[DM-MUG] daft enough

[Bill Davis]

I got one too.  My iPhone has been very handy for 'Net access for  
Web, Mail, Google Maps, and Weather, etc (my RAZR sucked at all of  
these and the Palm isn't much better) and it's truly the best iPod  
ever (except for the fact that it's only 8GB; I want an iPhone with a  
100GB hard disk!!!)

It's not without warts though; the calendar app is disappointing and  
can't replace my Palm PDA's yet.  Notes don't sync to anything on the  
Mac (I'm told this is coming in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard's Mail.app) and  
a few other quibbles.  Software is limited but the hackers have  
already figured out how to write their own apps, and not just web  
based ones either so it's only a matter of time before anything you  
want appears and Apple has to give in and provided an official SDK  
(Software Development Kit) instead of just saying "write Web 2.0 Apps".

Also:  The hardware is beautiful but is far too fragile.  You MUST  
Invest in a rubberized case that fits around the unit and protects  
the screen.  DO NOT USE IT WITHOUT A PROTECTIVE CASE!  The glass face/ 
digitizer over the LCD *will* shatter if you drop it on concrete and  
the chrome will scratch.   I'd lay you odds Apple gets sued over this  
one, and they deserve to, too.  Mobile devices need to survive a six- 
foot drop test onto rocks unscathed, IMHO .  I dropped my iPhone and  
shattered the screen and it cost $270 to repair, less than a month  
after buying it.  I was not amused (but the support experience was  
excellent, I must say....I just wish I didn't have to experience it.)

Comparing this to all my (three) previous cell phones (a Motorola  
MicroTAC, Motorola StarTAC and a Motorola RAZR V3) it fails dismally.  
I never used ANY sort of case on ANY of those, dropped them all, even  
onto concrete, and never had more than minor scuffing that didn't  
affect the unit at all and was barely noticeable.

Heck, I even tripped and FELL on my RAZR (which was in a belt clip  
with the small exterior glass screen facing outwards).  I fell into a  
bed of river rock.  The results?  A few scuffs that wiped off.  NO  
other damage despite having a 250 lb guy fall on it.  If I did that  
to to the iPhone it might survive but I guarantee the glass screen  
cover would be shattered.  When I dropped my iPhone there was NO  
other damage beyond the glass cover spiderwebbing and a scuff on the  
chrome from the concrete.  But the glass screen was a BIG mistake.   
And an unnecessary one; Apple changed it from plastic to glass  
shortly before release, with a big press release trumpeting how it  
would prevent scratches.  Well, maybe so; several reviewers kept it  
in their pocket with their keys for weeks and got not  
scratches....but apparently no one tried dropping it onto a hard/ 
rough surface.

So my rating of the iPhone:  Software:  8 out of 10.  Hardware:  2  
out of 10.

The software is improving (they've already released a bug/feature  
updated that addressed a few of the software limitations I didn't  
like!).  The hardware however needs a LOT of work before iPhone 2.0.

  - Bill Davis


On Aug 6, 2007, at 9:51 PM, Victoria L. Herring wrote:

> I did and it's great...I've been blogging about it at the HL site  
> [link below] and need to put up more having spent 5 days with it in  
> NYCity
> -- 
> Victoria L. Herring, Attorney in Des Moines, Iowa -  Civil rights,  
> Discrimination & Employment Law, http://www.herringlaw.com.  Ph.  
> 515/255-4475;  iChat AV:  victoriaherring at mac.com;  Skype:  vlherring.
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