iPhone, the cell phone

With all the attention given to its multimedia features and innovative touch screen, it’s almost easy to forget the iPhone is, well, a phone. And some of our initial tests of Apple’s first cellphone suggest that telephony may not be its strong suit.

In voice-quality tests, the iPhone’s performance has been undistinguished at best. Quality when listening to a call was fair. Calls from the iPhone heard on another phone were good in quality. By comparison, among the AT&T-compatible smartphones in our current Ratings (available to ConsumerReports.org subscribers), only the Palm Treo 680 scored that low in voice quality. The best-sounding AT&T-compatible phones, the Samsung BlackJack and Cingular 3125, scored good and very good respectively in listening and talking modes. And all those phones cost $100 to $200, compared with the $499 and $599 price tags for the iPhone.

Other ways in which the iPhone could use a little more polish as a phone: It has no voice-activated dialing and offers no easy way to access frequently called numbers. On the other hand, its visual voice mail (see image) offers a unique advantage over other phones. As we demonstrate in our video First Look (Macromedia Flash required to watch our review of the Apple iPhone), its interface allows you to skip listening to every message in sequence. Instead, you view a list of calls (Click on the image for a larger view) and tap the one you want to hear or click on it to return the call. The feature even allows you to retrieve messages you’ve deleted by plucking them from a deleted directory, much as you retrieve e-mail messages from your computers’ trash.

Got your own iPhone experiences to share? We appreciate the comments you’ve been sharing in response to our blog entries. We’ve also now opened an iPhone thread on our cell phone discussion forums. (You don't need to be a ConsumerReports.org subscriber to read our free online discussion forums. But you do need to register to participate in our online discussions.) And our testing continues, with more results expected later this week.

--Mike Gikas

Comments

[Ryan Connors]

I feel as thought the iphone, while beautifully designed and with an extrememly innovative interface faces an extremely critical design flaw. the battery is soldered directly to the motherboaed of this product. this may not seem like a huge deal to many, but how many of you have had a phones battery life slowly decay over time. In the past you could simply purchase a battery from the manufactorer, however with apple you are forced to physically send the phone away to be worked on, prehaps at a greater fee.
Furthermore this flaw makes the phone much much more susceptible to water damage, especially coupled together with a touch only interface. Under normal circumstances the most prudent action when faced with a submersed electronic item is to turn the item off, remove its source of power and allow it to dry for an extended period fo time. Unfortunately with the iphone, it asks for a confirmation in turning the phone off, by using an on-screen slider. So your once simple task of powering the phone down and removing the batter becomes a much more difficult task. Finally to complete the policy side of this flaw; apple will not cover any submersion damage under warrently, period. In other words no matter what the extent of the damage, weither it be one small damaged diode, or a water damaged battery, or in more negitive circumstances, a shorted or corroded screen/digitizer assembly, apple will not even offer you the option of having it refurbished, or paying repair fee's. They will simply tell you to go get a brand new phone, losing much of your data on the previous phone in the process, (except for contacts with are stored on the sim card obviously.)
Many of you may scoff, and simply say 'well, then dont be silly and keep your phone away from water!' until you find yourself the one that forgot to take it out of your pocket before diving in the pool, or prehaps dropping it in a cup of tea or coffee around a busy office, and prehaps someone else drops a cup of coffee on you. Regardless of the circumstances, apple's only responsible will be 'sorry, submersion damage isnt covered under warrenty'.
I should also point out that AT&T does not offer phone insurance on the iphone, the one phone you would think they would definately offer some form of investment protection in.

[Sharon O'Hara]

The iPhone is the most sensible, easy to use, common sense 'phone' I've seen and tried to use.

It doesn't have the best tone, but I didn't get it for its 'tone'...I got it to make calls and exchange information.
It actually works inside a ferry where friends are blocked with their cell phones.

I waited a long time until someone made a phone easy to use...the iPhone is it for me.

[Dave]

Ok! have just got my phone 3 day's ago....

Good notes.

1. It is one hell of a phone.
2. My friend owns a Htc touch and this touch is much smoother.
3. All button toy's function as stated thru Apple website
What you see is what you get. But don't expect any more.
4. web apps tons and tons to play with.

