I just have to say, that in this day and age of cold, calculated, cost cutting and crappy customer service, DreamHost chat support is outstanding.

First and foremost, it’s effective.  I just migrated my blog from joonsookim.com/blog to blog.joonsookim.com.  I’m not particularly technically savvy — plus, I’m told I can be . . . well, high-maintenance — so I needed a lot of hand-holding.  I just checked my records, and I logged seven (7!) chats with DreamHost technical support over the past few days.  With a few minor exceptions, my questions were answered, and my blog now has been migrated safely and successfully.

Second, it’s cordial.  A lot of companies can’t master this basic requirement.  Surely, it’s hard to discern tone in an instant message chat, but as best I could tell the seven different representatives with whom I chatted were very patient and polite.

Third, it’s easy.  One click launches a Web-based chat window, and moments later you’re describing your problem to the representative.  Sometimes, the response times are delayed — I suspect they must manage quite a few support contacts concurrently — but not a problem if you’re multi-tasking yourself while awaiting each response.

Last and best of all, DreamHost clearly prides itself on customer support — it’s actually part of their value proposition to customers.  The home page advertises 24/7 technical support, and, once logged in, the chat button is prominent.  DreamHost, unlike it seems most Web companies these days, isn’t trying to avoid your contact!

DreamHost chat support front and center!

I started with DreamHost at the recommendation of a friend three years ago and remain a satisfied customer.  I’ve registered my domains with GoDaddy, host them on DreamHost with its easy, one-click WordPress installations and upgrades, and couldn’t be much happier.

I’m in NYC.  I bumped into a couple Google folks — Google folks working on the Nexus One launch.  Sincerely, I congratulated them, knowing it was a big day for Google and imagining how much fun it would be to work on such a product/project.

Jokingly, I brandished my iPhone, teasing that I didn’t think I could switch.

Guess what?  They both had iPhones themselves — pulling them from their pockets to show me!

Coincidentally, today my brother just adopted Google Voice, his new “number for life,” although, luddite yet BlackBerry user that he is, I don’t imagine I’ll see him with an Android phone this decade.

Recall my most recent complaints:  (1) abysmal battery life and (2) broken Microsoft Exchange integration.

I was sometimes getting less than 5 hours of battery life, even after Apple replaced my unit with a new one.  Firmware 2.1 plus some more prudent battery conservation practices have all but solved #1.  I’ve read too many articles, blog posts and discussion board threads on this to recount.  Plus, I’ve finally succumbed to logical suggestions — most of which I daresay I had heard already — from BW and ES.  Here’s what’s worked for me:

First, I’m only fetching data now, and only hourly.  Such is the disappointment of and lowered expectations in performance of the iPhone 3G that the very reason for buying it — push — is what must be disabled to provide more reasonable battery life.  I’m not even upset that I don’t get push, because it was working so poorly — that battery-killing wheel seemed to be spinning constantly — and I’m so grateful for longer battery life.

Second, I’ve slightly reduced the number of accounts from which I’m fetching data.  I have work Exchange, Yahoo, Gmail and MobileMe accounts.  Instead of fetching data from all of them, I’m forwarding Gmail to Yahoo and fetching from Yahoo.  I use MobileMe only for calendar and contacts syncing, so I have it set up but never check that email.  And I’m even fetching from my work email account.  I came to terms with the fact that I don’t need push email to distract me in meetings, and I already get push when sitting in front of my destop with Outlook open.

Third, I’ve turned brightness down fairly low.  Even with a protective film on the glass, it’s still bright enough for me.

Fourth, I’ve left Bluetooth and Location Services on.  I use my Bluetooth headset to and from work every day, it’s too much of a pain to go into Settings to deactivate and activate it repeatedly, and I’m not convinced it’s a drain on the battery.  For Location Services, much of the time I have this off, but I just end up switching it on when prompted when using Google Maps or some other geo-aware application that calls for it.

