Are there iPhone problems from Day 1 of its launch?
November 9th 2007 has seen the long awaited launch of the Apple Iphone in the UK and Germany. Is it worth the money (and the hype)? Is it simply style over substance? How does it compare with Nokia's top smartphone? This article gives you an insight into these questions.
What is the iPhone?
The iPhone is a so-called "smart phone". In other words it is, a mobile phone that has a lot more functions than simply making and receiving phone calls.
It is manufactured by Apple Computers and follows on from the success of the iPod as a very sleek and stylish gadget.
The actual product specification is as follows:
2.0 megapixel camera
8GB flash drive
Touch control iPod features
WiFi connectivity/Bluetooth
8 hrs talk time
What's good about the iPhone?
Let's start with the positives.
Aside, from its stunning good looks, the iPhone has a touchpad user interface which is a joy to use. It is child's play to text or e-mail from a contact's details, or to add calendar events and then open web pages from a link in an appointment. By stripping out cluttered menu options Apple has taken out the fear from technology. The programs and features are well laid out and there is none of the usual "hunt the settings" scenario that accompanies most phones.
The iPhone contains a fully featured iPod with a wide-screen iPod (320x480, 160ppi) supporting playback movies, videos, music, TV shows. It syncs with iTunes. The touch screen user interface lets the user flick between album cover art, or artists, genres and playlists.
The iPhone is driven by an underlying operating system, based on Mac OS X. It is very robust and relatively crash free. It has built-in Google Maps software is also really useful.
What's not so good about the iPhone?
The camera that comes with the iPhone is a major letdown. It offers a measly two megapixels and while the sensor in the phone is decent, images are often poor quality unless shot in direct sunlight. Most digital cameras these days shoot video also. This feature simply doesn't exist on the iPhone.
The iPhone is a 2G device and not 3G. Anyone expecting to use the phone to surf websites or access content over the mobile network will be in for a shock. Graphics and picture-heavy websites take an age to load. But RSS feeds and mobile-friendly websites (such as news.bbc.co.uk/mobile) load quite quickly over the 2G Edge network that O2 offers. Sadly, O2's Edge network only covers 30% of the country so if you are not in a major urban area, you will experience painfully slow data connections.
Other disappointing features of the iPhone include:
Its battery can last as little as 4 hours even though it has 2 built-in batteries. Therein lies another problem. If anything goes wrong with the batteries any repairs will be very expensive and time consuming.
The phone also lacks the ability to sync data - such as calendar details and contacts - wirelessly, either through short-range Bluetooth or over the mobile network.
For a phone which boasts of being an internet communicator it lacks features such as instant messaging (IM) and voice over IP.
It has a very fiddly texting system. You would expect more from the sleek touchpad.
Best Nokia iPhone alternative?
Although the iPhone is without doubt, the most hyped of its kind, there are several fully featured alternatives to the iPhone. Nokia is the phone name we have all come to trust in the past, for its chunky workhorse.They have now launched the feature rich and rather cool N95.
Its spec is as follows:
Built-in GPS
5 megapixel camera (including video)
Carl Zeiss Optics
Digital music player - supports MP3/AAC/M4A/WMA with playlists.
Stereo FM radio - 87.5-108MH
Talk time: up to 205 min - WCDMA, up to 305 min - GSM
This phone contains a superb camera and also the facility to shoot video.
It also contains a GPS system so can be used as a Sat Nav (on subscription). This has not proved as reliable as a standalone Sat Nav, with signal coverage being a problem. So this feature may be of limited value.
There have also been complaints about the short battery life (which is replaceable unlike the iPhone). However, in many cases this has been remedied by ensuring that the battery is fully dishcarged before re-charging.
To buy or not to buy?
There's no doubt that the iPhone is the self-proclaimed "Sultan of Style"of smart(ish) phones. It has already become the "must have" gadget for many a self-respecting geek. Is it worth the money though? That entirely depends upon your budget. However, if you buy now you may be buying into the beta version, which could be replaced by the new-improved version in 12 months time. For all its flaws, the iPhone is great fun if nothing else!
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