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Downsides and the Future

Apple's iPhone isn't all roses. There are some, minor, if annoying downsides. For instance, it isn't easy to make calls while driving (something we are not suppose to do anyway). The headset doesn't help much either. The fact is to make a call you need to go through many steps in the interface. Not an easy thing to do while on the highway. In fact, don't even try.

Making calls in the car will become easier in the future when better accessories are available, such as a holder for the phone, or automobile integration. For the Google Maps application to be truly useful you need your iPhone to be mounted somewhere in the car.

I've already mentioned the typing issues which will take getting use to. Apple can make typing easier by adding the horizontal keyboard support to all applications on the iPhone, not just Safari.

Some folks are clamoring for voice-dialing capabilities. This would be a nice add in the future and could be done with software. Additionally, it might be useful to make a dictation software app, that can compliment the Notes application we didn't really talk about.

Some have said the iPhone is so precious like that you can't get comfortable with it. True, you might spend too much time polishing the screen for the first week or so. Then you get real. You settle down into the realities of what the device is, what's it about, and that you have to use it to use it. This is not a museum object. It's a machine to be used.

Recommendations

And what a glorious piece of machinery it is. As far as recommendations go I should break them into a few categories:

Convergence-M. For those iPod users wishing to just make their iPod their cell phone because "music" is what they want all other things to converge around, my advice is possibly hold off. The iPhone is clearly the best iPod ever, but the storage limitations are severe compared to an 80GB iPod.

Convergence-T. For those smartphone users who want all other things to converge around voice the iPhone is the product today for them. The iPhone is a superb phone, despite some shortcomings. Accessories in the making will make the product even better going forward.

Convergence-V. For the group of folks who are interested in mobile media (videos, tv, YouTube, etc.) this group too may feel really compelled to jump on the iPhone. But again storage limitations are going to be key. That's what is so great about YouTube, the films stream to you. If Apple can get YouTube to stream stuff to your iPhone, why not iTunes movie rentals?

Finally there are those who are not interested in a total convergence device but seek complimentary devices specifically targeted at being the best at particular things. That's the category Apple hopes will stay large. For this group, the rationale for getting an iPhone is that you would like a little bit of all these capabilities combined into a single product that fundamentally is your mobile phone.

This is the category I'm in. For this group, you will still have an iPod nano for working out and you still might be interested in a ultra-mobile Apple machine with a touch-screen.

For Blackberry users interested in the iPhone this choice you may feel you are facing may be hard. It definitely gets easier if you not tied down to mobile enterprise applications and enterprise email. These do not run on the iPhone at this time. And if you are a serious email junky and type very well on your Blackberry today, perhaps forgoing an iPhone is just plain smart. But for other Blackberry users who got the device partly because Blackberries are just plain cool....well, their is a new kid in town. (And you know the rest of the song.). ---- ANTHONY FRAUSTO-ROBLEDO, Editor-in-Chief.

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