You don’t need an iPhone. But you might want one. Other phones allow you to do what it does—listen to music, watch video, surf the net, play games, take photos, etc.—but not with the flair and user friendliness that has made Apple the white-hot brand it is today. Just as the iPod did, the iPhone raises the bar in terms of aesthetics—i.e., it looks damn cool. Plus it does things that others can’t, like scan for wifi hotspots and automatically switch from “push” (GPRS) to wifi, which is usually faster and cheaper.
Of course, the iPhone is by no means perfect. The virtual keyboard is far slower and less accurate than a 0-9 keypad equipped with predictive text technology. It’s smart, but can’t recognize when differently formatted numbers are, in fact, the same number (like +662… and 02…). Nor is there a built-in search function for contacts (or, say, song names). Memory is a generous 8GB, but it’s non-expandable. And we’re shocked that the iPhone, which plays video brilliantly, can’t record video.
Another reason not to buy an iPhone—or at least not now—is because your grey market phone won’t be covered by warranty here. Also, if you update the software, you run the risk of turning it into a “brick” (locking it), and you’ll have to take it back to MBK to get it unlocked again (about B1,000).
In the US, the 8GB iPhone retails for US$400 (under B13,000); the asking price at MBK is around B25,000, but it continues to go down regularly.
Based on functionality alone, the iPhone is far from the best mobiile on the market. The serious user can find far more practical top-of-the-line models by Nokia, Blackberry or even Samsung. But that doesn’t mean that Mr. Serious User won’t want an iPhone, maybe to carry around on weekends, in addition to his trusty smartphone.
Specs
H x W x D: 115mm x 61mm x 11.6mm
Weight: 135g
Memory: 8GB
Display: 480x320 pixels (3.5”)
Camera: 2.0 megapixels
Connectivity: Wifi, Edge, Bluetooth
