Has it really been 4 weeks since I stood out in that crazy line for this amazing piece of hardware? Hard to believe, but in that time I've really grown to enjoy the iPhone more each day. The excitement and exuberance has died down, but the pure usability factor has only increased. After this much time, I think it's safe to say it's a keeper, as it really has become a part of my everyday life in ways that no other electronic device has ever succeeded in doing in the past.
The iPhone was marketed as merging 3 core functions, so I'll direct this review with those in mind.
As a phone: first off, I'm not much of a phone person. Meaning I don't talk a lot on the phone and prefer face to face or email interaction. So that may color my opinion a bit. However, I do tend to carry my cel phone with me just about everywhere I go as a matter of habit. So the added functions of a "smartphone" become more of an attraction to me. In any case, I'm finding this to be the easiest to use cel phone I've ever owned. Menu navigation is simple and straightforward. Whether it's to get to my contacts, sync up with the computer, dial a new number on the keypad, receive an incoming call, switch to speakerphone while in call, it's all just flat out simple and intuitive with big bright buttons that scream "use me"! The big beautiful screen is a bonus, particularly once you've set a photo for your contact. I still remember the first time my mom called me and her beautiful smiling face greeted me on the phone. Sound quality has been good, and I like having multiple options (ear buds, speaker, bluetooth) on top of standard holding to your mouth. I've tried them all with good success. I think as time goes on I'll be leaning towards the ear phone approach for longer calls. Kinda cool to go hands free AND in stereo, to boot. If the iPhone were just a phone, it would still be a remarkable piece of engineering in terms of ease and friendliness of use. Last week I tried helping a friend navigate his Chocolate phone menu to shut the ringer off, and it just felt like I was in the dark ages. Wondering if I was exaggerating the difference, I flicked a single switch to go to vibrate on the iPhone.
Now that there's a third party solution to custom ringtones, all that's missing for me is voice dialing (which I believe can be done to some extent through AT&T) and MMS picture messaging (which can be done via email). I believe these are just a matter of time so I'm not concerned. In truth I rarely used either function in the past and can easily live without them, but it wouldn't hurt to have the options.
As an iPod: much discussion has gone into whether or not this is the "best iPod ever." My response has been that the widescreen/touchscreen alone gives it that crown. If you are interested in any sort of video content, there's really no comparison. The screen size and quality are just gorgeous. Sound quality is excellent as well, which I suppose is just expected at this point. On top of that, the interface is considerably easier and more functional than the standard iPod, which itself was better than most the mp3 players out there. Again the interface is the key, it's simple and elegant and gets you where you want to be more efficiently than ever before. Coverflow was cool on the computer; on the iPhone it's glorious. You get a new, unique feel, flipping through your album covers with your finger tips, adding a personal touch (literally!) to your music library surfing. The best part of it being integrated into my phoneis that I find myself using the music functions "on the go" much more than I did in the past, simply because I always have my phone with me. In the past I'd only carry the iPod when I specifically wanted it around; now it's on my freakin phone so it's always with me! I still forget sometimes but I'm getting more used to the concept. I'm the type of person that will randomly think of a song or artist during the day and want to hear it right then and there. This really gives me that capability.
