I got one... sort of. I bought one for my wife. And trust me when I tell you it is even cooler than the appears in the commercials. I was going to wait for the next generation version to come out, but I might just go ahead and get one.
There was no line at the AT&T store at 7AM yesterday morning when I stopped at Starbucks for coffee (they're right next to each other) on my way to work, so I decided I would check back at lunch. There was no line at lunch time either, so I ran home to drop off my computer and went back. In that 30 minutes, a line of 6 people had formed.
So, at 12:30, I began my wait... and stupid me, I didn't bring a chair. DOH! The people (mostly male, middle age folks) in line with me were really nice, which certainly helped the time to pass more quickly... until about the last 1/2 hour, that seemed to take forever! :-)
When the time came, they let in the first 6 people in line, one for each of the employees in the store. I was number 7 in line, so I had to wait a little longer... but only about 5 minutes, til the first person came out.
I got my wife the 8 gig model, a couple of accessories and I was on my way home.
I took out her laptop, downloaded and installed the new iTunes, and then got forced to update MAC OS... which sucked.... I just wanted to get that phone set up to play!
After 30 minutes of software downloads and installs, I had the iPhone in the cradle and I was setting it up... the process was smooth, and we were done in just minutes.
Copied over her music and contacts and finally got to start playing around!!!
As I mentioned, the iPhone is incredibly cool... totally living up to the hype. Here are some notes:
- The iPod functionality is awesome, cover flow is great, however, the standard list is phenomenal as well. A little flick of the finger and you're scrolling through gobs of music (I put about 4 gigs on there)
- Scrolling through a list, at first, seemed backwards. I wanted to run my finger down the screen to get to the bottom of the list - just like you "scroll" down using a scroll bar, but it is the more natural gesture of flicking up to move the unwanted stuff out of your way.
- Setting up Wi-Fi took litterally 2 seconds: I opened the mail application and was prompted for our WPA key, entered it, and boom. Connected.
- I set up the local weather in about 1/2 second... simply by entering our zip code. There was almost no latency in getting the updated 5-day forecast for our city. It took me only a second or two to figure out how to delete the default cities weather forecast. Simply touching a red circle next to the city name revealed a delete button... very smooth.
- Navigating the maps was incredibly cool. Starting with two fingers together on the screen, just slide them away from each other in whatever direction you want the map magnified. I was able to drill into our city in a matter of a couple of gestures.
- There are no "close" icons or buttons, you just return to the main screen with the main navigation button on the device.
- I changed a couple of the default settings, which were quick and easy to do.
- The keyboard, which might take some getting used to, is very cool. The visual feedback when you press a letter or number is great - although, when you are entering a password and can't see the text you've entered, the visual indicators of the letters you've typed should stay visible for a little longer.
- One of the coolest things is a little ".com" keyboard button. You type in a URL in the browser and click one button to complete the address... that is wicked cool.
- I have my iTunes set to manually sync with my iPod, a feature I couldn't seem to find or accomplish with the iPhone. I'm going to have to investigate this one a little more. There was an option to only sync checked items or only sync certain playlists, so that might be the way to do it.
There are so many little things that make the iPhone praiseworthy... the whole time I was playing last night, a line just kept running through my head: touching is believing.
It is evident that they spent time truly understanding the main tasks people need to complete with a mobile device. The buttons for the main tasks are big and obvious... my wife kept remarking that they built it for someone who hates technology, like her.
Great post on the iphone. Probably the best I've read so far, and we happen to agree on almost everything. I'm definitely not happy with not being able to manually sync, but other than that it's worth the money so far.
Btw I'm posting this from my iphone.
Posted by: Josh Viney | June 30, 2007 at 02:34 PM
Josh, thank you! I really appreciate that!
I just helped one of my wifes friends set up her Windows Vista computer... URGH! The comparison in setup between windows and the iPhone is night and day!
That is awesome that you replied with the iPhone, how cool is that?!?!?!
