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Home > Technobuddy > Archives > 2007 > July > 02 > Entry

Share your iPhone stories

By Bill Husted | Monday, July 2, 2007, 07:16 AM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Did you pick up an iPhone? Has it lived up to your expectations?

Were you one of the many who ran into delays while trying to activate it?

I’m curious.

Most of the reviews that I’ve seen are positive but speckled with some negatives. The negatives included stuff that has been talked to death including the slow AT&T EDGE network - Web pages can take minutes to download on the screen unless the iPhone finds a Wi-Fi connection. The general consensus is that the built-in camera is nothing special. That’s very typical of all this gizmos. There was one negative that sort of surprised me - it came in this review. The reviewer said telephone calls had poor audio quality.

The big pluses include the excellent media player and the large screen.

I’ve yet to see a reviewer - even those who found plenty of flaws - who hated the iPhone, most are fairly giddy about it. The things worth watching are these: (1) How will sales be four months from now? (2) What sort of improvements will come with second generation software?

Permalink | Comments (18) | Post your comment | Categories: General

Comments

By Frank

July 2, 2007 11:37 AM | Link to this

The phone itself is great and intuitive to use. Best way to describe it is fluid.

Now getting the phone to work is another issue. I am still using a temporary number until the activation issues get resolved. Big pain in the butt. 2 hours on the phone with 8 different tech support people and the best they could come up with is activate a new line, but I want my existing number. I actually blame AT&T for this, which is what I see is the biggest downside to the iphone.

EDGE is ok, blazing no, acceptable yeah. Works well for email, not for web browsing or at least heavy browsing.

The in phone setup is simple, but lacks some some of the common things you expect, like volume control for the email notification. There might be one, but I haven’t found it.

Battery life is good. Call quality is good. Typing is interesting. Being a long time Blackberry using, I could thumb type pretty easily. Not with the iphone. Back to one finger typing until I can get use to the keyboard.

By Gary B

July 2, 2007 11:55 AM | Link to this

I am very happy with my new iPhone. It’s an amazing piece of technology. Set up an activation was easy and only took a few minutes. This post was done from my iphone!

By Paul

July 2, 2007 12:13 PM | Link to this

A couple of people at work got theirs to replace the ‘crackberries’ that they have. But, they unfortunately found out that you can not tie the phone to a business account. So if they want to keep their $500 paperweight, they have to sign up on their very own 2-year plan, get a new number (change business cards and let all vendors know of new number) and take the responsibility of paying the bill every month and waiting another month for re-imbursement. Each i-weight comes with its own individual sim card. No switchy out like you can with any other phone under the Ma Bell’s empire. All of this seems pretty fishy to me. I’m sticking with my ‘crackberry’ until it dies. Then maybe something else. No apple for me.

By Paul A.

July 2, 2007 12:23 PM | Link to this

I really LOVE my MacBook Pro. I don’t own an iPod anymore.

I do not own an iPhone.

Apple has always offered the sexiest, most user-friendly and cool computers and hardware. Windows is dull and probably always will be.

However, when Apple makes mistakes they are huge mistakes! The exclusive deal with AT&T was one of these mistakes. I can not understand why the hippies in Cupertino, California made that deal. That blunder will keep me from buying an iPhone anytime soon.

My mobile carrier is Sprint. I’m stuck in a contract with them for at least another year. End of discussion.

Damn I would like to be able to buy one today and use it on MY carrier of choice…. Duh….?????

The $600 price tag doesn’t even scare me… The iPhone is worth the cost.

As far as speed and the ability to run apps native… So what. I’m not a programmer or techno geek. I’m told by someone who bought one this weekend it really is easy to set-up and use.

It has WI-FI. My office and my home are WI-FI and that’s all I really require.

In summary:

1) very cool design 2) sexy look 3) great marketing hype 4) very bad idea AT&T as exclusive carrier

By Meatball

July 2, 2007 12:29 PM | Link to this

“they unfortunately found out that you can not tie the phone to a business account”

Actually, you CAN tie the iPhone to a business account. Maybe you meant to say “Exchange” account system. That would’ve been more accurate. Please let your coworkers know that they should’ve read some information about what they were buying.

But back to the phone … to me, it’s a thing of beauty. Is the EDGE web stuff speedy? Nope. Is the call sound quality the best? The thing doesn’t cup in your ear so, nope (that’s what bluetooth headsets are for).

Is it the most beautiful piece of telephony I’ve ever encountered.

