While Safari works considerable magic to make some HTML controls, like combo boxes, easy to use on a small display, this does not extend to other types of controls that may be too small to hit while at a zoom level that lets you see an entire form or grid of controls. In one common annoyance, aiming for a button with an adjacent text field ended up selecting the text field, which pops up the enormous, opaque QWERTY keyboard. For Web pages, a translucent keyboard that passed finger gestures to the underlying page would be a major improvement to iPhone. However, on pages with multiple text fields, iPhone's text window presents Previous and Next buttons so that you can hop from field to field without having the keyboard pop up and down.

The Bottom Line Apple iPhone Apple, http://apple.com AT&T, att.com Fair  4.9 criteria score weight Messaging 4 20% User interface 7 20% Extensibility 1 15% Voice capabilities 5 15% Application support 5 10% Multimedia 7 10% Value 6 10% Cost: $499 for 4GB Flash memory; $599 for 8GB flash memory; requires $36 activation fee plus 2 years of AT&T wireless service at $59.99, $79.99 or $99.99 per month; other options may be available to current AT&T subscribers Platforms: Apple iTunes (free download) on Mac or Windows PC; AT&T Wireless coverage with 2-year contract; Apple ID (free registration) Bottom Line: Consumers looking for a gadget fix and who don’t mind paying $60/month for it will be delighted by the iPhone, which is effectively a heavenly widescreen, Wi-Fi iPod with PDA and browser functionality. But for professionals, once you get your feet off your desk and get down to business, excitement gives way to deep disappointment. iPhone is trounced in professional features, including 3G, VOIP, push to talk, IM, voice dialing, and much more, by all comers within $200 of its price range. And because it's a closed platform in the iPod tradition, these absent features can't be added by creative third parties. Apple and AT&T ruined iPhone for the professional handset market. About our Reviews and Scoring Methodology

Safari lacks the ability to adjust a Web page's text size, relying on zoom to make text large enough to read. When Safari's auto-zoom feature — which zooms and centers on a column of text or a group of controls — works, it's marvelous. When it doesn't work, you end up pinching and spreading and scrolling this way and that to read and operate HTML form controls.

Web sites must be designed for iPhone because its browser does not restructure HTML, especially forms, for use on its display. All modern mobile browsers, including Internet Explorer and BlackBerry's standard browser, have view options that can reorganize text into a single scrollable column. iPhone will zoom a column of text to fit the screen width, but you have to scroll to the top of the next column manually.

Safari will not store or open local HTML, XML, or script files, and in fact, iPhone allows users no access to its storage at all. Even the cheapest iPod can be accessed as a USB storage device, but arbitrary file system access to iPhone is prohibited. The only path between your PC or Mac and your iPhone is a USB cable and a copy of iTunes.

iPhone hang-ups
iPhone is barely passable as a phone, with an extremely weak speaker, comparatively poor signal clarity, and radio frequency interference so powerful that when I tried to attach an iPod voice recorder, iPhone would not support it but still suggested that I shut down the wireless features (activate Airplane mode) to reduce interference.

I can't overstate the interference issue. I'm wearing a pair of noise-reducing headphones, and whenever iPhone polls for e-mail or checks in with the cell tower, I pick up the buzzing and chirping familiar to BlackBerry users who set their devices down too close to the bedside radio. But iPhone's interference can be heard through a tuned-in FM radio from a fair distance away. It is loud. Steve Jobs attributed iPhone's delay to market to FCC testing. I can understand why.