Apple iPhone 3G Review

Having read through this entire thread I feel compelled to add my thruppence. I bought my iphone in Australia on PAYG and had it unlocked by the network when I left. I paid them another $150Aus so by then it had cost me $850. This was an impulse buy. I have been buying macs since 1988 but was given a blackberry in 2003 and had one of those revolutionary experiences. Blackberries have unleashed me from my desk, allowing me to blast off huge epistles at blistering pace from anywhere with the coverage, which is enormously satisfying. Syncing with the mac was a pain, I bought a pc laptop just to do that job, then pocketsynmanager came along and could do the entourage sync via the address book. Heaven only knows why they couldn't crack the memos sync. It all ends up as notes which can't be edited - and I have hundreds of memos. Pushing the limits of this mismatch of platforms made me long for a mac based solution. But actually the blackberry did everything I needed. The iphone only turned my head because I AM a mac fanboy.
I think I am a well placed to say that this iphone is vastly overrated as a communication device, unless you just want to phone people and listen to music, in which case it is fantastic. Really fantastic. The music player is extraordinary. Why does it sound so much better than the ipods? It has actually made favourites sound fresh again, and for that alone it is worth the price tag (nobody can dispute this phone looks overpriced). Then there is the effortless contacts editing - as good as the blackberry if not better except for the fact you can't use numbers and email addresses etc from incoming mail to create new contacts. This lack of functionality is a bore when you are used to the smooth operation of the blackberry. But the touch screen is a joy for effortless data input, it just doesn't respond well to the hard finger bashing you need to do to knock out 1000 words. I can touch type much faster on the blackberry but probably I will get to a good pace with the apple, albeit with a greater error rate. No matter as I will not attempt to do that with the apple as the lack of cut and paste and any simple editing tools makes this phone useless for any considered writing tasks. Unless you write a perfect first draft. So the apple is a fantastic low end use phone with superb integrations of some excellent software - entourage, mail, safari and the wonderful itunes (its crazy to knock the software that has raised the bar for the whole industry so what if it controls your life, apple is for people who by self-selection are not tinkerers and tuners as one previous contributor put it. Apple users pay handsomely for solutions not endless permutations that they have to figure out how to use. They want to use something that works). But a smooth operating phone/browser/simple email device is all this iphone seems to want to be. There is so much functionality gap between the blackberry and iphone that it is pointless to compare. It is hard to see how it can become a whole lot more than what it is now. I can see why people knock the 9/10 for features but one thing I am certain of is that 90% or more of users will never have encountered features as functional as those on the apple. I feel certain that they will get their value for money out of the phone because they will be able to use all those features regularly and enjoy using them, which must be some component of the features (as well as being a component of interface). The 10% of owners who (like me) have become used to something more versatile will have to accept its limitations and enjoy it for its sheer effortlessness and for vanity reasons. Which might soon wear off alas.
I also think not including MMS was silly even if I have never used it myself.
Battery life is abysmal.
Who cares about VGA if you can see what you need to see perfectly well. Or a camera with only 2mb if you already own a digital camera. Is anyone seriously expecting a proper camera inside a smartphone?
It's O2 that won't unlock, not Apple of course. My unlocked phone behaves perfectly well on vodafone and also TIM in Italy.
I will probably get the Storm and put my iphone into early retirement.. or give it to a younger member of my family who hasn't actually got a job depending on it.
Can anyone explain why it is such a good music player?

My use of words like 'smooth' and 'functionality' is rather clumsy. I seem labelled them both as smooth, and they both are - so the great difference between them is sheer functionality. The Blackberry has bags more of it. The Apple has limited functionality with email and texting, and contacts editing. It has linear simple-to-use paths, but you can't ask any more from it. You soon know everything it can do, and compared to the Blackberry it's not a great deal (except elegant web browsing and simple emailing are of course wonderful things to have on a consumer phone and hence it IS 9/10 compared to other consumer phones).
But if you are serious about communicating as effortlessly and comprehensively as possible by email and text and phone, the Blackberry is hands down winner. For the same money.

I just trawled through some forums on the Blackberry site hoping for up to date info on pocketmac. I wanted to be reassured that things are going better - not worse - between these two uneasy bedmates. I found some unpleasant reading and one particularly torturous thread concerning the new macbook pros. And I found this entry from someone who had been hanging around for a fix from pocketmac.

Re: Pocketmac 4.1 does not USB sync with blackberry 8300 - someone please help
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corbett3000
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Posts: 4
Registered: 10-28-2008

corbett3000

Message 29 of 32

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I have executed what is perhaps the only solution to this problem: I bought an iPhone. After much frustration and trying to run a business without a syncable phone...i coughed up the cash to Apple and switched.



DEAR BLACKBERRY: If this problem is your fault, I'm glad to have switched and I hope all your other Mac Book Pro weilding users do as well. I can tell you, I do like the iPhone and it is powerful enough for a business user like me. If this problem was not your fault, PLEASE sue Apple - I feel like they've extorded $300 out of me for this phone somehow.


Good luck all.

As an Iphone 3g owner, I would just like to say the phone is slick and most of the apps work well and the phone does what it say's "On the TIN".
How ever I hate the following:
No MMS messages
Poor battery life when wifi is on and surfing - although great browser
Crap camera
Cant attach a photo to an email, you must attach the email to the photo !!!duh
Cant give ringtones to features such as text and email alerts.

COME ON APPLE GIVE US MMS, Video, Copy and Paste - FREE THE PHONE UP