By Kyle

July 2, 2007 1:26 PM | Link to this

Actually he was correct in the use of business acount. Our office looked into actually, iPhones can not be used on corporate accounts. You can open a consumer account as those guys did.

He was talking about an actual account with Cingular not the Exchange accounts. Which is a huge plus for the iPhone when they open it up to the corporate accounts.

By shan

July 2, 2007 1:34 PM | Link to this

I would love to buy a new iphone, but I refuse to use AT&T. I agree, Apple screwed up by signing exclusive contracts with them. AT&T may be the biggest wireless provider, but they are not the best!!

By Curious On The Fence

July 2, 2007 1:40 PM | Link to this

I’ve been surfing the net because it’s dead quiet here at work and I have a question.

Is it true the iPhone battery is only good for 300 charges and that to replace the battery a user will need to send the phone back to Apple or go to an Apple store? If it is true how much will it cost?

By Bill

July 2, 2007 1:55 PM | Link to this

Curious, I don’t know how many charges the battery will take. But, from what I’ve read, you’ll need to go to Apple to get it replaced.

By Katherine

July 2, 2007 2:07 PM | Link to this

I love my new IPhone that my husband got for me over the weekend. He had no trouble at all activating it. I’m navigating my way around and really glad to have it.

By rockstarmom

July 2, 2007 3:06 PM | Link to this

I find it hard to see a piece of technology/telephone as “sexy.” Seems almost like an oxymoron.

By Good God

July 2, 2007 4:08 PM | Link to this

You can tell that your dealing with Apple fanatics when they describe a gizmo as “sexy.” Man, do you zealots need to look at a girl once in awhile.

By Jeff

July 2, 2007 4:10 PM | Link to this

I love my Iphone. Very intuitive and lots of great features. The only concern I have is the battery charge. I listened to music all morning at work and after four hours, had to get out the charger. After charging for 3 1/2 hours, it is still not charged. I will probably get a docking station to conserve the battery life.

By Jerry

July 2, 2007 4:26 PM | Link to this

The iPhone is great. Activation was a breeze - maybe 5 minutes, tops. The device is as advertised - no less, but no more.

About the battery: as I understand it, 300 charge cycles means the equivalent of 300 full charges from a depleted (or nearly so) state. If you charge it from 50% charged, that’s 1/2 of a cycle. You could do that up to 600 times.

By Blue Blocker Man

July 2, 2007 4:55 PM | Link to this

Let’s sing it together— I’m too sexy for my phone too sexy for my phone too sexy, it hurts….

By Bill

July 2, 2007 9:15 PM | Link to this

I haven’t been too sexy for anything in years - but - yeah - maybe I can edge out a phone.

Just thought it over.

Nah.

By Chris

July 8, 2007 2:41 AM | Link to this

I agree with the review mentioned above. The call volume is, well, lack luster. very quiet, clear, but quiet.

I have also noticed more “GSM noise” from this phone than my previous SMT5600.

