iTunes, but never found it particularly intuitive. Each time I use it, I tend to go through a learning curve/refresher course to get up to speed again. I spent the better part of an evening last week trying to rip a couple of movies into the phone; none of my converters or "bag of tricks" I've piled up for my WinMo devices and Zunes over the years handled the H.264 format. iTunes refused to autoconvert my non-DRM WMV, AVI or MPEG videos like I ass-u-me-d it would (since it does it for my WMA audio files.) I wasted two hours converting a movie into to .mov format which iTunes loaded on the phone (without conversion), but unfortunately the file would play about 20 seconds before crashing the phone's iPod app. I'm not blaming iTunes or the iPhone (ok, maybe a little!) I assume I ripped it with some parameter outside of the iPhone's comfort zone- too high a bit rate, or an illegal resolution, or whatever, but it'd have been nice if iTunes had noticed this and either warned me, or reconverted it to an iPhone friendly format (like the Zune software. or even Windows Media Player does for "Plays For Sure" devices.) I eventually found Handbrake, though, thankfully- a nice app, and it worked flawlessly. I thought I'd never find a more DRM-crippled device/environment than MS' Zunes, but I managed! ;)

I could go on nitpicking, but won't (ok, one more- no multitasking- every app has to reload when you switch back to it? Really? In 2008?) since one of the prior posters said it better- if you don't like it, move on, but don't insult those that do like it. I see no reason to insult a happy iPhone user anymore than insulting someone who can taste PTC. 10 million iPhone owners are thrilled, and I'm not- obviously the problem is with me! After playing with the phone awhile I thought my preconceived notions from sales demontrations and playing with friends' iPhones (great UI, great browser great media player, but not worth the "serious business tradeoffs" to use) would stick, but in reality, it wasn't that great a UI or that great a browser. I've probably been "scarred" by years of WinMo use, but I also didn't find the iPhone very intuitive. (I intentionally dove in without the manual to test its intuitiveness. I haven't cracked a phone manual in years, and would've been embarrased if the "pinnacle of design" phone required me to! It took me two minutes to figure out how to make the tiles stop wiggling when I got into the tile-rearranging mode! (Push the home button apparently!)

There are certainly some great things about the iPhone- the touch screen is very responsive, looks fantastic in sunlight, and video playback is just gorgeous. The app store and mobile iTunes is a hoot, and battery life is fantastic (at least comparitively- I could never leave WiFi on all the time by default on ANY WinMo device I've ever owned all day and get a full day's use out of it!) But all in all to me it's exactly what Jobs' called it- "the best iPod ever," but not much more. I can't call it a "mobile computer" or even a "computing platform" with a straight face when it's so dependant on iTunes for file transfer, syncing, etc. And I realize a lot my complaints are rectified by jailbreaking and running various spoofing apps and hacks (tricking the phone into thinking cellular data is WiFi to get VoIP to work over cellular, apps to allow some other apps to run in the background, etc.) but to me, that just says that the iPhone needs the same type of hacking/tweaking that WinMo is (justifiably) flamed for needing to get the devices to work like you want them to.

I'm not trying to flame, or insult the millions of happy iPhone users- I honestly think I'm just missing whatever gene that Apple products trigger a giddy response from in most people (my experiences with Macs and the iPod have been similar to my experience with the iPhone: "Is this what everyone gets so excited about?") And I certainly don't want to come off as a WinMo fanboy- I think there are serious deficiencies and lousy design decisions running through WinMo, and those who claim the "next version will fix them all" end up sounding like Cubs fans who yell "wait 'till next year!" every season. My brief forays into Symbian and Blackberry also sent me screaming back to WinMo, warts and all, however.

That's why I think I was so disappointed by the iPhone originally. Jobs had me convinced that the miracle he pranced around the stage with in January 2007 was going to be THE ONE- the phone that finally delived on the promise of smartphones, and corrected all of the glaring deficiences. Instead, IMO, we didn't get a smartphone as much as a "Savantphone"- the "Rainman" of smartphones that did a few things very well, but replaced other phones' deficiencies with brand new ones of its own.

It's a paraphrase of a very old joke, but I think it has more than a germ of truth: WinMo is absolutely the WORST mobile OS out there...
...except for all the others.

The best thing about the iPhone, for me, is that it's getting the other platforms off their duffs and trying to fix their problems and deficiencies in order to remain competitive. In a tide-raises-all-boats sort of way, we're seeing WinMo phones with enough memory to actually run their pig of an OS for weeks without crashing (instead of hours!) Blackberries with media players and halfway decent browsers, and touchscreens finally coming to stubborn holdouts like Symbian. The iPhone did change the game, and even those of us with no taste ;) can reap the benefits.

