The iPhone
I recently switched to the iPhone from the Blackberry that I've used for years, something that I never thought that I would do. Even after buying the iPhone I kept my Blackberry just in case, it went up on Craigslist the other day as I doubt that I will ever be able to go back.
Apple just released a new update the other day that fixed a few issues that drove me crazy, the phone needs a couple more fixes though. The phone has a little ways to go before it can be a true business phone for me, but I've learned to work around the issues and really can't use another phone anymore.
I'm going to list some of the Pro's and Con's about this phone that I've run across.
Pro's:
1. IMAP ability - I do a lot of emailing and one thing that drives me crazy is that I have an office PC, Laptop and a phone that I use to email and have a heck of a time remembering which one I used to send that email that I need to find. With IMAP it is linked live with gmail (in my case), which offers this option for free. I set-up my home PC Outlook, my laptop Outlook and my iPhone with IMAP so now when I receive, delete, send or save a message it shows up on all of my devices rather that going from device to device trying to find a message. With POP you can't do this, the iPhone setup has one button to push, asks you a few questions and presto you are up and running.
2. It's an iPod too. No more having to carry an iPod into the gym and a phone, you just have to carry one.
3. Nice camera and the photo storage is great. The pictures are easy to view, I've got my entire picture library on this phone along with my favorite music.
4. Google Maps is a great addition too, I've used it on my Blackberry for a long time but with this latest iPhone update this feature works great when you can't find that property. Since the iPhone doesn't have GPS built-in (yet) Google now uses the cell towers to triangulate where you are located; it's not as precise as a GPS, but it gets you close enough to find out where you are in relation to the property.
5. The web browser that the iPhone comes with is very nice. The iPhone uses the Safari browser which can pull any website that you want and looks exactly like what you see on your home pc. You can even go to the MLS and pull up listings with this browser, although it's slow when not connected to a Wi-Fi network.
6. The touch screen is really nice and makes it easy to clean, my wife's make-up was always a pain to get out of the buttons on my other phones (I'm sure that I'm going to pay for that comment
). I think this phone is one of the easiest phones to learn to use, everything is an icon on your desktop.
7. Being able to rent videos and watch them on the road/plane. You can now rent videos, which expire after 30 days. You have 30 days to watch the movie, after that it will be delete itself from your phone. Once you start the movie you have 24 hours to finish it, or you can watch it as many times as you want within that 24 hours.
8. Wi-FI capability, I use this all the time at coffee shops and wherever I can find an open network.
9. The cool factor, it's just a neat phone.
There are many more features, but these are the features that I really find useful.
Con's:
1. One of the most aggravating feature that is missing from this phone is that you can't send a picture as a text (MMS), I can't understand how this phone can't do what even the cheapest and most basic phones can do. You have to email pictures, and most people that I know don't have the unlimited data package on their phone so they can only receive your pictures on their pc.
2. You can't forward a text to another person.
3. You can't copy and paste text from one message to another, I did this with my Blackberry all the time.
4. No built-in GPS. Not a big deal, but would be nice.
5. No 3G capability, rumor has it that the next generation will have this capability.
6. Not good if you have long fingernails. Women are having an issue with this phone if they use their fingernails to touch the screen.
7. No filter option in the contacts. One thing that I really miss from my Blackberry is the ability to filter my contacts down to a specific group. In Outlook I have my database setup in groups and I am able to filter down to just my clients, close friends, etc., you aren't able to do that with this phone yet.
8. My final gripe is that when I receive a picture in an email I can't save it in my photos, you can't save anything to your phone from an email, or a website.
I know it looks like more con's that good, but half of the con's here aren't that big of a deal as far as I'm concerned, you will never find a phone with everything that you want. This phone can do all the things you want it to do if you are willing to hack the phone and install software that is not approved by Apple, but beware that once you do this you won't be able to hook it back up to your iTunes as it will make your phone a brick and useless....until the hackers create another unlock, which isn't worth it to me.
