A 45min iPhone Hands-On Review

Andy Ihnatko of the Chicago Sun-Times got to spend 45 mintues using the iPhone. His overall conclusion: it’s practically perfect. If you’re interested in the iPhone (who isn’t, right?), his article is worth a read. Below are my 4 primary concerns and thoughts after reading his article:

1. Touchscreen: Apparently, it works flawlessly. I was concerned with how well and accurate it would work. After reading his article, I’m less worried about it. According to Andy, “This is the simplest phone ever” – wow, that’s a big statement. If most consumers feel the same way, then it’ll be very easy for Apple to meet their goal of selling 10 million iPhones in 2008 (read the 3rd to last paragraph).
2. Keyboard: Andy states, “After 30 seconds, I was already typing faster with the iPhone than I ever have with any other phone.” That’s a pretty big statement – ’nuff said.
3. Performance: No lags/hiccups/pauses whatsoever. This was a huge concern of mine – especially, since we don’t know how powerful the processor is. For reference, my T-Mobile Dash uses an Intel ARM processor running at 203Mhz and it can get bogged down when running several apps or running multimedia apps. What processor does the iPhone use? Rumor is Apple is using a Samsung processor at 400Mhz.
4. Cingular Service/Network: I’ve never used Cingular (I’ve only used two cell providers: ATT Wireless and T-Mobile) so I don’t know how good the coverage is in the Boston-area nor do I know how good their EDGE network is. This being said, I have friends using Cingular in the Boston-area and they’re happy with the service. At the end of the day, we all know that surfing the web and the use of data-intensive applications will be slooow – thanks to EDGE.
5. No 3G: I’m still baffled as to why Apple did not include a 3G-capable radio in the iPhone. Heck, Cingular is the only GSM provider in the US that has 3G and the iPhone is exclusively available on Cingular – why not take advanatage of their 3G network? Btw, there are rumors that the 2nd Gen iPhone will have 3G.

Well, this helps answer some of our questions/concerns but will a cell phone w/o any dedicated buttons be right for you? To find out, it looks like we’ll see each other at the nearest Apple Store in June!

Update: Looks like the processor may be an Intel Xscale after all.