Honest opinion on the iphone

Okay, I'll bite, since nobody's responding...

I don't have an iPhone yet (I'm still waiting for another price drop!). I can tell you that from what I've HEARD, some people don't like the speed of the EDGE network (the internet connection that defaults on the iPhone when a user is not around a WiFi signal). I've heard that the volume can be a bit temperamental.

I've used an iPhone at an AT&T store, and the interface is awesome. The touchscreen is extremely sensitive and browsing webpages on Safari is awesome (fully rendered, can flip the phone to use landscape mode). I'm not too sure about using the phone in landscape mode for texting, though...I don't think you can, but I could be wrong about that.

It looks like an awesome product. If I had more money, I'd get one myself! As it stands, I'll have to wait for the next (cheaper) iteration.

Good luck!

Yes, it is worth it. Even at the "old" price it was worth it.

some things are good on the iphone but, here are some bad things that me myself think suck!! Only connects through edge not 3g, for a phone that is this advanced it should have 3G . Edge is very very slow when using the internet . So slow u want to throw phone. Also will not play videos from web .only from You Tube, and at very poor quality. Will not send or recieve MMS mesages. Bluetooth does not work with other phones, only with headsets. I could go on but then i would hate the phone HA

I concur with John - even at the old price it's worth it.

Yes, the Edge network isn't going to be as fast as wi-fi, but I've never had it be so slow that I was annoyed. AT&T has promised that speed will improve as they update things.

It's absolutely fabulous to have the internet at your fingertips wherever you are. I LOVE my phone and I'm sure that you'd enjoy it too.

Some minor bugs which may force you to turn it off and on every other day. AT&T service is terrible - They will do very little for you. I had an AT&T agent disconnect my service when I called about number porting to another carrier. When I pointed out the mistake they made, they wanted to charge me a reconnection fee.

Hi,

I purchased my iPhone the evening of the price drop and can't be happier. I love the phone but make sure you understand what it can and cannot do before you buy it. No problems so far and enjoying all it's little features.

D

One big difference between the iPhone and a garden-variety cell is that YOU WILL NEED A COMPUTER. No getting around this one. Those who have used PDA phones in the past will adapt quickly to the iPhone. Those who never hooked their cell phone to a computer will have a large learing curve. As a minimum you have to hook your iPhone to a PC in order to:

- Activate the phone
- Import/manage your contacts (the easy way)
- Import/manage MP3s
- Import/manage photographs

I purchased the 8GB for my wife two days ago after the price drop. She recently purchased a new laptop and is just now learning how to use a computer. She had no idea that the iPhone was so dependent on the computer.

Thus computer geeks will love the iPhone, all other will have steep learning curve. In the end all will be satisfied.

Definitely not worth the old price! And probably now, definitely worth the reduced price. Beautiful phone, Amazing interface; fun stops there. You are restricted to ATT and ATT is hit and miss; clear and crackly, in and out regardlesss of bars. Edge is slow. Synching is problamatic (windows/Outlook), the "real internet" lacks Flash and other real internet technologies, No games unless you have internet access, No IM, No MMS, No local storage, smartphone portion of device lacks smartphone features and conveniences, phone needs to be reset frequently, locks up quite a bit when trying to answer calls with BT headset, build quality looks great but case is separating from bezel, slippery to hold and extremely expensive to repair, no removeable battery, too many clicks (button presses) to access standard features like phone. You asked for an Honest opinion. My recommendation is to wait for the 2 iPhone rumored to be out this fall, or for the 2nd Generation iPhone. It is a cool phone, but bragging rights are gone, and fixes are slow to come. They've got an 8 cylinder hitting on 6. If you just need a phone, don't want smartphone features, and you have a lot of money, then go ahead and get it. If you need smartphone features then I'd say get something else and don't look back. My recommendation would be to get a much cheaper phone and buy the new iPod Touch. I think you'd get a lot more utility with that combo.

I know this won't be a popular post, but he did ask for an honest opinion, and this is mine. Flame me if you wish, but we all have our own perspectives, mine is just one of them. And yes, I did my homework, I do like the phone, but can find no way to justify the cost of it, the speed of patching, and the customer service.

