One of the very hot topics today is the iPhone that was announced by Apple yesterday. Most people (who have been following Apple and the rumors) expected them to announce it yesterday, but I doubt they expected exactly what was announced.
Widescreen iPod, internet, OS X and a phone… all in one device. They claim they are reinventing the mobile phone, looking at the Apple site for the iPhone and watching the keynote presentation you can surely get that feeling to. But such new invention comes at a price and I’m here talking $. With a price of $599 for the 8 GB version in connection with a subscription contract of 2 years with Cingular; I don’t even want think about what the price will be here in Europe. I also doubt it will be possible to get an iPhone without a contract with a carrier/operator network. Some of the features that they are introducing will require close work with operators, so maybe there will never be an unlocked version…
Some people have been confused/skeptic about a few things; let me give you my view on a few things:
Not been able to extend the storage: I don’t see this as a problem, it already got 4 GB or 8 GB as default. Of course it would be nice to be able to take the pictures directly from the SD card from the digital camera. But I can surely live without it.
No 3G: This is a bit strange I have to admit, but at the same I got to admit that I don’t know how widespread 3G is in the US. Steve Jobs did mention with a quick remark that 3G as something for the future. This might change when the iPhone gets released in Europe and Asia. We can only hope so. Using GSM/EDGE/GPRS for browsing the internet just removes the fun.
No removable battery: Not something that will worry me, why do I want to swap the battery. Never did that before with the other phones I had. Just hope they don’t want the SIM below the battery as a lot of phones already have.
No sync over OTA or WiFi: Again something I never used but I understand people’s reaction to this. But let’s wait and see things might change; it is after all just software… Oh, and you have to recharge the iPhone anyway, so why not do that while syncing with the PC/Mac.
High price: My first reaction was ‘wow, that’s an expensive phone’ and it is if I compare it with my latest SonyEricsson K800i which cost me around 320 USD (2 year contract). But if I compare to the PocketPC I bought long ago (iPaq) plus the price of a normal phone; then it does not feel that crazy after all.
One thing that I would worry about if I had an iPhone would be dropping it. It does happen from time to time that I drop a phone, such as the other day where my K800i decided to launch itself from my pocket. It just got a small scratch on the corner, nothing I care about… but would an iPhone have survived? Would the screen still be intact?
Another thing, my kids like to borrow the phones to take pictures, was okay with the Nokia 6630 but I’m not that willingly to let them use the K800i and if I had an iPhone… NO WAY. I can imagine ice cream finger prints on the screen… or with a few unlucky presses on the touch screen and they might be calling the US in the background while surfing the net, all costing money. They would probably also end up removing my contacts. Sure Apple build-in some nice error correction for using the touch screen, but I’m sure it lacks “child protection”
Anyway, the final word from me is: I want the iPhone; I know I have to wait until the end of this year… gives me some time to save up for it. I will (as many others also will) be looking forward to the US launch in June, so we can get some reviews of the iPhone.
