On Saturday night I got to play with Apple’s iPhone. Honest opinion? It’s the best damn gadget to hit Mother Earth since the cellphone itself. Where do I begin?!
I first started following the iPhone in the media when it was just speculation about a year ago. Gizmodo has a separate section for it and dubbed it the “Jesus phone” due to the revolutionary impression it has made. And now I’ve seen why. When Steve Jobs unvalued the iPhone, I sat back and watched his keynote presentation and was pretty struck when he revealed the product and showed the world how it worked. I never thought it would work exactly as he demonstrated, but I was wrong.
AT&T proclaimed that it sold more iPhones in the first weekend than any other cellphone in the first month. I suppose that is justified by the hordes of people who literally camped outside various Apple branches across the US as if Elvis were back for one last limited-seat concert!
You see, there were months of speculation and hype around the iPhone. What would it be called? What would it do? How would it “revolutionise the cellphone” as Jobs had claimed?
Well, I can tell you — it does, in every way ol’ Stevo says it does.
First off, it’s just plain beautiful. Like a slender bar of soap painted in glossy grand-piano black.
Secondly, it works just the way it’s advertised. The touch screen is phenomenal. When I had the chance to play with the iPhone, I had the new HTC in my other hand, and although it can run Windows and Word and this and that, the hardware itself is crap. The attempts it makes at touch-screen transitions are plainly pathetic, lagging in movement and kinda like an old Nintendo compared with an HD Xbox of today.
The iPhone, however, is sleek and fluid throughout its interface. It responds so accurately to your touch that it felt somewhat surreal at times when I was scrolling through contacts, photos and music albums by brushing my finger across the screen. It responds instantly, unlike the HTC. The HTC feels like typing on an old Palm with a stylus — you perform your desired stroke and after a moment of thought it spits out the wrong letter. Pffft, not the iPhone!
My questions to the owner were pretty straightforward, namely:
Does it work after being unlocked?
Yes, it does, even after the new update that Apple released. He was logged on to the MTN network and was able to make and receive calls, SMSs and everything else. He mumbled something about Vodacom being limited in some way by its network, but I’m gonna guess that was bollocks — I’ve followed the whole unlocking thing closely, and even with Apple’s new updates, it’s a matter of hours before non-AT&T users are back online and even using third-party applications.
How are the photos?
OK, he said. He showed me a few he had taken and they looked decent by cellphone standards. When you pinch the photo, it enlarges. And after taking a few myself, I was impressed by the quality without a flash.
What’s all the fuss about typing on it?
He explained how it took a little getting used to and that it is very different to having buttons. Well, duh, it’s a touch screen, and a very clever one at that. A trick I quickly learned, which bumped up my typing accuracy to 100%, was that instead of hunting and pecking at your keys, rather slide your finger into place (the letter you’re on will pop up above your finger to tell you where you are) and release the key to trigger the keystroke. Voila! This guy has even mastered 50 words per minute on his iPhone!
How can you type without looking at the screen like on a typical phone with physical buttons?
Aha, I got you, Jobs! Or maybe not. Apparently there is a transparent sheet one can get to place over one’s iPhone screen with small wedges to indicate where the keys are. I’m not sold, but I’ve never been one to type without looking at my screen anyway.
Where can I get one now?
For a whopping R6 500, I was told I could organise an unblocked iPhone whenever I’m able to produce the cash. Holy shit! I’m a fan, but I just don’t think I could part with that kind of money for a really cool gadget when I know it’s just been dropped to a mere $399 in the US.
All in all, I was tremendously impressed and I want one as soon as I can get one. I’m willing to trade sexual favours, my girlfriend and maybe even my electric guitar signed by Lenny Kravitz …
I think you are all taken back by looks and usability. The features are minimal. The iphone does not even support MMS. And to truly get the best of its so called visual voicemail, their apple platform needs integration into your network operator otherwise people who does not have a apple phone will leave you normal voicemails and if your get visual voicemails you have to look in another place. Also their voicemail is on GPRS which is not good for Europeans who constantly roam between countries. Data roaming charges are still expensive unless they fix it at a fixed cap
I agree, you have fallen into the trap of lavishing in the milk that the can do no wrong apple teat has produced. You have completely (or ignorantly) left out the fact that unlocking an iPhone is a hack at best, unsupported by apple (and will void your warranty, which is not something desirable at R6500.00). You casually ignore apple’s complete disregard for consumers and consumer rights.
Maybe you are just bidding to get an apple sponsored iPhone (like all the others who lap from the bowl), but discussing the caveats more transparently would make this a more interesting post. For e.g. the fact that iPhones have no 3G, they perpetuate the iTunes ecosystem, they block consumer choice, they sue and legally bully their own customers, the iPhones are still quite buggy (imagine comparing the quality of a nokia’s software to one from 5-8 years ago).
I’m sure you’re all familiar with the phrase “It’s all about how you package it”. Apple has packed the product brilliantly, and yes they have marketed it brilliantly, and yes it’s a good looking device and yes, it has it’s downfalls like EVERY single gadget available serving any purpose.
First off, lets get one thing straight, this was my post, based on my experience of the device and is purely contextual – this is not a product review – it’s my perspective. And I’m a guy who has no use for 3G, never sends MMS messages and couldn’t give a crap about product warrantees. I don’t sit back and worry about upgrading my cars motor in fear that I may have to pay for my next service. And that is my choice as dumb as some may think it is. I have wireless at my home, my office at every airport, Mugg & Bean, News Cafe and probably most places I head out to meetings – this solves my email and browsing issues.
