Apple's iPhone: The Future is Here
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 2, 2007 6:13 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
The iPhone email client is one of the best applications on the device for the same reasons that the iPhone itself is impressive: it's fast and it just works.
ITunes will automatically sync your email accounts from Mail or Outlook, or you can add email accounts manually to the iPhone. Just about any POP/IMAP account will work, provided that you supply the account credentials. I setup my AnandTech email address as well as my gmail and Yahoo mail accounts.
With your email accounts configured, the iPhone can check them every 15, 30 or 60 minutes automatically. Apple desperately needs support for free push email; while the iPhone supports Yahoo push mail, it appears that you have to pay a $3/month fee to enable push support on your Yahoo mail account. If Apple can bring push Gmail support to the iPhone, I'd be happy.
Email on the iPhone is geared towards keeping up with your messages while you're away from your computer, and as such there's absolutely no search functionality. By default, the client only shows you the last 50 messages in your inbox; if you want to see more, simply flick your finger up the screen until you reach the end of the messages and ask the application to load the next 50 (this number is configurable up to 200).
As a device designed to fill the gap between when you're using your desktop and your laptop, the iPhone succeeds in handling email. While downloading email the interface does slow down slightly, but even with an inbox full of 200 messages navigating and reading email is as intuitive as it could be.
The iPhone's screen comes in handy when viewing emails, text is sharp and clear; mobile email never looked so good before.
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CaptainDDL - Monday, July 2, 2007 - link
Could you take a picture of what the iPhone shows when you're trying to connect to a secure Wi-Fi connection? Thanks.slashbinslashbash - Monday, July 2, 2007 - link
Love the Group X reference.And once again Anand reminds me why I read Anandtech and don't really visit any other tech sites. He covers everything I want to know in a way that other reviewers can't.
It's strange but I guess understandable that the iPhone doesn't use AIM/iChat/etc. AT&T (and any other carrier for that matter) would rather not have the iPhone than give up the lucrative SMS plans. But I doubt it will be long before there's a web-based AJAXy AIM client that will run beautifully on the iPhone and only use the data plan, not SMSes.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
I'm glad people got the reference and didn't just think that there was something horribly wrong with me :)I don't want a web based AIM client, I want AIM support from Apple in the same fashion as SMS support on the iPhone. Dammit Steve, you know it'd be awesome.
Take care,
Anand
Zirconium - Monday, July 2, 2007 - link
I don't want Apple's iPhone, I just want BANG BANG BANG!!!frank5592 - Monday, July 2, 2007 - link
get to top of web page by double tapping the gray top menu barVery helpful for long web pages
Great review, very impressive work and by far the best review of the iphone
BTW, typing this on iphone safari and noticing that predictive typing is some what slow and does not always show up
Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Thanks for the tip and the comment, I've updated the review :)Take care,
Anand
Chaotic42 - Monday, July 2, 2007 - link
Seriously, this was an *excellent* review. I don't even have a cell phone and I couldn't have cared less about the iPhone before I read this, but I was bored. This answered every question that I or anyone I've talked to about the phone has had, and it was a great read. It makes me want one now.*Very* well done, Anand.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Thank you so much for your kind post, there's no better feeling than pouring a lot of work into an article and getting a response like that. Thanks again :)Take care,
Anand
Dennis Travis - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Agreed, your iPhone review was totally outstanding. You covered everything and then some and took the time to explain each feature in a way that anyone can understand.Another great review Anand. Told me everything I wanted to know about the iPhone.
michael2k - Monday, July 2, 2007 - link
It sounds like you will want an iPhone if:1) You have $600
2) You like the iPod
3) You like Star Trek: The Next Generation
The only thing missing is voice recognition! And flexible roll up displays.