iPhone: Is it "the Best iPod Ever?"

Posted Jul 4th 2007 4:26PM by Tom Samiljan
Filed under: Audio/Video, Cell Phones, Advice, Reviews, iPod, YouTube, iPhone

Steve Jobs called the iPhone "the best iPod ever" back in January, but just how well does the iPhone stack up to the claim? We know it can make calls, surf the Web, and do all kinds of other smartphone-type tasks, but is it good enough replace your trusty old iPod or Nano? For more on these questions and other iPhone-as-iPod related points, check out Rolling Stone's in-depth iPhone review (written by this Switched post's author, who is a regular contributor to Rolling Stone).

Or, check out this quick summary:

What's Good: The interface, which is super-responsive, innovative, and simply fun to play with. In the iPod application, Cover Flow 3-D-album-art-browsing feature is even more fun on the iPhone than it is on the iTunes desktop. The iPhone's other strong suit is the quality of the video, which looks crisp and colorful on the iPhone's high-res, 3.5-inch screen. Everything from iTunes-purchase videos and podcasts to YouTube videos (yes, now that they're in the iPhone-friendly, higher-quality H.264 format, the iPhone's YouTube videos look better than what you'd see on your desktop.)

What's Bad: The lack of outside hardware buttons makes it a several-step experience to control your music while walking down the street, and there's a dearth of decent headphone options (since the iPhone has a proprietary recessed headphone jack). And, of course, it would be nice to have more than 8GB of memory.

Bottom Line: The iPhone is the best iPod ever, despite its skimpy on-board memory and high price (whatever you do, don't buy the more or less useless and even more overpriced 4GB version). It's heavy, though, so you might not want to take it jogging.