The moment of truth is here at last. Key tech pundits have their hands on iPhones and are telling we unwashed technoproles how they measure up.
Wall Street Journal's Walter Mossberg had quite the love-in with his phone:
We have been testing the iPhone for two weeks, in multiple usage scenarios, in cities across the country. Our verdict is that, despite some flaws and feature omissions, the iPhone is, on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer. Its software, especially, sets a new bar for the smart-phone industry, and its clever finger-touch interface, which dispenses with a stylus and most buttons, works well, though it sometimes adds steps to common functions.
By contrast, the NYT's David Pogue is pleased, but more reserved:
Wall Street Journal's Walter Mossberg had quite the love-in with his phone:
We have been testing the iPhone for two weeks, in multiple usage scenarios, in cities across the country. Our verdict is that, despite some flaws and feature omissions, the iPhone is, on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer. Its software, especially, sets a new bar for the smart-phone industry, and its clever finger-touch interface, which dispenses with a stylus and most buttons, works well, though it sometimes adds steps to common functions.
By contrast, the NYT's David Pogue is pleased, but more reserved:
So yes, the iPhone is amazing. But no, it’s not perfect.
There’s no memory-card slot, no chat program, no voice dialing. You can’t install new programs from anyone but Apple; other companies can create only iPhone-tailored mini-programs on the Web. The browser can’t handle Java or Flash, which deprives you of millions of Web videos.
The two-megapixel camera takes great photos, provided the subject is motionless and well lighted . But it can’t capture video. And you can’t send picture messages (called MMS) to other cellphones.
Apple says that the battery starts to lose capacity after 300 or 400 charges. Eventually, you’ll have to send the phone to Apple for battery replacement, much as you do now with an iPod, for a fee.
Then there’s the small matter of typing. Tapping the skinny little virtual keys on the screen is frustrating, especially at first.
There’s no memory-card slot, no chat program, no voice dialing. You can’t install new programs from anyone but Apple; other companies can create only iPhone-tailored mini-programs on the Web. The browser can’t handle Java or Flash, which deprives you of millions of Web videos.
The two-megapixel camera takes great photos, provided the subject is motionless and well lighted . But it can’t capture video. And you can’t send picture messages (called MMS) to other cellphones.
Apple says that the battery starts to lose capacity after 300 or 400 charges. Eventually, you’ll have to send the phone to Apple for battery replacement, much as you do now with an iPod, for a fee.
Then there’s the small matter of typing. Tapping the skinny little virtual keys on the screen is frustrating, especially at first.
All in all, for a first-generation device, it sounds like it's off to a good start.
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1 comment:
I am certain that for some folks the iPhone will be a watershed connectivity product and ultimately it probably will move us further down the road towards the sort of ubiquitous "Mother Box" kind of personal computer that science fiction has promised us for decades.
But for now, and for lots of us, using an iPhone for our personal communications and connectivity needs would be like using a sold gold sledgehammer to drive thumbtacks. I'm getting a new cell phone this coming month and it won't be an iPhone, or have "Bluetooth", or play MPEGs, or video (OK, it'll have a camera *sigh*). My dream is that it will be a phone that will work where I am! *Curses upon the X-Files for raising the bar of our cell phone use expectations with those scenes of unbelievable phone service - especially that time Mulder answered his phone inside a shipping container, buried in the desert! I'd just like to be able to drive around Flatland between major cities on major roadways and get uninterrupted service! Forget being able to watch Youtube on the go!.
Anyway, in the meantime - all ranting aside - I'll dream of the delicious irony of the entire staff at Microsoft using iPhones to "enhance" their personal lives and professional productivity.
What's that quote? Oh yeah....
"Nothing succeeds like success."
Shalom
*Searching for the signal that will not fade.*
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