Cell phone technology has seen a vast range of improvements and changes in its relatively short-lived existence; from gargantuan “portable” sets to modern smart phones that nearly make those required monthly phone calls to the ‘rents without any bidding, many are wondering what the next step in development will be. I can safely say the next greatest leap will be taken by Apple’s iPhone, and it will do so by taking what is now complicated business smart-phone technology and making it liveable to the common man.

There are a few key factors that make a cell phone a milestone achievement in the market: presentation, features, and reliability. Interestingly enough, most groundbreaking cell phones to date have had off-balanced combinations of the above attributes; very rarely has one cell phone successfully rolled all those into one beautiful cell phone dough, if you will.

Take the ever-popular Motorola RAZR, for example. A beautiful case design, nifty keyboard, and pocket-friendly size gained it acclaim across the world; external display, camera, Blu-tooth, and applications made it the most well-rounded and most appealing phone on the market. However, Motorola’s operating system was plagued by lag-time and errors, forcing those who desired steady and fast performance to look elsewhere.

On the other hand, smart phones such as Blackberries and Treo’s represent a new breed of cell phone: cross-platform integration with WiFi, Blu-tooth, email, messaging, and synchronizing applications make the cell phone a distinctly different tool. Unfortunately, ugly presentation with bulky cases, monstrous size (comparably) and aesthetically distasteful look-at-me-and-my-huge-holster designs detract from the appeal most normal consumers desire. Also, many normal consumers don’t find the utilities and tools in smart phones easy to use; excluding business executives, learning synchronization and integration presents a detestable obstacle to full use of smart phones.

There is quite a gap that now exists between the easily-used normal cell phone and the overly-complicated and bulky smart phone. It has become painfully obvious to me that I am not the first to follow this line of thought, as Apple is prepared to release a cell phone that will not only dominate looks, performance, and reliability, but will offer even more just to push the iPhone even further ahead of the leading competitors.

Here’s the breakdown of how the iPhone stacks up in each category:

1. Presentation: a case design taking elements from the iPod and the PSP, the iPhone presents either a standard long-screen display or a widescreen approach for different features. Reasonable in dimensions, impressive in thickness, and just damned sexy in shape, the iPhone bridges the gap between cell phone and smart phone…and adds a bridge to the media player arena. Small enough to function well in the pocket, large enough to benefit from a large screen, and sexy enough to impress your friends, the iPhone’s presentation will (and already has) changed the market forever. The one controversial subject regarding the design
2.Features: the one point any iPhone critic will not debate with you (or at least would be foolish to) are the iPhone’s features. Including a widescreen video and audio player, the largest hard drive for media in any cell phone to date, an impressive camera, WiFi, video voicemail, a competitor-slaying version of OS X and much more, the iPhone touts more muscle in features than anything on the market, period. If you want the full list of features, visit Apple’s website; my fingers grow weary just dreading the task of typing them all here.

On the integration front, the iPhone will be the easiest cell phone to date in regards to integration. Including the obvious Blu-tooth and Wifi functionalities, the iPhone’s version of OS X will integrate seamlessly to Mac computers, redefining ease of use for normal consumers. Soon consumers will be able to transition their schedules, address books, etc. from their computers to their phones, and that is something of which most normal users only dream.
3. Reliability: If there is one operating system known for reliability and friendliness, it is OS X (lets save the “Linux will one day rule supreme” debate for another article). iPhone users can expect speed, security, and ease from when the turn on their iPhone for the first time until it is put to rest…and who’s to say it ever has to?

Though many might feel that the iPhone isn’t right for them, I can guarantee at some point those very individuals will choose a cell phone later down the road that was impacted by the revolutionary tool that is the iPhone. One day very soon, everyone will recognize Apple’s vision behind the iPhone and recognize its hand in taking cell phones to the next level.

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Entry was posted on Sunday, May 6th, 2007 at 2:27 pm under Apple, Leopard, Mac, iPhone, iPod.  Print This Post

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