A month of use, and iPhone's not as cool
By DWIGHT SILVERMANCopyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
Even before you could buy one, the word on the iPhone was that it might be the Holy Grail of wireless devices. It was so highly praised that some took to calling it the "Jesus Phone."
The early reviews were almost fawning. Oh sure, they said, the iPhone has a few flaws, but hey! Look at the big, button-free screen! The cool Google Maps application! See how Web pages look like they should on it! And how, when you turn it sideways, pictures and Web pages rotate! And how you can use touch to move from photo to photo! And it's a great iPod, too!
Yeah, those other reviews were pretty breathless. Well, it's time to get a grip, kids, because this is not going to be one of those reviews.
The iPhone is a very different device, and when you first start working with it, there's definitely an OMG! effect. Its most in-your-face feature is its Cool Factor, which is what you'd expect, since this is from Apple. I wrote about this in an earlier column about Apple's brilliant marketing of the iPhone.
Yet there's quite a difference between being wowed by previously unseen features and using and relying on a device like the iPhone day to day. For some folks, its core features — which are slick on the surface — may be adequate. But if you're someone who relies heavily on a portable device for business e-mail and even creation of content, you're going to be frustrated.
I lived with the iPhone for about a month, and as an experiment, I carried both it and my Samsung BlackJack, my own PDA. My goal was to see which device I preferred for which tasks. For example, when I wanted to access the Web online, or check e-mail, which would I reach for first?
I started out using the iPhone more, because using it was an adventure. But by the end of my experiment, I was back to using the BlackJack for most serious tasks.
While the iPhone is indeed a very cool device, and there's a lot about it to like, I think its shortcomings are major.
Here's where I think the iPhone falls down:
• E-mail. If your company uses Microsoft Exchange for its e-mail (and many do), you can forget about using the iPhone to get your business mail unless your systems folks are willing to turn on an older e-mail feature called IMAP. Many system administrators won't do this (including those at the Chronicle), leaving users in the lurch. I had to use the Web-based version, but the iPhone's Safari browser didn't get along with it (more on that later). And even if I had been able to get business e-mail, the iPhone's e-mail application is pretty to look at but frustrating to use. You can't batch-delete e-mails. The iPhone has no cut/paste capability, which makes sending examples of things found on the Web impossible. And its e-mail isn't of the "push" variety, that comes at you in near real-time. It checks e-mail every 15 minutes or so and has no easy way to alert you of something new.
• Web browsing. The iPhone's Safari browser is one of its strengths, but it's also a big weakness. Yes, it displays most Web pages better than any other hand-held device browser. But Safari is notorious among Web developers for its glitches in the way it handles coding such as Javascript. For example, I was unable to edit or compose in chron.com's blogging software — Movable Type, a popular platform — because scroll bars for the composition windows were missing. When I tried to write an e-mail in our Outlook Web Access page, I saw the text, but it was often blank for recipients.
Web pages must be designed a certain way for Safari's cool zoom feature to work properly, but many out there aren't. As a result, when I zoomed in, I often had to do a lot of side scrolling to read it, or use the iPhone's two-fingered "pinch" motion to reduce the size of the page. That got old quickly.
• Connectivity. The iPhone can connect to the Internet two ways: using Wi-Fi or AT&T's Edge data network. If you can get to Wi-Fi with the iPhone, you'll want to do it, even if you have to beg, borrow or steal, because the Edge network is incredibly slow. I gave up on trying to look at most Web pages when Wi-Fi wasn't available; it was too painful.
In addition, the iPhone has Bluetooth capabilities for connecting other devices wirelessly, but there's only one thing that it will pair with — a headset for hands-free talking. I've got a Bluetooth Apple keyboard, which would help with the next issue on my list of gripes, but the iPhone wouldn't see it.
• Virtual keyboard. One of the iPhone's most vaunted features is its virtual onscreen keyboard. It's also been its most criticized. As you tap letters on the screen, the keys enlarge, helping you to hit them more accurately ... at least, in theory. While I got a little better over time, I never could get as fast on it as I am on my BlackJack. And the iPhone's feature that predicts what word you're trying to type is nowhere near as good as the T9 found in most other smart phones.
• Memory. The iPhone comes with two memory capacities: 4 and 8 gigabytes. That's not a lot of memory for a $500 or $600 device, respectively. My video iPod has a 20-GB hard drive, and I've got about 14 GB of music on it. If I want to bring my complete music collection with me, I've got to tote both my iPhone and my iPod. Sorry, but for $600, I should be able to cram it all in one device.
There are other deficiencies, from the ability to use your own music as custom ringtones (you can't even buy new ringtones) to its recessed headphone jack that won't work with most car adapters and non-Apple headsets; to its sealed, send-it-in-to-Apple-for-replacement battery.
Some shortcomings could be fixed by software upgrades, but the key word there is "could." I'm not sure I'd want to spend $600 betting on the outcome.
If you weren't one of the early possessors, but you're considering buying one, wait for the next version. The iPhone has a lot of potential, and it will surely influence what other phone manufacturers do. But for now, you're better off using something else if you're serious about getting your data on the go.
dwight.silverman@chron.com
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
iPhone: Not as bad as I thought!
But it's still over-hyped
After Apple and AT&T reported quarterly earnings this week, the truth about the iPhone has started to leak out. On Tuesday, AT&T revealed that only 156,000 phones were sold the first weekend, far less than the 500,000 to 1,000,000 that had been "forecasted" by the usual crowd of Apple groupies.
More importantly, they let slip the fact that another version of the iPhone is expected before Christmas! This is serious because one iPhone cannot be upgraded to another, newer model. It's already affecting in-store sales, which have been slumping steadily. Inventories are flush at many stores, and you'll see price cuts or other promotions before long.
