While the iPhone was rumored for years, I think it’s fair to say it’s still surprising and amazing to see! What Apple has included (200 patents) is truly amazing and I hope it works as well as the flash demo they’ve got running – though I have great confidence it will.
Let’s quickly run down what’s missing…
There’s no 3G data which is disappointing, especially given the year and that Cingular is rolling out their enhanced network rapidly. This seems like a natural fit but is missing for some reason. EDGE and WiFi are a nice combo and I’ll be very interested in how the device switches between the two – Steve said it’s automatic, but did not state whether that was just for data or for calls (VOIP) as well.
A 2MP Camera is fine, though I have 3 Nokia devices sitting here that all have 3MP. The N95 will do 5 with Carl Zeiss optics as well… The jury has far from ruled here – we’ll need to see how the images look and how well images you take integrate into the photos app. There’s only the single camera – so no video conferencing on the go here… not that it works in the US anyway.
Sync — the phone is managed through iTunes which is fine enough since that system is certainly proven with the iPod, but I have to say I am disappointed not to see any wireless sync options with .Mac — perhaps when there’s a more detailed discussion on what’s coming in Leopard.
Otherwise, this is a game changer of a device!
The multi-tap touch screen will enable you to point, click and “pinch” to choose, move or resize things on screen. The screen itself is a beautiful (in photos) 3.5 LCD and with OSX under the hood the visual UI looks stunning. Should be interesting to see how typing is… From my experience on the Nokia 770, you can actually go pretty quickly with an on-screen keyboard…
The widgets look amazing and if they are anything like the desktop widgets to develop, it will not be long before we see a massive software ecosystem develop. The built-in sensors flip the screen based on orientation and a proximity sensor automatically dims the screen when you pull the unit up to talk.
I like how they showed location aware mapping with Google, even though there was no mention of GPS which is quite slick as is the desire to offer push email through Yahoo. All in all the iPhone looks like it will offer a VERY personal mobile computing experience. I look forward to owning one!
Where is itv?