iPhone Trial Day 1 – Initial Thoughts
Yes, after posting a 1,200+ word rant about why I don’t want an iPhone, I decided to buy one – to at least try it. For this decision, I give full credit to those who commented on that post, either directly or via Twitter and Facebook. They convinced me that I really don’t know what I’m talking about until I actually spend a good amount of time with an iPhone.
I was planning on switching to AT&T Wireless anyway (their least expensive family plan had the best price out of all the major wireless providers), so now I have 30 days in which I can use the iPhone and really decide if it’s the right phone for me. And by that I mean that I can find out if paying an extra $30 each month for the required data plan is worth keeping the phone or exchanging it for something else.
I will keep track of my thoughts across this 30-day trial, posting every once in a while about everything I find to be good and bad with the device. Yesterday was my first day with the iPhone 3G S and, as you can imagine, I have a lot of first impressions, so I’m going to keep each one short to avoid turning this post into another essay.
First Impressions with the iPhone
Out of the box – Battery nearly fully charged. Switch from T-Mobile to AT&T active almost immediately. Good start.
Initial confusion – It helps to read the instructions that came with it. I didn’t know how to perform certain actions (like rearranging icons) at first but reading the short booklet helped.
Keyboard – I make way too many typos. Keyboard is much better in landscape than portrait. I wish more apps supported landscape mode. Typing is frustratingly slow.
Camera – Easy to use and decent quality, though sometimes filled with color noise. I’m surprised I can silence the shutter sound. This picture of my cat is the first picture I took with it (click for full-quality original image).
YouTube – Incredibly simple to use and looks/sounds great over Wi-Fi. Video wouldn’t play at all over 3G.
Safari – Very similar to Safari on a Mac but it often selects links I don’t mean to. Zooming will take some getting used to. There’s a weird bug(?) that stops zooming from working occasionally. I have to leave Safari and relaunch to get zooming to work again. Or I just don’t know what I’m doing.
Maps – Seems useful though not entirely intuitive to use. Had to get used to the fact that it knows where I am already.
Copy/Paste – I’ve already used it a million times. Would have driven me nuts without it. I’m glad I didn’t get an iPhone sooner. It’s slightly clunky to get working (especially the text selection), but it’s better than nothing.
Battery life – After two hours of non-stop fiddling, I still had over 75% battery. At the end of the day, after many more hours of playing with it, I still had 40% battery. Didn’t turn it off or plug it in overnight and now it’s at 29%. I’ll run it down to 0% today before charging it fully for the first time overnight tonight.
Brightness – Holy cow, this screen can be bright. Too bright even. That’s better than too dark.
E-mail – Tried to enter IMAP e-mail settings manually and couldn’t get it working. Asked for help and was told that syncing to my Mac would set all that up for me. Worked like a charm. Reading e-mail is easy but I really wish it had a junk mail filter. Responding to e-mail will rarely happen for me – typing is way too slow.
Software Updates – I was required to update iTunes to sync the phone. It also said I should update Quicktime. Not sure why.
Syncing podcasts – Extremely slow. Probably 5-10 times slower than syncing my old iPod via Firewire. The initial iPhone backup had already completed, so I don’t know why it was so slow. I guess I’m blaming it on USB.
iPod – Haven’t tried iPod functions yet. Noticed that the connector is smaller than on my old iPod, which means I need some kind of adapter for my Belkin car plug if this is going to become my primary iPod. Is there such a thing?
Free space – iTunes reports 14.1 gigs free out of the box, not 16 gigs. There are only 2.6MB of apps and 160MB of “other”, so where are the other 1.5 gigs?
Apps – I started to sift through the App Store on the phone until I realized that it was quite cumbersome to do so. Then I spent an hour or two going through all the top 100 free app lists on iTunes. Downloaded 123 apps. Only tried about 20 so far. Good free selection, but too many garbage apps. I won’t be purchasing any apps until I decide if I’m keeping the phone (and even then I won’t buy many).
