Is an iPhone in your future?

iphone

By Thomas R. Wiles
The Trucker News Services

9/18/2007

Is an iPhone in Your Future?

Over the past month or two, it’s been just about impossible to not hear about the new Apple iPhone. The iPhone has probably been one of the most hyped devices in history. As the product release date approached, you’ve heard more and more about it.

The promise

The promise of the iPhone is that it offers a widescreen iPod fully integrated with Apple iTunes, with a built-in high-quality web browser, along with email, text messaging and integrated two mega-pixel camera all in a very slick, easy-to-use touch screen interface.

Living up to the hype

The iPhone could actually be used as a hand-held web browser and for email, eliminating the need to carry around a separate computer. There’s also integrated BlueTooth for use with BlueTooth headsets/audio devices. I had the opportunity to play around with an iPhone, and I did come away impressed. The interface functions exactly the way it’s portrayed in the ads. The touch screen is extremely easy to use. The user interface is extremely simple and intuitive. Like many Americans, I usually like to play around with device interfaces and figure them out for myself without having to refer to the manual. The iPhone interface really is a pleasure to use.

The iPhone’s LCD touch screen is covered with glass, making it scratch resistant and easy to clean. The phone itself is very thin and fit nicely in my hand. The LCD screen is high-resolution and does an excellent job of displaying images. The integrated Safari web browser is the best browsing experience I’ve ever had on a portable device with a small screen. It can display the entire web page, which can easily be zoomed in and moved around on in order to read the page. The onscreen virtual keyboard works surprisingly well. Email and text messaging are extremely easy. It really is the equivalent of carrying a small computer screen around in your pocket. In my opinion, the iPhone does live up to the hype.

The drawbacks

The biggest drawback to the iPhone for most people is likely the price—$499 for the four gigabyte version and $599 for the eight gigabyte version, plus a two year service contract with AT&T is likely a large gulp for many people to swallow. Of course, AT&T has an exclusive contract with Apple to carry the iPhone for a period of five years in the U.S. That means that if you want an iPhone, it also means you must be an AT&T customer. AT&T, formerly known as Cingular, doesn’t have the best nationwide cellular coverage, though that situation is likely to improve over time. The other drawback is that the AT&T data network is also slow compared to Sprint or Verizon. Fortunately, the iPhone does have integrated WiFi, so it’s able to make use of WiFi networks whenever and wherever they are available. The slow AT&T network data speeds would likely be okay for handling email, but make for a very painful web browsing experience.

Another drawback is the iPhone cannot currently be used for computer data connection sharing. Also, the phone’s audio output uses the smaller phone-style jack, so you cannot use regular headphones without an appropriate adapter, so it would be more difficult (though not impossible) to use the iPhone with a cassette adapter or standard FM modulator to plug in and play it over a truck’s stereo system.

How much are you willing to pay?

What do you use your phone for? If you are using your phone for basic communications and want to keep the overall price down, the iPhone is likely not for you. On the other hand, if you don’t mind spending money on electronics devices and can live with AT&T/Cingular cellular service, then the iPhone is certainly worthy of serious consideration.

The future

Whether you get an iPhone or not, the revolutionary interface will almost certainly have a profound influence on future cell phone designs. iPhone prices will likely drop as time passes, and newer, more refined iPhone versions will likely emerge.

What am I going to do myself? I’m happy with my nationwide Alltel coverage, and I really don’t want to give that up. I am taking a wait and see attitude. I will wait to see if the iPhone price comes down. If the price drops and the AT&T service improves, I may well give the iPhone a try. The iPhone as it exists right now has a very high “coolness factor” but I can’t quite bring myself to go with the inferior AT&T coverage and service.