My iPhone Review

I am about 1 year into my Mac vs. PC experiment.  As of right now the Apple has won this one hands down.  I am not a fanboy by any stretch.  I am however a UNIX person from and so maybe I am somewhat biased.  Any way, when the iPhone was announced I was stuck in the throws of a Sprint contract that I couldn’t escape.  However, the weeks and months passed slowly.  The announced price drop made wait that much more excruciating.  The year soon passed, and my contract ran out.  So I picked up my shiny new iPhone, and after 5 months here is what I have to say.

First and above all else this device is hands down the best mobile/smart/portable/phone I have ever used.  Over the years I have been lucky enough to have to carry many of the devices that enable constant contact.  None have been as feature rich, as easy to use or as powerful as the iPhone.  Furthermore the iPhone is tough as hell.  I have dropped this phone several times, and once into an icy puddle.  So far the device has a few minor dings on the metal shell but beyond that it continues to function as well as the day I bought it.

The software on the phone out of the box was adequate, but there where several features I was missing, but shortly after my purchase the hacking efforts where in full swing and in a matter of minutes I was using all the tools that I was missing when first using the device.  The most important to me is the terminal.  I spend many hours of my day SSH’d into machines and being able to continue this from my phone is very crucial to my businesses success.

The UI is straight forward and allows me to hand the phone to my technically challenged mother who can navigate the phone with ease.

I have one negative comment and that is around future software for the device.  My hat is off to the hacker community, they have created a system of organization and deployment that is as elegant as I have ever seen, and I believe it is better than something Apple could have created.  My fear is this community is going to disappear next month when the official SDK hits our hands.  I pray Steve Jobs will allow this thriving community to continue to push the boundry on this device because what is there near is but a scratch on the surface of what this device is capable of doing.

My recommendation go buy one.