 iPhone 1.0: Better than the hype/best cell phone ever Review created: 07/23/07(updated 07/22/08) 117 of 130 people found this review helpful.
This review is for the 1st generation iPhone. For a review of the iPhone 3G see my other reviews.
Advantages iPhone 1.0 vs iPhone 3G:
- at present is its ability to be unlocked for use on other cell carriers. If using AT&T, no advantage
- EDGE data plan is $10 cheaper
I've owned a cell phone since 1992. I've always had a "top of the line cell phone" (I've always had AT&T = formerly Cingular = formerly BellSouth Mobility). I've had some really good phones: Motorola v60 "Vader", Nokia 6102i, and a Sony Ericsson T610. Then I've had some REALLY bad ones: Motorola RAZR, SLVR, Sony Ericsson s710a, Sony Ericsson Walkman W400, & most recently an HP iPaq 6515. In my 16 years of having cellphones, I've had over 100 (yes 100+) different models & makes.
I haven't had signal issues w/ many phones, it's always been asthetics that bothered me or the clumsy interfaces.
With every phone I've ever had, no matter how long I've had it; I always had a problem placing a call on hold & answering another call or joining a call into a 3-way call. With the iPhone interface being so well designed & the features so clearly labeled; I don't have that problem any more.
As for the design, the Sony Ericsson s710a was a beautiful phone, but the way it flipped open was awkward. When you opened it, it flipped upside down. You had to open it, then rotate the phone to use it.
With the HP iPaq 6515, I hated the keyboard. It was hard to see, crowded w/ characters & difficult to use w/ my large fingers. This is the problem I face w/ almost all phones w/ physical keyboards except the HTC 8525; which has the best phone keyboard of any phone. iPhone users should try the pogo stylus.
The iPhone keyboard is clear, easy to use, & once you get use to it - allows for very fast typing. I used it more in the first 10 days of owning my iPhone than I ever used ANY keyboard on ALL phones I've ever owned.
The camera on my Nokia 6201i was great, but it was difficult to use & to get pictures off of.The camera on the iPhone is terriffic - the viewfinder & capture buttons are crystal clear. It's easy to get the photos from iPhone to computer for editing.
Unlike most smartphones - that have Windows Mobile - the iPhone has an intuitive interface that's easy to understand & navigate. There's no need to read a manual - it's just simple to understand.
Before the iPhone I hated text messaging ... I texted more in the 1st 10 days than I have in the last 10 years!
Because an iPhone uses standard iPod sync & charge cables, accessories are easy to find.
Battery life is very good - even when utilizing power draining features like Wifi & Bluetooth.
I can actually use the calculator on an iPhone, unlike on other cell phones where you have to figure out what key corresponds to an add/multiply/divide.
The Google Maps feature is amazing w/ the ability to use satellite data. The GPS integration w/ LocateMe is awesome (upgrade to 1.1.
The weather forecast widget is nice to have - especially in the summer so you can plan your outdoor week or weekend spontaneously.
Only complaints:
- Edge data network is acceptable, but I wish was faster
- I'd really like to see bluetooth data exchange so I could sync an iPhone via bluetooth.
- FM transmitters don't work well due to interference
Invaild complaints:
- the keyboard is hard to use - at 1st it is ... it definitely takes getting used to. Once you start letting an iPhone correct your mistakes & just hitting the space bar, it becomes pretty fast
Review ID: 10000000004051552  Thank you for voting. If your vote meets our guidelines, it will be posted within 24 hours. You cannot vote on the helpfulness of a review you wrote. Your request cannot be processed at this time. Please try again later.  Apple's iPhone: set to kill the competition! 30 of 34 people found this review helpful.
This product is on its way to become a major best-seller. It totally changes the way we are used to look at a mobile phone. The web browsing and e-mail experience is very close to that of laptops. This is enhanced via the integrated WiFi (Airport) Card that seeks connects automatically to high-speed internet service. If WiFi is not available, the connection is still on, at all times, via the AT&T Edge network. Substantially slower, but still decent enough to be superior to T-Mobile's Internet service (I was T-Mobile customer before). The Safari browser has the capability to rotate the screen from vertical to horizontal mode in both directions, and to zoom into photos and text for easier reading. Instead of the traditional voice-mail (having to dial a number and listen to the messages consecutively), the iPhone's visual voice mail feature allows you to click on the voice mail that you want to hear directly & listen selectively. The iPhone synchronizes contacts, calendar and e-mail with your computer seamlessly- I have used both Nokia and Samsung phones before, and I never experienced a better convergence before. I have the 8GB version- a decent amount of space for movies, music and podcasts. The huge screen is far superior to the best previous iPods- the brightness, resolution and definition are unbelievable. It is worth mentioning the 2MP Digital Camera: it takes very decent photos that are, afterwards, transferred easily to the Mac or PC (if there are photos in the memory, the computer recognizes iPhone as a digital camera). The iPhoto application allows you to download and errase photos from iPhone simultaneously- very fast and easy. Last but not least, the Google Maps module works fast and comes handy to those of us who don't have a GPS navigation system in our cars. It shows both street and satellite maps, and step by step directions are easy to obtain from the server. The only things I regret are: iPhone cannot take video and the camera has no digital zoom. There is no chat/messenger software. There are no games, although rumors state that Apple is preparing a software update that will contain some basic games.
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