Around the iPhone in 80 days

[fbhjr]

I had wanted an iPhone since they first came out.  Not bad enough to buy
one for the first several years.  Mostly because I had wanted to stay with
Sprint and they didn’t have them.  Then, when Sprint did get them, they
only offered the good deal for new folks, I got pissed off and jumped ship
anyhow.
Now, I’ve had one for 80 days.

It’s OK.
It’s not great, wonderful and stupendous.

Maybe if I hadn’t had an iPad for 21 months, the iPhone would be those
things.
But, I really use it as an “iPad light.”

It is fine for phone calls.  But, I hate calling people so I don’t use it
much for that.
It is OK for email access, but I prefer reading email on the bigger iPad
screen.
For web browsing the phone is my last resort.  I will link to the iPad and
look on the bigger screen any time I can.
It is actually better for movies and TV shows than it is for web browsing.
I think that is just because those things have limited viewing window size
where web pages can be huge.
The camera is good, but the camera I almost always have with me is better.
Mostly for the optical zoom.  There’s just no way to do that in a phone.

The thing it has been best for is, and I hate to say it, facebook.
While on vacation I could pull out the iPhone, point it at something and
say “this is what I’m doing right now!” in a few seconds.  To up load a
photo on the iPad means connecting to the camera, up loading the image,
then putting it up to facebook.  A process that is rarely worth it.
The thing is I really don’t like facebook and don’t want to use it that
much.
I used it in Florida because we were often meeting up with family and all
but one of them are on facebook.  So, it was good for saying “Look, we’re
by the dolphins” or things like that.

I guess I could try and do the same thing with the LJ app.  I tried it 2
years ago when it first came out, and didn’t really like it.  They’ve
changed it a lot since then, so maybe it is better.
But, on LJ, I like to do lots of photos that I host on the Phoenix site and
just link over.  I haven’t found an app good for that yet.

The Siri voice control is a positive.  If it worked better it would be a
big positive.  But, it doesn’t work that well.  It’s still positive, but
causes a lot of frustration.
And, it is only good at all because I have a good headset to go with the
phone.  Without that it would be useless.
But, driving in the car, it is very useful to be able to dictate an email
to myself over things I have forgotten, message my wife about things, read
messages or pick songs and playlists without having to fool with the phone.
But, it has real trouble with some of what I say.
My name for one.  Tank, Bank, French, thank and several other come out.
Almost never the Frank I hope for.
It also has trouble telling when I want it to send an email or message.
I have to say it “senD” to have any chance of it understanding.
When trying to send an email to myself last night it took more than 10
tries to get the “work or home” answered correctly.
I can understand that it has to translate the speech of millions of people
who all talk in a slightly different way.
But, when it is the choice of two different words that do not sound much
alike, you’d think it would be better.

I have no regrets over leaving Sprint.
I’ve paid a lot of attention to the reviews of the three different
companies that have the iPhone.
A pattern is very clear:
AT&T has the fastest data
Verizon has the best coverage area
Sprint sucks

We originally got Sprint when the Phoenix practice area was out in the
woods.  At the time Sprint was the only company that covered it.
I never used the data plan, so never really got a feel for it.
But, every review I’ve seen that wasn’t done by Sprint itself says that
they may be the only company that offers unlimited data, but that is only
because their network is so slow that you never have to worry about using a
lot.
Maybe AT&T doesn’t have the best coverage, but I have yet to hit a place
with none.  And, it was faster than the hotel internet connection in
Florida, so I used it for my photo uploads there.  Maybe not as fast as my
hard connection at home, but not bad either.

Over all, I’m happy with my iPhone.
But, I am in no danger at all of giving up my iPad.

Comments

[ravena-kade.livejournal.com]

Good to know as I hope to get a better phone when I get a job.

[kismets-kiss.livejournal.com]

I have an iPhone 3g, I really want the 4/4S, but cannot afford it right now. I'd also love to have an iPad for school, but paper and pen will do for the next two semesters. Well here's hoping as my handwriting sucks.
I've never had Sprint, but I did have T-Mobile, who also sucks. I used to work for Verizon, and I wouldn't have them for love nor money. I like AT&T, they try to sell you stuff, but I have always had a signal, and my phone gets me through.

[pallid-regina.livejournal.com]

"AT&T has the fastest data
Verizon has the best coverage area
Sprint sucks"

Yep.

We HAD to have Verizon when we lived out in the sticks because NOTHING else had coverage out there. NOTHING. In fact, back in the day, we had Cingular and I would tell people "OK, I'm two miles from my house, the call will drop in..." and then I'd just hang up because the coverage was gone.

Because of that I'm pretty loyal to Verizon, even though they aren't perfect. They're OK and OK is better than sucking, which I agree, Sprint does.

I don't have an iPad so I love my iPhone but I could see why both might be redundant. I will say this iPhone has been the best "using it as an actual phone" phone I've ever had. I have a headset for this job thing I'm doing and it works great, too, which is nice. I have wonky hearing and I catch almost everything on this phone.