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Apple Personal Reviews

My Quick iPhone Review

iphone

The good stuff:
– It’s pretty
– Excellent browser
– Everyone wants to touch your iphone
– It has an iPod built in
– Touch screen is amazing
– Decent camera
– It’s cheap, KD95 for 4GB and KD130 for 8GB (with shipping to Kuwait) prices the iPhone very competitively to other regular phones from Nokia and Sony Ericsson

The bad stuff:
– Once you have an iPhone you realize its just a phone
– If you have a lot of numbers its a real pain finding a contact
– Everyone wants to touch your iphone
– Typing on the iPhone is a joke
– Battery life is a bigger joke, barely lasts a day with below average use
– Adding a ringtone is a hassle
– Majority of headphones won’t work with it
– Not as useful or fun without a wireless internet or GPRS connection
– You have a lot of basic phone features missing like forwarding an SMS, turning off the predictive dictionary, different phone profiles, searching for contacts etc.. etc.. etc..

Would I recommend it?
If you aren’t a heavy phone user yes.
If you don’t send a lot of messages also yes.
For everyone else, no.

Final score, 3.5 out of 5. Nat loves it although she has issues with it. I personally could never have an iPhone as my primary phone.

Update: I now use the iPhone as my primary phone and can’t imagine life without it. The software 2.0 brought with it the app store which has made the iphone a lot more interesting for me.

35 replies on “My Quick iPhone Review”

i never thought the iphone will be good. at least not the first iphone. hey mark, there’s a new microsoft zune out there…why dont u post a comparison between it and the ipod?

You missed out on the fact that you are locked out of any firmware updates and the enhancements that come with that update.

I was underwhelmed by the device and decided to sell it off.

BTW..
– the 4GB is no longer available online.
= the price is competitive only because it is assumed to be purchased as part of a 2-year AT&T plan. An unlocked version (if it ever becomes available) will be a whole lot more expensive.

Snake, I posted about that awhile back. You need to have a U Shop We Ship mailbox or an Aramex one. You also need a credit card. Go to store.apple.com and purchase it from there. With shipping to Kuwait it will come to around KD130. I ordered 3 iphones and didn’t pay customs for any also.

Mark, a few things:

=its not a hassle to look for a contact since there is a small alphabetical list on the side of the contacts menu.

=Ringtones can be changed either by hacking the iPhone(steps can be found on youtube) or an app which i forgot what it is called.

=The typing problem only exists the first two days, after that it will be a breeze.

=Turning off the dictionary is possible by downloading an app called KB from the installer program(which can be found online for free).

=Profiles? come on when was the last time someone used that, at least u have a side button which switches to silent or general mode in less than a second.

=I have two pairs of headphones Sony & Panasonic both are working 100%

=Battery life will be improved after a few charges, its normal the first week, till u drain it and charge it fully for like twice, then problem solved.

cajie, what updates come on 😛 updates fix old bugs and introduce new ones.. its like having a nokia with software version 1.0 then 1.1 gets introduced a month latter, then..then V4.3 they are all the same , its not like the iPhone is going to support GPS or GPRS .. or whatever in a software update 🙂

Also, if u like to keep it updated 24/7 then a crack/method will be available sooner or latter somewhere online, u know it i know it 🙂

spelling error

– No as useful or fun without a wireless internet or GPRS connection

it should be Not as useful

– Once you have an iPhone you realize its just a phone

You’re kidding? It’s so much more than a phone.

– If you have a lot of numbers its a real pain finding a contact

Just scroll the list on the right side of the screen.

– Typing on the iPhone is a joke

I thought so at first, but I’m getting a lot faster. It’s actually not bad at all.

– Adding a ringtone is a hassle

Try iToner.

SWOS and Magnus, I know how to scroll through the numbers but unlike you guys I have more than 20 numbers and I need to be able to find my numbers quickly. Scrolling through hundreds of numbers is not faster than typing out the first two letters of the name which you can’t do on the iphone.

Using a separate software to “hack” songs onto the iphone to play as ringtones is stupid specially since the iphone is also an ipod. I should be able to choose any song on my phone to have as a ringtone.

Sony & Panasonic headphones suck so it doesnt matter if it works with the iPhone. UE, Shure, Senheiser, B&O for example don’t work.

Battery life barely lasts a day with below average use, if I use the iPhone the way I use my e61i it would barely last over half a day. My e61i lasts 2 full days of heavy use without a charge.

I use profiles when I am in meetings or restaurants, I dont want my phone to be on silent, sometimes I want it to be quieter than my usual very loud setup.

Installing an app to turn off the dictionary like everything else is… stupid. Again as I said a lot of basic features are missing and having to install software to do something basic doesn’t mean the features are not missing.

my only issue with the phone is the SMS keyboard not available in landscape mode. what a stupid omission.
also iTunes fucking sucks donkey dick, no wonder i never got an ipod before. i just want to add and delete my music and files. you can’t even delete files or contacts from the phone itself, you have to empty ‘sync’.

hey mark!! i’m lebanese and i was thimking of getting an iphone what should i do to get one is it still possible???? i’m sry you seem to have been fed up with this sort of questions !!! should i get an already unlocked one, if so how? and how much will it cost or should i get a new one and i unlock it ? and if so from where ??? i’m sry i’m disturbing u bas enno ktir tali3 3abele jib an iphone et ma32oul le2e a chi 400$?

ok a shop ownr told me to buy it from abroud enno with somone i know is coming to leb and he’ll unlock it for 40 $ is it good or should i do ot myself!!!???? sry for bothering you !!!!

i was wondering whether u shop we ship have a website,,i was wondering also whether the 130 kd iphone is unlocked..

