Apple's iPhone: The Future is Here
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 2, 2007 6:13 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
4GB vs. 8GB
You see, I'm on a never-ending quest to have access to all of my content, on any device, at any time, anywhere. The iPhone is a stop on the road to convergence perfection, and as such you have to think about it as much more than a phone. I made the mistake of looking at it as an iPod, figuring that I take around 4GB of music with me in my car so a 4GB iPhone should suffice.
My mistake was in discounting exactly how many pictures I'd throw on this thing; my initial iPhoto sync had around 700MB of pictures stored on the phone, and after seeing how well the iPhone works as a picturebook I wanted to add more. The problem is that there's simply not enough room on the 4GB iPhone for all the music and pictures I'd like to store, thus making a strong argument for the 8GB iPhone.
I would caution you against underestimating the importance of more storage on the phone; initially I scoffed at the idea of spending an extra $100 on the 8GB iPhone, this thing will probably be obsolete in another year anyways once the 3G version comes out, so why bother spending more? The mistake comes in that you can't view the iPhone the way you do any other phone you've ever owned. Coming from years of Blackberries, the decision between 4GB and 8GB is like asking a homeless guy whether he wanted an Enzo or Veyron, it's so out there that it was unfathomable.
If you have any music/photo library at all I would strongly encourage you not to make the same mistake I did and opt for the 8GB version instead.
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CaptainDDL - Monday, July 2, 2007 - link
Could you take a picture of what the iPhone shows when you're trying to connect to a secure Wi-Fi connection? Thanks.slashbinslashbash - Monday, July 2, 2007 - link
Love the Group X reference.And once again Anand reminds me why I read Anandtech and don't really visit any other tech sites. He covers everything I want to know in a way that other reviewers can't.
It's strange but I guess understandable that the iPhone doesn't use AIM/iChat/etc. AT&T (and any other carrier for that matter) would rather not have the iPhone than give up the lucrative SMS plans. But I doubt it will be long before there's a web-based AJAXy AIM client that will run beautifully on the iPhone and only use the data plan, not SMSes.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
I'm glad people got the reference and didn't just think that there was something horribly wrong with me :)I don't want a web based AIM client, I want AIM support from Apple in the same fashion as SMS support on the iPhone. Dammit Steve, you know it'd be awesome.
Take care,
Anand
Zirconium - Monday, July 2, 2007 - link
I don't want Apple's iPhone, I just want BANG BANG BANG!!!frank5592 - Monday, July 2, 2007 - link
get to top of web page by double tapping the gray top menu barVery helpful for long web pages
Great review, very impressive work and by far the best review of the iphone
BTW, typing this on iphone safari and noticing that predictive typing is some what slow and does not always show up
Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Thanks for the tip and the comment, I've updated the review :)Take care,
Anand
Chaotic42 - Monday, July 2, 2007 - link
Seriously, this was an *excellent* review. I don't even have a cell phone and I couldn't have cared less about the iPhone before I read this, but I was bored. This answered every question that I or anyone I've talked to about the phone has had, and it was a great read. It makes me want one now.*Very* well done, Anand.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Thank you so much for your kind post, there's no better feeling than pouring a lot of work into an article and getting a response like that. Thanks again :)Take care,
Anand
Dennis Travis - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Agreed, your iPhone review was totally outstanding. You covered everything and then some and took the time to explain each feature in a way that anyone can understand.Another great review Anand. Told me everything I wanted to know about the iPhone.
michael2k - Monday, July 2, 2007 - link
It sounds like you will want an iPhone if:1) You have $600
2) You like the iPod
3) You like Star Trek: The Next Generation
The only thing missing is voice recognition! And flexible roll up displays.