It seems to be pretty quiet here with people posting reviews about their first iPhone experiences on this side of the pond, so here I go...
Having waiting since January, I knew it was the handset I really wanted, even though it was not 3G, so I knew what I was up against and the various gripes that US people had. I was a little worried that this device may not be all it is cracked up to be.. As a bit of background, I owned a Nokia N91 on O2 and I was just out of my previous 18 month contract.
So what's it like?
Purchase & Activation
I got the Apple Store Regent Street, and there was a large line outside of about 350 people, 1.5 hours beforehand, so I went to a movie and came back later at 8:30pm. Walked in and picked one up straight away - not a single wait at all. Apple gave 30 days of One-to-One service for free as part of the purchase, which was nice I thought.
Went straight back to the office in Soho and plugged it in for activation. Followed all of the prompts, and entered in my current mobile number. A few parts took a minute to come up but I completed the Activation and received a confirmation e-mail. Expecting to see a temporary number being displayed to use while my existing number went over, I was stunned to see that 1 min after activation e-mail, my N91 started saying 'SIM Registration Failed'. Wow, that was quick. I did not Sync at this point, and decided to head home to do it there. I was even more shocked when I got hom 45 mins later that calling my number made the iPhone ring. The whole number port was done in about an hour. Bravo O2!
Sync & First Use
No visible problems with my first Sync at all. Everything came across beautifully. I had two feature films, 12 TV Episodes, 2 video podcasts and about 3.3GB of music and audio podcasts, a whole bunch of recent photos and it still left over 1.5GB free.
The only problem I had was my personal e-mail account would not send mail out. I worked out later this was simply a duplicate entry in the Keychain on my Mac that caused it. After correcting the password on the iPhone itself and removing this old entry, it was fine.
First Day Out
My first day with the iPhone was going to be an interesting one. I had organised with some friends to go and spectate at a car rally in a Hampshire Forest. We got there pretty early so I snapped a few pics of the guys setting up camp and the morning forest. I ended up e-mailing a picture to my girlfriend (who was still fast asleep at the time). While we were waiting for the cars to come, I showed them some rally footage recorded from TV on the iPhone, which helped pass the time. The screen worked well, even for people gathered around to watch.
I got a few texts and was able to reply quickly and easily. Meanwhile I sent a couple of work e-mails, then took some more pictures.
Later in the day, we were discussed a specific event and I was explaining a certain jump that cars went over, and everyone drew a blank. I decided to check YouTube and I was able to show them footage of what I was talking about. That really helped.
In the afternoon someone mentioned the famous Sagrada Famila in Barcelona. So I became annoying and was able to show them the pictures I took of this landmark on my last holiday. They then wanted music over lunch, so I put music on the speaker while we cooked on the camping stove.
Then the guys were looking at maps to work out how to get to the next stage, so I put Google Maps to use to show a different view, which helped them get their bearings. I offered to use the 'Driving Directions' feature, but I knew they would prefer to use the map really...!
Once again later in the day the guys got into an argument over what time we had to be at another event later in the year, so out comes the iPhone again where I got onto the website and we could look at the timetable. This was particularly impressive as there was flaky reception (no bars at all) deep in the forest, yet I was still able to download the website slowly.
On the way back a few more texts and e-mails done, and then was able to do more browsing back on WiFi at home. At the end of the night (1am) I had a 20 percent battery warning. Considering how much use this thing got, I was amazed.
Second Day
On the second day of use, I went with a different group of friends to a Safari Park in Bedfordshire. My girlfriend ended up spending most of the car trip looking at online clothes shops while we were driving on the M1! I also used the Maps apps to see how many miles we would do and how long it might take.
Took more photos at the park, showed friends some photos and videos, drove back checking directions on Maps app, and then back home where there was more browsing and a few e-mails and a few texts.
Thoughts so far
As much as some people want to hear, I cannot fault my experience at all. I had a US iPhone for a few days (jailbroken, but not unlocked), and the UK one feels much faster, smoother, not single crash with a number of pages and apps going. My voicemail had to be enabled by dialling 1750 on the handset, but since doing that visual voicemail is now working perfectly too.
The most amazing thing for me is really EDGE. Some web pages are a little slow, but considering where I was (driving along M1, and in a Hampshire forest) I was amazed at how capable this device is, even on EDGE. I have used 3G before a few times, but it is just not usable due to the implementation. The phone was a dog to use, therefore 3G made no difference to the experience.
The thing that people aren't really getting is that although other phones might have more features on paper - can you use them with confidence? Compared to my previous N91 with the latest Symbian OS, it is like chalk and cheese to me now. Everything so fluid and natural on the iPhone - it makes you want to use the features, rather than consider them as an afterthought.
Sorry for the massive post, but you are looking at one VERY happy customer here.
