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I love my iPhone

Written by: Jonathan Briggs

August 3, 2007 [7289 views]

I managed to be patient for about 10 days (I was on holiday) before I decided that I had to evaluate Apple’s iPhone before it came to the UK. A quick call to a friend in Delaware and earlier this week it arrived. Here are a few comments…

It is a great piece of technology and a step forward in terms of mobile. I love the touch screen, video quality, weight and build
It worked straight out of the box. All of it including Bluetooth, WiFi, calling, camera, browser, Google Maps, everything. This compares very favourably with the Nokias of my past which all required configuration, unlocking from my network, upgrading of firmware etc
The browser works very well particularly over WiFi. Think of this as an excellent internet tablet. The browser is Safari and renders the whole page. To explore a page you scroll with your finger, tap to zoom in or squeeze with two fingers to zoom out. All very intuitive.
The predictive text works really well once you are used to it. Unlike T9 making a mistake is usually not a problem with Apple predicting the word from the words you have used in the past,
Mail and iChat (using an embedded Safari application) both work well.
It is a fantastic iPod with good battery life and the storage capacity of a Nano. Video is extremely watchable. I suspect that eventually it will be possible to buy an Ipod like this without the phone but Apple won’t risk confusing the market by having two products at the same level.
Web sites need to be redesigned for the iPhone. This is not because the iPhone cannot display normal web pages but because the experience of browsing on a small screen is so different.
The iPhone ups the importance of AJAX. Much of the interface for the phone is clearly built using components from Safari (just like the iTunes store). I particularly like the weather widget.
It would be breathtakingly expensive to use it in the UK while roaming on an AT&T contract. So, its not my primary phone right now. I will need to wait until the UK launch. The Wifi option allows it to be a useful internet device and it would almost be worth buying a WiFi contract for use across London.
Google Maps and YouTube both show how applications we know and love can be repurposed for this sized device. Google Maps in particular is excellent.

Get your hands on one before they become two-a-penny but if you want to borrow mine, you will need to join the end of a long queue.

Recent comments:

On August 3, 2007 at 6:39 PM, Hajra wrote:

Looks fantastic. And from what I see online there are lots of new applications for iPhone, so I guess it will be very interesting to see how useful these new applications will be.

http://onceyoustardancing.blogspot.com

On August 28, 2007 at 10:12 PM, John Sadeghipoor wrote:

Great mugshot Jonathan - shame about the fact the iPhone is touch-screen. I mean just think about those lifelong scratches and post-lunch fingerprints! As you are as always a fountain of knowledge... would you tell me if;
a)3G?
b)Too small capacity for video+mp3+storage
c)its better than MS Origami

Cheers!

John

www.myspace.com/kingstonjohn

Jonathan replies: Its not 3G. Mine has 8M and that has been fine for my favorite music plus 6 episodes of BSG. I don't know about the MS Origami but I suspect the iPhone is better! :-p

On September 19, 2007 at 10:14 PM, sam wrote:

jonathan,

which do you prefer the iphone or the n95? from what i gather the iphone will come locked but there are already ways around this,
i see yours was an at&t model did this have any network branding?

Jonathan replies: I prefer this (a lot) to my N95. The fact that the whole web is available really makes a difference.

I have unlocked my phone from AT&T and am now using it on Orange.

On September 19, 2007 at 10:30 PM, Ravi Joshi wrote:

I'm going to have to buy one of these now!

Jonathan replies: Good luck with the unlocking process.

On September 22, 2007 at 1:30 PM, me wrote:

Ravi, here's an interesting article.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/19/uk_iphone_at_last/

Jonathan replies: It is interesting but I think the comparison with the N95 is unfair. I had one of those and browsing speeds were not much faster (on 3G) than the iPhone on EDGE and on Wifi the iPhone seems much faster.

On September 24, 2007 at 11:54 PM, me wrote:

overall do u prefer the n95 or the iphone.

p.s thanks for the A grade in mobile business.

Jonathan replies: the iPhone

On October 5, 2007 at 3:02 PM, Deepan Shah wrote:

if i buy an iphone from the US would you unlock it for me as i dont own a mac...although i may purchase one for xmas.

also have you found anything lacking from your iphone firmware and the updated(non-bricked) iphones?

