Apple iPhone

When he announced the iPhone , Steve Jobs said to expect three things: "an incredibly great cell phone," "the best iPod we've ever made," and "the Internet in your pocket." One out of three isn't bad. Yes, the iPhone is the best iPod ever—ironic for something not even called an iPod! But it's just a plain lousy phone, and although it makes some exciting advances in handheld Web browsing, it's not the Internet in your pocket

Maybe nothing could have lived up to the "Jesus-phone" hype, but only Apple is to blame for pumping up expectations well beyond what any Version 1.0 product has delivered in the history of mankind, including "fire" and "the wheel." The iPhone is just that, version 1.0. Even though it could be seen as Generation Six of the iPod, it's Apple's first phone. Its interface innovations have already spurred the rest of the mobile phone industry into imitative action, and there's enough here to show that Apple will be a real leader with future products.

Let's celebrate the iPhone first: it's a marvelous iPod. No one will miss the scroll wheel, despite the fact that it was once the greatest tactile control panel ever designed. Once you've messed around with the easiest-to-use, best-looking player interface currently available, your old iPod will seem like a quaint relic from a time when people expected less from their gadgets. This is the best portable multimedia player we've seen—albeit, with relatively low capacities of 4GB or 8GB of non-upgradable flash memory.

The seamless integration of the Internet, iPod, Maps, Phone, and email functions flaunted in the commercials is no exaggeration. The iPhone is intuitive, interconnected, and impossible to get lost in—just hit the home button to get to the main screen. The price tag may be ridiculously high, but it could be reasonably argued that this beauty may actually be worth every penny. Excellent technology isn't cheap.

But the iPhone isn't called the iPod With Phone. It's the iPhone and, put simply, it isn't a very good phone. Call quality was the worst we've heard on a high-end device in years. We're not going to put that on AT&T, either: our Blackberry Curve made much clearer calls at the same time, in the same place. Reception leaves something to be desired. It's complicated to dial, difficult to send text messages on, and missing all sorts of features that are basically assumed to be in most high-end multimedia phones nowadays.

To be fair, the iPhone Internet experience is loads of fun. It's not quite "the Internet in your pocket," however. It displays HTML pages gorgeously (even over EDGE!) but the Internet is now loaded up with Javascript, Java, Flash, streaming media and other plug-ins. The iPhone can't hit many of these rich experiences—so while the browser is the best a phone has ever had, it's not desktop-quality and some sites are off-limits.

SPEC DATA :

• Music Playback Formats: AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, Audible, MP3, WAV
• Megapixels: 2 MP
• Storage Capacity: 8 GB
• Video Formats: MPEG4
• Video Recording: No
• Audio Battery Life: 24 Hr
• Dimensions: 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches
• Player Type: Flash MP3 Player
• Radio: No
• Recording, Line In: No
• Bluetooth: Yes
• Bands: 850, 900, 1800, 1900
• Camera: Yes
• High-Speed Data: GPRS, EDGE
• Operating System: Mac OS X
• Network: GSM
• Service Provider: AT&T
• Web Browser: Yes
• Screen Details: 160 dpi LCD display
• Screen Resolution: 480 x 320 pixels
• Screen Size: 3.5 inches
• Special Features: Music
• Video Battery Life: 2.8 Hr
• Weight: 4.8 oz
• Notes: Price: 4GB ($499); 8GB ($599)