And that’s the point. If you’re a smartphone user, you’re going to wonder where many features are. If you’re coming from the I’m-another-RAZR-user camp, your mind will be blown. That’s the duality that comes from personal experience.

The flip side is that there are somethings that just cannot be fixed with software, the internal hardware. We can all gripe and moan about no GPS, no 3G, no TV tuner with DVR (that made me smile too), larger storage. Hey, I would have loved to seen large nand flash install in these devices. But there is a rhyme and a reason for each of these. Like, only certain components were available at the time of purchased and assembly. We can all speculate but, the machine will keep on moving and we’ll all keep on buying the new products every couple of years ;-).

In the mean time, crack open and pour yourselves a tall glass of “Hater-Ade” and enjoy.

-SP

- a much bigger hard disk
- video IM on the go
- video phone
- TV tuner w/ dvr

- this one’s just a cool idea, but hey, how about a battery which can be charged in multiple ways, including with say, a solar-cell charger type of thing if Apple could find a company to partner with to make such a thing. I don’t know, some kind of better battery solution than the current one! I live near several Apple stores, so it would be easy for me to get a replacement, but I feel for those who would have to send theirs away. That’s a terrible blow to the resale value of your iPhone down the road in a couple of years. You’re pretty much blowing the $$ you spend on one of these, nobody in 2 years will want a used one that they might at any time have to pay $85 for a new battery and go a few days without their phone!!!

i just can’t justify buying one for the time being when it can’t do these things. my current phone can text in every way, email, browse (clumsily but still), has a nice qwerty keyboard, doesn’t bother to combine a camera or music player, but i already have both of those things anyway. if the iPhone could replace my video iPod and my digital camera, with just its current feature set and still lacking the things I mention above, I would probably not be able to stop myself from getting one. I even have AT&T already! so that should say something. right now, the iPhone looks super-cool, but it seems like a stunted version of what it will be within only the next couple of years. if the current iPhone was coming out for $299, maybe. but with its current deficiencies, its not worth it to me yet, as a long-time Mac user and big fan of gadgets.

http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/htc_touch/

http://www.htctouch.com/

Uh Oh – light years just became light seconds.

iPhone did a great thing. It got all of the OEM’s off their butts and made them actually start to develop what they had been talking about for years. You are going to see similar devices from every major OEM within the next year and a half.

If you’re set on the iPhone – I feel you – you want to be part of revolution. If you’re heart says yes, you may want to consult your wallet and ask yourself, “For the same price as an entry level laptop, what does this phone actually do?”

From the article, I will never purchase this iPhone (the second is TBD). I have trouble paying $600 for a cool looking UI. There are a lot of solid music phones out there that allow me to use WMP or Napster to Go just as well as this phone uses iTunes. Even something as simple as a WM Smartphone blows iPhone out of the water from a feature perspective.

Apple, Congrats on a great idea coming to fruition, but you’ve got some work to do.

-ex2223@yahoo.com

I concur with the haters. Outside of the form-factor, this hardware lags in important areas. That many people aren’t aware of what is available is simply a failure by other handset makers to advertise their features. There should be a spoof ad from another handset maker that pokes holes in the butt of fawning iPhone fans. It’s like saying, “I just bought a car with a CD player in that has multi-touch! It cost way more than other cars, but it’s the price you have to pay to be IT.” The device should do a few things really well, and this author pans each of those things. You basically confirm that they compromised function for form all the way down the line. $2000 over two years for an iPod with a couple extras? No GPS? Crap Bluetooth?

Microsoft, Symbian, and Palm anchored in pre-2000 phone technology. They code for slow processors, weak input systems, and slow networks. While the iPhone OS is just a micro version BSD with some hotness thrown over it, it just proves what can be done with a little time and effort.

One thing I’ve noticed about all the things people have been writing on the net is that you can spot the difference between those who have experienced the iPhone and those who have not. The first ones describe the emotional sensations they went through using the device (which is mainly something Apple excels at) and the latter talk features/functionalities. The difference is clear again in the article and in the comments made from the readers.

I remember once reporting to a friend of mine – new iPod owner and absolutely not an Apple fanatic – the (negative) comments made by some guy. My friend snapped back: He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He should buy an iPod, use it for an hour and then I would listen to what he has to say. And to me, after all I read, Apple has once more succeeded in making the iPhone experience something highly unique enjoyable.

I guess my mind’s made up after reading your article: I am getting myself an iPhone. Period.

So why exactly do people think this is special? This phone is for people who like devices that are fashion statements not useful or capable.

That said, I have the same complaint all the Apple haters / non Apple fanboys have: the coverage of the iPhone just isn’t neutral. I appreciate that you comment on several of the shortcomings, but please don’t call your concern about the inability to send texts to multiple users a “matter of personal preference.” That’s just a flaw, and a pretty silly one at that. (Can you imagine saying, “I wish I could send my friends songs that lasted longer than 3 plays or 3 days, but it’s a matter of personal preference”?)

Are the rest of the iPhone’s features really “lightyears ahead of what anybody else is doing”? Lightyears? My StarTac let me see how many voicemails I had, and from which numbers. My current phone plays music, takes pictures, makes phone calls, surfs the web, runs gadget-like applications. No doubt, the iPhone is better – newer hardware, better UI. But that’s an incremental improvement, even if a big increment. Other handsets use multi-touch too. Think of it this way: was OSX “lightyears” ahead of every other operating system when it came out? Even though it had many advantages over XP, it wasn’t lightyears ahead (Vista came shortly after). Fanboys will surely dispute the analogy, but the iPhone really doesn’t seem revolutionary to me.

Use of the “lightyears” term seems related to a broader problem I with iPhone coverage and commentary: too much of just quotes Jobs or the Apple spin. “Lightyears ahead” isn’t too far from Jobs’ declaration that the iPhone is 5 years ahead of its competitors. If you don’t think competitor offerings will be at least this good in 2012, you’re crazy. Endless comments have proclaimed that the iPhone is different from every other smartphone because “it runs OSX.” No, it really doesn’t, except in the sense that WinMo phones “run Windows.” It’s a mobile version, and we all know that. Does the iPhone let you surf the full internet? No, it doesn’t – Flash is just too common to be excluded from that declaration.

Personally, I think Nokia’s N95 is a more revolutionary device. The iPhone can replace one’s phone and mid-sized DAP, but the camera is a nice bonus feature at best – it couldn’t replace even a 4-5 year old elph. The N95 can legitimately replace one’s phone, mid-sized DAP, and camera (and maybe GPS if you’re into that sort of thing).

Anyway, like I started off saying, I’m really looking forward to seeing what Apple’s competitors come up with. And I’m really, really looking forward to having something to read about other than the iPhone.