Apple iPhone Cell Phone Review - Software

Alfredo Padilla
Published on June 29, 2007 Comment on this

OS (5.0)

There was much debate in our office about how to score the iPhone's new operating system. We only award up to five points for proprietary operating systems as found on most cell phones. We reserve higher scores for "smart phones" that allow the user to install third party programs that expand the functionality of the phone. This creates some difficulty with the iPhone OS. On the one hand it is a powerful platform based on OS X that includes a lot of functionality that is often associated with smart phone operating systems. On the other hand, it is missing the defining feature of smart phone platforms; the ability to install natively compiled third party software. So, until Apple decides to allow developers full access to the operating system, we have decided that the iPhone's operating system does not qualify as a smart phone operating system. We don't consider the online programs they revealed at WWDC to be a suitable replacement, and as such the iPhone will receive the maximum five points for a proprietary operating system. We hope that Apple gives us a reason to increase this score some day soon.

Home Screen Score (6.0)
The iPhone's home screen is similar to that found on Palm OS in that it is basically an application launcher. From the home screen you can activate any of the iPhone's 15 applications or access the device settings. The four "major" applications are listed at the bottom of the screen, while other applications are organized above. At the top of the screen is a bar with indicators for things like signal strength and a clock. Although an elegant solution we have the same problem with the iPhone's home screen that we had with that on the Palm OS, namely it doesn't do a good job of giving you key information at a glance. We prefer the Windows Mobile Today screen or the Active Standby display on Series 60 devices as these provide you with a lot of information about things like email and upcoming appointments quickly and easily. They are also open to third party development, so you can expand their capabilities.

Extensibility (1.0)
The iPhone is one of the least extensible phones we have ever encountered. Not only does it not support third party applications, it also doesn't support Java applications, which have become a standard for development on mobile devices. Basically if it's not on the iPhone or accessible via the Internet you're just plum out of luck. We don't consider Apple's suggestion of developing third party apps via Safari to be a viable replacement for either native third party or java applications; this doesn't provide for access to the full power of the device. Although we do give them credit for including a powerful Web browser those points will be awarded in the browser sections below. For those who are interested in testing out some of the new Web-based applications check out this site.

Customizability (2.0)
The iPhone doesn't offer many customization features compared to other phones. You can change the wallpaper that is used when the phone is locked, but that's about it. There's no option to change the font size or type globally, nor can you change the look and feel of the phone through themes. Series 60 devices like the Nokia N95 allow you to change the order of applications, but the iPhone does not. We know that many people like customizing their phone, and the iPhone doesn't offer many options for people to do this.

OS Responsivness (7.0)
The iPhone's operating system is extremely responsive, one of the best we've seen. For those who have suffered through the lag you see on Windows Mobile devices like the Treo 750 or Series 60 phones like the Nokia N95 the iPhone will be a breath of fresh air. As good as it is though, it's still not as fast as BlackBerries like the 8800, which still reign supreme as the most responsive advanced phone we've seen.

Update: after several days of use we've noted some issues with the iPhone's operating system. Specifically we've noticed applications crashing on occassion, with most of the problems related to Safari and the iPod application, especially when used in conjunction. Although the crashes are relatively minor, the program just shuts down requiring you to relaunch it, these crashes are annoying. We have deducted a point from this section's original score to reflect these issues.

Gaming (0.0)
The iPhone does not include any games, nor can you purchase additional games for the phone. This is a major omission and one we hope Apple addresses quickly. Being able to have even a simple puzzle game to kill some time is something that people have become accustomed to.

Browser Features (5.5)

The iPhone's browser is touted as one of the most advanced ever developed for a mobile device, but just in terms of features supported it's no better than many other advanced mobile browsers like Opera or the Series 60 Web. Javascript is supported, as are images, frames and cookies. Our attempts to log into encrypted banking sites were intermittent. There is no support for advanced features like flash, saving Web pages, password management and Java. Frankly we weren't too impressed by the iPhone's browser features.

