TOYS

Huh? What? What'cha lookin' at me for?

Oh, heh, no, that's ok. Sure, I guess I will.

iPhone is pretty cool. I don't want to call it a hybrid device, but it's basically a handheld computer merged with a cell phone. Apple muscling in on Windows CE and Windows Mobile? Yeah, well, way it goes. One-two punch for Motorola? Yeah, with their failed iTunes integrated phones, totally.

But, really, it's too soon to say. It's definitely sexy. First off: touchscreen. I like touchscreens... when attached to a stylus. Finger touchscreens are irritating. You will never be able to keep the screen clean enough. Also of concern is that this is a cell phone... it'll be in pockets and things and true capacitive touchscreens are pretty sensitive to scratched screens. Ask any Palm owner, and check sales of those protective films.

Of course, it could be a RESISTIVE touchscreen. Those are tougher. The DS uses one. Let me tell you, those are irritating without a stylus. I used to service an internet kiosk with a completely touchscreen display. You might still find one of the exact models I serviced still set up in Flippers North. And? Well, the resistive film gets loose over time. It cannot be glued to the surface since the actual contact of the film to the (mostly) transparent mesh is what makes it physically work. So imagine a sheet of plastic wrap extended above a bowl. Freshly done it's great. Now, stress the plastic a few times with light pressure and that springy elasticity wears out. Same thing.

In the end you would see iridescent artifacts on the screen where film wear bunches and flexes in front of the LCD. Since LCDs are precise display devices (unlike CRTs which have, essentially, analog color screens) this will amplify this effect. I'm curious if Apple REALLY solved that. Capacitive touchscreens have always been much preferred for being unable to wear out since they don't have a top loose film.

As far as using a stylus instead of your finger, I doubt it. Looking at the demo on apple.com shows instances where it's really useful to do inputs with two fingers (say, zooming). Now, of course, they could have designed a matte-finish plastic film that will go easy on the fingerprints. BUT as anyone who's had people poke and prod at their laptop screens before will tell you, it ain't perfect.

Now, WiFi is cool. Skype functionality would have been even cooler. Like, use your cell phone features only when you're out of range of a WiFi hotspot. Since it's a full fledged computer with OSX running on it I'd expect apps to be written for this purpose. But it's not official which means you'll never get official support. It's always been the caveat with those kinds of hacks. Unfortunately, the included browser (Safari) is gay. Horrible horrible. Show me some mac guy browsing web sites with Safari and I'll show you either someone who has to do it so they can check their sites for compatibility, or someone who hasn't heard of Mozilla. Again, there probably will be a port but out of the box it might be a little disappointing.

Now, size. 4 Meg or 8 Meg. Obviously it's a pure flash device, but that's really stingy. I mean, this thing can show video, play a bunch of music, AND run apps. I'd go so far as to say the 4 Meg probably won't be very functionally useful. I'll accept that some of the installed stuff is on a separate rom space from the flash, but even then how much space is 4 Meg, really? I've got about 800 songs on my 4 Gig Nano 1st Gen. And it doesn't do video. And it doesn't store all my telephone contacts. And it doesn't have any pictures, particularly any taken with a 2 megapixel camera.

Next, who's it from? Cingular?! No unlocked versions "for years". That's just a slap in the face in my book. Then again, it's Apple. They've never had any problems locking their software to their hardware only. It's a philosophical design, I guess, so it extends to cell carrier. With prices starting at $499 it also seems pretty pricey.

But, hell, the original 5 Gig iPod was that same price. A leap forward? Nah, I won't say that. But give it 5 years and we'll have some really amazing cell phones, I'd wager.

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Wait, what, that wasn't what you were waiting for?

Ok then. I like pumpkin pie. There.