yet another iphone opinion

if you absolutely have been sick of iphone coverage, then go ahead and delete.  i simply couldn't resist the urge to pollute the interweb more with iphone opinions...so i've finally gathered some of my thoughts and decided to vent here...and i don't even have one (yet)...

let me first say that the urge has been hard to resist to get one.  anyone who knows me knows that when new tech comes out and if i can't get it, i'm usually in a fetal position soaking in my own vomit with withdrawls.  there have been very few tech things that have come out that i absolutely haven't been a bandwagon jumper...very few.  i'm very much a v1 sucker to anything.

but i've resisted the iphone.  not on the merits because it is apple (i'm not *that guy*), but namely 2 reasons have helped me resist the urge: ATT and no Exchange ActiveSync.  you see, i'm not with ATT now and the thought makes me cringe.  i've been a t-mobile customer for 10 years (voicestream baby).  i have a great rate plan...not sure about changing.  you see the EDGE thing doesn't bother me, because that is what i have now and i'm used to it...and it is okay for mobile purposes.  Exchange...i kinda live on that now.  i have considered how better my personal life would be if email wasn't in my face all the time though...so that is not necessarily a negative.  but nonetheless, these have been the factors holding me back.  but i continue to research.

i've spent a collective 2 hours with iphone devices (in store as well as with friends who carry them in polish cloths like a precious illegal gem).  my impressions are smiles.  i don't think anyone can argue that it is beautiful...it is.  it is thin, shiny, bright, light, all good stuff.

good things:

• responsive: it better be with the processor that is in there -- more than double (in some instances 3x) what operators are putting on windows mobile devices
• bright screen
• touch interface is easy to use
• simplicity
• it works

my rants and things i've been fussing about:

• 3G: i don't buy the excuse on industrial design being the issue here.  the blackjack (with extended battery) is a 3G device on the same carrier network and is just as thin (okay .1mm thicker)
• gesture inconsistency: i can gesture left/right to go back and forth on screens, email, etc...but looking at my "today" view i can't gesture left/right to go previous/next day?  what gives.  also, why is the period only available on the keyboard when in web surfing mode?  3 clicks to a period?  wtf?
• battery life: the news of 300 charges of battery concerns me.  i see myself hitting that in < a year...

there are perhaps a few things that bother me more about the iphone (not necessarily the device) as a technologist.  first, apple.  i don't think they are a bad company, but i think they have a bad reputation for upgrades.  to me they are the epitome of upgrade==new purchase...all the time.  new features in ipod?  get a new ipod.  why should i think that iphone would be any different.  v1 certainly has issues that can be solved (maybe not the recessed earphone jack -- who was the intern that signed off on that one...hello?!?! consult your ipod buddies in design idiots) via firmware...and should.  but will apple do it?  i don't know...my confidence level is low, real low.  i hear the rumors, but am not sure if i believe it.

the other thing...ATT.  you just purchased a $600 ipod, wifi PDA.  you don't care about the phone piece.  too bad.  you can't use the ipod unless you sign up for a rate plan.  man this stinks of something legally wrong here.  i think that is just horrible, horrible, horrible.  and activation via itunes?  well, i guess it is an ipod.  the activation thing really, really bothers me as a consumer.  don't sell me a device that "is a phone, ipod and pda" but isn't those individually...there isn't truth in their advertising -- it is an ipod/pda only after ATT gives a phone number to it, period.  that is wrong.  it has plenty of features on it's own that make it a great pda/ipod combination and with wifi, it shouldn't be prevented from being one.

and the last thing: developer.  this whole announcement about safari is a scam.  revolutionary development?  not at all.  remember when WAP was cool.  then every site had wap.yoursite.com and mobile.mysite.com -- for a reason...it had to fit the form factor.  what came out of iphonedevcamp?  mostly iphone.existingsite.com, etc.  wait, i thought safari was supposed to be a full browsing experience and you could develop your web 2.0 apps the same way?  c'mon -- even the developers know you have to develop for the form factor.  i read artur's comments today on the radar and couldn't help to agree with his passion of lameness put on apple:

The Apple developer documentation site has a promise of an ability for your web app to integrate with the iPhone. Or rather, it documents the brave invention of the "mailto:" URI scheme and the promise of an broken implementation of the 7 year old RFC 2806 spec of the "tel:" scheme . Most offensive is however Apples claim to integrate with Google Maps, which means Safari intercepts requests to "http://maps.google.com/" and sends them to the Google Maps application. No other high end phone manufacturer even comes close to this level of arrogance.

seriously...come up with a platform apple...you have an opportunity here.

beyond that i'm still having a hard time resisting.  i hope (and think) apple has helped change the game in handsets.  consumer choice is key (not that it is present here but it is a start).  the way they bullied ATT into saying 'we'll control the hardware, you gives us the airwaves' is awesome.  i hope that paves the path for better windows mobile innovation.  does apple pass the compliance with consortiums requiring certain aspects of the handset before it can be sold in a market?  i doubt it.  will it matter?  i doubt it.

i had high hopes for zune.  i bought one.  i really used it a lot...put a ton of movies on it, still like the user interface a lot.  but the after-market hasn't been there for me and continues to grow for apple.  i see that we have something going with american auto manufacturers...and in the designs that are posted on the interweb it looks like some zune support.  but i'm not a fan of american auto design...and there is so much progression in supporting ipod interfaces (like the one i had in my old car that was so seamless it was sick).  i want that level of integration back.  maybe the iphone will give that to me.  i sit in my car, bluetooth hooks iphone up to my car, ipod integration into the stereo...is that so much to ask?

with me selling my imac recently and having the extra dough lying around (with wife approval), it will be hard to resist...real hard.  please apple, assure me that firmware upgrades are coming.  assure me that exchange activesync support will not be a $200 add-on.  give me warm fuzzies and i'll buy your device.