iPhone Experience: Initial Thoughts, Mail and SMS

As you might have heard, I ended up waiting in line for my iPhone at the Sherman Oaks, CA Apple Store. Yes, I managed to get one on Friday evening (two, in fact) and went with the 8GB variety. I was very excited to get the device and had a great experience in line with my fellow enthusiasts -- even with the long wait. All in all, a very pleasant time with some very interesting people who were just as excited to be there as I was.

Once I got home from the Apple Store, I proceeded through the activation of my iPhone via iTunes. When it got to the screen allowing me to port my existing mobile number over to AT&T, I hesitated, thinking I would play it safe and test out the iPhone a little before committing 100% to AT&T. So, I opted for a new number and went on through the activation process.

However, now that I've had the chance to use the device for a couple days, I will most likely port my number from T-Mobile over to AT&T. I anticipate being able to do that with a minimum of fuss but I will, of course, detail my experiences, good or bad, when I do it tomorrow via the AT&T "Porting Department."

After going through the entire activation process, I received the activation text message from AT&T about ten minutes later and was good to go to make calls, access the Internet via EDGE, etc. So, unlike some others, activation was a painless process for me. Immediately, I went to work on the iPhone. First, I adjusted my settings in iTunes to sync the various information, songs, podcasts, TV shows or movies that I wanted on my iPhone.

Mail -- I also opted to sync my email info from Apple Mail onto my iPhone. Being able to sync this particular set of information was a big time saver because I have several email addresses and I wanted them all to be on the iPhone. However, I wasn't that excited about the prospect of having to type in all the associated email account information (server names, addresses, passwords, etc.) while trying to get used to the touch-screen keyboard.

Fortunately, once again the folks at Apple have thought ahead and when I synced my email information, all of my account info came over including servers, passwords, and everything else. Once that was done I was receiving email on my iPhone immediately. It was just that simple. I only wish working with email on the iPhone were as simple. I'm a big fan of the one Inbox concept that also allows me to click on individual email address to see specific emails addressed to those particular accounts -- like how Apple Mail arranges things. I was hoping the iPhone, being an Apple product designed by very smart people, would work the same way.

Unfortunately, it doesn't. Instead, you are presented with a screen listing your various accounts. You can then select the account you want which leads you to another screen with your Inbox, Sent Mail, etc. Then, you click on the Inbox to display the emails for that account. I prefer the way Apple Mail does it and I'm not sure why the iPhone couldn't do it the same way, but it doesn't.

Another annoyance in Mail is the inability to select a group of emails and either delete them or, as is more often the case for me, mark them as read. I get a lot of email and often get a chance to read new ones on my desktop or portable Macs. So it would be nice to be able to mark a bunch of email I already read as "read" all at the same time, instead of having to open each one individually for it to be marked as read.

Also, I would like to be able to delete a group of emails all at once but that doesn't seem to be possible either. Sure, you can slide your finger across one email to get the "delete" button but you can't select a group and do it all at once. Plus, you do have the edit button but pressing that seems only to achieve the same thing as sliding your finger across the email to get the "delete" button.

What would perhaps make more sense was if you pressed the "edit" button you could then click on the "minus sign" at the left of the screen and select which emails you wanted the "delete" button to show up on. Then, you could just go down the list pressing all the "delete" buttons one after the other. to get rid of those emails. Sadly, if you click on one and make the "delete" button appear and then click on another, the "delete" button disappears from the previous one.

Selecting things as a group might be a limitation of the touch-screen technology but I think it could also be solved with a button that you could press first, then select the emails you want -- either one after the other or broken up -- and then press the delete button. Perhaps we'll see this in a future software update for the iPhone? Other than those two annoyances, Mail functions pretty well -- especially on available Wi-Fi networks. But even on EDGE, its still fine. Not great, but acceptable.

SMS/Text -- Now, lets talk a little about Text Messages, I don't know about you but I tend to send only a few text messages a day. However, I still want it to be easy to send them and the iPhone really delivers here. Sending and receiving couldn't be easier and I love the way text message "conversations" look like an iChat session. Of course, that makes me miss having iChat on the device all the more. I hope we see an IM client for the iPhone before too long too. Or, perhaps a Skype client? That's probably asking too much.

The other cool thing about texts on the iPhone is that when someone sends you one, it appears on the main "home" screen even when the device is locked. It displays the message and who its from -- provided the person is in your contacts. Otherwise, it just displays the phone number and message. I really like that feature. Multimedia and picture messages are still to come but I'm sure they will be as easy once the features appear on the iPhone via updates to the software.

Another cool feature is sending a text message to someone in your contacts list by going into the contact and selecting the "Text Message" button. Super easy. Although, having to go through the Phone application to access your contacts seems a bit odd to be. Wouldn't it have made more sense to simply but an Address Book application icon in the main window right next to the Calendar? Also, while were on the subject of the main window, I would love to be able to rearrange those icons like you can on the Mac's dock. Maybe a software update will help with that one too?

Until then, the iPhone, regardless of the aforementioned minor annoyances, is still a great device worthy of the Apple name. I can't wait to keep exploring the device and finding new ways to use it. Yes friends, I think its love.