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i just saw the intro to this thing and.....well.....wow

i mean, and iPod, a phone, an internet browser, it does EVERYTHING.
you can see it at apple.com, or another type place. soo.....share your views on this thing!

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Aujourdhui a commence avec toi.

IT IS SO SEXY AND I WANT IT RIGHT NOW

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Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

I'd gladly kill an infant for one. That thing is too damn sleek.


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Okay, but there was a goat!

Funny related stock links:
http://www.google.com/pfetch/dchart?s=RIMM
RIMM, for Research in Motion, the makers of Blackberry, dropped 11.16 points yesterday, a drop of 7.85%.
http://www.google.com/pfetch/dchart?s=AAPL
AAPL, for Apple, went up 7.10 points yesterday, a gain of 8.31%.

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Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

Well, in terms of what you can actually do, it doesn't seem to have a great deal more than other contemporary devices.

What will definitely set it apart, in classic Apple style, is the way in which you do these things: other phones play movies, but rarely on such a large screen; other phones have Web browsers, but it appears that the iPhone has a much better way of dealing with wide, designed-for-desktop Web pages than I've seen before. And of course, the multi-touch screen seems like a fantastic idea, and it looks great.

A fine device, indeed.

I want one! I think it's amazing how far phone's have advanced.

This looks amazing.

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In the end, it boils down to two simple choices. Either you do or you don't.

OVER RATED

Seriously, are you going to watch a movie on your phone?

The iphone just seems like a bunch of crap that we don't really need. I'll bet that most of the buyers, after the newness wears off of the thing, will not utilize over half of the iphones' utilities.

I have a cell phone myself, and it is the most basic flip phone there is, I think. It's the cheapest one the Verizon store had, anyway. Why did I buy one like this? Because it serves it's purpose..... which is communication. I could possibly see myself biting on the ipod/phone, but the stuff they are rolling out with this one.... coupled with a 500 to 600 dollar price tag? Ridiculous.

I'm wondering how battery life will last when you have a gizmo that will do all of the things that the iphone will?

This post has been edited by Hamedo on 10th January 2007 13:02

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

Quote (Hamedo @ 10th January 2007 13:01)

Seriously, are you going to watch a movie on your phone?

Well, yes, actually. That's one of the reasons I chose my current phone, although in reality it wasn't up to the job of playing them back sufficiently well.

I still use it for music. I'd rather pay a lot for one device that fulfills all my portable desires than have some kind of handbag full of phones, PDAs, video iPods and such (well, I don't use a PDA, but for those that would).

But battery life is a fair concern - I get a miserable two days out of my current phone if I play music on all four train journeys during that time, and even that's without making or receiving a large number of calls. One thing to always keep in mind when buying a phone is that you can never, ever, ever trust manufacturers' battery estimates - always best to let someone else try it first and then try to read up on some actual experiences before putting money down.

Quote (Hamedo @ 10th January 2007 08:01)

OVER RATED

When I was first checking it out with my boss and one of our friends at the office yesterday, the consensus was that it wasn't really all that great. I'm starting to come around a bit now that I think about it a bit more, though.

My one really big issue with it is that everything is touchscreen-based. I understand why for logistical reasons this is the case, but I think someone a bit clumsy like me would end up having to use a stylus for some of the applications - to me, that's ungainly.

Beyond that, though, I have no problems with the concept that I can think of right now. Hamedo, you're just quite simply not in the target market for this product, so of course there are a lot of reasons you think it's a bad concept.

Apple already sells a video iPod, and does quite a nice business in doing so. The iPhone will have the proven muscle of iTunes to support video, and will have a larger screen to boot. That's one issue negated, IMO. Additionally, I believe most of the video played is not actually feature-length but is episodic content. I don't care enough to back that up with numbers at the moment, but I do think it's accurate. That will speak volumes to the usability of the video applications, and the battery life.

The iPhone is not the only phone that will play video and music. Even your Verizon phone, depending on when you got it, would have the capability to do so if you so desired. All Verizons, even the cheapies, have VCast now, IIRC. What makes the iPhone different is how well it integrates and expands the capabilites that many people already want, unlike the previous Apple/Cingular/Motorola failure ROKR. And while other phones already do this (and are even capable of using swappable SD memory cards to increase their capacity), Apple is going to combine it with software that most of the target market already knows how to use. No proprietary garbage.

