Well after now using my iPhone in the Uk for a few weeks now, I shall sum up my experience with it thus far for anyone who is thinking of buying one once 02 in the UK launch it soon.
First off yes it is a pretty pretty looking device and has a gorgeous screen, surfing the internet (via wireless) is the best I have seen so far from a mobile device, the way you can zoom in and move around a web page is pretty amazing!
And although basic the email app works well and I set it up and used it on yahoo, gmail, and a normal pop 3 account and it worked very well.
The iPod side of things also works well as you would expect 🙂
But sadly now down to the bad things. 🙁
It’s way over priced! Price in the cost of the phone and 18 month contract and this is one hell of a expensive phone! But the biggest problem with this phone to me is the text messaging. You cant send MMS, not a big deal breaker as how many really use that? But, also you cant forward messages, you cant copy and paste either. In fact using the text messaging on this phone is like going back to the late 1990’s! Its really is terrible and bearing in mind the age group this is aimed at, and the the fact that age group texts non stop all day and night, they are going to hate this if they get one! I can only hope that Apple will in fact launch a different text program with the UK iPhone? If not this part of the phone is really going to put many off. And also that virtual on screen keyboard.
After getting used to it, I still cant type as quick as a normal real keys on other phones, I have also got people who can speed text messages to try it and thus far, most say its too slow and much prefer real keys on a phone.
Also you cant install any new software on the phone, unless its a purely web based app. Although during the last week, Apple has now said they will make avaible a SDK for developers sometime in Feb 2008 to make apps, that I guess will ber verified and then downloadable from iTunes?
So for now, forgetting about web apps you are stuck with what comes with the phone. Which means a pretty basic set of features.
The camera part of the phone is only a 2 mega pixel camera and the most basic of camera apps I have seen on a phone, also no built in flash, no zoom, and so you are really limited to bright lighting shots. Of those it does not take a bad picture, but again poor compared to most standard phones out today.
Also another really anoying feature is you cant use standard headphones with this phone, although it has a standard jack , it is recessed and hence you will have to buy from Apple at Apple prices or look around for a 3rd party adaptor.
So in this mini review and I will update when I have used this more, but to be honest for now I am going to go back to using my 02 XDA IIS as I miss the features that 2 year old phone has that the iphone does not.
Pros and cons…
Pros:-
It gorgeous and has the best mobile screen
People saying, thats cool 😉
surfing the internet
Its a iPod too.
Best interface on a mobile phone.
Cons:-
Price
1990’s sms features
Poor camera software
Cant install 3pd party apps (coming 2008)
Virtual keyboard (You will love it or hate it)
Non standard headphone socket.
Overall, I would say as it stands now, I would not rush out to buy one and wait until Apple launch a better phone, like the next gen version in 2008, with prob better features and cheaper.
My best advice is to find someone who has one and play with it first or at leats try one in a Apple store…
For me for now, its back to my old 02 XDA and my iPhone will stay in the box until they much imprrove features, especially the sms features, which really are a joke as they stand now!.
