Path to the JebusPhone

Earlier this year, I decided that I NEEDED a new mobile phone. This was different because I usually just "WANT" a new phone. My phone then was an HTC TyTn running Windows Windows Mobile 5. On paper, this phone was a techie's dream and it ticked all the right boxes. Unfortunately, the actual phone was ridden with problems such a touchscreen that would get misaligned on a daily basis, poor battery life and crashes that needed a reset very phone.
The only redemption for this phone was that it led me to realize what key features I needed in my next phone - and they were as follows (in no particular order):
- flawless screen
- 100% accessible keyboard so that I could type with just one hand (not while driving of course)
- interface that I can navigate without needing to pull out the stylus
- good battery life
- WiFi
- 3G internet
- Stable and responsive OS that did not crash and hang
- Acceptable internet experience (I read a lot of blogs)
- Instant Messaging for MSN and Yahoo
After searching high and low, I settled on the Ubiquio 503G running Windows Mobile 6. Its Blackberry form factor meant I can use the keyboard at all times and also navigate the OS without needing a stylus. After a couple of ROM upgrades that fixed keyboard issues on the phone, things were looking good on the 503G. The only issue I had with the phone was that it almost always let me down at key moments. You know, just when you need to make that quick call - this phone would either drop the call,require a restart (which meant getting the stylus out and removing the battery cover to press the reset button) or refuse to turn on altogether.
I also downloaded Opera 8.6 which is pretty good although it felt sluggish and would occasionally crash on the 503G.<
iPhone & Ubiquio

So after a lot deliberation, I ended up getting the iPhone and here is how it stacks up as per the list above:
Flawless Screen: The iPhone screen MAKES the iPhone. Its bright, vibrant and very responsive to touch and multi-touch gestures. Its perfect for watching music videos, podcasts or even movies on the go (certainly kept my 2 year old entertained on our flight to San Diego)
Accessible Keyboard: The software keyboard on the iPhone took me about a week to get used to and now I can type up to 35 words a minute. The trick was to learn to trust the auto-correction feature as typos will slow you down.
Stylus-Free Navigation: As Steve Jobs put it, "Your finger is the best pointing device in the world". The iPhone is completely finger driven and therefore does not need a stylus to pick out emails, songs or contacts.
Good Battery Life: Battery life on the iPhone depends on what you do with it. I have found that it will last a couple days on standby (phone and WiFi on). Video drains the battery in about 6 hours and music playback lasts about 22 hours.
WiFi: WiFi on the iPhone works as flawlessly as it does on the Mac. You don't get the connection failures that you get on WinMob and there is no need to set up "Work" and "Internet" networks.
3G/UMTS: The iPhone is a 2.5G (EDGE) device and this was a compromise I decided to make. Web surfing on GPRS is painfully slow especially as you can't set Safari to load pages without loading images. I have found however that downloading emails and instant messaging works well enough on GPRS.
Stable OS: The OS on the iPhone is not some OS that resembles OS X, IT IS OS X. Here you have a device running on OS X meaning you get the responsiveness, stability and expandability (I currently have SSH (Secure Shell), AFP Server, Bonjour (config-free networking protocol for printing and file-sharing) and Apache "because I can" web server running on my iPhone). Applications open as soon as you touch their icon and when an application crashes, it simply exits without hanging the OS and requiring a reboot. My iPhone is jail-broken (hacked) and some of the apps available from the unofficial SDK are already brilliant. What really excites me is that come February, this device will be opened to third party developers with an official SDK and we should see some amazing mobile applications.
Internet Experience: The web browser on the iPhone is beyond acceptable - its simply the web as you and I know it. No WAP or some rejigged version meant to fit on a small screen. The iPhone loads the entire website on its screen and you simply double-tap or pinch and expand to zoom in on the section you are interested in. I honestly don't miss Flash (YouTube is built in, plus you have vTap.com) at all as its a resource and battery hog on a mobile device.I will admit to missing Java especially for websites such as www.gotomypc.com or www.logmein.com.
Instant Messaging: As there is no built in instant messaging app on the iPhone, I downloaded a third party application called Apollo IM. This is still in beta so it had a few kinks that needed ironing out. I also tried www.meebo.com and have now settled on www.beejive.com (some Ajax (Web 2.0) applications are very good).

Before I got the iPhone, I was concerned about the lack of features that many websites and blogs seem to go on about such as no MMS (I use email, thanks), no GPS (got it in my car - but would be nice), a 2MP Camera with no flash (anyone wanting quality photos should get a proper camera and not rely on their mobile phone), Copy and Paste (Yes, Apple, we need Copy and Paste! and be quick about it!), no Instant Messaging (see above), etc.
The iPhone is certainly not perfect and not for everyone. I don't believe that it makes the best business-oriented device as it lacks features such pure Exchange support and modem ability. However, after owning 4 WinMob devices that promised the world with features and delivered very few, I would rather have a device that delivers on everything that is on the box and a few more surprises. Its about quality, not quantity. Like I stated in my previous article, most of the iPhone's short-coming are software-based and Apple has already shown that it will continue to quickly update the OS with new features (something MS has so far failed to do with WinMob).