Apple iPhone 3G Cell Phone Review - Organizer

The Apple iPhone 3G has seen some significant upgrades to its Organizer features. Chief amongst these is support for wireless synchronization via an Exchange server of Apple's Mobile Me service. We also noted that it was faster to add PIM information to the phone and we like some small changes like the search feature in Contacts and the support for different calendars. The iPhone 3G is definitely closer to a PDA replacement device than the phone we saw a year ago. On the negative side there's still no support for tasks and notes are still a bit unimpressive.

Synchronization (6.83)
The iPhone 3G can be synchronized with both Mac and PC computers via iTunes software. On the PC it will synchronize with Outlook or Windows PIM apps while on the Mac it will synchronize with Apple's PIM applications. You can synchronize calendar appointments, contacts and bookmarks, but alas there is still no support for synchronizing tasks or notes. We consider these last an unfortunate omission that we expected to see addressed by now.

Alerts (4.0)
Alerts on the iPhone 3G are just as poor as they were on the original iPhone. The biggest problem is that when an alert sounds it beeps at you only once and then never goes off again. How easy do you think it might be to miss an important appointment with such a pathetic alert system? Yeah, super-easy is right. There is no snooze if you do happen to catch the alert, you can just dismiss it or view it. So even if you do catch the alert you'll can't come back to it later if you happen to be busy.  For a device that hopes to compete with BlackBerries and other smart phones the iPhone's poor alert performance is an example of how far it still needs to go.

Over the Air PIM Sync (3.0)
A big improvement over last year's complete lack of over the air PIM synchronization is support for both Microsoft Exchange synchronization and Apple's new Mobile Me service. If you are plugged into an Exchange Server you get automatic synchronization of your contacts and appointments, including the ability to manage invitations. Mobile Me will synchronize those as well as your Safari Bookmarks. This is a big step up from a year ago, but can we please get some task and note synchronization?

Adding Contacts (6.10)
We were able to add a new contact to the iPhone 3G in an average of 16.4 seconds. This is faster than last year's phone and only the BlackBerry Curve 8320 performed better amongst our comparison phones. To add a new contact you go into the Phone application, tap on the contacts tab and then hit the plus sign at the top right. The new iPhone 2.0 software also has a stand alone contacts application now, so you can use that instead if you wish. We were quite happy with the iPhone 3G's results in this test, speedier is always better. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

Time to Add Contacts (sec)

Looking/Sorting/Search (6.0)
The big upgrade here over the original iPhone is support for searching through your contacts. When you go into your contacts you see an alphabetical list. Along the left is an alphabet that you can run your finger over to jump to a certain letter. What's new is that at the top of the list is a search box that allow syou to find any contact by first name, last name or company. This is excellent search functionality and we're sure that those with hundreds of contacts will appreciate it mightily. Above and to the left of your contacts list is a button called Groups. Pressing this will take you to your contact groups, so you can view just those that you want. In the settings you can choose between listing your contacts by first name or last name as well. With the added search functionality the iPhone 3G's contacts are now much easier to get around.

Fields (3.2)
When you create a new contact on the iPhone 3G you have an excellent selection of fields to choose from. There are twenty-two different fields available, but many like phone or email address allow you to add an almost unlimited number of items. As such we are awarding the iPhone 3G a bonus that we would normally reserve for phones that allow you to create custom fields. We think the ability to create an unlimited number of certain fields is almost as good.

Speed Dial/Voice tags/Voice command (1.17)
The iPhone 3G does not support any form of voice dialing out of the box. It does have a form of speed dials, in the phone application the first tab is for favorites, so you can add oft-used numbers here. What we wish Apple would allow is to actually add a contact to your home screen, giving you the one-touch dialing that you get from so many other phones. As it is it takes at least two touches to access a favorite.

Adding Calendar Items (8.77)
It took us an average of 11.4 seconds to add a new lunch appointment for the following day on the iPhone 3G. This is significantly faster than last year's model, as you can see below, and amongst our comparison phones only the BlackBerry Curve 8320 performed better. We were quite happy with this result, especially as we've noted more lag in some areas of the interface. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

Time to Add Appointment (sec)

Calendar Views (6.33)
The iPhone 3G has three calendar views, Monthly, Daily and Agenda. The monthly view shows the current month with dots indicating days that have appointments. Below the month is a list of all appointments on that day, a feature we very much like to see in monthly views as they are otherwise of limited utilty.

The day view lists the hours on the left with appointments blocked out at the time they are scheduled. You can move to the previous or next day by tapping on the arrows to the left or the right of the listed day at the top of the screen. The agenda view is a list of all your appointments in chronological order, you can scroll up or down and there are bars dividing the days. All three views are useful, atlhough we would have liked to see a week view as well, perhaps in landscape orientation.

A nice new feature is the fact that you can see multiple calendars now, with a colored dot next to each appointment title indicating what calendar it's assigned to. There's also a new button at the top left that takes you to all your calendars so you can choose to view only one at a time. This addresses one of the major drawbacks of the original iPhone and makes the calendar that much more useful.

Fields (9.0)
When you create a new calendar appointment on the iPhone 3G you get to add a title, location, start/end, assign it as an all-day event, recurrence, alert, note and calendar. The last is the only new addition compared to last year's iPhone. The recurrence options are limited to a selection of presets, so no complex recurrence here. The alert is also a selection of presets, although with eight to pick from most users should be covered. The addition of calendars to an already solid mix makes what was already good even better.

Adding ToDo/Task (0.0)
The iPhone 3G does not include a tasks program, a major omission from last year that has yet to be addressed a year later. As such it will receive zeros in many of these sections.

ToDo/Task Sorting and Prioritizing (0.0)
No tasks program.

Fields (0.0)
No tasks program.

Adding Notes (4.46)
Adding a new note to the Apple iPhone 3G took 11.2 seconds, slightly faster than last year and the fastest amongst our comparison phones, as you can see below. We're a little puzzled by the results we've gotten in our organizer section. Almost uniformly we've been able to add PIM data faster, but in other places in the interface things seem slower. Something to discuss in the Software section. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

Time to Add Note (sec)

Note Interface (4.0)
The notes interface on the iPhone consists of a simple list of notes when you enter the program. At the top right is a button to add a new note. Unlike almost every other interface on the iPhone 3G you can't delete items from this list, instead you'll have to open a specific note and then choose the delete icon from the bottom of the screen. You'll also find a send icon down there and arrows to go to previous and next notes. The notes interface on the iPhone 3G feels exactly the same as last year's iPhone, an unfinished afterthought.

Note Formatting (0.0)
There are no formatting options when you create notes on the iPhone 3G. This includes no way to change the font, underlin/bold/italicize, or add media.

Voice Memo (0.0)
Out of the box there is no support for voice memos on the iPhone 3G.

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