The price tag really isn't that bad when you consider that you're essentially combining an iPod Nano with a phone. And as you all probably know if you have cellphones, you pretty much never pay the full price for a phone unless you want it outside of a provider contract. That's just about how it works in the US mobile market - I paid only $30 to get my V3c RAZR instead of the $200 retail price, because I got it as part of a new contract. But even so, the price at retail isn't horrible. My 4GB Nano cost half of what the 4GB iPhone costs, and the Nano does not play video or, of course, have the phone tools.

Going back to the battery life, I'm not that worried. I haven't heard anyone complaining too loudly about the 60GB Video iPod, and it has to run a hard drive, whereas the iPhone, like the Nano and Mini before it, has no moving mechanical parts.

In short, this could turn out to be a really big winner with the early-adopter set and then trickle down to massive acceptance in a couple years, just like the iPod did. The target market is quite clear to me: young professionals with a bit of discretionary income and more than likely a significant commute. I can see Tiddles with one, he fits all the parameters. I'd be tempted if it wasn't Cingular and I took the train to work instead of driving. Hamedo, I'd say you probably live within a 15 minute drive of your office and don't really consume much media, and that's why the iPhone doesn't appeal to you. Different strokes for different... people.

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 10th January 2007 14:37

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

I admit when I saw the phone it looks pretty slick. The pricetag is definately up there considering what you'd have to pay in service to actually make use of half its advertised features but I don't think that would stop it from being successful.

However I despise Apple. I hate the way they operate iTunes so that you are stuck buying Apple products forever once you get in bed with their music store. They've always been very propreitary to a greater extent than Microsoft but somehow they've managed to get his reputation of being the opposite. It just pisses me off on a personal level.

But yes, the phone looks cool as hell.

Quote

That's just about how it works in the US mobile market - I paid only $30 to get my V3c RAZR instead of the $200 retail price, because I got it as part of a new contract.

I just noticed the $599 price tag is with a 2 year cingular service contract.

This post has been edited by The Ancient on 10th January 2007 18:00

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"That Light has bestowed upon me the greatest black magic!"

Quote (The Ancient @ 10th January 2007 11:42)

I just noticed the $599 price tag is with a 2 year cingular service contract.

yeah i noticed that too.

but the things that got me were

-Thouch screen (resizing photos)
-LANDSCAPE VIEW
-it runs OS X
-it has Safari (not some crap browser that others just slap in

and pretty much everything else

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Aujourdhui a commence avec toi.

The following is what I want in a cell phone:

+ ability to make phone calls
+ ability to accept phone calls
+ ability to notify me of incoming calls, new messages, etc. with a sufficiently distinctive and noticeable ring
+ ability to store phone numbers (incoming, outgoing, missed, phone book)
+ ability to function as an answering machine
+ GOOD reception (i.e. strongly receptive to cell signals)
+ LONG battery life
+ clock display and alarm clock
+ ability to receive and send text messages

The following is what I want on a flash-drive-type music player:

+ ability to play many different sound formats (MP3, OGG, WMA, RA, and WAV are the first few that come to mind, but I'd be impressed if they included even SPC or GYM
+ ability to act as a flash-drive
+ decent and reasonable, but not necessarily overwhelmingly huge, storage space

I don't actually own a music playing device, so I can't say as much as I can for a cell phone, which I've had more experience using. Oh, and I never wanted an iPod, and after I found out about the whole "it turns mp3s into its own weird format" thing, I wanted it even less.

I don't want ANYTHING else, especially if it gets in the way of aspects of basic device performance such as battery life. If I'm buying a phone, I don't want an mp3 player, a mini Game Boy, a PDA, a camera, an internet browser, an elephant, a rhinoceros, or a pikachu.

Unfortunately, companies these days seem to think that I'll appreciate having all-in-one devices. Oh sure, they seem more convenient, and they will be--until something goes wrong. If you have one device that does several million things, if it's phone functionality breaks and you have to send it in for servicing, voila, you're left with no PDA (and no pikachu--well, okay, you didn't have one anyway). I like keeping my stuff organized very distinctively, and I like customizability.

