Apple iPhone Reviews And Shortcomings

I think there are two types of people in the world right now. Those that are dying to buy an iPhone and everyone else who doesn’t want to hear one more thing about it. But, no matter where you fall in those categories you should take a moment to read some of the reviews and hear about its short comings as the iPhone is a very significant product that will change the entire cell phone industry.

David Pogue posted a video review of the iPhone for the New York Times. He calls it revolutionary but criticizes AT&T Wireless Edge Network. He also said that it “..matches most of its hype.”

Walt Mossberg reviewed the iPhone for the Wall Street Journal and called it a “…beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer…” but also had some negative things to say about AT&T Wireless service as well:

As of now, Engadget has the best compilation of all the critical facts that have been unearthed about the iPhone:

• The mobile version of OS X or whatever it is the iPhone runs takes up 700MB of the device’s capacity. Damn son!
• There’s no way to cut, copy, or paste text! WHOA! Big, big mistake.
• No A2DP support. That, friends, is such a huge bummer right there.
• Sorry, music can’t be used as a ringtone — even if it’s just a raw MP3. No additional ringtones will be sold at launch.
• On a PC the iPhone syncs with Outlook for calendars AND addresses! Noice.
• It supports Exchange in some capacity, according to Walt, but he doesn’t exactly say how.
• Pogue again confirms document file reading — but not editing — for PDF, Word, and Excel (only).
• Adobe Flash support is officially out. It’s just not in the browser. Neither is there any other kind of embedded video support. Sorry everybody, that’s that.
• It will take snaps, but won’t record video. How can Apple love YouTube as much as it does and not realize cellphone-shot movies make up a sizeable chunk of the crazy crap you find on there?

More after the break!

• Oh, and no MMS. And sorry, no voice dialing, either.
• Contact groups can’t be emailed as contact lists.
• Apple sez between 300-400 charges the iPhone will lose battery capacity — you’ll send it in and get the cell replaced for a fee. Meh. We knew this would be the case, but still, meh.
• Apple can (and supposedly will) be rolling out periodic updates — no surprise there.
• Battery life is, somehow, almost as mind-blowingly good as Apple claims for calls, music, and movies.
• As we suspected, users are prompted with lists of WiFi networks if you’re not nearby a trusted hotspot. We’ve seen this on other phones, and we’re afraid this would get friggin annoying.
• It’s said to be very scratch resistant. The facade both front and rear apparently just doesn’t pick up marring like regular iPods do.
• Voice quality is said to be good — not great.

I think it has just as many negatives as positives however there is an important factor that many of the reviews are glossing over or not mentioning at all. Despite the iPhone’s flaws it seems to be better than the current crop of smart phones no matter how you look at it.

If the iPhone has any fatal flaw or what could be a deal killer for some is that it’s exclusive to AT&T. The Edge Network doesn’t seem speedy enough for all the features of the iPhone and some are questioning if AT&T can handle the 1 million iPhones Apple is hoping to sell this year.

To make matters worse AT&T doesn’t even operate in all 50 states and won’t allow you to purchase it if you’re in one of the unlucky states.

What do you think? Will you be buying an iPhone or are you content with your old Verizon or T-Mobile phone?

[iPhone facts from the first reviews]

[tags]AT&T Wireless, AT T Wireless, AT&T, iPhone, Apple iPhone[/tags]