I did it. I bought an iPhone. Hey, I’m no Apple fanboy! My work and home systems are both Windows XP, I’ve never bought a single recording from iTunes and, although I do have an iPod, it’s an ancient original iPod Shuffle (the kind without a display) handed down to me by my 12-year-old. But here I sit, the owner of Apple’s latest consumer-oriented electronic device.
I’ve never had a combined PDA and cell phone like the Palm Treo or RIM BlackBerry. The last time my cell phone wore out, I got a Motorola RAZR, which I thought was pretty cool, since it had a camera and a color display. I liked it a lot: small, with an all-metal solidity. Alas, the flip hinge decided to die, and then the display wouldn’t work, and so I found myself shopping for a phone.
Replacing my RAZR would have cost me $199, and Apple had just reduced the price of an 8 gigabyte iPhone to $399. The clincher: since I already was an AT&T cellular subscriber, adding the iPhone to my Family 700 calling plan would only cost me $20 a month for the addition of data access. Plus, I knew I could write about it for NorthBay biz. Sold!
Potential shortcomings
When Apple released the iPhone, I expected it to be a big deal. But I saw two shortcomings. First, if you don’t have access to a nearby Wi-Fi connection, the iPhone relies on AT&T’s EDGE network for Internet connectivity. Although classified as a third-generation wireless network, EDGE is considerably slower than Verizon’s EV-DO. I just ran a speed test (www.dslreports.com) from my iPhone, and it shows I’m getting about 179 kilobits per second via EDGE, which is about three times as fast as a 56-kilobit dial-up connection, and (of course) much slower than the 1 to 6 megabits you might expect from a DSL or cable connection.
Second, the iPhone doesn’t have a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, which means it doesn’t know where you are. This means it can’t do the sort of things a TomTom Go, Garmin or other GPS receiver can do (like give directions on the fly). I’ve been eyeing one of those portable GPS units for my old car (which predates the flashy and vastly more expensive built-in navigation systems), and it would be nice to have one less device to tote around.
A third shortcoming didn’t apply to me: the iPhone can currently only be used with an AT&T calling plan. Since, as far as I can tell, everyone hates their cellular service provider (and I was already acquainted with AT&T’s particular form of customer service), this wasn’t a big issue for me. But I did choose not to visit an AT&T store to purchase my iPhone.
Painless activation
Instead, I went to the Apple online store and bought my iPhone. It showed up in a couple of days (OK, I spent $10 for express shipping because my RAZR was on its last legs).
The iPhone comes in a small, black box with a picture of the iPhone (and little else) on the outside, true to the spirit of Apple’s clean minimalist packaging. Inside, on top is the iPhone itself, and underneath is some cleverly packaged simple documentation, earbuds, the USB cable and docking stand for recharging and synchronizing the iPhone, and an AC plug for the dock (in case you can’t plug the USB cable into your computer).
Activation, which is done via iTunes, was a painless process. I’d already installed the latest version of iTunes while waiting for my iPhone to arrive. I plugged the dock into my computer and the iPhone into the dock, and the system recognized the new hardware. When I opened up iTunes, the iPhone activation screen appeared.
The first step is to get right with AT&T. Since I was already a customer, I just switched my existing number to the iPhone and added an unlimited data plan for the aforementioned $20 monthly fee. Next, I provided my existing iTunes account (which thus far has only purchased music for my children). Finally, I waited while iTunes communicated with AT&T. All in all, it’s as painless an interaction with a cellular provider as you’re ever likely to have.
By the way, if you’re switching service to AT&T, it’ll also port your old number as part of the activation. Like I said: painless.
Best. Phone. Ever.
The iPhone comes with lots of applications in addition to the basic phone and contact list: a calendar (which will sync with Microsoft Outlook), a camera, a clock (with alarm, timer and stopwatch), a notepad and a photo album. It also provides one-touch access to YouTube, stock prices, Google maps and weather information. Of course, it functions as an iPod as well, and if you’re connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi, you can shop the Apple music store via iTunes.
I love the phone—it’s the best designed phone software I’ve ever seen. When the phone rings, it displays the number. If that number is in your phone book, the name of the caller shows up, too. And if you have a picture of that person in their phone book entry, it shows their picture on the face of the phone as well. The phone lets you select Favorites from your phone book that you can dial with a single touch. Dialing numbers that aren’t in your book is easy, because the face of the iPhone becomes the keypad. Visual voicemail means you don’t have to call in for messages—they’re stored on your phone.
Although I love the phone functions, my absolute favorite thing is being able to access the Internet wherever I happen to be. Apple’s Safari browser is one of the built-in applications, and it works very well. You can zoom in or out of a Web page with gestures made on the face of the phone: pinching your fingers together shrinks the image, and moving them apart enlarges it. Now, whenever a question arises, I have instant access to Google and Wikipedia.
If you’re wedded to your BlackBerry or Treo, you’ll probably have more of an adjustment to make than I did. But if, like me, you’ve never had a smart phone, and particularly if you’re already an AT&T customer, I heartily recommend one of these (but stay out of the AT&T store—order online).
Yes, $399 is an extravagance for something as utilitarian as a phone. And I wish the battery lasted as long as my old RAZR. And true, the price will be lower next year, and they’ll add new features. But, as a good friend once told me, “Every day you don’t have one is a day you won’t be enjoying it.”