As an internet browser: as I've said to just about anyone who might listen, the killer app for me on the phone has been the portable internet. When I first heard the bold claims that this was the "real" internet, I was 100% skeptical. I've had about 5 or 6 different portable devices which have advertised mobile internet browsing capability and not one of them has been usable (independent of connection speed) enough to make me willing to consistently make the effort. My last phone (XV6700) was the closest; I actually used it to check for movie times a few times, but I was never able to do a plethora of other common quick activities like looking up an actor's name on IMDB or read my regular forums or movie reviews. It used a mobile version of Internet Explorer which was fairly mediocre. Many sites' buttons wouldn't show up or the aspect ratio required constant scrolling with the stylus. Simply not a pleasant experience. Also close (though much larger) was the Archos 7" WiFi unit. It's OK as a browser using a portable version of Opera. But navigating with the stylus and typing was still a pain. Plus boot up time was long enough that it didn't have the "instant" feel of a true portable device. Apple has transcended these issues. While the screen size is much smaller than the Archos, the zoom and scroll via fingertips makes navigation intuitive and simple. Safari is loading up full pages with all the correct buttons and cookies. I've had no issues (when using WiFi) doing most all the normal things I do on a desktop: general browsing, reading wikis, movie reviews, forums, searches, bringing up images, etc etc. I'm constantly amazed at how much I can do on the fly. Because it turns right on, there are just a few seconds between the thought of a particular question I might have and when I can read about it. This is the kind of feature that sort of just integrates into your everyday life. For the first time I actually feel like I really have the internet at my fingertips (literally, again!) at a moment's notice. Granted, the EDGE network can be slow at times when connection speed is slow, but even a 3G network in optimal spots (I had Verizon EVDO on my old phone) became useless with the plodding interface and ineffective browser. I am now wondering if an other interface would be as effective. For such a small device (as a phone must be), you are inherently limited in screen size/resolution. This means you absolutely need to be able to pan and zoom in and out fluidly. I'm not sure how that can be done with a traditional stylus.
Other functions: e-mail has been pretty decent for the most part. I've had a couple of freeze-ups and minor issues but I've gotten push email to work on Yahoo and regular email works fine on my other account. Google Maps is awesome, I use it all the time now. Again the scrolling via fingertip and fast response times make it a pleasure to use. I just discovered it has a traffic overlay as well, which is very nice. The Stock and Weather applets are also great little additions. Updates are a button away and I've timed it at an average of 5 seconds to load, even using EDGE. Youtube has been hit or miss for me. With WiFi, it works great and the quality is amazing. Without WiFi, it often dies on me. The Alarm clock function was great on a trip I took, extremely easy to set times. Surprising to me how non-intuitive some hotel clock radios can be! Notes and Calendar I use the least, but both function well from what I've seen. The camera, while simple and lacking extra functions like video capture, is extremely easy to use and picture quality is far better than any of my past mobile phones. Not to mention the big screen gives you an advantage in seeing what you want to capture.
Notes on battery life: paranoia has plagued me since release as I've constantly read issues with batteries. I know there's some glitch in the software which is not allowing my unit to recognize it's fully charged and reset usage statistics. However, I also know that the time I had it working, I had something like 3+ hours of usage and 3+days of standby time under my normal usage conditions (a few phone calls, lots of email and weather checks, some iPod listening, lots of browsing) - with about 50% battery life still showing. I don't know what other devices are doing but certainly my last phone was not meeting this level. So I'm trying to stop worrying about whether I have a faulty battery; the fact is that for my normal usage this is more than good enough.
Closing thoughts: It will be interesting to see what Apple does with their iPhone strategy in the short and long run. It's been 4 weeks and we haven't really heard a peep from them in terms of new content or an update to the software. I have faith they will make significant updates, but it would be nice to hear some infromation directly. I'd also like to see them develop/sell games and other stand-alone apps through iTunes. I think they are just a price drop and a few updates/apps away from really making a stronger impact on the market. The longer they wait, the more opportunities they are missing out on and the more chance for competitors to catch up. For instance, by not having purchasable ringtones at launch, they've already lost out on a lot of money since third party users have figured out how to get custom ringtones. I think they'll hit their modest goals of 10 million by the end of next year, but with a device this good with this much potential, they should really be doing better.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Sunday, July 08, 2007
iPhone: After 1 Week
So it's been a little over a week since standing in the iLine for iDay, and honestly, inspite of the hype dying down and some of the iBacklash, I am still very much enamored with my iPhone. This is a very good sign, as generally my excitement for a new device dies down after a few days. During this week I've taken it to work and on a small trip out of town, and really got a nice sense of overall performance.
Phone: I'm really liking the contacts/favorites system for quick calling. A few clicks and you're good to go. People complain a lot about the lack of voice dialing but I think the solid interface is actually more useful. The keypress system is so smooth and easy I think I'd trust it more than a halfbaked voice recognition system. As for calls, I've tested on bluetooth (sounded OK) and speakerphone (sounded good) as well as regular calls and thus far have been very happy with the quality and performance.
