I gave an iPhone a 10-minute test drive a little while ago, but I’d much rather hear from people who’ve actually plunked down the change and are in it for the long haul (I’m sure it’ll be a very pleasant…er…haul). Though if I don’t hear anything in a day or two I might just let everyone know what I thought anyway
So, iPhone owners, anything you’d like to share with us?
I’m really enjoying it. DSL in my area has been down today, so I’ve had ample opportunity to turn to it (like now ). Network speeds have been surprisingly good, and I’m getting used to the two-thumb typing. The auto-correction works really well. I’ve had a few Safari crashes, but otherwise stable. No regrets over replacing my Blackberry Pearl.
Wouldn’t have had to camp out for quite as long as we did, but had a good time with friends and made a few new ones (plus Segway rides and sno-cones—some photos in the Flickr link).
Now I just need to get a network connection back at home so I can update iTunes and get some music and movies on the thing!
I’ve been using it for two days now… I’ve had Safari crash a few times for no apparent reason (the pages were done loading, so I can’t imagine what caused a crash), but mostly it’s been fine. The iPod crashed once, too.
Aside from those 4-5 crashes, it actually has proved to be quite stable for a 1.0 product. Any complaints I have are nits; the overall experience has been great. Lots of polish in the apps, very intuitive and smart. Basically everything they promised, they delivered on. Calling, receiving calls, etc is a pleasure. As is navigating around websites. Oh, and well-encoded YouTube content looks fabulous!
The EDGE network seems to be a mixed bag - at home or in my neighborhood, the EDGE speeds seem to be about 50% of what I get from our home wireless network - pretty good, all things considered! But here at the office, it’s ponderously slow.
On the minus side, there are some UI idiosyncracies (try going from driving directions back to simple map locater in Google Maps for one of them - tricky to figure out), and I miss the ability to rate songs in the iPod… and the games I bought from the iTunes store are new useless. And I suck with the keyboard, particularly with the thumbs. I have big hands, so that doesn’t help, but I can fly on my blackberry - and I’m suffering horrendously with the iPhone.
Oh, and I HATE Apple’s earbuds, but for now I’m forced to use them because they’re all I have that fit into the recessed jack—and for now they’re the only pair that have controls and a mic which work with the iPhone that I’m aware of.
I bought two iPhones on Friday and we love them both I had a couple of minor glitches setting up ( it seems AT&T had me as a business customer due to a corporate discount I received years ago) but once they were cleared up, the activation went smoothly. I have been using it fairly heavily for the last two days and the battery is holding up well. I settled a bet on the golf course yesterday by going online and looking up the answer to the bet!! My wife used Google Maps as we were looking for a restaurant Saturday night, and being able to touch the name and bring up their address and phone number and then call, she was giddy with her new abilities. I too have a little problem the keyboard, but I am improving, so I believe that is more of a practice/familiarity issue than a design problem. All in all, I am quite pleased with my iPhone, and I know my is tickled with hers.
Good job Apple!
I had several hours to try one out yesterday. Overall I like it.
First off the graphics are amazingly sharp and bright. Also it is smaller and lighter than I expected, not featherweight, but not a handy-talkie either.
The phone is very easy to use. I could hear okay, but would like a higher volume setting when in a noisy area. Using headphones this was not a problem. I did not have a BlueTooth gadget to try that feature. I think that the phone needs a voice dial capability, I can not touch-type a number as I can with my current cell phone.
Connected by WiFi web pages loaded pretty fast, on EDGE they were significantly slower but certainly better than nothing. QuickTime video on web pages needs to be encoded for iPod to be seen on the iPhone, I am going to start doing that as a matter of course. Mouse over on a web page does not work, just taps, I have read that Flash and AJAX pages are a problem with the iPhone. The browser needs a back button.
The keyboard takes some practice. At first I was frequently hitting the character to the right of the one I wanted. I found that it was a parallax thing with dominant left eye and my right index finger so I shifted my aiming point to the left. I started to work on double thumbing, but didn’t have enough time to master it. The Zoom feature is great, but also takes some practice.
I didn’t get a chance to try Mail or the iPod. The phone belongs to my son’s girlfriend’s boss and she has to turn it over today.
The phone gets warm, there is some computing going on in there.
The recessed headphone jack puzzles me. Why, maybe for strength or something, but most of my headphones would not plug in. My old Apple brand iPod ear buds plug in fine.
The camera works fine. No flash or anything fancy, just a basic camera that takes decent photos. Certainly better than the one on my Samsung VGA1000 cell phone, which has a flash.
Will I get one? Almost certainly, but not just yet. I have four months remaining on my Sprint contract and by then we may see a new iPhone model.
I can imagine that there is a hurly-burly in the boardrooms of the cell phone manufactures and the cell providers other than AT&T. The worm has turned and there is no getting it back in the Apple.
[quote author=“Engine Joe”]
On the minus side, there are some UI idiosyncracies (try going from driving directions back to simple map locater in Google Maps for one of them - tricky to figure out), and I miss the ability to rate songs in the iPod… and the games I bought from the iTunes store are new useless. And I suck with the keyboard, particularly with the thumbs. I have big hands, so that doesn’t help, but I can fly on my blackberry - and I’m suffering horrendously with the iPhone.
To rate songs on the iPhone, flip the album cover (by tapping the 3 lines on top right) then you’ll see 5 dots, slide your finger to rate songs.
