Apple - iPhone (8 GB) Cell Phone Review

I'm torn on this one. I bought it, and 36 hours into it, I'm not sure its going to survive the 14 day return period. In some respects, its the best at its game. Its the first wide screen iPod, which makes a ton of sense for HD TV and movies. Its the first phone with a true browser. The details in the integration of the elements were obviously thought out very well. The Apple-designed widgets/applications are beautiful and well thought out as well. The phone's greatest feature may be that its the first cell phone I've used that doesn't feel like I'm trapped in a horrible Motorola or Symbian user interface. The UI looks, feels, and acts like OS X. Using it is a breeze, and everything is pretty much where you would guess it would be. Its easy to see that its a passable phone and enough of a "real" computer that in close quarters (like a commuter train) where a laptop isn't always feasible, this could be a valuable tool.

Update: forgot to mention that it also doesn't support Flash and might never support it. For those of you wondering why they needed to build a custom YouTube app, its because they don't otherwise support flash content and they cleverly detect if you are on the EDGE network and degrade quality instead of making your eyes bleed waiting for the content. There is a chance that the ommission of Flash is not going to change and is an attack of sorts on Adobe's "rich internet application" platforms of today and tomorrow.

All that being said, for this kind of cash, I expect to be delighted at every turn, and I'm not. No RSS reader, no games, no IM clients, and a slow network (the EDGE network is painfully slow) that is not going to be fixed until there is a hardware rev that makes this a very expensive door stop. There is no file storage like an iPod and no mp3 ring tones (incredibly stupid). However, most of these are software problems that can and hopefully will be fixed through updates in the coming weeks and months. Fix all of that and this will prove itself to be a game changing device. If those don't get fixed, it will be a long row to hoe.

One of the built-in app deserves special attention: the Maps interface. Its a testament to Apple that using the same Google Maps API as the rest of the world they have created an application that is so much more useful than any other. Bookmarking locations, easy switching between maps and satellite pictures, the addition of traffic congestion data, and the integration of turn-by-turn directions make this tool by itself almost worth the price of admission.

Of course, like every other cell phone in the US, you don't really own it. To an extent it and AT&T own you. Even though you get no discernible benefit from it, you have to sign up with AT&T for two years. I'm sure unlocked phone will be available soon, but until then, remember you're paying $500 or $600 for a phone the AT&T thinks they own. And some of the software issues (instant messaging specifically) might be delayed in getting fixed do to business and not technical issues, so there is some risk.

It could go either way, but I'm basing my rating on the software problems getting fixed and the intuitiveness of the UI. However, if you waited for the 3G version, no one would blame you.