Well here we are – Day 30 of my use of the iPhone. Time to sum it all up.
Thirty days afterstanding in line in a mall food court for a couple of hours to get my iPhone, it’s still not my only phone. I’ve still got my old phone and haven’t transitioned by business contacts to using my new iPhone phone number. Friends and family tend to call the iPhone these days, though, so there is some progress.
I’m much more comfortable taking the phone with me wherever I go — work, trips, parties. I’ve figured out that keeping WiFi turned off most of the time will help me squeeze as much battery life as possible out of the iPhone. I can generally get 2-4 days of use without needing to recharge, which is fine with me.
Stability is still an issue. The Safari web browser, the iPod, and the email program all crash periodically. I’m really looking forward to the first iPhone software update, which I hope will solve these issues.
At this taking-stock point, I think there are two big questions that need answering. First, has the iPhone changed anything about how I live or work? Second, was it worth it?
The answer to the first question is sort of. The iPhone hasn’t changed anything major about how I live or work, but it has added something to my lifestyle. The iPhone has let me do something I hadn’t done before — take my email with me and have instant access to the latest messages flowing into my desktop inbox. It’s a great feature, but not unique to the iPhone and not something that I’ve used to do a lot of work or save me many hassles.
I’ve used the email features a lot, but I’m not at the point where I feel I couldn’t live without it. It’s nice to have, but so far, not a make-or-break feature for me.
Otherwise, the iPhone comes with me on trips that my phone and/or iPod would have come on in the past. Not a big change, but it is nice to just bring one small device, rather than two.
So, was it worth it? Hard to say. If I hadn’t been writing this website, would I have bought the iPhone? No. But I’m not sorry that I did and look forward to using it and later models for years to come.
The $600 price tag was steep. I’m not usually one to have the latest gadget as soon as it comes out. For instance, I didn’t get my first iPod until the first clickwheel model came out.
And there’s bound to be a second, improved iPhone model within 6 months that’s going to make this one look less appealing.
Still, it is a really lovely product to look at and use — and that counts for a lot. And it’s been interesting to be here for the early stages of this new product which may go a long way to changing the kinds of gadgets we carry with us in the future.