In the meantime, users are finding out the severe weaknesses of the AT&T "Edge" network, which is a pathetic dial-up contraption. The only way anyone actually uses their iPhone now is with a connection to a local wireless network. But the new model will provide a high-speed connection; you just have to shell out another $500 for it.
Now for the good news: the damn thing is pretty slick. Everybody likes its ergonomics, it has a nice high-quality feel, although a bit heavy, and it's only real weakness is its lack of connectivity. Once that gets sorted out, the iPhone will take off, I'm sure. It's simply a matter of when its competitors begin arriving, and how aggressive their pricing will be. I predict that the new, 3G iPhone will be the hit product of the Christmas season.
After Apple and AT&T reported quarterly earnings this week, the truth about the iPhone has started to leak out. On Tuesday, AT&T revealed that only 156,000 phones were sold the first weekend, far less than the 500,000 to 1,000,000 that had been "forecasted" by the usual crowd of Apple groupies.
More importantly, they let slip the fact that another version of the iPhone is expected before Christmas! This is serious because one iPhone cannot be upgraded to another, newer model. It's already affecting in-store sales, which have been slumping steadily. Inventories are flush at many stores, and you'll see price cuts or other promotions before long.
In the meantime, users are finding out the severe weaknesses of the AT&T "Edge" network, which is a pathetic dial-up contraption. The only way anyone actually uses their iPhone now is with a connection to a local wireless network. But the new model will provide a high-speed connection; you just have to shell out another $500 for it.
Now for the good news: the damn thing is pretty slick. Everybody likes its ergonomics, it has a nice high-quality feel, although a bit heavy, and it's only real weakness is its lack of connectivity. Once that gets sorted out, the iPhone will take off, I'm sure. It's simply a matter of when its competitors begin arriving, and how aggressive their pricing will be. I predict that the new, 3G iPhone will be the hit product of the Christmas season.
Monday, July 02, 2007
The Jesus Phone
After two weeks of travel, I returned to base only to find out that the entire Western World was all a-twitter about the debut of Apple's iPhone. I have to hand it to the marketing mavens at Apple; they really know how to gin up hype. Of course, the key is not to let anybody actually use the product before its release. This permitted people to imagine that the iPhone would actually be better than anything out there; sort of a savior from the cell-phone hell that we all have had to endure for the past ten years. Kinda like Jesus Christ. (Hence the title, which I borrowed from the Friday Wall Street Journal article that critiqued the launch.)
I am going to go out on a limb, here, and say that the iPhone is going to disappoint all but the most rabid (and most affluent) Apple bigots. Why, you might ask? Well, it's really simple: the iPhone is going to be maddeningly slow! Especially when it comes to surfing the Web. The sexy ad copy notwithstanding, the iPhone is significant only because of its operating system, which is important, but mostly to gear-heads and tech nerds. To many end-users, the thing is going to lose its luster very quickly. It'll be like finding out that your $45,000 Porsche can't go over 55 mph!
First of all, it's no better as a phone than anything else sold at Cingular or AT&T stores, which is to say that it's slightly below average since they market some of the worst crap around. In addition, AT&T can only offer the iPhone on its low-power, low-speed, low-grade network, the "Edge" network. You heard me; the iPhone is not 3G or GSM-enabled! Most of the "old fashioned" phones they've been selling at Cingular are way faster! The only hope an iPhone user has of getting decent response time for e-mail or web use is by connecting to a local wireless hot-spot.
All of this is true because the geniuses at Apple want to wait for a year or so before introducing a truly up-to-date phone. Just like they did with the Mac back in 1984, when the first generation Macintosh was shipped with a 3.5" disk instead of a hard drive! Two years later, Apple included the hard drive in its second generation machine. But they had accomplished their real mission, which was to get the Graphical User Interface (known in the PC world as Windows) out before it could be upstaged by Microsoft.
So, look for all kinds of raves from the usual quarters, followed by serious questions from people who don't drink the Silicon Valley Kool-aid served by Steve Jobs and his minions!
I am going to go out on a limb, here, and say that the iPhone is going to disappoint all but the most rabid (and most affluent) Apple bigots. Why, you might ask? Well, it's really simple: the iPhone is going to be maddeningly slow! Especially when it comes to surfing the Web. The sexy ad copy notwithstanding, the iPhone is significant only because of its operating system, which is important, but mostly to gear-heads and tech nerds. To many end-users, the thing is going to lose its luster very quickly. It'll be like finding out that your $45,000 Porsche can't go over 55 mph!
First of all, it's no better as a phone than anything else sold at Cingular or AT&T stores, which is to say that it's slightly below average since they market some of the worst crap around. In addition, AT&T can only offer the iPhone on its low-power, low-speed, low-grade network, the "Edge" network. You heard me; the iPhone is not 3G or GSM-enabled! Most of the "old fashioned" phones they've been selling at Cingular are way faster! The only hope an iPhone user has of getting decent response time for e-mail or web use is by connecting to a local wireless hot-spot.
All of this is true because the geniuses at Apple want to wait for a year or so before introducing a truly up-to-date phone. Just like they did with the Mac back in 1984, when the first generation Macintosh was shipped with a 3.5" disk instead of a hard drive! Two years later, Apple included the hard drive in its second generation machine. But they had accomplished their real mission, which was to get the Graphical User Interface (known in the PC world as Windows) out before it could be upstaged by Microsoft.
So, look for all kinds of raves from the usual quarters, followed by serious questions from people who don't drink the Silicon Valley Kool-aid served by Steve Jobs and his minions!
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