iPhone’s in, Treo’s out
July 4th, 2007I thought I could resist. The week before the iPhone launch, I had nearly tired myself out of the coverage on Engadget, Gizmodo and the rest of the media. I had written off the iPhone as a beautiful, expensive and unnecessary gadget. I had my Treo 680 and it worked just fine.
But my boss at Gerard Design made me an offer I couldn’t refuse (along the lines of “you fly, I’ll buy”) and I was quickly Googling for iPhone cases and planning what time I would get to the OakBrook Apple Store on Friday.
All in all, the wait was pretty easy. I had brought a chair, a laptop, an orange soda, some M&Ms, and an iPod. The area outside the store is covered by free wireless, so I was able to respond to e-mails and check out coverage of the other lines across the country. A few friends of mine waiting in line in Washington D.C. called periodically to check in.
When 6pm came, the line moved quickly. I was 66th in line, so I was through the store and on the way to my car with two iPhones by 6:25. Once I got home, activation was tricky, as it was for many folks. I had to go to the AT&T store in Oak Park to get an authorization code, probably because I do not have a listed phone number. They were very helpful, but a little salty that they weren’t seeing nearly the kind of traffic that the Apple Stores did that day. I also picked up a very nice leather iPhone case by Case Mate. It comes with a clear screen protector and doesn’t interfere with the proximity sensor the way some cases do. While the iPhone is plenty durable and probably doesn’t need a case, it’s sleek design also means it’s a bit slippery. I tend to keep it in it’s case to keep me from dropping it.
Regarding the iPhone itself, the thing works like magic. Using the keyboard is a bit of a pickle, but I’m picking up speed with it. The iPod features work great, the Google Maps application is amazing. The calendar is very nicely designed as well, and I find myself using the photos application more than I thought I ever would. I take some digital photos, but I never print them or get around to sharing them in any way. However, images look so great on the large screen that I have put our photos of vacations, concerts and our two cats on the iPhone to share.
The main thing I love is how well the iPhone works with the DICE iPod connector and the Motorola speakerphone I have in the Mini Cooper. Typically when I’m driving home from work, I’m playing the iPhone through the DICE connector and it’s also paired to the Motorola T305 via Bluetooth. When I get a call, the iPhone turns down the music, pauses the currently playing track and then routes the call to the Bluetooth speakerphone. Pressing the large blue button on the speakerphone answers the call, and when I press it again to hang up, the iPhone begins playing music again and turns the volume back up to it’s previous level. It really does work like magic, and is making commuting just a little easier.
Of course, there are a few niggling annoyances with the iPhone, but that’s to be expected from a 1.0 version of anything. For example, you must sync playlists to the iPhone – there’s no manual music management. You can’t just drag an album into the iPhone, or use it as hard drive like you can the iPod. I suspect this is a security measure, but I hope it’s addressed in a software update soon. No manual music management means I can’t connect the iPhone to my laptop and listen to music at work.
Also, there is no instant messaging client available like there is for the Treo. I suspect this is to get you to use SMS messages that count against your AT&T data plan. Hopefully things loosen up a bit in the future and they release iChat for the iPhone.
You can’t sync iPhone text notes with your desktop computer, but I suspect this is coming in 10.5. In the meantime, you can use an online web app of some kind, or just send your iPhone text notes to yourself as e-mails.
But these annoyances are pretty minor compared to the pleasure of using it. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my Treo. It’s a very versatile piece of equipment. But the user experience was a little clunky for most tasks, and it’s stability left a lot to be desired. Comparatively, the iPhone is pleasure to use. It hasn’t crashed once, and navigating it’s capabilities is easy and intuitive.