Worth the hype. Yes indeed.
Having waiting since January, I knew it was the handset I really wanted, even though it was not 3G, so I knew what I was up against and the various gripes that US people had. I was a little worried that this device may not be all it is cracked up to be.. As a bit of background, I owned a Nokia N91 on O2 and I was just out of my previous 18 month contract.
So what's it like?
Purchase & Activation
I got the Apple Store Regent Street, and there was a large line outside of about 350 people, 1.5 hours beforehand, so I went to a movie and came back later at 8:30pm. Walked in and picked one up straight away - not a single wait at all. Apple gave 30 days of One-to-One service for free as part of the purchase, which was nice I thought.
Went straight back to the office in Soho and plugged it in for activation. Followed all of the prompts, and entered in my current mobile number. A few parts took a minute to come up but I completed the Activation and received a confirmation e-mail. Expecting to see a temporary number being displayed to use while my existing number went over, I was stunned to see that 1 min after activation e-mail, my N91 started saying 'SIM Registration Failed'. Wow, that was quick. I did not Sync at this point, and decided to head home to do it there. I was even more shocked when I got hom 45 mins later that calling my number made the iPhone ring. The whole number port was done in about an hour. Bravo O2!
Sync & First Use
No visible problems with my first Sync at all. Everything came across beautifully. I had two feature films, 12 TV Episodes, 2 video podcasts and about 3.3GB of music and audio podcasts, a whole bunch of recent photos and it still left over 1.5GB free.
The only problem I had was my personal e-mail account would not send mail out. I worked out later this was simply a duplicate entry in the Keychain on my Mac that caused it. After correcting the password on the iPhone itself and removing this old entry, it was fine.
First Day Out
My first day with the iPhone was going to be an interesting one. I had organised with some friends to go and spectate at a car rally in a Hampshire Forest. We got there pretty early so I snapped a few pics of the guys setting up camp and the morning forest. I ended up e-mailing a picture to my girlfriend (who was still fast asleep at the time). While we were waiting for the cars to come, I showed them some rally footage recorded from TV on the iPhone, which helped pass the time. The screen worked well, even for people gathered around to watch.
I got a few texts and was able to reply quickly and easily. Meanwhile I sent a couple of work e-mails, then took some more pictures.
Later in the day, we were discussed a specific event and I was explaining a certain jump that cars went over, and everyone drew a blank. I decided to check YouTube and I was able to show them footage of what I was talking about. That really helped.
In the afternoon someone mentioned the famous Sagrada Famila in Barcelona. So I became annoying and was able to show them the pictures I took of this landmark on my last holiday. They then wanted music over lunch, so I put music on the speaker while we cooked on the camping stove.
Then the guys were looking at maps to work out how to get to the next stage, so I put Google Maps to use to show a different view, which helped them get their bearings. I offered to use the 'Driving Directions' feature, but I knew they would prefer to use the map really...!
Once again later in the day the guys got into an argument over what time we had to be at another event later in the year, so out comes the iPhone again where I got onto the website and we could look at the timetable. This was particularly impressive as there was flaky reception (no bars at all) deep in the forest, yet I was still able to download the website slowly.
On the way back a few more texts and e-mails done, and then was able to do more browsing back on WiFi at home. At the end of the night (1am) I had a 20 percent battery warning. Considering how much use this thing got, I was amazed.
Second Day
On the second day of use, I went with a different group of friends to a Safari Park in Bedfordshire. My girlfriend ended up spending most of the car trip looking at online clothes shops while we were driving on the M1! I also used the Maps apps to see how many miles we would do and how long it might take.
Took more photos at the park, showed friends some photos and videos, drove back checking directions on Maps app, and then back home where there was more browsing and a few e-mails and a few texts.
Thoughts so far
As much as some people want to hear, I cannot fault my experience at all. I had a US iPhone for a few days (jailbroken, but not unlocked), and the UK one feels much faster, smoother, not single crash with a number of pages and apps going. My voicemail had to be enabled by dialling 1750 on the handset, but since doing that visual voicemail is now working perfectly too.
The most amazing thing for me is really EDGE. Some web pages are a little slow, but considering where I was (driving along M1, and in a Hampshire forest) I was amazed at how capable this device is, even on EDGE. I have used 3G before a few times, but it is just not usable due to the implementation. The phone was a dog to use, therefore 3G made no difference to the experience.
The thing that people aren't really getting is that although other phones might have more features on paper - can you use them with confidence? Compared to my previous N91 with the latest Symbian OS, it is like chalk and cheese to me now. Everything so fluid and natural on the iPhone - it makes you want to use the features, rather than consider them as an afterthought.
Sorry for the massive post, but you are looking at one VERY happy customer here.
Worth the hype. Yes indeed.