Browsing Interface (9.0)

Where the iPhone's browser shines is in its interface. Safari on the iPhone really does allow you to see the "real" Internet. Pages are displayed in full, and the zooming and panning features are easy to use and intuitive. We also liked having the ability to view pages in landscape orientation. We were very pleased with the viewing interface on Safari.

The history and bookmarks on the iPhone are combined in Safari. When you hit the bookmarks page you are shown all of your bookmarks as well as a history folder at the top that takes you to a chronological list of sites you have visited. You can clear your history, however you can't save a site directly from your history to favorites. Bookmarks are organized alphabetically with folders at the top. You can move folders up and down, but can't reorganize bookmarks themselves. We were disappointed that you can't edit existing bookmarks except to delete them, nor can you move them into a folder.

Update: after further work with the iPhone it seems that we were incorrect regarding editing of existing bookmarks. When in edit mode you can hit an arrow on the left side of a bookmark and edit the bookmark, as well as move it to another folder. We have updated the iPhone's score in this section to reflect this functionality.

Safari's interface is very clean, like the rest of the iPhone menus are at a minimum, and most things can be controlled from on-screen buttons. In the settings you can clear your history, cookies and cache, as well turn javascript, plugins and pop up blocking on or off. You can also set your cookies settings and choose from Google and Safari as your search engine. The iPhone allows you to have multiple browser windows open, which is a feature we haven't seen much on mobile browsers. It's zoom and pan interface is better than the mini-map interface found on Series 60 devices, but not hugely so. It is definitely better than Internet Explorer Mobile on Windows Mobile devices or the even more basic browsers found on most cell phones.

Overall we found the iPhone's browser interface to be an excellent one, but with a few annoyances like the inability to edit your bookmarks.

Browser Access (10.0)
To test how easy it is to access the browser we count the number of steps it takes to go from the home screen unlocked until we have browsed to our website. We use steps in this case instead of a timed test to take network latency issues out of the equation. Entering the URL is counted as a single step. The iPhone took only four steps to launch the Safari browser and browse to our site. This is an excellent score, as you can see from the table below it is as good as or better than other advanced phones.

Handset	Steps	Score
Apple iPhone	4	10.0
Blackberry 8800	8	5.0
Helio Ocean	5	8.0
LG Prada	5	8.0
Nokia N95	7	5.71
Palm Treo 750	5	8.0

Calculator (3.0)

The calculator on the iPhone is very basic. You can do simple arithmetic functions (+,-,*,/) and it has a memory feature, but that's about it. If you're looking to calculate your tip it'll be fine, but it's not a patch on the advanced calculator found on the LG Prada. It doesn't even include simple advanced features like square roots, as found on the Treo 750's calculator. Of course is you want something more advanced you won't be able to install a replacement.

Alarm (8.0)

The iPhone's alarm is part of the Clock program on the device. We were pleased to see fairly robust features here. You can create multiple alarms and have them go off on any day or combination of days of the week. You can assign a specific ring tone for each alarm and give it a name. We liked the combination type interface for setting the time. The alarm on the iPhone is much more robust than that found on Series 60 devices and just as functional as the excellent alarm clock on Windows Mobile Professional devices like the Treo 750.

Document Software (0.0)
Unlike many smart phones out there the iPhone does not allow you to store, view or edit documents on your device. There are viewers for documents in the email program, but especially business people who need to carry around important documents will find the lack of features on the iPhone limiting.

Other Software (2.0)


YouTube	Google Maps

In addition to the software we've already covered, the iPhone comes with a few additional applications that add functionality. There are two "widget" apps, stocks & weather, however we did not feel that the functionality added by these applications was sufficient to award extra points. We did feel that having Google Maps and YouTube built in adds significant value to the iPhone, as such we awarded additional points for each of these applications.

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