iPhone Review

I did finally break down and get an iPhone. I did not truly understand the extent of Steve Jobs' evil master plan until I got the thing. For example, I use Microsoft Outlook for my online work calendar and contacts list all the time. These are synchronized through Apple's iTunes software. So, even though I don't download music to my work computer, I needed to install iTunes for proper synchronization with my phone. At home I plug it into my iMac to synchronize music.

As you may know, I read plenty of blogs. A while back, I started to use Google Reader as a preferred way to scan the content of many blogs. Turns out Google Reader and GMail are perfectly formatted for reading on the iPhone. So, while I used to sit at my computer and read blogs, I can do it on the phone without any real eye strain. To make it even easier, when I'm home, the phone recognizes the wireless network we have. So the Internet access at home is done on the phone at the same speed as every other computer in the house. When not at home, the 3G network used on the iPhone (same as with my previous Blackjack) is pretty speedy, although it's not available everywhere.

I also like to read the NYTimes online, one of the few newspapers I do that with. It turns out they have an iPhone application, so I just push on the NYTimes logo on the screen of my phone, and I get nicely formatted stories from the NYTimes served up to me for reading. I really think the competitors -- even Google with their to-be-released phone software in partnership with the handset makers -- will have a tough time cracking the iPhone developer audience. The integration of iPhone applications with iTunes puts a serious lock on things.

I'm still struggling with the typing on it, since it does not have a keyboard. I may be as speedy as I was on my old Motorola Razr for texting, but I definitely am not up to the speed I was with a proper QWERTY keyboard for thumbing, and I doubt I ever will be on the iPhone.

Once you get past the phone price, the data plan is an expense to be reckoned with, unless you have a company to pay for it. To add insult to injury, you need to pay separately for texting for some reason, too.

All-in-all, pretty much a game-changing piece of equipment, and a decent phone, too!