<p>A lot has be written (and read – much by me!!!) about the newly release Apple iPhone. Here in the UK have only just had the opportunity to get one of these (officially anyway) wonderful devices. Here is my experiences with my iPhone, which is now one week old.</p>
<p><a href=”http://uberspod.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/unboxed.jpg&#8221; title=”unboxed.jpg”></a></p>
<p style=”text-align:center;”><a href=”http://uberspod.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/unboxed1.jpg&#8221; title=”Apple iPhone Unboxed”><img src=”http://uberspod.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/unboxed1.jpg&#8221; alt=”Apple iPhone Unboxed” /></a></p>
<p>I did have some problems when I can to activate the iPhone using iTunes. All I had to do, was to plug in the iPhone, and ‘let it do its thang’.</p>
<p>Now, I’ve been using iTunes (the latest version – 7.5) on this laptop since it was released, and have updated to every revision of iTunes since I got my Macbook Pro about 18 months ago. I knew all the sync cables I had were working becuase I had been syncing my 80gb iPod for the past 15 months or so. I knew both USB sockets on my laptops worked OK for the same reason.</p>
<p>Anyway, after plugging in my new iPhone, I was expecting a nice and smooth installation and setup – al la Apple’s normal experience – but noooo, it just wasn’t playing ball. All I c ould see in the screen of the iPhone was the iTunes logo at the top of the screen, an image of the end of the sync cable at the bottom, and an arrow pointing from the cable end to the iTunes logo. This was obviously trying to tell me to plug in my iPhone to get it work!!!</p>
<p>After trying to get this to work and checking all the normal places for support (Apple website, O2 website, various Apple forums) for about half an hour, I then decided to take the drastic step of ringing the O2 iPhone support phone number.</p>
<p>I got though to a person quite quickly (which I supprised at), I explained the problem that I was having, and that I had tried multiple iPod cables in all the USB ports on the laptop, the software had only recently been installed, and the laptop had been reboot serveral times (I work in IT – I know the drill). Sadly, the woman on the end of the phone hadn;t seen this problem before, and after discussing the problem with one of her collegues, can back and said that she couldn’t help me. We were not giving up that easily, and she passed my onto anthoer on of her collegues. I explained the problem I was having again, explained what I had tried again, and the same thing happened. The support agent at the other end of the phone didn’t know what was causing the problem, and passed me on to another support agent.  The same sequence of events happened again.</p>
<p>Ecentually, after speaking to three or four O2 iPhone support agents, they decided to pass me to the Apple support centre, I explained the problem once again to the agent on the end of the phone. He got me to check and delete a few files while I was downloading iTunes 7,5 again. The two files I was asked to look for were not there, so I didn’t need to delete them!!! I reinstalled iTunes 7.5, and much to my relief, iTunes:-</p>
<ul>
<li>hadn’t nuked my iTunes library</li>
<li>hadn’t zapped my podcasts</li>
<li>worked with my iPhone!!!</li>
</ul>
<p>This was a major step forward!!! I was now able to register and active my iPhone. I thanked the Apple Support guy for all his help. It was really appreciated. And if you are reading this – THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN!!!</p>
<p>About another fifteen minutes later, I had filled in all the screens required, got a PAC code from Vodafone, entered my entire life history and my iPhone was working. Another ten minutes later, I had decided which playlists, videos and photos to sync, and they were on the iPhone too.I was up and running.</p>
<p>Now I know that the iPhone is not a perfect device, but its one of the best combined devices I have ever used and is the closest thing I’ve come too for being my perfect device.</p>
<p>Some of the things I think are missing from or need refining on the iPhone include:-</p>
<ul>
<li>no copy/cut and paste in and between applications</li>
<li>no all applications rotate for some reason</li>
<li>there are some inconsistancies on the UI – sometimes you create say a new email at the bottom right of the screen, but you create a new SMS on the top right toolbar.</li>
<li>lack of Skype or SIP application</li>
</ul>
<p>There other thinge people are complaining  include:-</p>
<ul>
<li>lack of 3G access (well maybe only until Summer 2008)</li>
<li>lack of GPS</li>
<li>battery life</li>
<li>only a 2MP camera</li>
<li>doesn’t have a video camera</li>
</ul>
<p>Now I know that other phones have better battery life, have builtin 3G and GPS, but at the moment for me, these things are not too important. I would rather have a slighty longer battery life, but I understand that it isn’t going to be a good as my old Nokia 6288 (but atleast it will be better than some of my old Windows Mobile/Pocket PC devices I’ve had in the past).</p>
<p>I would improve the qualuty of the camera, and have put a video camera on there too (who know – the camera may already be a video camera – but not just be progrsmmed for it).</p>
<p>Overall, I am impressed with the iPhone, and it is probally the most complete device for me available.</p>