iphone...

[definitivedoodle]

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.

[joz]

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.

[kosmo vinyl]

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...

[joz]

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.

[vansmack]

I would never switch to Cingular 2.5G data network.
 
 That's like going back to a 56K modem...

[sweetcell]

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/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...

[godsshoeshine]

looks pretty awesome
 
 but i'd never use anything like that enough to spend money on it

[Chip Chanko]

joz...the first gen ipod only came in 5gb.

[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).  
 
 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...

[Jaguar]

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.

[vansmack]

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

[sweetcell]

smakie - thanks.  now i'm definitely waiting for the next gen.

[joz]

hey, chip...meant to type 10GB. they came in 5GB & 10GB originally.

[vansmack]

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.

[vansmack]

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.