Just got done reading this review. Unlike some of the other half and quarter reviews. This one answers a lot of questions and is very fair and detailed. It tells you the good and the bad. I've been reading reviews from these guys for years and they have always been honest and thorough.

http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3027

So I got some hands on time with the iPhone as well.

The screen resolution might be lower than the N800 but it's browsing experience is far superior to what's offered on the tablets. The text is much more legible, scrolling is perfect, and to quote others on the board, "Apple just gets it".

It is SO much easier to navigate sites, it makes the zoom buttons on the N800 look rather paltry. If you visit sites with heavy CSS like Ars Technica, you'll find it that the double tapping for zoom and finger scrolling knocks it out of the park.

Not only that, the rich email client that performs very well when within range of a wifi access point. It has a perfect YouTube interface, and the widget apps are decent as well.

I hate to say it, but Apple's programming genius embarrasses Nokia's internet tablet efforts.

Yes it doesn't support flash yet, but all its good for these days is banner ads and homestarrunner. Even then, Steve Jobs said in a recent interview that Flash support is being considered (likely means its coming).

It won't please everyone, but you're looking at a device that has near perfect text entry, battery life (7-9 hours of browsing or video!!!), browser, email and ipod. Focused on a small set of features, Apple delivered an amazing product. I expect the kinks and deficiencies to be worked out in firmware updates, I can't wait to see what they'll do.

Have you ever heard of a bluetooth headset? Would think that'd be rather private. And with evdo rev A on the horizon and the newest crop of smartphones, what you're complaining about will be a non issue (ideally). And the fact that you make an argument of something that might happen 2% of the time the average (and many above-average) user uses his/her device is just laughable. I can pick out just about any device and pick it apart for some scenario that just rarely happens.

As for the iphone, it has flash, but not a lot of substance. The UI is a nice step above the average phone or smartphone. I played around with one for about an hour as one of my docs just ditched his 700p for it. I told him he'd be sorry, but for the time being he was all caught up in the landscape to portrait switching and the slick graphics like going to album cover mode when switching to landscape in itunes. He knows that will wear off, and he knows he'll be missing some of his basic pda functionality he took for granted. That on screen keyboard left a lot to be desired. As the poster mentioned above, the web is very graphic and silky smooth to roam about. It renders pages very well and is way beyond any browsing I've done on all platforms of smartphones and my brief time (a few hours) on the 770. The test messaging in bubbles has a neat factor to it.

It's extremely lightweight from a PIM sort of view. It's completely WYSIWYG. The ability to customize and add-on or even subtract just isn't there. They cripple it like they cripple the ipod. But it isn't a smartphone, and all the people that ditch their smartphones for it will complain and be unhappy after all the glitz and glamour wears off. I'd never leave a smartphone for it be it WM, BB or Palm.

For those that are just venturing into all the functionality, I'm sure they'll be happy campers. It was a fun little toy to play around with, and I'm sure it'll have it's place in the market. At the very least it will push other manufacturers to innovate a bit on their next go around. Then they'll add some glitz to the substance. iPhone will do just the opposite (one would hope) and competition will continue.

As for its text input. I can't agree with the above poster. I typed on it for quite a bit. I just can't see it becoming intuitive. I can type on my treo without looking at it after awhile. I can do it easily while driving and not always look down at it. I can't see doing that on the iphone without physical keys. If I'm staring at it, great. The predictive and intuitive parts of it are helpful, but I doubt it would ever completely replace physical keys.

Just my humble opinion.

It really scares me to read the number of people who are admitting to typing and driving. What the **** is wrong with you people? I've been rear ended twice by people ****ing with their phones. You guys really need to cut that **** out.

What I found particularly funny is that, after watching a video on the "earth-shattering" user interface of the iPhone (<spit!>), my first reaction was: "But -- but -- I have almost all that already on my desktop".

You see, all I did, a while back, was install a Firefox plugin, called "Grab and Drag". Everything the iPhone (<spit!>) does, minus the pathetic two-finger-zoom, can be done with that lowly Firefox plugin.

Some programming genius indeed. All Jobs did was steal a Firefox plugin from 2005, make it a system plugin and called it innovation.

You can't use the iPhone for alot of things without it being activated AFAIK. Eg. the ipod app.

You're not supposed to do be able to do so. That doesn't stop people. Alternatively, you can take the risk and try deactivating it within 30 days, which by contract won't get the early deactivation keys... but good luck dealing with AT&T right now.

I personally wouldn't see the point in paying 500 or 600 USD for an 8gig portable media player, particularly with Archos coming out with the 5th gen models soon, but whatever works for you.

You can also get a pre-paid subscription where they give you an activation code. Once the phone is active, you can simply throw the sim card away and use the iPod and wifi features.

Karl, I know that you know that your comparison is not fair.

I love that you find a good implementation of grab and drag offensive. All apple does is take good ideas and implement them correctly. It's not their fault everyone else sucks at refinement.

The n800 <Spit!> after 7 months still kinda blows. No wonder Apple already sold 1 million iphones. I can't even use the fullscreen keyboard in opera after all this time... what a joke.

I want to stick with this IT but its a terrible mess of bugs and quirks.


Edit:

Sorry for being so negative. I hope that our next firmware refines things a bit. But I still find the Linux evangelists more annoying that Mac heads. Karel, whats with the <spit!> crap. Apple just came and rocked the pants off Nokia's attempt at an internet communicator. Hopefully it is what lit the fire under their asses.

And so what if it was done on some Firefox plugin in 2005... its useless on a desktop, The iPhone implemented it where its actually useful. Everyone wants a "desktop" browsing experience, so you knock them for making it happen? You make zero sense.

Their "innovation" is in actually making stuff useful. Innovation is not a buggy mess that relies on open source to fill in painfully gaping holes in their product. And if you didn't even load anything on the N800... the built apps are terrible. Opera is out of date and can't render Web 2.0 stuff. The email client is useless. I'd say the only nice thing on the IT is Google Talk.

7 months ago the tablet came out. Why is there text entry issues in Opera still? Its a crippling bug.