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Finally, a Smartphone That IS!
not a frequent cell phone user, often looking for Internet on the road, a gadget geek, a frequent traveler, a world traveler, a tech geek, a PC user
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| Cons |
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AUG
24
2007
Why We Purchased an iPhone
My husband's reason for purchasing an iPhone for me (for us, really) may be different from most people's. We travel a great deal and while we often have access to wireless Internet in hotels, we don't want to bring along a full-size laptop to browse the web. We do use the Internet a great deal on our trips: searching for restaurants, reviews of places and sending emails. After seeing how Safari worked on the iPhone in a demo, my husband decided that the iPhone would be a great alternative to a laptop.
About the iPhone
Apple's iPhone is the latest gadget darling in the media. Apple has essentially taken their wildly successful iPod and merged it with a cell phone. They've added a lot of other interesting functionality as well, including the web browser, an email application, a notes application, weather, stock quotes, maps and a digital camera. Here are a few that I use frequently:
Safari - Web Browsing: Web browsing is easier than ever with Safari on the iPhone. Nearly all pages render just the way they would on a standard computer, only much smaller. You can orient the page horizontally or vertically by turning the phone, move around the page with your fingertip, and zoom in or out using a pinching motion with two fingers on the screen. You can also open a new "tab" and scroll through multiple pages.
eMail: eMail functionality can be configured for most popular email services, but it's not without its glitches. I use GMail for my email and have found several issues with getting it to sync properly with the GMail service. Messages that I delete on my iPhone aren't deleted from GMail, even though I have that option checked. When I send an email on my computer from within GMail, it shows up as a new message to me on the iPhone. The GMail implementation is currently more trouble than it's worth. I was actually considering setting up a standard POP mail box with another service because GMail on the iPhone is very annoying.
Google Maps with Traffic: This is one of the most useful features of my iPhone. By default my Google Map application opens up with my route home highlighted, and a red/yellow/green rendering of the traffic along my route. When I get in my car, I simply pull up Google Maps and I know instantly if I have to avoid a particular route on the way home. I've found that the traffic component on Google Maps accurately reflects what's going on on the roads.
Camera: I don't like the camera that comes on the iPhone. It's blurry, non-intuitive, doesn't have a flash and is in general one of the weaker phone cameras I've come across.
iPod: It's no surprise that the iPod functionality on the phone is great.
Phone & Voicemail: Using the phone, receiving a call, and checking your voicemail via visual voicemail are all seamless functions that are easy to figure out and use.
Headset Inputs: This is the biggest con to the Apple iPhone and the most frustrating part of owning an iPhone. The headset jack on the iPhone is smaller than a standard jack and so your regular headphones almost certainly won't fit on the iPhone. I hate earbuds, and so I don't like to use the earbuds that came with my iPhone. It's impossible to reliably find headphones that fit at this time, but researching the situation shows that there will soon be adapters on the market (which are bulky) and headphones with a "Made for iPhone" compatibility note on them, to show that they'll fit this new slimmer input jack. I wish Apple had just made the input jack regularly sized to begin with.
Cat's Bottom Line
You can have my Apple iPhone when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers. I love my iPhone, and I think it's a great asset to have everyday and on the road while traveling. Highly recommended!
Apple - iPhone (4GB) Cell Phone is recommended by Cat
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