Living with the iphone for just over a week now, and while it's a very good phone, and email Device, and personal digital asistant, the area it falls flat on is the text messaging, when it comes to MMS support. Basicly, it can do it, but it dose not like to, and some times it requires a special effort from your friends and loved ones to get pictures to your phone.

My girlfriend wanted to send me a picture of her new hair color, so she sent me a message with that picture just as she did with my old sprint phone. What happens is, a notification is sent to you letting you know that you have a picture message, that has a URL in it and I'd number (that you have to remeber, because the iPhone dose not have copy past support) and password (that you also have to remember). You then have to remember the link and type that in to the phone browser, where you now have to enter the Id and password! After that it takes you to the picture. You can't send pictures explicity to another phone from your iPhone.

I'll type more when I get infront of a computer keyboard, the onscreen keyboard is killing my thumbs.

Keep me informed. I want one, but I'll probably only get one when there are less bug reports, and when it supports Bluetooth GPS recievers and TomTom. I'm still meaning to go and have a play with one in a shop, but not got round to it yet.

All I can say is that it's the first time I haven't been a bit dissapointed by a device I bought! There are some shortcomings but luckily with my use I don't really care...The only one is the autocomplete when writing which bothers me since I write in Greeklish so it usually is a pain in the ass!
It's also the first time that a week after acquiring a device I keep unlocking it and touching it just for the fun of it!
It really is a step forward in ergonomics and design...and the browsing is just marvellous!
One thing I was afraid of was the battery life, but I was nicely surprised! I thought I would have to charge it every night but it can keep up 2 days with heavy use...so I expect it to keep up a lot more when I stop watching vids, playing games etc..

I dont understand the madness around iPhone 3G. For example here in Czech Republic, iPhone is not so cheap and for the same prize I can get a HTC Diamond, which is much better than iPhone / iPhone 3G.

After "test driving" a stand-alone satnav system for a week or so (courtesy of Argos) I decided to go for a IPAQ pda with Tom Tom 5.'somethingorother' and a tiny little keychain gps receiver (it's a fantastic bit of kit, although it's being a bit of a bugger with connecting to my phone)

Anyway, i've been scanning the net and apparently there are loads of iPhone style interfaces for it (gui ?/ ui ?). This ones even free !! http://whoneedsaniphone.com/blog.asp and this ones not http://www.touch-commander.com/

Not had a chance to try em out yet, but judging by some of the vids on Truetube they look pretty good. Obviously it's never gonna be a real iPhone, but it seems like a much more intuitive way to navigate all the menus etc on the pda and you don't need to keep looking for the stylus down the back of the sofa every time you wanna use it.

But yeah, keep us informed of life with your iPorne

Quote from Spangler_CZE :

I dont understand the madness around iPhone 3G. For example here in Czech Republic, iPhone is not so cheap and for the same prize I can get a HTC Diamond, which is much better than iPhone / iPhone 3G.

Well for me here the price came about the same...
An Htc was one of the contenders but when I started playing around with one just the fact that the hardware couldn't keep up with the Os animations was a huge turn off...The iphone is almost always silky smooth.
Plus the browsing experience on an Htc can't even be compared.
I myself am not a Apple fan by any means but respect where its due...
For me only an android running machine could become better at this point...

I've had the iPhone since about a month after it's release, and it does me fine. I cracked the screen and being an early one it crashes sometimes (grrr) and true it cant do picture messaging - but getting on for about 9/10 months old it's still getting heavy use, and I didnt have a mobile for years because I hated them. I dont regret buying it, I do regret not getting it insured...

I agree, MMS support is quite bad. SwirlyMMS solves some of the problem, but you still need an additional app just to explore the folder where images are downloaded to.

Otherwise, i am very pleased with the iphone usability. There are lots of people saying that it's not worth the money and that they can get a device with better specs for less money, but in my opinion the main thing about the iphone and Mac computers in general are not just tech specs but the user experience. I've had a chance to play with quite a few gadgets with both Windows mobile and Symbian, but to me their user interface (design, menu structure, smoothness...) didn't come close to the iphone.

I'd rather just have a cheap phone and an iPod Touch (which is the combination I do have).

There's a lot of places I want to take my phone that I really don't want to be taking my emails and entire music collection, let alone £350 of electrical equipment in a small, easily mislaid black box.

Quote from Crashgate3 :

I'd rather just have a cheap phone and an iPod Touch (which is the combination I do have).

There's a lot of places I want to take my phone that I really don't want to be taking my emails and entire music collection, let alone £350 of electrical equipment in a small, easily mislaid black box.

Its a good point - I see people with iPhones walking around with them in clear view; They're just asking people to steal it.

I have an LG Viewty - the Iphone "knockoff" to some, but its a good phone with some great features without all the usual Apple haters screaming at you saying you bought it because it was Apple.

