November 4th, 2009
The iPhone is one of the best phones in the world, carriers with it are the problem
I try not to link to posts I completely disagree with that reach conclusions that don’t seem fully backed up, but I just had to respond to this UK Crave blog post titled, The iPhone is the worst phone in the world. After reading the post and then thinking about my experiences with my iPhone 3GS on both AT&T and T-Mobile I really think the author meant the iPhone/carrier combo is the worst in the world. Every issue, other than battery life, that they mentioned was carrier related and not due just to the device. You see, with AT&T I too experienced constant dropped calls in full signal areas and massive data issues in areas saturated with iPhone users. Then, with T-Mobile I never have had a dropped call on my iPhone and data has been solid, although it is only EDGE data on T-Mobile.
The iPhone is actually a pretty incredible phone that offers the consumer an experience not ever seen before. While we all acknowledge the iPhone rocks at web surfing and media consumption I honestly think it does quite well as a phone too for several reasons as I have listed here.
- Answering calls is as easy as a swipe across the screen.
- Controlling how your call is handled couldn’t be easier. By this I mean the options for a Bluetooth headset, speakerphone, or headset speaker.
- The proximity sensor turns off the display so nothing is accidentally pressed.
- Voicemail appears in a visual list so you control what messages you want to listen to.
- Starting a conference call or swapping calls just takes a screen tap.
I am not saying the iPhone is the perfect phone, but it sure makes all these tasks above easier than I have ever before experienced on a phone before. We now see others copying these exact same interface elements. For example, the Nokia N97 and Touch Pro2 have swipe to answer actions.
There are MANY other phones that are much worse than the iPhone and I completely disagree with the CNET UK post. Do you agree that the iPhone is the worst phone ever or do you think it actually is one of the best phones?
Matthew Miller is an avid mobile device enthusiast who works during the day as a professional naval architect in Seattle. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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