June 4th, 2007

Is the Apple iPhone really that fast?

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 8:19 am

Categories: Apple, Gadgets, MP3 players, Smartphone, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Google Inc., Google Maps, Apple Inc., Matthew Miller

We now know that the Apple iPhone will be available on June 29th and the three iPhone TV ads are getting lots of people excited about the device. I have to admit after viewing the ads that I would love to try out the iPhone, but I just can’t swallow the 2-year contract and high monthly data fee with no 3G support since I am locked into my T-Mobile plan. One thing a buddy and I noticed in the iPhone TV ads was how responsive and snappy the OS and the internet connection seemed to be. The internet speed was particularly noticeable in the Calamari video where the person went to Google Maps to find a seafood restaurant and then called the restaurant after opening up the details with a simple screen tap.

Credit: Engadget.com

I use Google Maps on all my mobile devices and have never seen it respond that quickly before, unless the map data is cached. Maybe the iPhone in the video was connected via WiFi, which would explain the snappiness here since the iPhone uses EDGE just like all my devices on the T-Mobile network. I have always seen a xx kb loading dialog on the upper right as Google Maps loads data for the specific area. However, once the map data is cached getting info from the push pins is nearly instantaneous on my other devices too.

The interface is slick looking and the device seems to be extremely responsive. It switches between portrait and landscape faster than anything I have seen before. And the way the user was able to switch between apps was faster than what I have even seen on the Palm OS, which is the zippiest mobile OS I have seen before. I think much of the data was cached, like in the email application, Safari and Google Maps, but if not then this device is amazing. Do you think the videos are showing real performance of the iPhone?