John Dolan, Viant Solutions

iPhone 3G First Impressions

(Last updated 9/11/08)

I have had the iPhone 3G for a couple months now and while I miss some of the features I lost from my Windows Mobile device, I am glad I made the move.  The iPhone has some tremendous strengths, but also has some pretty significant weaknesses.  Because of this, my recommendation is to carefully consider the weaknesses before deciding to purchase this phone.

The strength of the iPhone is doing a few things very well.  A few of the key strengths are listed below.

1. The user interface is what sets the iPhone apart.  Apple has given the iPhone a great user interface that makes for an improved user experience over other portable devices.  Emails are easier to read, applications are easier to navigate to and the web browser is the best I have seen on a mobile device.
2. Exchange Syncing works great with Calendar, Contacts, Emails and the Global Address List.
3. The Application Store provides a wide arrange of applications for use on the iPhone.  A number of these provide syncing between a web application you can use on your computer and an application that runs on your phone.  I will soon post another blog entry covering a few useful iPhone applications.
4. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, .PDF, Pages, Keynote, & Numbers documents can all be viewed on the iPhone.
5. Note:  MobileMe has no impact on Enterprise use!

Several weaknesses:

1. Poor battery life.  A car charger is a necessity with this phone and you may need to learn to turn off 3G, WiFi or Bluetooth depending on your usage.
2. No cut/copy and paste functionality.
3. Email cannot be moved or deleted without an internet connection (Edge, 3G or WiFi).  Sent Emails are stored in the Outbox until the phone has an internet connectivity.
4. Limited Search of content on phone.  No means of searching Emails or searching calendars.  Windows Mobile and Blackberry are far superior with regards to search.
5. No means to edit documents on the iPhone.
6. Limited Exchange syncing
   1. No task or notes syncing with Exchange.
   2. No syncing of categories
   3. Items can't be flagged on the iPhone
7. Touch keyboard is difficult to get used to.  Apple did a great job implementing the touch keyboard, but its still more difficult than a tactile keyboard for most people.
8. Only a limited number of apps switch from portrait to landscape viewing mode.  Would like to be able to view email in landscape mode, especially when replying.
9. I have to occasionally reboot my phone due to application crashes.  For a brand that sells itself on everything just working, this is a bit disappointing.
10. No Turn by Turn navigation.  It is rumored this will be coming, but at present it's not available.
11. If you have existing iPod/iPhone accessories that charge/play music, they may not charge the iPhone 3G.  In the past there were two ways of charging the iPod/iPhone.  Apple has eliminated one of those protocols, and unfortunately that was the protocol of choice for a number of accessories.  I have an iPod dock for my car and house and neither of them work with my iPhone 3G.
12. Less control of form and function than what one gets with a Windows Mobile device.

With all of those weaknesses, why did I choose the iPhone?  Apple majored on the majors and did those items very well.  They spent a great deal of time making sure the key items worked very well and they simply left out the other stuff.  At the end of the day I want a phone that works great as a phone, is easy to navigate, and allows me to stay on top of email.  This is where the iPhone excels and that is why it is my phone of choice at this time.

Is it time to switch from IE to Mozilla Firefox?

I am a longtime Internet Explorer user.  I have tried using Mozilla Firefox in the past, but have always stuck with IE due to the large number of websites that just didn't work with Mozilla.  With the release of Firefox 3, they have provided a number of compelling reasons to make the switch.  Mozilla has released a great browser and with the addition of some key Add-ons (also called plug-ins) that have made it my web browser of choice.

Firefox has done a great job of improving its feature set while reducing the number of websites with which it isn't compatible.  The improvements include better security, better tab management, improved zoom, and an address bar that does a great job of figuring out the website you are typing.  However, what makes Firefox my web browser of choice are the add-ons.  Below are a list of key add-ons followed by easy instructions for their installation.

Adblock Plus - Adblock Plus does a remarkable job of eliminating the annoying ads that cover the vast majority of websites we visit.  This does a great job of making it easier to focus on the content of a website.  It also helps silently blocking pop-ups without interrupting your work.

IE Tab - IE Tab allows you to open a tab in Firefox using the IE engine.  For the occasion where a website does not perform its best in Firefox, you can open the page in IE without ever leaving Firefox.  Just right click the link and select "Open in IE tab".  This tab is essential to me as we rely heavily on SharePoint at Viant which performs best in Internet Explorer.

PDF Download - When you click on a .pdf you are presented with 5 options including "View as HTML" which opens the document in a Firefox tab rather than having to view the .pdf in your external pdf viewer.  Not very flashy, but very helpful.

GooglePreview - On the Google results page, this add-on provides a small image to the left of each add-on displaying the destination page.  This is a great help with searching and helps improve the efficiency of my searches.

FoxyTunes - If you use a media player on your computer, this add-on is a great plus.  It provides controls to your media player on the status bar making it very easy to pause, skip tracks, etc.

How to install the Add-ons:

1. Download and install the latest version of Firefox from http://mozilla.com
2. Open Firefox and use Google to search for "add-on".  Click the first result which is a link to the Firefox add-on page.
3. From here all you need to do is type the name of the add-on you would like to install and then click "Add to Firefox" to install the add-on.

Details on a few great features in Firefox

1. Zoom - Simply hold the Ctrl key while using the scroll wheel on your mouse and the entire page will zoom or shrink (not just the words, but the words and the image will shrink or zoom as a single unit).
2. Search - Ctrl+F brings up the find bar at the bottom.  You can use the "Highlight all" option to quickly see all instances of your search.
3. Bookmarks - Click the Star in the address bar to add a page to bookmark a page with a single click.
4. Arrange tabs - You can click drag a tab to rearrange your list of tabs. 
5. Bookmark a tab - Click and drag a tab to your bookmarks bar or to the bookmarks option in the menu bar to quickly bookmark a tab.