Phone – After fiddling with the iPhone for a few hours, I finally left the house to get dinner and actually try it as a phone. While at home, service ranges from 0-3 bars, but it always seems to still work well regardless. It does a great job at finding service when there is none. Better service than I ever had with my old phone and T-Mobile.
Vibrate – Biggest complaint so far. I always keep my phone on vibrate as I find ringtones to be obnoxious (it seems like everyone notices your phone ringing except you), but the vibrate function on the iPhone is way too weak. I barely even notice when it’s active. Not good. I expect a lot of missed calls.
So there it is. My first day of thoughts with the iPhone 3G S. Mostly good, some bad. I’ll continue to play with it, adding more apps and functionality, and post again next week with more thoughts. As of right now, I’m undecided on whether I’m keeping it. After a few days of taking it out of the house, we’ll see in which direction I lean.
Tweet
Welcome to the real world of cell phone, PDA, and technology. I think you will enjoy the phone once you work at the little kinks and the typing gets better the more you do it.
Cheers
Ricky,
Not sure what you mean by “the connector is smaller than on my old iPod”. I am using my 3G S in My car and the connection is the same between my old iPod and the phone.
Ricky, be careful when posting photos online taken with an iPhone. That photo of your cat that you posted has your GPS location embedded in it, which, using Apple Preview, can take anyone to a nice Google Maps page illustrating where you live!
Free space – iTunes reports 14.1 gigs free out of the box, not 16 gigs. There are only 2.6MB of apps and 160MB of “other”, so where are the other 1.5 gigs?
the OS
Check out the app called MemoryInfo. It saves a lot of rebooting and can free your working memory up very easily. It’s a $0.99 app, but well worth spending a buck whether you keep the phone or not.
re:ipod syncing… are you plugged into a USB 2.0 port? Make sure you’re not on an older USB 1 hub that’s kicking your speed down.
The weak vibrate will cause a lot of missed calls. Surprised not more people complain about that.
Typing really does get easier the more you do it. Especially once you learn to trust the phone’s instincts as to what you really meant to type.
As for the dock connector, I believe they are the same, just not as big and clunky. They don’t have the latching mechanism any longer either, so that could be it. Your car charger should still work, though it may come up with a message saying “This accesory was not made to work with iPhone” or something similar. It’ll still work, it just doesn’t have Apple’s “made for iPhone” chip inside. My alarm clock and computer dock both do this, but they still function and have done so for 2 years.
Alan – Thanks for the tip. I’ve re-uploaded the photo without the location information. I’ll definitely be aware of that in the future.
Steve – That may be it. It is plugged into an older USB hub. I’ll try directly hooking it up to the computer. Thanks.
Tom and Kellie – Good to know. I’ll try it next time I’m in the car.
Hey Ricky,
Glad you’ve at decided to give the iPhone a try – the best way to make a fair decision.
Some quick tips and info:
Firstly a look at the quality of iPhone 3Gs Video if you havnt downloaded one of your videos yet.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hicksdesign/3653538665/ and http://gallery.me.com/mantia#100030&bgcolor=black&view=grid – Not too shabby I think, especially as you have a mini iMovie app built in.
Battery Life: Improve it if you ever want to by turning off 3G till you need it, and reduce that incredible screen brightness down.
Apps and Backup: Something that bugged me with Sync Speed was ” Backups are taking a while “, then realised I had 7 pages of Apps. They are backed up when you sync to iTunes, keep the amount of apps used to a minimum for optimal backup time.
Screenshots: I dont remember it being in the documentation, press/hold the standby and home button together. Screen will flash and store the shot in your iPhone camera roll.
If your car charger is too much older, it may NOT charge your iPhone. Older chargers always used the old FireWire structure to charge, the new iPOD Touch & iPhones ONLY use the USB charging circuit. My old Monster transmitter wouldn’t charge my iPhone 3G, but I got an adapter that allows it to now. I still get the message that it’s not made for the iPhone, but I just ignore it. I get minimal interference from the cell carrier pings.
I got my first iPhone last Friday, the 3G S’ launch day. I love it so much; quite an upgrade from my LG Scoop.