Customizability goes for computers (user interfaces and operational settings) as well as physical means of organizing information. I like to keep my things separate so that I have the option of taking them together or separately when I desire, depending on what I need for the situation. I like the freedom to choose what I want, so that I can better control what I spend my money on and better direct it to things that are more useful to me. (Not every interesting feature gives me an equal amount of consumer utility.)

Additionally, I don't like to spend a lot of money. Sorry, I'm not an "omg kewl gadgets" person. I like it most when a product in question delivers the service I want exactly the way I want it.

Also, keep in mind that this is a little bit of everything--which generally means that it probably isn't all that much of some things. For example, for that money, I could get some newfangled whatnot, or I could probably get myself a several-year-old-but-in-still-good-condition used laptop and have more liberty in what kind of computer I get and with what characteristics. (For example, I'm not a Mac user (please don't flame me for simply being used to a Windows-like interface), and the Macs I remember using to any significant extent are ones I encountered before the turn of the millenium anyway.)

By all means, go for it if it's your thing. It's definitely not a product I'm by any means interested in possessing (even in my love of the Castlevania series, I still don't have a DS or Portrait of Ruin). Sorry, I like my stuff basic and customizable and not pre-loaded with annoying features (such as the obnoxious menu choice confirmation fanfare on my current cell phone which I can't change at all unless I silence the phone completely. I have to press my darn phone against my torso to keep the sound from coming out when I turn on/off the keyguard in the middle of a lecture.).

And seriously, I'm not so dying to watch video and movies that I'll need to do it on my phone. I'll settle for text/audio without much hassle if it's extremely important news, because they can be just as, if not sometimes more, informative. If it's entertainment, that can wait until I get home, or at most urgent, until I get to a computer.

Edit

Not an edit, but an afterthought.

And screw Razrs. I prefer a small block of a cell phone than a flat plate that I can easily smash and will have trouble holding in sweaty hands.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 11th January 2007 01:37

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

I'm using a Motorola Q for work and home, and I can clearly see the appeal of the
iPhone. My Q is Qute, but I almost wish I had sprung for a Palm-based smartphone
even at twice the cost. Simply put, the biggest problem I have with it is that it is a
phone first and a smartPDA/media-player second. I've shared fanvids with fellow
WalMartians on it (it has a 320pix by 240pix screen), used it sparingly for its mp3
playback (it has a regular headphones jack), and browse the net extensively from
it, but it never feel fully integrated. I'm sure Palm could do better; I trust that Apple
would iron out the aesthetics first and foremost, and then the underlying technology
would just bring it home. Like how iPods cost infinite gil and then dropped to a more
reasonable pricepoint (and ubiquity), I'm sure this phone will eventually be cheap
and approachable. But the idea is sound. Remember the uproar that integrating
camera functions into the phones first caused?

With products like the enV and double-screened flipphones, I'm not surprised to see
Apple take the their polish on the latest in cellphone innovations.

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Putting the A's in W lm rt: A11smart, Jobclass: Retailer.

Quote

The following is what I want in a cell phone:

+ ability to make phone calls
+ ability to accept phone calls
+ ability to notify me of incoming calls, new messages, etc. with a sufficiently distinctive and noticeable ring
+ ability to store phone numbers (incoming, outgoing, missed, phone book)
+ ability to function as an answering machine
+ GOOD reception (i.e. strongly receptive to cell signals)
+ LONG battery life
+ clock display and alarm clock
+ ability to receive and send text messages

The following is what I want on a flash-drive-type music player:

+ ability to play many different sound formats (MP3, OGG, WMA, RA, and WAV are the first few that come to mind, but I'd be impressed if they included even SPC or GYM
+ ability to act as a flash-drive
+ decent and reasonable, but not necessarily overwhelmingly huge, storage space

These things you say.... it's like you live in the dark corner of my brain...

Seriously, spot on. You wrote out my thoughts more eloquently than I ever could.

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

In today's iPhone news, Cisco Systems (if you don't know who they are, you're not nerdy enough to care anyway) has sued Apple, as Cisco is the actual owner of the trademark "iPhone." Additionally, for you Britons out there, it seems as if O2 is in the lead to get the UK contract, but nobody may end up wanting it unless Apple produces a version that is capable for your guys' faster networks.


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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Personally it looks hecka cool, but terribly overrated (swipe out pipe and fez and sits in loafers on a fluffy chair)

No, but really, i hate the all-in-one devices, and i dont know why people would want them so badly...cuz i know to myself that i would only really want to take one of those things actually with me at a time!!!

