To give a little background as to why I get uptight- aside from normal fears of shady mechanics- allow me to explain. When I first got my S2000, I had a recurring problem with my wheel studs shearing off, and despite numerous visits to the Ken Garff Honda dealership down here in Orem, they didn’t figure out what the problem was (it ended up being simple and obvious in the end) until I had already paid hundreds of dollars for repairs that were basically worthless. That problem was compounded by the fact that every time I took my car into them, she would always have something new broken when I got her back. One time it was the map lights, the next time it was a side marker light, etc. etc.

So needless to say, I wasn’t too stoked about taking my car into yet another sheisty mechanic or another incompetent dealership. I spent literally hours researching mechanics and dealerships online, running down recommendations, and placing phone calls for quotes. I started to see a pattern emerge, and after several glowing online reviews, a strong recommendation from a longtime UT Honda owner and a feeling in my gut, I took Jez into the Ken Garff Honda dealership in downtown SLC. It was a great decision.

The experience was pretty great from the get-go. When I called the dealership to get a quote, Erin, the service manager helping me quoted a price that was a little higher than other places I had called. When I told her as much, she cheerfully offered to price-match any dealership in the valley; and when I found cheaper prices at a rival dealership,  she was true to her word. And what was even better, she had the parts in stock, which is great because S2000 clutches aren’t that easy to find.

I dropped off my car and virtually everybody I talked to about the necessary repairs was polite, helpful, and informative. The repair bays were busy (which is a good sign) but everything was really clean and neat. I walked away feeling confident that my car was in good hands.

Over the next few days, I received courtesy updates on the status of my repairs (apparently an S2000 clutch job is a fairly significant endeavor) but at no point did they attempt to upsell me or apprise me of other ticky-tack repairs that “needed” to be done. In fact, they even saved me money.

Finally, the long-awaited time came for me to be reunited with my car. I showed up at the dealership, where Erin walked me through the repairs that had been made, along with their cost, line by line. I was amazed when they came in under the quoted cost for the clutch job, even with the price match, and all the other repairs were reasonably priced. (Also, there was no upselling! I can hardly describe how great it was to not be harassed about other “needed” repairs. Apparently that’s a pet peeve.) They also took care of my inspection and even renewed my registration for me so I wouldn’t have to mess with mailing anything in or waiting for my stickers to show up.

I’ll stop gushing, but first I wanted to drop just a quick word about Erin – she was incredibly friendly, professional, and took extra good care of me. She even went so far as having the tech she uses personally with her own cars work on mine! Oh yeah, and the car? Jezebel runs better now than she has as long as I’ve owned her. Her clutch works like a charm, the ride’s back to normal, and the rattle is completely gone. She’s a joy to drive again!

I really can’t say enough about how great my experience with this dealership was. It’s no wonder that they’ve won the prestigious Honda President’s Award for almost ten years running. I’ll be taking my Hondas to Ken Garff Honda Downtown from now on. Kudos to you guys for running a great business.

(Disclosure: I was not paid for this review, nor was I given any other kind of compensation for it. I’m merely a satisfied customer who wants to share about how awesome this dealership is.)

Now this test basically consisted of three parts: first, I wanted to see how the AT&T service worked in my area; second, I wanted to find out if my life would be improved by some potentially awesome iPhone apps; and third, I wanted to see if the hardware was really as awesome as it was cracked up to be.

Before I go further, though it pains me to do so, I’m going to spoil the ending and tell you my decision on the phone before I explain the reasons behind my decision. After a two-week period, I decided to take the phone back and return to my crappy Motorola SLVR. Now here are my impressions:

First, the pros-

1. Webkit-enabled Browsing - This was awesome. I used this functionality more than any other on the phone. I used it to approve affiliates on the go, look up addresses and phone numbers, pass the time when I was bored, and win arguments with my brother.
2. Integrated iPod – It was really nice to have music on the go without having to carry two devices. I appreciated the fact that I could use my headphones as a hands-free set as well. Really nice, seamless integration here.
   
3. Cool apps – There are some undeniably cool apps ranging from the useless but funny (The Lightsaber App) to the incredibly useful and effective (The Facebook App) It was great to be able to access everything from financial data to fitness programs via apps.
4. Google Maps – This saved my bacon a few times. While I had the phone, I took a trip to Vegas and used my iPhone’s integrated Google Maps GPS functionality to navigate around. Worked like a charm and saved me a lot of time wandering around.
5. Threaded SMS conversations – No having to dig through a ton of text messages just to find out what your friend is referring to from a long-past conversation? Priceless.
6. Cool Factor – Let’s face it, when you whip one of these sexy little devices out of your pocket, you have instant geek street cred. This phone honestly makes you a little bit cooler.
   

And now for the cons-

1. Keyboard/Touchscreen – This was, by far, my biggest drawback for the phone. Any kind of data input was slow and painstaking. And forget about doing anything on the go. I had to turn my full attention to the phone to get the information typed in properly. The predictive text was pretty good, but not enough to overcome the inherent cumbersomeness of the interface. Some kind of voice dial/voice recognition would have gone a long way here.
   
2. No Flash – The crappiest part of an otherwise amazing web browsing experience. There are videos on sites other than YouTube that I’d like to watch. Graphs on analytics dashboards I’d like to see. Games I’d like to play. Sadly, I can do none of these things on my iPhone.
   
3. Multitasking – or lack thereof. It sucks to lose information on one app in order to use another app. You may also add the lack of copy & paste to this part of the list.
4. AT&T Service – Forget the adage “you get what you pay for.” The switch from my Verizon plan to my AT&T plan represented a rather large increase in my monthly bill. Throw in an additional $300 bucks for the phone, and this phone became a significant investment. Sadly, the quality of cell phone service didn’t reflect the additional cost I was shouldering. I dropped calls fairly regularly, and on one occasion, couldn’t place calls for almost a half-hour. In addition, the 3G was pretty spotty. So while I’m sure that AT&T has a reason for claiming to have more bars in more places, they didn’t have more bars where I wanted to be.

Ultimately, I could have gotten over all of my concerns except for the problem with the touchscreen. It prevented me from effectively entering data into the apps I had been hoping to use to improve my workflow and productivity. It made it harder to place calls while driving. It was awkward to use, and difficult to learn, and frankly, the curve was just too steep to make it worth it to me. Is this the last time I’ll test an iPhone? In this iteration, probably. However, I have a great respect for Apple’s design ethos, and I think that as they continue to make improvements to the phone, it could easily become a “killer app” for my life. In the meantime, my loyalties are open for other smartphone makers such as Palm to swoop in and capture with the right product. We’ll see what happens.