Iphone Review - **UPDATED**

[Aimster]

I basically labeled the N95 and N82 as the same phone because they pretty much are.
->

Display: Apple clearly wins. I thought the display on my Nokia phones was amazing. The iPhone has the best display I have ever seen. On top of that it is very bright.

Apple: 10
Nokia: 7

Web Surfing Both phones have excellent web browsers. It is just more pleasant to surf the web on Apple's iphone than any Nokia I have touched. It's much better moving your fingers than moving a cursor with the directional buttons.

Apple: 10
Nokia: 8

Camera I didn't even try the iPhones camera nor do I think I will unless I am taking a picture of my Nokia to sell it. I opened it up and it's just a one button click.
On Nokia phones you have a ton of settings with dedicated camera buttons.

Apple: 3
Nokia: 10

Speakerphone On the Iphone the speakerphone is actually clear and loud. Much nicer than the speakerphone on the Nokia phones. However, playing music on the external speakers was much louder on the Nokia phones. I used to take my Nokia phone with me to the shower and play music. If I try that with the iPhone I will hardly hear it. It's too soft on the iPhone.

Apple: 7
Nokia: 9

[I gave Nokia an edge because I primarily use the external speakers to play music and Apple was not the best in this category.]

Text Messaging / Typing Apple is amazing to type on. I thought I would hate it but I love it. It automatically corrects the words for you if you misspell them so typing is fast. The Nokia is just a typical keypad like any other phone. The advantage of that is you can text while driving.

Apple: 10
Nokia: 7

Navigation/GPS Google Maps looks nicer on the iPhone. However, using it as a GPS is pointless. I can download Google maps to my Nokia. To be fair the software that comes on Nokia's phones is a piece of garbage as well. The Navigation lags and it has to use data to be able to Navigate. That is why I installed third party software on my Nokia phones and navigation worked perfectly. I installed Garmin on my N82 and it was dead on. Turn-by-Turn directions and automatic rerouting made my phone into a little navigation unit.
It would be a shame and a major disappointment to me if Apple does not allow third party navigation software.

Apple: 3
Nokia: 7.5

Multimedia They are both setup the same way. They each have their own unique ways of displaying pictures. They both play music the same way. iPhone has the edge because of itunes so syncing is beautiful. Making a playlist on Nokia phones is a pain in the ass.

Apple: 9.0
Nokia: 8.0

(Did not test any songs on the iPhone via headphones which I am sure the Apple would dominate)

...

I got the Nokia phones because of the Camera and GPS. However, I like to surf the net and play around with my phone. What good is a Camera and GPS? It was amazing when I got to use them but that was rarely.

I was looking for a new phone that could surf the net as perfectly as possible on a mobile device. I'll be honest. I am not an Apple person. I hate Apple. I got this phone and wanted to find a reason to hate on it. Any reason to stop me from crossing that line. For what I want this phone for, it is perfect.

Sure I will miss my Nokia when I want to take a great picture. I'll miss it for when I go on vacation and I am in my rental and I want to go to my hotel but I have no turn-by-turn directions. All the other times I won't miss my Nokia well except maybe in the mornings when I take a shower.

 

[CTho9305]

Camera I didn't even try the iPhones camera...{snip}
Apple: 3
Nokia: 10

WTF? Also, check out snapture for the iPhone if you really feel like you want all those extra features. Personally I'd rather just get a shot, and do anything fancy on a PC with real software.

Navigation/GPS {snip} However, using it as a GPS is pointless{snip}

Just because of the lack of turn-by-turn? Besides, wouldn't you rather carry one "pretty good" device rather that two devices?

 

[Aimster]

N82 is the flagship for Nokia when it comes to the camera feature. Apple does not come close at all. It is far more than software that Nokia has the edge over the iPhone in the camera department.

With Garmin installed on the Nokia device, it was like having your own portable Navigation unit. There is zero need to have a portable navigation unit if you have this unit installed on your phone. You simply put it down and it guides you to where u want to go by voice. You can pick it up and look too if you want.

Apple's is annoying. If you are lost or new somewhere then you have to constantly look at your phone to see if that little blinking dot is on the highlight path. Very ANNOYING.

Apple could easily solve their Navigation problem if they allowed third party software. Slap Tom Tom or Garmin on there and it's perfect.