Finally, I’ve left both 3G and Data Roaming turned on.  As eBay alumnus Ryan Spoon notes, push has a much greater effect on battery life than 3G.  I know at least one other iPhone 3G owner — ES –  who switches off 3G not because of the perceived battery life drain but because he believes the network is unreliable and results in dropped calls.  I’m accessing the Internet often enough that I want the speed from its being on all the time.

The net effect?  I can go over a day without recharging.  And I don’t live in constant fear of a sudden drained-battery-induced shutdown.  Frackin’ fantastic.  Reasonable battery life?  Check!

Next, I’ll bemoan the complete failure of Exchange integration, my data sync requirements and then the awkward but functioning solutions I’ve devised.

Today, Apple released the new 2.1 firmware, and it’s broken my Exchange integration.  Right now, I have no calendar, no contacts and no email — the unit is useless to me without these core functions.  I’ve tried deleting the Exchange account and re-adding it, but that doesn’t help.  Apple support forums indicate that at least a few others are experiencing the same problem.  Frankly, I’m sick of the inability of the iPhone to perform basic functions, and I’m seriously thinking about switching back to BlackBerry.

Two reasons to buy Apple products:  (1) They just work and (2) sex appeal.  So far, (1) is absent leaving my iPhone decidely unsexy. 

Must Have:

• Improve the battery life. The battery life is so bad that I find myself now becoming accustomed to charging my iPhone throughout the day. Granted, my usage is high. I ran the unit several times until it shut down to maximize battery life as an Apple Genius recommended. But any handheld communications-organization device needs to be able to run from the time I wake until the time I sleep. End of story.
• To-Do List/Notes Sync. I used Notes and the To-Do List (the “NextAction” add-on) extensively on my BlackBerry, and they integrated beautifully with Outlook, including Outlook Exchange Web mail. Now, I remain in a quandary as to what to do with the iPhone. I’m looking at Evernote, EasyTask Manager and OmniFocus as replacements (I’m a partial GTD adherent), but none solve all of the problems I have. (More on GTD applications to come).
• Copy/Cut-Paste. It’s beyond my understanding why this is not available.
• More Robust Email. The litany of issues is too long to enumerate. BlackBerry is way better, period. This is essential if Apple wants to steal share in the enterprise market.
• Voice Dialing. Especially in California, where headsets are now required by law when driving, easy dialing while in the car is essential. Favorites, Recents, Contacts — all of these are too difficult to use when driving. I’ve tried the SpeechCloud Voice Dialer application and it (1) isn’t a dialer – it’s a voice recognition lookup tool and (2) it doesn’t work well. In 4-5 tries, it never found the name I was seeking, and I then uninstalled it. In general, contact and phone number lookup on the iPhone require too many keystrokes, and the ease of use of the basic phone function is less than ideal.
• Overall Stability. My iPhone crashes. Not infrequently. Usually when flipping among applications. An open platform is great. It’s got to be more stable that this.

Nice to Have:

• IR Beam. Remember the Palm V? I do. I’d love better capability to transmit data from phone-to-phone.
• Video Recording. This isn’t that important to me, but I look forward to the day.

I’m still a satisifed promoter of the iPhone and look forward to future improvements. It’s been a week, and I’m still having fun.

• Evernote — This is a pre-existing capture-organize-search application new to me. Take notes, photos, voice notes. Among the many potential uses, I’m taking photos of random scraps of paper I’ve had lying around, tagging them for Evernote and then tossing ‘em. Love it.
• WritingPad — You’ve got to try this to understand it. It’s faster than the keyboard but lacks the magnifying glass cursor placement. Getting to numbers and symbols is a bit of a pain, but for sheer input speed, it’s cool.
• Twitteriffic — Who knew I had so much nonsense to say? (Yes, yes, everyone).
• Pandora — I was using this Web-based before. The iPhone application is great. It’s already changing how people regard radio.

Check these out!