Im also turning slowly 180 degrees on my viewing of it though, cuz even though it looks possibly either too complicated, etc, etc...i may stiill get it

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<DrkMagimaster282> MWAHAHA. I,
DrkMagimaster282, shall wreak havoc and destroy...
<Mother>TIIIIIIMMYYY...are you planning evil, unkind revenge again in the bathroom??
<DrkMagimaster282>UMMMMMMMM...NO.

CoN day is May 27th, 2005
Join elder-geek.com for unbiased reviews, no console wars here...

The thing I would worry about is watching a movie on something like this would seriously drain away the batter power big time, and this is your phone we're talking about. The thing you like to have with you in case there's an emergency. At least that's how I see it.

So unless this thing has got an amazingly fantastic battery (which it might have), I don't see it as the smartest choice to go for. Perhpas you never need to make urgent calls though... ever, but have a lot of time to waste on the train. In which case it seems pretty cool.

But then I don't use public transport very often, so it's not for me anyway.

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'Let that be a lesson to all oppressive vegetable sellers.'

I don't have a cell phone period, but this looks pretty neat to me. Of course, if I got a cell phone, it would be able to do as close to two things as I could make it: send and receive calls.

I could see having a phone that also worked as an mp3 player if it worked with headphones. And the screen looks big enough to (maybe?) do other stuff on. But for that kind of money? Hahaha.

I'm still wishing I could afford an iPod, period.

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Veni, vidi, dormivi.

Quote (karasuman @ 13th January 2007 07:52)

I don't have a cell phone period,

I don't really need one either, but I have one anyway.

I just want a phone for making calls. Heck, I don't even like texting much (is it just me, or is it just easier to phone the person?). All this extra crap on it would most likely never get used. Video? Music? Oh come on, it's 5 minutes to school on the bus. Humans are born with imaginations for a reason.

Web browsing sounds nice, but then when would I have the time to do that, when I'm always either busy with something else, or in reach of an actual computer.

Finally, why do I want to pay such a vast amount when I could easily get a working, small cell phone for a fraction of that price.

Hell, I don't see what's so wrong with buying an old mobile that only does two colours. I use a phone for phoning people, and I don't honestly care about any special featuers.

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My deviantART profile

Quote (Sinslayer @ 13th January 2007 13:37)

Finally, why do I want to pay such a vast amount when I could easily get a working, small cell phone for a fraction of that price.

You don't, and nor do any of the other people (most mobile phone users by far!) who don't want the extra stuff. It's quite obvious that it's not a mass market device st the moment. What I don't quite understand is why all of you seem upset that such a device has been created when there clearly is a market for it (who, as we've already mentioned, may well already have a phone with some or all of these features).

I wouldn't buy one for myself in its current form, mostly because I personally prefer the clamshell form factor by far for actually using as a phone, but I'm sure it will do well in the market it's aimed at, just as similar devices already do.

Quote (Rangers51 @ 11th January 2007 14:24)

It seems as if O2 is in the lead to get the UK contract, but nobody may end up wanting it unless Apple produces a version that is capable for your guys' faster networks.

Yes, it's a bit strange to make all the effort to produce a nice browser and then only produce it in a quad-band GSM device. I'd hope for a UMTS/HSDPA version along the line. The other factor of it being GSM is that it won't even work on all US networks, unless Apple later produces a CDMA version.

I'd be surprised if it didn't appear on all the major UK networks eventually, if not as a handset-only option for the desperate.

This post has been edited by Tiddles on 13th January 2007 15:57

Quote

What I don't quite understand is why all of you seem upset that such a device has been created when there clearly is a market for it

I'm not upset over the fact that the thing was created. I'm not upset over any aspect of it at all, really. I just don't get it. It's a niche product, to be sure..... but I still just don't understand the appeal of this technical abomination, aside from the kneejerk zomgwtfbbqlawlz ive got 2 get ths ritenow!!!11!one!1!!

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

Quote (Hamedo @ 13th January 2007 13:20)

I'm not upset over the fact that the thing was created. I'm not upset over any aspect of it at all, really. I just don't get it. It's a niche product, to be sure..... but I still just don't understand the appeal of this technical abomination, aside from the kneejerk zomgwtfbbqlawlz ive got 2 get ths ritenow!!!11!one!1!!

