« Linking OpenID and CardSpace: SignOn.com | Main | Bandit's Cross Platform Selector »
iPhone Matches Hype
David Pogue, the technology reviewer for the NY Times, has released his review of the iPhone. The conclusion:
[E]ven in version 1.0, the iPhone is still the most sophisticated, outlook-changing piece of electronics to come along in years. It does so many things so well, and so pleasurably, that you tend to forgive its foibles.
In other words, maybe all the iPhone hype isn’t hype at all. As the ball player Dizzy Dean once said, “It ain’t bragging if you done it.”From The iPhone Matches Most of Its Hype - New York Times
Referenced Tue Jun 26 2007 17:45:18 GMT-0600 (MDT)
Predictably, Pogue pans both the AT&T voice network strength (citing Consumer Reports) and the EDGE network. The download times he gives are scary:
Then there’s the Internet problem. When you’re in a Wi-Fi hot spot, going online is fast and satisfying.
But otherwise, you have to use AT&T’s ancient EDGE cellular network, which is excruciatingly slow. The New York Times’s home page takes 55 seconds to appear; Amazon.com, 100 seconds; Yahoo, two minutes. You almost ache for a dial-up modem.From The iPhone Matches Most of Its Hype - New York Times
Referenced Tue Jun 26 2007 17:48:20 GMT-0600 (MDT)
Ugh! Waiting nearly two minutes for Amazon to appear??? The iPhone software can be upgraded, but I doubt that the phone can move from the EDGE network for 3G (when that’s available) without a hardware upgrade. So, you may be shelling out $600 now only to turn around and upgrade the hardware later on when the newer network is available. That’s sure to turn some people off.
Some other reviews:
- Ed Baig, USA Today: Not perfect, but worthy of the hype
- Walt Mossberg and Katherine Boehret, Wall Street Journal: On balance, beautiful and breakthrough
Mostly notably from the Mossberg review was that he was able to conquer the keyboard:
The iPhone’s most controversial feature, the omission of a physical keyboard in favor of a virtual keyboard on the screen, turned out in our tests to be a nonissue, despite our deep initial skepticism. After five days of use, Walt — who did most of the testing for this review — was able to type on it as quickly and accurately as he could on the Palm Treo he has used for years. This was partly because of smart software that corrects typing errors on the fly.From The Mossberg Solution - WSJ.com
Referenced Tue Jun 26 2007 17:54:24 GMT-0600 (MDT)
That’s good news. People have been worried about that.
Posted by windley on June 26, 2007 5:55 PM
Comment from Gregor J. Rothfuss at June 26, 2007 8:00 PM
I predict a rise in WIFI hotspots. The iPhone usefully highlights how obsolete carrier tech really is.
If we are lucky, maybe even a decline in the usual wifi security scare stories, and tips how to mooch off of all these newly open hotspots?
Comment from Jesse Harris at June 26, 2007 10:54 PM
This highlights why we need a CarterPhone rule for cellular networks. This whole "lacking interoperability" thing is for the birds.
Comment from Lee Jensen at June 27, 2007 12:40 PM
FYI, Cingular/AT&T do have 3G networks deployed. Just check their service map, they have an option to show you their 3G coverage. In addition, their 3G is apparently superior to other carriers using EVDO. They use HSPDA which has a theoretical limit of about 3.6Mb/s cingular has supposedly limited this to roughly 1.8Mb/s and users are reported to get around 1Mb/s in practical use. In addition I believe HSPDA can run voice and data simultaneously whereas EVDO must stall your network connection while you take a call.
It seems as if apple elected not to include HSPDA in the iPhone because of battery life issues. The current generation of chips to run HSPDA supposedly suck battery pretty hard. It sounded as if newer chips which consume far less power are due to be available by the end of the year. I wonder how often apple will be updating the iPhone.
More info: http://tinyurl.com/3x2ecb
Comment from Tom at June 29, 2007 6:46 PM
regarding EVDO, stalling voice... aren't all of these carriers moving toward VoIP, ala IMS, anyway. Voice is just another data app... This is soon not going to matter, but, current gen handsets have to rotate out of circ. ergo, overlay networks while both kinds of phones are out there.
Comment from Jonathan at September 6, 2007 4:48 PM
Phil,
How do you feel now that the iPhone is selling for a few hundred dollars less?
Leave a comment
I encourage you to leave a comment below. Your email address will not be displayed on Technometria, but allows me to communicate with you directly. Your email address won't be displayed, but will be used to compute a MicroID for your comment.