• 802.11g
• 3G
• expandable memory (preferred)
• hardware keyboard (preferred)
• decent camera that can capture video
• decent audio capture
• synchronise with my MacBook

If you know anything about the iPhone you can start to see the divergence. So I listed the things where the iPhone fell short for me;

• No Copy/Cut/Paste (massive for me as I use the “smart” more than the “phone”)
• Ordinary camera with no video
• No expandable memory (I commute for almost 90 minutes a day so I need to store some stuff)
• and like everyone has got one? Ugh!

BUT

• it’s a a super nice iPod (apart from the storage limits)
• the Safari browser is the best mobile experience you can get at the minute
• the user interface is as smooth as
• the iTunes Application Store is very compelling

You know what finally flipped me was the price. I don’t use the phone that much. I hammer the productivity, documents, audio and video capture stuff pretty hard. (It’s why the keyboard is an issue.) I’m on a tiny plan, no data, and I rarely go over. I don’t want a larger plan that I know I won’t use. You can sort of get the iPhone outright but you do so by getting a pre-paid then paying for it to be unlocked but it works out expensive.
Now when the 3.0 version comes out with cut/copy/paste that could be a whole different story.
This isn’t just about the iPhone however. The Nokia E63 and E71 caught my eye. Great looking handsets and ticked all the boxes and the prices were definitely right. No touch screen though which I thought may take some getting used to. The Blackberry Bold met all my requirements on the surface as well until I was joining one to the the network at work and found the web proxy cannot be defined by the user. Deal breaker.
So I settled on the Treo Pro. Nice looking device running Windows Mobile 6.1. It couldn’t be that bad. Half the world was using it. Right?

Maybe 3.0

The new Palm Pre was announced at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) the other day and looks quite promising. That said, the Blackberry Storm raised expectations but disappointed in the hand so I’m not buying all of the hype just yet. Features that caught my eye the most, at least compared to my Treo680, were the integrated Wi-Fi, 3.0 megapixel camera (with flash), bluetooth 2.1 (supports stereo), laptop tethering via bluetooth and 3.5mm audio jack (I can use my Senheisers yay!) Retaining the hardware keyboard is a no brainer in my opinion, if for no other reason than to distinguish itself from the iPhone. These are all hardware you may have noticed but the new webOS “card” interface and the way the PIM apps will supposedly merge your data from mulitple sources (Google services, Facebook, Exchange server etc) are also impressive. An end to those duplicates! (Okay, so maybe if I didn’t try to synchronise GCal, iCal, Exchange server AND PDA it might be easier…)
I will look very seriously at getting one to replace my chipped and bruised Treo but shudder to think what it might cost not to mention when it would be available in Australia.
Lets look on the bright side. It will be thoroughly road tested and reviewed before it gets here so I can make an informed decision.