Flavour of the month: iPhone: The Verdict

PUNE, INDIA: It’s been not very long when the iPhone came and whipped up the market with a lot of hoopla and excitement. And then just a few days back, Apple presented the iPhone 3G.

The iPhone 3G promised new features and improvements like built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services, iPhone 2.0 software, faster access to the Internet and email over their cellular network, Wi-Fi, 3G and EDGE support and so on.

With this Time magazine’s “Invention of the Year” for 2007, Apple has tempted the world well yet again. But how’s the bite been?

Thumbs up

There are clearly a host of features users have fallen in love with. These include surfing the Internet and using e-mail. Add to that the touch screen distinction, the distinctive interface and plug-in capabilities with other devices and one knows why some users love this gadget.

As Punit S, an avid aficionado who incidentally is a technology expert himself, says, “Love the phone. It is the best in the market. Honestly, I have never used a better, more useful device. It looks so cool, and it works so well. It integrates well with my car, my laptop and that makes it super useful. Also, since I am a Mac user anyways, for me this is a perfect extension of my powerbook.”

Another gadget freak, Sanjay Choudhary avers, “The graphic interface is incomparable, the touch screen is really good, the zoom in and out features are really the best ones. In fact, you can actually compare iPhone with HTC touch.”

In Punit’s assessment the points, which make the iPhone worth all the bang are the touch pad, iPod, mail and Safari. The full screen touch pad is something that still reserves its first-of its kind advantage, more so for its interactivity. It is also a full-fledged music device that allows accessibility to songs at the tip of one’s finger.

“The phone probably takes the cake where it comes to the number of usable features that come with it. Before this, I cannot think of any phone which had this feature and in a way that it was actually easy to use.”

The iPhone also earns its praise on the mail features by allowing users through IMAP to receive work email and personal email on it. For users, it is a great way to stay in touch all the time and it works pretty well with enterprise mail clients.

Another iPhone attraction is the Safari feature, more so, because it is not a WAP browser, but a full-fledged, full-functioned browser that allows folks to browse the internet just as if they were on a computer.

“This is IMO the key difference between the iPhone and most other phones; its amazingly fast, full featured browser.” Punit explains.

Apart from these frills, there are other applications too that make the iPhone endearing for geeks like Punit.

Thanks to the AppStore, the world’s apps are now at one’s disposal. Add to that the GPS integrated inside that enables one to see where one is at any given point of time, and use that information to use all these apps.

“Want to find the nearest good Chinese restaurant, it will calculate where you are, and tell you where to go. Need directions? The maps app will figure it out for you. Facebook, Yelp, Pandora, are some of the cool apps on the iphone. Love this functionality,” he quips.

Additionally, the phone gets on the wireless network as soon as it enters one. It is turning out to be useful for users like him because at home and at work. The phone is lightening fast because it is always on the wireless network.

Talking particularly about the Bluetooth feature Punit says, “It automatically logs on to car and syncs with it. My music plays through my car speakers and I can access my songs through the car display. Also, I can make calls through the car because the phone is synced with the car. Love this feature though this is more of a ipod feature than an iphone.”

Thumbs down

Gripes accompany bouquets. There are many issues Apple iPhone users feel uncomfortable on. These are lack of choices, the inability of the iPhone to send picture messages.

In Punit's opinion, ironically the phone is probably the weakest part of this device. “It is ordinary and the volume is not that good. It has visual voicemail though, which I just love. The AT&T signal is nothing to write home about."

There are typing problems at initial and sans-auto-corrector stages for the user when it comes to the great touch screen. The scratching and dirt issues are other problems with the screen. One needs to cover it almost all the time with various covers, plastic stick-ons, etc. Improvement areas in the opinion of users like Punit are around call quality, Internet, data speed and screen factors.

“Call quality can be much better. AT&T is not the best service provider out there. Certain websites do not open because Safari on iPhone did not earlier support Flash.” There is also a lot more improvement possible on data speed.

Choudhary adds, “It is a good gadget but not a great phone as such. As I am a geek, I would like to try to new gadget and prefer the Nokia e90 (communicator).”

There are many features that the iPhone was tagged for lag areas like a full keyboard, live TV, video recording, photo/video messaging, removable battery, stereo hands-free Bluetooth, and a memory card slot to expand memory capacity.

Also, a major issue highlighted has been that many consumers just don’t want to get locked into the iPhone contract.

Price, in the smartphone bracket was also a point of criticism amidst other options that the consumer has. Other criticism areas include, an archaic iPhone’s camera with no zoom, poor image stabilization, and poor quality in low-lit areas.

Then there were gaps like no speed dial or voice dial functionality, no attachment addition facility, no potential as a storage device aka the iPod, no 3G data speeds and slow EDGE, no tasks or To-Do widgets and no support for games.

The good part, however, is that Apple has not been completely deaf to the user’s list of grudges. In comparison to last year’s model, the latest iPhone’s has snappier Web speeds, better sound quality, location-aware navigation, and third-party application store.

Keeping the tab

If one goes by surveys on iPhone, the results reflect the mix palate the users has shown. A Consumer Insights Survey by Viewpoints.com, found that 97 per cent of respondents felt that the iPhone more than met their expectations, including 88 per cent who said it exceeded their expectations. Only three per cent of consumers were disappointed with the iPhone.

A ChangeWave Alliance survey done in about a month after the iPhone’s release showed that better than three-in-four (77 per cent) owners reported they were ‘Very Satisfied’ with their Apple iPhone and another 15 per cent said they were ‘Somewhat Satisfied’.

Two-thirds of Alliance iPhone owners cited the integration of cell phone, iPod and Internet browser as the feature they like best, while four per cent said it’s the touch screen interface and 21 per cent the iPhone’s ease of use.

Also, the Speed of AT&T’s EDGE Network (35 per cent) was the biggest dislike. Owners also disliked the fact that the iPhone can’t copy and paste text (23 per cent) and that it doesn’t support third-party software (23 per cent).

Never say die

There is a flood of reviews after every Apple launch. User comments range from “Incredible” and “Very solid, works as advertised, no real complaints!” to “Far too many issues” to “After three days of use, returning to the store” on various review sites.

There’s one expert review which says, “iPhone still cannot copy and paste text. Still no Flash or Java on Safari Mobile. Still no privacy settings, no undo function for a typing error. Non-interactive You-tube app. No cropping option for photos. Still no AIM, iChat or instant messenger on the iPhone. No MMS support and much more.”

The message is that the possibilities are limitless; more so with the expectation graph that Apple has sketched with a new ‘i’. It will be a relentless and continuous drive to make the iPhone better and only better. After all, it’s what the user wants.