14 DAY TRIAL // Probably you've also been one of the guys that went coo-coo when they saw the Apple iPhone. I - and probably lots of the people that were set on the "buy iPhone" mode - was in that situation too but now, after finding out all the pluses and the minuses of the deal, I have changed my mind.
To support my decisions and for you to better grasp what this whole deal about the iPhone kind of cheating on us is about, let's talk about what Steve Jobs promised during his keynote from MacWorld while presenting the device to all the human kind, speaking about it as a revolutionary and magical device for communications five years ahead of any other product of this type.
Even if it really is what he said, in some people's mind the iPhone has a few (important) drawbacks, some of them being only suspected due to its specification sheet not being yet finalized and with nothing certain about the features available until when it will actually be launched; and - on the other side - things that got discovered by the journalists after analyzing Steve Jobs' keynote and the way the iPhone got through all the presentations steps.
In my opinion, those guys that won't take in consideration nothing bad about their sweet and lovely handset have a perception of the reality that got a little twisted after the iPhone's launch; but I'm not that surprised about this kind of reaction because most of the times, after Apple launching one of their products, lots of people just went on an Apple ride and, at the same time, through a denial period in their life about the existence of other things much, much better then what their "fruit" company developed.
Returning to what I'm writing about here, you should know the widescreen capability of the iPhone, a thing that Jobs just wouldn't stop bragging about during the keynote, is just a big fat lie. The device doesn't support the real widescreen standard we know, the 1.78:1 aspect ratio also dubbed as 16x9, but a 1.5:1 aspect ratio that is neither widescreen nor NTSC/PAL standard (which for Apple's information goes about 1.33:1 aka 4x3 aspect ratio).
What does that mean? Well, the highly praised capability of the iPhone to work like a "widescreen iPod" isn't going to happen in real world but only, maybe, in Steve Jobs' or the fans' dreams.
In conclusion, anyone who might want to view any type of widescreen content on its newly bought iPhone will be able to do it by either zooming the image by cutting the sides out of view or letterbox it by adding black bars on the top and the bottom of the image.
And this, my friends, is just a compromise between what Jobs has promised and what you will really get for about 500 $ and a Cingular/AT&T contract.
Some of you might say this isn't that big of a deal anyway because they won't get to watch too many movies or video clips on their handset; but there is more to know and more things that could make it a total disaster in the eyes of the customers.
Here it goes:
- Apple hasn't decided yet if they will allow the iPhone owners to use music from the handset as ringtones - There are no speed dials at the moment - The phone doesn't feature GPS integration and the Google Maps software available is probably only for "show and tell" sessions because you won't be able to pinpoint anyone's location with the help of the iPhone - The touchscreen can only be used by finger maneuvering and that means good bye to less "messy" solutions like gloves or a stylus - 3G wireless technology isn't yet available but - as Apple has declared - it is on its way once the access to it will be more widespread - Text input while in the more comfortable landscape mode has been discussed by the future users with Apple representatives but, until now, there is no affirmative feedback coming to the customers.
You shouldn't take these things for granted though, because every single feature appearing on the iPhone's specifications sheet can change at any moment due to it being only temporary.
The actual spec sheet will only be known only after the handset's launch and from what we have seen till now, Apple will surely be able to guard this secret.