14 DAY TRIAL // I don't know about others, but I was waiting for the iPhone since another lifetime. I bet that if I had walked all the way to Dalai Lama and asked him what I need so that I might live a nicer life and be happier he would have told me: "You idiot, get yourself an iPhone". I've been searching for the perfect mobile terminal for me since I bought my first one. I was never really happy with what was on the market. There are some nice models out there, but they all have some flaws that made me change my mind before buying them.
Now? I'm going to compare and analyze everything from my point of view and based on the conditions in Europe; and, in Europe, things are a little different from the United States. Here, we have a lot of models to choose from, but only few of them are really worth considering and those that really manage to balance the features that a good mobile terminal needs to have are really expensive.
For me, a good model would be one that has a decent storage capacity, a nice display with a nice operating system on it; it will have to be reliable and its battery should last a great deal of time (at least a week). Now, the most problematic issue I have encountered is the camera that comes with such a terminal. Most of them out there have built-in cameras nowadays. I didn't really like this idea at first. The first models that came with built-in cameras were just pathetic. Bad quality, small storage capacity and awful resolutions for the photos, so no one that would have bought such a thing would really use it. These days, there are some good mobile phones that feature an acceptable image-capturing device, so that I might at least understand what is in the picture I took. Bear in mind that I am talking about devices at reasonable prices. I know that are few out there that do everything and more? but I am not really interested in them, because I don't want to pay the equivalent of a MacBook on them.
The problem with those models is that either I hate how they look, or they have the storage capacity of a computer from the middle ages; either they have an awful OS that makes me want to be a programmer just so that I would modify it, or the battery lasts less than that of a phone.
Up until now, the answer was simple: get the cheapest, featureless but at the same time reliable mobile phone just for calls and - along with it - an iPod for music and storage capacity and a nice camera for pictures and stuff. Well, it is kind of hard to carry all of these devices on you, even if I could have listened to all the music I liked and make all the quality photos I wanted. This thing cannot slide any more, but I haven't still found the perfect mobile phone for me and I have been searching for over half a year now.
Let's get to business
Until now, what was said about the iPhone makes it the perfect candidate for me. The sole fact that is an Apple product means that there is a huge chance that I would love the design. Now? I'm not such a big fan of everything that Apple did. Most of their products looked good, but I am crazy only about those last generation ones. The computer line had some pretty nice designs, I ain't going to go there, but the iPods? well? only those last ones made me really want one just for the design. For example, the first shuffle wasn't really for my taste, but the second generation shuffle is just staggering and the previous generation of nano was kind of cute, but the last generation makes me want every single one of them.
The point I'm making is that Apple is getting better and better at designing its products. They start good, but then keep improving up to a point that I, personally, have nothing else to ask from them. Based on this, I think that the iPhone will really be good. It will have to be good just to get into the market, and to make a difference, I bet that Apple is going to take extra care of its concept. So, I am not really worrying about the design. The rest of the features however?
The fact that is supposed to make the iPhone so great is that it will have all the qualities of an iPod. This basically means that it will surely have a nice storage capacity as a standard. And that is what I want. I really hate some of the mobile phones on the market today that give you the possibility to upload mp3s, take photos and stuff and give you storage capacities of some miserable bytes. Now why do they do that? Why taunt you like this? "He he he, you can upload mp3s, but only 5 of them". And then - if you want to take a photo - you'll have to erase some of those mp3s, because you don't have any bite left. Not that anyone would even think of taking a photo, because it has the quality of a drawing made by a drunk chimpanzee. What is that? I can't imagine what was in the head of the idiot that designed such a mobile phone. He must have thought "Well? how would I ask for more money for this dreadful thing? I know? we'll say that it can do this and that but we will? omit to specify their qualities". That is my basic problem with most of the products on the market: they charge extra for some stupid and useless features that no one will ever give them a good use.
Letting aside all this gibberish, my point is that the iPhone has a great chance at providing a nice storage space and some decent mp3 playing capabilities so I will be able to listen to my full Arch Enemy discography, not just to miserable bits of it.
In addition, the fact that it will have to be an iPod as well, in my mind means that it will have some superb accessories like the iPod. Basically, this is what makes the iPod great? the fact that you can personalize it in so many ways that one cannot even imagine. This is what I want from a mobile phone. I hate it when someone comes to me and says? "hey, I have the same phone as you have". Grrrrrrrrr! "Ok? I am just going to throw this away 'cause you are a complete dork and just the thought that my product is exactly like yours makes it really uncool". Well? if I have hundreds of accessories that I can choose from, this is not a problem, cause no matter what, I can make my device look much better and much? cooler.
Let's get to the tricky part?
