News

iPhone is hella thin, and other thoughts

8:47 p.m. · January 10, 2007 · by Eric Solomon

• Will the iPhone be called the iPhone when it's released? A day after Cisco execs expressed faith in a compromise, they filed a lawsuit against Apple, because Cisco (Linksys, to be exact) has a VOIP phone already called the iPhone.


• The Edge data standard, in real world usage, runs about as fast as a modem, so all those fancy Web features will bog down without 3G data access. Also, I don't believe Edge allows for simultaneous voice and data, so if you're in the middle of browsing a big Web page, you might miss a phone call. Wi-fi is nice but not so convenient as everywhere-cell-coverage. Steve, in his keynote, says "we plan on making 3G phones ... in the future." I doubt the claims that this phone will be upgradable to other data standards.


• Is the smartphone a smart phone? The device runs some form of OS X, but word has it that installing new apps will not be permitted. The iPhone does a lot of nice things out of the box, but it misses a lot of flexibility without new apps.


• How good is the text completion? I watched a live demo of the phone, and the host was careful to not work the virtual keyboard much. He may have badmouthed hard keyboards, but I bet I can text message on my Blackjack a damn sight faster than tapping the iPhone's touchscreen.


• Why do companies include wi-fi and not include advanced syncing capabilities? Don't expect to download iTunes tracks directly to the device, and you won't be able to sync to your computer wirelessly either.


• No memory expansion? Perhaps they needed to leave out a memory slot to keep the profile down, but leaving out expansion in a music phone seems short-sighted.

• Stereo Bluetooth for streaming to headphones. It's about time Apple came with Bluetooth on a music player.


• Standard connectors. Music capable smartphones almost always require a special connector to hook up your headphones - the iPhone has a standard headphone jack. It also comes with the usual iPod connector, so it should work with all the existing docks out there.


• No stylus, a smudge proof screen. That has yet to be borne out with heavy use, but supposedly Apple has a screen that's resistant to smudges and fingerprints.


• Voicemail select. Okay, it's not music related but you can hit a menu and see a list of your voice mail rather than having to listen to your entire list. Slick and unique.