This is an addition to Part 1 of my review found here:

I wanted to add a couple more pros and cons now that I have had the phone for a good 4 days:

Pros:

1. The map feature is really something. For example: If you type in “Circuit City” in the top text field the device will find all of your local stores on the map. You can then select the store you want, call them or store all of their info in your contacts. I found this real handy when running errands this morning.

Cons:

1. Browsing- When internet browsing all calls will go to voicemail. This is a limitation of AT&T , not the iPhone, but highly annoying none the less.

Important iPhone links:

Apple

Engadget iPhone Page

Wikipedia

iPhone Finder

I just picked up an iPhone…here’s the pros and cons:

Pros:

1. The UI is so slick that I had to run to the back of the “Apple Store” and shell out my AMEX card.

2. I avoided checking voicemails on my Treo because I hated going through all the prompts….Visual voicemail is the best solution I’ve seen. NO passwords, NO prompts, NO hassle.

3. The iPod inside the iPhone is great for impressing friends. The scrolling album interface is nothing short of amazing.

4. Connecting to a WiFi network is extremely easy. I am in Miami, FL where there is no shortage of networks to hop on. (I was at the gas station yesterday and hopped on the city WiFi network and grabbed email from all my POP email accounts in seconds.)

5. The “slimmness” of the device is remarkable and fits in the front pocket with no “bulkiness.”

6. The weather “widget” is really convenient…Yahoo even set up a nice local web portal linked to the weather page. The page contains all your local event, detailed weather, and important city links.

7. Mac sync ability…. The iPhone, as expected, syncs amazing with the mac…..No setting up email accounts, phone numbers…etc…

8. Decent phone.. The device detects when you have it to your ear and shuts the screen off. When you pull it away, it magically turns on again. I am pleased with the speakerphone, nice volume and clear voices.

Cons:

1. Email attachments- If someone sends you an email attachment in the form of a PDF file, it is impossible to zoom in on the file making it impossible to read and rendering the file completely useless.

2. Keyboard- I am getting use to the typing keyboard and I do like the auto correct feature BUT….women with nails will not be able to use it. (My wife said it “sucked”..) Also, typing passwords into the browser without an auto-save feature is a pain in the @#$@$#.

3. AT&T ONLY! This is annoying considering Verizon has a much faster network than AT&T in Florida (and many other places). YouTube is worthless unless your on a WiFi network. The internet browser is a little sluggish on the “EDGE” network.

4. Limited storage - 8 GB is not enough storage to completely replace my iPod..not even close. Hopefully Apple will come out with 30 and 60 GB iPhones in the future.

5. Audio jack- The audio jack on the top of the device has a “lip” on it. If you have headphones with an angled jack your out of luck. You can buy a $10 extender piece but it looks clumsy when installed.

I hope this helps with your decision making….I would recommend the device to all gadget freaks with short nails. Apple will likely release software updates to fix some of the shortcomings in the coming months. If you have any questions please leave a comment and I will answer it ASAP!

Alex King played guinea pig for all those wondering about:

1. Buying an iPhone
2. Activating iPhone with AT&T
3. Cancelling AT&T service
4. Using iPhone for WiFi and iPod goodness

Turns out you can use the iPhone without AT&T service after it’s activated.  Good news, let’s hope it keeps working.  Alex also notes that there’s no early termination fee if you cancel in 30 days and they even refund the activation fee if you cancel within 3 days.

An article over on GearLog details that the one route to get third-party apps onto the iPhone—web applications—may turn out to be easier said than done.

Far from being “first class citizens” with the web applications they tested (among them Google Docs, Meebo and iZoHo), the iPhone had a multitude of problems from not popping up the keyboard in the rich text editors to allowing a “read only” view of Meebo (not very useful for an IM client).

This is disappointing coupled with the fact that the iPhone ships with very limited text editing for documents (email or “notes” seem to be it) and no IM support at all. It also clashes with statements from Steve Jobs at the WWDC keynote.

It appears lousy Ajax support and completely MIA support for Flash is to blame for most of the problems experienced by users of these web applications. Many of the rich internet applications use heavy doses of Ajax and Flash to make the user interface more responsive. Flash is also used to provide on-client storage when the application needs to store more than the small amount allowed in a cookie.

The line for the Apple Store in San Francisco is apparently going strong and features among those waiting for their crack at the glossy gadget that could a circus freak, a hairdresser and… MERLIN MANN (of 43folders and 5ives).

I’ll be heading out tomorrow to check the lines at at least one of the Denver-area Apple Stores.  Not because I want an iPhone, but out of pure, morbid, curiosity.

Honestly, while I think the iPhone will represent a “new era” of user-interface goodness in the cell phone space, I really can’t see it as the complete end-all, be-all solution that would necessitate camping out all night for a chance at one.  The biggest criticism I have for the iPhone is the same one most of the reviewers mentioned… the Cingular AT&T network.  Between slow as molasses EDGE and a bottom-rating in signal quality (confirmed by my experience here in the Mile-High City… that’s Denver for the geographically un-gifted) the iPhone’s cellular partner may prove to be its biggest handicap. That doesn’t mean a billion people will buy them, they most certainly will and it will be a success.

David Pogue reviews the iPhone for the New York Times and finds that surprisingly, it has a few negatives.  Chief among them is my personal favorite for “iPhone Achilles Heel”, the Cingular AT&T network.  He notes “average” call quality with bottom-rated signal strength (tested by Consumer Reports, but their conclusions seem to jibe with Pogue’s experiences).  Pogue also notes the horrendous EDGE performance when browsing the web.

 Read the full review (with video and images) here. 

Apple today revealed the rate plans for it’s heavily-anticipated iPhone.

Starting at $59.99 with 400 minutes and unlimited data (and 200 SMS messages, way to be stingy AT&T), the iPhone plans don’t seem out of line with the prices paid by the rest of us unwashed masses without the new glossy hotness.

Now if only we could get some kind of high-speed data plan (WiFi rollout is really quite disappointing in most of the country) and the availability of third-party applications to add all the stuff they left out, I’d be in line for one. Until then, I’ll stick with my Treo.

Apple has posted an iPhone guided tour for those of you who just can’t get enough iPhone goodness.

The tour is a twenty-minute QuickTime movie and details almost all of the phone’s features and functions.  Overall, the iPhone has a lot of very innovative user experience features, but it still remains to be seen if the choice to use an on-screen keyboard will prove to be the undoing of the hotly-anticipated handheld.

Declare your unhappiness with Steve Jobs’ WWDC keynote in a shirt available from MacMerc.

The lack of an iPhone SDK (seriously Steve, web apps are the best you could do to squelch that particular flame?), no new hardware, Safari for Windows (we don’t need another browser on Windows) and an overall underwhelming set of “new” Leopard features (the 3D dock is lame and will look like crap on the side of the screen) combined to make this one of the lamest keynotes ever from the turtlenecked one.

Apple really should have held the new MacBook Pros for this event, it probably would have helped keep their stock from taking a temporary nosedive.

From John Gruber’s recent iPhone post Taps:

Let’s just assume for the sake of argument here, though, that the iPhone on-screen keyboard works well, at least by handheld device standards.

To be honest, this aspect of the iPhone is the biggest question mark in my mind. We all know Apple makes cool interfaces and the iPhone looks to be yet another one in almost all ways, but the on-screen keyboard has some serious usability issues that I’m really skeptical that Apple addressed.
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