My iPhone Experience & Review

Well I know there is plenty of information and blogs about the iPhone today and for the past several months. But I got my iPhone yesterday and I'd like to add my comments as I haven't seen some of these issues mentioned anywhere else.

Let me start by saying I've had them all..... I had Palm Pilots (I still have a Pilot 1000 w/ a serial number < 1000), Treos, Windows mobile phones, etc. I've been looking for a phone that is an extension of my home computer. Some have come close, but they either didn't sync without problems or crashed and reset themselves on a much too frequent basis.

I bought my iPhone at the Lehigh St. AT&T store in Allentown, PA. I was previously an AT&T wireless customer about 10 years ago (several name changes and mergers ago) and moved to Verizon because of both poor wireless coverage and poor customer service from AT&T. I'm happy to say they we VERY helpful yesterday. And so far the wireless service coverage has been better than Verizon's in my local area. I had a LOT of questions when I made the purchase and they rep was VERY patient and sought help when he didn't know the answer. Considering the pace at which things were moving in that store (it was an hour after the phones went on sale), and he could have been making easier sales, I appreciate his help.

Now onto what the reviewers missed:

Notes - you can't sync notes. Everything else on the phone syncs but you can't sync notes?? I'm assuming Leopard will fix this but no one mentioned this in any review?

Headphone jack - my Bose noise canceling headphones don't work, any standard headphones don't work. Only the headphones provided will work. Where's my adapter? Again where's this mentioned in the reviews?

I'm afraid to drop it. I don't know, maybe it's just all that glass, but people drop stuff. I've dropped my Motorola Env, my MacBook Pro they've survived. I can see a big crack in the screen from a 4 ft drop. Anyone do any drop tests???

Wireless speeds. I must be deprived, compared to the reviewers I've read. Their Verizon and Sprint networks must be MUCH quicker than mine. The AT&T wireless speeds aren't blazing, they're slower, but appearance wise they're not much slower load times than my Verizon Web 2.0.

The keyboard - no problem. If you can type on a Treo I can't see where this is a problem. You don't get a tactile response but you do get a visual (letter enlarges) and a sound response. Non issue for me.

Yes you can view MS Word files and PDF files but you have to have them attached to an email. There's no where, where I can save a document. And you can't download a file off the web. Having "applications" via Safari is a PAIN. My Google reader doesn't work. I'd sure like to add a few icons on the Home screen. :)

IMAP Folders - IMAP folders - Inbox, Draft, Sent, Trash. It doesn't sync my subfolders.

Battery life seems to be superb. My Env has been a power misery lasting forever. I've only had the iPhone for a few hours of use time but if they battery draw during that period is any indication it should be fine. (Though I bought the car charger just in case.) :) There's a great "usage" feature under the settings telling you how many minutes you've used the phone since last charge, data usage, etc.

Overall this may be the phone I've been waiting for. It seems to extend my desktop, brings my contacts, calendar with me and allows me to edit them on the go. I'm hoping the shortcomings above will either be fixed by someone pointing out what I missed or patches from Apple and AT&T in the future.