The Apple iPhone will be released on June 29th but few reviewers chosen by Apple had got the phone 2 weeks back and these lucky guys have published their reviews of the phone. In case you were in hibernation since January (when the iPhone was announced) on our old thread to have a look at the features
We read all the reviews and have put together this “master” list catching the advantages and disadvantages from every review. Almost unanimously, every reviewer said that it is a revolutionary product and lives up to the hype surrounding it.
Some of the good points of the iPhone:
The touchscreen keyboard works fine and is not a problem. It requires some time to adjust to but after that typing is a breeze.
It has a virtually scratchless body and the touchscreen is not a fingerprint magnet
The multi-tap interface works like a dream and all the features work as well as advertised. As David Pogue from the New York Times puts it – “the bigger achievement is the software. It’s fast, beautiful, menu-free, and dead simple to operate.”Steven Levy from Newsweek puts it this way – “What’s more, with the exception of learning to type on the iPhone, which requires some concentration, doing all those things on that five-ounce device was fun, in the same way that switching from an old command-line interface to the Macintosh graphical user interface in the mid-1980s was a kick”
It is definitely the best iPod ever made. Walt Mossberg from the Wall Street Journal about the iPod application - “..the interface is entirely new. The famed scroll wheel is gone, and instead finger taps and flicking move you through your collection and virtual controls appear on the screen. There’s also a version of the “cover flow” interface which allows you to select music by flipping through album covers”
Email supports attachments and you can read Word, Excel and PDF documents. However you cannot save or edit them
The phone syncs easily with MS Outlook and with iTunes allowing seamless transfer of music, video, photos, contacts, calendar items and browser bookmarks
The Safari web browser is almost computer like. According to Mossberg – “It displays entire Web pages, in their real layouts, and allows you to zoom in quickly by either tapping or pinching with your finger. Multiple pages can be open at the same time, and you can conduct Google or Yahoo searches from a built-in search box.”
Battery life is impressive and it can easily last a day or two with heavy usage of all the functions. It got 7 hours and 18 minutes of continuous talk time, with Wi-Fi on and email constantly being fetched in the background.
The software is upgradeable and Apple will issue free software updates every now and then
Now the disadvantages:
Bluetooth is not A2DP, so that means using those wireless Bluetooth headsets is not possible
Camera is 2MP without zoom and flash and doesn’t support video recording
No MMS and Instant Messaging Chat
No 3G (but you knew that before, didn’t you)
Contact list cannot be searched and can only be scrolled
No way to cut, copy or paste text
The browser doesn’t support Adobe flash and Java
You cannot use songs as ringtones. Only the preset ones can be used
The battery will lose charge in 300-400 charges and is not replaceable
On screen keyboard works well but you have to switch to a different keyboard view to insert a period or comma
But wait, before you call your cousin in the US, remember this: The iPhone is locked to the AT&T network and will not work on any other cellphone network. Now wait for someone who manages to find a way to unlock the phone and pay a hefty premium or be patient enough for an India release next year.
Read - David Pogue - The New York TimesRead - Walter S. Mossberg and Katherine Boehret - The Wall Street JournalRead - Edward C. Baig - USA TodayRead - Steven Levy - NewsweekOther Coverage: Engadget Mobile
Update: HCL and Wipro are talking to Apple to bring the iPhone to India. However nothing is confirmed and no date was mentioned. In my opinion it will be atleast some months before things start moving as Apple won’t give unlocked cellphones which could find the way to the US market in which it has an exclusive tie-up with AT&T.
We read all the reviews and have put together this “master” list catching the advantages and disadvantages from every review. Almost unanimously, every reviewer said that it is a revolutionary product and lives up to the hype surrounding it.
Some of the good points of the iPhone:
The touchscreen keyboard works fine and is not a problem. It requires some time to adjust to but after that typing is a breeze.
It has a virtually scratchless body and the touchscreen is not a fingerprint magnet
The multi-tap interface works like a dream and all the features work as well as advertised. As David Pogue from the New York Times puts it – “the bigger achievement is the software. It’s fast, beautiful, menu-free, and dead simple to operate.”Steven Levy from Newsweek puts it this way – “What’s more, with the exception of learning to type on the iPhone, which requires some concentration, doing all those things on that five-ounce device was fun, in the same way that switching from an old command-line interface to the Macintosh graphical user interface in the mid-1980s was a kick”
It is definitely the best iPod ever made. Walt Mossberg from the Wall Street Journal about the iPod application - “..the interface is entirely new. The famed scroll wheel is gone, and instead finger taps and flicking move you through your collection and virtual controls appear on the screen. There’s also a version of the “cover flow” interface which allows you to select music by flipping through album covers”
Email supports attachments and you can read Word, Excel and PDF documents. However you cannot save or edit them
The phone syncs easily with MS Outlook and with iTunes allowing seamless transfer of music, video, photos, contacts, calendar items and browser bookmarks
The Safari web browser is almost computer like. According to Mossberg – “It displays entire Web pages, in their real layouts, and allows you to zoom in quickly by either tapping or pinching with your finger. Multiple pages can be open at the same time, and you can conduct Google or Yahoo searches from a built-in search box.”
Battery life is impressive and it can easily last a day or two with heavy usage of all the functions. It got 7 hours and 18 minutes of continuous talk time, with Wi-Fi on and email constantly being fetched in the background.
The software is upgradeable and Apple will issue free software updates every now and then
Now the disadvantages:
Bluetooth is not A2DP, so that means using those wireless Bluetooth headsets is not possible
Camera is 2MP without zoom and flash and doesn’t support video recording
No MMS and Instant Messaging Chat
No 3G (but you knew that before, didn’t you)
Contact list cannot be searched and can only be scrolled
No way to cut, copy or paste text
The browser doesn’t support Adobe flash and Java
You cannot use songs as ringtones. Only the preset ones can be used
The battery will lose charge in 300-400 charges and is not replaceable
On screen keyboard works well but you have to switch to a different keyboard view to insert a period or comma
But wait, before you call your cousin in the US, remember this: The iPhone is locked to the AT&T network and will not work on any other cellphone network. Now wait for someone who manages to find a way to unlock the phone and pay a hefty premium or be patient enough for an India release next year.
Read - David Pogue - The New York TimesRead - Walter S. Mossberg and Katherine Boehret - The Wall Street JournalRead - Edward C. Baig - USA TodayRead - Steven Levy - NewsweekOther Coverage: Engadget Mobile
Update: HCL and Wipro are talking to Apple to bring the iPhone to India. However nothing is confirmed and no date was mentioned. In my opinion it will be atleast some months before things start moving as Apple won’t give unlocked cellphones which could find the way to the US market in which it has an exclusive tie-up with AT&T.
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