Damn you Rob Conery! I didn’t really care about the iPhone until I watched that video link! Now I must have one! Edge network be damned!
I guess it’s a good thing I’m too poor for fancy phones then.
Thanks for the advice…I’ll wait for the iPhone Nano!
The only advice I have is to remember that if you always wait for the improved model, you’ll never buy anything. There is always something better.
“Hey, I’ll wait until January when iPhone 2 comes out with 3G and stereo bluetooth.”
January arrives…
“Oh, now I’ll wait until next year for iPhone 3. It will have 2x battery life, TV remote functions, java support, and a video recording function with its new, 5 megapixel camera.”
And on, and on…
What was it that Guy Kawasaki infamously learned at Apple? “Don’t worry, be crappy”
Well atleast you can all afford to use data on your phones, used mine in the first month for checking email on the very odd occasion as I didn’t have a home internet connection and got a whopping 200NZD data use bill.
Nosiree not for me.
Jeff,
For someone going from either no mobile internet access or some crazy mobile web equivalent, EDGE combined with a true browser will be like water to a thristy man. You have to put it into perspective, there is a large segment of the American population that still use dial-up! Besides, 3G is not ubiquitious (for attt I think around 130 cities).
The real win for the iphone is the combo of phone, ipod, and dead simple interface. No more trying to navigate with a phone pad, stylus, or joypad. Yes v2 will see better updates, most of which will be software (and likely ported to v1 assuming the OS is flash). Jobs will be loyal to those early adopters who buy today (and further boost his ego) and not leave them out in the cold like the early versions of Win CE.
We’ll see who ends up buying this thing; I think it could capture an audience that has computing skills similar to my mom. These are also the people you and I program for. My mom has a blackberry for work, but can’t figure out how to work it. She can’t even figure out how to work her cell phone! If the iphone can help these people become more productive (or at least more comfortable with tech), Jobs will be a true visionary and every UI developer will have to bow down to his greatness.
The other type of crowd buying the iphone will wear it on a large gold rope chain around their neck.
Folks, it will be successful.
While I agree with you in principle about a few of the iPhone shortcomings, I think for a lot of people for a while they’re going to be functionally irrelevant - ATT’s 3G network coverage is spotty at best, so if you don’t live in a urban megalopolis you’d never see 3G even if you had support for it; and the cell-phone-as-modem trick, while nice, is not something most consumers do - partially because last time I checked ATT charges a fortune for that sort of thing (although I’m not sure how it would figure into their iPhone rate plan anyway).
I for one will be waiting for 2.0 or even 3.0. I have the 3G and a 5G (video) iPod. the 3G was far better then the 1G or 2G.
Great article as always!.
“EDGE connection, it’s like downloading the internet through an overclocked dialup modem.”
In at least one way, it’s far worse than a dialup modem: latency. With 300-400ms packet round trips, EDGE is basically useless for SSH, Remote Desktop, or Remote X11 connections, despite the higher bandwidth when compared to dialup.
All true, Jeff-- IF you’re buying the iPhone to be a killer mobile internet device. For me, an iPhone would be my first PDA, let alone my first PDA/phone combo. Its ability to do calendar and contact synching with my PowerBook, as well as things like the voice mail interface and touch-driven UI, are the selling points. It may also become my fallback movie device on planes, depending on the quality. The fact that its internet access speeds may be slow just isn’t a deal-killer for me, and I suspect that will be true for a whole lotta people.
Plus, never underestimate the power of a phone that lets people take a really nice picture of their kids and instantly make it the desktop picture.
check this url to get a feel of what happens
http://developer.sonyericsson.com/thread.jspa?threadID=39963
The cost of the data plans over the course of a 2 year contract are ridiculous, one might even say rediculous. So having a smart phone/iPhone with a data plan is a great idea, if your employer is going to be footing the bill for the phone and the service. Last I checked, tethering was an extra fee as well.
I plan on buying a T-Mobile Dash in a month when my Verizon plan ends. (goodbye you customer hating bastards!) I’m looking at the Dash primarily for it’s built in WiFi and SD card slot. Running WM6 is a bonus. The Helio phones and plans are running a close second. I considered getting a Blackjack, but there was no “reach-around” or “kiss-afterward” included in the ATT data service plans.
I may have to get a data plan in a few months. But if you can’t find a free WiFi hotspot in Seattle you just aren’t trying. Since my primary use of mobile internet now is to find out when the $#@% bus is going to show up, I may need the data plan since I don’t think bus stops are hotspots.
So great post. Lack of 3G is the reason I am not getting it either. That said, your post says
"It’s saved me at least fifty bucks on WiFi access fees in the last two months alone-- and I could do it from anywhere I had cell coverage, not just in a small hotspot huddled around the altar of WiFi. "
Now come on. Sure save you 50 in the past couple of months, but if you have 3G on your blackjack you are at a minimum paying 20 a month for the service. Even if your company is paying, its not free.
As for those that think that EDGE will be fine, that may be true for when you try to get emails, but come talk to me after you have tried to watch a video or audio stream.
And as for WiFi being everywhere, maybe if you are in one of the 10 biggest cities in the US, but its not everywhere. To me 3G is the bomb. I personally get (regularly) ~450kbps up and 900kbps down. When in Dallas, I get even better than that. So that that you 3G haters! 
And to those that say that WiFi is faster than that, my response is, yeah to the router. But what if the hotspot is only connected to an ISDN line? What then?
Jeff:
Watch for these to be a problem too:
- The only way to get music…connect to PC
- The only way to get video…connect to PC
- Need more power…stay near an outlet (battery is sealed in)
- 4GB/8GB = iPod Nano
- Touch screen (talk to the UMPC guys about this for typing and then shrink it a bit more)
- Corporate email - no sync to Exchange or Blackberry
- What about IM?
- Support - Who you gonna call? Apple? ATT? Good luck.
Well, I just bought one. I am writing this post on it. Three words, it just works. No activesync errors, no reboots, no clunky windows. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a mac guy. I have used many phones, PDAs, and combos ( I was using a tmobile MDA until tonight). This is the best device I have ever used. Everything is so intuitive! Say what you will, this is a window mobile killer! Go to the store and try it out (they have plenty of demos). 10 minutes and you will be hooked. This does not have the feel of a version 1 device. (Btw, yes it took a few minutes to write this post on the phone. I can see it getting better over time.)
“Download QuickTime to view the video”.
WTF are you expecting on Apple’s site, RealVideo? Get a Mac, already.
you should try ms deepfish browser, I just put on my t-mobile dash smartphone and it gives you full mode browsing like iPhone, hopefully they improve on it
It’s always annoyed me that MS hasn’t improved mobile IE in ages.
Hopefully that will change with Safari on the iPhone. On the plus side, at least Opera makes a good browser for Windows mobile and Windows Mobile has Slingbox/Slingplayer support.
@Aaron G I feel your pain.
I’m Canadian too and I cling to GPRS just because I’m tied to my old $20 unlimited hiptop data plan. I’d never give up email, ssh and IM anywhere. But browsing the web is so… damn… painful.
I hope the iPhone makes a big splash just so there’s hope for an unlimited data plan in Canada again.
Nice story about Second City. Just imagine, if you had picked up a regular cell phone and dialed 411 instead of dicking around with the internet, you might have bought those last tickets yourself instead of ending up on the waiting list!