Keep in mind the newest iPhone OS came out only a week ago, so app developers are working on things like getting the landscape keyboard in their apps and such.
One thing I would’ve thought you’d love was Twitter apps. You can take pics with the iPhone and upgrade the photo immediately. I use Tweetie but there are probably 100 Twitter apps to choose from. Tweetie is a paid app though, but it is well worth it.
I know you use a Mac and that makes it awesome to own an Apple phone and computer. Everything is run with iTunes; a program everyone and their mom is familiar with.
The iPod functions are really really cool. You definitely need to try it out.
My guess is that most of the missing 1.5 gigs is the OS. Probably.
Apps are the best thing about the iPhone. Compared to any other smartphone, iPhone has the most by FAR. So yeah, there will be a few bad eggs but there are a few amazing ones.
I have to agree with the vibrate. Mine is always on vibrate and I can’t feel it at all. I made a ringtone I really like (“My Hero” by Foo Fighters :P) and it’s fine. Most of the time now my phone is either in my hand or at my desk.
Anyways, hope you enjoy it. Here’s some great app suggestions: Facebook, Tweetie, FML Pro, Pocket God, WDW Dining, UPinPoint WDW maps, AIM, Google Earth, WDWTrivia, Urbanspoon, myWireless, SnapTell, Leaf Trombone World Stage
You’re cat looks less than impressed by the new phone.
I’m sure the iPhone is a great gadget… the question is, is it worth $360 a year extra?
The toughest part of selling someone on an iPhone is to get them past those hurdles like the keyboard, zooming, shortcuts etc. The good news is that in a week everything will feel natural and you can focus on how it integrates into your life.
I had an iPhone for a bit and liked it a lot for the iTunes integration and some apps, but signal quality in Anaheim was terrible so I’m sticking with Sprint. The plans are cheaper, the signal quality is better (for me) and the Palm Pre is easily a quality alternative for those who want a physical keyboard, multitasking and a smaller form factor.
Good luck with your iPhone and I hope it causes you to go picture and VIDEO crazy on your park visits. (BTW, don’t get discouraged by the grainy indoor photos. Take some shots outdoors and you’ll be amazed)
Gordon – That’s exactly what I’m wondering. Total cost over the course of my two year contract is $199 + $30 a month = $919. That’s a lot. Is having the Internet in my pocket really worth that much?
Remember, ANY smartphone will have a data package charge. Even my previous Cingular 3125 smartphone had a $20 a month data package. My overall phone bill from AT&T increased $7 a month going from my WinMo smartphone to the iPhone platform. The Screen is much better on the iPhone, and it eliminates my need for carrying my iPOD around in the car.
I now only use the iPOD on longer trips in the car. My iPhone is now my “podcast” machine.
Ricky,
The new version of iTunes (8.2) adds the ability to encrypt iPhone backups–a new feature of iPhone OS 3.0.
You can adjust the brightness level in the settings menu. You can also turn off auto brightness in case you want to keep the screen at a certain level. At the lowest brightness level, you can use the phone in a movie theater without disturbing anyone.
You can extend your battery life by going to settings>email>fetch new data, and setting it to manual. You can also go to settings>iPod>EQ and turn that off. This along with the brightness at the lowest setting and turning off WiFi will let you browse all day without killing your battery. I once surfed the Internet all the from Los Angeles to Vegas and still had half a battery left.
If you decide to keep the iPhone, you should definitely get Twittelator Pro. You can send voice notes, video, and pictures via Twitter as well as many more features. Best paid Twitter app, and a great way to share media instantly to your subscriber!
Keyboard
You’ll get used to typing after awhile. I thought it was terrible the first few days, then i got the hang of it. I found that it helps if you leave the clicking noise on. When I had to use my wife’s phone the other day I was frustrated that I couldn’t type as fast as on my iphone.
Vibrate
To help with the vibrations you could always use a case for your iphone that has a clip- I don’t mean one that you put on your belt [i can't stand how those look or feel!] but I had a hard case with a clip on it that I would clip on my pocket and have my phone with the screen facing my leg. It made my phone seem more secure in my pocket, and I found that I noticed the vibrating better.
