Hounsy wrote:
Well going to go iPhone as no one who has one seems to regret it in the slightest.
My caveats as an 18+ month user:
- Battery life is really sensitive to the apps you use; makes sense since if you watch video, its going to draw lots of juice. Thanks to some glitchy performance and a product replacement plan from Best Buy ($16/month), I have a number of USB chargers (one on my bedside to charge overnight and one at my desk at work).
- Apple has done a pretty good job of optimizing that glass screen but it's still prone to fingerprints... Recommend that you get a good screen protector that will protect against fingerprints and so on. iSkins makes a terrific cover, but their mirrored screen protector leaves a lot of fingerprints; my wife likes it a lot, and isn't bothered so much; she just turns up the brightness on her screen - but that again drains the battery faster.
- My phone has some twitchy behavior sometimes, annoying when it happens - like it will 'forget' my entire audio library - but it will re-appear after syncing... I think there may be a problem with the file system.
- I've had to replace my phone once in 18 months because the volume rocker failed; my wife has replaced hers twice over the same period - some twitchy behavior when she is typing and before that, she had a chip on her screen. Best Buy's policy is to replace them with refurbed phones... These are generally fine and I for one am glad we paid for that 'insurance'.
- I'm not a big fan of the included earbuds; their uncomfortable and don't fit well = bad audio quality since you don't get decent bass response. So bear in mind that if you plan to use it as an iPod, you might want to upgrade to some decent headphones or earbuds.
- Believe me when I say that the iPhone is the gateway drug to Apple fanboyism... My next PC/laptop will be an iMac/MacBook. Fuh-kAichP&Dell
There are probably better smartphones out there with better features and capabilities, but if you want stability, a phone that just works, a toy that allows for some simple games, is GPS-enabled, can perform as decent e-reader, and is an emergency camera, the iPhone is tough to beat.
And no, I don't regret spending that much to use an iPhone.
True story: Someone on a Harley drove into the side of our Odyssey last September. I got out to make sure he was okay; made a call to 911 and used the iPhone's mapping feature to find out the name of the nearest cross street. I had the SF Pocket Agent app. It had a duplicate of my insurance card on the screen; unfortunately it's not considedered a 'legal' document according to IL law yet, so my wife pulled out her insurance card which has exactly the same information as the e-card. Started my claim right there while we waited for the police and EMS to arrive. Took photos, spoke with a claim rep (ironically, the rep was in a call center in TN; the accident happened 200 m from our Corporate South campus), and filed everything electronically. The only 'paper' I had to touch was the police report form that I had to mail in to SF. I believe GEICO has a very similar app. Not sure I could have done that with a Blackberry or other smartphone.