Apple iPhone: Coolest Features, Biggest Obstacles

Now that the tech world has had a few days to digest Apple's industry-churning iPhone, it's a good time to step back a bit and dissect the thing. There's no question that, when the iPhone is released this summer, it will be the most advanced and capable phone on the planet...but is that a good thing? Here's a little more on what will probably be 2007's most talked-about gadget.

The OS - The iPhone runs a version of OS X, Apple's standard desktop computer operating system. At first that sounds like cool beyond words...but does it really take a PC OS to make some phone calls? How long will it take the phone to boot up? And how will having such an advanced OS on the phone impact its battery life? These answers are still unclear and won't be hammered out until reviewers have more face time with the device, but my hunch is that the phone's high-power abilities will ultimately outweigh any complexity it has.

Gesture-Based Computing - Remember it's not just a question of the OS, it's how you use it. The iPhone has no buttons, no keyboard, no real external controls: Everything is performed by making taps and zipping your finger along the touchscreen. Called multi-touch, this process will be a revolution in how you interact with the device, which opens up many possibilities...but closes some, too. The big problem? You won't be able to do much with the phone with only one hand, which could be a real pain when you just want to make a quick call.

Wireless - 802.11g Wi-Fi is a good thing, but the lack of 3G service is a terrible oversight. The EDGE data network is simply too slow for regular email usage, not to mention the iPhone's next-generation Internet services like real-time mapping. My spidey sense tells me that iPhone 2 will have 3G front and center in its feature set. It's also worth noting that the iPhone is a GSM phone and only available on the Cingular network. Sprint and Verizon users hoping for a CDMA version shouldn't hold their breath. I highly doubt this will ever happen.

Music - Are people really ready to replace two devices (phone and MP3 player) with one? Signs definitely point to yes on that front, but anyone with an iPod with more than 8GB of storage in it today has got to be disappointed that Apple decided not to create an iPhone with a hard drive in it. On the other hand, the decision to run with flash instead of a hard drive makes perfect sense: Phones get tossed around a lot more than MP3 players, and a hard drive may very well be too fragile for such active use. It would also make the iPhone much heavier. While I doubt 100GB hard drive-based iPhones will appear in the near future, the door's open for 16GB and 32GB models, as flash memory in that density already exists (though at extreme prices). I'd expect these upgrades by the end of the year or mid-2008.

The Cash - Gulp. Then there's the not-so-small issue of price. At $599 for the 8GB phone, the iPhone is out of reach for the vast majority of users who pay $150 or less for their handset.  Don't expect prices to fall soon after release, either. That simply isn't Apple's ballgame, and the iPhone will always be a premium product. (Don't expect discounts from Cingular, either. I anticipate that, much like the Nintendo Wii, it will be difficult to find an iPhone on release even at full price.) On the other hand, I've seen $600 (or more) cell phones in the past, and they were hardly anything to write home about.

Bottom line: The iPhone may have flaws, but it is still undeniably cool and will change the cell phone market the same way the iPod changed digital music. There's a reason it was the most talked-about gadget at CES, a show where it wasn't even introduced. I already want one. What about you?

Disclosure: The iPhone is slated to use Yahoo! Mail and oneSearch, which are owned and operated by Yahoo! Inc., which also owns and operates Yahoo! Tech.