Back in July, I traded in my aging Treo for a 3G iPhone. After using it for three months, it has exceeded all my expectations. I was a bit nervous about doing so, because I had heard so many complaints about poor service from the AT&T network. But I have found AT&T service to be widely available, even in the small towns and rural areas we visit from time to time. The sound quality of phone calls is noticeably better--crisp and clear. My one complaint about the AT&T network is that 3G service, when available (mostly in large cities), does not work very well. According to news reports, this is due to so many iPhones trying to use the company's 3G network simultaneously--the network can't handle the load. But AT&T's slower Edge network is still quite fast--fast enough to handle most Web browsing comfortably and email downloads work very well.
Where the iPhone really shines, though, is with its ability to download and use a wide variety of third party applications. The iPhone App Store, run by Apple, has thousands of useful and inexpensive applications running from the mundane (tip calculators) to very sophisticated apps like Molecules, which displays and rotate 3D representations of complicated molecules.
My main reason for switching was to get improved access to email when traveling, and the Mail application that comes with the iPhone is superb. It is fast and extremely easy to use, compared to the clunky mail app that came with my old Treo. Mail downloads quickly, even on the Edge network, and I can now check mail almost anywhere, at any time.
Some of the other apps I have found useful include JetSet, which the first travel receipts program I have ever used for more than a day or two. I tried out several on my Treo, and they were all so difficult to use I abandoned them almost immediately. JetSet's data entry is quick and easy, and emails a completed trip record to you that is ready to import into a spreadsheet.
The Treo had a Web browser that was notable only for it's constant crashing. It crashed so much that most Treo users never bothered with it, which I think contributed greatly to the Treo's slow decline. The iPhone's Web browser is fast, easy to use, and the large screen makes it very comfortable to read news sites. The ability to quickly magnify the size of the page with a simple two finger pinch means virtually any site can be viewed comfortably.
One little program really shows off the versatility and power of the iPhone. Shazam is a free application that will listen to a song playing on the radio (or any audio you can hear), record a portion of it, transmit it over the AT&T network to the Shazam database, identify it, and send it back to the iPhone. In about twenty seconds, you can find out the artist, the album, view the cover art, and make a one button click to purchase it from the iTunes Music Store.
Another free program is provided by Apple. The Remote application lets you use your iPhone in your house or office to control music playing via iTunes on your desktop or laptop computer. This little program hints at a whole new category of remote control software that will allow the iPhone to control a whole variety of devices. Indeed, AT&T is already talking about being able to use the iPhone to do things like starting your car on a cold morning to warm it up.
The iPhone has now taken second place in global cellphone sales, ahead of RIM (the Blackberry) and Microsoft. It's a great device that is troublefree and easy to use.