I stopped at the local mall's Apple store. I was impressed that they had over 10 units on display for people to play with, not just dummy phones. It was powered, connected to the AT&T network and also WiFi. I could make calls, surf the Net. That experience at the store itself can sell units. Usually when you walk into a cellular store, you have dummy units and you cannot play with it. You have to take one home and figure it out on your own.
Regarding the unit - overall comment - it is a "revolutionary browser and iPod." It definitely has the computer guts which is well hidden. Works well for consumers, but not for power users. It has a slick-fluid interface, which is responsive. The touch experience takes a bit getting used to and there can be false clicks or no clicks. I can see why Meredith on the Today Show had problem answering the call. It could be a bug also. In fact the first unit that I picked up was frozen, I was wondering why the guy in front of me was not changing the screen, when I picked it up I realized why. Believe it or not (luckily) I knew how to reset the unit.
I am sure the store folks would have helped me out. Overall it does seem like there are some UI bugs here and there, but they would be hopefully fixed.
Browser: Is the best part. I was simply amazed at the rendering. On WiFi it was pretty good. I would say faster than pIE.
Its ability to render the pages in its true glory is indeed impressive for that formfactor. I think UMPC's should feel threatened. Especially Nokia's tablet browser thing a majig. While using Google maps, the browser choked and died. But the ability to have multiple tabs or pages is great. The pinch works pretty well. And yes it is slow as anything else on EDGE.
iPod: Cover flow is a vee-bit slow to load but once on, it is smooth. I am not much of a music person, so didn't play much. But still pretty neat from an eye-candy perspective.
Camera and its App: The camera browser is neat, works like advertised. I could see that the photo I took was grainy but that was store lighting. I would not expect much from camera anyway.
Phone: The most cumbersome, no smart filter. The dial pad is not visible always. But is pretty and pretty user friendly.
Keyboard: The landscape layout works the best. The vertical layout is tough. I spent close to 5 minutes and was getting a hang. The trick is to experiment with how you touch. Thumb typing is tricky but do-able. But I am sure it will be slow. Error correction is good.
Overall I think Apple has delivered on what they claim. Is it worth the hype? It is a unique product. The price makes it even more unique. I can see that the browser technology will put pressure on BB, Microsoft, Nokia to innovate and improve. I "cannot" think of switching to it. This is because it does not handle Exchange server, it is not extensible, it cannot be personalized. The apps on it cannot be replaced for powerful version. Overall Apple has the unit locked down. I don't want to use a device where someone else decides what is good for me. Apple does what the claim pretty well. But there are gaps and opportunity to improve. I can see ordinary phone user who want music and browser switching to it, if they have money. But not me. That said, I would want Microsoft to get their act together for the next WinMo release and improve:
- user interface, make it responsive and fluid
- browser (I am seriously in love with the browser on Apple's product)
- music player
- overall ease of use, better graphics and hiding the menu items that maybe few people use (remember how Office hid menus, it was annoying but might work on the phone where the screen real estate is precious. also non-power-users will not be intimidated.)
I think Apple just created a smart phone for consumer segment. While BB, Microsoft, Palm are in the enterprise and power user segment.
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