I use my phone to make and receive calls. I use it to store my contacts, photos and videos. It’s a phone!
Secondly, I’m no fool when it comes to marketing, despite that fact that I am a brand whore. And I think the intelligent readers of Thought Leader are aware of (or can figure out) that unlocking an iPhone is “hacking”. I’m willing to bet that 99%, including yourselves, have at one point pirated music, copies MS windows or fooled the parking meter.
Thirdly, I’m not bidding for anything or lapping from the bowl you familiarly describe. Knowing me personally would shed some light – I spend money on the things I want and generally the things I want are expensive and extravagant. Thats just me, I’m not afraid to sit back and give a product that many may not like (despite never touching it) praise – most would rather be haters for the sake of it, or to get some attention or give their “outspoken opinion”.
I would like to know if either of you have actually used an iPhone? Or are you basing your arguements on the five odd blogs reviews you’ve ready by angry Verizon subscribers?
I think you guys need to remember that this is Apples FIRST phone ever. Perhaps the way they unrolled the product doesn’t suite everyone. But you can not deny that it is revolutionary. And you can not give an opinion, unless you’ve used it. And maybe I’m blinded by the bling of it. Again, this is my point of view.
i will have to agree that iphone is a revolutionary step into the future of communication. it is clear that there is the few people that feel that the iphone hasnt lived up to the hype that has been created about it. but Apple has obviously got something right as their iphone sales raced passed a million on the 74th day of being lauched. impressed? the world obviously is.
granted it has its flaws, it doesnt have 3G or support MMS, and the battery life is short lived and yes it needs to be unlocked (which isnt just a hack at best, apple branches can purchase the licence to unlock an iphone), but do you rememeber when nokia for example launched their first phone? do you rememeber lugging around a microwave sized box with a 2 foot aerial attached, huge buttons and a tiny screen? this iphone is apples first phone and without a doubt there needs to be improvements. no need to worry, with the way technology works these days Apple will probably have launched their next phone within a year.
yes there are people out there that use a phone for merely sending an recieving calls, so i cant understand you have no need for all the extras that iphone boasts. but, noone can dispute the fact that Apple has brought us the phone of the future.
This just in… Apple to launch official iPhone Web applications directory
Yup, I have an unlocked Apple iPhone running on MTN. I have also heard rumours that it doesn’t allow incoming calls on Vodacom – however, a friend has an unlocked iPhone that accepts and makes calls on Vodacom.
So, what do I think about my iphone? It is absolutely amazing! I am only running firmware 1.0.2… I did update it to 1.1.1 a few days ago, but I found a few bugs and so reverted to 1.0.2. Not all of the 3rd party apptapp installer apps work on 1.0.2, but then it is rock solid and works like a charm.
My phone runs EDGE over MTN perfectly, I have Summerboard loaded so that it can handle themes. I run an AFP connection to my Macbook to access the file system via wifi (to dump files on the 8gig solid state drive).
As to the keyboard… It took a little getting used to, but I am pretty quick with it now. What I’ve realised is that it is an EQ keyboard (it relies on emotional intelligence to ‘remember’ where the keys are and works from there), whereas my previous phone (a Nokia E90) was an IQ keyboard (that relied on pressing physical keys quite hard. Although I could type on that with my thumbs at a heck of a speed!)
The web browser (Safari) is unsurpassed in portable browsing.
The camera is rubbish… My E90 could function as a digicam when I left my real camera at home. The iPhone cam is not up to much.
I am a heavy calendar user with 30 plus appointments and reminders a day. The iphone works well for this and syncs nicely with iCal on my Mac.
So, all in all I am quite pleased with it. It is thin, light, has superb battery life, is a large screen ipod video when I need it to be, an excellent wifi enabled web browser, has great google maps, and can even make phone calls!
Feel free to ask me any questions. Simply follow the link to my blog and send me an email or leave a comment.
I bought an Apple iPhone 16GB and everything is running well – it’s unlocked, all my data/contacts, pics and music were synced with my MacBook Pro.
Now to get the email and Safari settings … just can’t seem to get it right.
I’m on Vodacom (for smtp settings, I suppose) and my incoming mail server is Xsinet. I tried to sync the info re my mail settings via iTunes, but it just wouldn’t work: iTunes keeps on telling me it can’t do it as the iPhone is using the email address. Even after deleting all info re the email address from the iPhone, it still doesn’t work.
What should I do? It really helps me a lot to have email and web facilities at hand, but I just can’t seem to get it going.
Thanks
Chris
082 923 2393
Hey Chris
Glad you’re enjoying your iPhone! hmmm, email, I’m not on Voda so it’s a little tough to tell. But in terms of setting up my mail, I haven’t synced it with Mac Mail yet. I’ve set my iphone to download and leave mail on the server, so when I get mail on my Macbook it comes up as read already if opened the messages on the phone.
I did have to phone MTN and have them activate something for me to send mail. I’m not sure what it was, but I think it was just allowing me to relay through my provider, mweb. A lot of ISP’s block relaying so that you can’t use an smtp or pop server outside of the isp network.
Let me know if you come right.
Hi there.
I would like to know a simple thing please. I need a phone that I can watch wideos on and download series from TV that I do get a chance to watch. Is an iphone able to do this on?