Object of desire

Surit Doss of The Telegraph was among six journalists given access by Apple to the iPhone before its launch in India. After “playing around” with “The Object of Desire of 2008”, Doss delivers his verdict.

The wait is over and today, if you are one of the hundreds who have booked the iPhone 3G months ahead, you will be either gloating or showing off.

Priced at Rs 36,100 for the 16GB model and Rs 31,000 for the 8GB by Airtel and Vodafone, the iPhone does not fall short of being The Object of Desire of 2008. Open the box, turn it on and you will behold the stunning sight of a sharp black screen with the most carefully detailed and designed grid of motifs, your touch pad.

Slimmer than half an inch, this 4.5-inch by 2.4-inch beauty literally puts a computer with an always-on Internet connection in your pocket. Curved at the base with a plastic back, it is a snug fit in your palm unlike the aluminium backed, flat first version.

Though pricey, the iPhone 3G is much faster than its predecessor and other smart phones at fetching data over the Internet through EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution). EDGE has speeds up to 384kbps. 3G, when launched in India, will get you data to your phone at a lightning speed of 2Mbps on the move.

After playing around with the iPhone 3G for the last three days, I found the touch screen very sensitive, though typing by touch needed a little getting used to.

One of the motifs turned out to be for the App Store, a goldmine of applications from third party developers. Here I found Touch Train that is helping me get used to touch typing. There is always the option of a stylus for those with stubby fingers for an extra $14.

Another application from the store makes typing long copies a lark. With Writing Pad, I wrote three paragraphs in about just under 5 minutes, something that took me 10 minutes on my BlackBerry, which I am already pretty used to.

The iPhone 3G also makes calls! A gentle tap on the green phone icon will bring out your list of contacts and you can just slide up and down the screen to find the person you want to call. Most frequently called numbers appear as favourites, just like you bookmark a web site. Sound quality is exceptionally good and teleconferencing is the easiest thing to do with its contextual icons.

The best thing about this model is the GPS. Never get lost again. Your position is pinpointed accurately on Google Maps and as you move, a blue dot representing you, moves on the phone, too. You get a clear street view. While other phones use the tower to find your location, this one uses a range of satellites to track you. Unfortunately, driving directions are still lacking and so are traffic conditions. These will come once India is mapped properly by Google.

I found the texting good because you get a thread of messages from the same user, much like you are used to mail in Gmail. Unfortunately, a simple feature like forwarding a message is missing.

For mails, you can use Gmail, Yahoo, Apple’s MobileMe and even VSNL and Dataone. Microsoft Exchange has been included so that companies can use the phone. It lacks Lotus Notes, but you can soon get it as a software update.

Most phones bring out new models to upgrade their features. The beauty of the iPhone 3G is that you will receive software updates as more functions are added over time. There will be no need to change your phone every six months.

My major gripe is that you can’t copy and paste! Again, that will be taken care of by a software update.