TheTechLounge

The Blackberry Storm is coming November 21st and I’m salivating!  Not only does it look slick, it has the features that are expected of a smartphone which the iPhone doesn’t have.  My iPhone is beginning to look less and less attractive.

Features I like on the Storm the the iPhone doesn’t have:

• removable battery
• expandable memory
• ability to edit basic office files including Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files
• picture and video messaging
• video recording
• tethering

Ars Technica

Every time I hang out at McDonald’s to get my parfait fix, I get frustrated coz I have to use the AT&T voice network to go online while an AT&T Wi-Fi was available.  The AT&T Wi-Fi was not free so I didn’t use it.

But great news!  AT&T Wi-Fi access is now available to iPhones for free nationwide.  Yay for faster online speeds .  AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots can be found in airports, hotels, universities, restaurants and a lot more.  Click here for more information including access instructions.

Photo from Impact Lab

The data plans that come with the iPhone don’t include text messaging.  You have to either add a messaging plan or pay per text.  After voice and data plan monthly charges, nobody needs another.  So I compiled a couple of ways you can send texts messages for free from your iPhone.  Some also apply to other smartphones.Remember that the recipient may incur charges for the messages you send.

1.  AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)

Just like your computer-based AIM, the AIM iPhone app can also send text messages to phones.  Access to AIM on the iPhone is included in the data plan and does not count as a text message.  Recipients of your messages can reply directly to your message and you will receive the replies via AIM. Click here for instructions at Wired: How-To Wiki.

Read on to see more ways to send text message for free from you iPhone.

Read on…

I bought two types of cases for the iPhone and here is what I think of them:

Apple.com

Belkin Silicone Sleeve

It’s one of the prettier silicone designs in the store. The case doesn’t add too much bulk to the phone. The cut-outs are positioned well. The buttons are covered which added extra protection. The button covers are protruding so it is not hard to figure out where to press. It actually made it easier to press the buttons. The screen protective cover only covers the screen area and doesn’t extend to the black areas. It does the job though and touch sensitivity is not affected too much. It was also easy to put on. The case is loose though. And over time, it gets even more loose. It is true that the case easily comes off when taking the phone out of pants pocket. Over time, the case easily comes off when phone is taken out of my purse too. Because it is loose, dirt easily gets inside. When you take off the case after a few days, you’ll find the back of the phone dirty. The bottom part of the case (below the home button) is thin and sometimes get caught with other things. Right now I’m sticking with hard shell cases until I find a silicone case that fits well. I’m currently using the Griffin Wave case.

Griffin Wave Case

iLounge.com

The case looked very chic. It has this smooth finish that feels great to the touch. However, since it is made of plastic and no rubber grips, it is more prone to slippage unlike its silicone counterparts. The case fits the iPhone well, but not perfectly. Dust can enter the case and settle inside. The installation is a bit difficult. Due to its interlocking curved sides, it is very possible to scratch the surface of the iPhone while installing the case. You also need to apply a little strength to install it. The clear protective cover for the iPhone screen is thick and affects the touchscreen sensitivity a little bit, but it works. I decided to not use the Griffin clear protective cover and use the one from Belkin (above) instead.

Geek brides rejoice!  Here are a few fun things you might enjoy:

Dream Day: Married in Manhattan

Want to plan a wedding?  You can do it virtually with I-Play’s Dream Day: Married in Manhattan.  The goal of the game is to help two couples create their ultimate NYC wedding.  Choose 27 actual Manhattan venues around Greenwich village and the Upper East Side.  Solve dramatic wedding crises and complete 42 wedding challenges.  Earn registry items for the couple.  You also get to unlock two honeymoon levels.  The game is PC-based and can be purchased for $19.95 at I-Play.

Wedding Dash

Wanna know how it feels like to be a wedding coordinator on someone’s special day?  Get your hands on PlayFirst’s Wedding Dash.  Your goal is to help Quinn make that special day run smoothly.  And in this game, it won’t be easy.  There will be unruly guests, falling cakes, catty bridesmaids.  The game features 50 levels, 10 different guest types, 9 wedding mishaps and more.  The game is available for $19.95 at PlayFirst.

