Shorty got the iPhone 4

[shortylickens]

Yup, I did it. Fanboys can now kiss my tushy or flame me as appropriate. Got tired of my other phones and wanted something that "just works".


First impressions:

-Body
Super nice, I wont deny. Well made but not flashy. Few buttons (as per Apple mandate 14776.A) but they click nicely. Screen is beautiful, though not any better than my Droid. And I think Anand showed it was inferior in some ways.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4163/verizon-iphone-4-review/6
In any case, it doesnt really look any better than any other quality phone. Touch screen is good I'll admit, and the responsiveness of the OS is certainly better than any super fast accelerated Droid phone I've seen yet, certainly better than my Droid (to be fair I havent yet rooted my Droid though).
BUT, and I hope I dont offend anyone. Overall its not quite as butter smooth as the Playbook. Of course the Playbook is basically useless so thats a moot point. But anyone who thinks the iPhone is the supreme touchscreen/desktop experience clearly hasnt yet seen the best of the other worlds.
I also seem to recall the Pre was a bit smoother but thats been over a year so I cant be sure. Obviously cant compare them side by side.

-OS
Here things start to get unpleasant. Setting everything up was a huge hassle. On any Droid phone all you gotta do is give them your gmail account and everything takes care of itself automatically. If you wanna add other emails thats fine, but all account based stuff is done through email and I never had to log into anything after the first time.
By contrast the iphone 4 has me logging into my new Apple ID by way of my email, but its always a slow hassle without a physical keyboard and no easily accessible @ or .com symbols (I always have to dig for them). Plus it seems like every little thing on the phone needs me to log in by this ID, password and all. Got tiresome after the 5th entry. Setting up new email accounts on the phone was equally slow and annoying.
Verifying the email took an awfully long time and then some stuff made me go through an log in again.
If this is the apple users idea of "just works" and "so easy" I may have an unpleasant realization for them if they ever slip by the dark side.

-Apps
Once all the emails finally got setup they were pretty functional. Not as good as Honeycomb, but a little nicer and easier than Gingerbread or Froyo, thats for sure.
App store made me give my credit card info before I could even look at the free stuff.
Not much free stuff. And most of it stinks. However there is apparently a way to get one free app a day here as well. So I guess I dont need Amazon any more if I decide to switch over completely. Got some games like unblock me and such. They seem OK. Will use the onboard navigation before I play with any third party stuff.

Calender works great with Gmail. I dont use any others so I cant compare them. Apparently the default calender program can also pull from Yahoo accounts. I have three of them but dont use them much, even though they are a million times easier now than the good old days. Can also access hotmail account but none of the special features (which I dont use anyway).
Gmail Tasks cant be seen but I think thats asking a lot. (Unless one of you knows something I dont).

I dont like iTunes so I got Copy Trans Manger instead. When it gets done syncing I will let you know what I think of the music player. Apparently cant use phone while syncing. No Mass Storage mode that I can find either.


Thats all for now. Be back later.

 

[runawayprisoner]

Funny you should mention log in credentials. Someone else was complaining about the same thing on Android. And this kind of tempts me to ask: what are you trying to do? As far as I know, I sign in my Apple ID once every time I need to buy or download something on the App Store, and that's that. You did realize you could queue multiple downloads at the same time, right?

 

[Pliablemoose]

Congrats

And thank you.

 

[shortylickens]

Funny you should mention log in credentials. Someone else was complaining about the same thing on Android. And this kind of tempts me to ask: what are you trying to do? As far as I know, I sign in my Apple ID once every time I need to buy or download something on the App Store, and that's that. You did realize you could queue multiple downloads at the same time, right?

I dont know about your friend but on my Droid with 2.2 I only need to log into ANYTHING once, if ever. On the iphone it does seem like I have to log in to most things each time I use them. App store is a prime example. And its nice to que up multiple downloads sure, IF I feel like getting a bunch of crap at once. Since it doesnt do true multitasking I have to sign in every time I step out to check on the app I just downloaded. Kind of a hassle. Especially if I play with the app market 10 times a day, which I probably will since its all new to me.
Also had to login to the games screen and pick a nickname, just to discover I had no games in there.



-music
Synced a couple directories off my computer (supposedly) but when I open the iPod app theres nothing. Says I need to get stuff from iTunes market. OK, I go over there and download some free Louis Armstrong stuff. Go back, try to make a playlist, same deal. Doesnt acknowledge any music on my system, even though I just watched the download complete.

Got the TuneIn streaming service. Seems alright. Audio is fine out of the speakers. Headphones are good too.
Apparently the much famed Apple Equalizer only works in the iPod app, nowhere else.