Apart from the fact that there is a huge possibility that the iPhone will look extremely good and will offer a great storage capacity along with everything one might love in the iPod, there aren't really any actual facts that one can rely on. Steve is pretty good at keeping secrets and making pleasant surprises ? I mean? he should run for president. Steve stands there on the top of a nice empire and somehow, everything he plans turns out exactly how he wants it to, or even better. Either he has struck a deal with the Devil, or he has some? "POWERS". So that this phrase can be better understood, I will have to explain what "POWERS" means. Copyrighted to a great colleague of mine, "POWERS" is a term used mainly when one can't really explain the process by which something is happening. Look at Superman, he's flying? he has powers. How does the Bugatti Veron's engine work? I don't know. I'm not an engineer? it has powers. How can Angela Gossow from Arch Enemy sing like that? I don't know, I'm not a doctor? she has powers.
Hoping that I've made my point, Steve Jobs has "POWERS". He manages to keep everything a secret while everyone is speculating and spreading rumors and even if those rumors seem to be a little out of this world, Apple manages to pull off everything they want to. Everything that is said of the iPhone until now might really be of no relevance. No one really knows how it will look or what to expect from it. Let's take for example ?the camera. First, it was said that it would be a 3 megapixel one, now that is only a 2-megapixel camera. There were rumors that the iPhone will have 2.2 inch display, but it might be bigger or smaller.
What I am counting on
No one really knows what is what, but the fact is that Apple is not that stupid to let us down. So the camera will have to be a good one and the iPhone will have to be able to take some nice resolution photos. After all, Apple's strong point is the media business, especially when it comes to graphics. Graphics is what they put them on the map at first and I don't think they are going to risk loosing this market. The display will also have to be big enough to offer a nice experience when using it. The integrations of iPod capabilities along with photo capabilities means that it will have to be big enough so that it might offer a nice experience when navigating trough menus, songs or pictures.
Battery life. If Apple hopes to get into the mobile phone market and rely on the iPhone's success, and if that is what they want, the battery will have to last at least one week for calling purposes only. If it lasts less that 6 days then they are doomed, as that makes the iPhone unreliable. I figure that if it has the iPod's capabilities, then the battery will last less than 3 days if playing music all the time. Well? that does not make it and iPhone, it makes it an iPod and it's still not good. When I will buy the iPhone I will surely want to know that I can play continuous music for at least 12 hours; but at the same time, if I don't play music that much, I want to be able to enjoy all the actual phone capabilities. I don't want to know that if I play music I won't be able to use my actual phone more than 2-3 days. Well? I think Apple knows this. Steve is a smart guy and I know he won't let me down, so I am expecting the iPhone's battery to last at least five to six days with moderated use of the media features.
What others think of it
For the past week I have been reading all kinds of opinions on the internet. One guy wrote on his blog that a battery partitioning would be a good idea. Basically, the battery would have a partition for the actual phone and another for the "iPod in the phone". That seems like a nice idea from my point of view, but what I might add is that this partitioning would be optional. There is no way in keeping the partition destined for playing music if you don't want to play music, but instead want to be able to talk longer on your iPhone without the battery dying on you. The same guy, Jason D. O'Grady, proposed another thing on his Wish List and that would be that Apple should go with a light version of Mac OS X for the iPhone.
That is a fantastic idea in essence. Can you imagine the potential of having light versions of iTunes, Address Book, Mail, iPhoto and Acrobat on your phone? I think that it would be tremendous. Apple should take a page out of Microsoft's Windows Mobile playbook and even offer light versions of iWork so that iPhone could open Word and Excel attachments too, he writes. I don't know if all of them would really be necessary but, at the bases, the integration of light versions, as he says, of Mac OS X and its applications is the best thing Apple could do as it would greatly extend the iPhone's possibilities.
Some days ago, I wrote about some options Apple had with the iPhone as described by Ian Fogg. The best option is selling iPhones in retail, meaning that it won't be tied to a specific mobile phone carrier so that everyone would enjoy it. Apparently, this is actually what Apple chose and it is great news for everyone. Most people in the U.S. say that the problem with mobile phones is that they are a political compromise between makers and carriers. Everyone pulls in their direction; carriers want features that will squeeze more money (sending pictures and videos; text messaging, etc); makers want more and more features, so that they can charge more. Ordinary users are ignored, says Jason. In Europe, we don't actually have this problem, as most of the phones are based on SIM cards.
The fact is that if Apple had chosen a particular carrier from the U.S. then the iPhone would have been almost useless in Europe and it would have greatly narrowed its market. This way, everyone is happy and Apple isn't tied to anyone.
Bottom Line
The fact is that this iPhone might just be the thing the whole world is expecting from some years or just another blip on the radar. It all depends on what Apple has in store for us. This is - after all - a very tricky market and, unlike the digital music player market that was five years ago when the iPod revolutionized everything, one has plenty models to choose from and mobile phone models are of all kinds.
The only question is: Is Apple going to offer everything one might look after in a mobile phone at a reasonable price so that it would establish a quality standard in this industry just like it did with music players?
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