Having an iPhone means people stop you on the street or at the ballpark and ask if they should buy an iPhone also so this general checklist will help you decide. This is not a comprehensive checklist discussing technical specs – this is for the average person deciding if they want to switch.

The iPhone’s strength is it’s straightforward and within days, you get nearly 100% use of its features – not many things hidden beneath cryptically named settings.

The main foundation reasons you’d want to buy an iPhone is of course, it’s a video ipod that can play back music, movies, audiobooks and your photos on a gorgeous 3.5″ screen that auto senses what direction you are using. The screen is also viewable very nicely even in direct sunlight.

The “magic” feature is the finger pinch that allows you to zoom in and out of photos, webpages google maps, and mail.

It is also one the nicest cameras included with a phone

(yes, taken with iPhone camera using just the stadium lighting).

But of course, it’s also the easiest phone to setup & use and unlike most phones where the feature list sounds impressive, where at a least a dozen feature turn out to be pointless (why exactly do I need a battery sucking screensaver for a phone? Or doesn’t having 150 speed dials defeat the point of it – how many speed dials can one person remember?)

Or while the keys are programmable, which is the “Left Soft Key” and which is the “Left Key,” and why is the video camera a key but the phonebook requires three menu deep to access it?

The iPhone in addition to the above video ipod and finger pinch features is…

EASY TO SETUP
EASY TO SYNC
EASY TO USE

A quick review …

POWERING UP:

iPhone – Press on/off key to power up, sleep or power down.

LOCKED:

iPhone offers a visual slide on the front screen that locks the phone until you slide your finger – – no random calls to your friends or spouse listening in on your lunch conversation.

BUTTONS ON SIDE OF PHONE:

iPhone – On/Off/Sleep on one button at top. Ringer/Volume (during call) Up & Down on left side of phone. Ringer on/vibrate on/off on side of left side of phone also. Middle “home” button also activates phone from sleep.

MAIN MENU:

iPhone – 16 icons with a description word underneath that explains EXACTLY what each will do. Hard to mistake what STOCKS or MAIL or PHONE does.

MENU ACCESS:

iPhone – Use your finger and press the icon.

MAKING A CALL FROM PHONEBOOK:

iPhone. Press PHONE. ICONS at the bottom offer RECENT or CONTACTS.

Icons remain no matter what your choice is so you can select another one – only top portion with info changes. Choose from favorites list, recent calls list or scroll through address book with flick of finger. You can also shorten your search by grouping contacts in folders.

To dial, press with finger on name.

Keypad comes up with name and contact info.

No having to return to main or home menu to look for names, or recent. To add to FAVORITES, just click ADD TO FAVORITES on every contact page – no need to add a number so phone will alphabetize your “favorites” or “family” members at top.

ADD CONTACTS & PHOTO:

In ADDRESS BOOK or OUTLOOK, using your computer keyboard, add as many phone numbers as you need, during sync – will also copy over notes associated with name – you can also add contact notes during phone call. You can also add a contact photo.

VOICEMAIL:

Listen randomly by looking at your voicemail list and selecting the one you want to hear. No more having to listen through all messages not knowing if the one you really want to hear is the 7th one. Can forward those voicemail by dragging playback counter forward (or backwards to repeat). If Caller ID phone # is provided, just press down to re-dial – no need to try and memorize a number or try and decipher if the number was a 3 or 4?

CALLING:

During call, speaker on/off is on the screen – you can also launch NOTES or recall the keypad (for entering in numbers to navigate phone paths).

MAIL:

Press MAIL to check mail messages. A number by each account lists mail received.

OTHER BUTTONS:

Every other one is self explanatory from YOUTUBE TO (GOOGLE) MAPS to CLOCK. After you set CLOCK or WEATHER or STOCKS, pressing on icon brings up your page.

The only area with “sub-menus” is SETTINGS but unlike most phones, not scary (the iPhone does NOT need to ask you if you want your DTMF Short or Long …).

SOUNDS – Pick a ringtone. Right now, you cannot buy or load anything ebyond the Apple 25 choices.

BRIGHTNESS, WALLPAPER, IPOD & PHOTO settings very straightforward and what you’d expect.

PHONE asks you how you want to view contacts (first, last or vice versa) and other easy choices (Caller ID on or off?), etc, etc.

MAIL is the trickiest because of the arcane setup for mail anyway but unlike most phones, you can access a multitude of email addresses.

IPOD

Loads music, movies & photos via iTunes. Same rules – you can buy songs and movies via iTunes or load own music tracks from CD’s. Movies from your own DVD require Handbrake.

And that’s it. The revolutionary thing is ironically, you have easy access to 100% of its features while other phones might save you a few dollars upfront, you end up only using 5% of its “features” because they are pointless or just too difficult to set up.

There is also the factor of having the latest gadget but again, unlike some other gadgets, this is designed for nearly everyone who can press a button and can move their fingers around.

You can also go down to the Apple store and test it out yourself. Unlike most phone stores that display a facsimile with a big sticker that reads NOT WORKING PHONE – the Apple iPhones are on and you can spend some time playing with it.

As for the cost of service. It’s pretty comparable to most of the plans out there. It’s not the cheapest choice but it’s also not the most expensive if you factor in that $20 dollars more buys you 200 text messages and all the internet access – making it pretty much on par with every other plan out there.

Is the iPhone perfect, no, of course not and like anything else, it could use with some improvements but is it a great syncing, great iPod, internet access, advanced touchscreen camera, email phone – of course it is. If that’s what you’re looking for – there is no other choice.

Are there other phones that are better than the iPhone in one aspect or another? Yes, there are but if you’re looking for one that is great in a multitude of features along with easiest of use and easiest to access all of its features, the iPhone is the one phone.

And I’m not the only person who thinks so …

Our October 2007 Update as to why you should buy an iPhone …