iPhone 3G - What's hot and what's not !

It's been over two months that I have been using Apple's iPhone and wanted to share my experiences and my version of the phone's pros and cons.

Apple's strength has always been aesthetics and quality and the iPhone is a testimony to this. These two features together with Apple's brand make this a coveted product. What really prompted me to purchase the iPhone apart from the abovementioned qualities are it's functionalities as (in my order of preference)

- Efficient personal organizer
- Internet communicator
- iTunes & App Store friendly device
- iPod player
- Cool phone

I don't intend to describe these functionalities or features (Apple has a comprehensive support site for that), but it is to mention some tangible features that are otherwise unavailable. I use iPhone mostly as a personal organizer. I rate it very highly as a personal organizer. I have my Calendar synced up with my Outlook. I made it a point not to have office mail on my phone but am always logged in my GMail. The Clock and 'Notes' features are very handy. The Notes feature is similar to Google's notebook that allows me to save random thoughts and reminders. Stocks and Weather apps on the home screen are very useful. I track my portfolio constantly using the Stocks App and have nearly a dozen cities tagged to the Weather Apps. I have a habbit of adding all cities that I visited or plan to visit to this Weather App. It is weird but nostalgic too.

iPhone as an Internet communicator is a decent pass. Safari is adequate in the sense it opens most of the commonly used sites with minimal fuss. I haven't tried any highly secure logins, but browsing, booking flights, catching cricket or tennis updates can be done in a trice. One needs to get used to the 'proxy' keypad. Youtube is a very abridged of its original self. Videos or not sortable, which sucks, but it is again a decent feature.

A third important asset that lets Apple dominate its competitors is iTunes. While iTunes has a proven track record, App Store which is bundled in iTunes barges Apple's success. The fact that App Store enables developers sell their apps to iPhone users is a win-win situation for developers and users. And in the heap, Apple takes 30% of the revenue generated by App sales. 70% proceeds to the developer. This turns out to be a great strategy by Apple which Microsoft and even Google to some extent are trying to mimic. Also, because the App Store fosters apps from independent developers and organizations alike, the ensuing competition to develop user-friendly and productive apps gets intense much to the liking of consumers like me. I have around 20 apps in my iPhone ranging from Google Earth to AroundMe, TWC, Jott, Who and a whole lot of games like iGolf, Chess, Sudoku, iBowl etc.

That iPhone has an embedded iPod is a huge gain in itself. And an iPod that can connect to the internet directly to download podcasts and songs is all the more beneficial. I am always hooked on various podcasts, Knowledge@Wharton is my personal favorite. Audio & video quality and transmission are extraordinary. I don't listen to songs much but that doesn't hamper me from having close to 100 songs on my device. Who cares when you have 8GB of space?

iPhone as a phone - I would rate it as standard. Nothing revolutionary but has everything that is necessary. I like the details included in Contacts information and the ability to have personalized ringtones and photographs to be displayed for callers but that is not exactly new. Call reception and other technical stuff are good.

As with any revoultionary device, iPhone also has its share of cons. Some are really striking. Some are subtle, but very frustrating. 'Copy and paste' is a hackneyed shortcoming of the phone but it stands out because of its impact. While iPhone offers email friendly apps where one can send docs or notes instantly through email, it is frustrating not to have copy and paste options. Another commonly stated drawback is the camera and its inability to record videos. For a device which outstandingly organizes audio and video files and has an amazing iPod embedded, the lack of ability to record videos or frame high resolution pics is dissapointing to many. I don't expect my iPhone to be a substitute to a camera or worse still, a camcorder. So, I have no qualms regarding this or rather lack of this feature.

Sometimes you feel it would be great if you have the ability to personalize ringtones and obviously without any fee. I am impressed with Apple's cognizance regarding web security et al. But, I don't think it needs to delve too deep and prohibit users from using ringtones outside of App Store. There were ways to trick iTunes and get other ringtones to iPhone, but the latest release of iTunes prevents this. It is just not enough to change file extensions to .m4r and drop it into iTunes library. Sooner or later, someone will find a way to trick the present version too but it would be great on Apple's part to leave the choice to users to personalize their ringtones. A prudent way would be have a pre-fixed number of personalized ringtones - atleast 3 or 4. Anyway, this isn't major either and I wouldn't worry about it much. There are some trivial drawbacks like lack of bluetooth stereo, lack of mms capability, no removable battery etc which, to me, aren't the break-the-deal type.

Overall, iPhone is a slick and trendy communication device with excellent iPod and is also a very efficient PDA. I have no issues with it and would highly recommend it. It has style and substance in equal proportions.