The convergence device of the decade was released Friday to much fanfare, and more than enough hype. The iPhone is a combination of iPod, a hand-held Web browser, a video player and a navigation aid that still manages to make phone calls, too.
Available in four- and eight-gigabyte models retailing for $499 and $599, respectively, iPhone has produced a media storm of biblical proportions – and even more profit for Cupertino, Calif., based Apple, Inc.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced earlier this year that the most anticipated consumer device of the century would be released in "late June," in a keynote. The audience – comprised of bloggers and news writers – was whipped into a frenzy by the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field, starting a ruckus about the so-called JesusPhone early in the year.
While the phone does tout some amazing features – a touchscreen that recognizes more than one finger at once, for example – it fails to meet even some of the lower-end standards expected in a modern phone; to wit, no downloadable ringtones.
The phone’s Bluetooth capabilities are crippled, restricted to only headset duty, removing this as a contender to the business-standard BlackBerry, though it does support push e-mail (which does not require the user to check e-mails manually).
Operating solely on the AT’T network, iPhone also includes wi-fi capabilities to supplement its EDGE wireless data package. EDGE, a last-gen data system, is speedy enough for email and other text, but today’s rich Web experience is sluggish in the included Safari browser. EDGE does provide quick turn-by-turn navigation through Google Maps, though there is no GPS receiver.
The onscreen keyboard – feared by many to be the biggest drawback of the device – has fared well in reviews so far, even working with greasy fingers. The multi-touch screen also allows users to "pinch" an image to shrink it, pull both edges to enlarge it and do other manipulation magic with more than the usual number of digits.
The hype is well deserved, but still overbearing and obnoxious. Wonderful though the phone may be, it certainly isn’t the phone to end all phones.
Conant, an entrepreneurship freshman, can be reached via [email protected]
