well, i bought one

[nostatic]

Picked up an iPhone yesterday. Been playing with it for a day now. All I can say is "wow." No, it is not perfect. There are a few niggles with the function (although Wayne's issue of no repeated vm reminders isn't one of them). For instance there is no bulk delete for email (ie you can't check a whole bunch and hit delete) and with pop accounts as you delete emails it keeps downloading more (to have the 25 or 50 or 100 last emails, which you can set). Also missing some settings I'd like to change with email, but every device and OS I've used has some issues.

But the rest of it? Just stunning. You have to see the screen in person to believe it. Blows every other device out of the water. My 8525 screen looks like a 10 year old tv screen. Seriously, the iPhone screen is that good. Photos are just gorgeous, and google maps works seamlessly.

I am an existing ATT customer, and during the activation it swapped over the number of my choice without incident. I was able to sync all my contacts and events from my Mac (which came off my smartphone via Markspace sync). The visual vm is great...you don't have to listen to every message, as it shows who called (assuming that the number isn't blocked).

The keyboard takes some getting used to, but is actually quite smart in its predictive text...it is based on keyboard position rather than similarity to a real word (if that makes sense). Very clever. I wish it would rotate to landscape in apps other than just Safari, but that'll be a software fix.

v2 will be just sick. As it is, this is a home run right out of the gate. The apple store was mobbed today. The palm store a few doors down *completely* empty except for 2 employees. I'm actually pondering making this thing my main phone as well as data device. Have to get more hours on it and find a case I like. That's saying a lot because I like my 3125 running WM5 (smartphone). That was my previous best mobile OS...but the iphone is a totally different league.

[slodave]

The Wifi is having some issues. Took me about 4 hours to get it connected to a home Wifi. Talking with Apple, they say it's not a problem, just a "compatibility issue" - sounds like a problem to me. The router was an older D-link that was setup using WPA. The lady from Apple told me that I would have to reduce security to try and make it connect. Yeah right! I was able to upgrade the firmware of the router and I was able to get the iPhone to play nice.

The thing really reminds me of a Star Trek device with its touch screen interface. Pinching the screen to make web pages bigger or smaller was a neat trick.

Have fun with it!

Dave

[Drew001]

My iPhone had wi-fi issues too - it would see networks fine, but rarely connect.
Battery life sucked and it would freeze often. I did two software restores, but still had the same issues.

Went to an Apple Store and got a replacement in about ten minutes.
The new one works flawlessly. I really love this phone.

[turbo6bar]

You had me worried. Thought you stayed in the sun too long and ended up buying a fabulous 325 square foot 1/.5 condo in the Inland Empire.

[nostatic]

I spent the downpayment money on the phone. Typing this on the phone using edge. I've had zero wifi issues but have had it stall trying to get email via edge. The keyboard is actually quite a trip. Needs a period available all the time though.

[JavaBrewer]

I don't have a "day" to play with anything...

To me the iPhone, or any electronic gadget, is just another appliance, like a coffee maker. I don't "get" the excitement...really.

[Drew001]

Originally posted by nostatic
Needs a period available all the time though.

Have you found the quick punctuation trick?

Hit the .?123 key, but don't lift your finger off the iPhone. Just slide your finger to the period, comma or whichever key you need, then when you lift your finger the iPhone will automatically switch back to the ABC keys.

It speeds up typing a lot.

[island911]

How do you select text? (I was out phone shopping today and checked out the iPhone.) Most PDA touch interfaces let you simply drag your finger across the text for selection. I couldn't get that to work.

The up side: Very cool iris graphic on the camera. Very nice packaging. They should sell handy wipes (iwipes?). . or at least have a box in the store.

btw (for any looking to buy) I've noticed that MANY iphones have been bought by speculative ebayers ...the prices are falling fast there. Quite a few no-reserve iphones selling for ~$300. (even some 8Gb)

[trekkor]

From the title of the thread, I thought you bought that 917 replica


KT

[HardDrive]

Being the ultimate Microsoft suck up, I was very skeptical. Played with one for 5 minutes at the Mac store. I was instantly won over. The interface is deserving of the hype. As soon as they get an Exchange Activesync plugin we will start supporting them.

[dd74]

What was with all the customers I saw at the Apple Store returning their iPhones, saying they could get phone service?

[kstar]

I got one today as well. WOW.

It's my main phone and main portable computer now, when I can't carry my MB Pro around.

Took a while to get the Wifi to see my home net; still having trouble getting the main mail.app to see GMail and Yahoo mail through my Wifi net, but both mail services are accessible via Edge. No problem with web based mail apps, though.

So far, so good on everything else. I'm already wanting more GBs - filled the sucker up with music and photos today.

