iPhone Impressions

The iPhone. The shiny, beautiful device has always mocked me, laughing at how I couldn't afford one. Until last week I acquired some money (it isn't as dodgy as it sounds... honest) and decided to go out and make a purchase that would change my life forever!!! OK, I might be exaggerating a little, but either way - I've got an iPhone WOOOHOOOO!!!!

So, what do you think think of your new iPhone, I disillusionally imagine you shouting at your screen? Well, that's what this blog is about (you'd have never guessed that from the title, would you), so get comfortable, put on your reading glasses and prepare for a roller coaster ride of iPhoney goodness.

After spending a small fortune on the phone, I rushed home to get using it. It reminded me of when I was a kid, and I'd rush home to play a new playstation game. Anyway, I got home and opened the box, and there it was, looking just as beautiful as I expected. When I picked it up, it was lighter than I expected, I was expecting something on the heavier side, like my ipod classic, but without a hard drive there is no need for it to weigh so much.

I then read through the instructions, in attempt to find out where I was supposed to put the SIM card. Despite having a well concealed SIM card slot, they don't provide anything to explain where you put it. After googling it, I found how, only to find I'd lost the little poking device that you use to pull out the SIM holder. After spending 10 minutes searching for a paperclip to use as a replacement, I managed to get the SIM in, and begin actually using the phone.

So, all that was left to try was the features. All of the standard phone features work fine. The phone is good, texting works fine, the calendar does all the standard things you expect from a phone calendar, as does the clock. The camera is competent. It's nothing special like the 8 Mega Pixel camera's you get on some phones. It's 2 Mega Pixels, which is all I need really, and takes pictures fine. There are no additional features though, all it does is take a basic photo, no zoom, no effects, no video recording. Now, onto the main reason I got the phone - The web browser.

The web browser works brilliantly. It browses the web really fast for a phone. It's perfect for checking things when on the go. The only issue I have with it is that I can't post on giant bomb with it. Everything loads perfectly, I can sign in, look at everything, but I cant type in any of the text boxes. With using the web browser comes using the keyboard. The keyboard is a bit weird to get used to. Early on I was pressing the wrong keys all the time, but after using it for a little less than a week, I'm already used to it, only occasionally hitting the wrong key, and I'm sure I'll get even better.

Some of the additional features are cool too. The Google maps works fine, and will find your location, which I'm sure is very useful if you get lost. The youtube video's play fine. The Music player is exactly what you expect from an apple ibranded device, it works brilliantly. One of the things I really like about the iPhone is the ease of taking screenshots. But these out of the box features are only the beginning. The App store is full of really cool features that you can download straight to your iPhone, so I'll provide my brief impressions of a few of them. I plan on writing full reviews for some of the games in the future, so keep an eye out for them.

Tweetie

Tweetie is a fantastic twitter app that does everything you want from a twitter app, and more. Obviously you can send and receive tweets, but you can also view web link, post photo's, log into multiple accounts, follow, unfollow, block and unblock users. It also has a cool location feature, where you can see tweets from people who are near you.

Shazam

Are you ever in a pub, or club, or anywhere, and a song comes on and you want to know what it is? Then Shazam is the app for you. Shazam will listen to 10 seconds of a song, spend 5 seconds figuring out what it is and then tell you. It'll also provide links to youtube video's of the song, and the song in the itunes store, and will save all the information for reference in the future. I've already found this really useful, and I've only had it a couple of days. And the best part of all, it's free!!!

Real Football 2009

Real football is a fantastic little football (soccer) game. It has fantastic 3D graphics, really great controls, and even features online play. Any fans of football games will love this. It's brilliant. Definitely the best game I've played on the iphone so far.

Rolando

A fantastic little puzzle game, similar to the PSP's Loco Roco. Definitely one of the best games on iphone. You have to control your rolando's by tilting your iphone to get them to the end, but with obsticles in the way you'll have to puzzle-solve your way to victory

Hero of sparta

I haven't played too much of this, but I definitely plan on playing it more. It's a really cool 3D brawler that has really good graphics, and really good controls.

SimCity

Another game I haven't played too much of, but it's basically SimCity 2000, but on the iphone. The controls seem fine so far, but the size of the screen seems like it might be a bit of a hindrance when I get really into it.