Reception and EDGE: Thus far I've had good to great reception everywhere I've been. For whatever reason my office in a basement level only gets AT&T so that worked out well. Home reception is as good as I had from Verizon. I haven't tested at the beach yet. I did check periodically while on travel in a variety of different areas, and never had any signal issues. I was always able to check email and use Google maps on the EDGE network, though a bit slower in some areas. Speaking of EDGE, I've been moderately impressed with the speeds particularly for email and maps. Basic browsing of forums and searches are pretty good as well. The only thing that's really bogged it down is trying to get YouTube on the go. Demoing YouTube has been hit or miss for me, sometimes it just freezes up. Kind of a bummer.
Google Maps: I realize other units have it, but it is quickly standing out as a very useful tool. The zooming and panning interface through your fingers is a much more visceral experience (I think that's the word I want) and mapping on the go has never been more fun or easy. I've used it multiple occasions to find and map local theater locations, then pop to Safari to get show times. It's great.
Safari: The stand-out app for me has been the browsing. As mentioned in my earlier post, this came as a bit of a surprise to me. I really wanted it originally for the widescreen iPod functionality, but what I've ended up using it for the most has been "on the go" browsing. At home when I don't feel like turning the
computer on, I can, for instance, quickly check for an actor's name
or a movie time. There are times when I just want to pop on and off for a few seconds and not deal with the extra minutes to go to my room, boot up, load broswer, check, then shut down. It just seems like too much effort for some little things. But more than that, I can actually do full browsing of my favorite sites and forums, and even post halfway articulate comments. No other portable device I've owned (and trust me I've tried a bunch) has come close to this, and frankly it's amazing to me. I'd actually kind of given up on the desire to have a truly portable interface to the internet because every one I tried ended up disappointing me in some way (again this is regardless of connection speed). The interface in this case has truly overcome the basic problem of starting with a small screen size. I don't know if others are enjoying it as much for this feature as I am, but I'd definitely say it is the killer app for me.
Keyboard: one of my early concern is the typing and if you happened to see the little discovery comment I noted on my last post, that's mostly been addressed. The auto correction really works, you just have to trust it. There are obviously cases when a real keyboard would still be preferable (and I'd still like landscape mode for texting and email) but for the most part, they've succeeded in their software approach.
Messaging: some negatives have arisen. First, it appears you can't send the same message to multiple recipients. No idea how that got through testing but that's how it currently works. Also it apparently doesn't support MMS so you can't send or receive photos through the messaging system. Could be a big deal for some people. For me, it's just a bit annoying.
Camera: I tested the camera out a bit this weekend and for the most part I'm really liking the quality of the photos. Strangely there are just about zero options thus far, it's just a button to turn on the camera and a button to take your shot. I'll have to see what they look like after downloading, but the images look very sharp on the camera itself, much better than any of the cameras on my prior phones have taken. It's also nice to take photos with the big screen, you really get a strong sense of how a photo is going to look. I know it's not that much bigger than a lot of newer camera screens, but it's enough to make a difference. Given that I had no expectations for the camera, I've been very pleasantly surprised.
Other: just a quick note that I also used the calendar and alarm functions and both came in handy during my trip. I used the alarm 2 mornings in a row and it just worked so easily it's almost an afterthought. For reference I have
*never* used an alarm function on a phone before. I only mention this to
emphasize that the true beauty of the interface is that it makes you naturally want to use all of the phone's functions. I can't really describe it better than that. Other devices have provided all the same (and more) functions, but just haven't motivated meto use them regularly because there's always just some little thing that's a deterrent.
Accessories: I'm still in a semi-paranoid state of taking care of the phone, constantly nervous it will scratch or get stolen or something bad will happen. My present configuration is a protective screen, and then a rubberized case around the main unit, then I drop the whole thing in my old leather Blackberry case and stick it in my pocket. Hopefully I'll come up with something better eventually. I just got the ClearTouch Antiglare cover and so far it works great. Sacrificing a bit in the shiny screen department,
I really like the feel of this covering and it works great with the touch
interface. It also seems to prevent the constant fingerprint smudgies I
tend to make with my greasy fingers, which is a great feature.
