iPhone review bonus: one liners

Ok, fine, so in addition to the exhaustive iPhone review, we thought it'd be fun to yin its yang and let everyone at Engadget who bought (or at least spent some time with) an iPhone to have their say in a line or two.

Ben: 9 / 10 - "I'd say as a mobile phone it ranks highly, but it's not a 'smartphone'."

Chris: 6 / 10 - "Great in-the-box wow factor, terrible out-of-the-box wow factor."

Conrad: 9 / 10 - "The only multi-function gadget available that manages to maintain the illusion of not being a device of compromises."

Dante: 9 / 10 - "Finally, a phone that can replace my K800i. But truth be told, I could actually do all these amazing things before."

Evan: 4.5 / 10 - "I got so frustrated by the tiny 'keys' and unusable browser that I just put it down after five minutes."

Josh (the guy that returned his): 5 / 10 - "Annoyed with the keyboard, toy-like interface, and limited ability to customize. Truth be told, if I can't install an NES emulator on it, I'm probably not interested."

Nilay: 8.5 / 10 - "Terrific except for the email app and GSM noise."

Paul: 9 / 10 - "It's pretty much all I want in a phone, and I'd give it a 10 if I could load a SNES emulator on it."

Peter: 6 / 10 - "Beautiful and easy to use, it gets a lot of things right and completely changes the game when it comes to mobile interfaces. Too bad it's really hard to get any work done with it."

Ryan: 7.5 / 10 - "The best converged phone / media device yet, but it's got problems. For instance, the email app. Until they get it together it's fun, but not very productive."

Average score: 7.4 Not bad! Seems like for the most part Engadget editors either loved it, or didn't like it at all. So what else is new?

P.S. -Leave yours in comments!

[Charles Bandes @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:27PM]

I'd go 9/10 - the rough edges are very minor. I do wish for a junk filter in the email app, an IM client, and of course real 3rd party apps, but compared to my Treo, this thing is godly.

[Jared Neiswender @ Jul 3rd 2007 3:40PM]

10/10 just because

[o rly @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:30PM]

A Jesus phone should be 11/10, at least.

[DateM @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:31PM]

I had to get it but I'll be going back to my Treo for the keyboard.

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:15PM]

Well hello Mr. Ballmer, how are you today?

[ryantrevisol @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:57PM]

I'll give you $150 for it.

[Steve @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:31PM]

Is it the phone that isn't all that good or the poor network?

[strider_mt2k @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:33PM]

"Two men say they're Jesus, one of the must be wrong..."

-Dire Straits

[Ian @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:34PM]

So I guess that Josh doesn't have a television, toaster, microwave, oven, dishwasher, washing machine, or frigerator unless he lives in Japan. If this is not the case, don't worry buddy, soon everything will have be as convoluted and flawed as your iPhone and my bricked PSP. Keep up the good work guys and gals.

[Pedro @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:35PM]

Pedro: NA / 10 - "I really don't care about the iPhone"

[GreaterGreg @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:38PM]

Why comment then?

[Pedro @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:48PM]

It's my one line quote of what I think about the iPhone.

[Revrant2394 @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:20PM]

My thoughts exactly, can't resist though...

Vote for Pedro!

[Alan Partridge @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:36PM]

I cant believe that the Engadget review is the only one ive seen that mentions a killer flaw with the iPhone - whilst using EDGE (for anything, Youtube, widgets, browsing etc) you CANNOT make or receive calls! The iPhones whole reason for existing ceases to be.

I understand this is more AT&T's fault but thats why they should have gone 3G!

[Ryan Block @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:39PM]

We mentioned it multiple times!

[Alan Partridge @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:42PM]

I know! I said i cant believe Engadget is the ONLY review ive seen...

[John Stracke @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:48PM]

Hang on. I know EDGE can't support voice and data at the same time; but, on my Nokia 6682 (EDGE, no 3G), it at least was able to drop the data connection when a call came in. Does the iPhone do that?

[Alan Partridge @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:20PM]

Engadget review says it goes straight to voicemail

[sean @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:23PM]

What???????
Are you kidding?
So when you're FINALLY done downloading those pics of Jessica Alba, you'll have to check your voice mail?

[Dinraj @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:28PM]

My m600i on 3g does that too. Drop's data without asking me and a manual resume/ refresh after im done with the call.

iPhone looks a lot like it was pushed through the door. I expect a lot of firmware updates.

[Jeff @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:54PM]

Just tested this... If you are "downloading" content it goes straight to voicemail, if you are looking at email/web page that is already loaded, the phone rings.

[Ignacio @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:58PM]

You can make calls while browsing/Google maps/etc with WiFi though.

[OGHowie @ Jul 3rd 2007 3:21PM]

Downloading content as in loading a page? Wow, that certainly sucks.

[telcogeek @ Jul 4th 2007 4:34AM]

For EDGE and voice call to work together, the phone and the network need a feature called DTM. Very few (mostly new Nokia) phones have the capability, and very few networks implement it.

But at least AT&T could configure the network such that the EDGE session is 'suspended' during a voice call, and automatically resumes once the call is done. Yes this is possible in all EDGE networks and all (non iPhone) phones that I have used.

[Jeff @ Jul 3rd 2007 3:38PM]

Yes, no calls while waiting for the page (or email) to load. It hasn't seemed to affect me yet as I don't get a lot of calls.

[Cam @ Jul 3rd 2007 4:20PM]

That is something to think about. Though for me it wouldn't be a deal breaker (if I was in the market for a new phone). It would be nice to be able to set a preference for the default behavior... A) drop to voicemail or B) answer call.

