What I love most about the iPhone

...is scrolling my photo library. I never get bored flicking through the photographs. It is just a lovely user experience.

This is by far the best quality reception/signal strength phone I've
had from Cingular/ATT. (We have had GPS phones for more than 2 years,
but for whatever reason, the signal strength on my iPhone is far
superior to my recent Samsung on what I assume is the same network.)
Also, I can easily switch between Call Waiting callers without
hanging up on the first caller -- something I still can't do on our
home land line after many, many years! Oh, and NO dropped calls.
(Not that we've had significant problems with Cingular anyway here in
upstate NY.)

I had never engaged in text messaging before -- but our adult
children do -- that has been a big help to be able to do that (I
tried on my little Samsung -- could never get the hang of dealing
with the number/letter keys.)

My husband was in the hospital for much of August -- I automatically
connected to the hospital's free WiFi connection for internet access.

Being able to read/send email is fantastic, even though I have to
switch back and forth between EDGE and WiFi.

The camera is really quite good.

I use the clock/alarm/timer functions; I email myself reminders from
Notes; I'm switching from Palm Desktop to iCal with minimal hassels.

Best extravagant gizmo I've ever bought.

Thanks, Adam.

Joan Miller

I love that little switch/microphone on the headset. It's great to be able to pause and play or answer the phone without having to dig it out of your pocket. Mark

I was sure I'd hate the keyboard, and in fact I did when I tried out the iPhone at the store. But since I really wanted a good, Mac-friendly converged device, I eventually went for it. I've found that the keyboard is quite usable, and in fact I can enter text much faster than I could with my Palm TX. So I don't love the iPhone keyboard, but I am pleased with it. (I also like the email program a lot.)

"The whole internet" to borrow from Apple---the full function Mail
and Web.

The user experience. While it is certainly not perfect, the UI is so
much more useable than the Symbian, Windows Mobile or Palm based
devices I have used in the past.

Stability. For the most part, it "just works" (no crashes or
resets)---something that can't be said for WM or Palm based
smartphones, though Symbian phones were a bit better in this regard.
(How low have our expectations gotten when we are actually pleased
that a phone just works the way it should?)

Hassle free and seamless syncing with the Mac.

Tomoharu

The battery life is great.

It's (still) a fun conversation piece.

The camera is excellent for photos in good light conditions.

Voice quality on the phone is awesome (for me at least, I know others
complain).

Maps.

Easy to use alarms and timers.

Regards,
Brian White

Previously mentioned:

* Showing people pinching and dragggin around photos is just the
coolest demo. Everyone love it.

* GREAT phone reception, far better than other Cingular phones I've owned.

* Pause button on the headset. (I've never used it to skip a track, though.)

* The web is always available (when I'm not on the subway), just as
easily as on my computer. I haven't had to shift my thinking about it
or compromise. It just works.


Not mentioned by others:

* I have complete confidence that the first time I need to make a
three-way call, I will be able to do it immediately. I have the
impression that every feature is easily accessible, and that has
never been true with any other phone I have owned.

* The screen is just unbelievably awesome. Bright, crisp, clear, in
all lighting.

--
=Alex Hoffman
Leadership, Policy & Politics
Teachers College, Columbia University

Here is information I learned somewhere after the interview. (I
don't think it was here; possibly iPhone Central or Infinite Loop.)

If you create a route using Google Maps in the usual way with a web
browser, and use the Send button to send that to an email account you
read on your iPhone, and then tap the link in the displayed mail
message, iPhone opens that link in the Maps application.

That can be a little simpler than building the route on the iPhone.
Suppose you're in a hotel planning your next day's adventures
(business calls or pleasure stuff). You can use your laptop on the
hotel system to build a collection of needed routes, and mail them to
your iPhone. Then as you go through the day, you select the proper
message in the Mail application and tap the link.

(You can also get a route map to someone else's iPhone the same way,
of course.)

   --John

I love the integration of Google Maps with the Address Book. On a trip when a friend says, " I think we should go to X resturant..." I can map it and then add it to my address book. This lets me find it again next year.

Of course, this ties into a hated that it's missing feature of my iPhone. That I cannot search for, say, restaurants in Chicago. (I have a restaurants group, hence this should be easy...)

Andrew

IPHONE: WHAT I LIKE about it: ease of use, built in functions that help perform tasks easily AND like all things Apple: It just works! What I would like to see: an Apple/Landware iPocket Quicken that would sync w/Desktop Quicken; A checkbox and delete ALL in mail function. An app similar to DocsToGo and a database like SmartList (also DataViz)