Boxwave is supposedly sending out an improved version to me
but I'm already pretty happy with this one.
All in all I'm just having a great time with the phone - it's not just fun, it's the most functional and useful "smartphone" I've had to date. Clearly there are some features I wouldn't mind having (and should be easily fixed in software patches or additions) but the feature set even as it stands is truly remarkable. You'll notice I didn't even comment on the iPod functions. The truth is aside from showing them off to people (I particularly love popping into Terminator 2 for my demos), I haven't used it much as an iPod. It's like I'm just taking the iPod stuff for granted, but really those functions alone are a wonderful improvement in terms of interface.
Phone: I'm really liking the contacts/favorites system for quick calling. A few clicks and you're good to go. People complain a lot about the lack of voice dialing but I think the solid interface is actually more useful. The keypress system is so smooth and easy I think I'd trust it more than a halfbaked voice recognition system. As for calls, I've tested on bluetooth (sounded OK) and speakerphone (sounded good) as well as regular calls and thus far have been very happy with the quality and performance.
Reception and EDGE: Thus far I've had good to great reception everywhere I've been. For whatever reason my office in a basement level only gets AT&T so that worked out well. Home reception is as good as I had from Verizon. I haven't tested at the beach yet. I did check periodically while on travel in a variety of different areas, and never had any signal issues. I was always able to check email and use Google maps on the EDGE network, though a bit slower in some areas. Speaking of EDGE, I've been moderately impressed with the speeds particularly for email and maps. Basic browsing of forums and searches are pretty good as well. The only thing that's really bogged it down is trying to get YouTube on the go. Demoing YouTube has been hit or miss for me, sometimes it just freezes up. Kind of a bummer.
Google Maps: I realize other units have it, but it is quickly standing out as a very useful tool. The zooming and panning interface through your fingers is a much more visceral experience (I think that's the word I want) and mapping on the go has never been more fun or easy. I've used it multiple occasions to find and map local theater locations, then pop to Safari to get show times. It's great.
Safari: The stand-out app for me has been the browsing. As mentioned in my earlier post, this came as a bit of a surprise to me. I really wanted it originally for the widescreen iPod functionality, but what I've ended up using it for the most has been "on the go" browsing. At home when I don't feel like turning the
computer on, I can, for instance, quickly check for an actor's name
or a movie time. There are times when I just want to pop on and off for a few seconds and not deal with the extra minutes to go to my room, boot up, load broswer, check, then shut down. It just seems like too much effort for some little things. But more than that, I can actually do full browsing of my favorite sites and forums, and even post halfway articulate comments. No other portable device I've owned (and trust me I've tried a bunch) has come close to this, and frankly it's amazing to me. I'd actually kind of given up on the desire to have a truly portable interface to the internet because every one I tried ended up disappointing me in some way (again this is regardless of connection speed). The interface in this case has truly overcome the basic problem of starting with a small screen size. I don't know if others are enjoying it as much for this feature as I am, but I'd definitely say it is the killer app for me.
Keyboard: one of my early concern is the typing and if you happened to see the little discovery comment I noted on my last post, that's mostly been addressed. The auto correction really works, you just have to trust it. There are obviously cases when a real keyboard would still be preferable (and I'd still like landscape mode for texting and email) but for the most part, they've succeeded in their software approach.
Messaging: some negatives have arisen. First, it appears you can't send the same message to multiple recipients. No idea how that got through testing but that's how it currently works. Also it apparently doesn't support MMS so you can't send or receive photos through the messaging system. Could be a big deal for some people. For me, it's just a bit annoying.
Camera: I tested the camera out a bit this weekend and for the most part I'm really liking the quality of the photos. Strangely there are just about zero options thus far, it's just a button to turn on the camera and a button to take your shot. I'll have to see what they look like after downloading, but the images look very sharp on the camera itself, much better than any of the cameras on my prior phones have taken. It's also nice to take photos with the big screen, you really get a strong sense of how a photo is going to look. I know it's not that much bigger than a lot of newer camera screens, but it's enough to make a difference. Given that I had no expectations for the camera, I've been very pleasantly surprised.
