The obligatory iPhone blog entry
Let me start by saying that I’m not a big fan of Apple. Through the years I have always felt that they extracted a few too many dollars from their customers and left them with a few too few options. I’m glad Apple released the iPhone because it will stir up the mobile market a little and inject a few new ideas into the mix. The truth is that the iPhone is very much a 1.0 release - missing several important features and designed to be more of an improved iPod than a good phone.
1) As a music player it falls short of being usable; 8GB of memory is not enough to store even a fraction of most people’s music collections.
2) As a phone, using a touchscreen is a mistake. A phone shouldn’t require 2 hands to operate nor require your eyes to be focused on it to make a simple call. Get ready for iPhone-related car accidents.
3) Choosing AT&T was a big mistake if you’re touting your device as a great wireless web browser. EDGE network speeds can be OK, but they’re never great.
4) Most of today’s expensive smartphones come with a much more reasonable price tag when you’re roped into a high priced data plan for a minimum of 2 years. For the rate plans that the iPhone offers, it should be free with the 2-year contract.
5) Apple fanboys will drink the kool-aid as always and flaunt their wondertoy.
Even though HTC won’t admit they released the “Touch” as a response to the iPhone, I think we can see through the smoke. The Touch is a nice little Pocket PC, but it has the same issues as the iPhone; in other words, I would never carry one around as my main phone.
For me, the HTC S710 (Vox) is the epitome of SmartPhone design. It’s small, light, tough (no touchscreen) and has a convenient slide out keyboard. This is the phone I’ve been waiting for since Microsoft released the “SmartPhone” platform.
Let the flaming begin…