Connected Weddings

Plan your wedding on the go with the iPhone app: My Wedding.  The app features 166 pre-populated To Do items.  In addition, you can add, edit and track items.  You can also organize items by category or due date.  A bonus feature allows you to spin a wedding decider to help make crucial decisions.  I usually don’t feature and download iPhone apps that are not free.  But this looks like something brides might use for their wedding planning.  You can download it from the App store for $3.99.

Anticipation

Excited about the wedding?  The iPhone App: Anticipation is a multiple event countdown.  It helps keep track of upcoming events including your wedding.  It gives you the number of days remaining until the big day.  The app is available for download from the App store for $0.99.  Other countdown apps such as Wedding Day and ’til Wed are also available for $0.99.

After ignoring my brother and John’s protests about the iPhone, I ordered it.  After using it for a few days, I was able to assess some of the phone’s pros and cons based on my needs and decide whether it’s worth to keep it or not.

If you are a business phone user, I won’t recommend the iPhone at all.  If you just want a “cool” and entertaining phone, and can deal without some basic features, go ahead and get it.

NEGATIVES

• Battery is not user replaceable.  Being a smartphone, the iPhone uses a lot of battery.  It may not even last a whole day if you’re a heavy user.  It helps if you can have a spare battery, but this wouldn’t work with the iPhone.  There are battery back-ups that you can buy to attach to the iPhone, but that makes it too bulky.
• Texts are grouped in conversations (chat-like layout). I think this makes it easy to read texts, but the iPhone doesn’t have the option to delete individual messages. You can only delete the whole conversation.  The 3.1 software allows individual messages to be deleted.
• Even with the 3G network, data speed is still slow.  In addition, the 3G network in my area is crappy.
• No voice dial, video recording, voice recording, MMS messaging, bluetooth data transfer.  I don’t know if there are apps available for these features.  I know there are some available for voice recording.  The 3.1 software allows voice recording, MMS messaging and bluetooth data transfer.  However, I never got to test the bluetooth transfer coz I can never get to find any other bluetooth devices from my phone or the other way around.
• GPS is okay, but slow and delayed in tracking where you are when you’re driving.  It’s not good for navigation.  It can follow where you are, but it can’t relate your position to the directions.  By the way, you can’t get directions if you can’t connect to the internet.
• There are no sound profiles.  You also can’t change the tone for email and calendar alerts.
• Low ring volume compared to other phones.  I have my phone set to the highest volume, and it’s still hard to hear it when the phone’s in my bag and I’m outside.  Vibrate doesn’t help as it is too subtle.
• Other volumes (i.e. music, video, call) affect the volume of the ringtone which is very annoying.  You will have to go back to settings to change the volume of the ringtone every time you listen to music, watch a video, talk to someone or anything where you had to change the volume.  With the new 2.1 firmware, the issue with other volumes affecting the ringer volume looks to have been resolved.
• Must use iTunes to transfer data.
• Browser cannot play Flash.
• No ‘real’ speed dial.  The shortest way to speed dial takes 2 clicks, usually 3.
• No copy and paste function.  The 3.1 software now allows copy and paste.
• Visual voicemail speaker is too soft.
• The camera set up is not user-friendly.  It’s hard to take self-portraits.  You will have to guess where to press the shutter since the shutter button is on the screen.  There’s no mirror on the back either so you’re not sure whether you’re in the frame or not.  GeekSugar posted a tip on how to use the iPhone camera easily.
• Creating a custom ringtone including mp3 files is more complicated than in other phones.
• Dictionary cannot be disabled.  Since my language is not included in the iPhone, it just keeps suggesting English words which is annoying.  I have to press “X” a lof of times.  At least it’s supposed to remember the words I typed.  The option to disable the iPhone dictionary is now available with the 3.1 software.
• When a call comes in while the phone is locked then the alarm goes off while the phone is ringing, there is no way to turn the alarm off.  The only controls you see on the screen are for the call (i.e. accept call).
• The alarm sounds off when phone is in silent mode instead of just vibrating.  Unlike most phones, there is no option for the alarm to go off when the phone is off or when the phone ran out of battery.

