iPhone – Part 1

WOW! I WON AN iPhone ! !

A little Background
I have previously held Apple stock on several occasions and have followed Apple pretty closely since working on a Mac doing editing and the popularity of the iPod. I love technology discussions, and have debated (seeing both sides) of success of the iPhone prior to the release. Its great not to only watch this unfold as I would of in any case, but to actually be able to own and be part of it.

The Winning Story
This was a great blessing as it was not something I would not normally would of purchased due to its price point. So how did I win an iPhone? The story is the company I work for Fellowship Technologies, had an off site meeting and after a short speech from Jeff Hook in which he said how much he loves his Blackberry. He then physically kissed it and then told a story about his campout for an iPhone for his wife and they got 2 of them. He then announced that they were going to give away an iPhone. After some write in entries, he struggled to read the small handwriting, while normally my handwriting is not that good, this time I wrote pretty large and clear so I was surprised when they said my name.

At the next break, several people in the company came to congratulate me and ask questions. Here are 2 of them.

Do I plan to sell it?
This was tempting… especially since it is $600 plus I got over $100 in other accessories with it. The receipt included totaled to be almost $800

Do you already have service with AT&T?
No. I didn’t. I have metroPCS, a very inexpensive service as long as you do not plan to travel anywhere! metroPCS has good points and bad points but it was time to get a service that works outside of DFW. I should blog about them later.

The initial Activation
One thing that is different about the iPhone is that it has to be activated through iTunes. Since I did not yet have AT&T service, I wanted to explore my options for choosing a phone number and the possibly of porting a number later on. I went to the local AT&T store (by Baha Fresh on Macarthur in Irving) and asked him specifically about choosing a phone number. He indicated that they do not know anything about activation of the iPhone other than I would have to do it online through iTunes. He did indicate typically in the store, you do have a selection of numbers. And so…. I went home and did what I felt the only choice was.. to activate it online.

Activation
This was pretty straight forward process, and at the end it told me what my new number was… never a choice as it is in the store. There was however a question about if you already had sevice.

Looking back, I wonder if I played The AT&T game differently, if I would of gotten not only a phone number of choice, but also a better deal. Think about it, normally when you sign a 2 year agreement, you get a free phone also! Did I lose out on a free phone? Could I of signed an agreement in store, walked out with another phone, and went home and switched the service to my iPhone? This would of been great! I would of had a new phone for my spouse also!

I feel like I lost The AT&T game. Service with AT&T still has yet to be rated.

Warning!
Although I am excited about it because of that, currently this phone gets you way too much attention. I do not recommend walking into Fry’s Electronics with it in hand…. Employees will stop to ask you questions about it and it will slow down your checkout process immensely when they are too busy asking about how the iPhone works with youtube instead of scanning your items.

Overall Usability
As I began to use the phone, the more I like it. It is really easy to figure out although there are a few UI shortcut features that are not obvious. For example to delete an email without opening the email you slide your finger on the last 1/4 of the message and a red Delete button will appear.

I have found mobile email to be extremely useful. Currently I am planning a wedding/honeymoon in Hawaii (that will be webcast) and I received an email from a contact in Hawaii about a potential location change while driving I was able to tap on the phone number and call them immediately. I loved this! It should be noted that later I found a security risk regarding this. (link)

The keyboard is a bit tightly placed. My thumbs often hit a neighboring key. Most apps in the iPhone only support the keyboard with the iPhone in a vertical position, however when you use Safari, it supports the keyboard with the iPhone in a horizontal position… making the keyboard much much much easier to use since it is wider.

Comparison
I think it would be interesting to try it more side by side to other multi-function phones. Cool factor aside, I still wonder if it is really worth $600 purely by feature set. With that said, lets talk about Features…

Features and features missing

– Software

If you have followed the iPhone at all you already know about visual voicemail, iPod controls, touch screen and conversation view for text messages. I did not know that the screen was multi-touch (recognizing more than one point at a time). A demo of this feature is pinching you fingers together on a photo to zoom out or the opposite motion to zoom in.

It is rumored that there are 4 missing buttons – rumor has it that because the apps were not ready for release at the time of launch. I wonder what they could of been.. or will be! This is exciting.

I found out from a recent podcast, that there was a recent Developers Conference for the iPhone. This is very encouraging news to me that 3rd party software will soon be streaming in.

Here are the improvements I would like to see Apple or a 3rd party improve upon.

– Screen orientation change supported by more programs
Especially the keyboard as described earlier.

– Sync with Google Calendar and other Google applications (Maps is cool)
My life centers around Google is seems. I use google cal
endar, gmail, documents and so much more and although I can access most of it by Safari, integration

– Seemless integration with Gmail
Gmail has POP3 access, but I’d like to see this change in some ways…

– Sync with Plaxo
I use Plaxo as my primary address book currently. Currenly the iPhone syncs with Yahoo address book.

I believe software can solve most of iPhones fatal flaws.

I also found a website listing several bugs… but most seem to be VERY minor.

– Hardware

There are not many hardware improvements I would make to it. Overall seems pretty solid, is overall small with a large screen. I initially wanted a slide out keyboard, but not after I figured out that with Safari you can reorient the keyboard an it is much nicer… thus a software solution.

I love that it has a switch for silent / ring modes and a nice volume control on the side. I love it uses the standard iPod connection. It does however need the following

– GPS – Maybe it is already in there? I have not researched.. but in any case it seems obvious that it SHOULD be there and functioning with Google maps. This alone could justify the $600 cost compared with the price of a Garmin or Tom Tom

– Standard headphone jack. What was Apple thinking? You can not use a standard 1/8 inch mini connection? What!?! … actually I am over it… and cable converters are on the way, hopefully they are not over priced though.

Accessories

Shure headphones – I tend to associate Shure with very high quality, great sounding products, however, I have not found any of my music to sound very great using them. I have tried several songs, but have not used any headsets yet, so it has yet to be determined if it is the headsets, or the iPhone itself. I should also try various encoding options to be fair. This came with the iPod I won.

Griffin Powerjolt – This is really cool and a great price point. It uses USB connection which is very universal and seems like a very smart design. This came with the iPod I won.

Cellet Skin – I wanted a soft rubberized type case and not a hard case for the iPhone.. and soon to protect it. The AT&T store was close and so was Radio Shack at the time and Office Depot did not have anything, so I went to Fry’s Electronics and found this one. It cost $20 and is not worth it, unless you really want something for a temporary basis. It comes out of its case too easily, in fact dropping at the right angle, I do not believe it offer protection near the top of the iPhone. Secondly it has 4 pointless holes on the back and they are molded in such a way where the iPhone can not lay flat.. making it annoying to type on it on a desk because it rocks back and forth. Frustrating.

Summary
Overall I love the iPhone and as I get more use to it and use more of the features, it would be difficult to go back to a normal cell phone that does not have extended functionality.

Apple has made a great product. Time will tell about durability, longevity, battery life and other items of concern. As far as AT&T. I will let you know what I think about AT&T overall sometime after the bill arrives. For now.. all I know is that it seems like the data network is a little pokey.

Thats all for now…