Finally got a iPhone

And I love it. Even though these days I am starting to believe more and more that Apple is becoming the evil company Microsoft once was, I am pretty sure the iPhone is the most innovative product to come from Apple in a long time. Yes the iPod was great, but the iPhone is – groundbreaking. And I got a cool little iPod Shuffle because I was one of the first to buy one

Granted, I only have for about 5 days now, but I have been using it intensively (put me in any meeting long enough, and my phone becomes my plaything).  So far I am loving it – but I have to admit it is not perfect. I still believe Symbian is a better OS, and I will still recommend any Nokia E-series over just about any phone any day.  But the iPhone is not only a phone – it is a whole new computer platform.

The main reason I got it was because I had my eyes on a new iPod touch 2G – but I decided to just make the jump to the full iPhone. Wasnt it Steve Jobs who said that the touch is just a iPhone on training wheels?

So here is what I have found so far:

Pros:

- The interface is amazing. No other phone comes close.

- The build quality is stunning, but I am still treating it like a porcelain doll. It is just so pretty .

- Mail is much better than the messaging on any other phone, incl Symbian.

- iTunes integration works without hitch, and the iPod aspect is without problems.

- The battery is better than I expected. We are all waiting for the elusive all day computing device. This is it.

- The 3G is much, much faster than my E61. And a lot more stable. Could be the HSDPA component?

Cons:

- That big beautiful screen sucks the battery dry very quickly. Especially when you also start hammering the 3G and Wifi.

- The keyboard is terrible if you are typing anything but english.  When I am typing in Afrikaans the predictive text changes the words. Why cant I switch this off? Software update please?

- There is no decent multitasking – coming from a E61, I am used to running a IM app, web browser and email at the same time. But I am sure this will be fixed soon enough.

I am aware the keyboard and multitasking issues can be fixed with jailbreaking, but after spending R7000 on a phone I am a little hessitant on something that may brick my phone. 

Yeah, about the price – R7000 is actually not out of this world pricing, especially if you take into account what top end Nokias and HTCs cost. Never in my life will I ever again use a Windows Mobile phone, and the N series phones are a bit too chunky for my tastes. The only phone I see as a true competitor to the iPhone is the E71. R7000 is the price of a low end laptop, and no I do not want one.  I think I made the right choice…