So, Apple has dropped a bombshell with the iPhone, claiming to have re-invented the Phone. And while the slick photos and stats look really, really sweet, there’s just one little problem that I see:

I saw this image, and the sound of tires coming to a screeching halt played in my head, and my instant love affair with this phone was dashed.

EDGE?! This phone is going to use EDGE? Does Apple really intend to make what could be the Ferrari of wireless phones to use the cellular equivalent of a one lane dirt road when much cheaper phones are using true 3G, high-speed wireless data networks?!

Why not have it use EVDO? Or failing that, why not incorporate Cingular’s future: HSDPA and UMTS? While yes, the iPhone will have WiFi capability, the whole POINT of having a smartphone like this is to be able to take advantage of a high speed cellular wireless network even when you’re not near a Starbucks or other WiFi hotspot. And yet, Apple is taking what could be an Awesome Thing that’s Way Ahead of It’s Time and will make it run on a network that’s yesterday’s news.  It’s shockingly shortsighted of Apple to launch a phone that would be state of the art in 2010, and yet equip it with a circa-2003 radio interface.. Apple, WHAT THE FUCK?!

I would HOPE Cingular wouldn’t be the only carrier through which Apple decides to offer this phone. However I’m still in shock that they only support EDGE. Apple needs this phone to run on a high speed network if they want users to be truly satisfied with it. This is the equivalent of launching it on Sprint, but making it run only on iDEN. Yech!
I REALLY hope that if/when a CDMA model comes out, they equip it for EVDO, and I would HOPE that would be revision A.

Until then, I don’t care WHAT that phone can do, it’s useless to me without high speed data.

Incidentally: This is my 600th article! Yay Me!