POSITIVES

• Beautiful and easy interface, and smooth touchscreen response.
• Plenty of downloadable 3rd party applications.
• Bigger screen and nice graphics than the other touchscreen phones.
• Webpage displays are pretty similar to that on a computer.
• Rechargeable via a computer.
• Visual voicemail.
• It’s cheaper than a lot of smartphones.
• Reception at my job is better than with my previous phones.
• You can find local businesses with extensive info (i.e. number, website, address) by using the map.

What I need/want:
I’ve assigned percentages to each feature based on my priority needs/wants.  After using the iPhone, I’ve come up with how much of those percentages the iPhone fulfills.  In total, the iPhone fulfills 77% 76% of my needs/wants, so I’m keeping it.

I got my iPhone and played with it for a few days.  I promise I will be posting what I think about the iPhone (sorta of a review) soon.

As I was waiting for my iPhone and now playing with it, I’m also looking at other phones.  iPhone definitely does not have everything compared to other phones such as MMS, video recording, Bluetooth data transfer.  So I was preparing to see what I can buy just in case I need to return the iPhone.  Other competing touchscreen phones I found were LG Vu and Samsung Instinct.  Unfortunately, Samung Instinct does not use the GSM network that I need.  But I decided to check it out anyway.

Below is a video of a comparison between iPhone, LG Vu and Samsung Instinct by Noah from PhoneDog.com:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/v/02Tbh_umdSg&hl=en&fs=1[/video]

Below are direct links to Cnet reviews:

iPhone (AT&T)
LG Vu (AT&T)
Samsung Instinct (Sprint)

Not so good. I just got the iPhone yesterday and shortly after, I realized I got a lemon. According to an iPhone representative at AT&T, my phone has a proximity issue. Everytime I am on a call, the screen goes blank (it’s supposed to). But when I take it away from my ear to press a number, the screen never comes back. The only way I could get the screen back is to press the sleep/wake button which of course cuts my call.

By the way, here’s a big NEGATIVE for AT&T:
When I went to iTunes, somebody else’s account was already set up. The phone I got wasn’t brand new! I am not paying full-price for a returned item. It’s not even refurbished coz it wasn’t working right.

Here are some Cons I noticed while playing with the iPhone for less than 24 hours (I will be posting a longer review with pros when I get a replacement):

3G
The 3G signal on my phone is crappy in my area. Believe it or not, the EDGE was better.

Battery
There’s no removable battery, so you cannot really replace it yourself. If you’re a heavy phone user, you’ll find the battery insufficient (even at full charge). A spare battery would have been nice, but that’s not possible.

SMS Texting
Texts are grouped in conversations (chat-like layout). I think this makes it easy to read texts, but the iPhone doesn’t have the option to delete a particular message. You can only delete the whole conversation.

Keyboard
The keyboard has no landscape option when texting.

Email
When editing my Yahoo! email (delete, move, etc), I have no way of knowing which emails are unread, or I’m just not seeing it.

Software
Like Windows, it hangs up too. It hanged up when I was trying to save a photo for a contact. It also hanged up when I was in YouTube.

Here are some basic features the iPhone doesn’t have, but I don’t really mind:

• There’s no mirror on the back so it’s hard to know whether you’re in the frame or not when taking a self-portrait.
• There’s no video recording.
• There’s no MMS messaging.

I didn’t like the iPhone nor did I plan to buy it since it was first introduced, until now.  With the cost going down to $199-$299, I got curious.  A lot of people discouraged me from getting it.  User reviews were not very good either.  Some of the basic features such as MMS, video recording and bluetooth data transfer are not supported.  But my curiosity got the better of me and I ordered one!  I am hoping to try it before I can either say “It’s not for me.” or “It’s great!”

It is on back-order so AT&T will have to contact me when my phone arrives at the store.  They said it takes 7-10 days.  That’s definitely a lot better than waiting in line for hours just to be one of the first to get it.  By the way, you can also buy it from an Apple store.  I have a business account and the process is a lot more complicated when buying from an Apple store, so I didn’t bother.

I will probably post a review after playing with the iPhone for a couple of days.  Since I’m not very tech-savvy when it comes to mobile phones, the review would probably be short and not very technical.

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