Apple iPhone - reviews

Apple iPhone (review by TheGadgetStylist on 25/01/2008)

Ease of Use

Style and Design

Battery Life

Camera

Music Player

Mobile Internet

Reliability and Quality

Overall

The Apple iPhone launched in the UK on November 9th 2007 amidst a blaze of publicity. It was without doubt the biggest mobile phone launch the UK has seen, with coverage of the launch day events appearing in every newspaper and TV news show.

I followed the launch of this product very closely since the first announcement of the product back in January 2007. I’m an Apple fan but my interest for the iPhone was mainly driven by my previous life selecting and launching mobile phones for the big operators. I’ve always been sceptical about the operators strategic view of a world where phone users would consume all sorts of media and services on a mobile phone type device, the world that would eventually make 3G (which allows high speed data download speeds to mobile phones) a commercial success.

The iPhone threatened to finally deliver a device that could deliver mobile browsing, music and hassle free synchronisation in a phone that was easy to operate. The snag was the iPhone doesn’t feature 3G, an omission that threatened to undermine the entire product.

My doubts, along with a period of financial belt tightening that coincided with my development of this website, meant that I decided against signing up for an iPhone at launch. I did however manage to borrow an iPhone from O2 in order to test it out thoroughly for this review.

First Impressions

My first impressions of the iPhone date back to July, when I had the chance to play with one in an Apple store whilst on holiday in the states. As my girlfriend will attest, I became instantly obsessed, searching out a branch of the Apple store in every shopping mall or town we visited on our tour.

The product looks and feels great. It oozes quality – no flimsy plastic keys or creaky hinges here! However it is a bit larger than most other mobile phones on the market. It’s double the thickness of its sibling, the iPod Touch, and is only just pocket-sized. You instantly worry about scratching the touch screen or anodised metal back and I suspect many owners will invest in some form of protection for their investment, further increasing the bulge in your trousers, jacket or handbag. (insert your own jokes here!)

The size is forgotten the instant you start using that huge touchscreen to explore the iPhone’s features. The user interface or UI (the way the menus and features work) is truly astounding. It is phenomenally intuitive and a revelation to those of us that have been brow beaten into accepting some truly awful phone operating systems over the years.

Apple must have locked their best designers in a room, brainwashed them to remove any memory of the conventional way to use a phone and forced them to design the ultimate mobile communication device from scratch. After ten minutes of using the iPhone you realise that the UI is years ahead of the competition – the whole experience just seems natural. Why aren't all phones lke this?

My first impressions were great, but I had certain reservations about the reality of living with this device day to day. Would the iPhone prove too big as an everyday companion? How would the battery fair after a day or two away from it’s charging cradle? Would the lack of 3G undermine the email, web browsing and widgets?

What’s great about the iPhone

As I’ve already explained, the intuitive, revolutionary user interface is stunning. Navigating between the various features is quick, simple and fun. The iPhone’s core applications are excellent too.

Similar to SatNav, the Maps feature, newly updated in Jan 2008, combines Google Maps with the ability to tell your location. It shows road maps, satellite photos and will also give you directions helping you get from A to B. Perfect for finding your nearest Starbucks, although I don’t think it’s suitable for use when driving.

The web browser is phenomenal. The iPhone packs a mini-version of the Safari web browser, Apple’s rival to Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. The web pages look exactly the same as on a proper computer – none of the compromised strange looking stuff you often see on other phone browsers. You simply use one finger to move around the web page and pinch with two fingers or double tap to zoom into an area to read it. Opening a link is as easy as touching it with your finger.

I was impressed to see that the iPhone automatically copied my Mac’s Safari bookmarks across to my iPhone. You can very easily save and open bookmarks and even save them to as an icon on your homescreen. Most websites seem to work perfectly with the iPhone and many major content providers, such as Facebook and the BBC offer special versions of their website that are even easier to visit via your iPhone.

Another feature that excels is the email. It detects the settings you have on your Mac (and I assume on your PC) so that you can immediately start receiving and sending email on the move. Typing short emails is easy and the touchscreen QWERTY keyboard becomes more accurate as it learns how you type. It even predicts which word you’re typing and autocorrects, similar to Word.

The music player is of course brilliant. You can auto-sync music playlists, podcasts and videos or films, along with your personal photos and accessing all of this is very straightforward. The video playback quality is very good, perfect for entertaining yourself whilst travelling to work or if your other half is watching Strictly Come Prancing/football and you don’t want to be relegated to the bedroom. You can download software that allows you to convert DVDs into iPhone format and files them in iTunes.

Click here to download the software

 

What’s disappointing about the iPhone

The iPhone is an amazing piece of technology, but it is far from flawless. There’s a number of niggles, large and small, that may put you off buying this product. As mentioned above the size is a little too large when compared to most other smartphones available in the UK.

The biggest issue is the lack of 3G. The iPhone works perfectly well when connected via Wifi but everything slows down as soon as you leave the house and rely on O2’s Edge network - or even worse non-Edge GPRS depending on the coverage wherever you are at the time. I have to admit that the Edge connection is not as bad as I originally expected. I frequently check my emails and browse the web over Edge whilst out and about without getting too frustrated, but downloading YouTube videos isn’t worth the time and effort. 3G should offer a much slicker experience when launched in the future.

O2 bundle in free use of thousands of wi-fi hotspots as part of the tariff in order to make up for the lack of 3G and patchy Edge coverage, but I’ve only been able to connect to this service on two occasions, both at an airport. The Wi-Fi reception seems a little weak when compared to a laptop. For example, I can pick up Wi-Fi perfectly well in my bedroom using my Powerbook, but the iPhone can’t always log-on.

The camera is below par in today’s market. No autofocus, 2 megapixel capture, no flash and a slow screen refresh make for blurred, poor quality photos. If you’re a regular snapper you’ll be disappointed with this.

The web browser has a couple of issues that can frustrate. For instance, I have only been able to successfully access my Hotmail inbox on a handful of occasions, normally just after Apple issue a software update. Can anyone explain why this is or perhaps let me know how to get round it? The iPhone cannot support Flash website applications which may affect the sites you want to visit.

As with all Apple iPods, the headphones are dreadful. They block out no exterior sound and fall out of my ears every 15 seconds. What compounds this problem is that the iPhone connector is not a standard 3.5mm headphone jack so you can’t plug a pair of Sennheiser, Sony or Bose headphones in unless you buy an adaptor (costs around £10). For £269 I’d expect to get a very nice pair of usable headphones in the box.

Click here to buy an iPhone headphone adaptor from Carphone Warehouse

Who is this phone ideal for?

For Apple fans this device is a must. It’s like having a mini version of your Mac in your pocket all the time. If you want the ultimate music phone then the iPhone takes some beating too.

 

Summary

The iPhone isn’t as perfect as Apple would have you believe but it is still an amazing device. Proof of its success in raising customer expectations and driving the market forwards comes in the number of imitator phones being rushed out by Apple’s mobile phone rivals. However none of them come close to the amazing user interface or iTunes synchronisation.

The relatively high cost will put many people off but none of the three iPhone owners I know would swap it for anything else. Have a look at our User Reviews for more comments on the iPhone.

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