Apple iPhone review from United States of America
"Beautiful, but overhyped, slow, restrictive, overpriced and ultimately disappointing"
What things have gone wrong with the mobile phone?
"Never buy a first-generation Apple product!" goes the old adage. But the iPhone looked so cool, I decided to skip that warning and pick up one.
I got the 4 gig $400 model. And had problems.
Crashes and freezes were common when I first used it for about a week, but they mysteriously stopped after a while. Not sure why.
Reception on this phone is just plain pathetic. It picks up and drops calls numerous times. Part of this might be AT&T's inadequate coverage, but compared to both Verizon and Sprint phones, iPhone had a nasty tendency to kick me off the line, especially as a passenger on the bus going up and down highway 101 in San Francico. Very frustrating.
The data connection is SLOW. As in, incredibly frustratingly back-to-dialup-days slow. It's unacceptable. Apple has added WiFi to make up for EDGE's tortoise-like speed, but it's not enough. This phone is simply too slow to use for serious web browsing or e-mail.
You cannot search e-mail on the phone.
E-mail attachment and manipulation are limited. If Apple doesn't support viewing the attachment you receive, you're out of luck.
The e-mail system doesn't support secure corporate e-mail systems like Outlook, so if you're looking to use it as e-mail on the go, forget about it.
The keyboard is incredibly annoying. You get used to using it after a while, but it's a slow and frustrating process with no tactile feedback. And smudges dominate the screen when it's over.
The autocomplete function substitutes words that often aren't even remotely the word you were seeking.
Worst of all, mine had a bad habit of cutting my face when I held it to my cheek because of a sliver of glass breaking off of the screen.
Apple charges for ringtones -- even if you already own the file, you have to pay an extra 99 cents to render it into a "ringtone" file... and many songs on the iTunes store aren't available to serve as ringtones.
General comments?
The phone is gorgeous and easy to use. It's the first "smartphone" that my mom could use without any trouble.
The web browser is stunning. No other mobile phone browser I've ever used comes close.
The iPod functionality is useful and welcome (though more capacity would always be welcome!)
| Would you buy another mobile phone from this manufacturer? | Yes |
| First year of ownership | 2007 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2007 |
| Reception marks | 6/10 |
| Voice Quality marks | 7/10 |
| Build Quality marks | 3/10 |
| Screen Quality marks | 10/10 |
| Ease of Use marks | 10/10 |
| Vibration Strength marks | 8/10 |
| Camera Quality marks | 5/10 |
| Approximate Battery Life in days (no calls made or received) | 2 |
| Approximate time to charge the battery (from flat) in hours | 4 |
| Previous mobile phone | RIM Blackberry 7300 series |
| Date of Entry | 3rd February, 2008 |