[qi:91] Owning an Apple (AAPL) iPhone is a real test of patience, and often a full-on, teeth-gnashing exercise. Be it the slow email access, lack of battery longevity, or simply the dictates of King Jobs, you really have to love the device to put up with the shortcomings becoming typical of all Apple 1.0 products.
The UI rocks, especially the CoverFlow-interface for the iPod. But nothing disappoints me more than the headphones that ship with the phone. They look cool, but the sound quality sucks. Gratefully, I discovered Shure Music Phone Adapter for iPhones. It is a small accessory that can turn any headphone into a stereo mobile headset for the iPhone. I plugged it into the phone, and then plugged in the Shure SE 530 Sound Isolating Earphones, and seconds later I was grooving.
The phone calls became easy to handle, too. No more screaming or yelling. The microphone embedded in the MPA is powerful enough to pick up voice signals even when the iPhone is in your pocket, while the sound-isolating earphones block out all the noise. Shure MPA — that’s the best $40 dollars you’ll ever spend. And your iPhone will thank you for it.
Overall, is iPhone a good product, or was it all hype ?
A “full-on, teeth-gnashing exercise”? Please. A little hyperbole is fine, I suppose, but I find my iPhone to be an infinite improvement for most tasks over my Treo 680, which tended to crash at least once every other day, usually just as I was making an important phone call. I’m looking forward to a software update (and iPhone 2.0) as much as you are, and maybe your last phone was superfantastic (why’d you switch, then?), but I would never describe my iPhone experience as “a real test of patience”. I would say “it rocks”.
I haven’t met an iPhone owner who disliked it. As an owner of the device myself, I can attest to some of it’s shortcommings. But I expect many of the features to be added with future firmware updates. It is an 1.0 product.
Will the ‘Pinch the Button’ of the default one, work with this?
I’m not an iPhone user, but have jumped on the Shure bandwagon. I have the E4C’s, and they’re fantastic. I get a lot of mileage out of them on airplanes and walking through crowded, noisy places with my Treo. I’ve tried several of the higher end bluetooth pieces, and and in a quiet environment, they’re ok, but not on a city street or an airport.
Are these out yet? The apple store says 2 – 3 months.
You say “The microphone embedded in the MPA is powerful enough to pick up voice signals even when the iPhone is in your pocket.”
What do you mean? When the MPA is plugged in, IT is the microphone. It doesn’t matter WHERE the iPhone is; all audio I/O is sent through the MPA cable.
Lacks in Battery Life? It bests just about all the smartphones in battery life. Treos, Blackberrys and the Blackjack alike. Also, if you want seriously nice headphones for the iPhone with a mic built in, check out v-moda.com
Now those are headphones.
“Owning an Apple (AAPL) iPhone is a real test of patience, and often a full-on, teeth-gnashing exercise. Be it the slow email access, lack of battery longevity, or simply the dictates of King Jobs, you really have to love the device to put up with the shortcomings becoming typical of all Apple 1.0 products.”
This is definitey NOT the general consensus of iPhone owners or droolers.
I got a free iPhone from the Inc 500 conference in Chicago, so I’m not a fanboy or even a drooler, but the iPhone is an amazing product. I own an HTC-6800 (aka Mogul), which I was an advent believer in. I use it for email, etc. But I was able to hook up all of my email accounts to my iPhone in no time, and the internet browsing is the best in the biz. The only downside is that ATT’s coverage blows, so once this free trial month is over, I’ll most likely only use it as an MP3 player. I’m a WM5/6 power user as well (IT manager, super geek), so it’s not a lack of knowledge. My WM phone is tweaked out, but I still prefer the iPhone as an end-all be-all device.
I bought an iPhone early on and never looked back. Easily the best phone, smart or otherwise, I’ve ever had. No gnashing of teeth here. Love ya Om but I think you’re way off base on this one –
I got this a month ago at the SF store. I was looking for the Belkin headphone adaptor which fixes the poorly-designed recessed headphone jack problem, but they were out. I thought the inline mic would be a nice addition.
It does mean however that you have a lot of extra cable running around, the mic itself is fairly weighty and you have a “double loop” of cable due to the mic needing to be up near your neck, plus your regular headphone jack connecting to the end of it. It works, but it’s not terribly elegant nor as practical as the inline mic included with the base-line Apple headphones.
Someone’s selling “customized” Shure earbuds with the Apple-style inline mic, which I’d buy if I didn’t already have a nice pair of E4Cs.
Scott, they’re designed to be used with Shure’s SE series, which have a modular cable system so that you can remove the regular cable and replace it with the MPA cable. If you can find the MPA grab it because Shure is now backordered until December.
You like more cords to tangle instead of less? I’m thinking about spending what will wind up being ~$300 to go with wireless stereo headphones.
Your approach is fine for sitting on an airplane or if you’re otherwise stationary. But for walking around, it seems…impractical.
It could be I’m deaf, but I’ve always preferred the basic earbuds included with the iPods and the iPhone is no exception. For a $20 accessory, I don’t think it sucks. Mic works fine. Pause, fast-forward work fine. Sound quality is fine with me.
For a 1.0 product, really outside sluggishness of the OS on things like displaying text messages and any scenario necessitating Edge, it’s a pretty outstanding device already. While I’d like to be able to stream my TV/DVR to the iPhone, the current lack of this capability is hardly teeth-gnashing.
Quote:
“Owning an Apple (AAPL) iPhone is a real test of patience, and often a full-on, teeth-gnashing exercise … you really have to love the device to put up with the shortcomings becoming typical of all Apple 1.0 products.”
I’m sorry, but that’s just BS. Most iPhone owners I’ve met don’t just like their iPhones — they love them. Myself included.
It’s damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.
Remember the first iPod nano? It had a headphone jack that crackled when jiggled. Remember the whining? Imagine the whining from people who bought $500 and $600 iPhones if there was any crackling from their headphones due to a wobbly connection.
Will this adaptor work only with shure headphone or with any other headphones?
Can you please confirm?
Thanks.