The Good. The web browser is great. You can finally look at most websites and see them in the format that they were intended (No Flash or Java though). The price of $200 for the 8GB phone (with a contract) actually is better than a lot of other smart phones on the market. It also has the mobile me service (costs extra) that allows you to keep the phone synced with your computer. It has built in email, calendar, contacts, a GPS, Music and Camera. It integrates nicely with outlook and google mail, and google provides optimized applications for the device. The calculator is nice because the touch screen buttons mimic an standard calculator, and you don’t have to figure out what keys do what. The touch screen is pretty intuitive for basic operations. All applications have to be approved by Apple before they can be offered  the Apple store, so they are less likely to work cause problems with the phone.

 

The Bad. Battery life, with what I would consider moderate usage, I got about 12 hrs out of the battery, my 8700 got about 36 hrs, and there is no way to change the battery on the IPhone. (Of course the 8700 didn’t have power draining features like 3G, GPS, Wi-Fi, and the screen was half the size.) It doesn’t have a built in task (to-do) application, and cannot sync tasks or notes with Outlook. You can’t categorize contacts, for instance business, personal, family, etc. Some of the useful options are buried in the settings, for instance the ability to use CAPS LOCK, is hidden in the general settings and is defaulted to off. The built in mapping application is rudimentary at best. There is also no way to add a memory expansion card. All Applications have to be approved by Apple so there are less apps available than for some other smart phones since the testing and approval process can be time consuming.

 

The Ugly. The phone is only available through AT&T so if they don’t cover your area, or you don’t wat to switch, you are not getting an IPhone. In order to activate your Iphone you have to provide a credit card for an ITunes store account, even if you are not going to buy anything.

 

(By the way, I can’t decide if I like the soft keyboard better than the keyboard on the Blackberry. It takes some getting used to, but it works ok.)

 

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