DISQUS

you may dislike the iPhone - everyone has to decide for themselves.
But i am a convert myself - i'm a big fan of keyboards and don't like the
fact that the iPhone will likely never have one. However... it is such a
versatile device for the web, and does so many other things superbly,
i'm willing to make the trade off - for now. But I don't want to try and
convince anyone - many may prefer a keyboard. I would point out though,
that the iPhone's operating system, and applications RUN CIRCLES
around anything I've ever seen on a Windows Mobile device. I just
don't think that the paradigm, of "moving" the desktop OS to a cell phone
really works, in everyday life usage. For a mobile device, all of the assumptions
for the OS and applications need to be re-thought from the ground up; every
minute' detail. The iPhone architects did that, exceedingly well.

However, some will prefer Windows Mobile. It depends on how you use it,
what you care about, etc etc.

Hey ShareBear,
yeah i sort of agree with you about the keyboard. I've been using these miniature mobile devices since they first started appearing in 1990 (a full list of every one i've owned is on my website - it's ridiculous:), and all of my favorites had keyboards. Thumb typing is the way to go. But i don't think anyone will convince Jobs to do a slider or a Treo/Blackberry like tactile keyboard. I decided to be open-minded and really give the iPhone's on-screen keyboard a chance, and I have to say, i'm at least partially converted. Most people just think it has look-ahead to complete the word. But the Apple Multi-touch technology has some remarkable innovations - like knowing what character is coming next, and enlarging the TARGET AREA over that particular character; which improves typing accuracy notably. It's still not a keyboard though, and i do agree with you that it's a bit of a problem for heavy emailers. But the solution can be to shift your habits, since the iPhone is so versatile for so many OTHER things. And I've been shifting away from email a bit anyway; i think the "peak email" years are behind us as we move into web 2.0 technologies.

It's true about AT&T's EDGE network - verrry slow and frustrating to use an iPhone with that. Thankfully, the 3G iPhone has arrived, and the data performance is hugely better. Surprisingly, the voice performance on the 3G iPhone is way better than my EDGE iPhone; in fact it's probably the crispest/sharpest cell phone audio I've experienced (including my favorite Nokia's, Samsungs, and Sanyo's - and those are some great phones to compare it to. Surprised by that, but Apple really nailed the cell phone side of it this time. An added bonus.

I do disagree with your last line, though. I am 54 and a type A business guy; and not matching any of the other descriptors, :-)

thanks for your comments.

I had the HTC 6800 Mogul, a little smaller device with a slider keyboard. At first I liked it, and thought
"Gee, Windows Mobile has improved" (since the prior 10 times I have tried WM devices... clear back to CE).

It took about 3 weeks before i realized... "I really dislike this thing!". Just the little details of using it that
aren't properly thought through.

I have no beef with Microsoft and hope they eventually get Windows Mobile right... but it isn't even close.

The iPhone, on the other hand, was the opposite experience. The more you learn about it, the more useful
it becomes and the more attached you get to it. I am a keyboard person, too - i would greatly prefer it had
a tactile "slider" keyboard. But... the more you learn about how it's predictive onscreen keyboard works, the
better you can get with it. It doesn't just to look-ahead... it ENLARGES the target area over your next likely
target key, for example. Everything about the iPhone's super-slick OS and application is that way... I wouldn't touch a WM device with a 10-foot pole, now. Not even close, for usability, versatility etc.

Also... Apple has published this enterprise deployment guide:

http://support.apple.com/manuals/en_US/Enterpri...

this document from Microsoft provides a lot of information for MS-Exchange server administrators, to
configure the network and the server(s) to support iPhone ("Enterprise Deployment Guide", a 728KB pdf from Microsoft):

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2008/07/11/44...

some of this should be relevant to getting iPhones to play with Corporate SharePoint servers. Ports to open,
permissions etc. Looks like MS-Exchange defaults to prohibiting links in emails fro opening SharePoint docs, as the
default.

Just an fyi of something that was brought to my attention.