My New Best Friend

Since Bruno is leaving I am forced to find a new best friend here in Ireland. And I have already found one. Meet my new best friend: iPhone...

I have been obsessed with the iPhone since it came out in the US about a year ago, but have been holding back for one reason or other. On Friday, with the release of the new iPhone 3G, I finally succumbed to my uber-geek urges and took the plunge.

For those of you who haven't been reading every iPhone related news article and blog post for the last 12 months, there is a new version of the iPhone: The iPhone 3G. The only major difference (beyond a few cosmetic changes) is that the new iPhone is equipped with a 3G capable cellular radio (which allows for faster cellular network based internet access) and that it now has GPS (which allows you to pinpoint exact locations through satellite positioning coordinates). Otherwise, the biggest change is that they made it significantly cheaper $199 and $299 for the 8gig and 16gig iPhones respectively, versus the previous $399 and $499. In Europe the price varies, but is generally more closely tied to the US price, making it even less expensive (my 16gig ran me €229($365) versus the €499($636) it was before and it would have been cheaper had I wanted a more expensive monthly plan). The other major upgrades are all in the new software version, which is avaialable for the original iPhone as well. Third party applications (applications created by developers other than Apple, such as eBay, Facebook, AOL, and a variety of game developers) along with robust suport for busness standards in dealing with email, contacts, etc.

In Ireland the phone company selling the phone, O2, took deposits and pre-orders from the start of the month, so I didn't have to worry about standing in line for the week in order to be one of the first owners of the 3G iPhone in Ireland. I was the fourth person in the store after it had opened (no line to speak of really, possibly because they had sold out of their stock with pre-orders within the first few days of taking them...) and I walked out the door with phone in hand about 45 minutes later (the process for signing people up was a bit slow, but nothing like some of the problems they had in the US or the UK).

After waiting a year, is it everything I was hoping for? YES!

I have only had it now for a few days, but so far it is just amazing. The way you interact with all of the applications just feels fluid. Everything is very usable and I rarely find instances where I am fighting the program to do what I want. The thing I am currently most fascinated with is the text correction system. Because the iPhone uses a software touchscreen keyboard, it's pretty easy (especially with big fingers) to hit the wrong letters when typing. I am finding, though, that Apple has really done an amazing job of designing text correction software that can figure out what keys I meant to hit and replace the mistyped word with the correct one (IE if I type "mpnkeu" it will recognize I wanted to spell "monkey" (the p is next to the o and the u is next to the y) and when I hit the space bar it will automatically replace it. This allows me to type along on the little keyboard without having to constantly go back and correct little mistakes. It is not perfect, of course, but it is exponentially better than any other predictive text system I have seen on a mobile device. It makes typing things out on what could be a frustratingly small keyboard, relatively pleasant.

I won't bore you all with too many geeky details, but suffice it to say it will keep me busily entertained for a good while. If people are interested I can post a more robust review once I have had time to live with it for a while.

One phone to rule them all! Yes...I am a geek...


(PS: Please note my Steve Jobs tribute black mock turtleneck in the picture above, worn proudly on release day.)