Citrus Skies

Apple iPhone Launched

10 January 2007

Sometimes when a product is the subject of months of speculation and rumour, the official launch can be somewhat of an anti-climax. Not so Apple’s much anticipated iPhone. Whether its my email inbox, frequented tech and design blogs or even hockey forums, the freshly launched gadget is the hot topic of the day.

As an iPod, Mac and SmartPhone user, I’m obviously interested in a device that combines all three (the iPhone will run Apple’s Mac OSX operating system) in such a neat package. My existing SmartPhone, a T-Mobile MDA Vario already has many of the features touted in the iPhone and even possesses a full, slide-out qwerty keyboard. However, the Windows Mobile software it runs dulls in comparison to the iPhone interface demonstrated in Steve Job’s keynote presentation.

The (Perceived) Downsides

No 3G

The lack of 3G in the iPhone rules out streaming TV and other services that require high speed wireless connections. I don’t have 3G service currently, so I don’t see it as that big of a deal. For others it might be a different story.

No Stylus

Designer Jon Hicks has given us his view of how that lovely iPhone screen will look after just a few minutes of using your fingers to navigate through its interface.

Again, its not a big deal for me. I broke the stylus for my Vario and have never bothered to dig out the spare one supplied. Fingers work just fine (plus they’re harder to lose).

Anyway, the worst thing isn’t finger smudges, its the marks left from your ear after you’ve been on the phone for 30 minutes.

Lower Memory Capacity

The two iPhone models announced have 4Gb and 8Gb of storage capacity – far below that of the current iPod models (30Gb and 80Gb). So don’t plan on putting your entire music collection on there. However, if there’s one thing that we’ve learnt from the success of the iPod Mini, Nano and Shuffle models, its that size isn’t everything folks are happy just to have the music the listen to every day on their music players.

Price

At $500 for the 8Gb model and $400 for the 4Gb model, the iPhone certainly isn’t cheap. In the UK, large discounts on phones are normally given by mobile operators when you sign up for a contract deal. For example, my Vario was free on T-Mobile’s “Web’n’Walk” package. We can only hope the iPhone follows suit.

Worth the wait?

The iPhone isn’t due to hit UK stores until the final quarter of 2007, but when it does, I know I’ll certainly be checking what offers are available for it.

Closing Thoughts

My Google toolbar’s spell check doesn’t recognise “iPhone”. I wonder how long that’ll last.

Article Tags: device, gadget, iphone, ipod, mac, osx, smartphone, apple