Monday, July 14, 2008

iPhone 3G so far...

I am thrilled! Before I get into what I really like, let me get the bad out of the way really quickly. I only have a couple of gripes about the iPhone 3G, the keyboard and the battery life. Neither are deal breakers by any stretch of the imagination, more inconvenient if anything. The keys are a little close together for us with larger digits!! With more use, I'm getting more and more used to where I need to tap to get each letter. Like I said, not really a big deal. Battery life is inconvenient, but again not a deal breaker. I'll be getting a car charger though, just in case. With heavy data use, especially on the 3G network, the battery tends to drain pretty fast. I think I could pretty easily make it through the day without having to charge the phone, especially after some of the new has worn off it! *G*

Starting off, the iPhone is a phone. Yeah, it does a bunch of other really cool stuff, but if the phone doesn't work, what's the use? Well, the phone works and works well. Reception is as good as I ever got with my Nokia and better than I ever got with the Motorola V3xx.

I love the UI. The Apple UI runs circles around everything else. I find the OS works and works well. No crashes and hardly any slow-downs. The home screen is easy to understand and use, a qwerty keyboard is a breeze to use, and multi-touch rocks! I have used most of the applications and downloaded a few free apps from the App Store and am pleased with how well they work. Maps uses the GPS and WiFi to show a Google map with your location. Use Google to search for anything and pins will drop to show you where to find whatever you're looking for. Tap a pin and you can get directions. Drive and you see your progress on the map. So far, we don't have turn by turn spoken directions, but Tom-Tom is reportedly working on an App already. I have Email set up to work with my Exchange account at work and it's awesome! My favorite App so far has to be Remote. As long as my laptop and my iPhone 3G are on the same wifi network, I can control my iTunes on my laptop from the iPhone. Sounds trivial? I thought so at first as well, but if I combine this with an Airport Extreme, I can broadcast my iTunes to any stereo or other wifi device in the house, controling it all with my iPhone. The possibilities are awesome!

This is a really concise review, but I hope it conveys how truly happy I am with the purchase.

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