iTunes phone won't jam for very long

Alright, it's a slow news Saturday so I figured I'd take the opportunity to weigh in on this iTunes phone that's rumored to launch on the 7th. I agree with Jan: I think it's going to disappoint too, but for a reason I haven't seen talked about much yet: battery life. I'm not worried about how many songs the phone will hold – this whole "it only has room for 25 songs!" rumor is utter nonsense. Apple and Motorola – yes, even Motorola – have at least enough sense not to build a device that handicapped.

I really see this phone's mortal drawback coming from the limitations of today's batteries. Even most of our modern, color-screen mobile phones – i.e. the ones that don't double as music players – have trouble getting through a day or two of regular use. That is: making a few calls during the day instead of just letting them sit on standby. Now unless there's been an earth-shattering breakthrough in battery capacities that slipped under the radar of Engadget, Popular Science and CNN, I forsee a lot of iTunes phone buyers dancing around for a couple hours with their shiny new device, but the battery croaking once the first phone call comes through.

Obviously, only time will tell. But if I'm right, there could still be an upside: I'm sure Motorola will have a higher capacity battery that's nearly 2x the phone's thickness available at launch!