[Macworld]

Post your comments for How much work can you do on an iPhone? here

[cseeman]

Mail, Folders, almost a desktop replacement, huh?
One folder per account is NOT sufficient. Don't confuse creating an account with creating folders, nor the "Rules" needed to sort email to them.
On my desktop I have several folders for each account. I know of no way to do this on Mail on the iPhone.

[iloverobots]

Search in general is holding back the device -- I guess you never had to search your email during the test, I'm always surprised that people leave search out of their reviews...
As someone who gets hundreds of messages a day, many of which require action on my part, I can't use my iPhone for business... But I really want to, lugging an iphone in planes, trains and autos is much easier than a MacBook Pro...

[spim]

well ... a LOT of this is going to get better with iPhone OS 3.0
how much better, we'll have to see - but I imagine it will be substantive

[danmusician]

I had a Palm PDA years ago that my employer gave me. I rarely used it. I use my iPod Touch as a PDA on a daily basis. One thing I miss from the Palm - I had a little fold out keyboard that the PDA attached to.
Is there such a device for the iPhone/iPod Touch? I could see myself using the iPod Touch even more if I didn't need to solely rely on that tiny little keyboard on screen.

[akulavolk]

@danmusician
Wait for the iPhone OS 3.0 update. It has hooks to allow controlling hardware in software, which will open the door to entirely new categories of hardware accessories. I'd expect that keyboards are one of these.
And @spim is right. We'll get search, copy and paste, and most other limitations listed above fixed in 3.0.
If I could carry a fold-out keyboard, I'm not sure I'd need to carry a MBP around anymore. I could write long documents on my iPhone and sync & format them when I get back home/in the office.

[bonesb]

I'm trying a similar experience, albeit a forced one with the economy forcing me on the road more often, but I'm relying on both a BB and an iPhone to keep my going - they work well together but I wouldn't rely on either. My workarounds include:
I use Evernote for note taking, through the iPhone app, mobile bookmark for the Storm, and apps for the Mac and Windows. I use the free version but am considering upgrading - the synching is perfect and I can take and edits notes almost anywhere now.
I ported to Google Premier for email, and use the iPhone's web interface more often than the iPhone or BB email clients. The recent updates allow for assigning labels, search, edits, creating drafts for later use when no data's available (in the PNW that's in quite a few areas). I use Google Sync for the BB and Exchange for the iPhone to keep my contacts and calendar synched with my desktops. The combination's about 90% there.
I use Vlingo Pro for the BB to dictate emails, notes to myself, text messages. This one app makes the BB the perfect tool for the road warrior.
I'm awaiting for one of Google's competitors - MS, Yahoo, Mapquest, somebody please - to put out a GPS-aware mapping app for both platforms. Google's switch to Teleatlas data in the US was one of the biggest mistakes they've made - even last night I still see streets and neighborhoods built in 2006 that are missing from Gmaps, but they're there in NAVTEQ's data sets. Cheaper data isn't better data, Google.

[sigma8]

With the web browser, email and an SSH client, my iPhone is ready to rumble, but despite over a year of pretty frequent use, I find the keyboard unacceptable for anything productive. The iPhone is great for short emails, looking stuff up...generally, it's good when you're primarily reading and not typing.
The sad part is that a bluetooth keyboard would solve this nicely. Hopefully those will be supported in the next major OS rev. Carrying an Apple bluetooth keyboard (they're flat and pretty small) in a small bag along with some other things would be much more portable than a laptop. Plus the batteries in there will outlast the iPhone's charge several times over.
If I could use SSH in landscape, not use up screen real-estate on a keyboard, and have arrow and other terminal key support.. I'd be able to leave my laptop behind on many trips.

[trintoc2]

One quick note that I think as left out of this article is the capability of a VNC app. While most of the features of the phone are very strong and don't need to access the laptop, I feel much more comfortable leaving the computer at home or the office because I can access it when ever I need via the VNC app on the phone. Yes, it may be much slower than whipping out the computer itself and finding what you needs, but at least I always have a backup plan if needed.

[fletc3her]

The iPhone has allowed me to travel for the day without lugging my laptop along because I can keep track of mail, look up a few sites, check my calendar, etc. on it. This is great because the loss or theft of my iPhone would be a lot easier to handle than the loss or theft of my laptop.
However, I could not spend a whole work day on the iPhone and be anything close to productive.

[cocktaildale]

If I'm in a business meeting, it seems more acceptable to type in notes onto your laptop. If you're frantically trying to keep notes on your iPhone, people seem to assume you're not paying attention, just texting your friends or something.

[jordanlund]

You're right! I can do tons of work on my iPhone... let me e-mail this to my boss...
Let's see here, I just open up Safari on the iPhone and copy and paste the link...
Oh, wait...

[mosley]

Sorry, this article is way too long whether it's from InfoWorld or not.