[PennylessZ28]

NETWORK CAPABILITY

So about that 3G comment. The iPhone will use Cingular's EDGE network, which is considerably slower than the more advanced WCDMA technology. Many next-gen smartphones will allow for the faster speeds, including Palm's Treo 750 and Samsung's Ultra Music Phone, launched at CES with yet-to-be-determined price and availability.

"The math is very convincing," says Muzib Khan, Samsung's vice president of product management and engineering. "If you have to download a music (file) which is 4 MB, iPhone could not do it over the regular network. They may have to go to a special hot spot or WiFi network. Otherwise one song will take several minutes to download, and that's not right."

With Samsung's phone, he said, "they'll be able to download music very efficiently."

STORAGE

The iPhone will have as much storage capacity as iPod nanos currently have -- a lot, at either 4 or 8 GB. But there's currently no potential to expand beyond that, as most smartphones currently offer with SD or micro-SD memory card slots. Such cards are growing rapidly in capacity and also allow simple transfer of music or other files between devices.

"In Apple's case it makes sense to offer that much memory onboard, because they're specifically focused on multimedia," says Palm spokesman Jimmy Johnson. The Treo 750, targeting business customers, includes just 16 MB of storage capacity but allows more with an up to 6 GB mini-SD card. "We feel like expansion capability is a good choice for customers without having to pay initially up front for something they don't need," Johnson says.

TOUCH SCREEN

While the iPhone touch screen innovation has its admirers, it also has drawbacks: exposure to oils on your fingers and the possibility of cracks or scratches that have plagued iPods in the past.

"I think it's really going to stand out," says Tark Abed, lead designer at Spreck Design, which has worked with Apple in the past. "They basically took what's really kind of a cobbled-together interface on most smart phones and most media phones and turned it into this beautiful flow, beautiful graphically."

But what about when it's not so beautiful anymore? "One of the things that people have been talking about is the longevity of the screen. If you put it in your pocket, is it going to get scratched? How's it going to wear?"

Both Johnson and Khan noted the iPhone's lack of tactile feedback -- that feeling of pressing down a button to let you know you've entered a number or letter. "Touch screen doesn't allow you to dial while driving very well. .... You need the tactile feedback." Of the iPhone, he concludes, "It might appear to be very sexy, but it's not very practical."