Last week, on the opening of the iPhone, everyone swarmed in to get an iPhone. I stayed at home, waiting calmly.
I would love an iPhone if it was given to me, i’d have no qualms with accepting a free one, but is it really as good as everyone says? Apple products bring the animalistic sides of people, making them step over people to get their hands on the shiny devices, not knowing the real deal about it. This is very much America’s culture to me, taking life by the horns and just doing what you want with less thought than needed.
Sure, the iPhone is pretty, sure it wows you, sure you’re a very proud owner… but let me tell you, i’ll be more happy with my 2nd generation than you will be with your 1st. It’ll be prettier, more functional and probably have some features you’ll envy. You’ll have to wait for 2 years before you can buy the next one in the line. Granted, I will too, but the 2nd generation will learn from the first mistakes.
Mike Davidson wrote an excellent post on the pros and cons of the iPhone but those con’s are careless and should have been included. Some are going to be, but I’m guessing some aren’t till gen2, and Apple are BOUND to miss something important; such as what happened with the Nano’s.
It was mentioned to me that 3G drains battery faster than EDGE and thus coupled with movie playing and probably constant Geek usage, the battery would be dead quickly. In generation 2, they’ll probably have fixed some of the battery issues with the movie playing and such, and maybe researched how to use 3G better, giving me the possibility of having 3G.
I’m not just talking about the hardware, i’m talking about the service too. I heard nothing but bad things about AT&T and Cingular before the iPhone was announced.
The iPhone is the first in a series of great devices from Apple, Why get the ‘foot in the water’ one. Good things come to those who wait.
[edit] Read the comments. I think Colin provides a very convincing argument. And as most of my friends have said; Gen2 will probably be in 2 years anyway.
Most of your points are valid - but I wonder about the “contentment issues”. Fact is, I’m content with what my first-gen iPhone offers because, by and large, it is light years ahead of any other product. It isn’t that I’m happy as a clam and I want for nothing, it is because I realize this is the first step (or I should say giant leap).
I suppose if you can’t be happy with the few shortcomings (none of which you’ve written about in this post because it is very clear you’ve only read limited information and have not yet had your hands on one personally) with a first-generation device.
My advice? Try one. And write this post again.
Valid point. But I really don’t trust at&t quite yet, I want to hear of their shortcomings first and judge if they are worth it. The coverage is apparently quite bad, and of course, EDGE.
I don’t want to submit myself into a 2 year long contract with no way out unless I know the full specifics. I am not trying to piss on anyones parade, the iPhone is a masterful bit of machinery, but I truly don’t think (Though you seem to be quite fair headed), that people aren’t really evaluating the situation. Of course it’s their money.
So far my experience has been great. The iPhone’s battery life seems unreal, I fear about forgetting to charge it because it lasts so long. The coverage in my area is more that adequate (and I live in rural Pennsylvania). And the EDGE network outperforms my expectations (perhaps because several people set those expectations so low before I bought the iPhone).
To give you numbers, I’m seeing anywhere from 125Kbps to 200Kbps via EDGE. Granted most of my usage has been for email and twitter, which is not a great benchmark because I’m relying on Gmail and Twitter.com to be responsive, which isn’t always the case. However, when I go to apple.com/trailers/iphone/ I’m able to watch movie trailers in no time flat, even when not connected to any WiFi.
I have 0 complaints about the service that AT&T has provided over the last week.
That’s cool. How about data usage? Do you have an unlimited plan?
All AT&T plans for the iPhone are unlimited data.
I agree with Colin. This phone provides immediate utility to me and allows me to do things I’ve been wanting to do on a phone for some time now. Sure other phones have music, web browsing, and email — but the implementation has always been so poor I don’t want to use it. I wanted to use iPhone gen 1. I’ll probably want iPhone gen 2 when it comes out but that isn’t going to stop me from enjoying the current release.
So you’ve had a month to think about it and have probably seen the phone and held other people’s phone in your hand, have you changed your mind yet?
Brad,
I haven’t actually managed to play with one yet as I am in Asia visting my fiancé’s family. However, I am sure if I touched one, i’d fall in love with it.
Saying that, so much I hear people bitching about little problems with the iPhone which amounts to a lot. There is still a way to go, but people seem to be working it out. Money forbids me to get one but I am thinking if I can forgive it’s problems to buy one.
I got to use one every once in a while when I was in california this past week. Since my dad owned one I borrowed it and used it. The interface seemed a little tricky and I would always miss keys on the pad (and i’ve been told I have a pianists fingers) although the dedicated single home button was nice. The one thing that did impress me was being able to connect to the internet wherever I had reception. I just wish apple realizes they should put .net and .org specific buttons on their next digital keypad. Surprisingly i didn’t want one that much anymore. Perhaps once they unlock it.