iPhone Hands on

This is going to be short and swift. I had the fortune of actually checking out the iPhone yesterday, courtesy a gizmo-savvy colleague. In my sparse I-barely-checked-out-many-features time with it, here's what I think -

1. Its totally awesome. The convenience that it has brought with it is unparalleled. The menu is fantastically easy to navigate, the screen is as lucid as anything you've seen.
2. Its a touch away to access email, a browser, your music, directions or just about anything else.
3. The keypad is a little small for someone with larger than normal fingers but its a question of getting used to it (which you do in no time). I had no problem using it. And its more-helpful-than T-9 dictionary may take some getting used to.
4. The music is all iPod quality and theres no compromise here. The video is fantastic and though I have never seen a video iPod in screen and keys, I suppose the iPhone's got to have the same quality if not better. Would the traditional video iPod owner be sad? Maybe.. maybe not, Its a matter of perspective. The iPhone is for the 'to-go' person with a maximum storage (so far) of 8GB. The video iPod is far beyond that.
5. Its a breeze taking pictures, attaching them, emailing them, stowing them away or doing just about anything else. Its taken tactile technology to a whole new level.

I didn't have the opportunity to hear the voice quality (on a call). But I am certain that they must've spared nothing to make it fantastic where there's good quality AT&T signal. But quizzically yet, the bottom line remains that its a phone. How much better can it get? Like I said in this post, Apple is aiming this product for a particular genre of the entire population. But when there are people who buy Patekphillipes or Omegas for a piece of machinery that shows time about a few seconds more accurately than your regular $2 throw away watches, why wouldn't the iPhone do phenomenally well? With barely any bugs (as far as I could see in the oh-so-restricted-time-frame), and with further generations coming out, the iPhone's a success already.

And last but not least, check out this really cool review of the iPhone on CNET - its a tad more than what the ads show on TC - http://reviews.cnet.com/smart-phones/apple-iphone-4gb/4505-6452_7-32180293.html

The iPhone

Unless you've been locked away in Mars, you have probably by now heard all about the iPhone.. All about Apple's battle with Cisco for the name, blah blah. And if you haven't already checked out the pretty cool ad campaign for the iPhone check out a sample here. Sure.. this is the next best thing to hit the cell phone industry. Ever. Its unbelievable as to what all features have been included in a handheld device and with such magnificent colour and splendour. Its a first and it will be spoken about a long long time. But finally, above all it is a phone. How many normal people who are not gizmo-gadget freaks or of the younger generation or both and are reasonably rich (its minimum $499) are going to get this? I don't know. But I am sure that Apple will make back everything it wanted. There are enough of us techno-maniacs in the world for that. I read this article which compared an iPod to the iPhone (thats the title of the article though it really doesn't dwell too much on the comparison) and thought it was worth the read. The only thing I didnt get was why they were comparing a mere function of the iPhone to the whole purpose of existance of the iPod. People have been talking with whatever knowledge they have all over the place about it. And so the world waits with bated breath. Coming soon on June 29th. The iPhone.