Apple's iPhone: The Future is Here
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 2, 2007 6:13 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
I waited in line, I bought two, I didn't even get a chance to play with mine because I was already taking the other one apart by the time I got home. In the middle of taking one apart, I activated mine and used it enough to get frustrated with the keyboard. I then spent the next three days using it, running down its battery and writing about it.
For the past two weeks I haven't had a normal cell phone experience; I've been testing the Samsung Blackjack or the Blackberry Curve, both great phones but reviewing is very different than using. Half the time when I'd go out I'd have a stopwatch around my neck, waiting for my phone's battery to die. For the really long tests, I wouldn't even have a phone on me, it'd be back at my desk looping through webpages trying to simulate real world usage.
You're sick of hearing about the iPhone? I'm sick of working on the iPhone, I just want to use it already.
My frustrations aren't out of hatred for the product, that couldn't be further from the truth. For the first time in over 10 years of writing for AnandTech, I didn't want to be in this industry. I wanted to be writing about cars or flowers or kittens and cheezburgers; I wanted to be in some completely unrelated industry so that the iPhone could launch and I could spend the weekend enjoying it, not trying to break it, test it and find its flaws as quickly as possible.
But it seems all I needed was perspective; during my review process my cousin called me, I didn't answer because my phone was in the middle of a battery life test. I called him back and explained the situation, after getting hassled for not answering my cell phone for the past few days. He then told me that I must have it rough, having to sit at my desk and play with cell phones all day.
I don't know why reviewing the iPhone was any different for me, I've been just as excited about other products in the past. Part of it may be that Apple kept all of us in suspense, the majority of press included. Review samples were rarer than Barcelona and the product itself had the potential to really shake an industry.
Then there was the issue of having to wait in line for what was ultimately a telephone, there are few things that I've voluntarily done that have made me feel like that.
But the end result is quite good. The iPhone isn't perfect, I can tell you that now (for more reasons than only supporting Edge), but it's a huge step in the right direction. At the same time it's a great product today and while not for everyone, its impact on the industry will be tremendous.
In the coming pages we'll walk through the iPhone, looking at what it does right and what it does wrong. We'll figure out what it needs, and maybe what we could expect in the near term from Apple. We'll look at its competitors; the argument that the iPhone does nothing new is valid, but is that ultimately what matters? And we'll look ahead to the long term significance of the iPhone and where Apple wants to take it.
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jay401 - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Now that's practically an unpardonable sin, given that it's such a basic request and something absent from most phones because most providers think people are dumb enough to pay money to download a ringtone (like hell would I ever do that nonsense).
So why not just let people use their mp3s? I already do that on my cellphone but since I can't do it directly I do it in a round-about way by sending myself the mp3 clips as attachments to messages sent to my phone, which I can then download and assign as a ringtone.
Why not just make it straightforward and easy? You'd think this is one thing Apple could do right. :(
jay401 - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
from page 11:If I could read any of the incredibly tiny text in that picture, maybe I would be able to. ;P
Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Seriously, the PDF looked shockingly good. Once you stretch to zoom in so you can actually read the slides, it's amazing. Yes, I realized being excited about how good a PDF looks on a phone is silly, but I figure after waiting in line for five hours for said phone, I've got nothing more to lose :)Take care,
Anand
Griswold - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
You can't make videos on the phone, you can't copy/paste, there's no IM client, you can't replace the battery on your own, you can't add applications to it, there's no Flash/Java support, it's heavy and the list goes on. But here's the catch: there isn't a phone out today (smart or not) that doesn't have at least as long of a list of issues.But for a price tag like this, I expect a shorter list. And unfortunately, many of the things on this list are important to me.
Still, after being so skeptic about the iphone, I'd still like to have one (yea, it does have this star trek datapad feeling!!) but due to the flaws and shortcomings, i'll just wait for the next incarnation that will most likely hit the street within a year.
I dont believe in early adopting gear from a company with zero experience on this particular field, and while apple did most of their homework, my motto (rightfully) stands.
The next iphone will most likely be much better suited for me.
mongo lloyd - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Comic Sans? Really?plinden - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
No - http://www.searchfreefonts.com/fonts/m9.htm">Marker Felt Thinmongo lloyd - Wednesday, July 4, 2007 - link
Oh ok. Equally terrible font, I'd say. Is that a standard-use font for Apple? Yikes to that.Sunrise089 - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Lots of personality, info that wasn't just a run down of specs, and best of all telepathy.I was actually thinking while I read this "I wonder if I'd be able to watch TopGear clips on this, since often they get pulled from Youtube. I scroll down the page, and see Clarkson staring back at me. Amazing.
One more thing, about the homeless guy's choice between the Enzo and the Veyron - between ugly and boring, I don't know which I'd pick either. After all these years, McLaren F1 FTW!
Yongsta - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Nice Review, the iphone sounds great but $600 is out of my budget. Hopefully Apple in the future releases new types of iphone's at affordable prices. Maybe Samsung/Nokia/Motorola will try to make a copycat phone but they probably cant match Apple's UI.Locutus465 - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
I do love the looks of the iPhone... However if everything I hear about it is true then it would not interest me. Complete lack of 3rd party software support? If this is true then yikes! I've got my Windows Mobile phone running with quite a bit of 3rd party software and for me that's a huge must... Like my Trillian like all in one chat client, Pocket Putty, CISCO VPN client and of course, pocket mahjoong (spelling?).Also, I've heard for a closed system they missed the boat on what would be some truely killer features (which could be solved via allowing 3rd party software). For instance it has (google?) maps, yet from what I hear no GPS integration? Why not? At least in windows mobile you have options (though yes, it's not built into that platform either).
It would however, be nice to see more cell companies consentrate on end user experience... It's appriciated that is for sure.