Other: just a quick note that I also used the calendar and alarm functions and both came in handy during my trip. I used the alarm 2 mornings in a row and it just worked so easily it's almost an afterthought. For reference I have
*never* used an alarm function on a phone before. I only mention this to
emphasize that the true beauty of the interface is that it makes you naturally want to use all of the phone's functions. I can't really describe it better than that. Other devices have provided all the same (and more) functions, but just haven't motivated meto use them regularly because there's always just some little thing that's a deterrent.
Accessories: I'm still in a semi-paranoid state of taking care of the phone, constantly nervous it will scratch or get stolen or something bad will happen. My present configuration is a protective screen, and then a rubberized case around the main unit, then I drop the whole thing in my old leather Blackberry case and stick it in my pocket. Hopefully I'll come up with something better eventually. I just got the ClearTouch Antiglare cover and so far it works great. Sacrificing a bit in the shiny screen department,
I really like the feel of this covering and it works great with the touch
interface. It also seems to prevent the constant fingerprint smudgies I
tend to make with my greasy fingers, which is a great feature.
Boxwave is supposedly sending out an improved version to me
but I'm already pretty happy with this one.
All in all I'm just having a great time with the phone - it's not just fun, it's the most functional and useful "smartphone" I've had to date. Clearly there are some features I wouldn't mind having (and should be easily fixed in software patches or additions) but the feature set even as it stands is truly remarkable. You'll notice I didn't even comment on the iPod functions. The truth is aside from showing them off to people (I particularly love popping into Terminator 2 for my demos), I haven't used it much as an iPod. It's like I'm just taking the iPod stuff for granted, but really those functions alone are a wonderful improvement in terms of interface.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
iThink therefore iPhone
Is it possible to fall in love with a gadget? Yes I know that question is a bit disturbing, but so what! After a night and half a day with my iPhone, that's what I keep thinking and wondering. I can't seem to get enough of it, I just keep wanting to experiment with it, buy more accessories to protect it, watch the beautiful screen react to my touches, and stare at it's sleek, sexy shape. I haven't been this enamored with a piece of technology in a long while. I remember being extremely impressed with the PSP when it came out, as well as the video iPod, but this clearly blows both of them away. As a quote in the paper said today, "money can't buy love, but it can buy cool."
Now some of you may remember I poo-pooed the phone when it was first announced. I call that my denial, sour grapes phase. I had recently purchased the Verizon XV6700 and signed a new 2-year contract, and hearing Apple's AT&T exclusive deal really drove me nuts. I also was not impressed it would use the 2.5G EDGE network instead of a faster 3G service. And a lot of the hype sounded a bit overblown without having seen more detail. What ultimately turned me around, months later, was finally getting myself to watch the full demo that Steve Jobs did in January. Watching the phone in action instead of focusing on the specs just blew me away. By the time he had rotated the unit and showed one of my favorite episodes of The Office in widescreen, I was sold hook line and sinker. I wanted to get in line right at that moment! Now while I still maintain a new widescreen iPod would have been really great, the full capabilities of iPhone as iPod, phone and browser give me pause as to whether that would be enough to satisfy me now. Interestingly in my experimental phase thus far, most all I've done is play with the non-iPod features (Google maps, browsing, email, etc).
During my sour grapes phase, I had made the argument that my XV6700 essentially had all the features of the iPhone, so saying it was a revolutionary technology was clearly over the top. With that in mind, I thought a comparison of the 2 might be an interesting way to review the phone itself.
Interface: both are touchscreen. The XV uses a stylus and external buttons as well as a mini-joystick, where by now, as everyone knows, the iPhone uses your fingers and a single Home button. XV uses a Windows Mobile type of OS, iPhone has a very simple, clear, touch based version of the MacOS. Not really a fair fight here, the opening Home screen on the iPhone sets the tone for everything that follows, with an incredibly friendly interface of icon/buttons. Software touch buttons are later contextual to the application you're running, so for instance, when in Call mode, you have new buttons like Contacts and Recent Calls.