Deepan

Jonathan replies: Be careful. If you buy one now then it may come with the latest version of the firmware (1.1.1) and currently those cannot be unlocked. I expect that it will be possible but today it isn't.

iPhones work just as well with PCs as Macs and if you do get one I can show you tutorials that will allow you to do it yourself.

On October 9, 2007 at 10:59 AM, Abdul wrote:

I saw it with you on the Lecture, and I was wondering, what is that silver thing in his hand? ^_ Nice stuff jonathan. I think you should experince my Little machine too Nokia E90 not even out in the UK ;P.

Jonathan replies: :)

On October 11, 2007 at 12:37 PM, Deepan Shah wrote:

Hi Jonathan,

i was wondering if you knew anything about the rumours about there being differences in the specs of the US iphone and the UK version. and also if there is any truth to it.

Deepan

Jonathan replies: I don't think so although the stories that the French version is going to be offered unlocked is interesting. Apple will want to try and keep control on the platform and having different versions emerging would make that hard. The recent upgrade to 1.1.1 introduced an international keyboard for everyone and points at there being only one version of the phone.

On October 18, 2007 at 3:42 PM, Deepan Shah wrote:

hi jonathan, i've just read the article about the unlocked version in france aswell...sounds interesting, especially as i seen to see that they have a law saying that the carrier cannot lock the handset for more than 6 months; but im not too sure.

as an employee of O2 i get the handset at £199 from what i've been told, so that may take out the need for me to buy one from the US. BUT i have also herd rumours saying that the uk version will have the sim card built in although i have also herd rumours to the contrary.

i have also been told by a very knowledgeable colleague that the US and UK versions of the handset will be the same, no differences, although we will probably only find out nearer to the time of release. it will also be activated in the same way as the US, via iTunes and thats where you select your tariff etc.

so for me going to the US to buy one and then unlock it here may not be entirely necessary :D

Deepan Shah

www.deepan.co.uk

On November 10, 2007 at 11:02 AM, Deepan Shah wrote:

Hi Mr B, i bought my nice shiny new iphone yesterday (9/11/07),
the only problem is that the firmware is 1.1.2 out of the box! now i have to wait for a new jailbreak to unlock the phone...unless you have any ideas? :D

Deepan

Jonathan replies: I am afraid you will have to wait a bit. There are rumours of software to downgrade 1.1.2 but it is very very early days. Hang on and it will be solved. Did you buy an O2 contract or just the phone?

PS I successfully updated mine (revirginized to 1.0.2 and then jailbreak followed by anySim) on Wednesday before the new phones arrived.

On November 12, 2007 at 1:24 PM, Deepan Shah wrote:

No, i havent bought the contract, just the handset.

i was wondering, would i be able to activate the phone by taking a contract then stopping it? enabling me to put anysim1.2 onto it or is this wishing too much?

Deepan

Jonathan replies: Even since yesterday the situation seems to be improving but you will have to be patient. Jailbreaking (accessing the workings of the phone without a contract) looks near and unlocking will follow fairly quickly I expect.

On January 6, 2008 at 1:54 PM, Nav wrote:

Hi Jonathan!

i've heard a lot about the iphone, i've played with it a few times. I have to admit I do enjoy using it, it has a very attractive interface.

But....

I have been told that the iphone has the following:

- unable to take video (only take photos)
- no zoom on the when taking photos
- no picture messaging
- unable to forward texts
- unable to send texts to multiple contacts
- no HSDPA?

Are the above true?

I have a T-Mobile Vario II and i'm thinking of getting the new Vario III or the iphone.. have you tried the Vario III??

Jonathan replies: All true for now although software upgrades seem likely to solve some of these issues.

I have not tried the Vario. Very happy with the iPhone still. If you stole it from me I would replace with the same.

On December 11, 2009 at 12:01 PM, Jon Wright wrote:

I've just requested unlocking mine with O2 after 18mths of sheer bliss. I've read a lot about the AT&T network over their in the US being poor. I think they'll go Verizon or even multi carrier like they have here in the UK.

I'm just going to stick my company sim card in it now until the 4th Generation of iPhones comes out in the summer as i don't think the 3GS offers enough over the 3G to justify another 18mth contract.

http://www.jon-wright.co.uk/2009/12/unlocking-my-iphone.html

Jonathan replies: Can't wait to see what 4G brings

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This site is an educational resource, a research project and a publication channel written by Jonathan Briggs, Professor of eCommerce at Kingston University.
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I love my iPhone

August 3, 2007 [7289 views]

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