Without question, the best phone I've ever owned

I know I'm going to sound like a true homer, but if you love a product, you want to spread the love - god knows we've all been burned by high priced products we wish we never owned (I paid $600 for the Nomad Jukebox when it first came out - consistly froze on me, horrible battery life). The Apple iPhone lives up to its name - for a company that's entering the phone/pda hybrid business for the first time, even I speculated how good this thing could really be. I used to own the Samsung i300, the i330 and the Blade - never used any of the internet features and hated texting using the graffiti or the numeric keypad. I appreciated the PDA features of the i330, but it was big and it dropped calls (no ringtones either). I upgraded to the Blade and wound up not using half of its features because I hated typing on a numeric keypad. So I gave the iPhone a shot.

The Phone
The phone part of the iPhone may be its weakest link, but for my part, it’s no different from other phones I’ve had. I’ve always been on the Sprint PCS network, having used the Samsung i300, i330 and the Blade. Being around the SF Bay Area, I’ve had touch and go reception (and I have no idea whether that’s because of the phone I used or the network) but there would be times where I would get calls but the phone wouldn’t ring or the signal would drop off. I haven’t had that problem with the iPhone so far. Voice quality was decent – not great but decent. Certainly passable for a phone, and not distracting enough for me to be upset. I’ve talked with a few other folks and they haven’t had problems either. I will say that the Bluetooth device I’ve used for the Blade (the Plantronics 590) hasn’t been helpful at all with the iPhone, and that’s one thing I’m the most upset with. Calls are far too faint and people on the other side can’t hear me.

PDA
Coming from graffiti-styled PDA phones like the i300 and the i330, I had to brace myself to be used to not writing anything down and resorting to use a keyboard. I absolutely hated using the numeric pad to do texting and web browsing on the Blade, so I avoided using those applications. I also didn’t use the web surfing on the i330 because the browser would only connect to cellphone enabled websites. I did use the notes features on the i330 very much and had no problem syncing contact lists (or writing in new contacts).

The iPhone has made the transition very easy and is probably the most satisfying thing about this great phone. I’m actually using programs like texting and instant messaging via the phone whereas I would never attempt to do it beforehand. And that’s the greatness of a good product, where you begin to use it for things you wouldn’t do before. The keyboard is very user friendly – even when I make mistakes, I can quickly hit the backspace key and make changes; I can either “peck” on the keyboard or use my thumbs. With 3rd party software like ApolloIM, or web sites like Skype foriPhone, I’m instant messaging my friends via the iPhone without any pain or hassle. I do wish I could always go in landscape mode to type in notes, but this is minor. Having cut and paste features would also help. But basic PDA features like your contacts, calendar, notes and web browsing are simple, easy and fun with the iPhone and is probably its best features. I don’t miss the Blade or the i330 at all.

Internet
Having true wifi on the iPhone makes internet surfing blazing fast - I can pull up pages in seconds. It hurts not to view flashpages, but it isn't killing me. I've heard talk about how sending mail is a problem on the iPhone. Not with me. I did figure out by surfing the web, that if you can't send mail, you should change your SMTP settings so the very end of the SMTP name should have a colon and either 25 or 187 - this directs the iPhone to the correct channel of your ISP's outgoing mail. Then you can send mail. (for example, mine would be "smtp.chess613.pacbell.net:25"). Being able to view the web via portrait or landscape is excellent, especially being able to view in and out. I'm sure there are other phones like the Helio Ocean has wifi web, but can they zoom in and out like the iPhone?

iPod
Of course where would the iPhone be without its music? The learning curve from the iPod to the iPhone is painless and simple. You’ve already heard of the coverflow which you can view in landscape mode and the easy ABC menu on the right hand side of the screen in portrait mode, which allows you to very quickly go to the song/genre/artist of your choice. This is a great alternative to continually spinning that clickwheel to get to whatever song you want. For example, with the iPod, if you wanted to get to a song or artist with the first name starting with W, you have to spin until you get to W. With the iPhone (in portrait mode), you hit W on the ABC menu and you’re there. Sound quality is excellent and transition time from song to song is much quicker than the iPod. Viewing movies is a godsend on the iPhone, compared to the iPod. Much bigger screen, brighter, easily controllable with the touchscreen to freeze, jump to a particular area, etc. Perhaps only the PSP could compete with the the video portion of the iPhone, but even then you have the hassle of getting the content on the PSP – no such hassle with the iPhone. If you have a movie, you dump it in iTunes, tell iTunes to format it to iPhone, let it do it’s thing, and then sync the movie to iPhone. You’re ready to go.

To not sound like a total “homer”, I’ll go over what I think are the greatest disadvantages of the iPhone. Bluetooth is severely crippled – I use the Plantronics headset, and with the dongle, I get by, but it’s hopeless using it to talk on the phone. The wi-fi on the iPhone is great but EDGE is very slow (and I know.. that’s an AT&T thing). I’ve noticed some glitches where if you run the iPod while surfing or checking mail, the iPod will shut itself off or the Mail or Safari will crash. However with the latest update, I haven’t noticed that problem anymore. That’s about it. I’m sure there are other folks who have problems or issues, but my main objective was to find a phone that will allow me to put away the iPod and a phone (and to free up my pockets). The iPhone has done that and more. I’m having more fun texting my friends and surfing the net than I ever though I’d have. Third party software has made it fun modding my phone to make it exactly the way I want it. And it’s with a company that listens to you. You wanted ringtones – now it provides it. You wanted a lower price – you got it. You wanted a rebate/refund because you (like me) paid the full price before the prices went down – you got it. I guarantee you no other company will give you that type of care.

If you ever have to wonder why Apple fans are so loyal – it’s because Apple is a company that’s loyal to you. The great iPhone is just another example.

UPDATE: 11/20/08
It's been a while since I did an update but I've been busy.  As you've noticed, there's been a lot of copycats out there simulating the touchscreen nature of the iPhone.  I wouldn't doubt that there are some that are just as good as the iPhone, but I don't forget who started it all - and who keeps improving on a groundbreaking design for smartphones.

It's been over a year and I still love this phone.  I still love texting on it, I still have very little complaints about dropped calls and with the advent of the App Store, I've stopped jailbreaking the iPhone - once again, Apple listens to it's consumers and gives us exactly what we want.  I still would love for Apple to fix the bluetooth problems so I don't have to carry a dongle - and I would love to finally play flash movies, but none of these things are a dealbreaker.  I even bought one for my girlfriend.  She loves it.