A (belated) iPhone Review w/apps

[fredtgreco]

Christ Church PCA » Blog Archive » A (belated) iPhone Review

Ok, so I am finally getting around to giving some thoughts to the iPhone. I have been using it for about 4 months now, and I think I have worked out the good and bad aspects of the iPhone. I didn’t come to the iPhone from a dinosaur cell phone - I actually had a Blackberry Pearl - so I was not overawed by the core concept of a smart phone. I also am not a Steve Jobs fanboy (I can’t see myself ever overpaying for a “cool” and “chic” iMac, iLaptop or iWhatever) so I think about this phone as a phone, not as an extension of my Apple psyche.
Here is the good:
1. It is the best multipurpose handheld device I have seen. It does a whole bunch of things pretty well. And it keeps getting better as more and more applications (”apps”) are developed and available.
2. It has a great many applications to choose from, because Apple finally wised up and allowed developers to create apps and market them. (Apple is still way too “Big Brother” about its app store, however.) ....

 

[Herald]

Fred,

The phone service in the Baltimore-Washington-Northern Virginia area is excellent. There are some dead spots, but they were dead spots with my Blackberry Curve also. I wonder whether it is network related.

 

[LawrenceU]

I used to sell cellular. ATT/Cingular has one of the worst networks in the country. The only two that were worse at the time were Sprint and Nextel. Now Sprint owns Nextel. For what it's worth I sold Nextel. Hate it. Have to use it every day.

 

[SolaScriptura]

Fred,

You give us a couple of the "pros," now can we have some "cons?"

 

[Herald]

Fred,

You give us a couple of the "pros," now can we have some "cons?"

Click on his link. His blog article goes into the cons.

 

[Puritan Sailor]

I get a blank blog post...

 

[SolaScriptura]

Me too. That's why I asked.

 

[Notthemama1984]

Me too. That's why I asked.

Maybe that is the cons...........

 

[fredtgreco]

I used to sell cellular. ATT/Cingular has one of the worst networks in the country. The only two that were worse at the time were Sprint and Nextel. Now Sprint owns Nextel. For what it's worth I sold Nextel. Hate it. Have to use it every day.

Lawrence,

I am describing it apples to apples (no pun intended) oranges to oranges. I am on the exact same network that I was on with the Pearl and with a Motorola V553. I also spend a great deal of time on my cell with a friend and business partner who upgraded from an iPhone to an iPhone 3G. He has had great phone drop problems as well.

It hasn't stopped me from really liking my iPhone, but it is frustrating. I can't see how it is my ATT network, when the exact same network worked fine a couple of months ago with my BB.

 

[fredtgreco]

I get a blank blog post...

Me too. That's why I asked.

Just as my blog post was published, my webhost had a server issue. I think all is fixed now. Let me know if the link still doesn't work.

 

[LawrenceU]

I used to sell cellular. ATT/Cingular has one of the worst networks in the country. The only two that were worse at the time were Sprint and Nextel. Now Sprint owns Nextel. For what it's worth I sold Nextel. Hate it. Have to use it every day.

Lawrence,

I am describing it apples to apples (no pun intended) oranges to oranges. I am on the exact same network that I was on with the Pearl and with a Motorola V553. I also spend a great deal of time on my cell with a friend and business partner who upgraded from an iPhone to an iPhone 3G. He has had great phone drop problems as well.

It hasn't stopped me from really liking my iPhone, but it is frustrating. I can't see how it is my ATT network, when the exact same network worked fine a couple of months ago with my BB.

Now, THAT, is interesting. I wonder how they have the towers located and antennas attenuated in your area. My friends with iPhones here have as good or better reception than they did with their other ATT devices.

 

[fredtgreco]

I used to sell cellular. ATT/Cingular has one of the worst networks in the country. The only two that were worse at the time were Sprint and Nextel. Now Sprint owns Nextel. For what it's worth I sold Nextel. Hate it. Have to use it every day.

Lawrence,

I am describing it apples to apples (no pun intended) oranges to oranges. I am on the exact same network that I was on with the Pearl and with a Motorola V553. I also spend a great deal of time on my cell with a friend and business partner who upgraded from an iPhone to an iPhone 3G. He has had great phone drop problems as well.

It hasn't stopped me from really liking my iPhone, but it is frustrating. I can't see how it is my ATT network, when the exact same network worked fine a couple of months ago with my BB.

Now, THAT, is interesting. I wonder how they have the towers located and antennas attenuated in your area. My friends with iPhones here have as good or better reception than they did with their other ATT devices.

Reception is good (now that they updated the firmware - I went from regularly 0-1 3G "bars" to 3-4 3G bars in places). The problem is drops, calls failed and slow connects. I should also mention that this is my second iPhone, since I had it swapped out an at Apple "genius" station.

 

[BlueEyedU2Fan]

I love my iPhone. There are things on it (like GPS) that I use all the time.

The downside? Two things. The face is glass so if you drop your cell phone a whole lot you should probably make sure you get a case for it. I have a simple rubber sleeve and have managed to safely bounce my iPhone off concrete many times. The other problem that I have is that it is difficult (close to impossible) to send pictures using text messaging.

I've been an Apple person since the Apple IIe and when the next version of this amazing phone comes out, I'll be first in line to buy it.

 

[fredtgreco]

Let me also say this - the iPhone (in total) is so good that I, who hate just about everything Apple (especially their "ethos") have two. One for me and one for my wife. I had my oldest boy stand in line with me to buy one!

 

[Puritan Sailor]

I get a blank blog post...

Me too. That's why I asked.

Just as my blog post was published, my webhost had a server issue. I think all is fixed now. Let me know if the link still doesn't work.

I'm still getting a blank blog post.

 

[Zenas]

Mr. Greco,

This is only the beginning, soon you'll be running back for a computer.

In all seriousness though, I would love an iPhone as I've grown to trust Apple products, I just don't need a gadget like that right now as a law student. I don't love Apple because it's Apple or because Steve Jobs is some sort of messiah of technology, but they just make good stuff. I had a Hewlett Packard laptop that began to break down after a year and a half. I've had this MacBook for over 2 years and it gives me little to no problems at all. It's always reliable, which is something I depend on, and I will definitely return to Apple in the future whenever I need to upgrade my computer or if I ever need a PDA/Phone. I have likewise found my iPod nano, also over 2 years old, to be indestructible.

 

[fredtgreco]

I get a blank blog post...

Me too. That's why I asked.

Just as my blog post was published, my webhost had a server issue. I think all is fixed now. Let me know if the link still doesn't work.

I'm still getting a blank blog post.

You might want to clear your cache. It is working fine now. That is odd.

 

[Herald]

I've become adept at using both my thumbs to type in the portrait orientation at the same speed in which I used to type on my BB Curve. I was afraid of the touch screen keyboard but I took to it like a Democrat does to raising taxes.

 

[ReformedWretch]

Thanks Fred, I think I'll eventually own one of these.