Best,

Kurt

[island911]

Originally posted by dd74
What was with all the customers I saw at the Apple Store returning their iPhones, saying they could get phone service?

saying they could [NOT?] get phone service?

From what I've seen of Craigslist and ebay A LOT of people bought iphones expecting/hoping for underestimated production supply by Apple. The last I checked there where 1400+ iPhone ad's on ebay . .many with multiple phones for sale. i'm thinking that many of the no-reserve ~$300 iphones on ebay "sold" to the seller or shill. . . and are being returned to Apple stores (with stories).

[kstar]

Originally posted by kstarnes
I got one today as well. WOW.

It's my main phone and main portable computer now, when I can't carry my MB Pro around.

Took a while to get the Wifi to see my home net; still having trouble getting the main mail.app to see GMail and Yahoo mail through my Wifi net, but both mail services are accessible via Edge. No problem with web based mail apps, though.

So far, so good on everything else. I'm already wanting more GBs - filled the sucker up with music and photos today.

Best,

Kurt

FYI, fixed the WiFi problem - don't use WEP!!!, instead use WPA2. iPhone can use WPA2 (select WPA-PSK on 2WIRE router/modems).

Rocking now, and more securely as well.

P.S.: Rumors are that 1M+ iPhones have already been activated. We'll see when official news hits. So far, a remarkable device and probably an historic product launch.

[slodave]

Originally posted by kstarnes
FYI, fixed the WiFi problem - don't use WEP!!!, instead use WPA2. iPhone can use WPA2 (select WPA-PSK on 2WIRE router/modems).

I think it has to do with the age of the device. The firmware I used was about a year old (latest), but dealt with some WPA issues.

[jyl]

Originally posted by HardDrive
Being the ultimate Microsoft suck up, I was very skeptical. Played with one for 5 minutes at the Mac store. I was instantly won over. The interface is deserving of the hype. As soon as they get an Exchange Activesync plugin we will start supporting them.

I need/want Exchange sync and international roaming ability. I think I'l have to wait for v2 - not sure though, just got back to USA yesterday so haven't been on top of the recent iPhone news. Another thing I'd like - don't need - is ability to switch keyboard layouts to other languages.

[nostatic]

no single device can be all things to all people. Not possible. There will be features that some need that likely will never be on this phone. I'm seriously considering giving it a go as my only phone though, despite the fact that I love flips and have had one since my Startac way back when.

If you haven't actually played with one in person, you really can't comment too much on it. You have to touch it and see it in person. It still might not send you but odds are you'll still say, "wow." For me, aesthetic is a part of function. And this thing is just beautiful, from the UI to the font choices to the colors. Perfect? No. But inspiring. Not many things made these days you can say that about, and ymmv.

[island911]

It is nice in a minimalist way . ..I really like minimalism. The only problem is that it's too minimal, especially th GUI. Hopefully that problem will be cured with future software fixes.

Anyway, the problem I see for this GUI is that a phone/camera/multimedia-player/internet-browser/text-msgr/?... needs a high level of control. This is not a "it plays songs -thats it" device. (easy minimalist design).

So this do it all device needs the mother of all multifunction buttons -the touchscreen. The touchscreen is the best of all multifunction buttons, and certainly can provide control for all that function. Thing is, it doesn't (on the iphone - yet) It is seriously lacking in control.

Now, before you get your GUI in a wad, let me note that, most likely, it is lacking by design. That is, Apple users expect easy to use. Every GUI has a learning curve. Putting too much in the product would upset the learning curve.

[stevepaa]

Saturday morining at 8:30 am there was a line of 60 people waiting for doors to open to buy it in Santa Clara store.

I was there becasue my hard drive could not read its files. I will probably get one when it works overseas also and when it has a more secure environment for company email.

[kstar]

Originally posted by island911
. . . snip . . .

Now, before you get your GUI in a wad, let me note that, most likely, it is lacking by design. That is, Apple users expect easy to use. Every GUI has a learning curve. Putting too much in the product would upset the learning curve.

I think that's a fairly reasonable assessment.

I think most people, not just Apple users, want their high tech products to be easy to use. Note the iPod and its broad (non-Mac) user base.

I expect the iPhone's market to be more than 50% non-Apple/Mac users, FWIW. Well, not Mac users yet.

edit: Actually, the iPhone is really just a mini-computer with a phone running a slimmed down version of the real OSX, so it is a "Mac".

The trick is to allow simple access to powerful features via an intuitive and simple UI and at the same time allow power users access to a command line via a Unix terminal - like OSX today. I read a couple of days ago that some folks have already got access to the iPhones "shell".

OSX on iPhone wil allow this multi-level access.

Best,

Kurt