The much-anticipated, full and unadulterated review of the iPhone – three months in

It’s been nearly three months since I began my second iPhone journey and if it’s any indidcation, the gist of this post has changed several times before I’ve managed to write it.  The iPhone is a device that commands both loved and hated sentiments (but rarely anything in between), as Om blogged about last week.  The first month of my second iPhone journey was pure bliss, and I’ll elaborate more on what made it so enjoyable. The more recent two months have been a mix of love, hate, disgust, frustration, joy, serenity and finally, disbelief during the many instances where the battery has died, rendering the device useless.

Starting on the upside (since I’m a positive person), there is a lot to love about the iPhone when it’s working:

1. Having one device that houses your phone, pda, music, videos is phenomenal.
2. Easy integration with iTunes makes for seamless podcast downloads and updates – I’m loving my NPR podcast subscriptions.
3. The way the music fades in and out when calls are received/placed is elegant and never ceases to feel good.
4. While not exclusive to the iPhone, a good stereo headset (mine is Shure) changes the phone experience and makes good audio possible.
5. The GUI of the device, Apple’s trademark, is as polished and refined as I can imagine.  Simply opening/closing apps is fun every time…though considerably more fun when it happens quickly without delay.
6. What perhaps separates the iPhone most from other PDAs is the browsing experience, which is truly a pioneering achievement.  The way web pages open, are stored and saved (up to 6 at a time simultaneously) is so cool.  The way hyperlinks are executed and logins are magnified is extremely well designed.
7. Visual Voicemail – why didn’t anyone else think of that?
8. Building the iPhone as a platform, and opening it up to app developers, was pure genius and makes the power of the device nearly infinite, but how many of these apps do I use regularly?
   1. The answer is not that many.  My most used/favorite apps, aside from those native to the device, are: Facebook, KickMap (Interactive NYC Subway Map), Flixster, Yelp,
   2. My second tier apps that I occasionally use are: StreetEasy (NYC Real Estate), Mint, iEasy Camera, Flex PhotoLab, Shazam and Airport Status.
   3. Apps that I hardly ever use, but are cool: Paper Football, Labyrinth, PacMan, Urban Spoon, French.
   4. The summary here is that apps are fun and cool, but not all that important or essential to my life.
9. Finally, the camera on the iPhone is strong.  Photos are crisper than they were with my Blackberry Curve, and doing things with the photos I take (emailing, twitpic-ing, not MMSing), couldn’t be easier.

At this point in my iPhone journey (let’s call it January 15, 2009), I felt compelled to issue a public apology to Tony Conrad for my incessant provoking and making fun of his iPhone hardships.  It seems that every time we’ve been together for the past two years, he’s needed to charge his ailing iPhone, whether we’re in a meeting, in Austin for SXSW or at a bar having a few beers.  Proudly carrying my Blackberry, which lasted days on end without a charge, I found it fair to poke fun, unable to understand how the benefits could possibly outweigh the hassle.  After some time using the device though, I better understand Tony’s decision.  Truth be told, the benefits listed above are fantastic and for a while, clearly outweighed the hassle of the short battery life, so here it is.  Tony, I apologize.

Now for the fun part.  The first time I owned an iPhone, I lasted two weeks before growing frustrated with the touchscreen keyboard.  With V1.0, there were no apps and the UI was less mature, so it didn’t take me long to call it quits.  I sold it on eBay to someone in Sweden for 20% over what I paid. This time around, I’ve lasted a lot longer and continue to use the device, though recently more and more begrudgingly.

So what’s wrong with it?  Where to begin….:

