We bumped into an iPhone early adopter named Ron at University Coffee (Palo Alto) and discussed about his experience.
Unsurprisingly, he thought that the display was just beautiful. He was watching a video in landscape mode, and we could witness how smooth it was. But despite the size of the screen, the virtual keyboard is still far from being as good as a real one. Heavy blackberry users, you can forget about replacing your *real* QWERTY keyboard.
There was a detail that was not widely reported on (at least that I know of): the iPhone audio jack connector. It is so recessed that many non-Apple headphones won’t fit without the ugly adapter shown on the photo (a Belkin, apparently). It’s a faux pas, but it is financially smart: the ugly adapter costs an extra $10 or so. It’s not really a problem: if one has been waiting in line and battling the crowd to unload $499 or $599 after signing a pre-marital contract with Cingular – shelling an extra 10 bucks doesn’t seem so bad.
On the good side, WiFi users can rejoice: Ron reports that the WiFi functionality works really well. The phone is pretty smart at detecting and using available networks. It’s good because the old EDGE data connection that the device supports isweak –or/and lame(as predicted).
Ron thinks that the iPhone will be a commercial success even if it’s not yet the perfect phone (as predicted). Thanks Ron for sharing your experience with complete strangers.
Our sister-site Uberpulse has a video of Steve Jobs doing a field trip to the Palo Alto Apple Store conveniently located a few blocks from his house. check it out and feel the Apple love –without having to rubagainst hordes of sweaty fans (priceless).
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