As for the maps and directions, there is a button on the bottom left that has two arrows (going in opposite directions), just click that and it will take you to the normal map view.
[quote author=“Engine Joe”]Aside from those 4-5 crashes, it actually has proved to be quite stable for a 1.0 product.
Ummmmm ....... yeah.
The EDGE network seems to be a mixed bag - at home or in my neighborhood, the EDGE speeds seem to be about 50% of what I get from our home wireless network - pretty good, all things considered! But here at the office, it’s ponderously slow.
I’d take slow over unstable. Around here, SBC/Cingular/AT&T blows chunks. Have you ever called to complain about dropped calls, only to have that call drop while you’re on hold? Welcome to the new AT&T.
My wife and I tried them at an Apple store, and it was a nice little device, but it wasn’t $600 nice. One of them wouldn’t play music and another one seemed to have trouble getting a cell connection. Granted, that’s likely an AT&T issue, but AT&T is part of the iPhone solution that Apple is selling. I will say that otherwise it largely worked, aside from my inadvertent ‘what did I just hit’ problems. That’s a me thing, though.
[quote author=“Engine Joe”][quote author=“Sir Harry Flashman”]I have read that Flash and AJAX pages are a problem with the iPhone. The browser needs a back button.
The browser does have a back button - bottom left, next to the “next/forward” page button.
[quote author=“diablojota”]
As for the maps and directions, there is a button on the bottom left that has two arrows (going in opposite directions), just click that and it will take you to the normal map view.
I know, I found it eventually, but it wasn’t intuitive in the least. One of the only non-intuitive interface elements on iPhone, IMO.
But thanks for the heads up on the song ratings!!!
[quote author=“Engine Joe”][quote author=“diablojota”]
As for the maps and directions, there is a button on the bottom left that has two arrows (going in opposite directions), just click that and it will take you to the normal map view.
I know, I found it eventually, but it wasn’t intuitive in the least. One of the only non-intuitive interface elements on iPhone, IMO.
But thanks for the heads up on the song ratings!!!
Yeah, that wasn’t quite as intuitive. And you’re welcome.
And here I thought I was the only one getting occasional Safari crash’s. Funny how it resets the iPod functions when it crashes. I’m actually glad it seems fairly common, because that means its easier to reproduce and thus will be fixed sooner. That’s the only instability I’ve experienced. And as others have said, the crash is handled very gracefully by the OS.
[quote author=“Biff”]And here I thought I was the only one getting occasional Safari crash’s. Funny how it resets the iPod functions when it crashes. I’m actually glad it seems fairly common, because that means its easier to reproduce and thus will be fixed sooner. That’s the only instability I’ve experienced. And as others have said, the crash is handled very gracefully by the OS.
It’s true - Roughly Drafted pointed out that users might not even notice a crash. I don’t think I’d go that far, but I did observe that when I relaunched Safari, it was already working to reload the last page I had been reading, so the disruption was minimal.
I suspect ads are the culprit, as they tend to be the source of unintended effects on browsers—especially browsers without plug-ins that manage/limit/block that kind of content.
I was finally able to activate my iPhone Sunday evening so I used it a couple of hours after that, sporadically during the day Monday, and a couple of hours Monday evening. My impressions thus far
Pros
- Screen quality is stunning-even in direct sunlight. I can’t even identify a pixel without a magnifying glass.
- YouTube app is very cool.
- Google maps, satellite views, and traffic conditions are very useful.
- Phone app works very well and is very intuitive.
- Phone reception seems good so far (4-5/5 bars inside house) but haven’t used it as a phone a lot yet.
- Mail app works very well and is intuitive. Nice how it copied all my accounts and settings.
- Safari works great and copied all my bookmarks. Haven’t had any crashes like others. Love the .com key. The wider keyboard in landscape mode is easier to use.
- Love the iPod app even tho different than regular iPod interface. Cover view is cool.
- Great size and weight. Fits perfectly in my pocket.
Cons
- No To-Do list app. I use this much more than a calendar. Sure hope it’s high on Apple’s to-do list.
- Calculator is really lame and what’s with those GIGANTIC numerals?
- WiFi has dropped connection several times tonight even from 2 ft. away from base station. Seemed to work okay last night.
- Pricey but so are all the smart phones when they are first released. And it’s worth more anyway due to its small size, very different and intuitive UI, and excellent quality.
Suggestions
- All apps should rotate for landscape view—especially those that have a keyboard so that it can be displayed with bigger keys.
- Badly needs a Back button to return to the last screen, whatever it was.
- Definitely a nit but would like to reorder how my mail accounts are listed since I have several.
- For missed calls, I can’t identify which of multiple numbers a contact may have called from (it’s possible the number might be displayed in red but, if so, I can’t tell due to color deficient vision which is not uncommon in males).
- I would like to have an on-screen indicator of whether in ring or silent mode.
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). Network speeds have been surprisingly good, and I’m getting used to the two-thumb typing. The auto-correction works really well. I’ve had a few Safari crashes, but otherwise stable. No regrets over replacing my Blackberry Pearl.
and another one seemed to have trouble getting a cell connection. Granted, that’s likely an AT&T issue, but AT&T is part of the iPhone solution that Apple is selling. I will say that otherwise it largely worked, aside from my inadvertent ‘what did I just hit’ problems. That’s a me thing, though.
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