Internet: both phones have WiFi and/or mobile options to get on the net. The iPhone has a much zippier browser and the zoom in/out capability simply makes for a much better, even fun, browsing experience. I haven't tried the EDGE network yet, but I believe Verizon's EVDO will probably be much faster. Still it's plausible the iPhone's faster browser performance will make the experience a wash in terms of speed. Bottom line, it's fun to browse on the iPhone; with the XV you know you can do it but it still feels like a lot of effort even at top WiFi speeds.
Email: similarly the iPhone's interface is much much easier to use. The XV seemed to have a lot more options but navigating the menus just to send/receive was a chore. Clearly not much thought went into making it friendly.
Keyboard: XV6700 wins. The touchscreen keyboard is about as good as I can imagine one would be, but there's nothing like nice big keys to press. Particularly in Portrait mode typing, I tend to make mistakes typing on the iPhone with a couple of the letters on the edge of the keyboard. I've read it just takes time to get used to, but it's hard to imagine it ever being better than a solid keypress. XV's keyboard is not quite as nice as my old V (now the enV), but still very good relative to some of the puny keys in the newer Treos. My fingers are kind of fat, I can't imagine how tough it would be for someone with really huge hands.
Portrait/Landscape: both phones have the capability, but iPhone wins with the sensor technology that auto adjusts. I'm a bit disappointed that the text and email doesn't rotate, but hopefully that will be changed in later software updates.
Texting: I really like what the iPhone has done to make text conversations flow like blurbs of dialog, but I give the nod to the XV because of its hard keyboard. If iPhone allowed a landscape keyboard for texting mode, it would probably regain the lead due to its superior interface.
Screen: iPhone, no contest. Size matters. And more importantly, the screen is every bit as gorgeous as you might imagine it. Nuff said.
Size/weight: hands down the iPhone is the winner. The XV is, simply put, chunky. No way around it. The iPhone is sleek and sexy, not much larger or heavier than a video iPod. I was a bit surprised it was a bit weightier than I'd imagined. I was thinking it would feel more along the lines of a larger size Nano, but it's definitely more substantial. It's still really slim and slides right into your pocket.
Memory: I got the 8GB iPhone, but I wish I could still have more memory or an upgrade path. My XV can take a 2GB miniSD card but it's removable which is convenient if I want to expand. The big difference? With iTunes I have a ton of content that I can, and would like to, put on the unit. With the XV it's a lot more work so even the 2GB is kind of a waste. Motivation to get the content, then convert to the right format, then copy the files over, quickly gets beaten by laziness.
Music/movies: not even a fair category for comparison, but you have to give the XV points for trying. Good MP3 and WMV support, as well as a few other formats. iPhone's new iPod functionality, though, far surpasses anything on the XV, and in fact is much better than the present iPods. There's a reason why iPods still sell so much better than other portable media players with better specs, and the iPhone honors this tradition by making it even better. Flipping through album covers with your fingertips while listening to your favorite songs is just plain cool.
Games: finally a category for the XV! Because it's Windows Mobile, there are a ton of great games available. Sadly at the moment the iPhone has NONE. Come on Apple, at least throw in a token free game! A stylus-free touch screen would seem to have tons of possibilities for games, but oh well.
Google Maps: both got it, but iPhone does more with it. Interface is easier and more intuitive to use, from start to finish. The speed (on WiFi) is just amazing, particularly when you bring in the satellite imagery.
YouTube/Internet Video: this one surprised me, the iPhone has a dedicated YouTube application. The quality is awesome and it's just plain fun, even if you aren't much of a YouTube fan. I tried to use it once on the XV but it didn't work. On the XV's side, I was able to get Slingbox Mobile to work on it pretty well, so we'll call this category a draw. The YouTube app/interface is better, but being able to watch Live TV on your mobile trumps that.
Camera: haven't tried the iPhone yet, but I suspect it will be about as lame as the XV's. I think both are 2megapixel but I have little expectations. Tie.
Bluetooth: haven't tried iPhone yet. The XV's worked well but was a pain in the ass to get working each time you wanted to use it. iPhone takes a few keypresses to get to it as well, so we'll see.
