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Provides: Cellular communications, web browsing, e-mail, photo/video viewing, music playing, and more

Developer: Apple, Inc.

Minimum Requirements: AT&T wireless plan, iTunes v7.3

Retail Price: 4GB - $499.99; 8GB - $599.99; AT&T rate plans begin at $60.00/month

Availability: Out now

This is a difficult product for me to review, mainly because it's already been covered so heavily that my comments will seem redundant. Reviewing the iPhone is like reviewing Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band; everyone knows of its importance and of what makes it so great. What more can I add?

Then there's the fact that I'm not a cell phone guy. Indeed, I still call them cell phones instead of "mobile" phones. Before the iPhone, I only had a Virgin Mobile pay-as-you go thing, and rarely did I ever "go." If I called someone twice a month on it, I was doubling my use from the previous month. My life is blessed, I guess, in that I have no burning need to call people when I'm not at home or at work, and—more importantly—that people have no burning need to call me.

So, the iPhone. Cellular calls. AT&T. Three rate plans. Burgle, burgle. Any of you who have used cell phones before and compared the rate plans are more qualified than I am to discuss this. When I got my iPhone, I looked at the cheapest rate. $60 a month (quote a hike from $20 every three months with Virgin Mobile) for 450 minutes plus 5,000 nights/weekends minutes. 5,450 minutes? Do I talk that much a month in phone/face-to-face conversations combined? I must, because the high end plan offers 1,350 minutes plus unlimited nights and weekends. Wow. I also get 200 SMS text messages. The high-end plan offers the same, but you can get more if you're willing to pay more. I'll be lucky if use 200 by Christmas, but the guy who I have bothered to text thus far—my writing partner down on Florida—tells me he could go through 200 in one weekend. I'm guessing the norm falls somewhere between us.

A look beyond this, though, reveals why the iPhone made a user out of me: Unlimited data/web. I no longer have a laptop computer, as I can't at this point in my life justify the cost simply to play a game or occasionally have the convenience to get some work done away from home. Many people need them, I don't. But, I do like to have access to the web. With the iPhone, I can not only view the web from just about anywhere, but I can do so easily from within a familiar user interface (Safari). Case in point, while driving into Cleveland for the Stan Ridgway concert a few weeks back, I asked my brother if there's an opening act. He didn't know. Our friend, Rob, went to call the club, but couldn't remember the phone number. I got out my cell phone and, instead of calling directory assistance, went right to the Beachland Ballroom's website and found the information on their home page. No extra charge for that, and no wasted minutes.

And let me tell you how great it'll be to check Seahawks scores from any location this season. Actually, not just scores, but to log onto the Seahawks forums to get reaction from fans watching the game as it progresses. Much, much better than just getting score updates "texted" to you from time to time. Unfortunately, if the iPhone can't find a WiFi connection (it searches each time you pull it up and lists those available to you), connection speeds tend to be very slow.

Although getting around the web is easy on the iPhone, getting around Safari isn't. Although you can add favorites, there's no logical bookmarking system. The ability to open extra browser windows is nice so you can shuffle between them (browser tabs wouldn't really work here), but the feature could be cleaned up. I'd like to be able to set a preference that not only goes to a specified page each time I open the browser (as opposed to opening the last viewed page), but to maybe also open a list of previously set pages I'd like to visit. Not favorites, mind you, as I could have 50 pages in there, but a preset list of three or four logical starting pages.

Moving around the browser by sliding my finger around the screen is very intuitive, as is growing and shrinking the images. In fact, I found it easier to learn how to use the iPhone interface for nearly all functions than I did to simply retrieve message on the old Virgin Mobile phone. This is important, considering all of the features the iPhone packs in. I never bothered to program much of a contact list into my old phone because by the time I got to the entries, I could have the phone number I wanted looked up elsewhere. Here, the numbers I didn't quickly sync with Address Book were entered in a matter of minutes...photo icon and all (taken with the iPhone's camera, from iPhoto, etc.). Retrieving them is just as easy. Calling someone in your list is a matter of pressing three buttons. It's so easy, in fact, that I called a couple people on accident while learning the interface.

There's been a lot of talk regarding the on-screen keyboard, and I guess that makes sense. If you're used to a Blackberry style keyboard, this one will throw you. I, however, had little problem with it. I quickly realized I was accidentally hitting the key to the right of the one I wanted with my right thumb, and to the left with my left thumb. So, I now overcompensate; reach a bit further in than it seems I should with either thumb, and my accuracy has been fine. At least, I think it's fine. As I've said, I have no benchmark for my phone typing accuracy.

Because my typing speed's okay, I've found myself using e-mail more than expected. In fact, where most would just text someone, I usually send an e-mail, instead, as it's free in the basic plan. Hooking up to my .mac account was very easy, and that's good, because I have yet to figure out how to send/receive e-mails with my other accounts, and they're already AT&T! The tips at Apple's website haven't been of any use, and the settings I use in Mail and PowerMail on my home and office Macs don't work on the iPhone.

