A Day with the iPhone


It's been about 24 hours since I got my iPhone. How did it do?

As I write this, it is just over 24 hours since I walked out of the Manhattan Village Apple Store in Manhattan Beach, California, carrying my new iPhone. I had been waiting for this moment since January. When Steve Jobs first announced it, I didn't know if I would be able to get one, as I was retiring in just a few days. My co-workers surprised me a few days later with a gift card that would account for the greater part of the cost of the iPhone. The only question remaining was whether Cingular (now AT&T) would let me upgrade with only 1 1/2 years of my two year contract fulfilled. This question was resolved earlier this week when the plans were announced. The data delta for existing customers seemed reasonable, so the die was cast.

I had decided not to camp out all day, but to go over after the doors were opened and take my chance. My gracious wife and I arrived at about 7:15 or 7:30. The line was extending quite a ways back. At least 125 people in front of me, not counting the ones who had already gone into the store. The line moved relatively quickly, and the company was congenial. I guess we must have gotten in just before 9.

We got home and, after putting a few contacts I had in my phone but not on my computer into Address Book, I was ready to open the box. my wife, Lee, insisted on taking a few pictures (and I'm glad she did). This guy isn't happy, is he? Ready to activate. I had a very easy time of it. I went through the activation, and it activated almost immediately. I then synced it up. I chose to sync all my contacts and calendars, only some of my music, and the pictures of my grandson, Elliott. When the syncing was over, the first thing I showed Lee was the pictures. She was immediately jealous.

I tried browsing to a web page that I am responsible for. It loaded, but slowly. I realized that I hadn't set up the Wi-Fi connect to my network. I have a closed locked-down Airport, so I entered the Airport name and password. The keyboard wasn't too bad, though I had to go back and fix things several times. At least the keyoard magnifies the letter you actually got, so you know when you make mistakes. I had no luck in connecting, however. I gave up, chose my wallpaper (a picture of my beautiful grandson, natch) and played around a bit more before going to bed.

At 5 I woke up and realized why I couldn't get the iPhone to connect to my network. I not only have a closed network with a password, I also limit access to known machines. My network didn't know my iPhone yet. I fixed that when I got up, and all was good.

We had a morning meeting, so off we went with the phone in hand. I showed it around, using the Maps in particular. I also played around with a couple of YouTube videos. This was all on the EDGE network. It was no speed demon, but it was tolerable.

In the afternoon, I got a call from a new client. I took it using the phone itself, not the headphones or my Jabra bluetooth headset. The voice quality was excellent.

I also set pictures for many of my contacts and made changes to what was synced. When I went to the grocery store, I listened to a podcast. I called my wife using the Jabra, and that also worked well. I have a certain amount of confusion with how to choose the phone, the headphones and the headset. I'm sure I'll figure it out. I do miss the voice recognition I had on my old phone, however.

This is the first phone I have had that has a camera, so I am still getting used to it. I did make a discovery that I haven't seen anywhere else. I took a picture of our cat, Skittles. This was taken in fairly low light conditions, so it's a little blurry. The surprise was what happened when I synced the phone after taking the shot. The logical thing actually happened; iPhoto launched, and I was able to download the picture directly into my iPhoto library.

The fit and finish of this thing is incredible. The flicking metaphor is very easy to get used to, and works well. I was particularly impressed with the UI for setting the countdown timer and the alarm. It's like spinning a set of dials. Really, I can't do it justice. You will have to play with it yourself. The calendar is also nice. Even in month mode, it is clear which days have activities. Tapping those days lists the activities below the calendar. very nice.

I am sure that there will be revisions to the iPhone in the future, new models that ill make this one look as outdated as the current iPods make the first gen iPod look. (Side point: I have a 3rd gen iPod. The iPhone is of course thinner front to back and side to side than the iPod, but what surprises me is that it is only slightly taller.) That said, I am very glad that I have this one. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun!

Posted: Sat - June 30, 2007 at 10:59 PM          

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