As a Phone: still TBD, got a lot more testing to do. Reception, talk and standby time as well as quality will all be issues.
Pretty much you get the gist. Both phones have tons of features, almost matched up one for one. One might argue the XV can do a few more things than the iPhone and has more versatility for customization. So making the big fuss that the iPhone does internet, media and phone all in one,
is really not a big deal on paper. What is revolutionary is the way the whole thing is finally put together, and the way it is so seamlessly integrated together for an easy user experience. Will it revolutionalize the cel phone industry? Probably not. But for now it's hands down the coolest gadget I've ever owned.
- --
Finally, backing up a bit, I should mention waiting in line for what amounted to 4 hours in the sun turned out to be a great experience. Apple store folk came by and gave us water and free Starbuck's coffee periodically, people were taking our pictures, restaurants were taking orders for food, drivers by were asking what the hubbub was about, and police and security roamed around constantly. I ended up between 2 really nice people and we chatted the entire time. The lady even shared a dark chocolate Godiva shake with me. Without sounding too corny, there was something magical about the entire experience, the collective social energy and enthusiasm had a big concert kind of feel. By the time I left the store with the Apple employees clapping and cheering, I felt like I had been through a very special event.
Now some of you may remember I poo-pooed the phone when it was first announced. I call that my denial, sour grapes phase. I had recently purchased the Verizon XV6700 and signed a new 2-year contract, and hearing Apple's AT&T exclusive deal really drove me nuts. I also was not impressed it would use the 2.5G EDGE network instead of a faster 3G service. And a lot of the hype sounded a bit overblown without having seen more detail. What ultimately turned me around, months later, was finally getting myself to watch the full demo that Steve Jobs did in January. Watching the phone in action instead of focusing on the specs just blew me away. By the time he had rotated the unit and showed one of my favorite episodes of The Office in widescreen, I was sold hook line and sinker. I wanted to get in line right at that moment! Now while I still maintain a new widescreen iPod would have been really great, the full capabilities of iPhone as iPod, phone and browser give me pause as to whether that would be enough to satisfy me now. Interestingly in my experimental phase thus far, most all I've done is play with the non-iPod features (Google maps, browsing, email, etc).
During my sour grapes phase, I had made the argument that my XV6700 essentially had all the features of the iPhone, so saying it was a revolutionary technology was clearly over the top. With that in mind, I thought a comparison of the 2 might be an interesting way to review the phone itself.
Interface: both are touchscreen. The XV uses a stylus and external buttons as well as a mini-joystick, where by now, as everyone knows, the iPhone uses your fingers and a single Home button. XV uses a Windows Mobile type of OS, iPhone has a very simple, clear, touch based version of the MacOS. Not really a fair fight here, the opening Home screen on the iPhone sets the tone for everything that follows, with an incredibly friendly interface of icon/buttons. Software touch buttons are later contextual to the application you're running, so for instance, when in Call mode, you have new buttons like Contacts and Recent Calls.
Internet: both phones have WiFi and/or mobile options to get on the net. The iPhone has a much zippier browser and the zoom in/out capability simply makes for a much better, even fun, browsing experience. I haven't tried the EDGE network yet, but I believe Verizon's EVDO will probably be much faster. Still it's plausible the iPhone's faster browser performance will make the experience a wash in terms of speed. Bottom line, it's fun to browse on the iPhone; with the XV you know you can do it but it still feels like a lot of effort even at top WiFi speeds.
Email: similarly the iPhone's interface is much much easier to use. The XV seemed to have a lot more options but navigating the menus just to send/receive was a chore. Clearly not much thought went into making it friendly.
Keyboard: XV6700 wins. The touchscreen keyboard is about as good as I can imagine one would be, but there's nothing like nice big keys to press. Particularly in Portrait mode typing, I tend to make mistakes typing on the iPhone with a couple of the letters on the edge of the keyboard. I've read it just takes time to get used to, but it's hard to imagine it ever being better than a solid keypress. XV's keyboard is not quite as nice as my old V (now the enV), but still very good relative to some of the puny keys in the newer Treos. My fingers are kind of fat, I can't imagine how tough it would be for someone with really huge hands.
