iPhone's review
I got an iPhone 3GS 16GB white on August 19th. I didn't plan to buy that, but since my iPod touch broke (T^T) and I was in need of a new phone, I thought I could merge the two devices and got an iPhone. I subscribed a two-years contract with a mobile company: I paid iPhone € 199, I've a monthly fee of 15 € and I've internet connection included. I pay call 15 cents per minutes, but I don't call much, so I don't care.
I had the chance to REALLY using it when I went on holidays for 2 weeks so I decided to write only now this review. I'll take into consideration only the features that I think are interesting to read. Let's start!
Mail
I always liked the idea of reading my e-mail everywhere. My previous phone had a mail client too, but it was really a pain using it (it was very slow + it didn't read kanji). iPhone mail client is like the ones you find on computers, so it supports HTML, attachments and so on. Since I've a MobileMe account, I can have push notifications. So I get mails automatically as soon as they reach the server (meaning: I don't have to check mails manually). Push notifications should work also with Yahoo! Mail and Microsoft Exchange. If you have another type of account, you have to set iPhone for checking new mails automatically every 15 minutes or more (or search AppStore for a third party apps like for GMail accounts).
Sore point: default tone for new mail is quite low for me even if I keep the ringtone at the highest level.
Safari
When you sync iPhone with iTunes you can choose to sync also the bookmarks of your browser so you can have them also on your mobile. Navigation is smooth also on websites not optimized for mobile devices, you can add bookmarks, webclips (it creates an icon of the website on iPhone home screen), zoom the pages "pinching" the screen or double-tapping on it, use the landscapes mode simply turning horizontally the device for a better viewing.
Sore point (sort of...): browser doesn't support flash animation.
Videos and photos
Pretty good for a small device. Photos have autofocus but tapping on the screen you can focus something by yourself. Videos are good and can be edited "on screen". Both photos and videos can be taken in landscape mode and can be immediately shared via e-mail, MMS or sent to MobileMe and/or YouTube.
Sore point: iPhone has only and external camera. Taking a photo of yourself is quite hard, since you have to tap on a virtual button (and of course it's hard to tell where it is XD)
SMS/MMS
Nothing much to say. I like the chat-style view: messages between two people are showed like a conversation.
Maps and Compass
It can seems a small feature, but when you are almost lost on the mountains the assisted-GPS works very well XD
When you open the compass, you can see your position on a map that rotates in the direction you're facing. Maps are displayed in three way you can choose: map view, satellite view, hybrid view. On mountain the map view is pretty useless if you're in the middle of nowhere, but satellite view works fine since it shows a map. Oh, your position is shown on the map with a blue pin. If you move, the pin move too XD
Sore point: aGPS helps the normal GPS to fix quickly your position at first, so it needs to be connected to the network at least when you open it.
Appstore
Probably the best feature of iPhone. AppStore has thousands of free and paid apps. I've about 3 pages of apps on my iPhone. Out of the apps I installed my favorites are:
Other features
Keyboard: it's a full one like on computers. You can set several keyboards if you need to write in different languages and switch between them simply tapping on the globe at the bottom of the keyboard (I set the Japanese one for example).
YouTube: you can watch YouTube videos using the default app, add them to your favorites, sharing and so on.
iTunes: you can purchase albums or songs directly from iPhone.
Sore points
Some people developed tools for jailbreaking the iPhone. What does it means jailbreaking? It means "open" the firmware of iPhone. That said, jailbreak is, of course, a practice not authorized by Apple and avoids the guarantee (even if you can restore the device with iTunes and the original firmware will be restored deleting the jailbreak.)
Ok, so is it worth jailbreaking it? Well, it depends. If you're happy with the features Apple provided you, don't jailbreak it. If you wanna try the hidden power of this device, jailbreak it.
But what is it the hidden power? When you jailbreak your device, you'll install also an alternative AppStore called Cydia that let you customize your iPhone. For example, you can install themes, or you can have stacks like on a Mac, or you can have shortcuts to the most common function of the phone just sliding your finger instead of opening every time the preferences panel. Or you can install an extension for showing infos on your lockscreen like unread mails and messages, missed calls, calendar events, news feeds, weather and so on (like in this screen: http://kttns.org/2qwz)
Well, if you had the patience to read until here, thanks! That's all! I hope this review will be useful for someone!
I had the chance to REALLY using it when I went on holidays for 2 weeks so I decided to write only now this review. I'll take into consideration only the features that I think are interesting to read. Let's start!