I haven't been using my iPhone solely for web use, though. Immediate access to the weather has been great, as I've programmed in the four locations that matter to me most: home, work, the kids' grandparents', and Seattle (for Seahawks game day forecasts). I'll admit I haven't used the direct YouTube connection aside from showing it off to others, and I don't care to follow any stocks...aren't I paying professionals to do that for me? I'd love to have the ability to just get those icons off my interface, which I'm assuming will happen as Apple and possibly other developers add widgets that can replace them. There are many Dashboard Widgets on my iMac that would be of more use on my iPhone than they are on the computer.

Calendar syncing is handy and very easy to use. I like that I can specify which calendars to sync, but I'm mystified as to why my to do list can't be imported in any form. I have an old Handspring Visor I still carry around even though I haven't been able to sync it with the computer for a couple years simply because I need to have a to do list. I was hoping the iPhone would rid my reliance on the Visor, but no. This is a curious omission by Apple, and one that leads me to believe some other program is on its way. Indeed, the to do list feature in iCal has always felt like more of an afterthought, anyway. Surely, Apple plans to do better.

I have to talk about photos and movies, too, as this is the first thing people want to see when I show them the iPhone. Syncing pictures with iPhoto is great; you simply tell iPhoto which library you want to sync. I set one up in iPhoto specifically for the iPhone. I'm not sure it still works this way in the new iPhoto, but I guess I'll find out soon enough. As with photos, handling movies on the iPhone is the same as with the iPod; simply sync up your iPhone with iTunes. The iPhone's screen is fantastic for both; bright and clear. And watching photos flip between landscape and portrait as you tilt the phone has a "wow" factor to it that has made converts of many I know who had previously scoffed at the iPhone. Weird that that, of all things, would do the trick. I'll never understand PC users.

Playing music, however, appears to be a different story. Unlike with the iPod, you can't manually drag music onto the iPhone from iTunes. You have to sync it, and you have to do so with Playlists (I have far too much music on my computer to sync my entire library). This is very annoying. If I rip a CD and want it on the iPhone, I have to create a Playlist that's basically just a copy of the CD. If I delete this Playlist from the computer after it's on the iPhone, it'll also be deleted from the iPhone the next time I sync. This is dumb. Very dumb, so I hope I'm just missing something. There's no reason the iPhone shouldn't handle music the same way the iPod does, letting me manually drag songs on and off at will.

And speaking of music, the recessed headphone port has met with some consternation in the media. It's true that most headphones won't fit because the casing around the headphone jack will be too wide to slip into the recessed port. Now, maybe I'm just desensitized to this because I've seen so many headphones not work with various iPod cases. The iPhone case manufacturers will be thrilled, though, as they won't have to worry about accommodating extra space for headphones; if Apple's earbuds fit the phone, they'll fit the case. And if not, don't panic, people; spend another $7.00 and get the ProCable Headphone Adapter for iPhone. You'll likely find it comes in handy for more than just your iPhone.

People have also complained that the iPhone doesn't allow you to use customized ringtones. This is valid, I guess, as most of the ringtones supplied by Apple are pretty much useless. However, MarketWatch is reporting that Apple plans to offer ring-tone services through iTunes. And if you don't want to wait (or pay for each ringtone), there's always Ambrosia Software's newly announced iToner.

The iPhone camera is decent, I suppose. It does what it does; good for a quick shot and convenient when necessary, but it won't replace your digital camera. That's not the point. I used it to take a couple quick shots of Stan Ridgway at the aforementioned concert, so that was kind of cool. I'm sure college kids in bars will find other uses for it, as will fender bender victims who want a photo for the insurance company. There was an odd, blue colorcast in most of my outdoor shots, but I found that iPhoto did a surprisingly good job of removing this. Also, the lack of zoom means that objects fifteen feet away from you are going to look about forty feet away, but I'm never going to fault a phone because its camera isn't great.

The question, of course, is whether all of this is worth at least $500 plus $60+ a month. If it were just the phone, I'd say no, no way. But truth be told, I've barely used the phone. I rarely ever will. I have, however, used the web and e-mail a lot. I've shown off photos of my kids with it, and I've watched the 1980 Flash Gordon movie when I've been trapped waiting for an appointment or what have you. I've had my wife check to see who made the Seahawks practice squad while I drove up I-71, and I've checked maps while walking to events in unfamiliar cities. All of this has been surprisingly easy to do, and with the knowledge that I'm not increasing my monthly bill while doing it.

Most likely, many current cell phone users out there won't see the iPhone as a reason to jump providers and pay $500 for a new phone. But to people like me who previously saw no use in a cell phone, the iPhone has made it all as clear as, well, "A Day in the Life" clarified the brilliance of the Beatles.

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