Syncing Podcasts
I’ve found that the best thing for podcasts is to manually manually manage them. Syncing always seems to take forever!
Ricky,
Glad to hear that you’re trying out the iPhone.
The advertised 16GB does not mean that you will actually get 16GB of free space. Agree with the other posters that some of that 1.5GB missing is operating system, but some of it is also the actual size of the entire hard drive is not actually 16GB. It’s just like any hard drive you get, when they advertise the size, they are not multiplying the size by the true number of a megabyte (1024 kilobytes), but rather an even number (1000 kilobytes). When you add that up to the gigabyte level, there is a noticeable size difference there. I found an AT&T support forum thread here:
http://forums.wireless.att.com/cng/board/message?board.id=apple&message.id=39480
Also, I couldn’t help but turn your first iPhone pic into a LOLcat:
http://img140.imageshack.us/i/roflbothzqm.jpg/
:)
Ricky – As for the internet in your pocket, it will rather quickly become so indispensable that you will wonder how you ever functioned without it. The first time you Google info while walking around the mall, or search Wikipedia while dining out with your friends to settle some disagreement, you’ll understand. Soon, you’ll find yourself checking the Weather Channel app for the forecast, or the ESPN app for sports scores, and it will become nearly instinct to quick look up info on the iPhone. Then there’s the Facebook and twitter addictions to deal with. It doesn’t take long for the mobile internet to simply become an extension of your everyday living.
Side note – the capacity is the same thing that happens with computer hard drives – 1 GB = 1,000,000,000 Bytes, however in binary, a GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes (2^30). Therefore, a drive with a manufacturer reported 16 GB (16,000,000,000 bytes) = 14.9 GB reported. The OS chunk on the iPhone takes up about 750 MB, so that leaves you with about 14.2 GB usable on a brand new 16GB iPhone.
About the time it takes to sync the iPhone… I actually only have an iPod Touch, but I upgraded the OS 2 days ago and immediately noticed that it takes MUCH longer to sync than it did before. It seems to take most of the time backing up data, which I believe it did before, but now must do something additional to warrant the extra time it takes. I wish I had an iPhone, the Touch is the best gadget I’ve ever owned!
Some of my favorite apps:
Twittelator – I used to like Tweetie but it doesn’t yet support video Tweets.
Peggle – game
Monster Pinball – game
Now Playing – for movie times
The Weather Channel
Photoswap – Trade random pics with random strangers
Photokast – Submit and vote a thumbs up or down on pics
StoneLoops – game
Tap Tap Revenge 2 – game
Tetris
TappyTunes – Not really a game but you tap to play songs. Makes you feel as though you’re really playing the song.
Tip – tip calculator
ESPN Cameraman – a spot the difference game
Dr. Awesome – game
Finger Piano – Tells you which keys t tap to play songs on a piano
iRetroPhone – turns your iPhone into an old spin-dial phone
iVote – vote in various polls
And all of the Breakout type brick breaker games. I never really liked them that much until I played some of them on the iPhone.
Looks like the iPhone is mainly a gaming platform for you. ;) I downloaded a bunch of free games already but haven’t really had a desire to play any of them more than once. PhotoSwap is horribly addicting though.
Ricky, the quality of the free apps varies a lot. Some of them are REALLY bad. But some of the really good ones are:
- Skype
- Google Earth
- AIM
- AroundMe
- Last FM
- Shazam
- eBay Mobile
- PAC-MAN Lite
- Remote
- NetNewsWire
So check those out. The Apple Remote app in particular, with it’s new multi-touch controls, is a really cool way of controlling your Apple TV.
If you want a fun game for your iPhone, I can recommend Guitar Rock Tour. This game is so much fun, particuarly getting the opportunity to play Eddie Van Halen’s guitar solo from Beat It :-)
Download Pocket God. It costs $0.99 but it’s worth $5. I dare you to not laugh maniacally and show 20 people.
I have to disagree with Josh about Pocket God. My son loves it and plays with it all the time, but about five minutes was enough for me.