It was exciting to touch down again in Melbourne. There was lots of things to look forward to. Firstly i get to see my dearest deedoo again. Secondly was my new gadgets i was looking forward to get ie. my iphone and computer. And then theres the fact that i finally got to stay at the place where i initially planned to live since coming to Melbourne (ie. Kafaii’s place, even though im not practically living there LOL) It’s great to have friends as neighbours, especially when your friend’s sister screams like mad while playing Rayman on Wii =)
But Murphy’s Law has taught us that you can never run out of things that can go wrong, and that’s what happened on day one. My most important possession, my brand new computer, went KAPUT on the first shut down. It just wouldnt turn back on after that. So i had to travel back to the freaking same place to return the system that i just picked up a couple of hours ago. My heart was shattered.
Thankfully my other gadget that i was planning to pick up, the JESUS PHONE, was more awesome than the awesomeness that i was expecting from it (and hyped by cheemeng). Which brings me to my review, because the lack of computer allowed me to spend ample ammount of time with it and discover the pros and cons of this supercool phone.
First and foremost, the phone looks good. If there’s anything to complain its that it only comes in one design and two colours and therefore you are bound to see someone else’s iphone which looks awfully similar (and not to mention ipod touches too). In terms of build quality it is as good as any apple product, very solid. But when i am holding the phone i can’t help but feel like im carrying a portable hard disk (like those ppl use with laptops) and therefore it feels insecure and i know that if i drop it on its back it will just kill the phone. Which is why i bought the CapsuleRebel case although its design is quite debatable, but offers good protection and a better grip.
I’ll get some of the cons out of the way first. If you haven’t heard, there are a few things that are simple and even the most basic phones can do, that the iphone cant. One that i’ve noticed is the ability to paste someone’s phone number from your contacts into an SMS. It’s a feature in every phone i had so far that its taken for granted. Even thought its rarely used, it feels like a step back to write a number down and then insert it again to pass a phone no. to someone. And you can’t receive business cards too. The touch keyboard can get annoying too. Despite what my other iphone mate says (ahem u know who u are), I still type faster on a normal phone. Even though the iphone has a intuitive correction system, it only allows to select one word (the most commonly used) and its even harder to type a word thats not in the dictionary system. I dont see why they couldnt just included an option to use the number pads like a normal phone to type an SMS.
But of course, while the iphone can’t do a few things, it does so much more than any other phone. Every application on the iphone is so well built and works like a charm. Everything you can think off that you need in a calendar, your alarm clock, and notepad, IT HAS IT. You can close and open programs in a snap, which makes you wonder why it take seconds or minutes to open a simple program on a Quad Core Pentium processor on a chunky CPU. But what the iphone works best is as an internet phone. Facebook, ebay, youtube all within a touch away. Internet is a tad slower on the phone, but it’s bearable. The included browser, Safari works exactly like a desktop version, as long as it doesn’t involve flash. And the phone is just PERFECT for feeds, which is a very huge plus for me. I used the iphone to tend to my computing needs for the week my comp was gone and i really didn’t feel like i missed much.
Why would you get an iphone if not for its multimedia capabilities? Before buying one, you should also know that the iphone actually does not sound as good an iphone. I’m not that much of a sound person, but ive gone through enough mp3 players and music phones that i can really tell the difference. Its unfortunate, but most normal users won’t realise though so its not really that much of a problem. The video, on the other hand, its excellent. I would have called it perfect if it wasn’t for the fact that i need to convert any video to mp4 before uploading it. But really, this was one of the selling points for me. I mostly watch South park on tram rides now rather than listening to the same ol music of the mp3s ive been keeping since secondary school.
Oh, it plays games too. I don’t use it much, only once during my lecture. A good distraction, but its not gonna take away anyone’s PSP or DS (pokemon FTW!)
I haven’t even started talking about the apps that you can get for free off the net even without jailbreaking. But that depends on the individual so i won’t go into that. It has a meh camera of 2.0 MP and no video call, but that’s not why you get an iphone. Basically if you know what you’re getting with the iphone, you will love it. It just does everything so well that you wouldn’t go back to any other phone. I rate it a supercool 9.5/10. Best money spent so far in Melbourne =)
