iPhone Review (Part 3 of 3)

• iPhone Review, Part 1 of 3
• iPhone Review, Part 2 of 3
• iPhone Review, Part 3 of 3

Well we have looked at the Gripes and Praise for the iPhone, now let’s wrap this review up…

Conclusion [8 out of 10]

First let’s look at why this wasn’t a 10 out of 10 to get an idea of what we are dinging the iPhone for:

• Sub-optimal synchronization options for non-Mac folks or people not using MS Office/Outlook.
• No 3G
• No GPS
• Overly locked-down interface

I will say this though, if you are already a Mac person, have a Mac and love your Mac, the iPhone will likely be a 9/10 or a 9.5/10 for you. I think the lack of integrated GPS and 3G will still bother you, but likely not as much as the smooth Mac-integration and Mac-interface make you happy.

If you are a Windows guy and used to Windows Mobile devices or BlackBerrys with some extended customizations and tweakability and lack of really awesome syncing (unless you are already using Microsoft Office, in which case the syncing is just as good as a Mac) you will probably think the device is a 7/10 or 8/10 as I did.

If you are a Linux/Unix guy, I doubt you are going to be able to sync this with anything and have it interoperate with your computer in any way, so you’ll probably think it’s like a 4/10 or 5/10.

In closing, I like the device a lot. I will likely keep it as my primary phone, but it’s not perfect and I do notice things that I’m giving up that I had on my BlackBerry (that I noted in my Gripes section), but I also recognize some really nice new additions, and the superior handling of Audio and Video makes this an all-in-one device for me, which is more valuable than having say Select/Copy/Paste.

With the new SDK announcement and opening up of applications on the iPhone, I think the iPhone v2, whenever that is released (next year?) if it does bring 3G and GPS integration will be stupid-awesome partly because of the integrated refinement and improvements, but also because of the maturing app market building around it that BlackBerry hasn’t really been able to do to the scale Apple will, and I have no idea if Google’s Android platform will spurr the “Sexy app development” effort that the iPhone will have.

In short, the iPhone doesn’t feel like a 1st attempt, it feels more like a 2nd revision of a phone from Apple. It’s polished, refined, has some areas to improve on but it’s definitely here to stay.

Update #1: I forgot to comment on the battery life (which is very good), I included that in the Praise section.