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January 9, 2007
iphone envy
Well, the geekerati are all in a ecstatic lather today over Steve Jobs and Apple Inc's newly-announced hardware lust-magnet- the iPhone. And I'm no exception- it's definitely a hot looking device. Wifi and bluetooth 2, integrated phone/media player/email/web browser/etc, a new, heavily patented, groundbreaking touchscreen interface, 16:9 display with an accellerometer to detect whether it's being held straight up or on it's side and adjust the display accordingly, the list of hotness is really too long for me to summarize here with my moderately - short attention span. Needless to say, it exceeded most people's expectations of what an Apple phone could and would be.
Some of the immediate detractors are punting it for it's price and limited capacity ($499 for a 4-gig model, $599 for the 8-gig model), and also that it doesn't support 3G networks. Personally, those aren't deal-breakers for me- I'd rather have a phone solid in my local markets with tight wifi support and integration with my MacBook Pro. Most 'smartphones' today are very PC-centric, or somewhat hackish in nature with their Mac support- but obviously that's not an issue with the iPhone. Sporting OS X as it's operating system (not sure anyone saw THAT coming), it should not only integrate seamlessly with OS X-based systems, but allow for easy migration of apps from desktop to handset.
I'll punt it more for it's carrier lock-in (to be fair and weigh the good with the bad)- it's exclusively a Cingular device, and new purchasers need a 2-year contract to sign up. Ouch. I'm a bit squeamish about long service contracts (and am currently on T-Mobile), and really really had hoped that this would be an 'unlocked' device (i.e. available on any network by just swapping your SIM card in). Dammit. I don't mind switching networks nearly as much as the 2-year commitment. Aside from the 'til death do us part' commitment I 'did' to at my wedding, I'm not bullish on commitment in general, especially when I'm doling out cash for said commitment.
The final mild bummer- although it was announced today, it won't ship until June. Not a deal-breaker for me either, although I can say with earnest that I really had hoped to pick one up shortly so I could get comfy with it before I start my heavy work travel beginning of February - I can only imagine how sweet it would be to liveblog the panels at South by Southwest this year... :D
Posted by Scott at January 9, 2007 3:50 PM