930 Forums
=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: definitivedoodle on January 09, 2007, 03:08:00 pm
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damn.
<img src="http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c53/bboydesigner/351886457_635215bdf9.jpg" alt=" - " />
Capping literally years of speculation on perhaps the most intensely followed unconfirmed product in Apple's history -- and that's saying a lot -- the iPhone has been announced today. Yeah, we said it: "iPhone," the name the entire free world had all but unanimously christened it from the time it'd been nothing more than a twinkle in Stevie J's eye (comments, Cisco?). Sweet, glorious specs of the 11.6 millimeter device (that's frickin' thin, by the way) include a 3.5-inch wide touchscreen display with multi-touch support and a proximity sensor to turn off the sensor when it's close to your face, 2 megapixel cam, 4GB or 8 GB of storage, Bluetooth with EDR, WiFi that automatically engages when in range, and quadband GSM radio with EDGE. Perhaps most amazingly, though, it somehow runs OS X with support for Widgets, Google Maps, and Safari, and iTunes (of course) with CoverFlow out of the gate. A partnership with Yahoo will allow all iPhone customers to hook up with free push IMAP email. Apple quotes 5 hours of battery life for talk or video, with a full 16 hours in music mode -- no word on standby time yet. In a twisted way, this is one rumor mill we're almost sad to see grind to a halt; after all, when is the next time we're going to have an opportunity to run this picture? The 4GB iPhone will go out the door in the US as a Cingular exclusive for $499 on a two-year contract, 8GB for $599. Ships Stateside in June, Europe in fourth quarter, Asia in 2008.
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truly a work of art...i really want one, but i'll force myself to wait for the 2nd or 3rd gen.
i know someone who still has their 1st gen 40GB ipod (paid ~$400 for it in 2002) and, although it still works great, it doesn't have the color screen and the video capabilities. i know he's wishing they could justify springing for a new ipod video now, but he's just waiting for his to die.
i think the same will be the case here. $599 for an 8GB? in a year or two, you'll be able to get a 20 or 40 GB for about the same price.
plus...i don't have cingular; nor do i care to switch to cingular. for now, at least, that's likely to be the only option for service providers.
it's a beaut tho...i hope someone i know gets one so i can test drive it.
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but
whoop-ti-do on the apple tv product... an overpriced box that allows me to watch overpriced DRMed content on my tv... of course it will be instantly hailed as truly innovative, etc.
the one apple product i'd really like to see is a home theater computer / DVR setup and they just don't seem ever to want to deliver it...
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i'm not too impressed with the apple tv thing-y either. my reaction was quite similar to the mac mini when it was released...eh.
as kosmo mentioned, it would be great to see apple tackle the whole home theater/dvr market. in fact, i was thinking that could have been one of the announcements today.
i know all of the cable companies offer dvr, and tivo has a pretty big market share, but i think there's still room for apple. especially, if they could make a good all-in-one (like a mutant windows media ctr/tivo/slingbox for the apple world). hell, they could start making large-screen flat panel tvs while they're at it.
i'm all for consolidating my electronics/gadgets and the iphone is a step in the right direction. hopefully, they can do the same for tv home media. maybe the apple tv is just a precursor to this.
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I would never switch to Cingular 2.5G data network.
That's like going back to a 56K modem...
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cingular has 3G in the greater DC metro area, as well as b'more and many points between: http://www.cingular.com/coverageviewer/?x=-77.0146485&y=38.893312 (http://www.cingular.com/coverageviewer/?x=-77.0146485&y=38.893312)
http://www.cingular.com/coverageviewer/popUp_3g.html (http://www.cingular.com/coverageviewer/popUp_3g.html)
that is one sweet phone. i've got to give it to apple, they've designed another winner - great features with great style.
my sprint contract expires soon. temptation to overspend on this phone is something awful. must... wait... for... second gen...
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looks pretty awesome
but i'd never use anything like that enough to spend money on it
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joz...the first gen ipod only came in 5gb.