I purchased the 8G last friday, and here is my experience:
- I had a cingular account already. Switching to the new phone in iTunes worked flawlessly and fast. Syncing my contacts, music, photos, etc. also without any hitch. Whole process was 15 minutes.
- In my near week of use I have had zero glitches, restarts, freezes or any other wierdness.
- Call quality varies because that is the nature of cingular, but it seems to be a little better, or no worse, then my prior Motorola phone.
- It is the single most pleasing piece of technology I have held in my hand. I can't stop finding reasons to click on it.
- Web browsing/youtube is slow outside of wireless netork, where it relies on EDGE, but not as bad as I expected (but I expected REALLY bad). However, google maps is tolerable and email is fine even on EDGE (at least in my experience).
- The keyboard takes a little getting used to, but I've gotten it. It is very good at guessing what you are trying to write and offering the correct word.
- I have found the menus easy to use and logical.
- visual voice mail is great
- I am hoping they add search capabilities to email and calendar by software update, but other than that, I am fine with it as it is.

daftpunk wrote:
so i guess the real question is... is it worth it???

Yes.

A lot of the complaints on this board are from marketers who register under new names and post the same paragraph again and again with only small variations. Most have post counts of 1 or 2. Complaints and compliments from people with bigger post counts will likely be more representative of actual users.

It was well worth it for what I payed for it and now that the price dropped I'll get my wife one. It is not a business person's solution, and a lot of the gripes are coming from users that expect it to be.

For $400.00 its worth it...Its a beautiful phone, display is great, web surfing is good, accept that links to vids dont work, and some plugins for web pages arent supported.

The phone itself is not as clear as my verizon razr, but I can live with that....
I really bought it so I could do email and browsing on the move, Id rather not have to sign up with ATT, but oh well.

If you really want one now go out and buy one, you wont have regrets, but if you can, you may want to consider waiting 2-3 months to see if they come out with one that does 3g..

If you already have a Mac computer and are a basic cell phone user without pre-existing hatred for ATT or the cell phone sophistication to care what kind of cell server you are on, you will find it well worth the money, especially at the new price. I love it, even at the old price! Sure the EDGE web surfing is not as fast as the wi-fi, but it is definitely usable for most things, at least in my area (Orlando FL). Being able to access my email anytime is also reliable and wonderful, as is the Maps function. I also love having my contacts all synced up with my computer so easily.

I have never used a Blackberry, so I cannot compare the ease of use of the touch keypad vs a solid one, but the touch keypad did not take me long to learn. I can see why touch typists might prefer the Blackberry however. I cannot imagine getting to the point where I would not have to look at the touch keypad, but then again I look at my real keyboard when I type also.

All in all I am sure you would not regret your purchase.

good luck with your semester.

One problem with the suggestion to get a regular cell phone and an iPod Touch is that the iPod Touch does not have the email server. If that is important to a prospective buyer, the Phone is the way to go.

Message was edited by: iDawn

I thought my 4GB was worth it at $499...honestly I had my doubts so it was kind of an impulse buy.

I have to say everything works as advertised and some a little better than I expected.

1. EDGE is slow...maybe 2 to 3 times 56k modem speeds downloading webpages but it's adequate for looking up stuff on the move.

2. Google maps, whilst not turn by turn GPS, has saved my bacon already when travelling on business

3. Phone - works OK. I had a crappy Nokia before

4. Contacts and Calendars could use some improvement but these are minor software updates

5. Youtube - not a fan but this has probably increased my usage of Youtube..it's kind of a fun toy on the move

6. eMail - probably the killer app for me, love having this on the move. Would kill for Exchange support though.

7. Safari rocks - still a little unstable on some pages and I'd love flash support

8. iPod - I don't use this much since I have an 80GB iPod Video...4GB is just too small for me but the widescreen makes movies and TV content actually watchable

9. Touch interface is gorgeous and typing correction and key recognition works much better than I thought it would (even my wife can use it without ********!) .. I can type with 2 or 3 fingers easily.

10. Wireless..this is killer...much better experience than EDGE. I use the iPhone as a mini-web tablet round the house

Example of my recent usage:

Drive around Dallas, look up houses in MLS system, plot routes via Google maps, find Starbucks (:D) and use Wireless access for T-Mobile.


You cannot at this time type SMS in landscape mode...not sure why

Message was edited by: Steve Hodson

Message was edited by: Steve Hodson