iphone Surprise Gift Pros and Cons

Dear Dr. Dave and Dr. Dee,

I am considering surprising my husband with a new cell phone for his birthday as his cell is two years old. Do you think the iphone would make a good present?

Signed,

Cell consideration

Dear Cell consideration,

The Apple iphone is very popular, but unless your husband has cell phone service with AT&T (Cingular), then he would have to switch carriers to use the iphone. If he is happy with his current service provider, then he may not wish to switch carriers, or he may want to wait until his carrier offers the iphone.

PC Magazine on the Internet (www.pcmag.com) has given the iphone 3G a very good rating (4 circles out of 5) and PC Magazine readers gave it 3.5 circles out of 5. CNET editor's review is 4 stars out of 5 (www.cnet.com), and CNET's average user rating is 3 stars out of 5.

Basically, the Apple iphone is innovative, has a great display, good web browser, voice quality has improved, and sleek design. But, PC magazine lists the cons as "missing video recording, voice dialing, stereo Bluetooth support, picture messaging, and document editing. Earbuds are still lousy." CNET found the battery life uneven and connection tends to be shaky.

Please note that Verizon is offering the Blackberry Storm, the first touch screen Blackberry that is similar to the iphone. T-mobile has the T-mobile G1 that features a touch-screen interface and QWERTY keyboard that slides out.

For a review of the iphone 3G, see

http://reviews.cnet.com/apple-iphone-3g/?tag=sh-main-col;reviews or

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2319438,00.asp