Well, I broke down and got it last Wednesday. It’s past the point of returning and getting a full refund (Apple lets your return it within three days for full refund, including activation fee). So here is my short review as of today:
So far, I like it very much.
Getting it set up was a breeze, although my desktop contact management program is Entourage and it took a little doing to get it to sync to iPhone. It was not that much of a big deal as Entourage can sync with iCal and iCal syncs with iPhone. The syncing is both ways, so if I enter contact or date info on the iPhone, it will eventually show up in Entourage.
I can sync it to two computers; one has my music and podcasts on it and the other has all my contacts and Safari bookmarks. iPhone can easily sync to both machines without an issue.
Activation was easy, as was the transfer of my T-Mobile number. It happened in less than 20 minutes, I think. This was what I worried about before getting the iPhone. Well, that worry was for naught.
I’m going to miss T-Mobile because they had such good customer service. The only problem I had with them was that I has shit service in my apartment. They would not aim their antennas up a few degrees so that I could get better reception on the 11th floor. Seems like they are not so accomadating in Brooklyn with tall buildings. The iPhone (and, thus, AT&T) has perfect reception at my place. In fact, so far, I have yet to run into an area with poor reception. Of course, I have not traveled around that mych in the past week. But apartment reception was a biggie in my switching. I plan to shut down my land line and my cell will be my only phone. Because my T-Mobile failed up here so often ( I had to make calls while standing on the toilet near the window to get good reception), going with another carrier was a main factor in deciding on the iPhone and AT&T.
Ok, smaller review chunks…
Internet is slow, although not slower than my Treo 650 on T-Mobile. Wi-Fi speeds things up when I’m near a hot spot.
The Interface is awesome, but I’m still trying to get used to the keyboard. I am getting better at is and it’s not as bad as you’d think. Does take some getting used to, though.
Bettery life seems fine, but still need to test.
iPod features are great. Sounds good through supplied headphones. Calls sound good through headphones too. Aparently, the mic works well; I got no complaints from people I was talking to using the headset/mic.
SImplicity is the name of the game with the iPhone. I find myself not tweaking with it nearly as much as I did with my Treo. Maybe that’s the point. It seems that the iPhone does very little as compared to a Treo (with lots of third-party apps), but what it does do, it does very well. Spending less time futtzing with the iPhone is time I can spend on other things. Anyway, that’s the theory.
Feels solid and not cheap. I already dropped it and it faired well, although it is wrapped in a clear, solid case with a screen protector. There’s no way I would not have this thing not protected. The case I bought is the Power Support iPhone Crystal Jacket for $30. It does not add that much bulk to the iPhone and it even comes with a holster and a crystal film screen protector. Worth the $30 for the peace of mind.
Built-in camera is okay, but not great. Could use a flash.
That’s it for now. As I come up with more stuff, I’ll post it.
Oh, and the one thing I have not decided to do yet is to use any hacking software to put third party apps onto it. I’m going to do a wait-and-see with this. Right now, the iPhone does enough to keep me happy, and it just plain works. It syncs all my data just fine and that’s what I need it to do.
I’m not that sorry about dumping my Treo at the moment.