Bad notes.
1. The network is slow. This may only be my area (but I am in
a 5 min drive from Philly pretty metro?)

2. No apps for the phone it's self. Web apps are cool but i would like to see excel..word...things i use for work or the alike.

3. You will not want to put it down...

[Marie]

I am considering buying an iPhone; However, I am deathly scared of paying the money for a phone that may have potential sound problems.

For those whom don't know how to work their iPhone, or want to run through everything that the iPhone is capable of, you can go to apple.com, go to the iPhone tab, and watch a 20 min. tutorial. I found this to be a remarkable discovery.

My friend has the iPod Touch. He loves it. He says he has never had a problem with it. But again, this is WITHOUT the phone. He let me play around with it for a few minutes and the screen is incredible. I have watched several videos on his iPhone and they were perfect. I heard no buzzing, or hissing. Everything I have seen, or done with the iPhone I have loved.

[sindy]

That's cool

[Tode]

I have been using my iPhone sence Aug 1. I read my pop3 email at work on my iphone and after I get home I have never found any that the iPhone had missed. I carry my iPhone in my pants pocket and listen to music on it and do speaker phone often. I hope that there will soon be a way to listen to Internet Radio on iPhone. I never use a headset. Hate them. Haven't needed them with the iPhone. My greatist surprise is how much I use the "Notes" App. I have quit carrying a paper memo pad. About the 3rd day I didn't have trouble typing. The way that I can slide my finger as if underlineing and see the cursor follow is just a fantastic feature. This thing is so much smoother and more useful than I had expected. I'd pay it again.

[Brad]

I bought an iPhone last week. My thoughts:

[+] device is beautifully put together
[+] bright high definition screen
[+] google maps!
[+] photos and videos are great
[+] zoom feature is intuitive and cool
[+] real web browser is great!
[+] battery life seems great

[-] I travelled to northern michigan this past weekend, and there was "No Service" for the vast majority of my trip. With Sprint I had nearly full coverage in these areas (all along I-75). When I returned to a service area (Ann Arbor), the phone didn't detect this. I had to power cycle it for it to detect that it was back in coverage.

[-] I had a dropped call tonight. I tried to call the person back and the call immediately ended. This happened twice more. I tried dialing my brother as well, same result. A power cycle of the device returned it to normal working state.

[-] The call quality is markedly worse than my old Sanyo 4500. Its marginally better when using the headset, but even then I'm often asked to repeat myself (or I'm asking the other person to repeat themselves).

So I'm pretty bummed out. I don't have a land line, so this is my primary phone. I am thinking I'm going to return it tomorrow. I will almost certainly buy a revision 2.0 if they can get the voice quality up a bit!

-Brad

[jerry]

love it as PDA but I have a lot of complaints about background noise that I did not have on my lg phone. My wife refuses to talk to me on the iphone so I will probably cancel the service

[Iphone User]

I love the Iphone features--internet, email, calling, traffic, weather, stocks, time, calculator etc.

However, there are 2 huge items that need to be dealt with by Apple as they affect the basic use of the phone:

1. The speaker phone feature does not work at all for listening to voicemail messages, making a conference call or using the IPOD function. The sounds are muffled and you cannot use the phone as a speaker at all. You can't sit the phone on a table and talk without holding it close to your ear. You can't add a phone call and use the speakerphone so that you can add a person to a meeting or conversation.

You can't play the Iphone Ipod even at low level--the speaker is muffled. I found this out when people have asked to see my phone and I tried to play a song for them. It was a terrible advertisement for the phone--they lost interest and said ooooh I guess the phone part and the Ipod part don't really work.

If a phone has a speaker function, it should work. It doesn't have to be extremely loud--just clear at a regular tone like all other cell phones.

2. Email does not work with pop3--you have to use Exchange through AT&T and search for this outgoing AT&T Server--this is the only way to get send an email. This won't work for WiFi so you have to turn off WiFi to reply to email. Your settings won't work. For some they might work, but I found for 3 email addresses I use, none of them worked to send, only to receive messages.

The outgoing AT&T Host Server Name is 'smtp1.attglobal.net:25'. This is the only way that you may be able to reply. This sends your reply through the secure AT&T Exchange server (unavailabe when you are using WiFi).