[Menneisyys]

Truth be told, I hated the touchscreen keyboard at first, and it took awhile to get used to, but now I can't even imagine myself using the tiny little specs they call keys on devices like the Blackberry handhelds and the Dash. If you have fat fingers, you'll like the iPhone much more. The spacing is much more defined and the auto-correct as you type is pretty solid.

The trick with the iPhone is not following your natural urge to correct every single entry. Just type. Speed on. Most of the time, the iPhone is good at gauging what you meant to type.

That's the hardest adjustment to make with the iPhone, and once you do, things start getting really easy.


BTW, speaking of comparing the iPhone to other OS'es, I've started working on on a HUGE comparative chart & article. The first part has already been published and contains a lot of comparative info; see http://www.winmobiletech.com/112008iPhone1/tab1.html (article at http://www.smartphonemag.com/iphone/node/179 ).

I'm pretty sure a lot of people will find the info &the tricks & the new hacks useful :)

[Dyvim]

Instead, IMO, we didn't get a smartphone as much as a "Savantphone"- the "Rainman" of smartphones that did a few things very well, but replaced other phones' deficiencies with brand new ones of its own.
Savantphone - I love it! v1 truly was a Savantphone- yet even so, I vastly preferred using it to WinMo devices. I guess my needs were relatively simple: Contacts, Calendar, mail, web browsing, photos, music, and video (and phone of course).

But (apart from jailbreaking), the original iPhone didn't become a true smartphone IMO until the v2 firmware. I was happy with my old iPhone on v1 firmware, but the Exchange support, MobileMe OTA Contacts\Calendar sync (and 5 month free trial with the extensions they granted by way of apologies for the rocky start!), and addition of 3rd party apps really just made everything that much better.

The only 3rd party app I really depend on is ReaddleDocs (which is overpriced), which I use to read ebooks offline (on planes). I probably have about 20 apps installed, but the remainder aren't essential- just curiosities and fun time-wasters. (BTW, anyone used Ocarina (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=293053479&mt=8) yet? Turn your iPhone into a wind instrument- simply brilliant! Try that on your WinMo or Blackberry device! Well worth $1 to me.)

Edit: BTW, I agree that the iPhone was initially overpriced, but after the $200 price cut down to $400, it suddenly became much more compelling (got first my wife and then myself to switch).

[Menneisyys]

BTW, anyone used Ocarina yet? Turn your iPhone into a wind instrument- simply brilliant! Try that on your WinMo or Blackberry device! Well worth $1 to me.

Yeah, multitouch stuf flike this is brilliant - did you see the piano app?

[Dyvim]

Yeah, multitouch stuf flike this is brilliant - did you see the piano app?
I've seen some of the piano apps (I bought "Band" shortly after the App Store launched), but what separates Ocarina (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=293053479&mt=8) is that it truly is a wind instrument- it registers your blowing across the microphone to make the sounds, so it's not just tapping the screen like piano. And it adds vibrato depending on the angle you hold the iPhone at. So to duplicate this on another device you would need multi-touch, a microphone, and an accelerometer. In theory the Blackberry Bold could do it, but that's the only one I can think of off the top off my head and anyway I highly doubt anyone would write such an app for the Blackberry (although anything is possible).

But what makes it great is the $1 price tag. For a buck it's good fun and educational. It even has a social feature with a 3D spinning globe showing other Ocarina users around the world and lets you listen to and rate their playing.

[Steven Cedrone]

Well, I have to tell you: I was taking my daughters to the mall to buy some useless junk that they realized they could not live without, and as a concession to Dad, we took a side trip to the AT&T store...

I played with the iPhone for about a half hour - I was very impressed! Luckily for me, AT&T had the voice/data plans right next to the phone and that allowed me to grab my wallet and go running from the store - At least for now...

I told the girls when we win the lottery it's "iPhones foreveryone (and a pony for my youngest)"! I may just have to break down and get us one of these though! ;)

[Janak Parekh]

Well, I have to tell you: I was taking my daughters to the mall to buy some useless junk that they realized they could not live without, and as a concession to Dad, we took a side trip to the AT&T store...

I played with the iPhone for about a half hour - I was very impressed! Luckily for me, AT&T had the voice/data plans right next to the phone and that allowed me to grab my wallet and go running from the store - At least for now... Don't check out the iPod touch then. Same platform, same storage, no required data plan. ;)

--janak

[Steven Cedrone]

Don't check out the iPod touch then. Same platform, same storage, no required data plan. ;)

--janak

I'll be sure NOT to!!!:D

[dh]

I'll be sure NOT to!!!:D

I guess it is only a matter of time before everyone from PPCT will be over here with shiny new toys

[Joe Johaneman]

Don't check out the iPod touch then. Same platform, same storage, no required data plan. ;)

--janak

The touch got me hooked. I upgraded to an iPhone soon after, and a MacBook, lol.