 

[BZeto]

Originally posted by: CTho9305

Camera I didn't even try the iPhones camera...{snip}
Apple: 3
Nokia: 10

WTF? Also, check out snapture for the iPhone if you really feel like you want all those extra features. Personally I'd rather just get a shot, and do anything fancy on a PC with real software.

The iPhone camera truly is shit unless the lighting is perfect and there is no movement what-so-ever.

 

[corkyg]

You missed a key evaluatikon point. please fill in the data:

User Replaceable Battery: (The answer is Yes or No.)

Apple: ?

Nokia: ?

 

[pm]

I've been using a Zap! R08-IV on business trips as my iPhone's spare battery.
http://www.zapworld.com/recharge-it-all/r08-iv-izap

It triples the battery capacity. It's not a "spare" battery per se, but it also doesn't involve powering down the phone and taking a cover off to replace the battery. And, even better than a real spare battery, I can charge it in parallel with the iPhone battery (plug Zap into iPhone, plug Zap into wall, both charge at the same time). It also was pretty cheap for what it is - I got it for $45 from Sewell Direct. The downside is that it makes the iPhone a bit bulky while it's connected, but it transfers charge fairly quickly and it's really not that thick.

 

[Muadib]

Do you have the 3G iPhone pm? I would hate to order one only to find out it doesn't work with the 3G phone.

 

[pm]

No, I'm using the original iPhone.

I'd be really, really surprised if it didn't work with the 3G iPhone though. But I understand your hesitation. My iPod Belkin charger doesn't like my iPhone.

 

[Muadib]

I've already been burned when I ordered a car charger off Amazon. It said it charged the iPhone, so I ordered it, but it didn't work on my 3G phone. I was pissed, but decided to eat the $7.

 

[Aimster]

Update:

There is something seriously wrong with the Apple 3G chipset. It keeps disconnecting. Websites do not load. You get a text and it has trouble reconnecting back to the 3G network.

It cannot keep a stable 3g connection.
When it works it is beautiful. When it doesnt you want to break the phone into a million pieces.

Apple needs to FIX this problem.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Aimster
Update:

There is something seriously wrong with the Apple 3G chipset. It keeps disconnecting. Websites do not load. You get a text and it has trouble reconnecting back to the 3G network.

It cannot keep a stable 3g connection.
When it works it is beautiful. When it doesnt you want to break the phone into a million pieces.

Apple needs to FIX this problem.

Did you swap your phone yet? Mine has been rock solid since i swapped mine and installed 2.0.2

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: Aimster
Update:

There is something seriously wrong with the Apple 3G chipset. It keeps disconnecting. Websites do not load. You get a text and it has trouble reconnecting back to the 3G network.

It cannot keep a stable 3g connection.
When it works it is beautiful. When it doesnt you want to break the phone into a million pieces.

Apple needs to FIX this problem.

Welcome to my world!!

I'm on my second phone, and still have issues. I'm waiting to see if the 2.1 firmware fixes it, but I've seen post that say it's coming in September, and others that say October. I don't want to wait that long, and I seriously doubt it's going to fix it anyway. Apparently Jobs emailed a guy saying it would.

What really gets me is some Apple rep claims 2.02 fixes the 3G issues. All it did for me was waste 20 minutes. I guess I should be happy, because it bricked quite a few phones.

Maybe we should give this woman a call. It's the American way!!

 

[Aimster]

Going to go to Apple Store today and getting another phone. Don't know what good that is going to do. I think Apple has a defective 3G chipset on all their phones. They screwed up and need to do a recall. They tried to pack too much into a small thin phone.

the 2.02 all it did was make the bars jump from 1 to 3. Still disconnects whenever I get a text which is ok because all my AT&T phones do that, but it is supposed to reconnect not stay disconnected until a reboot


My friends at Verizon were making fun of me yesterday. Wegpages would not load for an entire hour. When they did load dslreports.com/mspeed reported 44kbps.
Guess what they got? 800-900kbps and this is not even a phone that supports their fastest network. Blah

 

[aphex]

I think Apple has a defective 3G chipset on all their phones.

Somehow 3G is working great for me down here in FL. So its definitely not all. I don't deny there are widespread reports of issues, but if its not working out for you, either swap it or return it for a refund.

My friends at Verizon were making fun of me yesterday

You need new friends if this bothers you so much.

