The Apple iPhone: All that or just a bag of computer chips?
What I am about to reveal will be considered blasphemy in some circles. I’ve seen the iPhone and I’m not all that impressed.
It’s a sentence I never expected to write. When Apple was first rumoured to be developing a mobile phone, I clapped with glee. This was years ago, mind you, so cramming high-quality music into a phone was akin to slipping a television into your wallet - it wasn’t possible. But now everyone and his toddler has a phone that will play songs. Nokia has a phone that will store 8Gb of music. Sony’s putting out Walkman phones.
The iPod phone also had the potential to look like an iPod. iPods are pretty. I envisioned an iPod with numbers around a scroll wheel and discreet speakers. Instead we got a chunky black PDA. Some people will like it, sure, but does it come in white? Won’t it clash with white earbuds?
In case you’re yet to catch up, the iPhone is a mobile phone with a 3.5-inch widescreen that is touch-sensitive. You press icons instead of buttons. Naturally, it plays music and video, it makes phone calls, sends SMS messages, takes 2-megapixel photos, and has something called Visual Voicemail which, should your carrier allow it, will let you select which voice messages you want to hear. It also connects to the internet and has a web browser, email program, Google Maps and widgets, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
My phone does most of this already. It plays music, videos, sends messages and email, has Bluetooth, and surfs the web. So what’s the big deal? What else you got, Apple?
Plus, consider this: the iPhone is using 2.5G technology. Top-of-the-line mobile phones are already using 3G or Telstra’s Next G network which offer far faster downloads and a lot more content. Also, contrary to what you’d expect, the iPhone doesn’t download music over the air from iTunes. Odd.
Also, other phones have better cameras. Sony Ericsson is up to 3.2 megapixels. Sharp had one of those a while ago. Why settle for just 2, Apple?
Then there’s the iPhone’s battery - it’s locked into the phone like iPods of old, so when it breaks you can’t replace it yourself. And this phone will only operate for five hours if you spend them surfing the web, talking or sending email. Hand me my charger!
Then there’s timing. Australia won’t see a working iPhone for at least a year. Do you know how old this technology will be by then? Plus, Apple is likely to want to offer this phone through one carrier only, if America is anything to go by, and some of its services are carrier specific. This will make is much harder to use grey-market imports, so don’t even try buying one from eBay.
And have you ever seen a tidy touchscreen? Be prepared to see lots of iPhone fingerprint montages.
This is not to say the iPhone is a repulsive piece of technology. Far from it. It is pretty and it will do plenty. But is it the one mobile phone to rule them all? I’d rule it out.
What I am about to reveal will be considered blasphemy in some circles. I’ve seen the iPhone and I’m not all that impressed.
It’s a sentence I never expected to write. When Apple was first rumoured to be developing a mobile phone, I clapped with glee. This was years ago, mind you, so cramming high-quality music into a phone was akin to slipping a television into your wallet - it wasn’t possible. But now everyone and his toddler has a phone that will play songs. Nokia has a phone that will store 8Gb of music. Sony’s putting out Walkman phones.
The iPod phone also had the potential to look like an iPod. iPods are pretty. I envisioned an iPod with numbers around a scroll wheel and discreet speakers. Instead we got a chunky black PDA. Some people will like it, sure, but does it come in white? Won’t it clash with white earbuds?
In case you’re yet to catch up, the iPhone is a mobile phone with a 3.5-inch widescreen that is touch-sensitive. You press icons instead of buttons. Naturally, it plays music and video, it makes phone calls, sends SMS messages, takes 2-megapixel photos, and has something called Visual Voicemail which, should your carrier allow it, will let you select which voice messages you want to hear. It also connects to the internet and has a web browser, email program, Google Maps and widgets, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
My phone does most of this already. It plays music, videos, sends messages and email, has Bluetooth, and surfs the web. So what’s the big deal? What else you got, Apple?
Plus, consider this: the iPhone is using 2.5G technology. Top-of-the-line mobile phones are already using 3G or Telstra’s Next G network which offer far faster downloads and a lot more content. Also, contrary to what you’d expect, the iPhone doesn’t download music over the air from iTunes. Odd.
Also, other phones have better cameras. Sony Ericsson is up to 3.2 megapixels. Sharp had one of those a while ago. Why settle for just 2, Apple?
Then there’s the iPhone’s battery - it’s locked into the phone like iPods of old, so when it breaks you can’t replace it yourself. And this phone will only operate for five hours if you spend them surfing the web, talking or sending email. Hand me my charger!
Then there’s timing. Australia won’t see a working iPhone for at least a year. Do you know how old this technology will be by then? Plus, Apple is likely to want to offer this phone through one carrier only, if America is anything to go by, and some of its services are carrier specific. This will make is much harder to use grey-market imports, so don’t even try buying one from eBay.
And have you ever seen a tidy touchscreen? Be prepared to see lots of iPhone fingerprint montages.
This is not to say the iPhone is a repulsive piece of technology. Far from it. It is pretty and it will do plenty. But is it the one mobile phone to rule them all? I’d rule it out.
