As a first time iPhone user, I was very impressed with many aspects of the phone. Firstly the design is unlike any other phone that I have ever had. It is sleek, thin and comparable in weight to many other smart phones on the market. It is also very simple and only has 5 buttons (Power, Volume Up/Down, Silent and Home), after that all interaction with the device is either done with the touch screen or through the built in accelerometer. On that note, the touch screen is the best I have ever used. It responds very well to all input unlike most Windows Mobile Devices that have touch screens. Another thing that I particularly like is the integration of most applications with each other. For instance, you can map an address with the Maps app directly from the information stored in a contact. Equally impressive is the fact that a fully functional iPod (As well as iTunes) is built right in and you can download all sorts of neat applications through the AppStore although WiFi is recommended or required for both. While all of the afore mentioned are very cool and interesting from the standpoint of entertainment, what improvements to productivity have been added? Great question, read on.

The reason I am a first time iPhone user is because I live in a Windows and Linux based world and could never shell out the type of money required to be an iPhone user without the option of configuring my corporate (Exchange) email account on the device. Well, Apple has added this functionality to the new iPhone and I am now reading my corporate email with ease. As well as reading my corporate email with ease, I am also sending my corporate email with ease. The keyboard/touch screen and auto spell check features on the iPhone make typing on the go a breeze. Another great feature is the ability to natively read PDF, Word and Excel documents on the phone.

After all of the praise given (And deserved) above, there are a few small issues that I have found with the iPhone. Although not major issues, they are still annoying. One such issue is the iPhones tendency to lock up for a few seconds when trying to type in the search field in contacts (UPDATE – V2.1 pretty much resolved this). The device also seems to hang up a little in general when switching applications quickly. Another small annoyance is the lack of options that are available. One such option is the ability to change the background of the home screen, which is a drab black. I have also heard a lot of complaints regarding 3G reception although I did not see that as I had already fully patched the device before experiencing the problem. Speaking of updates, there have already been 2 (Maybe 3) since the phones introduction. The battery life is also a bit shaky. If you want to save battery life, make sure you disable WiFi and Location awareness when not is use and also use the fetch feature for corporate email instead of push technology.

All in All, this device is superior to any other smart phone that I have had in the past.

Jason (Digitalkid)
www.954network.com