My second impression of the iPhone

The iPhone has been out for 6 months now and I still haven't bought one. BUT, I did buy an iPod Touch which is basically an iPhone without the phone, camera and cellular data connection. Having the iPod Touch to play with has given me more perspective on the iPhone, although I don't have all the functions on my iPod Touch.

So, why did I buy the iPod Touch and not the iPhone? The iPhone is lacking too many features to choose it as my phone and mobile e-mail device. Since the Internet is an important part of my life, I need good e-mail access and the iPhone doesn't support Microsoft Exchange. For me, I LOVE Microsoft Exchange because it is more than e-mail. Microsoft Exchange lets all my e-mail, contacts, calendar and tasks all be synced in real-time on my phone, Outlook Webmail, and Outlook on my laptop. I'd lose all of that on the iPhone. The sales people at the Apple stores are telling you a "half truth" when they say the iPhone is compatible with Microsoft Exchange. It is only compatible with Microsoft Exchange e-mail via IMAP.

E-mail alone is a good reason not to recommend the iPhone, but there are others too.

1. The Soft Keyboard - I've used the keyboard on my iPod Touch for a month now and although I am getting better with typing on it, there is no way I will be as fast as I am on my Windows Mobile phone. It is just an awkward keyboard to use if you will be doing any regular typing.
2. Additional Software - You can't install anything on the iPhone. Apple offers things called "WebApps" which you can use on the iPhone, but they are nothing but websites. If you don't happen to have a wi-fi connection or a data connection, you can't use the WebApps.
3. No File Storage - The iPhone is limited to carrying songs and videos (which you can download/upload only from iTunes), no documents. So, the only way to carry a Word file, or PDF file is to e-mail to yourself as an attachment. Then, you can search your e-mail for the document. What happens if you are surfing the Internet and find something you want to download? Can't do it since the iPhone won't allow you to store anything on it.
4. No Flash - Apple built a really nice Internet browser named Safari Mobile, but failed to include the Flash Player plugin. Don't most websites have some type of flash on them these days? They included YouTube software on the iPhone and YouTube uses Flash video, so why did Apple leave Flash off the Safari Mobile browser?
   
5. No Radio Streaming - Have you ever been out of town and wanted to listen to your local radio stations in real-time? I do it all the time, but you can't with an iPhone since most radio stations stream with Windows Media format. Since you can't install software on the iPhone and Apple didn't include a Windows Media format compatible software, most radio can't stream. Your only option for local radio listening on your iPhone is if your radio station offers podcasts (Not live) on it's website.

Enough with the bad about the iPhone, it is a pretty cool piece of hardware. The iPhone is light and has an easy-to-use interface.

Except for lacking the Flash plug-in, the Safari Mobile browser is awesome and does a great job rendering Web pages. A better job than any other mobile browser I have seen.

With the iPhone, you can bring your music and videos with you, which really can't be done on any other cellular phone. You can load TV shows and movies on to your iPhone and if you have the right cable, watch those movies and TV shows on a TV as well as the iPhone. No longer do you have to drag DVDs on your trips.

In closing, Apple is so close to making the perfect device with the iPhone, but they just missed the boat for business people who need a phone with enterprise e-mail service. For the home user, I would recommend an iPhone.