This is a bit ridiculous as my prior cell phone took the host server for my email accounts and had no problem sending and receiving emails.

These two items are serious issues as the Iphone is not just an entertainment device, it is a phone and should function as such.

I purchased the Iphone and am not a Mac person. I have no negative thoughts about Mac or PC. I just wanted a cool cell phone with great features that is easy to use.

I will keep the phone b/c the features that are innovative are so great they do outweigh problems--but gee wiz, the speaker and the email functions are highly important for cell phone use.

[gobo spring]

I find it very difficult to hear an iphone user calling on his iphone. I think this is a big shortcoming with this expensive "phone." My boyfriend has an iphone and loves it, and I'm quite impressed with the excellent screen and media interaction. But I HATE talking with him on his iphone: the quality of his voice is HORRIBLE - full of hisses, very low volume, poor sound quality in general. Its like a throwback to radiophones. I have to repeatedly ask him to repeat what he just said. Invariably I just get so frustrated that I call the conversation short - and then he gets mad because he can't believe it's the damned phone that's the problem. While I'd be tempted to buy the phone for it's excellent media interface there's no way I'm buying this piece of junk until they figure out how to make it work like a PHONE, too!

[Dan]

As I have a "connection" at AT&T, I have been able to replace the iPhone 4 times fast and easily, hoping that the call quality is on a phone-to-phone basis. It's not. That hiss and/or buzz has always been present. Granted, it is better with the speakerphone option or an attachment, but still lacking. There still might be a chance that you will be lucky, and get a iPhone with a "glitch" that performs better.

I was one of the first persons to get it, and I am dissapointed. I do love just about everything else about the iPhone, especially the UI, but what is the point of getting a multi-function phone if it lacks as an actual phone? Through multiple tech searches and own knowledge, This is not something that can be fixed with an update, firmware or otherwise. This is a hardware issue.

Anyone interested in this phone, save your money and just wait till the next "generation" is released. That should fix the problems.

For now, I will stick with the MotoMing.

Of course, this is only an opinion...

[Mark]

THE POSITIVE:

1) The iPhones screens for making a call, and handling a call (hold, speaker, switching from one call to another, connecting a three way call) are extremely easy and intuitive.

2) The ability to access all other parts of the phone (contacts, notes, reminders, even the web with WIFI) while on a call was a huge plus for us. We get calls from customers all the time and need to look up info while on the phone with them.

3) The screen brightness and clarity are outstanding. For the most part the touch screen is very accurate, sensitive and responsive.

THE NEGATIVE:

1) When the phone rings you need to slide that "slide to answer" gadget across the screen. On my iPhone this gadget has become very slow to respond. I slide my finger across the screen and then often wait for three seconds for the phone to respond. This speed of response varies but is slow whether I am answering the phone or just opening the main menu.

2) The phone does not show the call duration in the call history. The call duration is shown during the call and for a split second after the call is terminated but this really bugs me since I often get off a call and want to know how long I spent talking with the person. For anyone who bills for their time this is a show stopper.

3) There is apparently no ability to add ringtones. Since the speaker/ringer volume is so poor it is critical that you get a ring that you can recognize in a noisy environment. Phone and speaker volume is very poor.

4) I bought three iPhones for the guys here in the office and the activation, getting everyones numbers transfered and all the billing onto a single multi-line plan was a nightmare since you have to do it all yourself through iTunes.

I have issues with many other areas of the iPhone but that's off topic here. I worked as a sales rep selling Apple computers back in the '80s and the Mac was way ahead on ease of use. Apple has always positioned itself as a company that produces refined interfaces. For these reasons I am very surprised to see how poorly they implemented this phone.

My sales rep summed it up best, after using the iPhone for a week, "the iPhone is cool but the thing it's worst at is being a phone".

[joddie]

volume of voice on a regular audio call is horrible. even on maximum volume, one can barely hear the voice on the other line in a normal background environment. if it's quiet, then it may be sufficient. otherwise, i am forced to use speakerhone or the blue tooth. sometimes, i don't have access to the blue tooth earpiece. other times, i prefer not to have everyone hear my phone call on speaker phone. it seems that it's a common complaint. however, a lot of people also seem to not have this problem. must vary from individual iPhone to another. having said that, i still think it's a great gadget due to its other advantages/features.

