The only thing I've seen hyped up more than the iPhone is sex. However, let's be honest about it: it's freakin' cool. The reviews are promising as pointed out in this review roundup. The PDA market has been so stagnant for so long. Smart phones are not smart. My Treo 700p irritates the crap out of me, but it's been a better choice than other smart phones.
Of course, I can't get an iPhone unless I pay out of my own pocket for it. I have a company-provided cell account so it would be stupid of me to go get another phone on my own just because it's pretty and stores most of my MP3 collection. (Actually, I would be stupid to go back to AT&T after I left them in a huff for billing incompetence several years ago.) So I will just admire them from afar as I watch all of the cool kids play with theirs. It's funny how the iPhone's release instantaneously makes my Treo look like it runs on vacuum tubes and requires a switchboard operator.
Now, Apple has some recent black eyes in support. But I imagine their support for the iPhone will be much better than Palm has been lately. Read through the customer comments on the debacle known as the 700p Maintenance Release at Palm's Blog. Yes, they released a faulty maintenance release that bricked some phones and introduced a new bug on the 700p. Good times.
One thing that is still not fixed on my 700p is the Voice Dialing from the bluetooth headset. The Palm Maintenance Release did make Bluetooth more stable, but I still can't use it for Voice Dialing. How stupid is that? My wife's $99 Motorola Q does, but it has its share of issues too, like the battery not charging when it is plugged in.
The point is that the PDA market itself has been rather uninspiring for years. Smart phones are just PDAs with cell phones glued to them. The iPhone represents innovation that should have been there years ago. Now cell phone vendors are going to play catch-up and while cell phone service companies try to change customer expectations from free phones to actually shelling out money for something that doesn't fall apart right before the contract expires.
Honestly, I wish my 700p could handle multi-tasking without rebooting. I wish my Bluetooth headset could initiate Voice Dialing. I wish the Blazer browser would blaze in hell. I wish the Palm OS didn't have connotations of an old man sitting in front of the barber shop complaining that his rheumatism is flaring up and he can't switch between applications.
The success of the iPhone should usher in some competition and innovation. So go out and buy one or two and help those of us who hate AT&T with every fiber of our being to have more choices.
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Unrest by Parkway Drive