My road from Windows Mobile to iPhone 2.0 - Part 1

I am still amazed that I actually waited 9 hours to purchase the iPhone. It seems like a blur, and does not seem like it was that bad (interesting how you can rationalize such events). It was not so much the waiting but what I could have done with that time. I did do about 4 hours worth of work between my 3.5 hours worth of X60 battery time and phone calls; that left 5 hours of essentially milling around and talking to fellow line mates hoping Apple employees would move faster, then dreaming of the end game. But that is all over now and it is time to see if this version of the iPhone is worthy enough to become my daily driver. Since I purchased it at the Apple store, 95% of the purchase experience was performed with a Microsoft Windows CE Symbol device, the last 5% was the iTunes activation on a Mac. I have 14 days to return it (until July 30th). If I choose to return it, I will have to pay a 10% restocking fee ($30) which is better than being stuck with a $300 device I will seldom use and a 2 year AT&T contract.

I have already forwarded  my T-Mobile number to the iPhone. I have a 1000 minutes of forward minutes which should work fine with my 450 minute iPhone plan.

The key features I will be looking at ,are the Exchange integration and available productivity applications, as well as AT&T coverage in my area. Off course the usability factor will play a big role in my evaluation. After one full day of use, here are some initial pros and cons:

Pros:

• Form factor: I like how it feels in my hand, it is thinner that the original but I think the feel of the plastic case made a bigger impression on me that the thinner design.
• Screen size: Apple did a great job picking the iPhone's screen size. I find the 3.5" screen is a big plus over the 2.8" on my AT&T Tilt.
• Exchange ActiveSync is as easy to set up as on a Windows Mobile device (more to come on ActiveSync differences).
• The GPS position aquisition is excellent, especially compared to the AT&T Tilt.

Cons:

• Battery life is poor. I unplugged it around 8AM yesterday, at about 3:30PM the battery was down to 20%. I have WIFI and Bluetooth turned on with occasional GPS use. I used it as I would my Tilt. At this point in the day I am used to having at least 50% left. Just like the recessed headset jack in the 1st generation iPhone which was ridiculous, I think the Apple designers went crazy on trimming the width of unit at the expense of a larger battery. I would gladly have the iPhone 3G be the same width as the original to have more battery time.
• No spell checker, the dictionary is there for suggestions, but a spell check feature would have been nice.
• No Pocket Informant, Sling Player mobile, Note2Self, Windows Live Search and eWallet. Those are probably the applications I use the most. I know all of these will come soon enough. Ilium has pushed eWallet to Apple, however they have delayed the deployment to the app store because of some additional checking that they must do (event hough Ilium has all the paperwork done) because of the export controls on encryption technology.

App Store:

• The only application I currently installed is the Typepad blogging application which is nice but I feel it is missing a major piece of functionality: being able to update current published posts.
• I have perused the App Store and have not really found anything earth shattering in the productivity area. The games are a different story and I will probably have to try some out. (see David Pogue's very high level roundup

Usability:

I am starting to better comprehend the UI paradigm and it does differ from what I am used to in Windows. An example of that the applications that I have tried do not have a save button. Example: In the Typepad and Mail application you click on the Cancel button and it brings up a menu to save and/or exit. I am not sure that I agree with this paradigm but I can see that you could argue both ways. There are many applications in Windows that will perform the same way by clicking the x, but the majority of them also have a prominent save function. So my issue is really with the lack of a save function front and center.

Comments

[Chris Beard]

I think I agree with your assessment of the iPhone after experiencing it myself and using my iPod Touch over Wifi for email. The interface does take some time getting used to. Exchange works flawlessly, however I have had a hard time figuring out how to turn the auto-suggest feature off and keeping it from changing what I type. This is particularly annoying because I frequently type English and German, so it tries to make my German words English. Also I don't like how you always have to slide your finger across to access the functions, even if you only have the device "off" for a minute or less. Oftentimes I turn the screen off but will turn it back on a minute or so later to check something, but you always have to slide your finger across the bottom to unlock it. On the Wing that was never an issue. I'm also having difficulty with the keypad. It seems my fingers are fatter than I had thought and so typing does not have the same comfort as on a real Qwerty keyboard. But I guess reduction of size has its downsides. Battery has also become an issue. Mine is always down to 20% by the evening under what I would call normal usage. At work we have already had people turn in their iPhone and gone back to the Blackberry Pearl. I would imagine we'll be hearing a lot of people doing that. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great device, just probably not for everyone.