I've got one. Does exactly what it said it would. But 350 pounds. What is going on there? Over 24 months i pay $168 (aus) for it. Such a handy and easy device to use. Some people at work ask to have a go. Theres now 7 others with it (Its the Apple club to the rest).

Quote from Dygear :

the area it falls flat on is the text messaging, when it comes to MMS support. Basicly, it can do it, but it dose not like to, and some times it requires a special effort from your friends and loved ones to get pictures to your phone.

Firstly theres a difference between SMS (Short Message Service) & MMS...

Get your gf to email them? My gf does. In Australia, MMS is way over priced for what it does/provides. Yet an email, i can store in the folder i choose and grab it from anywhere (I use Gmail as my primary personal email account). Its funny to me, when i ask people why they need MMS in person... they always respond with a bullsh!t comment. Honestly MMS is normally used for naughty pics in most cases i've found (dont take it the wrong way, this wasn't directed at you).

I take pics with my phone of bad work site stuff and email them to my work address & CC my manager.

Quote from tristancliffe :

and when it supports Bluetooth GPS recievers and TomTom. I'm still meaning to go and have a play with one in a shop, but not got round to it yet.

TomTom are making an App for the iPhone. Also until you get around to actually using one, then you'll understand the reason for the hype.

SMS & MMS - 9.5 & 2.5 (6)
The SMS system is simply unparalleled. The brilliance of this system is that it works like an IM client. How many times have you run around your inbox and outbox on your old phone trying to figure out what on earth your talking about with this person. This system completely eliminates that problem. The only problem is that it does not have a way of quoting a previous message. There is no real MMS support, the only way to get MMS messages is to send that MMS from the persons cell phone to your E-Mail address that is hooked up to your phone.

Yes, I would agree that SMS and MMS are two different protocols, they are often supported simultaneously, and as such it is expected that one as become synonymous with the other. Quite frankly not having MMS support out of the box is a huge oversight, and a massive disappointment.

GPS - 7.5
The GPS support with the build in, bundled, GPS system (VIA Google Maps) is good enough for me. I would love if it would allow for voice turn by turn directions, as that would of helped me today. As using the GPS system today, the dot does not quite keep up with what you would expect as your current location. So you end up having to keep one eye on the road, and one eye on the iPhone.

Camera - 8.0
The 2.0 MP camera is very clear and sharp pictures when seen on the iPhone's screen, however when you move them over to your computer they tend to get some what grainy. That is no so much the fault of the phone's software or hardware, it's just a limitation of what you can really do with 2.0 MP, however you could still do a little better overall not bad at all for a Camera Phone. The shutter speed I wish was increased slightly as you kinda have to work to make sure that the shot your about to take has no movement and that your not moving the camera your self. Overall quite good tho.

iPhone - 8.5
The brilliance of this phone is that it's an iPod and a Phone, while you can't play music while your on the phone (why would you want to), you can be using the iPod functionality with any other application with ANYTHING else. You can play music while texting, emailing, surfing the web over 3G or EDGE, or using an Application. You could also be on the phone and doing any of the above providing your on a 3G connection for some of them (like you have to be using a 3G connection if you also want to use Google Maps application.)

Make no doubt, I love this phone, it might not be the end all be all but it does almost everything so much better then anything else that it really does not matter about the short comings.

SMS & MMS - 9.5
Both are now working flawlessly with the iPhone 3G and 3GS, sending video is also possible.

GPS - 8.5
With the 3GS the GPS is so much faster and much more accurite then I would ever expect from a cellphone. Being that you don't have to pay an extra fee for the GPS software (it's free thanks to Google) it's simply the best Mobile Phone GPS system out there, beating even some dedicated GPS units! The one thing that hurts it, is that out of the box, it does not say the street names or tell you where to turn, but ... as they say, there's an app for that.

Camera - 9.0
The 3GS 3.0 MP camera is much like that of the normal 3G, but they have added a video camera support to this product and, my GOD it's simply awesome. Add to that on the phone editing and you have a killer app that most phones only dream of.

iPhone - 9.0
As it turns out, you can play music while your on the phone and you would want to when your old hold with say for example tech support. If you have the money, and don't mind the price premium that apple makes you pay for it's products, the iPhone 3GS is the way to go.

Quote from wabbit :

Over 24 months i pay $168 (aus) for it

Just thought i'd quote you here - the rest of the world is used to paying a nominal amount a month and then getting the phone for cheap whereas in the UK we always get the phones free (with the true cost built into the line rental).

For example the iPhone is available for $99 in the US - but thats the price if you go into a contract.

The UK contract prices are:
http://shop.o2.co.uk/update/paymonth.html

However it's cheaper (in the long run) to get a PAYG iPhone - http://shop.o2.co.uk/update/paygo.html - and then put a SIM-only contract in it.