Maybe there is such a reaction to the product because the people who want it are actually in the market for it? Seriously, you're not in the market, so it shouldn't appeal to you, and you're coming off like a total douche as you're insulting anyone who dares want something that you don't.

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Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

I'd like one because I've had the same cell phone for two years now, which is astonishingly long for me. It's camera is broken, the battery falls out if I move it too fast and my speaker makes strange buzzing sounds at random whenever I'm on it. So, I definitely need a new phone.

Now, carrying around a phone and an ipod, along with my pockets full of whatever else I may need gets annoying, especially when I keep thinking I forgot something. Having a phone capable of eliminating my iPod and be my new cell phone together is a nice convenience. I'm not sure if the iPhone takes pictures/videos as well, but that would also be handy as I wouldn't have to carry around my camera either, because it's not like I have an expensive or high quality camera, so really anything will suffice.

I take public transportation 90% of the time I go anywhere, the minimum I'm traveling is 45 minutes to and hour. So, having something to keep me entertained is a nice touch. Admittedly, there are other phones that do these things, but the iPhone also is aesthetically appealing to me and considering the fact that I trust Apple when it comes to multimedia, I have a feeling it'll be handling those jobs a bit better than the other phones do. Not to mention a bigger screen is a nice bonus.

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Okay, but there was a goat!

I want to get an iPhone when it comes out, but not if the price is so costly.. I hope Apple reduces the price, because I don't think many people would want to get a small media device that costs over $500.

They should really make it bigger. I can't stand really small electronic devices.

Quote (Neal @ 13th January 2007 16:20)

Maybe there is such a reaction to the product because the people who want it are actually in the market for it?  Seriously, you're not in the market, so it shouldn't appeal to you, and you're coming off like a total douche as you're insulting anyone who dares want something that you don't.

I don't appreciate your tone or your insults, Neal.

I don't see the appeal. I can be construed as "in the market". I'm a multimedia whore for movies and music, I have a long commute each day, I have friends and family that I would like to keep in touch with.... why don't you get to know someone before dismissing me as "not the target market" for a product?

I've not insulted people who want this product. I think it's a niche product that few people who buy will actually use all of the functions of. The majority, though, will be people who just want to have "the next big thing".

This post has been edited by Hamedo on 15th January 2007 14:28

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

The more I've thought about it, the more I think battery life is a serious issue for this device. I mean, I don't see how you could possibly get a full day's use from it with battery technology where it is today. So I really wonder how useful as a phone the device actually is.

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"That Light has bestowed upon me the greatest black magic!"

Quote (Hamedo @ 15th January 2007 09:27)

I don't appreciate your tone or your insults, Neal.

I don't see the appeal.  I can be construed as "in the market".  I'm a multimedia whore for movies and music, I have a long commute each day, I have friends and family that I would like to keep in touch with....  why don't you get to know someone before dismissing me as "not the target market" for a product?

I've not insulted people who want this product.

If you don't like the reaction, then you shouldn't try to portray anyone who happens to want the device as a babbling moron:

Quote

Hamedo: "zomgwtfbbqlawlz ive got 2 get ths ritenow!!!11!one!1!!"

like you did in your previous post. You've made it perfectly clear that you don't want the device, and that you AREN'T in the market, which is people who want a device that has MORE THAN JUST COMMUNICATION:

Quote

Hamedo: "Why did I buy one like this? Because it serves it's purpose..... which is communication."

From that quote, how am I supposed to assume that you are in the market for this device?

This post has been edited by Neal on 15th January 2007 21:21

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Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

On the subject of battery longevity...no doubt, market pressures are already getting into
gear with respect to the need for higher draws and longer usage times. The next round of
metal-air fuel cells will once again change the industry. Bluetooth'd devices, multi-function
needs, and ubiquity of use will extend those battery times---already, battery life now is
tenfold what it was (with audio-only phones, circa 1992), while adaptive-predictive power
schemes mean current phones utilize better power allocation and consumption, to permit
power to be conserved as efficiently as possible. So, between the advances in hardware
(the batteries themselves) and firmware (the embedded software that tells the phones
how to best use their battery power), I think the time is Right for the iPhone (and similar
high-draw personal communication devices).


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Putting the A's in W lm rt: A11smart, Jobclass: Retailer.