iPhone: The Reality Check

Now that the hoopla surrounding iPhone announcement has subsided, it's time we take a more sober look at it. But first read my colleague Tom Olson's detailed iPhone preview, which includes his impressions of its Macworld debut demonstration. 

One nice thing about the part-smartphone, part-iPod, part-network receiver he left out: It's a quad-band, or world, phone. Besides the two frequency bands in the U.S. (800/850 and 1900 MHz), it operates on two bands prevalent in Europe, most parts of Asia, and other areas (900 and 1800 MHz). That means you should get the maximum cellular coverage at home and abroad.

We weren't given much time with the iPhone at Macworld, but we'll give it a thorough test in our labs when it becomes available later this year. Along with some positive first impressions, however, our early peek at this all-in-one phone also revealed some potential hang-ups:

Price. With a two-year Cingular contract, a 4-gigabyte (GB) iPhone costs $500, while the 8GB model will set you back $600. That's a heck of a lot of green, considering top-of-the-line smart phones from Palm and RIM rarely reach $350 with two-year contract. 

Smeared images? The 3.5-inch color display appears brilliant, and the fact that it doubles as a touch screen seems like an innovative way to save space on controls. But its dark, mirror-smooth finish will likely attract smudges, highlight scratches, and make it hard to see in sunlight. Imagine all the oily residue left by fingertips pecking out messages and phone numbers on its virtual keypads. Think about all smudges and, perhaps, scratches left by the five o'clock shadows and rouged cheeks that brush against it during phone calls. Want to watch a video? You may need to keep a bottle of Windex handy. 

Missing basics. Voice command is now a common feature on even basic phones. It lets you dial a number by speaking a contact name or calling out the digits. That makes it a must in any situation that prevents you from fiddling with the phone, such as when you're driving. Yet, the iPhone doesn't have it. If you're thinking, "Okay, it's a smart phone, so I'll add voice command software myself," forget about it. The iPhone doesn't run third-party applications.

Congestion ahead. iPhone's high-speed WiFi connection and full-featured Web browser are major breakthroughs for handheld devices, as Apple CEO Steve Jobs demonstrated. But we'll have to see how well all those big multimedia files download when a WiFi connection isn't available, which for many users may be quite often. The backup data connection is Cingular's sloth-like EDGE network. While all cellular data networks — including the EV-DO technology used by Verizon and Sprint — are slower than other broadband technologies, EDGE is the slowest. Cingular offers a faster data connection called HSDPA, which is purportedly as fast as EV-DO. But surprisingly, the iPhone doesn't support it.

Little talk time. Apple says talk time for the iPhone is 5 hours. That's on the short side for a GSM phone. It will be interesting to see if that modest claim holds up in real-world tests, with the phone's Bluetooth and WiFi radios fully engaged.

You'll need help changing batteries. Like other iPods, you won't be able to replace the iPhone's battery yourself. Instead, you'll have to send it in for service. A July 2006 survey of 3,000 Consumer Reports subscribers who own iPods and other players indicated that battery life per charge has been a weak spot for iPods. Let's hope the iPhone breaks the trend.

— Michael Gikas, Telecom and Mobile Reporter

Technorati tags: macworld, ipod, iphone, apple, consumer reports, edge, hsdpa, cingular, ev-do

Comments

[Todd]

I've had the IPhone for almost a year now. Overall I like. The one thing I wish I could change, the location of the Mute button. It's on the side and to easily swithed on accidentally. I've missed numerous calls because of this.

[gary strauss]

Today is December 8, 2007. Your review of the iphone is from Jan. 7, 2007. Update.

[Stephen]

Mac advertises a glass cover that is almost impossible to break. I dropped mine last night onto the kitchen floor and the thing shattered. Buyer beware, they wont fix it even if you pay an extra 80 bucks for the insurance. I feel like I have been completely taken advantage of with this thing and I wish I had never bougth it. Save yourself the money and get a blackberry. You get better functionality out of it and it does everything the iphone does. The email function on the iphone is really slow too. I sometimes dont get emails until a day late. What a rip off.

[Dan Stratton]

You really should update the pricing information in this article. The Apple iPhone 8Gb is now $399.

[Alan Bea]

The cost of the iPhone further reconfirms my decision to go with a Trakphone for me and my wife. Where I was paying $75 per month, I now spend about $40 every 4 or 5 months. I know the Trakphone isn't for everyone, especially if used for work or business. But for my life style the 'pay as you go' plan is the best. $600 for the phone? I don't think so.

[Eric Lynch]

It sounds like Apple has a wonderful new product, though I won't make a move on this until the unit is proven and made more user friendly. I'm not paying $600 to help work out the bugs. It is suprising that it lacks voice control. Strange....