Great computer integration, okay service plan.

History

I have had this iPhone since it was first released. I bought this phone because I wanted better integration with my Apple computers. I was hoping for a normal type of reception experience as well, much like I was used to with my Verizon Blackberrty. Read on to see what happened. Let's just say, I love the interface.

Use

The use of the phone is very intuitive. The buttons are large on screen and the applications that come with the phone are very familiar to anyone who has used a cell phone. Apple has really thought out the interface and placed the only buttons you really use daily on the outside. These are the home button located at the bottom middle and the volume buttons. There is a silence switch and a power button but those are out of normal handling way.

Applications

The iPhone comes with a large number of standard applications that make is very useful right out of the box. Contacts, Phone (duh), Maps, Internet (Safari), Mail, Chat (SMS) are your basic applications you will see on the http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/homescreen.html. The contact list has more than enough areas to store everything you would want regarding people you call. The feature of having the person's picture come up on the screen when they call is pretty nice.

I don't text message much so http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/sms.html isn't my thing, maybe 5 a month so I can't really say more than that it works just like any chat program.

The http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/phone.html part itself has some nice features right on screen during the call. The ability to choose your audio source, headphone, speakerphone, or phone itself is presented in a fresh way with buttons on screen that allow you to choose back and forth easily. The integration of the contact list (address book) is seamless.

http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/safari.html offers a very nice surfing experience. It is fast and the screen is large. You are also offered two screen orientations. All you have to do is turn the device sideways and it changes from portrait mode to landscape mode. This doesn't work in every application. It appears to be up to the programmer.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/mail.html is a super feature. You can get your mail automatically right out of the box without requesting it with a feature called push. Set up your accounts, turn on push and mail will come down to your phone, you don't have to request an interval to check the mail, it comes down as the mail appears on your server.

A program called http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/maps.html gives you pretty much a Garmin device in your phone. Your position moves as you move however you must drag the map if you go off the end of the screen and you don't get the 3d view that the Garmin devices offer.

The http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/ipod.html is just like that you find in the iPod touch. It works like any other iPod. If you don't know what an iPod is, learn about it at Apple's site, that is beyond the scope of this review.
The other Apple applications work as you would expect them to work on your computer.

Integration

A super nice feature is the integration with MobileMe (the old dot mac). You don't have to sync your phone with your computer if you have MobileMe service. It just happens. It isn't as fast as instant but it is pretty quick. When you check your mail on your home computer it shows what you have read, what you have sent and forwarded on your iphone. It is done all automatically. You don't have to wonder if the mail was read on your home computer and then read them again on your iPhone. Same goes for your calendar. Your contacts are automatically loaded from your home computer to your iPhone without syncing if you so choose. Any changes made in the contact list is reflected in your home computer and vice versa.

Camera

There is a camera built into this phone. It is equipped with a bit of a fisheye lens. The resolution is very adequate for a phone. You won't be shooting models with this phone but it will do what you want.The camera is equipped with software based image stabilization. This can cause a bit of lag when you move the camera, not much but enough that you notice.

Battery

Battery life is not as good as my Blackberry 8830. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on how you use the phone. Use the Wifi and the bluetooth alot and you will suck your battery down faster. If you are in an area with really strong signals, the phone will throttle down the power usage to account for great signal strength and your battery will last longer. Conversely, if you are in a poor reception area your battery won't last super long because it is using a lot of power to maintain a connection.

3G and Signal

The phone offers the ability to connect to a 3G network. AT&T doesn't offer 3G in very many areas right now so it is best to turn this feature off if you don't have 3G, your battery will last longer and your connection will be much better. The AT&T network uses a high frequency signal that doesn't penetrate buildings as well as the lower frequencies that Verizon and US Cellular (in my area) do. Of course, AT&T's network carries more data on the stream. I'm not an engineer but this seems to be connected. The tower is only 3 miles from my office but I had to put a cellular repeater system in my building to get the phone to work in my office whereas my Blackberry (tower 3 miles away also) always had 5 bars.

Conclusion

All-in-all, the White iPhone 3G (16mb) has turned out to be a better phone than the blackberry. The sound quality is far superior to the Blackberry both on the phone and the speaker phone. My service plan is the top line $159 per month plan. I don't like that I am paying to have 3G service but it isn't available.

It is a good choice in my opinion.