Ranting Kenya

The new iPhone 3G S

I recently picked up an iPhone 3G S 16GB. My three year contract on Telus was up so I was eagerly looking at the iPhone, Palm Pre, and some Android devices. I ruled out Pre mostly because it wasn’t out yet, and their app store would have a lot of ground to make up. I ruled out the Android devices mostly because I heard the battery life was terrible.

Anyway, here are my thoughts on the whole thing.

Purchasing from Apple Store

I initially went to a Fido booth, and talked to the guy staffing the booth. Evidently nobody in the city had any iPhones, but I should keep calling back until they got some. Ok fine. So I walked around the corner to the Apple store where you can now buy the iPhone with a plan (something you HAD to do at either Fido or Rogers before). And what do you know, they proclaim proudly that they are the only retailer in Calgary who has any iPhones. Interesting…

So I said I wanted to get one, lady says I’ll have a iPhone sales guy meet you when someone’s available.

A couple minutes pass, and I’m greeted by a sales person, if you could even call him that. So I said I’m looking at getting an iPhone. He said “ok great”. This is where I paused for his sales spiel, or whatever praise he was going to bestow upon the device and myself. Nothing. He basically leaned on the shelf with one elbow with this arrogant hipster pose. I was already contemplating punching him the face. I really didn’t need him to tell me anything about the phone, but I was shocked at his sales tactics. I knew I was going to get one anyway, but his lack of effort was annoying. I would test him a bit later however.

So asked him to get a 16GB 3G S. He punches his fancy code into the computer to have someone else bring me the phone from the back. Henry Ford would be proud of his assembly line concept adapted so cleanly to retail sales. A little pretentious to say the least, but hey, I am in the Apple Store after all.

So we start going through the plans and the paperwork. This is when I ask him about battery cycles. What’s involved when the built-in battery is no good anymore? Seemed like a legitimate question to me since no cell battery I’ve ever had has lasted more than about 18 months max. Well, how foolish of me! This phone has a built in battery, I’ll “never” have to replace it. And, I can charge it whenever I want. I had no idea Apple had developed the magical rechargeable battery that doesn’t have a limited number of cycles. Strange, because I had read otherwise from what I felt was a reliable source. Clearly he had no idea what I was talking about so I moved along. I figure the geniuses will bail me out later on. Hopefully my faith isn’t misplaced.

The Keyboard

Typing in portrait mode

Coming from a Motorola Q, I liked the physical keyboard. This was basically my biggest knock on the iPhone. And I can say, I can already type basically as fast as I ever could on the physical keyboard. The text prediction/correction is quite good. My biggest gripe about it is when it does make a mistake and you’re already a handful of words ahead of that spot, getting the cursor back there to correct it is a pain.

I know many blackberry users, and they all rail on the on-screen keyboard. Honestly, it doesn’t matter. Their heads are in the sand, and they’re hopelessly devoted to an excellent device that’s feeling a little more irrelevant lately. Physical keyboard or not, I don’t really think it’s an issue. I have the biggest, most sausage-like fingers around, and I can navigate that on-screen keyboard in portrait mode without issue. You have to type with a little more care for web page addresses, but taking the time to get those right the first time is no big deal.

The Secret Sauce

So I walked out of the store with the phone, looked at all the icons, and basically felt a little under-whelmed. At this point, I really just have a phone with good internet ability and a flashy screen. But then there’s the app store.

There’s an app for virutally everything. There’s excellent games (check out Flight Control, my favorite thus far), handy tools (urbanspoon/all recipes), good website apps (score mobile, giantbomb.com). There’s something for everyone. And most of the apps seem to be $2 or less. I have my eye on a more expensive golf stats app… but holding off for the time being. Nevertheless, I could track my birdies, driving distance with the GPS, handicap, sand saves, whatever. It’s the app store that makes this baby shine.

The iPod Headset Functionality

I also really like using the headphones with the built in mic. The experience of listening to music, and taking a phone call it unparalleled. So seamless and convenient.

Things That Could Be Better

Probably my biggest suggestion doesn’t go out to Apple, but to iPhone game devs. You all need to start thinking more about the phone as a device and how people use it when creating your games. The first person shooter ports and neat, and I like them, but you need to use the device in unique ways. The Nintendo DS took a few years for devs to really embrace the device properly to create unique experience, iPhone needs the same focus.

The GPS also needs to be improved. It’s neat, but it can’t really be used very well as a GPS without a second person. There’s no automatic re-routing, voice prompts etc. And if you’re on a long car trip, the spottiness of a connection on the Rogers network would lead to some huge map gaps inbetween major centres.

I expected not a lot from the battery. Most of my use on the phone so far has been data. I’d say I get about a day’s worth of battery life. No bad, but not great.

All In All

I’m quite happy with my new iPhone. It’s still really new, and it’s not perfect, but it’s so much better than everything else I’ve ever gotten my hands on. Maybe it doesn’t do email as well as a blackberry for some people, but blackberries lack that “special” quality. When you’re using the iPhone, you feel like you’re really getting treated to some different (more so than a Mac compared to a PC). So far, so good.