By skk

July 8, 2007 8:34 AM | Link to this

  • why(shell-out-500-hundred-dollars-or-more)Phone. Sprint currently offers more than a dozen phones with music capabilities and many of them are less than $100 with a two-year agreement, including exclusive devices such as the UpStage by Samsung and the FUSIC by LG.
  • why(get-less-net-worth-from-your-network)Phone. The Sprint Power Vision 3G network, which is available on many of Sprint’s phones, PDAs and Smart Devices, provides average speeds of 400-700 kbps for downloads and 50-70 kbps for uploads without requiring roaming on Wi-Fi (AT&T’s EDGE network only allows an average of 70–135 kbps for downloads and 30-40 kbps for uploads).
  • why(use-mobile-if-you-can’t-be-mobile)Phone. To achieve speeds any faster than AT&T’s EDGE network, the whyPhone must be in a fixed location inside one of its Wi-Fi hotspots, which can be hard to find and can sometimes charge extra for use.
  • why(not-enjoy-an-unchained-melody)Phone. The Sprint Music Store allows songs to be downloaded immediately to the phone without wires for 99 cents each with any Power Vision data plan (the price includes two versions – one for the phone and another for the PC). It was the first over-the-air song-download service to launch in the U.S. in October 2005, and it offers an extensive selection of more than 1.7 million songs from all four major music labels and thousands of independent labels, including a selection of 10 free independent songs every week.
  • why(hear-music-with-fewer-notes)Phone. In addition to over-the-air song downloads, Sprint provides a comprehensive portfolio of music offerings that the whyPhone does not, including thousands of downloadable ring tones (Ringers) and ring backs (Call Tones), more than a dozen streaming radio applications (more than any other U.S. carrier) and exclusive content including artist interviews and live concerts – all do not require a wired computer connection.
  • why(go-back-to-typing-class)Phone. Sprint makes texting easy and intuitive – customers type on a familiar keypad and not a touch-sensitive screen.  Sprint also offers full-keyboard accessories for even faster typing, as well as full QWERTY keyboards on some devices that, unlike the whyPhone, don’t require switching to a different screen to use a period or comma.
  • why(be-lost-without-GPS-services)Phone. Sprint provides more GPS solutions to more customers than any other carrier, including turn-by-turn driving directions from Sprint Navigation. These solutions offer more convenience and accuracy since they can actually track the phone’s location, sensing when a driver has reached the point for another instruction to be audibly delivered and even notifying when a wrong turn is made.  
  • why(spend-more-to-be-smart)Phone.  Sprint currently offers 10 Smart Devices and PDAs for business and advanced users who need a high level of productivity features, and nine of them are under $400 with a two-year agreement, including the new Mogul by HTC.  
  • why(not-work-with-a-teamplayer)Phone.  Sprint’s phones as well as its PDAs and Smart Devices offer access to corporate email through Active Sync & Goodlink (in addition to personal “push” email accounts from MSN, AOL, Yahoo and Gmail), and most corporations currently don’t enable email access for the whyPhone.  
  • why(lose-everything-in-an-instant)Phone. Sprint customers definitely have a reason to type :)  since they can use instant messaging, while the whyPhone has no chat or IM feature at all.  Sprint offers AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger, and customers can use the same screen names and passwords on their phones as on their computers.  
  • why(not-get-an-extra-slice-for-the-same-price)Phone. Sprint’s Power Pack Plans have the same number of voice minutes at the same cost as the whyPhone, plus unlimited nights and weekends starting at 7 p.m. (instead of 9 p.m.). After adding the 300-text-messages plan and $15 unlimited Vision data plan, the price is still the same as the equivalent whyPhone plans, but Sprint provides one hundred more text messages per month and additional content (e.g., Sprint TV, Sprint Radio, NFL Mobile, unlimited picture and video messages, etc.). For more details, visit the pricing fact sheet at www.sprint.com/whyphone.  
  • why(be-shut-out-of-shows)Phone.  Sprint is currently the only carrier to offer certain streaming radio applications such as Pandora and SIRIUS as well as streaming video (with both horizontal and vertical view options) such as Sprint Movies full-length movies and Power View exclusive sports and entertainment shows.  Even better, since this content streams, it doesn’t download to the phone, so it doesn’t fill up memory space and doesn’t require a wired computer connection.  
  • why(not-find-your-perfect-match)Phone. Sprint offers more than 500 data applications to choose from (e.g., music, video and games) and other content that can be found easily on the phone’s menus and downloaded quickly over the air.  
  • why(not-choose-your-own-mobile-makeover)Phone. While the whyPhone only comes in one look (which is black/silver, somewhat large and not a flip), Sprint offers extensive designs, including many colors (e.g., red, black, pink, blue, brown, silver, white), both flip (i.e., clamshell shape) and non-flip (i.e., candy-bar shape) options and sizes that range all the way to ultra thin.  
  • why(have-to-get-all-handsy)Phone. Sprint allows customers to go virtually hands free with voice dialing.  Customers speak either the digits of a phone number or a name in their address book, and their phone automatically connects the call.  
  • why(not-make-pictures-more-moving)Phone.  Many Sprint devices allow full-motion video to be captured, so while a single picture may say a thousand words, whyPhone users won’t be able to record video and audio to say millions more.  
  • why(not-get-the-full-message-across)Phone. With the whyPhone, the only way to send a picture is with a compatible email account, and there’s an extra step to include the picture as an attachment.  However, Sprint allows both pictures and videos to be sent quickly and easily from the camera via Picture Mail and Video Mail, and an e-mail account is not required.  
  • why(risk-running-out-of-juice)Phone. Batteries on Sprint phones and devices are removable, so they can be swapped out with a spare battery in case a charger isn’t nearby. When a battery does eventually run out of life completely, the entire device doesn’t have to be shipped back to the manufacturer for a replacement to be installed either.  

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