The iPhone arrived today, 29 June 2007
Posted By RichC on June 29, 2007
People must be out of their minds lining up at the AT&T/Cingular stores to be the first to spend $700 for the an Apple iPhone? What mania … it sounds sort of “cabbage patch” crazy to me? 😀
Since I’m attracted to technology gadgets, I understand the want of the latest and greatest, but I’m not quite so willing to go out on a limb for this new cell phone and media device (personally I still think my Palm Treo 700p has the ‘edge’ over the much more pricey iPhone). I’m uncomfortable with all the hype leading up to the iPhone release and sense that it will have a difficult time in meeting its build-up. No doubt its got sex appeal, but underneath its gotta work well too. We’ll see?
Part of my concern is “the network” as the Verizon folks like to say, and as Sprint’s ads point out, with data … its all about the speed. Cingular’s EDGE technology isn’t nearly fast enough for the amount of data that Internet users wanting to play with their phones are going to want. I sense that as the newness wears off that there will be some complaining about the high priced monthly contracts and slow data rates (this will eventually improve I suspect). Nevertheless, the iPhone will also operate on WiFi networks, but if you’re sitting at an airport, in a coffee shop, at a desk in own home of office it hardly makes sense to ‘surf the net’ on a phone (take that from someone who watches TV on a tiny Treo screen!)
As for the music player, the lack of SD or mini-SD cards is going to have a few unhappy ‘podders’ … the iPhone needs expandable memory. To the iPhone’s credit, they have one upped the camera and gone with 2 megapixels, of which photos have yet to be seen by your’s truly (but its not going to take much to beat the existing cellphone cameras). The input device has me wondering. Early on I was skeptical that a smooth glass keyboard on the iPhone was going to match the time tested Treo and Blackberry tactual feel, but I’m pulling back until I try one. Same for the dial pad and pitch/twist tricks that look so cool on the Apple ads.
For now, I’m going to sit back and let the dust settle. It will be interesting to hear praise where it is not deserved and criticism coming most likely out of jealousy.
Click for the iPhone Intro Video – from Apple.com
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