I would like to have one of them, but the problem of its new software is that it updates it self automatically to resolve any problems and disable cracked system files. so I think I pass this time till its finally available in Kuwait.

There are some things you need to know:
1. Almost no one in the States uses SMS, thats why SMS functions are limited.
2. You can not compare iPhone battery life to any other phone battery. Don’t forgot you are using a phone, ipod, internet wifi, internet edge, email checking, and a real OS. I recommend you get a car charger.
3. You can tell that the iPhone is made only for US consumers. No one uses MMS either, people here are heavy email users (its free). I have 5 email accounts on my iPhone (work in Kuwait, work in US, University in US, Personal, Website) and with the iPhone I can do things with my email I can never do with Nokia or Sony Ericsson phone.
4. I have more than 100 contact and I never had any problem locating a contact! It depends on how organized are your contacts. You can also assign favorites for the few people you call all the time.
5. I disagree with you about the dictionary, I love it. My emails and notes are all written in English. Also, it can learn words that you use often.
You have to understand that the iphone is made for use in the States and maybe Europe. I don’t think that it is that much useful in the Middle East. In Kuwait, none of my friends use email on daily bases (except at work) and no one types in english.

Mark: Apple don’t ship to either mail boxes anymore … i guess people who ordered the big QTY’s over abused the privilage and the apple store found out about it.. they ont send to mail forwarders anymore … so for the past month or so apple has stopped shipping to both ARAMEX and U SHOP WE SHIP …

ALSO, I AGREE WITH YOU about it not being a good phone and is DEFINATLEY JUST A COOL GADGET with a GPRS internet conection that is .. .. but a two tips for all you i-phone users who are having trouble with the text msging and battary life, turn your wi-fi off until you need it .. saves A LOT OF POWER .. and dont try to type in Arabic/english .. its just a waste of time trying to teach it ‘arabish’ words .. just stick to english .. and you’ll see that with time it’ll become easier and faster to type on it’s crappy little keyboard .. 😉

Bo Bader: as for the Contacts .. I THINK Mark is talking about 1000+ i personaly have around 1200 contacts .. i lived in three different countries and have gathered a lot of contacts over the years .. that i use form time to time.. and dont want to have t RE-ORGANIZE them fof the IPHONE .. i also have people labled .. by the places they work at .. like for example, Ahmad B., Chocolate Bar .. in the nokia . i can easily search for ‘choco’ and get all the people associated wth chocolate bar .. if it says that in thier Company or last name ..
WHAT IF I DONT REMEBER THE FIRST NAME .. i would have to go to the settings and change the way the contacts are sorted .. everytime ..
the reason i wanted an iphone is because i loved how CLEVER itunes is .. and really hope that one day i’ll be able to edit my contacts on itunes just like i do with my music music !!
and the only reason peopledon use MMS in the US (other than they are stingy and would rather use the FREE e-mail alternative) is because only two carriers offer it .. they’re are so far behind with mobile technology it’s not een funny! they dont even have video calling !! (they might not need it.. since they all have 6 and 8 MB internet at their homes and offices) but they only hav two GSM – networks .. and are still pretty NEW to advanced NOKIA phones and MMS ….
PLUS the younger gen. SMS … AL THE TIME … what do you mean they hardly SMS 🙂 WOW … (LIKE .. THE SIDEKICK …)

anyway you guys .. the iphone is cool .. its very pretty .. and it’s a fun gadget at it’s price .. I DOUBT that they will ever encrease the price if they stat selling unlocked ones . they are actually decreasing the prices because most americans wont pay $400-500 for a PHONE! just like how APPLE laptops a few years ago where only bought by profetionals …and now every 13 yr old wants a mac … (I LOVE STEVE JOBS!!)
one more thing .. since some advanced nokia and sony ericsson phones can be found in the US .. the IPHONE was supposed to be a lot more advanced to be able to compete! therefore .. no matter how little americans use SMS the iphone is an international products (now in the UK and Germany) and had to be released at international standards!

Anas, Video call on phones?! are you kidding? and believe me, no one uses SMS in US. I have been living in the US for more than 10 years, its not that the US is behind in GSM tech, it is what the market wants. People here are not welling to pay for services they don’t need. MMS? what would you send that is less than 100KB? the smallest size picture now is at least 120KB. I believe in Kuwait you pay 70 to 140 flls for each MMS! and SideKick uses AIM text messaging ( you don’t need advance features for that) which is almost free if you buy certain plans. 8 years ago people were limited to SMS other on their network (for example ATT cannot SMS Cingular at that time) and people, including myself, hated SMS.

Bo Bader all my MMS pics are around 25 to 50kb in size max. The phone resizes the image before it sends them. I use MMS all the time its extremely practical.

No sms, no mms, no bluetooth and ibrickr cant locate my phone when its plugged into the pc…any1 interested in buying an ipohne?

Just started playing with the iphone today overseas. I don’t think I can use it because the SMS is a joke!!!!! A tiny little message window and a menu that gets every single word wrong. Even tapping the suggested word it often just disappears and leaves the bizarro word there. It’s a totally useless joke.

If SMS is so unimportant, why is it the FIRST application, top right???

If it is important, why is it a useless joke???

*******Do NOT buy the iphone if you use SMS********

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