I Ordered an iPhone, or Why Hell Froze Over Today
Despite my previous objections with the way Apple controls the App Store, not to mention my general preference for buttons over a completely touch interface, I am throwing in the towel, putting down my credit card, and buying an iPhone 3GS 32GB. Yes, I realize to some this means that hell must have frozen over and the apocalypse must be coming. What changed?
The most obvious change? I no longer work for Nokia, for one. Not that working for Nokia gave me exceptional access to the latest Nokia gear, but I did get a few handsets from them. I sport my Nokia E71 every day and occasionally use the others for various functions.
I can’t say it was one thing that pushed me over the edge. It was a lot of little things that added up to my ultimate decision to buy an iPhone 3GS. This isn’t a complete list, but here goes:
It’s Faster: One issue I have with my E71 is how slow it is when it comes to rendering web pages, not to mention other “random’ slowdowns that crop up with the phone. The iPhone 3GS has both a faster processor and twice the memory of the iPhone 3G. Those things will make a difference.
More Storage: I have a hard time conceiving how I will fill 32gb, but I’m sure I will find a way.
It’s an iPod: Actually, this part isn’t as key to me, as I don’t spend a lot of time listening to music and the like. However, I am big on podcasts. While Nokia has an app on the phone for handling podcasts, it has a number of issues. Also, for the rare times I actually do want to sync music to my Nokia phones, it is excruciatingly slow. Even Nokia’s current flagship handset takes forever to sync. Apple has this down with their iPods, iPhones, and iTunes. It all works together nicely.
It Takes Decent Video: Unlike my Nokia E71, this takes video that is on-par with my Nokia N95 8GB. This demo video that Kevin Tofel took from JKOnTheRun took was enough to convince me that it was decent.
It’s A Better Camera: It’s only a 3 megapixel camera, but it has autofocus and the ability to direct the focus with a tap on, say, someone’s face. The MacBreak Weekly gang was raving about it. I won’t have flash but, then again, the flash on the Nokia E71 is pretty worthless.
Cut and Paste: Ok, some of my earliest Nokia devices had this feature, but it’s nice to see Apple provide this feature in the iPhone 3.0 software. Hopefully it is better than the Cut and Paste on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, which suffers from S60 5th Edition and a lack of buttons.
Tethering; Ok, even my old Nokia featurephones from 2003 could do this, but it’s nice to see Apple getting with the program and adding support for this useful feature.
Stereo Bluetooth: Ever since I bought a stereo bluetooth headset, my workouts at the Y have been much better. Up until the iPhone 3GS, stereo bluetooth was simply not an option on iPhone. Now it is.
Device Encryption: This feature I didn’t even know about until I started looking on Apple’s site for things I had previously thought were worthwhile. There’s a blurb about hardware encryption on the More Features page, but there’s precious little details about what it does. If it does what Check Point’s Full Disk Encryption does for my Nokia handsets, that would be good. More information is needed.
Free WiFi from AT&T: I have been finding myself in Starbucks more and more as of late. Now that they’re all AT&T hotspots, the ability to hop-on their WiFi for free and with less hassle is a bonus.
It’s The Apps, Stupid: And, of course, the best reason of all to get a smartphone these days is the applications. While I will for sure miss Gravity, my favorite Twitter client for Nokia devices, there are plenty of fine replacements on iPhone. Not to mention replacements for some of the other apps I use, not to mention new apps I haven’t been able to try to date because I lacked an iPhone.
Of course, this is before I get the iPhone. Apple hasn’t shipped the order yet. I suspect with the Independence Day holiday, I might not get it before Monday. Assuming they’re not out of stock or anything, I should get it sometime next week. I’ll keep refreshing the order status page like an impatient geek, looking for word on when my new toy will arrive.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Nokia 5800 Xpress Music VS iPhone (ithoughts.de)
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- iPhone 3GS? Not Enough to Justify the Cost (and AT&T Sucks) (smarterware.org)
- Nokia 5800 XpressMusic the No. 1 contract phone in Europe? (allaboutsymbian.com)
- Battle of the smartphones (bbc.co.uk)
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Tags: App Store, apple, iphone, nokia Fnord
Comment by luca
Let me add another reason: you don’t work for Nokia anymore so you don’t feel guilty
Comment by tate
Ha Ha my sentiments exactly… I still love Nokia, not so much S60. But picked one up myself. No regrets so far.
