Being at CES, I’ve had very little time to take in anything other than what I’me seeing first hand. Obviously this is a big day for Apple, so I set aside a few minutes to catch up with the news. No time now for a proper analysis and write-up, but I’m providing links to some of Engadget’s coverage if you too are behind in your reading.
If the iPhone works as advertised, they’re going to sell a ton and really bring “smart phones” to the masses (despite the $500-$600 price tag) — along with music and video. I prefer the tactile feel of keys to dial with (especially when driving), but have grown accustomed to my 6700 (“the brick”)… so I can probably live without. Thank God the phone’s not ALL white. Though I would have been fine if they dropped the “i” as well, calling it the Apple Phone instead. In fact, I think that’s what I’ll call it.
One last tibit: I heard from Yahoo’s PR people and I’m super pleased they will provide “full synchronization and address book integration.” I don’t know for sure, but it’s probably going on a decade I’ve been a user of Yahoo mail… At this point, I won’t consider a phone that doesn’t sync my contacts. (I’ll also need to use the phone as a tethered or Bluetooth laptop modem… we shall see!)
Well I doubt you’ll be very pleased with it’s modem capabilities. Even if you are allowed to use it as a bluetooth modem, it only has EDGE. This is so much slower than the 3G networks most of us have become accustomed to with Sprint and Verizon (and now Cingular in many metro areas) as to make the iPhone almost useless. Especially for using it as a modem. Too bad, it could’ve been a nice product with all the work that’s obviously gone into it.
I’m on 3G now… For the right feature set, I might consider dropping down. Most of what I do online when using the phone as a modem is email and blogging – mostly text. I could get by… I did with the 8700g on TMo.
Look at what Steve was really showing off with this phone, though: Web browsing on a really nice high-res screen that allows you to see the web the way it’s supposed to be. Now try doing that at EDGE speeds. I’m quite sure he had a Wi-Fi connection during the keynote and most of the bloggers still made comment about how the slowness of the pages loading was the one thing that looked non-slick about the device. This is the kind of device that would be ideal for Slingplayer or Orb viewing. But not at those speeds. I just can’t understand it. Maybe if the iPhone is successful enough on Cingular, Steve will have enough leverage to get a fair deal with Verizon or Sprint. Maybe the iPhone 2 will be what we’re all waiting for.
Or maybe I’m just bummed because they didn’t announce a new iPod. The whole widescreen, touch panel, bluetooth audio thing would have been very nice additions to the video iPod. Instead, I’m now cruising info on iriver and sandisk (companies that seem interested in consumer demand). That’s the real shame of this. I think the consumers wanted an updated iPod, but instead Steve gave us what HE wanted: a new device that has larger market and revenue opportunities. So much for customer focus….
Looks like Apple MAY have to drop the “i”, Cisco is suibf them for trademark/patent infringement. Seems like Cisco bought a company who had an internet phone called iPhone.
Maybe Apple will call it Aphone…lol