Michael France's iPhone Trial

This afternoon, Apple released the first update for the iPhone, version 1.01.  The changes seem small, mostly Safari security updates.  Here is the Apple change log, if interested.  Disappointing... I was hoping for a lot more.

It's worth mentioning that the update process was simple and fast.  The update took about five minutes.  The phone and iTunes displayed matching progress bars during the process.  During the update, I tried calling the phone to see what would happen... my call went straight to voicemail.  The best part about the update progress was that it wasn't forced - you could wait and do it later.  For instance, if I just wanted to sync my phone and do the update when it was more convenient, that would have been possible.

I thought that the update process was well thought out and convenient.  Now I just hope they release an update worth mentioning. 

One of the features I have desperately been missing on the iPhone has been an RSS reader.  If you are like me, you use RSS to get most of your news.  I subscribe to fifty feeds and rely on them to keep me up-to-date on all my technology interests.  It has become part of my daily routine to check RSS and without it, it would be very hard to predict what a secretive company like Apple will do next.

So it was with great pleasure that I noticed that NewsGator, one of the largest RSS reader companies, has added support for the iPhone.  By going to http://m.newsgator.com/ on your iPhone, you will be able to read RSS sized for the iPhone's screen.  You can also go there from a desktop browser if you don't have an iPhone and are curious what the interface is like.  You must have a NewsGator account (free) to use this service.

Here is the NewsGator press release announcing iPhone support.

So as promised, I went to OSCON today with nothing but my iPhone.  How did it work out not having a laptop at a conference?  OK.  Some of the benefits:

• I didn't have to carry around a heavy laptop, batteries and power cord.
• I was still able to take notes.
• I was still able to look up interesting sites or products that were mentioned.
• I was still able to process email.
• I didn't have to be constantly worrying about battery life.  The battery life on the iPhone is exceptional - I have charged it once since I have been here and have used it heavily each day.

On the negative side of things, the iPhone isn't a laptop and I found myself longing for one.  Let me explain...

OSCON is a highly technical conference focusing on programming, database administration and systems administration.  That being said, a lot of the time you want to try out the code, concept or product the presenter is talking about.  While I was still able to browse the web, I found myself making notes to check out things later on my laptop.  I  guess that is OK but I think I would have gotten more out of the talks if I had been able to check something out immediately.

That is not to say that the iPhone was useless today and I think at a less technical conference, the iPhone would be totally adequate.  At this conference, though, I will be bringing my laptop from now on.

Yesterday, I wrote about my experiences traveling with the iPhone on my trip to Portland, OR.  I focused mostly on the traveling aspect of using the phone.  Now that I am here and settled in, how has the phone been as a companion at the conference?  So far, it has been great.  A couple of examples:

• While browsing the O'Reilly booth on the show floor, I was able to make note of books that looked interesting.
• While waiting for the room for my next session to free up, I was able to process email and plan the rest of my day on the conference website while standing outside the room.

Those are just a couple of examples.  So far, the strengths of the iPhone while at the conference have been: instant access to email and the internet; the ability to write down notes without having to take out my laptop or paper.  As I mentioned above, I was able to write down the names of a dozen or so books at the O'Reilly booth very quickly and easily... something I would have never done previously.

Tomorrow, I plan to take nothing but the iPhone to the conference to see how well I can do without my laptop.  Tradionally, a laptop has been essential at the conferences I have attended.  I will report back on how it goes tomorrow. 

Last week, there was a great tip posted on MacOSXHints.com about how to find free WiFi using the iPhone.  I finally got to try it today while walking the streets in Portland... it lead me to a local pub with free WiFi.  Just thought I would pass it along.

This week, I am attending O'Reilly's Open Source Conference (OSCON 2007) in Portland, OR.  This is the first opportunity that I have had to travel with the iPhone.  So far, it has been an invaluable travel companion.

I started to realize how useful it was while I was in Cincinnati, waiting for my flight to depart.  Here are some of the things I did on the iPhone while waiting:

• Checked into my hotel
• Checked my flight information
• Read and responded to email
• Planned my week's schedule at OSCON
• Made notes and to do items for the week
• Caught up on the iPhone Trial blogs and wiki

If you have been following the network problems at Duke, you may know that it was initially being blamed on the iPhone.  Yesterday, Engadget reported that Duke exonerated the iPhone from network outage charges.  Today, Cisco published a vulnerability concerning ARP storms in wireless networks... clearing the iPhone completely.

Since my previous post on the limitations of the iPhone's Mail program, I have been asked a lot of questions about my use the of iPhone and its mail capabilities.  I thought that I would post again and express my views now that I have had the phone for almost three weeks.

If you missed my previous post regarding email on the iPhone, I basically said that my experience had been mostly positive but that the exclusion of junk filtering severely hurt the usability of the mail client.  I definitely still feel that way but I have gotten use to it, in a way.

I was expecting that Mail on the iPhone would be a fully functional email client, and I believe that it will be with some work from Apple.  But in the mean time, having email on my phone has impacted how I do my job in a very positive way.  I am now able to stay in touch in a more meaningful way then I was ever able to do before.  Email outside of work before the iPhone required that I drag out my laptop and spend a chunk of time processing it.  Now, I find myself answering emails while I am in line at the store or walking to my car.  It allows me to check and respond to email during down time and has had a positive affect on my job and on my personal time.  You never know where I will be when I send a message now, especially since I disabled the default "Sent from my iPhone" signature that I found it to be... obnoxious.

To wrap up, here is a list of positive and negative things about email on the iPhone: 

Some things I love about email on the iPhone:

• The virtual keyboard is amazing.  After three weeks, I am able to type a message very quickly.
• Adding someone to an email is as simple as it is on my desktop machine.  Simply type the first letter of their name and select them from a list.  You can also select them from your contact list by clicking the plus button.
• All of my mailboxes appear on the phone, enabling me to access and organize my email on the go.  New email can be sent to any mailbox by click the move button.
• Spell check.  The dictionary on the iPhone is pretty amazing by itself but it also learns words as you type them.
• The way email is listed makes it very easy to browse.  When in a mailbox you see the following: Name of sender, message timestamp, subject, and the first two lines of the email (customizable).  If you think about it, that is more information than you probably get from your email client.
  
• Setup.  I did not have to do anything but sync the iPhone with my desktop machine to get email set up.  It automatically transfers all of your settings and passwords the first time you sync.
  

Some suggestions for improvement:

• I need to be able to see more than 200 messages at once.  Right now, mailboxes will only display 200 messages at a time and you must click next to view additional messages.
• Filtering.  No need to explain this again.  Simply put, this is my biggest gripe with the iPhone.
• Search.  The ability to search your email, especially at Spotlight-like speeds, would be a huge plus for the iPhone.
• I would love it if my email was 'pushed' to the iPhone.  This has more to do with the email technology I use than Apple being at fault but is something that can hopefully be supported in the future.
• The ability to turn the signature on/off would be nice.  I only include a signature in formal emails and normally do not use one.
• Sending a message outside of the Mail applicaption, for example from the Photos appilcation, requires that the email is sent from your primary email account.  I would love to be able to choose which account the messsgae is sent from.