Cory and Dave's Venture to the Temple of the Apple
Armed with a defiant determination I would only hold and sample Apple's new killer device, "The Jesus Phone", last night my friend and I ventured to Apple's iconic glass cube mecca flagship store on 59th and 5th in NYC (instead of going to a less than stellar ATT store or even that "puny" SoHo store
). After pushing aside the numerous news crews and multi-cultural tourists and Manhattanites, my friend and I rushed through the maze like police barricades around 7 pm (an hour after they opened), tripping over the remnants of the individuals who camped out for days in the queue. We walked past the Apple Store greeters who applauded our arrival within 10 mins (that was a bit cheesy I have to admit, I kept waiting for them to break out into a "Happy Birthday" song that wait staff sing in restaurant chains).
The descent into the 20,000 square foot subterranean mecca was a Christ like experience, as if I was descending into NYC's only VIP party of the moment. It was obvious how well trained the staff was in handling the crowd as they pointed everyone towards the checkout line immediately upon touch down. As I really hadn't intended to buy one, my main agenda was to "check it out", but the hoards of people hovering over each public iPhone and the relentless multi-national news crews filming the orchestrated chaos with reporters chattering away in foreign languages deterred my interest, and then suddenly I found myself being unconsciously whisked in a very subliminal fashion towards a check out counter (well, more or less pushed by the sales reps who assumed my only intent was to purchase this "earth shattering" device). Before I knew it I found myself in front of a sales rep asking me which model I wanted. It was just a whirlwind with my friend next to me whispering 'Get the 8 GB, it's silly not to' when I insisted I would wait for the 2nd version of the iPhone for months. Sure enough (and $650+ later) I was a proud owner of an iPhone, albeit with a HUGE amount of buyers remorse (was I high? How had the kool-aid been so tempting? LOL). I'm a die hard Apple guy, but damn, the subtlety, PR, excitement of the crowd, all the free press - Steve Jobs and his marketing people are GENIUS to let all the free press and social pressure of this device sell itself. Genius.
Giddy as a school boy, I rushed back and plugged in my new toy it into my Mac Pro around 8 p.m. without any difficulties. Sadly, a friend who bought his iPhone at the same store after I told him the lines weren't long at the Mecca store (he had been waiting at the Union Square ATT store for hours with no movement as the stores kiosks shut down) could not get his iPhone to activate until 8 THIS MORNING. Apparently the big guys at ATT didn't think through the aspects that between the hours of 6:30 to midnight Friday evening many, many iPhone owners would be activating their phones (side note: as an ATT customer, I was disappointed that I could not simply switch out my RAZR SIM card for the iPhone's SIM card in the store, and THEN log into the iTunes iPhone section to choose a data plan. Having paid a lot of money for a phone that you can't do a thing with except slide the unlock/lock back and forth is retarded, at least allow for the iPod and other non-phone applications). For example, if one is vacationing and purchases an iPhone, restricting use until online activation is tantamount to buying a car and being told by the sales rep "Uh uh uh, not until you finish your vegetables". Trivial, but none the less an interesting note.
My impressions: great device, a lot of fun, and very intuitive. In NYC, there is almost always an unsecured WiFi network to piggy back onto, so the night I took it out, I was always able to log onto a network from the streets and get good download rates, even in the bars lol. Here are some Pro's and Con's (IMHO):
Pros:
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User Interface: extremely intuitive and adaptive to the individual user
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Syncing: Seamless syncing with contacts, music, photos, data (although would be nice to just click and drag movies and songs directly onto the iPhone instead of being required to do so through playlists).
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Shell: Light weight, feels great in hands, and is extremely durable *many reports indicate that the screen is nearly indestructible, coupled with the film covering (which has been available for iPods for years) and a casing, the iPhone should hold up very well)
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Safari: Reading and web browsing is quick and fantastic with the pinching of the thumb and index fingers. My bookmarks synced from my Mac Pro and the first site I browsed to was Macrumors
.
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PDF Support
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Camera: Very crisp and clear photos (in the right light).
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Home Button: Fast and easy switching between applications through pressing the Home button.
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Videos: Crisp and clear, the best video quality I have seen on any handheld device
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Google Maps: LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT. Typing in "Papa Johns, NY NY" and going to the red pins gets you right to the nearest locations. I was able to type on the red dot on google maps, get the address and phone number, tapped on the number and presto, all set.
Cons:
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APP for iPhones: Not available until July for $69 (doesn't make sense that they wouldn't offer them now, but hopefully owners should be able to purchase them once they become available or there will be a lot of angry iPhone owners mobbing the stores lol)
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Keyboard: Ok. As someone who has used T9 on my RAZR, I'm a fast texter. I also have "snausages" for fingers so my thumbs are way too big and typing with one index finger is painful, no matter how intuitive it becomes. Apple REALLY needs to put in a software update for landscape keyboards in the SMS section
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Wallpaper: Why the wallpaper is only for the unlock/lock screen is beyond me. Someone else commented on this issue (and as trivial as it may sound), but why isn't the user preferred wallpaper the Home Screen wallpaper as well? It shouldn't interfere with the icons and the UI.
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Camera: Great quality, if you're in bright light. Forget about medium to dim lighting exposure, and a lack of a self portrait mode for taking user photo and no shutter or timed photo release (My friend suggested using the volume controls as a shutter release for taking a self portrait of you and your friend, for example), oh, and no flash.
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No video camera.
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No Voice/Handsfree dialing
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No 3G/HSDPA (nothing can correct that although I'm sure version 2.0 will have it, for now WiFi is acceptable if you can find a router to use while out and about), otherwise EDGE is "ok"
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Bluetooth Exchange: Setting up the iPhone to my Mac Pro via Bluetooth offered nothing in terms of options. No exchanging of files or use of the iPhone as a dial-up gateway. Understandably, Apple may have intended for iTunes to be the main method of data exchange. However, not being able to "browse device" as with other bluetooth ObEx enabled phones or use as a modem is a bit disappointing.
Other than that, it's a great device, and most of the issues (aside from the 3G hardware) may be corrected through software updates.
If you haven't purchased one yet, what are you waiting for
REVIEW BY C DORSCHEL AND DAVID MORGAN -
HTTP://WWW.DMNY.COM - PREMIERE NYC PHOTOGRAPHER AND THESBIAN
