Earlier this week, accompanied by armed guards, and carefully escorted onto American soil, the first shipment of iPhones began to arrive. The creator of the ubiqitous iPod, has the PR buzz (or Reality Distortion Field) in full effect, and we can't remember so many people ever caring so much about a cell phone. No one really got excited about the new Blackberry (even if they are promoted by John Mayer), and when an updated TREO landed a few months ago, it didn't get any attention. But this is Apple.
The iPhone received one of its first public appearances the other night here in Chicago. Unfortunately, it wasn't with Steve Jobs, but rather the new president of AT&T at NXTCOMM.
In New York, people are actually lining up at the flagship Apple Glass Cube Store on 5th Avenue. We haven't seen any campers yet for the 6pm release on the 29th, but we are going to go out to the Apple Store on Michigan early Friday to see if anyone is waiting to drop $500-$600 on the iPhone. Though, you can also get one at most AT&T/Cingular stores, and their website has an iPhone locator. The store on Michigan will close at 2pm and prep for the 6pm launch.
Chicagoist writers are split on whether now is the time to sport an iPhone, but as the reviews are spilling in, that itching gadget lust that has driven us to purchase almost every iteration of iPod is kicking in.
So, we are happy to join in the chorus of websites discussing the iPhone (NYT-David Pogue, WSJ-Walt Mossberg, and The Onion). The reviews are pretty even handed, giggling over the slick interface and whiz bang features, but most are still bemoaning the keyboard, the fact that it is exclusive to Cingular, and it being EDGE only.
We still want one, but we don't have anything left to sell on eBay. T-minus 32 hours.
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WOW, a phone that can go online AND play music?!?? We must be in the future now!
My phone has had those capabilities and cost less than half (and it's been out for a few years now.) Remember when Apple actually innovated rather than make cosmetic changes? (They're not colors, they're flavors!)
NEVER be the first on your block to own anything! You usually just wind up being an expensive beta tester.
I was very excited about it, as I am on my Q Phone all night long as I drive to St Louis and back every night, checking email, flickring, texting, talking (all the things I shouldn't be doing while driving 525 miles).
The AT&T coverage will provide lightening fast Safari internetting around the city, but their network slows to a crawl outside of the "hotspot". Plus, for me, the touch screen keyboard isn't good. I type on a qwerty buttoned phone without looking now, keeping me (somewhat) attentive to where I'm driving the 70,000 pound vehicle.
More for you.
Plus I promisd myself to stop buying Apple stuff on the first day due to glitches in early versions!!!
Not to act as the resident fanboy, but if you can't see that this phone is a seachange for the cell phone and carrier industries, you are willingly keeping your head in the sand (or elsewhere). Apple partnered with AT&T because the company allowed Apple access to its infrastructure, allowing for the ability to purchase phone plans via the iTunes store (not deal with AT&T stores/salespeople). It's the first phone to ever have a real web interface, and the ability to view content via landscape mode (and have that content respond dynamically to position) is incredibly awesome.
Apple fan or no, this phone is a big deal.
Wait for 2nd generation at least.
I don't know which is more disturbing. The fact that you put every feature of your phone through the paces while endangering the lives of everyone else on the road (at night no less) or the warped sense of entitlement that causes you to gush about it like: What?!, what you mean I'm a jerk for doing this?
Seachange or not, the phone is beautiful. I tried to curtail my Apple fanboyism in writing this post. I don't know if I will get one on launch day because of the sticker price, but if I hadn't just bought a Blackjack 6 months ago, I would be in line right now.
The thing that makes this phone great is that it looks fun to use. Every other smartphone is so wrapped up in being the next Blackberry that they have missed the point, people want a phone that isn't a chore.
Apple has never been an innovator, they are just always the first one to make an innovative leap in design.
The Apple II made computers accessible to home users, the iPod made MP3 players easy to use and the new standard, the iPhone looks to make phone design less about how small and thin your phone is, and more about how beautiful the interface is.
I just wish it was 3G.
Joe is an excellent driver. And he has the video to prove it.
What I want to know is: does it work as a phone? That's its primary function, right? All of the cell phones in the market right now that I've come into contact with do not work. Maybe it's the carrier, maybe it's the phone, maybe it's a combination, but until they make phones (and Bluetooth devices, for that matter) that work less like a speakerphone and more like a land-line phone, color me uninterested.
QWERTY is the only way to go. Apple missed the boat on this. Who cares if it is sleek if it is not functional? Positive feedback keyboard is not that difficult.
Landscape web-browsing? 1) If you spend that much time browsing the web on a phone that this is important to you, please look up more often so you don't mess up your posture. 2) All major websites have mobile versions for a reason.
Apple partnered with AT&T because of money; don't disillusion yourself as it being anything more. Who do you think has the biggest network of nationwide subscribers?
Feel free to ignore or flame this. Nothing I say will sway anyone; just felt like dumping some words on the internet, today.
I'm sure down the line that there will be buttoned versions of the iPhone.
Also, I have driven more miles while typing this month than most people drive in a 6 months. I have logged over a million miles without an accident, but nothing I can do about my "warped sense of entitlement". I felt it related to the iPhone.
Wait for 3rd gen at least, since by then they'll have bumped memory to 30 or 60G, which is where it should have been from the get-go.
And I'm sure Joe is an excellent driver.
For $500-$600 it should be more than incredibly awesome.
JoeM500: Once Apple goes in a direction, they usually don't turn back. (see: serial ports and floppy drives.)
The question i have is, regardless of its fabulousnes as an apple thing, how is the call quality, reception, etc., especially since when i was researching cell phone carriers a few months ago, it seemed that at&t/cingular ranked pretty low as far as customer satisfaction when it came to making/receiving phone calls.
And, i'm also wondering if regardless of the agreement apple has with cingular/at&t, might this phone make its way to other carriers [like with the moto phones] in a couple/few years?
It's the software that might actually make me head down there tomorrow and spend $500... Whether it's a Motorola, Blackberry, or Treo phone, I've hated the user interface on every cell phone I've used.
I love the fact that it has a fully-integrated browser, too; and for times where there's no wi-fi, I can just surf RSS feeds, so load-times won't be as much of an issue.
that a gadget (and make no mistake, folks, that's all it is) can inspire this much adulation makes me sad. i'm sorry, but it seems misplaced.