iPhone

Judging from the media coverage, Apple’s new iPhone has consumers swooning, either from their first brush with the ethereal gadget or from their time camping out in front of Apple stores in the middle of a heat wave. This Saturday, D sauntered into the Apple store in the Redmond Town Center to judge the phone for himself.

 

Me: So were you impressed?

D: It lives up to the hype.

 

Me: How does this fruit stack up to the berries and the Treos on the market?

D: You have to hand it to Apple: they design their software with users in mind. L’iPhone est ultra simple a utiliser. It’s very easy to navigate the user interface with your finger; however all the flicking and tapping gets the screen smudgy, so the device will look filthy unless you clean it off after every use.

 

Me: But $500-$600? That’s a lot of money. My Motorola RAZR was free with my cell phone plan and it has withstood every ailment Tiggy has inflicted on it.

D: The iPhone has over a dozen functions.

 

Me: Yes, I have read about the features, like Internet access. I have also heard that AT&T’s network is mediocre in some areas, and web access can be excruciatingly slow. Would it worth switching to At&T from a carrier like Verizon, for example? What’s the point of having a phone with GPS if you can’t even get the GPS to work?

D: The iPhone doesn’t have GPS. Plus GPS has nothing to do with the wireless network. What are you talking about?

 

Me: I’m just testing you. ‘Sounds like you want an iPhone!

D: No. I already have a phone and a Zune, so I don’t need an iPhone. Plus an iPhone would cost me at least $59 more a month and I would hardly ever use its super duper features. So what’s the point? The device is very cool, the interface is brilliant, but that doesn’t make it a must have for me. What about you?

 

Me: I’m tempted because I like shiny, pretty things that work properly. And while I’m willing to forgive the foibles of first-version gadgets, it seems that most of the minor glitches affect the gadget’s primary function: telephoning. It would probably be like buying a Nokia phone with a camera for the purpose of taking pictures.  Maybe next year.