Get in touch with Apple's newest tech toy, the iPhone
I would have liked to have seen more commands available within each application, such as copy and paste, undo, etc. Another irritating thing I found was that you could not get YouTube videos to load and quickly jump over to another application (since EDGE is so slow), such as using the stocks widget. The YouTube video stops loading the minute you leave the application. I expect more multitasking ability from the OS X inside the iPhone.
Keyboard
One of the biggest trade-offs for that huge touchscreen on the iPhone is the incorporation of a virtual keyboard instead of a traditional QWERTY keyboard found on most smartphones. A lot of people were worried about the lack of the tactile feel on the keyboard, but I can tell you I don't miss the tactile feel at all. To be honest the iPhone keyboard takes some getting used to for typing quickly, but it's easy if you trust the auto-correction software. My advice is just to keep plugging away even if you make mistakes because it usually catches all of them.
Cell phone
Visual Voicemail is the big winner here, since you can scroll back and forth through your voicemail as if it was a music clip. Dialing a number or calling a contact was as good as advertised: extremely easy. Just tap a contact or punch in the number on the virtual keypad to call. Call quality was just average, however, for both sides of a call.
iPod
Big upgrade here from the traditional iPod. Turning the iPhone horizontally brings up the Cover Flow view, which looks stunning. Keeping the iPhone vertical lets you browse in list mode, allowing you to flick to scroll through your song list. I'd say it's a little easier to navigate through the menus than the traditional iPod. I particularly like the fact that when you get a phone call, the iPhone fades the music out and connects the call, and when you hang up, the music resumes.
The integration isn't so great for the other applications. For example if music is playing and you jump to YouTube to watch something, the music will fade out when the clip plays, but will not resume once you quit YouTube. Other than that I think it's the most gorgeous iPod yet.
The bottom line
The iPhone is a big winner here, but the two-year contract with AT&T kills it for most of us (Unlocking it is an option, but not for the faint of heart). A good deal of the iPhone is just eye candy, but despite that, it's arguably the easiest to use and best-designed smartphone on the market.
Keyboard
One of the biggest trade-offs for that huge touchscreen on the iPhone is the incorporation of a virtual keyboard instead of a traditional QWERTY keyboard found on most smartphones. A lot of people were worried about the lack of the tactile feel on the keyboard, but I can tell you I don't miss the tactile feel at all. To be honest the iPhone keyboard takes some getting used to for typing quickly, but it's easy if you trust the auto-correction software. My advice is just to keep plugging away even if you make mistakes because it usually catches all of them.
Cell phone
Visual Voicemail is the big winner here, since you can scroll back and forth through your voicemail as if it was a music clip. Dialing a number or calling a contact was as good as advertised: extremely easy. Just tap a contact or punch in the number on the virtual keypad to call. Call quality was just average, however, for both sides of a call.
iPod
Big upgrade here from the traditional iPod. Turning the iPhone horizontally brings up the Cover Flow view, which looks stunning. Keeping the iPhone vertical lets you browse in list mode, allowing you to flick to scroll through your song list. I'd say it's a little easier to navigate through the menus than the traditional iPod. I particularly like the fact that when you get a phone call, the iPhone fades the music out and connects the call, and when you hang up, the music resumes.
The integration isn't so great for the other applications. For example if music is playing and you jump to YouTube to watch something, the music will fade out when the clip plays, but will not resume once you quit YouTube. Other than that I think it's the most gorgeous iPod yet.
The bottom line
The iPhone is a big winner here, but the two-year contract with AT&T kills it for most of us (Unlocking it is an option, but not for the faint of heart). A good deal of the iPhone is just eye candy, but despite that, it's arguably the easiest to use and best-designed smartphone on the market.
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