I always liked the idea of reading my e-mail everywhere. My previous phone had a mail client too, but it was really a pain using it (it was very slow + it didn't read kanji). iPhone mail client is like the ones you find on computers, so it supports HTML, attachments and so on. Since I've a MobileMe account, I can have push notifications. So I get mails automatically as soon as they reach the server (meaning: I don't have to check mails manually). Push notifications should work also with Yahoo! Mail and Microsoft Exchange. If you have another type of account, you have to set iPhone for checking new mails automatically every 15 minutes or more (or search AppStore for a third party apps like for GMail accounts).
Sore point: default tone for new mail is quite low for me even if I keep the ringtone at the highest level.
Safari
When you sync iPhone with iTunes you can choose to sync also the bookmarks of your browser so you can have them also on your mobile. Navigation is smooth also on websites not optimized for mobile devices, you can add bookmarks, webclips (it creates an icon of the website on iPhone home screen), zoom the pages "pinching" the screen or double-tapping on it, use the landscapes mode simply turning horizontally the device for a better viewing.
Sore point (sort of...): browser doesn't support flash animation.
Videos and photos
Pretty good for a small device. Photos have autofocus but tapping on the screen you can focus something by yourself. Videos are good and can be edited "on screen". Both photos and videos can be taken in landscape mode and can be immediately shared via e-mail, MMS or sent to MobileMe and/or YouTube.
Sore point: iPhone has only and external camera. Taking a photo of yourself is quite hard, since you have to tap on a virtual button (and of course it's hard to tell where it is XD)
SMS/MMS
Nothing much to say. I like the chat-style view: messages between two people are showed like a conversation.
Maps and Compass
It can seems a small feature, but when you are almost lost on the mountains the assisted-GPS works very well XD
When you open the compass, you can see your position on a map that rotates in the direction you're facing. Maps are displayed in three way you can choose: map view, satellite view, hybrid view. On mountain the map view is pretty useless if you're in the middle of nowhere, but satellite view works fine since it shows a map. Oh, your position is shown on the map with a blue pin. If you move, the pin move too XD
Sore point: aGPS helps the normal GPS to fix quickly your position at first, so it needs to be connected to the network at least when you open it.
Appstore
Probably the best feature of iPhone. AppStore has thousands of free and paid apps. I've about 3 pages of apps on my iPhone. Out of the apps I installed my favorites are:
- AroundMe: it localizes you and tells what's around (café, shops, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, cinemas and so on). Choose where you want to go and it will guide you on a map.
- AppBox Pro: an apps that contains some utilities like ruler, translator, converter, flashlight, google books and so on.
- Pro RSS Reader: a feed reader that sync with my Google Reader account, so I can read RSS everywhere
Other features
Keyboard: it's a full one like on computers. You can set several keyboards if you need to write in different languages and switch between them simply tapping on the globe at the bottom of the keyboard (I set the Japanese one for example).
YouTube: you can watch YouTube videos using the default app, add them to your favorites, sharing and so on.
iTunes: you can purchase albums or songs directly from iPhone.
Sore points
- Battery doesn't last much… When I was on holiday I used push notifications for mails, I read my feeds a couple of time, I browsed 2-3 times my favourite sites and sent some mails. Doing this daily, I had to charge the battery every night (・・；)
- It's not a phone you can throw careless into your bag. It needs at least a case or something like InvisibleShield. In fact I bought a Sena Ultraslim.
- It has bluetooth, but it can't transfer files with phones or computerist. iPhone's bluetooth is useful only for a bluetooth headset. Yeah, probably it's the worst thing of this phone. Definitely annoying.
Some people developed tools for jailbreaking the iPhone. What does it means jailbreaking? It means "open" the firmware of iPhone. That said, jailbreak is, of course, a practice not authorized by Apple and avoids the guarantee (even if you can restore the device with iTunes and the original firmware will be restored deleting the jailbreak.)
Ok, so is it worth jailbreaking it? Well, it depends. If you're happy with the features Apple provided you, don't jailbreak it. If you wanna try the hidden power of this device, jailbreak it.
But what is it the hidden power? When you jailbreak your device, you'll install also an alternative AppStore called Cydia that let you customize your iPhone. For example, you can install themes, or you can have stacks like on a Mac, or you can have shortcuts to the most common function of the phone just sliding your finger instead of opening every time the preferences panel. Or you can install an extension for showing infos on your lockscreen like unread mails and messages, missed calls, calendar events, news feeds, weather and so on (like in this screen: http://kttns.org/2qwz)
Well, if you had the patience to read until here, thanks! That's all! I hope this review will be useful for someone!