1. While Apple claims to have push email, it’s not really true.  The iPhone shows if you have new messages, but requires a sync to pull them down from the server.  When sending, it usually happens relatively quickly, but nothing compared to the blackberry, where messages are gone practically before clicking send.  This delay introduces more opportunity for hiccups, as was the case today, when I had to get a quick email out to someone I was meeting for lunch.  The message got stuck on my device.  Luckily, I found my lunch companion.
2. Some of the shortcomings of the iPhone are just silly.  For instance, searching for a contact takes approximately three times as long as on a blackberry.  After you open your contacts, you need to scroll to the very top to access the search box, at which point you can start typing the name.  This is always frustrating and takes too long.  For reference, on a blackberry, you start typing a name the minute your contacts open.
3. No copy and paste?  Are you serious Apple?  I suppose this is a short-coming of a touch-screen display…no, I take that back because the Storm managed to do it.  This is a huge and frustrating short-coming of the device.  I look for copy and paste 3-4 times every week.
4. No MMS? Again, are you serious Apple?  For a device billed as the ultimate multimedia pda experience, leaving out MMS capability seems odd, particuarly when blackberry has been MMS-compatible for years.  Granted, the messaging format hasn’t exactly caught fire, but I’d like to read the messages that my two friends who have adopted the medium send me.
5. The battery life is dreadful.  I touched on this earlier, but it’s probably the single biggest flaw of this device.  Every committed iPhone user must invest in multiple chargers and use them frequently.  My phone routinely dies on me (it’s on 20% right now and it’s only 6:20pm) and this is unacceptable.  My Blackberry Curve rarely died on me.
6. The touchscreen keyboard is so-so, but significantly less efficient than Blackberry’s full qwerty keyboard.  I think it takes roughly 50-100% longer to type than on the Blackberry.
7. The iPhone seems to have an issue with dropped calls.  Talking to my dad last night, I was disconnected three times.  Om referenced the same frustrations in his post last week.  Not sure whether it’s AT&T’s network or the phone itself, but I suspect it’s the phone based on the behavior – the triple-beep and “lost call” messages I get.
8. The iPhone requires two hands to operate, which compared to a Blackberry, is a significant shortcoming.
9. The iPhone is fragile, somewhat moreso than other phones, leading Apple/AT&T to only warranty the device for 30 days (the same length of time that returns are accepted….hmm).

So that’s my take.  As an entertainment device, the iPhone is fun, cool and well, entertaining.  As a business device though, it comes up short of the Blackberry, adding time as well as frustration to one’s life.  Is it worth the extra trouble?  The answer is sometimes yes and sometimes no.  Though after a hard days work, rocking out to my tunes on the subway before using the Yelp app to find an appropriate dinner spot can be rewarding.  As for the public apology, I considered retracting it as my iPhone experience has evolved, but since Tony is my boss, I’ll leave it out there…at least until I retire the device.

Thoughts from the sky

I’m on UAL 673 from LGA to Chicago right now.  It’s been a little while since I flew one of the old-school U.S. airlines – I’ve favored JetBlue and Virgin America recently – and while it wasn’t a carefully considered decision, now I know why.  A few years ago, I lived on United.  At one point, I had half a million frequent flier miles with them.  When I arrived at the airport this morning, I brought my boarding pass directly to security, at which point they dismantled my bags in search of my toiletries.  As they extracted my traveling toothpaste, shaving cream and moisturizer (especially important in the winter:), I asked him to stop, put it all back and let me check the bag.  Having traveled with the exact same toiletry bag at least five times with its current contents, I was surprised by the lack of consistency and general inefficiency of our airline security screens, but that’s not my point here.  When I returned to the ticket counter to check my bag, they charged me $15.  Surprised, I objected and questioned the policy to make sure the employee hadn’t made a mistake.  “No, we began charging for checked luggage two months ago.  American did it first,” she explained.  I can understand charging for food, headphones and even pillow kits, but charging for checking luggage?  This seems a step too far.  Now I understand why I’ve favored the newer, more streamlined airlines recently and have another reason to continue doing so.  The flight I’m on, a 9a from LGA to ORD, that would be a popular business flight under normal circumstances, is about 40% full.

