Reviews icon Apple iPhone Review

Apple iPhone Review

A legend is born or ...

A legend is born or ...

Published on: 29 June, 2007 by PhoneArena Team

Performance:

The UI on the iPhone is wonderful. It is responsive, quick, and accurate thanks to a 620MHz ARM processor in the iPhone. There were occasional hang-ups with typing when using Safari but this was rare and not repetitive.

Sound quality is rather lacking and for a phone at this price. There were times where both parties had a problem hearing the other even when signal was good. There were moments where volume was an issue. Some of the issues experienced were hissing sounds, static, echoing, and just overall low volume. Hissing occurred on both end occasionally but more so on the other party’s line. If the iPhone was moved too far away or positioned just right, then the party on the other end would have a hard time understanding us. Echoing occurred two times and this was experienced on the other end. Low volume was only an issue with the iPhone. After asking the other party to adjust their headset or raise their volume, they would try a combination of the two but with no avail.

Apple claims that the battery lasts for 8 hours of talk time, 24 hours of listening to music, seven hours of watching videos, six hours of surfing the internet, and 10.4 days of standby time. During our tests, the battery managed to last right around 6.5 hours of continuous talk time. When making a call, the screen will be visible but once held up to you head, the screen will turn off. Signal strength is, well, all over the place. While the iPhone did pickup signal in plenty of places, it kept jumping around at times, even when held in the same manner and in the same spot.


Conclusion:

So, has the iPhone lived up to the stellar hype? Yes and no: the interface is just wonderful. It is much better than I had expected it to be and much more user friendly. Features, such as Google maps, YouTube, and iPod, are just wonderful features added onto this. All this and the phone manages to stay very slim and not too large.

Now, the bad part is that there are many features that are missing. 3G, MMS, A2DP, video recording, voice recording, voice dialing, and flash are just a shame to see missing on a phone this nice and this expensive. Call quality and signal strength has been an issue as well, and not just to us but the public too.

With that, we end with mixed feelings. While the iPhone is just remarkable in what it does, the lack of key features may be a turn off for some users.

Pros

  • Innovative and responsive interface
  • Large, vivid 3.5” touch display
  • Sleek design
  • The best iPod seen to date

Cons

  • Many key features missing (3G, MMS, video calling, voice notes, voice dialing, phonebook search)
  • Non-removable battery
  • Signal strength and sound quality issues
  • AT&T only!

PA rating

  • Design 9.5
  • Display 9.7
  • Camera 7.5
  • Sound Quality 6
  • Battery 8
  • Connectivity 7
  • Multimedia 9.25
  • Organizer 7.5
Excellent
8.8
out of 10

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0
1.
iPhone Rulez
0
13.
LG made the first real touch screen phone, PRADA RULZ
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Reply to Gautam Hide 1 replies to this comment
0
2.
IPhone
Apple iPhone YOU ROCK AND I EXPECT THE PHONE ARENA TO REVIEW THIS PHONE VERY VERY VERY SHORTLY SO THAT I CAN BUY IT LOVE THIS PHONE'S TECHNOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS. THANK YOU!!!
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0
3.
This phone brings nothing to the table. All eye candy GUI.
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0
4.
EWWW
This phone is what I expected all hype. Its not anyway near as fast as it shows on tv. Not 3g, dial up, how prehistoric. No interchageable batteries, and short battery life. The woast thing of all is the carrier. At&t = Cingular. The plans are very expensive The only difference between the real difference between the iphone and my current phone is the touch screen and a few buttons.
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0
5.
It isn't amazing how people have never used a product can post such strong opinions.

Yeah its just all hype, you folks will be the first one down there buying one.

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6.
mister mister
Based on what I have seen of this particular product, I would agree with the PhoneArena review in that the iPhone while having certain features that are not available on common phones is severly lacking in regards to the basics of what a phone should be, i.e. using it to make phone calls and to transmit the call clearly to both parties, so I would say that anyone looking to use this as a phone should look else where, anyone looking to surf the net with a fast connection should also probably consider something else too, but if what you want is an iPod that can make a somewhat decent phone call, then this is probably the phone for you
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0
7.
So much for the hype...
If only there's a physical keyboard, 3G, and Zoom feature, I would totally jump for it.

- How could I SMS or write email with that mini virtual keyboard? It's gonna take forever.

- Girl: "Hey, cool phone! Gimme your number, I'm gonna video-call you tonight! *naughty winks*"
You: "Um, sorry, no 3G"
Girl: "Whaa...??!!"

- Camera with no Zoom..... what's this, 1985?

Otherwise, it's not a bad device to show off or to attract attention ;)

Here's an unbiased review of iPhone... http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/03/iphone-review/
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0
8.
TO MR. JEFF
PERSONALLY I DON'T CARE FOR THE I PHONE FOR THE SAME REASONS AS YOU. BUT DON'T YOU REALIZE THAT AT&T IS THE ONLY NETWORK THAT CAN SUPPORT THIS PHONE. EVEN THOUGH IT ISN'T 3G (WHICH I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THEY DID THIS) DOESN'T MEAN THAT AT&T IS THE WORST CARRIER. MIND YOU THAT T-MOBILE ONLY WORKS IN MAJOR HOTSPOT LOCATIONS OR ON I - 10, 75 OR 95. SPRINT IS JUST CRAP AND VERIZON CAN'T EVEN LEGALLY SAY THAT THEY HAVE TO FEWEST DROPPED CALLS.....SO YES THE PRICE IS PRETTY HIGH BUT LOOK AT THE COVERAGE THAT YOU GETTING WITH THE ONLY NETWORK WITH ROLLOVER.
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0
9.
Better than you think
Colleague at work got one. He let me play with it and it was very fast and responsive. The interface is better than any phone or palm or blackberry I know of. The "network" everyone is so weirded out over might be an issue BUT it also picks up wifi like a laptop. So in some situations it is much faster than a regular cell phone. I don't know about SMS exactly but if it just involves short messaging directly from the device I find it hard to believe a workaround isn't on the horizon (web 2.0 app maybe). I'm sure this thing will look like a clunker in a year or so as it is replaced by a 2nd or 3rd gen model but for now it really is awesome.
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10.
Two Thumbs Up for Apple!
what a fantastic phone it is, relay superb to see and play with it, my frined bought it, what a interface, looks and everything is realy superb..

9.5/10

Good work Apple!

Nokia, Sony E. and Samsung should think over it!
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