I had already gotten rid of the Blackberry prior to this latest update, so I'm even more happy with the phone after this latest update. I find that I don't have to go to my PC nearly as much since the iPhone's email looks like what I will see at home and it has a great screen to boot.
Apple just released a new update the other day that fixed a few issues that drove me crazy, the phone needs a couple more fixes though. The phone has a little ways to go before it can be a true business phone for me, but I've learned to work around the issues and really can't use another phone anymore.
I'm going to list some of the Pro's and Con's about this phone that I've run across.
Pro's:
1. IMAP ability - I do a lot of emailing and one thing that drives me crazy is that I have an office PC, Laptop and a phone that I use to email and have a heck of a time remembering which one I used to send that email that I need to find. With IMAP it is linked live with gmail (in my case), which offers this option for free. I set-up my home PC Outlook, my laptop Outlook and my iPhone with IMAP so now when I receive, delete, send or save a message it shows up on all of my devices rather that going from device to device trying to find a message. With POP you can't do this, the iPhone setup has one button to push, asks you a few questions and presto you are up and running.
2. It's an iPod too. No more having to carry an iPod into the gym and a phone, you just have to carry one.
3. Nice camera and the photo storage is great. The pictures are easy to view, I've got my entire picture library on this phone along with my favorite music.
4. Google Maps is a great addition too, I've used it on my Blackberry for a long time but with this latest iPhone update this feature works great when you can't find that property. Since the iPhone doesn't have GPS built-in (yet) Google now uses the cell towers to triangulate where you are located; it's not as precise as a GPS, but it gets you close enough to find out where you are in relation to the property.
5. The web browser that the iPhone comes with is very nice. The iPhone uses the Safari browser which can pull any website that you want and looks exactly like what you see on your home pc. You can even go to the MLS and pull up listings with this browser, although it's slow when not connected to a Wi-Fi network.
6. The touch screen is really nice and makes it easy to clean, my wife's make-up was always a pain to get out of the buttons on my other phones (I'm sure that I'm going to pay for that comment
). I think this phone is one of the easiest phones to learn to use, everything is an icon on your desktop.7. Being able to rent videos and watch them on the road/plane. You can now rent videos, which expire after 30 days. You have 30 days to watch the movie, after that it will be delete itself from your phone. Once you start the movie you have 24 hours to finish it, or you can watch it as many times as you want within that 24 hours.
8. Wi-FI capability, I use this all the time at coffee shops and wherever I can find an open network.
9. The cool factor, it's just a neat phone.
There are many more features, but these are the features that I really find useful.
Con's:
1. One of the most aggravating feature that is missing from this phone is that you can't send a picture as a text (MMS), I can't understand how this phone can't do what even the cheapest and most basic phones can do. You have to email pictures, and most people that I know don't have the unlimited data package on their phone so they can only receive your pictures on their pc.
2. You can't forward a text to another person.
3. You can't copy and paste text from one message to another, I did this with my Blackberry all the time.
4. No built-in GPS. Not a big deal, but would be nice.
5. No 3G capability, rumor has it that the next generation will have this capability.
6. Not good if you have long fingernails. Women are having an issue with this phone if they use their fingernails to touch the screen.
7. No filter option in the contacts. One thing that I really miss from my Blackberry is the ability to filter my contacts down to a specific group. In Outlook I have my database setup in groups and I am able to filter down to just my clients, close friends, etc., you aren't able to do that with this phone yet.
8. My final gripe is that when I receive a picture in an email I can't save it in my photos, you can't save anything to your phone from an email, or a website.
I know it looks like more con's that good, but half of the con's here aren't that big of a deal as far as I'm concerned, you will never find a phone with everything that you want. This phone can do all the things you want it to do if you are willing to hack the phone and install software that is not approved by Apple, but beware that once you do this you won't be able to hook it back up to your iTunes as it will make your phone a brick and useless....until the hackers create another unlock, which isn't worth it to me.
I had already gotten rid of the Blackberry prior to this latest update, so I'm even more happy with the phone after this latest update. I find that I don't have to go to my PC nearly as much since the iPhone's email looks like what I will see at home and it has a great screen to boot.
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