The American airline industry seems to me very analogous to the American auto industry.  We have a few old entrenched companies who have survived – United, American, Delta, Northwest – who we’ll call the Vintage 4, and we have newer upstarts – Southwest, JetBlue, Virgin America – who we can call the Nouveau 3.  The new companies are streamlined, have assembled more efficient business models and are slowly but surely, winning over American travelers.  They’re winning over Americans because they’re offering a better service and the superior health of their businesses shows clearly.  The Vintage 4 have aging fleets, union contracts that make it more difficult to compete, and maybe partially as a result of the above, pesky disgruntled flight attendants who are a far cry from the stewards and stewardesses of an earlier era.  No need to elaborate there.  In the auto industry, we have a few new upstarts developing electric-powered cars, albeit not quite ready for mass production, and we have entrenched players, who have consistently failed to innovate or evolve.  I’m written about this several times already, but the airline industry is a perfect comparison for what happens over time when the incumbent fails to innovate and respond to the market.  In today’s WSJ, Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman of GM, defended CEO Rick Wagoner, saying “To blame the American automobile executives for this frankly is ridiculous.  How were we supposed to forecast this when the government doesn’t forecast it and the financial institutions couldn’t?”  What a bullshit comment.  He misses the point completely.  Financial institutions fucked up and three of the largest five no longer exist.  That’s what happens when you fuck up.  The only difference is that with the financial orgs, it happened relatively quickly, over less than a decade as mortgage-backed securities gained in popularity.  With the auto industry, it’s happened over 40 years, and yet they’ve spurned each and every opportunity to shift course.  The federal government should demand specific milestones be met towards a greener and more efficient industry if GM and their brethren are to take loans funded by taxpayer money.  If that means Wagoner, Lutz and existing management find new careers, that’s fine.  The industry and the companies will be better off for it.  In fact, I’m not sure they can execute a successful turnaround without new management.  As long as they continue to make excuses for past performance though, it’s clear to me that they won’t be making the kind of progress we expect any time soon.

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The Day After

I’m riding on the train back to New York from a whirlwind two nights in DC.  On Monday night, I went with some friends to the Redskins-Steelers game – a Monday night tradition before Election Day – and the mood was electric.  Last night, after the results arrived and we watched Obama’s acceptance speech, we left The Willard and walked two blocks away to the White House.  On the street closest to the front of the house, thousands crowded the plaza to revel and celebrate.  All sorts of people – white, black, arab, asian – gathered to celebrate together.  On 16th Avenue, throngs of cars crowded the street forming a huge traffic jam of honking horns with people hanging out of windows and sunroofs, slapping high-fives to all who passed.  Never, in my 18 years of living in DC (which included several Super Bowl victories) did I ever see anything like last night.  It seemed like the whole country collectively exhaled.  Exhaled from nearly a decade of injustice and unpopular leadership.  Exhaled from the knowledge and reassurance that this country is still of and by the people.  Exhaled with rejoice in the confirmation that we live on a more level playing field today, where nearly any one individual can achieve any thing to which they commit themselves.  While I would have supported Obama regardless of his race, I do believe his victory represents a particularly special achievement for black men and women in the country.  Though there are plenty of racial injustices committed daily still, President Barack Obama and the Obama family will serve as role models with which black men and women can identify far better than any leader before.  I think that for the first time in our nation’s history, black men, women and children will truly feel that they have a voice and a leader who understands their position.  That is just an incredibly powerful occasion.  Moreover, Barack Obama is not just a role model for African Americans, but a role model for us all, and this reality should accomplish much to heal wounds within communities and reduce racial divisions.  Beyond our shores, some of the effects have already begun to be felt.  I received messages from friends in Europe with whom I hadn’t spoken in years.  Friends of friends from Spain showed up at our party, which was already attended by several expats, to help us celebrate.  CNN showed video from Kenya and Time reported on Desmond Tutu’s reaction from S. Africa, where a good friend, Tal, also commented as he watched from afar.  I truly believe that some of the “hate” directed towards us around the world softened last night and some of the militants rested their arms.  It’s just a lot harder to hate a country led by Barack Hussein Obama, than the one led by George Walker Bush.  There is a ton of work to do and Obama has just won an incredibly difficult job, but should he accomplish absolutely nothing during his term, the significance of his election will still remain.  It truly is a new morning in America.

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Andrew Lahde’s goodbye letter (and what’s wrong with our country)

One of my next posts, that has been coming together in my head for a while, will be on the role hedge funds play in our economy and what responsibility, if any, they should assume for current conditions.

This farewell letter was sent to me recently by a friend in the industry.  Andrew Lahde is a guy who formed a relatively small hedge fund, made an enormously successful bet on subprime (his fund is up 1,000% this year) and is now calling it quits.  His insights are simple, yet profound and I find his comments about our government and legislation policy of particular interest.

