Apple's iPhone: The Future is Here
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 2, 2007 6:13 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
YouTube
Apple's iPhone doesn't have a Flash plugin, which means no watching videos on YouTube among other things. Given the popularity of YouTube, Apple worked with Google to include a custom YouTube application for the iPhone that plays H.264 encoded YouTube content.
The entire YouTube library isn't available for viewing on the iPhone, but all new content added will be available in an Apple TV/iPhone compatible H.264 format while older content is slowly being converted.
The YouTube interface on the iPhone is just as clean and elegant as the rest of the applications; you can search for YouTube videos, view the most popular or featured videos. Unfortunately there's no way to browse channels or if you've found a particular video, to view everything by that member.
The quality of the videos depends on whether you are on WiFi or Edge. On WiFi, you get a higher quality H.264 stream while on Edge the quality is noticeably worse (honestly it looks the same or a little worse than .flv YouTube you get on the web).
YouTube over Edge, ugh
YouTube over WiFi, mmm
As you'd expect, streaming over WiFi is fast but performance over the Edge network is actually reasonable if you've got full signal strength.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
85 Comments
View All Comments
EODetroit - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Holy Comprehensive Review Batman! That took most of my morning at work, good thing its practically a holiday here already.Now my question is:
How many poop pictures has Anand received from the A-Tech staff?
Haha
Shimmishim - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Yes. It was a good read. One of the best reviews of any piece of hardware (computer or consumer related) I've read in a long time.Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Thanks guys :)And no, zero poop-pictures from AT staff.
Take care,
Anand
LoneWolf15 - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
While not perfect as a product either, Anandtech completely skipped any Palm Treo devices for this comparison. The Treo has done SMS by contact for some time now, just as you have mentioned the iPhone does (I've had it on both the 650p and 750p; I'm sure the new 755p does as well). While I have some issues with Palm support as far as their product goes, I still haven't seen a smartphone that can do better --I blame this at least in part due to carrier wars and desire for control (i.e., crippled Bluetooth, not adding WiFi, so carriers can make you pay for everything through them), rather than blaming cell phone manufacturers.Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
There were a number of products I would've liked to have included, but I was very limited by time so I tried to shoot for two of the most popular: the Curve and the Blackjack. I've already dropped Nokia an email but I'll do the same for Palm and see what comes of it :)Take care,
Anand
retrospooty - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Ya, quite alot of things like that the Treo has done, and done well for a long time now, all that and an open platform. The issue is the latest Treo is, 4 years later, still the same repackaged Treo, with a few minor upgrades. The iPhone is by far the best UI, and that alone will be its saving grace, and its legacy on the industry. A few years from now, REAL smartphone manufacturers will copy the UI and improve everything, and do it cheaply, and on all carriers. That is the best thing about the iPhone.LoneWolf15 - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Actually, in 4 years, the Treo added Bluetooth (the first 600p didn't have it), EVDO (the iPhone has only EDGE, which has been rated far slower, and slowest when provided by AT&T/Cingular, the single carrier of the iPhone), an SD card slot (600p didn't have one), and several other features.As I said, the Treo isn't perfect. And I think the UI of the iPhone is pretty spiffy, plus I'll bet it has the best web browser of any phone on the market. But I don't think I could do without a real (by real I mean tactile) QWERTY keyboard (I rely on text messages for work, since cell reception can be spotty in a reinforced concrete building), I like having EVDO support, and I like the fact that I can choose from Sprint, T-Mobile, Alltel, Verizon, or AT&T Cingular for a Treo (AT&T/Cingular has little or no reception in my work area, so it nixes any thought of an iPhone, and by my understanding, they have a five-year exclusive agreement with Apple). And I can get a Treo for a few hundred less as well.
I want to like the iPhone. Unfortunately, Apple set conditions of pricing and carrier that mean I'll never find out how good a phone it might really be.
sviola - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Not only the Palm Treo, but the Nokia N95, which is just awesome:In-built GPS and Navigation Program (over 100+ countries maps)
5 MP Camera with Zeiss Lens and Optical Zoom, and Video Recording
Symbian OS
Plays MP3, video, etc
Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB, TV out
Quadriband GSM/WCDMA (3G)
MicroSD Card Reader
Among many other features.
rowcroft - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
The iPhone looks great, but the big gotcha for me is that I routinely use my 8525 to access the internet on my laptop. Can't do that with the iPhone from what I understand.As for all the comparisons to Verizon & such, if you look at the total cost of ownership (Verizon's data plan is significantly more expensive), the iPhone is just a few dollars cheaper than the Blackjack w/Verizon.
Locutus465 - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
I've got a Samsung i720 with verizon... For a "last gen" PDA phone priced at just $100 brand new from verizon when I got it, it's pretty sweet. Admitingly the display isn't quite as good as apples, but as far as functionality it does everything the iPhone does and more. I also appriciate the sliding screen with which reveals a keyboard. There's also the other advanatages I mentioned earlier, i.e. Windows Mobile being open to 3rd party development etc.