Bob and I have been hanging out a lot today.
Yes, that Bob, the one on Apple's iPhone guided-tour video. Turns out he's Bob Borchers, senior director of worldwide iPhone product marketing.
But, early today, he was just-plain Bob, in snippets of the Apple video played on Future Tense segment. I was the FT guest. The interviewer, Marisa Helms, played the bubbly Bob quotes about iPhone features, and then had me dissect each one. That was pretty fun (sorry I'm talking so fast, I'll try to slow down next time).
But Bob and I weren't done with each other today, oh no.
He and I were on a conference call today so I could dissect the iPhone's features one last time before I filed my Tech Test Drive review for Monday's paper. It was a helpful call, Borchers shed light on a number of iPhone topics, such as:
The headphone port. It doesn't work with most third-party earbud and earphone jacks. Apple got a lot of heat for this. Borchers acknowledges this design decision, and said this was an inevitable by-product of making the iPhone so thin. I don't buy that, the problem with the port is that it's recessed, so I think Apple could have raised it without affecting the iPhone's thickness. But there you have it.
EDGE vs. 3G? The iPhone uses AT&T's pokey EDGE data network, not a newer AT&T data network that is much faster. Apple got a lot of heat for this, too, So can the phone be upgraded? Borcher says this is a "hardware issue," meaning a software update wouldn't do the trick. So the phone can't be upgraded? I'm not sure Borchers ruled that out entirely.
Software updates: Speaking of those, Borchers said iPhone users can expect a lot of improved functionality that will be rolled out on a regular basis. This will be better than OS X bug fixes and such on Macs, he stressed. The iPhone will get better over time, all via iTunes synchronizing. Great, I want to use the Babylon 5 doorbell chime as my ringtone.
Older Macs. Some iPhone users have been able to sync their iPhones with their older Macs, but those who encounter issues with this (as I did) can blame their slower USB 1.1 connections. The iPhone officially supports only the speedier USB 2, Borchers says.
FM transmitters. Some iPod accessories will work with the iPhone, some won't. Apple's official word on this can be found here (bottom right). I asked Borchers about FM transmitters. He said some work with the iPhone, some don't. One I tried without success, Griffin Technology's iTrip Auto, is on Apple's official doesn't-work list of transmitters that register only as cigarette-lighter chargers when plugged into an iPhone, Borchers confirmed.
IMAP mail. Those who have IMAP accounts can create a series of customized folders that reside on their mail servers, not on their PCs or Macs, yet actjust like desktop folders within their e-mail programs. So when my e-mail accounts got transferred from a Mac to my loaner iPhone, I was puzzled that none of my IMAP folders were visible on the handset.
Bob provided the solution: On the iPhone, go to settings; pick mail; pick the relevant account; scroll to the bottom of the screen; pick "Advanced"; scroll to the bottom; for IMAP Path Prefix, type "INBOX" without the quotes.
