[Jeff DLB]

I finally watched the Quicktime of Job's iPhone demo today, having read everything I could find on the web yesterday. I felt that he exaggerated some of his claims of being first in certain areas. It's a very nice PDA/phone, and I may well buy one, but really the only "revolutionary" aspect is the user interface. Treo already has complete web browser(s), Google Maps, threaded SMS, integration of contacts with email & messaging, etc.

That being said, the iPhone may well be better even if not first. I like the touch screen, especially if typing is decent. I believe one-handed operation will be quite easy for nearly everything except typing (for which I use two thumbs on the Treo already). Any need for 2 hands will be more than compensated for by the absence of a stylus. The scroll gesture compared to 5-way down-down-down-down or Option-Down is great. The automatic portrait / landscape adjustment is clever, and more generally the inclusion of sensors (gravity, proximity and brightness) is genius.

The ability to zoom in on a web page will be nice. The fact that it automatically expands to match certain HTML elements is very useful. I wonder, however, if you can disable image loading when on EDGE rather than WiFi.

In short, iPhone is making Palm OS seem rather clunky and Windows Mobile downright Byzantine.