Over a year ago I endorsed the Jawbone Bluetooth headset with unbridled enthusiasm. At the time, it was clearly superior to any other Bluetooth noise reduction headset. Not too soon after I bought it, my enthusiasm subsided and I reluctantly acknowledged a few concerns. Yet I remained satisfied.

Now, over a year later, events since then and the emergence of competing products prompt this reassessment.

Last year, I articulated my evaluative criteria: (1) sound quality, both receiving and transmitting, (2) comfort/fit/usability and (3) durability. I rated the Jawbone as outstanding in sound quality, I was noncommital with regard to fit, and I questioned its durability.

I stand by my assessment of transmitting sound quality, and reports are that the new Jawbone NoiseAssassin has much improved receiving sound quality.

However, I grew more and more dissatisfied with the fit the longer I used the original Jawbone. No matter which ear bud or ear loop I tried, I could never get a reasonably comfortable, snug fit in my ear; the Jawbone always felt as if it might fall.

On top of this, the usability and/or durability of the Jawbone wasn’t up to snuff. I’d originally broken my first one by a single short drop to the floor. Next, I found difficulty getting the Jawbone to charge. The awkward fit between the charger and the Jawbone port was a difficult marriage to make. Even using different chargers, sometimes I simply couldn’t get the Jawbone to fit and charge. Finally, the last straw for me was when the Jawbone would appear to charge but simply wouldn’t power on or function anymore.

Now, the NoiseAssassin is sexier in its sleekness, but I’m reading even more criticisms of its hit or miss fit. (I think this is the downside of relying on a heralded designer — the wrong designer will emphasize aesthetics over function). Apparently, Jawbone recognized the charger issues and has addressed them. But at this point, I’m once bitten and twice shy about trying the Jawbone again.

Oddly, I remain a promoter of the Jawbone. I’ve found that no headset is perfect. But I’ve since parted company with Aliph and its products and moved on to other alternatives. More on my quest for the perfect headset very soon.

I switched from my BlackBerry Pearl once Apple removed my primary barrier to adoption — lack of push email and calendar — and I am overlooking the challenging keyboard and lack of notes/to-do list sync.

I’ll miss the dedicated convenience of my Pearl, but “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”* between me and my iPhone.

The good:

• It’s cool and gorgeously, super sexy.
• The usability, both setup and ongoing use, is extremely good.
• The open platform and applications significantly increase the utility.
• 3G is pretty darn quick.
• The GPS is sweet. I could drive around all day just watching my car on the map. (Dork, I know)
• I do love it and am having a ton of fun.

The bad:

• On balance, I still believe Apple botched the launch weekend. Even aside from the long queues and the likely artificially suppressed inventory at AT&T stores, Apple made two critical mistakes: (1) Apple should have been better prepared for the server traffic from the iPhone 2.0 software upgrades and new 3G purchases. Apple now has placed itself in a position where it is offering mission-critical services to individuals and businesses. Effective outages (from bricked phones) and activation slownesses of the lengths experienced Friday are inexcusable and unforgivable. (2) Requiring that users with corporate accounts or discounts activate only at AT&T stores resulted in horrible customer experiences and undermines Apple’s entire strategy of acquiring business users. Business users require convenience, and the need to go to an AT&T store was decidedly inconvenient.
• Battery life on 3G is atrociously bad. I had a full overnight charge, started using the iPhone at 7:00 a.m., and my battery already is 30% drained. Granted, I’m using the thing a ton and haven’t optimized power consumption yet, but still . . . it needs to make it easily on one charge from the time I wake until the time I sleep.
• As with all things Apple, when things go wrong, you have few options and much frustration. Ringtones purchased on iTunes wouldn’t play at first. I’m frequently prompted to re-enter my iTunes password. A song spontaneously started playing this morning. Once I synced with my Outlook calendar through Exchange, I found that I have two calendars, including one that contains events from four years ago. The device has rebooted spontaneously a few times. It’s frozen a couple times inexplicably. In all these cases, your options and explanations and guidance from Apple are few.
• The touchscreen is great, but I have a hard time believing a touchscreen keyboard will ever be as good as a keyboard with tactile buttons.

