Xblog

From a hardware perspective, there really isn’t much that’s exciting about the iPhone. It’s features match up pretty well with my 6700 (the 6700 doesn’t do 802.11g, the 6700 is CDMA and can use Sprint’s EV-DO data service, its camera’s resolution is somewhat lower, and the 6700 has a mini-SD slot).

The form factor is different. The iPhone is slimmer, and in order to achieve that it gives up the slide out keyboard (which is really nice). That’s an interesting trade off, but one that other manufacturers have gone with, although I think Apple is the first to completely eschew any kind of keypad.

The user interface is different. If there is anything innovative about this phone, it’s going to be the UI, but of course multi finger touch screens aren’t exactly new. I’m not sure what exactly Apple has “patented the hell out of”, but I could see where this could prove to be a killer feature.

Personally, a stylus is a nice way to avoid fingerprints on my screen, but otherwise it would be nice to throw it away. Still, the PPC-6700 is currently available with $100 manufacturer’s rebate, which makes it roughly 2/3 the price of the iPhone, and also suggests there will be a new model out shortly, and this is months before iPhone even launches.

Compared to the options available for WinCE phones, the iPhone seems kind of lacking to me. The only asset it really has is that it isn’t marketed by Microsoft, who have done a horrid job promoting WinCE phones.