Got an iPhone ...
July 03, 2007 01:58 PM Filed in:
CommentaryiPhone
Well my "wait and see posture" didn't
last long. After reading initial reports, and hearing from a client
who "pulled the trigger" Saturday morning at an AT&T store on
Concord Pike, I decided to take the plunge. Jefferson Consulting
bought an iPhone.
It all went down Monday afternoon at the Apple Store at Christiana Mall. I went with the 4GB model only because they just sold out of the 8GB flavor. Despite earlier reports of problems with activation, I was able to activate with no troubles. A download of iTunes 7.3 and Mac OS 10.4.10 are the "only" prerequisites.
I found that the iPhone does "almost" everything I wanted my Treo to do, only better. The iPhone is everything that everyone said it would be, but the things that were NOT said are causing issues (although small issues).
Issues we have seen:
• No to-do lists for iPhone Calendar, iCal to-dos do not sync with the iPhone Calendar.
• No Flash support. So I won't be watching non-YouTube videos.
• No WAV audio support. iTunes and Quicktime on the Mac support WAV, but not the iPhone. This is a problem because Jefferson Consulting is using a VoIP telephone solution that emails voice messages in WAV format. iPhone's email has plugins for Word, Excel, PDF, JPG, and probably others we have not found yet. I expect that WAV support will be added in the near future.
• Battery lasts for most of the business day as long as I am not goofing around with alot of video. Might be an issue on a business day that involves a plane ride. Bottom line is that I better be prepared to charge it every night. Surely a third party battery upgrade is right around the corner.
• No cut/copy/paste of text like with Palm Treo.
• Stylus or Pen will not work with touch screen. Only a finger will work.
• Hard to type with the "virtual keyboard," particularly while the unit is in my cellphone mount in the car. Treo seems better for that, but I may get used to this iPhone feature over time.
• Cannot purchase iTunes music online with the iPhone.
At this point I don't see these points as deal-killers. I'm confident that all of these issues will be addressed in the near future with updates from Apple. So far in Northern Delaware I've had good cellular signal, and I love the feature where the iPhone automatically connects to my home or office WIFI. It's almost like having a little handheld Mac in my pocket!
Will I get rid of the Treo on Verizon? No, I will keep the Treo and will continue to support clients with Treos. But do I love the iPhone more? At this point, heck yes! Palm had better get their act together real quick, because Apple has won this battle and quite possibly the entire smart-phone war.
It all went down Monday afternoon at the Apple Store at Christiana Mall. I went with the 4GB model only because they just sold out of the 8GB flavor. Despite earlier reports of problems with activation, I was able to activate with no troubles. A download of iTunes 7.3 and Mac OS 10.4.10 are the "only" prerequisites.
I found that the iPhone does "almost" everything I wanted my Treo to do, only better. The iPhone is everything that everyone said it would be, but the things that were NOT said are causing issues (although small issues).
Issues we have seen:
• No to-do lists for iPhone Calendar, iCal to-dos do not sync with the iPhone Calendar.
• No Flash support. So I won't be watching non-YouTube videos.
• No WAV audio support. iTunes and Quicktime on the Mac support WAV, but not the iPhone. This is a problem because Jefferson Consulting is using a VoIP telephone solution that emails voice messages in WAV format. iPhone's email has plugins for Word, Excel, PDF, JPG, and probably others we have not found yet. I expect that WAV support will be added in the near future.
• Battery lasts for most of the business day as long as I am not goofing around with alot of video. Might be an issue on a business day that involves a plane ride. Bottom line is that I better be prepared to charge it every night. Surely a third party battery upgrade is right around the corner.
• No cut/copy/paste of text like with Palm Treo.
• Stylus or Pen will not work with touch screen. Only a finger will work.
• Hard to type with the "virtual keyboard," particularly while the unit is in my cellphone mount in the car. Treo seems better for that, but I may get used to this iPhone feature over time.
• Cannot purchase iTunes music online with the iPhone.
At this point I don't see these points as deal-killers. I'm confident that all of these issues will be addressed in the near future with updates from Apple. So far in Northern Delaware I've had good cellular signal, and I love the feature where the iPhone automatically connects to my home or office WIFI. It's almost like having a little handheld Mac in my pocket!
Will I get rid of the Treo on Verizon? No, I will keep the Treo and will continue to support clients with Treos. But do I love the iPhone more? At this point, heck yes! Palm had better get their act together real quick, because Apple has won this battle and quite possibly the entire smart-phone war.