Map service looks awesome, much smoother and faster than any Droid I've seen except for the Xoom. Will try navigation later tonight.

 

[Zen0]

Learn iTunes, the best part of Apple.

 

[runawayprisoner]

You don't have to sign in every little time you go out to check your app. You only have to sign in if your last sign-in was a long while ago.

If it takes only 5 minutes or so to check out the app you just downloaded, you can go back in and download another one just fine.

Unless the app you are trying is very old, it should support multitasking and you should be able to switch back and forth between App Store and the app just fine. The notion that it isn't "true multiasking" is, dare I say, just wrong. Treat it like you would treat your Android phone. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[foghorn67]

I encountered the same thing. On the first day, the appstore asks for you apple id every time you download an app. Maybe it takes a while to sync a while in the backend. But it was annoying.
I might switch myself, I might have to go back to VZW if my work picks me up.

 

[shortylickens]

You don't have to sign in every little time you go out to check your app. You only have to sign in if your last sign-in was a long while ago.

If it takes only 5 minutes or so to check out the app you just downloaded, you can go back in and download another one just fine.

Unless the app you are trying is very old, it should support multitasking and you should be able to switch back and forth between App Store and the app just fine. The notion that it isn't "true multiasking" is, dare I say, just wrong. Treat it like you would treat your Android phone. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

1. Wrong
2. Wrong
3. Wrong

It asks me to sign in frequently. If I had a camcorder I would take a vid and show you guys.
And "should" means nothing. What Is, is what matters.
And believe me I'd like nothing better than to treat this as if it were my Android phone, except for the fact its totally different and I cant.
And I am so not pleasantly surprised. This has been touted as the most advanced cell phone on the planet and I am not getting that feeling at all.

More fun:
iTunes has no way to let me pull songs from my hard drive and add them to its mystical "Library". When I click on the device itself it tells me I have a problem and must reset everything. Gee thats funny, I been using the phone for a couple hours and it works just fine (well, not really, but it aint broke and I cant see what needs actual fixing). So its now downloading the update and I have no idea what that will be like.

For reference, in Android when an update is available it tells you on the phone itself, not to mention you can manually check to see if theres one available. And it downloads over the air (3g or wifi) and installs itself. You dont need to hook it up to your computer and install special software.

 

[shortylickens]

Learn iTunes, the best part of Apple.

According to apple lovers iTunes is supposed to be the easiest thing in the world. Why do I have to "learn" it? And how the heck do I disable the annoying "kachunk" sound every time I click on something?

 

[Zen0]

According to apple lovers iTunes is supposed to be the easiest thing in the world. Why do I have to "learn" it? And how the heck do I disable the annoying "kachunk" sound every time I click on something?

Try using a Macbook.

Everything that is "new" to you should be learned properly. Or you won't be able to use it properly.

You could just drag and drop everything into iTunes and sync your music that way. And it would actually *work* and appear on your iPhone.

But that's only what computer illiterate users should do.

 

[Zen0]

1. Wrong
2. Wrong
3. Wrong

It asks me to sign in frequently. If I had a camcorder I would take a vid and show you guys.
And "should" means nothing. What Is, is what matters.
And believe me I'd like nothing better than to treat this as if it were my Android phone, except for the fact its totally different and I cant.
And I am so not pleasantly surprised. This has been touted as the most advanced cell phone on the planet and I am not getting that feeling at all.

More fun:
iTunes has no way to let me pull songs from my hard drive and add them to its mystical "Library". When I click on the device itself it tells me I have a problem and must reset everything. Gee thats funny, I been using the phone for a couple hours and it works just fine (well, not really, but it aint broke and I cant see what needs actual fixing). So its now downloading the update and I have no idea what that will be like.

For reference, in Android when an update is available it tells you on the phone itself, not to mention you can manually check to see if theres one available. And it downloads over the air (3g or wifi) and installs itself. You dont need to hook it up to your computer and install special software.

Android updates itself about once. Every year. I've had Droids.

Apple is kind enough to provide updates very often. I'm sure it would be happy to push the hundreds of megabytes to millions of users over AT&T's 3G network every few months or faster. Wait.

 

[shortylickens]

Try using a Macbook.

Everything that is "new" to you should be learned properly. Or you won't be able to use it properly.

You could just drag and drop everything into iTunes and sync your music that way. And it would actually *work* and appear on your iPhone.

But that's only what computer illiterate users should do.

