Apple iPhone: The good, the bad, the beauty
Obviously I haven't had a hands-on with this beautiful piece of engineering, but I have as many worries about it as I have an incredible need to own one RIGHT NOW!
One problem I foresee is Apple's bad history with v1 hardware. Scratched screens, overheating, weird cat noise and any number of other faults means that the first generation of something this potentially delicate and complicated could be a lot more trouble than it's worth.
My second immediate concern is that screen. Yes, it's lovely but screens are inherently muckable, particularly screens you're running your grease-covered fingertips over and rubbing against your cheek. How long will it stay beautiful, and how much damage is this $600 piece of equipment likely to sustain when I shove it in my jeans pocket?
And that's where I keep my phone. I wonder if that's practical with this one. Then we face the keyless design. For me, that's not a problem. I'm not driving around trying to touch dial anyone, but you do need two hands to control this, unless I'm mistaken. Can someone honestly start it up, call up the phone function, dig through the contacts, find the right one and dial a number with one hand? Can you just "open" it and dial if you already know the number? And how easy is it to fat-finger the screen when there's absolutely no tactile feedback?
Lastly, it's not 3G. Sure, there's WiFi and Bluetooth and Cingular ain;t bad when it comes to connectivity, but the latest phones use the latest technology to access online material faster. This can't. It's designed to pull down entire web pages and Google maps, but it's doing so with EDGE and GSM. Those aren't exactly the speediest networking options currently available.
Having said all that, I still want one. It has cool spilled inside every millimeter of its slick black face and rounded-cornered, gradient drop-shadowed icons. The QWERTY keyboard is a nice size and the screen looks bright and clear. It's slim, it's sexy and it's an everything-box in the best way.
But I don't think I'll be buying a v.1 iPhone. Get the 3G in there and let me see how it performs in the real world and we'll talk. In the meantime, I'll be over here with my Nokia N95 filming some DVD quality video with my 5mp camera.
One problem I foresee is Apple's bad history with v1 hardware. Scratched screens, overheating, weird cat noise and any number of other faults means that the first generation of something this potentially delicate and complicated could be a lot more trouble than it's worth.
My second immediate concern is that screen. Yes, it's lovely but screens are inherently muckable, particularly screens you're running your grease-covered fingertips over and rubbing against your cheek. How long will it stay beautiful, and how much damage is this $600 piece of equipment likely to sustain when I shove it in my jeans pocket?
And that's where I keep my phone. I wonder if that's practical with this one. Then we face the keyless design. For me, that's not a problem. I'm not driving around trying to touch dial anyone, but you do need two hands to control this, unless I'm mistaken. Can someone honestly start it up, call up the phone function, dig through the contacts, find the right one and dial a number with one hand? Can you just "open" it and dial if you already know the number? And how easy is it to fat-finger the screen when there's absolutely no tactile feedback?
Lastly, it's not 3G. Sure, there's WiFi and Bluetooth and Cingular ain;t bad when it comes to connectivity, but the latest phones use the latest technology to access online material faster. This can't. It's designed to pull down entire web pages and Google maps, but it's doing so with EDGE and GSM. Those aren't exactly the speediest networking options currently available.
Having said all that, I still want one. It has cool spilled inside every millimeter of its slick black face and rounded-cornered, gradient drop-shadowed icons. The QWERTY keyboard is a nice size and the screen looks bright and clear. It's slim, it's sexy and it's an everything-box in the best way.
But I don't think I'll be buying a v.1 iPhone. Get the 3G in there and let me see how it performs in the real world and we'll talk. In the meantime, I'll be over here with my Nokia N95 filming some DVD quality video with my 5mp camera.
Comments
But I will have one.
and lance you nail it on the head -- here's the use case that i'm curious about: i'm doing 60 on the lower deck of the bay bridge in rush hour, the phone's in my pocket and someone calls. what's that like?
For some reason I enjoy picturing you in a Camaro.