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surly: i completely understand your sentiment. as a general rule, i want my phone to be a phone (and a text messenger) and nothing else. i need something that slips comfortably in my pocket (a strong "vibrate" function is a nice plus).
the iphone is the first multi-usage device that has tempted me, thus my relative excitement. a decent megapix cam, decent music storage, good quality screen, etc...
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originally posted by Sweetcell:
surly: i completely understand your sentiment. as a general rule, i want my phone to be a phone (and a text messenger) and nothing else. i need something that slips comfortably in my pocket (a strong "vibrate" function is a nice plus).
You know, they sell things like that pretty cheap. You just can't make phone calls or send text messages on them. At least, not that I know of.
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cingular has 3G in the greater DC metro area, as well as b'more and many points between:
While that might be true for the network, it's not true for the phone:
Unlike other high-end multimedia phones, the iPhone is not a 3G phone. It connects to older, more widespread 2.5 generation networks, using the GSM format. It uses WiFi and Bluetooth to download larger content files.
Linkage (http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3ixMbVEv3zKJo0yr7xF%2B1WBA%3D%3D)
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smakie - thanks. now i'm definitely waiting for the next gen.
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hey, chip...meant to type 10GB. they came in 5GB & 10GB originally.
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So lets take a real look at this...
Just let me start by saying that it's pretty bitchen. Not surprisingly from Apple, it looks amazing.
A couple of cool new technologies like the sensor (accelerometer, they call it) that reads when you're looking at the screen vertically or horizontally then adjusts the screen - now, if that works as displayed, that's incredible.
Adding Wifi and Bluetooth was smart, but using Cingular's 2.5 EDGE network was just stupid if they're going to tout it as an Email device. Even Cingular's 3.0 EDGE Network pales in comparison to Sprint and Verizon's EV-DO networks. I'm just left shaking my head on this one.
The new interface for the iPod is sweet as well. Adding the album cover view is novel, and the multi-touch is a great way to scroll though that. I'm guessing it's a flash drive, but I'm not positive. 8GB is the market limit on Flash drives and anything with a hard drive would be much larger. It does explain the long battery life Apple is claiming. It looks like a day and half between charges for the average phone/iPod user.
I would have added a small clickable scroll wheel on the side myself, because I often use my device (phone or iPod) with one hand and I'm not sure how I would scroll down or across while holding a device that wide/long with one hand.
I'm also worried about the location of the "Hang Up" touch button, as I can see myelf inadvertently touching it with my cheek or lip as I scrounge around for a pen. I had this problem with an older Treo.
I'm also very skeptical of how accurate the touch screen QWERTY keyboard is. Those that have tried to touch screen a PDA know that the success rate is less then optimal when using a faux-pen, I can't imagine how tough it is with fingers and thumbs. Add to that the fact that most people will put their fancy new expensive iPhone in a protective sleeve, and the touch accuracy will drop tremendously.
I'm going to be patient on this one (actually, unless it comes out on Sprint's Network, I'll likely never have one) and let the bugs get worked out/improved on, much like I did with the iPod, waiting for video to be added.
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Originally Posted by Kosmo:[/b]
whoop-ti-do on the apple tv product... an overpriced box that allows me to watch overpriced DRMed content on my tv... of course it will be instantly hailed as truly innovative, etc.
My thoughts exactly. And having an HDMI output, yet a 40GB hard drive? HD requires nearly 9-10 GBs per hour, why would I pay $299 for a device that allows me only 4 hours of HD content?
Short sighted.
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I'm also worried about the location of the "Hang Up" touch button, as I can see myelf inadvertently touching it with my cheek or lip as I scrounge around for a pen. I had this problem with an older Treo.
supposedly the iphone has a sensor that detects when it's near your head and automatically turns off the touchscreen, and automatically turns it back on when you pull the phone away from your head. in theory this solves the above-quoted concern, question is how it works in practice.
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Originally Posted by Sweetcell:
supposedly the iphone has a sensor that detects when it's near your head and automatically turns off the touchscreen, and automatically turns it back on when you pull the phone away from your head. in theory this solves the above-quoted concern, question is how it works in practice.
Now that's bitchen (assuming it works).
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drool... and I just ordered a Samsung. :(
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It won't be available until June.