[Alex]

On the positive side the iPod is excellent, and the screen is downright amazing. The clarity, brightness, and especially the multi touch aspect of the screen I think are landmark. The other features work very well too, in particular the browser. The keyboard works far better than I expected.

But for me a very surprising negative is the sound quality of the phone. The volume is too low for outdoors or around other people. At higher volumes (which are still to low), there is some distortion and buzzing. On about a fourth of calls there's a slight hiss. With the earbuds in the volume is high enough but there's still distortion. The voice mail sound is very thin and tiny. The speaker sound also distorts at higher volumes. I asked one of the apple clerks about this and he noticed most of this on his as well, particularly the low volume. I tried his phone and it sounded similar.

I read the wirelessinfo.com article, but I trust my ears more. Before the iPhone I had a Sanyo 4500 which I've had for 11 years (and am constantly ridiculed for), so I certaintly expected the sound quality to be matched. Since I use this for work/home/everything I need decent sound, and it will be a huge disapointment if I have to get rid of the iPhone I was so excited about.

[Alan]

"No Easy way to access frequently called numbers"

- As several people have stated, there is a favorites list. It's not as easy as pressing and holding a single button, but it's not too bad.

"Lack of voice dialing"

- Voice dialing never worked well for me, and it's easier to find numbers on the iPhone that it was with my RAZR or my previous Nokia. You shouldn't be making phone calls when you're driving, period, but that's just my opinion.

"Telephone voice quality"

- A LOT better than my previous RAZR. When using the included wired headset, the person I'm talking to sounds a bit tinny to me (as compared to talking on the phone directly)...but the person on the other end of the line says they can't even tell I'm using a headset. No buzzing, and the volume control seems acceptable. If it were a really loud environment, it's possible that it might not be loud enough. It would be fine with the headset in those situations, though.

Reception - superior to my RAZR. I have the unique situation of spending a large amount of time in a hilly area where many AT&T phone have problems (I haven't found a RAZR yet (I have tried 3) that works without dropping calls in this area). The iPhone (and my 6 year old Nokia phone...which probably has a superior, higher performance SiGe radio as opposed to the more moder CMOS radios) works flawlessly in this area.

Overall, comparing to my RAZR, the iPhone is a dream, whereas the RAZR was a nightmare. It's easy to call people, the voice quality is good, and the additional features (alarm, timer, weather, etc.) are extremely well designed. The phonebook is much better than the RAZRs. My first iPhone worked for 24 hours, then broke, however. Apple replaced it without questions, and without delay. The new one is working fine.

The best part is that the upgrades to the firmware will be straightforward...you just connect to iTunes, and press upgrade! Many of the little bugs (which I haven't yet found, but presumably exist) will simply go away. With other phones, you just have to live with the annoyances as long as you own the phone.

[AJ]

Okay, maybe the thing about manufacturing is right. My phone volume stinks, though I'm pleasantly pleased with the other features. I currently dual-wield a sidekick and an iPhone, and there are things I like and dont like about both. The sidekick is a horrible phone, and its starting to seem like the iPhone may be too. I have no idea how to change speaker volume or anything. Could someone let me know. Meanwhile, I'm not trying to complain too much -- I won my iPhone in a raffle.

[john]

It appears that the battle lines are being clearly drawn between the militantly "pro-apple" contingent and everyone else. Apparently, if you criticize an Apple product, you're "PC" biased. I wonder to what extent the "praise" for iphone is attributed to compensating for $600.00 worth of buyer's remorse.

I bought one, but I haven't opened the box yet. (I'm still trying to decide whether to return it.) Frankly, I like the idea of a PDA that actually interfaces with my Mac, without searching for "missing syncs," etc. Nonetheless, I think the thing's primary function, at least if we give its name any consideration, should be as a phone, and that appears to be where it's most lacking. I'm amazed that Apple didn't include a voice activation feature, or at least a handsfree mode. I have a phone at home, so one of the primary purpose of my cell phone is to allow me phone contact when I'm out--usually in my car. Frankly, it's irresponsible--and in a growing number of states illegal--to dial a cell phone or make a call without a hands-free device while you're driving a car. I'm dreading the "4 to 5 steps" required to place a call, while I'm in my car or in a hurry. Voice activation is not only very convenient, it makes for safer driving.