 

[Aimster]

Do you text message?
Try sending and receiving a lot of text messages while surfing the web.

Tell me what happens.

 

[Aimster]

Going to the Apple store now to get a new unit.

Let's see if it makes a difference

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: Aimster
Going to the Apple store now to get a new unit.

Let's see if it makes a difference

Do you have to make an appointment first?

 

[onlyCOpunk]

You can just make an appointment online if your Apple store is usually busy.

As far as the 3G, it took Apple a year to get the 1st iPhone as stable as it is now. I'm actually surprised by how well the original works considering it the first run of the product. After hearing all the problems people seem to be having with 3G, am I glad I chose not to pick one up and will gladly wait until the next iPhone comes out before signing my life away to a two year contract.

 

[Aimster]

I went to the Apple store three times today.. so annoying

1) Made an Appointment
2) Guy did some crap to my phone and said if the problem is still there to come back.

Problem was still there.

3) Went back to a different Apple store. Manager said getting a new phone will not work. There is a problem with the Apple 3G and Apple is working on fixing it.

He just asked me to be patient.

Blah

 

[Muadib]

What did the guy do to your phone, when you went back the second time? Why didn't you go back to him, instead of going to another store?

You must really be a patient man. After 3 visits, I would have exploded if that manager wouldn't have given me a new phone.

So much for the problem being in only in 2% of the phones...

 

[Aimster]

I don't see how ALL of the phones can have this problem as that one manager suggested. I can't even surf the net. Last night I clicked on yahoo.com. Loading for 25 minutes. I clicked on the app store icon.. loading for 25 minutes. I tried again this morning and the same thing.

The guy reset my phone and reinstalled the firmware. He spent a good 35minutes doing crap to it and asking me questions. I guess he never heard of this problem. When I mentioned it to him he was getting annoyed. He wanted to go test it out and I said even if it manages to work 80% of the time the system doesn't work. He got a little attitude with me and went outside to test it anyways. While the firmware was being installed he was asking for my zip code and looking at something on the screen. Probably checking to see if my area has 3G. The entire Washington D.C area is 3G. He then went into my phone into some network menu which I have not figured out and typed in something for 3G tower or something like that. The menu had a bunch of network settings.

 

[aphex]

I don't see how ALL of the phones can have this problem as that one manager suggested. I can't even surf the net. Last night I clicked on yahoo.com. Loading for 25 minutes. I clicked on the app store icon.. loading for 25 minutes. I tried again this morning and the same thing.

Yea, I dunno why he said that cause they don't. Mine works great on 3G now here in SW FL. I wonder if somehow there is something different about the 3G towers in certain areas that makes it not play nice with the 3G in the iPhone. I can imagine why the manager would lie about it, so maybe there's some odd compatibility problem in certain areas. Everyone I know with the 3G iPhone in my area is loving it, no issues to speak of.

I'm really kinda surprised they didn't swap it though. The apple store near me just takes me at my word for things, even when they can't replicate the issue themselves. I've yet to be denied for a swap when i've asked, so that sucks they wouldn't do it for you.

If I come across anything i'll let you know.

On a side note, do you have any of these issues with Wifi?

 

[Aimster]

I've been reading other forums. Seems I am not alone.

I am starting to think maybe the problem is AT&T. Their 3G network is just not that great it seems.

Edge and wifi work great. No problems with them at all.

I am going to Dallas on Saturday. I am currently in Virginia (D.C area). If the problem is not present in Dallas then I can say it is an AT&T problem in my area

 

[pm]

Originally posted by: Muadib
I've already been burned when I ordered a car charger off Amazon. It said it charged the iPhone, so I ordered it, but it didn't work on my 3G phone. I was pissed, but decided to eat the $7.

I tried the Zap iPhone battery in my neighbors 3G iPhone about 5 minutes ago and it worked fine. Worked exactly the same as on my iPhone.

 

[Aimster]

Don't know if anyone is reading this thread anymore but some updates:

Phone seems to be working now. I didn't do a single thing. Hope it stays fixed

On the Apple forum people in the same area as me who bought it from the same store as me have said they have no problems.

It appears I might just have a defective unit.
Just installed some videos on this thing... I never realized how shitty my E1705 Dell monitor is until I saw the beautiful picture quality on the iPhone.