I had my chance to get a hold of an iPhone last week and actually touch it.
This little device that is becoming more and more like a holy grail had a little hands on preview from me.
Even though everyone is so hyped about it I am not sure if they really should be.
This is cool and all for mac users who can finally take their favorite operating system mobile and call with it.
But for Windows users, and especially those who actually need to use it for their work I'd still recommend a normal windows based phone, and in preference one with a small keypad when needing to browse, write agenda points and what not.
Hence the iPhone is more of a UMP (Universal Media Player) that can call then a PDA (Personalized Digital Agenda) that can call. The functionalities of playing video and listening music are very good. A nice visual representation of browsing album art and video clips in an intuitive way which works very well.
Also the call feature works like it should be, and browsing contacts goes flawlessly.
Yet when getting to text input it is, and stays, an on-screen keyboard.
Also application based errors like putting the "input"-key (or enter key) right below the backspace buttons causes a lot of ok-ing typo's. And typo's you will make because the keyboard just doesn't work as well as Apple wants you to believe it does.
All in all this is a good do-it-all phone, with a nice and fancy way to listen and find music and has a feature to call.
When noting that it has no way of syncing up nicely with programs like IBM Lotus Notes or Outlook Exchange, the two standards in this world, there is seriously no way any business man or woman should even consider buying this.
Conclusion
The Apple iPhone is a phone for someone who doesn't want to carry around an MP3 player/movieplayer/UMP in his pocket and also a phone. (and for that matter doesn't care about being limited to 16 gb).
Also, for Mac users this is a very good option, considering good support for all the Mac software.
But if you were planning on replacing your PDA/smartphone that is Symbian/Windows Mobile based, leave it in the store. It just doesn't work, not compatible, and not user friendly!
The good:
- Very nicely designed interface
- Cool way of browsing through a phone without a stylus
- Shiney
- Finally a phone that is fully compatible with all the Mac's software
The bad:
- The darn thing is kinda heavy
- The flip from landscape to portrait doesn't always works
- The on-screen keyboard is still an on-screen keyboard, and tends to not always work that well
- No or lacking support for commonly used software applications on PC
- Being forced to use iTunes and their provider