ok I know, I can’t seem to leave this one alone today… more on the iPhone. It amazes me seeing all the press coverage and comments from people stating “its like a PC in a phone” … come on man, where have you been for the last 3 years or more? Ever hear of the Nokia Communicator series from years back? How about the Blackberry, Treo, N-Series, E-series, and Sony Ericsson UIQ devices… all of these have amazing functionality, much like what’ you’d get out of your PC. Cameras, video, applications, a slick development environment and supporting SDKs, quad-band functionality yadyada… I have to wonder if people really know what they are getting into when they lay down $600 for an iPhone? Indeed I say $600 because if your going to get one and you opt for the “cheap” $500 unit you’ll only be getting a 4GB capacity device that’s NOT EXPANDABLE… so $100 for another 4 GB is a no-brainer… particularly if you’re getting an iPhone for music and video capabilities (why else would you be getting one??) Some other limitations potential iPhone users should consider include:
– network speed… planning on watching YouTube vids? Consider how you are planning on connecting to the service. How is the AT&T coverage in your area… is it spotty??? Plan on taking advantage of the built-in Wi-Fi to enjoy this feature otherwise you’ll likely be disappointed.
– Gaming – want to play games on the device? After all gaming has always been one of the HOT apps/services for mobile users. Forget it… have you heard about any games that support the device… likely not. Too bad, especially since it sports a 320×480 screen that would be sooo sweet for playing games!
– Business use? Is synching with your corporate email available? Likely not… you’ll need apps from DataViz, QuickOffice and others to enjoy true enterprise communication with your device.
– photos – indeed iPhone sports a camera, however, at 2 megapixels it hardly brings any WOW factor to the table. Integration with Flickr, photobucket, blogger, picass, and shozu would be expected in my mind if it were truly meant to be a cameraphone for the masses (ironically Google just this week announced an extension of Picass to the mobile environment).
– the traveller – given that users are restricted to the AT&T network forget about that… unless you don’t mind $500 phone bills. A true mobile traveller will use a plan from a European carrier if he were in the UK etc… swap your SIM card and forget about the roaming charges. Also, don’t hold your breath for Skype, Fring and the likes for the iPhone… no doubt you’ll have a long wait.
– durability – a glass screen? Sure it looks sweet but I’d hate to be around when you drop it for the first time?
– ArcPad – ok, maybe I’m dreaming but wouldn’t it be nice to fire up your ArcPad session on the iPhone??
Any thoughts?