I am not buying a macbook. If the iPhone is so great why do I need all kinds of extra crap like two thousand dollar laptops to make it work? And isnt apple so simple and wonderful that you dont need to be computer literate to make it work? Isnt that the whole fucking point of their company? Their users are so hip they dont need to know anything about how technology works?
And why is there a "new" in your sentence instead of new? This is new to me not "new".

 

[shortylickens]

Android updates itself about once. Every year. I've had Droids.

Apple is kind enough to provide updates very often. I'm sure it would be happy to push the hundreds of megabytes to millions of users over AT&T's 3G network every few months or faster. Wait.

Your ignorance is starting to get offensive. Android has two major updates a year and many minor updates in between.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I am not buying a macbook. If the iPhone is so great why do I need all kinds of extra crap like two thousand dollar laptops to make it work? And isnt apple so simple and wonderful that you dont need to be computer literate to make it work? Isnt that the whole fucking point of their company? Their users are so hip they dont need to know anything about how technology works?
And why is there a "new" in your sentence instead of new? This is new to me not "new".

I'm going to warn you now, damn iOS devices are gateway drugs...

 

[shortylickens]

FACK!

Now its telling me the device could not be updated because its full. I need to delete files.
I havent actually installed anything on the phone yet except a couple music apps and one game. According to the system notes its got 10.0 gigs free.

Suggests I reset the whole system, wiping out everything, and trying the update again.

Did NOT have these issues with any Droid I've seen or owned. THIS is the easiest smartphone to use?

 

[runawayprisoner]

It asks me to sign in frequently. If I had a camcorder I would take a vid and show you guys.

So aside from the App Store, where else does it ask you to sign in?

 

[Zen0]

I am not buying a macbook. If the iPhone is so great why do I need all kinds of extra crap like two thousand dollar laptops to make it work? And isnt apple so simple and wonderful that you dont need to be computer literate to make it work? Isnt that the whole fucking point of their company? Their users are so hip they dont need to know anything about how technology works?
And why is there a "new" in your sentence instead of new? This is new to me not "new".

No one told you to buy a Macbook. The point is that OSX is a brand new OS and you need to learn it to use it if you're coming from Windows. The same applies to iTunes.

Of course it's not new, it's new to YOU. That's why YOU need to learn it.

I told you, if you didn't want to mess with it, just drag and drop everything into iTunes and you'll be done with it.

Do I need to make a video tutorial?

 

[shortylickens]

OK. Did a system reset from the phone cuz the itunes app couldnt do it.
Now I have no service, and itunes is still giving me shit about the device being full and I need to empty the recycle bin. Cant do an update.


Well, that will be the shortest lived phone i ever had.

 

[shortylickens]

No one told you to buy a Macbook. The point is that OSX is a brand new OS and you need to learn it to use it if you're coming from Windows. The same applies to iTunes.

Of course it's not new, it's new to YOU. That's why YOU need to learn it.

I told you, if you didn't want to mess with it, just drag and drop everything into iTunes and you'll be done with it.

Do I need to make a video tutorial?

I cant drag n drop anything cuz i tunes is not acknowledging my device except to say it needs a reset.
And if its so damn easy why do I need video tutorials?

Nobody every makes these kinds of lies with Windows or Android or Linux. They acknowledge it can be challenging which is why they have such excellent help all over the place.

 

[Zen0]

It sounds to me like your iTunes screwed up your iPhone.

iPhones need iTunes to activate, so you'll need a functioning iTunes. An Apple Store would help.

 

[RedRooster]

Wow, sounds like buyers' remorse. I think you should go back to Android if this change is stressing you out so much.

 

[Demo24]

I always thought needing itunes to activate was the stupidest procedure. All I have to do is dial a number and let it think for a few seconds. One guy I know screwed up his ip4 cause he activated early or something via itunes and had to spend the next hr with att getting his phone reset and the new one activated.

 

[EightySix Four]

You have more problems with your iPhone than anyone I've ever met, take it back, get another android phone, and stop bitching. I mean the very first thing you did was try and ignore the ecosystem the phone is designed to work within, which you already knew existed prior to purchasing the phone. Who is at fault exactly?

 

[poofyhairguy]

The gadget gods are punishing you for buying a 10 month old phone when you are one of the few people who should know better.

 

[alent1234]

I always thought needing itunes to activate was the stupidest procedure. All I have to do is dial a number and let it think for a few seconds. One guy I know screwed up his ip4 cause he activated early or something via itunes and had to spend the next hr with att getting his phone reset and the new one activated.

Its for push notifications and to set up syncing for music, photos, movies, tasks, calendar and other features.

And to download and install OS updates or to wipe your phone and restore to factory condition