Tips:

• The solution for freezing in some cases is to soft reset the device by simultaneously pressing and holding the power/sleep and home buttons for 30 seconds.
• I’ve found that the MacRumors Forums contain a wealth of information on troubleshooting. Just about every problem I’ve encountered, someone else encountered first.
• Apple’s site has a helpful page on battery optimization, although many of the suggestions are to disable the core functions that make the 3G worth getting.

On balance, I’m loving my new toy. Just remember: The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.

* Humphrey Bogart’s “Jack” in “Casablanca”

I’m thinking about it. Thinking about it hard. And I don’t know that I’ll have the strength to resist my consumer impulse.

I’ve loved my BlackBerry Pearl and its predecessors over the past few years. I love the synchronization with my work Outlook; I use email and text messaging constantly, the phone, notes, the to-do list, the camera, Google maps, a stopwatch/timer application, the alarm, the calculator, even the slow browser. The usability is great. I love the SureType input system. I love the size and the weight. It’s wonderfully functional.

Last year, I switched from PC to Mac for the first time in my life. I was already an iPod user and an iTunes Store buyer. With PCs, I was becoming fatigued with degrading performance over time and mysterious program crashes. Apple’s advertising campaigns slowly and surely were winning me over — a case where TV advertising worked. While I’ve always appreciated the apparent relative simplicity Apple offers, truly, it’s the coolness factor that tipped me towards Apple.

After a year with my iMac, I’m still puzzled by its inexplicable slowness in Web browsing at times, frustrated with how iPhoto handles file organization and at a loss whenever a program hangs. But, on balance, I’m happy with the switch.

Should I adopt the iPhone, too? What’s been holding me back and might continue to give me pause:

• The keyboard sucks! I’ve talked to numerous iPhone users who all assure me that I’ll “get used to it,” that “it learns” and that they love it. But I’ve used it half a dozen times now, and I miss letters more than I hit them. For me, a BlackBerry user, the keyboard falls far, far short of my expectations. With Palm’s handwritten entry system, I recall becoming very proficient in it in less than a day. I’m skeptical about my ability to adapt to the iPhone keyboard, and I do enough inputting on my handhelds to need an efficient mechanism.
• Equivalently slow Web access. With the first generation iPhone, I didn’t think the Web access would be appreciably faster than on my BlackBerry over the EDGE network. With 3G, this new iPhone promises much more speed.
• I use Outlook notes and an add-on to-do list extensively and rely on the synchronization between my BlackBerry and my desktop. My understanding is that even with the new iPhone, the real-time synchronization will be lacking. If I switch, I’ll be banking on the development of applications with better synchronization with the new Microsoft Exhange integration.
• That Exchange integration is key. I depend on email getting pushed to my handheld and wouldn’t consider adopting the iPhone if it were still pulling email. I also rely on my calendar being manageable from either handheld or desktop. With the Exchange integration, however, these, my most significant concerns, are eliminated.

The new iPhone is now the shinier, newer object, and I hear it calling to me. We’re counting down to the release date on July 11, and I’m betting I’ll have a new iPhone soon after that!

Inspired in part by my colleague Adam Nash’s post on Google Reader, I made the switch a few weeks ago to Google Reader and have been entirely pleased with the clean UI and overall ease of use.

I’ve been using the Email function (see screen shot above) recently but, silly me, just fully realized that Google Reader is integrated only with Gmail. Lifehacker’s post on the integration characterized it as making it easy to share blog posts by email, and I agree that it is, indeed, easy — particularly if Gmail is your primary email application.

But I resent the forced lock-in to Gmail, especially because I predominantly use Yahoo for personal email. Bloglines and Feedburner, in contrast, allow the user to choose the “from” email address. I understand why Google would chose to integrate in this manner, but I don’t have to like it. The forced Gmail usage certainly fuels the Google is evil debate.