Okay, okay, it’s early and I’ve only had it running for less than 24 hours but Apple made me very happy with the new 2.0 OS. I picked up an advance copy from a friend and have it running on my first gen iPhone hw.
I bought this first gen iphone on the first day it came out. And try as I might, it just became a very expensive ipod with a killer browser. I’ve been in hell – carrying around a blackberry for work and the iphone at the same time. Two devices everywhere just sucks.
But those days are gone. The new 2.0 OS addresses all the things I’ve been waiting for.
1. Full MSFT Exchange support. It just works. It took a little while to configure our server properly and open up the correct ports but once we did it my iphone was getting push email and wirelessly syncing with our company calender, phone book and mail. The only thing it doesn’t have is a task manager sync but I’m extremely happy with the performance.
2. Address book search. Up until now, the address book didn’t have a search function. That was a big problem for me. The new search box works well. Slower compared to the blackberry but it’s fine for me.
3. App store. I have a button now on my home screen that says App Store. It doesn’t work yet of course but I’m on the edge of my seat to download apps when they become available.
Other observations:
-the browser seems to be improved. text fields are easier to manage with the onscreen keyboard. Fonts get smaller as you type in more characters in the text field.
-still no copy & paste function :(
-promising location based services
-battery life with push email seems to be taking a hit or maybe it’s because I’m using my iphone constantly now :). I really wish there was a way to change batteries on the run.
-the keyboard still isn’t going to work for everyone. a lot of blackberry users are going to be tempted by the msft exchange support but won’t like the keyboard. It’s fine for me and I’m actually digging it
I can’t wait to get the iPhone 3G now. My blackberry is going to be sad & lonely in the desk drawer…
Update: one more thing. Attachments are amazing. I just opened up a 2 page excel spreadsheet and it looked great!