Courtesy of dk99 of Blog2U, I was invited to a sneak preview of the iPhone 2.0 at iShop21 over at Cineleisure on Friday (25th July) night. These sets are not brought in for sale, but for the Bak2U to test their PhoneBAK mobile phone anti-theft software written for the iPhone. (Read more about PhoneBAK and which other types of phones it supports here.)

For those who read my blog frequently, they would know I am no fan of Apple. However I still had to see the phone for myself and see what so great about this thing every one is talking about. And now, this is not a review, just a write up on the parts I have tested.

Firstly, let me say I am not very familiar with the interface and Malique had to guide me on it. And for a first time user like me, it really isn’t too difficult to use at all once you get the hang of it.

Anyway, I am not too interested in all the features of the iPhone except the Safari browser since many of the other features – music player, phone, GPS etc – are already available in other phone. I did play around a little with the Wifi though once I discovered it’s connected, I decided not to make a fool of myself and left it alone. After all, the password for the connection has already been entered. I think I saw both Malique and Chillycraps took some pictures with the camera and they appeared to be pretty alright on screen.

Back to the browser. I must say I am damned impressed with it. The rendering is so much better than Opera Mini on the Blackberry 8820 and the touchscreen interface which allows me to expand a selected portion of the screen is wonderful. It is very fast and very responsive. (I guess all the Apple Fanbois didn’t need to be told this, but it’s for the benefit of those who never heard about it.)

However, I also discover that Flash media doesn’t work on it, and java applet support seems to be absent. I wanted to try out the Internet Banking sites to see if I can get as far as the login screen but to no avail because the applet didn’t load. I must say I am a little disappointed by that.

Anyway, since I don’t know if there are settings in Safari which I am unaware of (or whether it is possible for some add-ins tbe be installed), don’t start flaming me already, alright? Also, dk99 told me that Youtube videos plays natively on it and if that is true, then it’s browser is way better than the Blackberry. Still, that’s no way compare as the iPhone 2.0 I get to touch has a 8GB Flash Drive while most other mobiles usually comes with a pathetic amount of Flash memory installed.

Next, the physical aspect of the device. Sleek, light (I suspect it was even lighter than the older generation) and very elegant. It fits nicely into the hand. Unfortunately, everyone of us has a difficulty typing URLs into the browser and indeed like Xiaxue Xiasuay says, you can’t use your nails on the touchscreen to do it. I think Blackberry users will have no problem using it though, since it appeared to me – and confirmed by Paddy – that if you use both your thumbs to type, it is actually quite ok. It is slow only when you start using your finger to ‘poke’ at the on-screen letters one by one as if it is as stylus. On top of that, Malique pointed out that the difficulty to typing might not be the ‘fault’ of the interface itself but could possibly be the protective film applied over the screen to protect it. I agree with that view so should you get one, you might want to be careful about the screen protection you are going to use on the device.

Now, let’s move on to what I didn’t like. Just one thing: the battery. It is still built in which means you can’t buy a spare to go with the phone. While it maybe argued that the battery may last pretty long on its own, I still like the flexibility of using one battery and leaving one to charge.

Beyond that, I have nothing more to talk about, since I can’t hold on to the phone for long while other people are trying, but you can read up Wishbone‘s write up here.