Posted by: Jon Strande | June 30, 2007 at 04:53 PM
I feel sort of unworthy, posting this from a homebrew desktop running Windows 98, but I must agree with Josh in complementing you on a great review!
On the other hand, I am an AT&T subscriber, so you have my condolences in advance! LOL
Mike
P.S. Do feel free to post more frequently than every 45 days...
Posted by: Mike | June 30, 2007 at 06:11 PM
Mike,
Well, I wrote this post, and the subsequent comments, on a Windows XP laptop... so I'm right there with you. I'm also an existing AT & T customer, so I your condolences are appreciated.
As for the posting frequency, I'm working on it! :-)
Jon
Posted by: Jon Strande | July 01, 2007 at 07:59 AM
Two friends of mine bought them, even changed to AT&T to get them. They've been really happy and the EDGE network keeps up for email and Google Maps as well. They do seem to be getting better speed here in LA than originally estimated. My experience with it is summed up as: very well done for what it does. But there is nothing for me to make me buy it. 8GB just isn't enough space for my music, and there is no killer app that would make me buy it. But then, there is no smart phone that I would pay these kinds of $$$ for. If you are into the smart phone feature set, this thing does it REALLY well, and does it in a really comforting way. The weight of it, the application responsiveness... it is all on spot. But for me, in the end, it is an iPod Nano with a phone that does email really well and the web browsing is fantastic. Not something I personally want. But man, it looks good and feels good. Only a few parts of the UI seem to be built inconsistently. One note, if they get some kind of GPS-like ability in there, this thing is waaaay cheaper than a Garmin Nuvi and the price for service is pretty good, especially the family plans and unlimited data.
Posted by: sloan | July 01, 2007 at 12:34 PM
Sloan,
Thank you for the comment! Yeah, 8GB isn't quite enough space for me either. I've got well over 50 gigs of music, so this isn't enough for me to stop carrying my 80GB iPod... plus, I've started ripping a lot of DVDs using pqdvd.com, so my video library is quickly eclipsing the size of my music library. You put a couple of movies (1+ GB a piece) and that 8GB is quickly gone. I've been playing around with the wifes iPhone and it is sweet... It really makes my windows smart phone seem awkward. I hope that I've got the willpower to wait until the a larger capacity iPhone becomes available.
Jon
P.S. oh yeah, the whole thing about not being able to use my custom ring tone (having to purchase them) is a disappointment.
Posted by: Jon Strande | July 01, 2007 at 08:29 PM
Hey Jon,
I am completely jealous! I'm trying to get my boss to get me one for "testing". ;o)
I just wrote a post about how I believe that the new iPhone is going to revolutionize mobile marketing. Take a look and feel free to add your comments now that you have one.
JOE
http://www.thecommunicationsvault.com
Posted by: Joe | July 02, 2007 at 04:48 PM
Joe,
Thank you for the comment! Yeah, I'm jealous as well... I should NEVER have given that phone to my wife! :-) I'm trying to talk my boss into subsidizing one for me as well... hey, as a usability professional, I need to understand this thing! ;-)
I'll check out your post!
Jon
Posted by: Jon Strande | July 03, 2007 at 07:21 AM
Jon: sending this to you from my iPhone. You've captured much of the essential goodness that this impressive device offers. I was planning to hold out for the 2G version but my resolve weakened and I was sucked into the Reality Distortion Field by Saturday morning. I've already taken the iPhone on the road (quick trip to San Jose yesterday) and it performed beautifully in a number of WiFi zones and using the Edge network (slow but acceptable).
I hope your wife is generous and allows you to use her iPhone from time to time. ;^)
Posted by: Marc Orchant | July 03, 2007 at 01:17 PM
Marc,
Yeah, I've been sucked in as well... although it hasn't translated into a purchase, yet. The local stores are all out (it seems that demand is finally starting to surpass supply) so I'm going to have to wait to get my own.
I've been the designated demo-guy, so I get to play with it as people are asking to see it (and that is just about EVERYONE). People are amazed by it... not surprisingly.
Jon
Posted by: Jon Strande | July 03, 2007 at 02:13 PM