Hacking the Good days…

Okay this might be a controversial post for the iPhone lovers here, but I have been hearing more friends of mine trying to replace their Blackberry with iPhone for work – so for the benefits of the greater good, here’s a list of what I like and don’t like about iPhone (mine: iPhone 3Gs 16GB, Operator: O2) as a business phone:

The Pros:

1. Slick interface – toggling between normal phone usage and apps is a dream come true, seamless and intuitive, one second I am navigating  using the Map app, another second someone calls me.  No brainer.

2. Long-tail of apps – lots of cool productivity apps, such as ‘awesome note‘ a great app to for hyperactive individuals like me, I’ve been using Tube Delux on a daily basis, and learning Spanish and French on the fly. And I cannot CANNOT live without the Map app on iPhone, it saves my from bears and man-eating bendy buses on numerous occassion.  I bow to it.

3. Email set-up and interaction is a bliss – it took me less than 3 minutes to set up my business email (note: hosted on Google App, not Microsoft Exchange)

4. Web browsing: iPhone works brilliantly as a mini-browser so it is a bliss to read stuff on it, especially since it’s perceived to be such a dominate player in the mobile internet market, most companies have optimised user-experience based on iPhone, so you benefit from having various options to view and use their services, such as normal website, apps, or optimised web page, such as Twitter, and Facebook.

The Cons:

1. Calendar Sync:  Clanky if you are not a fan of iCal, nor if you an Exchange user (i.e. Google Calendar as your default).  I have done a few trial-and-error set ups.  First thing first: I have two Google Calendar, one personal, one business.  First to sync with iPhone, I thought I needed to sync with my Google Calendar with iCal – done so then only to realise that iPhone permit read-only calendar via iCal.  So if I am on the go, I can’t actually amend my calendar with my phone – which was a bit of a nuisance if not completely impractical.  Then I found this wonderful blog by Ian,

NuevaSync. It is a fairly simple process. First what is NuevaSync?

NuevaSync allows direct, over-the-air, native synchronization of certain smart phones and PDA devices with public PIM, and calendaring services including Google Calendar. NuevaSync does not need any software installed on your device because it uses synchronization protocols that are already built in.

It works beautifully (although still a few cliches with timezone set-up), but I know what you are thinking – what about having a third-party app handling your calendar data?  Not the perfect solution, but it’s a good work around for now.  And, oh please, let me know if you have smarter solution to this problem.

2. Keyboard: I guess this is the controversial part.  Some might say that iPhone has cracked it and created a screen-based keyboard that works, but for me, despite almost half a year of training, there’s no way I can type without staring at the keyboard, unlike a physical, tactile keyboard.  So it means that drafting an email with a bit of thought is a pain, because (rough estimate) 30% of my attention span is on keeping my fat fingers on the right buttons.  Still today I continue to hit the ‘enter’ button when I mean ‘L’ or ‘M’.  Or maybe you have delicate-daisy fingers and it works for you, but mind you, I have pretty handy hands, too, so I suspect others are suffering quietly.

3. Reception Reception Reception!! Urgh, okay so I am not sure who’s fault is it, O2 or iPhone.  I currently need to carry two phones because you just can’t do any work if you sound like you are under water in a conference call.  With iPhone coming to Vodafone and Orange, I hope to see reports on improved mobile coverage.  But as it is today, I still can’t use my phone in my home.  So.. when I have time I really need to figure out what kind of compensation I need from O2.  I hope your iPhone works better than mine!

4. Contact list Management: not a problem unique to Apple – I have my SIM-card based contacts that are mainly phone-based contacts, but I have my email contacts that are mainly email-based contacts, probably over 30% of the people have overlapped contacts and exist in parallel and yet separated.  I need to basically consolidate the two using Apple’s addressbook (confession: which I never actually really use much).  So I want to blame Apple for not making it easier for me, but okay, I admit that’s 70% my own responsibility :)

5. Power Issues: (thanks @21five) – I am so used to carrying the iPhone adapter around I didn’t even realise how little iPhone battery lasts.  Easily less than a day if you have a few conference calls and with intense usage of apps and surfing.  A big thing go consider if you are always on the go.

So for whoever going to get an iPhone for business use, I hope this list helps. ;)