Hopefully, Apple will remedy this deficiency in the near future.

[Joey Ray]

Wow, out of all the features to rate on the iphone they pick the volume and because they don't like it we shouldn't buy. I don't know one person who bought an iphone because of better sound quality. You can always put it on speakerphone, flip the phone upside down and have even louder sound. I mean that's what a speaker is. You turn up the volume and the sound gets louder and more people will hear it. If the spearkerphone is too loud turn it down so you can hear it. Me and my wife both own an iphone and it is amazing. Almost all the negative reviews can be dismissed as iphone envy or comparing Apple's to avocados. I also like how the reviewer says that visual voice mail is "a unique advantage" as if its just some small not really important, but neat, thing. It is incredible and saves so much time. For those who don't know you control it exactly like an ipod song. You can instantly fast forward, and rewind by just sliding the play bar to the place you want. no more hitting some key to either replay or skip or waiting through the entire list to get to yours. And the post about the iphone just dialing calls without knowing, obviously they don't own an iphone. Anybody who does own an iphone knows that this is not the case and that other open face smartphones have exposed buttons that accidently call a lot more often. (My old treo 650 called 911 all the time) Great job consumer reports, i sure value your opinion and fairness in ratings.

[Mike]

I'd have to disagree with the assessment of voice quality. I find my phone to be very listenable. Perhaps there's some variability in the production, and CR got a bum unit.

[Mike]

Are you just trying to be cruel by posting your review in the Flash format, which isn't viewable on an iPhone? Perhaps you're trying to be ironic. Or, perhaps you just don't care whether people can see your content.

[VoIP Guy]

What are the MOS numbers for the iPhone? The only true measurement for voice quality in regards to telephony is MOS (Mean Opinion Score).

[my iphone is awful!!!]

My iphone has terrible volume, and the worst reception ever!! AT&T is awful, Verizon was great! The iphone ials calls without me even knowing. I'm returning it tomorrow, my husband's too!!!

[Don]

I agree with the CR review that the phone features of iPhone are the least appealing.

Cell to cell calls are sometimes impossible to decipher, and I'm told by those at the other end that I sound like I'm speaking in a tunnel. Cell to land line calls are good to excellent from my end, not sure about the other end.

As for calling favorites, depending on how you leave the phone when it's in lock mode, it takes from 4 to 5 steps to turn it on and call a favorite vs. two steps (open the phone and press a key) for a clamshell. Is that big difference? Judgment call.

[Dan Montopoli]

I have the iPhone and I absolutely love it. It is the best cell phone that I have ever had and the voice quality is excellent.

How did Consumer Reports test voice quality? Wirelessinfo.com performed extensive testing of the voice quality of the iPhone and its results do NOT jibe with consumer reports.

FROM wirelessinfo.com :

"The iPhone performed exceptionally well in this test; the frequency curve of the phone was right between the limits, only coming close to them at a couple of points. This means that people talking to you over the phone will sound clear and bright, with well-balanced sound that should accurately represent what they sound like in person.

This compares extremely well to other phones. The iPhone scores higher on this test than all of the five comparison phones, and only one phone that we have tested so far (the BlackBerry Curve) scored higher. Whatever Apple is doing with the small speaker inside the iPhone, they are doing it right."

And consumer reports says that there is no easy way to access frequently used numbers? Huh, did the reviewer miss the big Favorites button on the bottom?

[Adam]

I lost faith in CR a long time ago. I just don't understand how a "reputable" publication can bring such bias to their "objective" reviews. If they were a subjective, op-ed publication that would be one thing but they are not. CR is so one sided especially with anything to do with Apple or the American car industry. CR may have had their niche in the days before the internet, but anyone who still relies on them to provide clear, concise, unbiased information on new products is a fool.

With that said I love how some little Microsoft trolls come on here and flame people because they bought a product they wanted and like it. The wife and I each bought an iPhone and we love it. I never used voice-dialing on my old phone so why should I miss it now? Most voice dialing implementations are flaky at best and just downright useless at worst. I find the EDGE network perfectly usable. I've been benching anywhere between 150-200kbps. Anyone old enough to remember surfing on a 14.4K dialup should find it's speed more than acceptable.