Apple iPhone (8 GB) Smartphone

1 - Disclaimer
Before I begin this review, I should offer a disclaimer: I love Apple products. Generally, when good old Steve walks out on stage to give a Keynote presentation about the newest gadget, my hand starts reaching for my wallet. As a result, I have what some might consider to be a museum-worthy collection of apple gizmos (going back to the IIe). I am not trying to brag -and who would care anyway, last I checked, nobody is giving out golden pocket protector awards for the geekiest reviewer on Epinions.com- I just want everyone to know how much I love Apple before I rip their phone apart. (Sorry Steve).

2 - The Big Five
As you are no doubt aware, there were 5 major issues that were surfing ahead of the iPhone on the wave of its release: EDGE, no keyboard, no choice other than AT&T, no Flash support and no ability to change the battery. Let me dispense with these first so we can get to the more insightful parts.

2.1 - EDGE
After having tested the iPhone over the EDGE network, I can say this to the people who have been complaining that EDGE is slower than dial-up. That may be true, but the web runs just fine. Having said that, I should qualify my statement. It runs just fine for websites that have been modified for viewing on cell phones. You can check your email (as long as it's supported by the iPhone - but that's another issue) and view attachments with relative ease and speed. Where the iPhone starts to slide is on websites being displayed in their full and unaltered format. For any other phone, this would be a given and there would be no reason to complain, but this is no small distinction for the iPhone which has been billed as a device which can give you the "real" internet. Bottom line... you get the real internet, it just takes a while. Oh, and Safari has already crashed (within 5 minutes of use)

2.1.0 - A Quick Detour
This might be a good time to discuss a topic that has not yet been brought up in any reviews I have seen so far: when you are browsing the internet, you can only have 8 windows open at a time. Now, I know you might be thinking that's a lot of windows, but consider this: they don't close themselves. That means you periodically have to sort through all the windows (which appear in a neat coverflow-type layout) and, using all your manual dexterity, hit the miniscule "x" button to close the ones you no longer need. Oh, and if you are on the EDGE network, you will also have to use your memory to recall what was on each page because you may run out of batteries before all the thumbnail versions of the sites load.

2.2 - The "Keyboard"
...sucks. I don't know what the heck Mossberg was talking about, because the iphone "keyboard" is nearly impossible to operate! Now, I have small hands and small fingers and I still can not get a reliable series of keystrokes. Apple has tried to compensate by using a sort of predictive text that anticipates the next letter you are going to hit and increases the area around it that will register an input. This works so-so for typing words and not at all for typing anything else (like URLs or passwords). Furthermore, all the little "x" buttons and other pop-up "pressables" are nearly impossible to hit. I'm working on about a 20% success rate so far. I will spare you further review because it has all been said. However, it is certainly worth knowing about the difficulty with pressing the pop-ups.

2.3 - AT&T or Bust
There is not much I can say here that has not already been said, but I will add my own experience to the pot anyway. If you live in the Denver/Boulder area of Colorado, call quality is dismal. Truly dismal. The first few times I put the iPhone to my ear to make a call, I actually heard white noise static and garbled speech. What speech I hear that wasn't garbled was muffled. Very muffled. It sounded like someone was speaking through a scarf underwater. Although I admit it was better with a bluetooth headset.

2.4 - Who's Seen the Flash?
Not anyone looking for it on the iPhone. I won't harp though because this is a software fix. They'll get around to it.

2.5 - Battery Brattery
Once again, Apple has decided to pull the battery ploy on us. Should we be insulted? Is Steve suggesting that We The People who were responsible enough to save up 5-600 bucks to splurge on a phone are not to be trusted with the simple task of changing a battery? Or is this a rotten Apple trick to extract even more money from us? Again, I'm not going to get into this. A)because everyone else has beaten the subject to death; and B) because it will be only a matter of time before the hack for changing batteries yourself and the accompanying replacement batteries are online.

3 - My 10 Original Insights (Criticisms)
In no particular order:
1) Screen - It smudges, a lot. In the sun, it is hard to see through the fingerprints.
2) Responsiveness - The phone is slow to respond, sometimes requiring double or even triple clicks to get an application to open
3) Using the multi-touch interface is strictly a two-handed job, this means total concentration and no multi-tasking
4) The magnifying glass feature (which magnifies text as you run your finger over it so that you can more easily place your cursor) is really neat but it still takes a lot of aim to place the cursor exactly where you want it
5) You can not delete numbers from your recently called list
6) Making a phone call requires at least 3 extra "keystrokes" than your old phone
7) There is no way to control, zoom or edit the pictures you take - seriously, this is a very limited camera
8) The screen turns off when you put the phone to your ear so as to prevent errant keystrokes, but there is a noticeable lag when it is time for the screen to return
9) The phone software eats up nearly .8Gb which leaves you with far less space for storage on a device that desperately needs it (I mean, come on, it's an iPod/camera/movie player)
10) iPhone feels very fragile. You will probably drop it and it will probably break, a lot.

Okay, one more:
11) The headset jack only accepts apples headset. That means, if you have a nice set of Shures, you won't be able to use the to listen to your music.


4 - Summary
This is a wonderfully innovative product that (if you will excuse the expression) is just not ready for prime time. The iPod functionality is great, but the internet and particularly the phone leave a lot to be desired. As a first attempt, however, this is not bad. Let's not forget that it took RIM a while to turn the Blackberry into the product it is today. My suggestion to you: wait for another generation or two to come out before purchasing.