Portrait/Landscape: both phones have the capability, but iPhone wins with the sensor technology that auto adjusts. I'm a bit disappointed that the text and email doesn't rotate, but hopefully that will be changed in later software updates.
Texting: I really like what the iPhone has done to make text conversations flow like blurbs of dialog, but I give the nod to the XV because of its hard keyboard. If iPhone allowed a landscape keyboard for texting mode, it would probably regain the lead due to its superior interface.
Screen: iPhone, no contest. Size matters. And more importantly, the screen is every bit as gorgeous as you might imagine it. Nuff said.
Size/weight: hands down the iPhone is the winner. The XV is, simply put, chunky. No way around it. The iPhone is sleek and sexy, not much larger or heavier than a video iPod. I was a bit surprised it was a bit weightier than I'd imagined. I was thinking it would feel more along the lines of a larger size Nano, but it's definitely more substantial. It's still really slim and slides right into your pocket.
Memory: I got the 8GB iPhone, but I wish I could still have more memory or an upgrade path. My XV can take a 2GB miniSD card but it's removable which is convenient if I want to expand. The big difference? With iTunes I have a ton of content that I can, and would like to, put on the unit. With the XV it's a lot more work so even the 2GB is kind of a waste. Motivation to get the content, then convert to the right format, then copy the files over, quickly gets beaten by laziness.
Music/movies: not even a fair category for comparison, but you have to give the XV points for trying. Good MP3 and WMV support, as well as a few other formats. iPhone's new iPod functionality, though, far surpasses anything on the XV, and in fact is much better than the present iPods. There's a reason why iPods still sell so much better than other portable media players with better specs, and the iPhone honors this tradition by making it even better. Flipping through album covers with your fingertips while listening to your favorite songs is just plain cool.
Games: finally a category for the XV! Because it's Windows Mobile, there are a ton of great games available. Sadly at the moment the iPhone has NONE. Come on Apple, at least throw in a token free game! A stylus-free touch screen would seem to have tons of possibilities for games, but oh well.
Google Maps: both got it, but iPhone does more with it. Interface is easier and more intuitive to use, from start to finish. The speed (on WiFi) is just amazing, particularly when you bring in the satellite imagery.
YouTube/Internet Video: this one surprised me, the iPhone has a dedicated YouTube application. The quality is awesome and it's just plain fun, even if you aren't much of a YouTube fan. I tried to use it once on the XV but it didn't work. On the XV's side, I was able to get Slingbox Mobile to work on it pretty well, so we'll call this category a draw. The YouTube app/interface is better, but being able to watch Live TV on your mobile trumps that.
Camera: haven't tried the iPhone yet, but I suspect it will be about as lame as the XV's. I think both are 2megapixel but I have little expectations. Tie.
Bluetooth: haven't tried iPhone yet. The XV's worked well but was a pain in the ass to get working each time you wanted to use it. iPhone takes a few keypresses to get to it as well, so we'll see.
As a Phone: still TBD, got a lot more testing to do. Reception, talk and standby time as well as quality will all be issues.
Pretty much you get the gist. Both phones have tons of features, almost matched up one for one. One might argue the XV can do a few more things than the iPhone and has more versatility for customization. So making the big fuss that the iPhone does internet, media and phone all in one,
is really not a big deal on paper. What is revolutionary is the way the whole thing is finally put together, and the way it is so seamlessly integrated together for an easy user experience. Will it revolutionalize the cel phone industry? Probably not. But for now it's hands down the coolest gadget I've ever owned.
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Finally, backing up a bit, I should mention waiting in line for what amounted to 4 hours in the sun turned out to be a great experience. Apple store folk came by and gave us water and free Starbuck's coffee periodically, people were taking our pictures, restaurants were taking orders for food, drivers by were asking what the hubbub was about, and police and security roamed around constantly. I ended up between 2 really nice people and we chatted the entire time. The lady even shared a dark chocolate Godiva shake with me. Without sounding too corny, there was something magical about the entire experience, the collective social energy and enthusiasm had a big concert kind of feel. By the time I left the store with the Apple employees clapping and cheering, I felt like I had been through a very special event.
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