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I know most other folks don't care, but CES had a few interesting products as well:
<img src="http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image/14/0,1425,sz=1&i=149942,00.jpg" alt=" - " />
Sandisk's USBTV plugin (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2080316,00.asp) (Flash Drive with a composite video and audio out cable attached that allows you to copy video files to the drive for playback on a TV
<img src="http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image/16/0,1425,i=161212,00.jpg" alt=" - " />
HP's All in one Touch screen Desktop (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2079393,00.asp)
<img src="http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2007/01/sony-vaio-vgx-tp1.jpg" alt=" - " />
Sony Vaio VGX-TP1 (http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/07/sony-vaio-vgx-tp1-announced-loaded-up-with-hdmi-out-dvd-burner/)
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Not Poolulu here.
Wow thay put a P.C. in a vacuum cleaner! What will sony think of next?
<img src="http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/~hpm/talks/Extras/roomba.JPG" alt=" - " />
How did sony go so far wrong so fast?
Oh wait there was a Keynote today. Jeez the phone is the holy-grail of mac-fandom. Ignoring the cingular issues and perhaps the 8GB flash limit, both of which I am sure will be resolved over time. Ignoring those issues I would say that it was perfect and everyone will have one in three years time. It makes blackberrys and Treos look awful. As for the Zune, well MS looks about three years behind.
I wish I did not have 18 months left on my RAZR. I'll be wishing the days away.
Why does no one admit to using Cingular? They have 53 million users. Are they the porn of cell phone industry?
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Yes, but apparently, the Sony comes with wafers.
Here's a poll (http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/01/poll_apple_ipho.html) with you guys in mind.
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Heh, this post from Jaguar's link cracked me up...
Basically, anyone who buys this should expect to get their asses kicked. I know I'll beat the first sorry SOB I see yapping on one of these. Talk about pathetic people... It's a damn PDA, not much different than the Treo.
The reason I wont buy one isn't because of Cingular, it's because the device sucks and has already been done before. MacOSX10 is a joke, a masked version of linux, so it's not exactly amazing that they put it on this PDA, seeing as people have been loading Linux on similar devices for years.
Way to go Apple, in copying the competition again, and using your sorry exscuse for an OS on it.
Posted by: Dudley | Jan 9, 2007 8:18:42 PM
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Show me a touch screen linux phone that does all this in such a simple way. I have to admit that I was surprised at how excited I was seeing this thing. I really didn't care that much about an apple phone before yesterday. My Nokia 6230b can do most of what the apple phone does but the apple phone just does it in a much cooler way, and it seems easier. It is definitely reminiscent of when the ipod came out compared to the other mp3 players at the time (to me at least).
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All this technlogy crap makes me yawn. I'd rather be in a tent in a forest, or in a kayak on a lake.
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I kind of agree. Sometimes I wish all this stuff would dissappear and I could just be hiking more or building a fire somewhere. Then I get an email.
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<img src="http://crynews.ru/images/logos/person/5/50/kazinski_ted.gif" alt=" - " />
We should talk!
All this technlogy crap makes me yawn. I'd rather be in a tent in a forest, or in a kayak on a lake.
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i use cingular. i like it better than the others, and i've had them all. i just call folks, though
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I have two phones, one from work (Q from Verizon) and one personal (RAZR from Sprint), neither are Cingular because I'm a heavy data user and their data network is ridiculously slow.
Commercials usually fabricate, but that commercial of the two guys on their laptops checking email with data cards is absolutely true.
As for the Flash change that Markie (good to hear from you) is talking about, don't hold your breath. Apple is struggling with the hard drive players these days due to (1) moving parts in the hard drive units and (2) battery performance. That's why the Nike+Sport thing only works on Nano's. Running with the video is not recommended and the constant monitoring of distance and heart rate would make the hard drive needle move to much with the bouncing and the battery would drain.
Improvements in Flash will drive improvements in the iPhone, not a hard drive.