Andrew Lahde’s Farewell – Get more Business Documents

The Mental Game

So much of what determines success is the mental game.  Having the confidence and self-encouragement to get the job done, under whatever circumstances present themselves.  It’s the same in business, sports, relationships….it’s all the same set of mental tools.  I recently heard of a woman who picked up tennis as a 3.0/3.5-level player and won the state championship two years later, through primarily focusing on mental exercises and, to a lesser extent, on-court practice.  Last week, I played a league tennis match against a focused opponent of lesser skill.  In both sets, I was leading early (2-0 in the first, 4-1 in the second), but he managed to claw his way back in.  I ultimately lost in a tie-breaker (6-3, 5-7, 10-7) and played decently, but couldn’t help but think it was the mental game that dictated my outcome (or lack thereof).  I immediately thought of this Nike Golf commercial, with Early Woods’ narration. Tiger has incredible raw physical skill, but so do each of the other top 100 PGA golfers.  What really separates Tiger from the pack is his mental game.  Mike Donald lost the 1990 US Open to Hale Irwin on the 19th hole of a playoff when Irwin sank a miraculous 70-foot putt.  Donald virtually disappeared from professional golf soon after, while Irwin became the dominant senior tour player.  The mental game has as much, if not more, to do with winning and losing a match, a negotiation, a sale as the raw physical circumstances.

Nerds…the new black!!

Has anyone else noticed how fashionable its become to be a nerd?  I first noticed this trend a year ago when I was dating a girl a few years younger who kept referring to herself and her friends as "nerds" and "dorks".  Now, it’s all the rage, particularly in the tech world, where nerdiness often correlates with passion, creativity and vision.  Talking about the latest website, gadget or innovation with a friend has become cool, not just for people in the industry, but for normal civilians too.  Growing up, nerds and dorks were the ones who wore glasses, ran cross country and wore their backpack with both straps.  Today, glasses are cool, marathons and triathlons are more popular than ever and everyone knows that two straps is much better for your back – not to mention the move from shoulder bags to backpacks in the business world.  Notice a trend? 

The Urban Dictionary has a bunch of entertaining definitions for nerd and cool nerd, but my favorite, likely written by someone of my generation who has reaped benefit from the new nerd paradigm (that would be a good title for a book), is:

the group of people who will most likely make a life changing invention
that will radically change the world. the computer was invented by a
nerd….jocks and
normal people have no claim to civilization except for being the hard
labor. nerds actually do the thinking….

“Is religion built upon lies?” Authors Harris and Sullivan engage in one of first online debates

Sam Harris, author of the bestseller The End of Faith and Andrew Sullivan, author of The Conservative Soul have been engaging in a sharp online debate since January 16 on the value of organized religion in today’s society.  In what must be one of the most publicized online debates yet, Harris is defending his position that all religion is built on a pack of lies while Sullivan – a gay devout Catholic – is defending the virtues of religion, while distinguishing moderates from the more fundamentalist groups around the world.  Personally, as someone who invests and divests from religion over time, I find this debate thrilling.  I’m also intrigued by the rise in anti-religious writing and philosophy of late that these two ends of the spectrum represent.  I find it very cool that they are using a website – Beliefnet – as the forum to showcase such a debate, allowing readers to follow and comment in real time.  The internet is a perfect medium for such an exchange, but debating is one area that hasn’t gained much traction online.  Might this be a new trend?  With the 2008 election on the horizon, I can foresee Hillary and Barack battling head-to-head online a few months from now as the Democratic primaries draw near.  I can’t wait. 

NY Times launches video obits with Art Buchwald

"Hi, I’m Art Buchwald and I just died," the video opens.  He was a beloved journalist specializing in satire who began his career at the Herald Tribune in Paris in the 1940s.  Fittingly, to announce his death, the NY Times debuted a new product called video obits which gives individuals a chance to record their own obituaries before they die.  In Buchwald’s video obit, he discusses his life, his writing and the unusual road to death, which took him in, and then out, of a hospice.  He also mentions how he found that most people were still afraid to talk about death.  I find it strange that with all the progress and advancement we’ve made as a society in practically every field of study, we still have difficulty facing the most  unavoidable reality of all.  Last month, I discussed death with my 86-year old grandmother and, although I was slightly uncomfortable raising the topic, it led to a nice, very real conversation that I’m happy we were able to have.  So in addition to putting video technology to a new and valuable use, I think video obits may also help us face death in a more accepting light by opening the door to its discussion.