I think the one point many people are missing w/ the iPhone is that Apple _really_ can take it in any direction they want to with a simple software update.

[RobertF @ Jul 3rd 2007 4:42PM]

That's funny: I just tried it out. I started downloading a page from Google Reader and simultaneously called myself from another phone. After about 4 rings, my iPhone switched to the call (while the page was still loading). When I finished the call, it returned to Safari and completed the page download. This is on the Edge network.

[porkchameleon @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:36PM]

8/10

- not for "trve" business peeps
- awful activation process (still dead in the water after 90 hours: AT&T people can't get their act together, wrong information appears in my account 4th time in a row - WTF???)

+ not revolutionary, but everything I want and need from mobile device so far

[Jeff K @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:37PM]

5 / 10
Its pretty but it is not a smart phone.

[nicholas @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:37PM]

An owner of a various SE P’s, a BB 8800, and now the iThing, I am a bit disappointed. I want to love it; the interface is fantastic, regardless of the fact that it requires a few extra steps here and there. It is fast in that respect!

But, I can’t use it as a modem, transfer files. Safari blows with Gmail, which I use. Sure I could enable POP. The camera is as bad as my SE 910. Edge is torture in Chicago, even though I have used Verizon CDMA, and ATT Edge for years, and have reasonable expectations. Did I say that I cannot transfer files, like a the iPod thumb drive I had, which died? What? It’s $500!

ATT is going to kill this product. Apple should know better, but most people are enamored at the moment. I feel a bit taken, which is not a good thing for a lifelong Apple user, since the Apple II. WTF.

Great for consumers, but when will people be able to add useful applications? When will I be able to use it as a thumb drive without actually buying another product? When can I download an email attachment and transfer it to my MacBook, or heaven forbid that ATT allows me to connect to the EDGE network through the thing?

This is not the idea of mobile computing, and if anything somebody should wake up and realize that the real high ground has not been taken.

[Mike I @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:38PM]

lol I like the guy who complains about the "toy-like" interface but in the same sentence expresses his strong desire for an NES emulator.

[brad @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:38PM]

7.8/10 But can it play Doom?

[David Ahn @ Jul 3rd 2007 4:17PM]

Ha ha! I didn't even notice that.

[Nabil @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:39PM]

Except for the voicemail option, I could do everything the iphone does on any PDA phone.

[Tony Bowman @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:41PM]

8.5/10 A half-point each off for the following: no built in games, no MMS and no custom ringtones.

Aside from that, it suits all of my needs perfectly. Once those above three things are added, and I'm positive that they will, My rating goes to 10.

[John Stracke @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:52PM]

"no custom ringtones" -- this is the one that I still find mind-boggling. It's an iPod. It can play music. You can put whatever music you want on it. But it *can't* play that music as a ringtone? What were they *thinking*? Even in 2004, I was able to install any MIDI file as a ringtone on my old Nokia featurephone. I just had to put it on a Web server somewhere and download it.

[Alan Partridge @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:39PM]

They were thinking about the mega bucks they're going to make once they start charging to download ringtones

[Ray-- @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:42PM]

its because if you had that DRM'd music as a ringtone when your phone rang it might play out loud and let those around you listen for free... ILLEGAL!!@OMG pay for re-broadcasting you pirate!!

[aloysius @ Jul 3rd 2007 5:51PM]

MMS should be allowed to fade into the sunset. It's a product from the old school telephone marketing department. These are the same guys that want to bill SMS by the message (split into small chunks), charge data by the bit, charge you for a 30 second MIDI ringtone, and think VOIP is sin against nature.

Energy is better spent trying to get the e-mailing of pictures to be as easy as possible, AIM/Jabber/Yahoo/Google/whatever based chat (so long as it's data and not SMS in disguise), and being able to install your own MP3 ringtones. All of those allow you to leverage things you've already paid for.

[gt2378b @ Jul 7th 2007 9:41PM]

Devil's advocate:

Nobody but you thinks your custom ringtone is cool.

The rest of us wish you'd put your phone on silent.

[Xavier Gill @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:41PM]

6.5/10 - Unacceptable flaws given the price

[spidoman @ Jul 3rd 2007 4:00PM]

Exactly. It's not a bad phone. I would totally buy it if it was 200-300 dollars. But it does NOT have 600 worth of features.

[Xavier Gill @ Jul 3rd 2007 4:59PM]

$600 will only buy you an emergency-services-calling-machine

You need another $1400 for an iPhone

[Chris M @ Jul 4th 2007 7:31PM]

Agreed. I just bought a Moto Q on Sprint- and I would have changed providers and the whole shebang if I could have gotten this phone for 300 on-contract. Hell, I would have even ponied up 400; and I HATE Cingular's service.

But 600 is just outrageous.

Chris

[Modano @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:41PM]

I love it deeply. 17 thumbs up!

[SOSdan @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:17PM]

Look, I know you're excited but you don't have 17 thumbs.

[carlo @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:56PM]

Could have found a way to buy them for nine people, one of whom has only one thumb...?

[z @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:41PM]

I hope the 'european' or v2.0 version of this iPhone will not see all his connectivity (3G, bt, wifi, storage, ...) locked-down as in this v1.0 is. This will be I believe the best way to make this device a must have for power-users.

[long3000 @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:41PM]

8/10 It has most of the function of a PDA, but since its from Apple. The uniqueness of Apple as we all know somehow prevents it from getting variety of applications.

[roboman @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:42PM]

if you wanted an emulator for it, you could just write one to work on it, then load it on, even if you'd have some issues feeling the buttons, after a while it wouldn't be bad at all.