I have to give Apple’s iPhone praise. After 5 months, it’s still my favorite toy. I wasn’t sure if the novelty would wear off, but so far it’s proven to be a fantastic piece of ingenious engineered gadgetry. The sturdiness, the look, the functionality, the coolness factor haven’t faded. Unfortunately, I bought the very first low-end model, the 4 gigabyte iPhone. The memory is already full of MP3s, which is about half of my music library. A device like this could have come with more base memory. Maybe it was Apple’s plan all along - get people hooked, then when they realize 4 gigabytes doesn’t suffice, introduce a 16 gigabyte model for the same price. I won’t buy a new iPhone until version 2.0 is released, however.

I do have a couple more gripes, now that I think about it. First, browsing is slow as molasses. Pages show well, but waiting for them to load is annoying. I suppose this may be due to the fact that the current iPhone uses the G2 network. In 2008, Apple will be releasing a version of the phone which uses the G3 network. Could this be the iPhone 2.0? I haven’t heard anything else about it, but the way Apple is spitting out quality gadgets, I expect the iJesus 2.0 to double as a fully functional GPS and eBook reader, control my garage door, work my home theater and walk my dog.

I’m also not very pleased with the fact that Apple is so adamant about restricting third party applications. I can understand disallowing their phone to work on other networks aside from AT&T, but I see no reason why vendors aren’t allowed to create applications for the iPhone. Aside from these inconveniences, however, I think the iPhone is the best gadget released in 2007 - hands down. It’s set the bar for future mobile phones. It’s a high bar, but with the speed by which mobile technology is advancing, I’m sure something comparable will hit the market in 2008. In fact, it might already have. The LG Voyager from Verizon looks like a iPhone clone with it’s own unique qualities. Expect a review of the Voyager shortly.

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