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out of curiousity what kind of data do you use on your razr? i installed gmail on mine and it crashes alot
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A lot of it depends on your carrier. The operating systems are different on each RAZR. I used to use the RAZR from Verizon and while I found it less intuitive to find things, it was faster and more stable than my current Sprint RAZR.
I was originally a beta tester for the Sprint version so I expected it to be buggy, but even after subtle improvements since its commercial release, it's still quite slow to react to commands. That notwithstanding, it's organized much better than the Verizon RAZR - if I need to get to my top four functions, they're programmable for easy access.
As for data, I watch a lot of Sprint TV, tried to listen to Sprint streaming music (more on that when an article I authored for bigyawn comes out), check sports scores often, check train arrival times in SF daily, and check my MSN account often. Not once has my phone frozen completely, but it can get quite slow (not the data speed, the actual programs themselves). I have noticed that adding a Mini SD card has helped performance (might be a shared memory issue).
As for your phone, you have a Cingular phone so it might be the data network speeds. You're working at a peak of about 180 Kbps with a long latency time. I'm guessing that gmail is timing out due to latency.
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bummer, i was pretty excited when the gmail thing came out
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I'll tell you what - I'll sign up for a gmail account and test it with my RAZR and get back to you. This may narrow down the problems you're having. I know a guy who has a verizon phone and a gmail account so I'll test it on his phone too.
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GS - are you using the Downloadable Gmail App or the web browser version?
The downloadable app works fine on the Sprint phone, but won't work on the Verizon version (doesn't support Java2ME MIDP2), but the web version works fine.
And one more silly question - you have the V3 RAZR, correct?
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I dropped my Razr in the toilet and it no longer works. :(
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The one they call Doctor Doom said:
I dropped my Razr in the toilet and it no longer works.
I hope she was worth it.
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can't claim this as mine, but this is tres funny....
$500 is too expensive for me, but maybe they'll make a cheaper version: the iPhone shuffle. It makes calls from your addressbook, but you have no idea who it's going to call next.
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I thought I had read a NYT article about the name a week ago....Apple will gain the rights, but it won't be cheap.
January 10, 2007
Cisco Sues Apple Over Use of iPhone Name
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) said Wednesday it is suing Apple Inc. in federal court over Apple's use of Cisco's registered iPhone trademark for its new handheld device.
Cisco has owned the trademark on the name "iPhone" since 2000, when it acquired InfoGear Technology Corp., which originally registered the name.
And three weeks ago, Cisco's Linksys division put the trademark to use, releasing an Internet-enabled phone called "iPhone" that uses the increasingly popular Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.
On Tuesday, Apple unveiled the iPhone, its "game-changing" touch-screen-controlled cell phone device that plays music, surfs the Web and delivers voicemail and e-mail.
"Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name," said Mark Chandler, Cisco senior vice president and general counsel, in a statement. "There is no doubt that Apple's new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission."
Cisco is seeking injunctive relief to prevent Apple from copying Cisco's iPhone trademark.
"Today's iPhone is not tomorrow's iPhone. The potential for convergence of the home phone, cell phone, work phone and PC is limitless, which is why it is so important for us to protect our brand," Chandler added.
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I read the iPhone has 5 hours of battery life. That is terrible.
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Originally posted by Glass Arm Shattering:
I read the iPhone has 5 hours of battery life. That is terrible.
Battery:
Up to 5 hours Talk / Video / Browsing
Up to 16 hours Audio playback
(apple.com (http://www.apple.com/iphone/technology/specs.html))
while not mind-blowing, those specs are definitely respectable - especially considering how much more this thing is doing. try fully recharging your phone, calling someone (on weekends, of course) and see if you can talk 5 hours... i know my phone can't do it.
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http://youtube.com/watch?v=YgW7or1TuFk (http://youtube.com/watch?v=YgW7or1TuFk)
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3G iPhone on track for early '08?
http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/23/3g-iphone-on-track-for-early-08/ (http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/23/3g-iphone-on-track-for-early-08/)
just a rumor, but just maybe the steve is listening to the rumblings...
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Originally posted by sweetcell:
3G iPhone on track for early '08?
Great. By then I'll be on Sprint's 4G WiMax network. But it will sure will look sweet.