My Almost Perfect New iPhone

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I have the patience of a gnat. I promised myself I'd wait 6 months before buying an iPhone. It was hard, though. So, around my birthday, I starting hinting broadly and got my husband to buy one for me instead.

I love my new iPhone. The design is brilliant. It's a pleasure to look at, a pleasure to hold, and a pleasure to use. If it weren't for one thing, it would be as close to perfect as you can come. But that one thing is a big one thing. Believe it or not, the iPhone cannot be tethered to a laptop and used as a modem.

If you ask me, this is a serious drawback. For a mom who spends a lot of time carting kids around, I depended on my Verizon Treo to connect my notebook to the Internet so I could work while waiting around at gymnastics practice or Hebrew school. When you work on the Internet, you need a backup for those times when you can't find a hotspot. What's more, I'll bet I'm not the only one. A lot of those folks who rushed out to buy an iPhone the second it hit the shelves probably were also a little bit geeky—just the sort of customers who most need that feature.

Of course, someone already has come up with a hack to get around this shortcoming. Unfortunately, it's complicated, not guaranteed to work and, well, possibly illegal.

Why in the world Apple would release the iPhone without this ability is beyond me. I know no one is perfect, but sheesh!, it's a pretty big oversight, and this is Apple we're talking about. Apple usually does things right. Which is why I'm keeping my iPhone. At least for a while. I'm trusting Apple's track record of outshining everyone else, and counting on Jobs being incensed at the notion of the iPhone coming in second to Razors and Nokias.

I sure hope Apple doesn't let me down.