Apple iPhone Cell Phone Review - Conclusion
|
Alfredo Padilla Published on June 29, 2007 Comment on this |
|
|
|
|
Who's It For
Business User
The iPhone will be attractive to many business users who already carry around a smart phone of some type and probably have an iPod or other multimedia device for entertainment purposes. We will guess that their IT managers will be less enthused about supporting a consumer oriented device like the iPhone that lacks the ability to integrate with business infrastructure. The lack of advanced features in the PIM programs also puts a crimp on the iPhone's appropriateness for business users. Until we see better integration with business infrastructures we can't recommend the iPhone as a business device.
Budget Callers
$500 to $600 doesn't sound budget to us. Unless you're talking about big budget callers.
Chatty Teenager
I'm sure there will be a whole host of teenagers out there this year trying to convince their parent(s) to get them an iPhone. In terms of functionality the iPhone is probably and ideal device for them. Excellent multimedia features combined with a surprisingly usable keyboard for texting makes the phone everything that a chatty teenager would want. Whether Mom and/or Dad look at the price and think the same is another matter.
Media Maven
What can we say, the iPhone is just about the perfect device for the Media Maven. One piece of Apple marketing speak that we actually agree with, it's the best iPod they've ever made. The large screen is great for watching videos, music playback and functionality is good and there's plenty of space for multimedia (for a phone). Media Maven's, you may have met your dream phone.
Conclusion
So is the iPhone a revolutionary device? In some ways, yes. But in others, it's just evolutionary.
Apple has defintiely come up with a revolution in cell phone usability; the iPhone pioneers a whole new user interface that works very effectively. There are only a few buttons on the device bacause you don't need the other buttons. But the other features of the device are either evolutionary or somewat retrograde. The camera, for instance, is merely adequate, and the EDGE data connection is very slow and makes Web browsing a somewhat painful experience. The browser itself is great; the version of Safari on the iPhone does an excellent job of rendering pages. But it's not that huge a step above other advanced mobile browsers like Opera or the Series 60 Web.
In many ways, the iPhone reminds us of the first iPods. They were resonably good, but it took some time and a couple of revisions to catch on and garner a majority of the market. And the iPhone may be the same; Apple is testing the waters with this first version, relying on existing technologies and not doing anything too radical; there are lots of cell phones out there that offer more and better features. Of course a feature list isn't everything, but Apple needs to work to fill some obvious holes: MMS support, better Bluetooth implementation and more robust PIM apps. Despite this the iPhone is still an excellent cell phone that will do a lot to shake up the cell phone market. And that can benefit us all.
| Previous Next | |
|
|
|