Professional mantra: make everyone around you look good

A friend and I were discussing this concept over the weekend.  His boss had passed along this piece of advice to him, explaining that if those around you look good, then inevitably you also look good.  It’s not the first time I’ve heard this, but for some reason, it struck a chord this time.  As someone who is extremely attentive to detail to the point of being slightly anal, it’s much easier for me to find fault and criticize others’ work when I feel the product hasn’t reached its full potential.  While it’s okay to have high expectations, it’s absolutely vital to be able to find positive aspects in your colleagues’ ideas and their work product.  Finding the bright spots and exuding confidence in those around you is the single-best way to inspire and motivate.  Ultimately, if those around you are inspired and motivated, they are more likely to do their best and this is the most powerful ingredient to achieving success as a team.

Racism in our country…how will it ever end?

Last weekend, some friends and I found ourselves at a party at the corner of Atlantic and Nostrand Avenues in a neighborhood of Brooklyn known as East New York.  Anyone familiar with East New York knows that it’s one of the roughest neighborhoods of the city with some of the highest crime statistics.  Of course the neighborhood is also predominately black.  Leaving the party at around 1am, one member of our crew, in spite of my suggestion to call a car service, insisted on trying to hail a taxi in the street.  Fifteen minutes into this ordeal, with nary a taxi in sight (taxis don’t shop for fares in East New York), she agreed to allow me to call a car.

As a result of these shenanigans, the six of us spent 25 minutes or so standing on the curb of Atlantic Ave in this very sketchy section of Brooklyn.  There was undoubtedly some element of fear that I experienced standing on this street, as 20 or so black men and women passed us on foot.  Don’t get me wrong…I do not, in any way, harbor any racist thoughts or feelings.  Those who know me are aware that I have friends of all color, races and religions.  As a travel hound, I also value cultures and crave experiences that are foreign to my own way of life.  But on this evening, smack dab in the middle of a culture very foreign to me, I experienced a bit of fear and felt unclear about my willingness to explore it.  Aware of this paradox, I turned to my friend Andy (an even more experienced traveler than me) and suggested that we visit the corner bar where most of the passers-by seemed to be congregating.  Without much hesitation, he rejected the idea.  When I questioned him on it, explaining the paradox above, he expressed that this was not an experience of interest to him; and I couldn’t completely blame him.  I certainly wasn’t going to enter the bar alone.

For the past week, this experience has troubled me.  Racism still exists in our country and until last week, I believed that I wanted to end it as much as anyone.  But from my actions on Saturday night, I’m not sure I can still say this with a completely straight face.  If we are less curious about the cultures in the next neighborhood than we are about the ones on the other side of the world, how will our country and people every fully integrate?  In my opinion, much of it comes down to psychology.  I can’t place the source, but I’ve learned in my studies that behavior is largely dictated by expectations that are communicated in a variety of subtle ways.  Malcolm Gladwell speaks to some of this in his books The Tipping Point and Blink.  If a white man shows fear when he enters a black neighborhood, black people who witness this will internalize it and begin to think there is a reason why this man should be frightened in their presence.  Compounded many times over, this may lead to behaviors that would not have occurred without that judgment having been passed.  On the contrary, if Andy and I had visited the corner bar and exhibited confidence and a friendly demeanor, without even acknowledging being the only Whites in the establishment, I’m fairly certain we would have received the same in return.  Ultimately, much of it comes down to fear and our own abilities to conquer it.  I’m reminded of a memorial I saw touring the Guguleto township outside Cape Town.  Amy Bhiel, an American exchange student working as an anti-Apartheid activist, was stoned to death and cut up with knives because she was white, despite pleas from several locals in the community.  It’s an awful story, but an illustrative one for the purpose of this article.  Her leadership served as a beacon of courage and conviction for South Africa’s fight to overcome Apartheid.  Later, during the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings, Amy’s parents chose not to press charges against their daughter’s killers, and instead bravely chose to subscribe to the broader cause and movement.  One of Gandhi’s famous quotes is "be the change you want to see in the world."  If we truly care about ending racism in our country, we should start by removing our own judgments and giving others the benefit of doubt and respect that we hope to receive in return.

As a follow up, this troubled me so much that a few nights later I dreamt I was dating a Kenyan woman, and was struggling to figure out how to integrate her into my white Jewish family.  What gives?

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