Comment by Bob
I read the article comparing the iPhone to the Nokia 5800. One thing that really struck me was:
>>This might be the most important point: Even when the Nokia has a lot of features, my girlfriend still
>>reaches out for my iPhone if she wants to look something up on the web.
I think this is the general factor that leads to the iPhone as generating a lot more Internet traffic than anything else. It’s actually possible to use the Internet on it.
Comment by PhoneBoy
Even my wife has said she wants to play with my iPhone when I get it. She’d have one if it didn’t cost $80/mo for the required service plan.
Comment by PhoneBoy
No guilt of not eating the dogfood, that’s true.
Comment by Dave Michels
I am shocked, sad, and disappointed. I think we were the last 2 holdouts. I am waiting for nexgen Android.
Comment by PhoneBoy
I doubt we are the last holdouts in this area.
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Comment by Sheryl
Hell has frozen over! But, I understand why it took until now and the attention you spent inspectigating. Good for you. I hope you enjoy it. I still live on my Bold, but have a touch so iphone centrics can tell me I’m lame. See Dave and Dameon, you’re not the last hold outs.
Comment by Marc
Despite being quite the techie, my iPhone 3GS 32gb is my first iPod/iPhone/smartphone (my first MP3 player was a Sansa FUZE 4gb, that I bought less than a year ago.) Call me nit-picky, but each time Apple would release a newer version of either, I would find a significant reason to wait. Last time around tethering was not officially supported. Before that, it was no 3G. With both the Nano iPods and previous iPhones it was the lack of removable storage, too – I think 32gb should hold me over just fine. Until now, the last Apple product I had owned was a Quadra 630 back in 1994.
Comment by PhoneBoy
Nothing wrong with only owning a touch, Sheryl. Marc, the lack of removable storage was kind of an issue for me at first, but it’s 32gb. It’s more than I use today.
Comment by David Beckemeyer
I got an iPhone originally got development not expecting to actually use it (or like it) for myself – for many of the same reasons you listed in the past.
I was very surprised. I still don’t like the many ways it is closed, but I accept it now because of all it is and does, how it raises the bar. And it does raise the bar, not because it looks cool, has a touch screen etc. Not for any of the reasons most people (and apples competitors) think.
I’ll be curious to hear if on a few months your opinion of your experience and whether your stated reasons Here for wanting in stand the yet of time and whether in fact some unexpected likes and dislikes emerge.
Comment by PhoneBoy
The Nokia E71 is my current workhorse phone, and I’ve used it as my primary handset for most of the last 7 months. It will be interesting to see if I can say that about the iPhone 3GS in 6 months.
Comment by Jerald
Hey Dameon,
I’ve been loving my iPhone 3G since I acquired it last November. This is the first handset that I truly enjoy, even more than any of the Nokia handsets that I had when I was working there. The first thing I did was jailbreak it so I could use it for “tethering”. It will be interesting how AT&T will enable this. With my Samsung Blackjack, it cost extra to enable tethering. Now, I join the iPhone to my laptop’s ad-hoc wireless network and set the laptop’s network connections to use the iPhone as the HTTP(s) and SOCKS proxy. It’s good enough to get email while driving cross-country.
See http://www.iphonemodem.com/ for the way that I have been doing it.
See http://tinyurl.com/mgyxhe for a simple way to do this either through Bluetooth or through the USB cable connection
Talk to you soon!
Jerald
Comment by Jeremey
I’ve been “bi-phonal” for about a year and a half, carrying an E71 in one pocket and an original iPhone in the other. The voice on the iPhone sucked, and the E71’s shone. In most other respects, the iPhone was the winner, but there were days when it would annoy.
Well, no more. I upgraded to the 3GS and the E71 sits on my desk. The extra speed, storage, and big improvement in camera have sold me, and the voice quality is dramatically better (maybe I had a crappy original? I dunno). And of course the apps blow Symbian’s offerings away.
(I work for Nokia)