Topic: The iPhone

[ˇBasta Ya!]

I take that bit back actually. The iphone isnt a pda at all really, theres no mention of having microsoft office on it (well, why would there be? as if apple are going to mention that at this stage?)

The reason I hardly listen to my ipod is because I cant stand having my phone and my ipod in my pocket. And this would combine the two.

But sony & nokia will be shitting themselves.


By the way.. when is q4? is that like a years time? If so this thing is going to be fairly out of date by the time it comes out, gives the competition a chance to come back with something just as good or better.

Q4 is quarter (of the year) 4. As in the fourth quarter.

I don't think the phone is that big, it is slimmer than the worlds thinnest slider phone (the d900) and is only marginally bigger than the d900 in width and length. Does a touch more too.

Not reallly a device for me, although a lot of the features are pretty nice. I was more excited by the release of the 'appleTV' device which fit's my needs more than the iPhone.

[filopastry]

I take that bit back actually. The iphone isnt a pda at all really, theres no mention of having microsoft office on it (well, why would there be? as if apple are going to mention that at this stage?)

The reason I hardly listen to my ipod is because I cant stand having my phone and my ipod in my pocket. And this would combine the two.

But sony & nokia will be shitting themselves.


By the way.. when is q4? is that like a years time? If so this thing is going to be fairly out of date by the time it comes out, gives the competition a chance to come back with something just as good or better.

And yet Nokia's N91 has been out for ages now with a 4 gig hard drive doing much the same thing (software's a bit shit though) the reason it hasn't done that well is because of its size, the same issue the iPhone has, or is that no longer an issue if a cool company like Apple makes the phone.

By the way I own an N91 myself so I'm not speaking for myself here, just going on what a lot of people and reviews said about the N91

The full screen looks good though

[hoonin]

Whats the s/w on the Nokia N91 Phil ? Symbia I guess? As Raptor says, Symbian is utter garbage.

Was pretty miffed when I got my N70 last year and discovered the same problems of sluggishness I had with the 6600. Can take an age to load bits up, like reading/writing texts, phone book, call history etc. All the stuff that takes no time at all on an ordinary phone.

The problem with these smartphone things with operating systems (and the iBrick will be no different) is that they're suceptable to malicious/virus attacks, meaning you need to run anti-virus s/w on your phone, which adds further bloat.

I mean, AV software on your phone. WTF

[filopastry]

It is Symbian on the N91, Gareth and even by Symbian standards its slow to boot up, generally ok after that but the music software is pretty garbage.

On the plus side the hard drive is a lot sturdier than the last few iPods I've owned !

[Armin]

Seeing a mates N70 and hearing the problems he had with it put me right off smartphones. The worst part of it is that it doesn't fulfill the basic function of a phone, it frequently drops calls and screws up if used on the move as it tries to 'intelligently' switch between transmitters.

He's binned it now.

iphone looks quite nice but I honestly don't need half the stuff these things can do.

[filopastry]

Thats the thing Armin its aimed very much at the top end of the leisure market, there's money to be made there for sure but its actually the market for lower spec phones thats doing better right now.

With Apple aiming for a 1% margin as a preliminary target I don't think the likes of Nokia will be throwing in the towel just yet.

Still its good to see more competition and variety at the top end of the market anyway.

[JP-65]

Whats the s/w on the Nokia N91 Phil ? Symbia I guess? As Raptor says, Symbian is utter garbage.

Was pretty miffed when I got my N70 last year and discovered the same problems of sluggishness I had with the 6600. Can take an age to load bits up, like reading/writing texts, phone book, call history etc. All the stuff that takes no time at all on an ordinary phone.

The problem with these smartphone things with operating systems (and the iBrick will be no different) is that they're suceptable to malicious/virus attacks, meaning you need to run anti-virus s/w on your phone, which adds further bloat.

I mean, AV software on your phone. WTF

It'll be running Mac OS/X (aka Tiger) so no need for av sw!

[filopastry]

There have been numerous vulnerabilities on OSX just the relatively small userbase makes them generally not worth exploiting and it restricts the spread of any problems.

To be fair with the relatively low market share Apple are looking at thats likely to be similar in the phone market

[Claire.]

Claire it sounds as though you are already on a downer on this and surely your 'negative' reaction is just as overboard as the positive ones. You are making claims again without seeing it in action, just like those whom are getting overly excited. It could be the best piece of kit ever, it could be the biggest flop. But like you said until someone has actually used one, none of us can overly praise it, or condemn it for that matter.
 
For me it is a sexy piece of kit and I am excited, I may however change my mind. I am also quite sure that the 'grubby screen' issue would've been looked out and there will be some kind of solution.

I think it's impractical, Brad, and for a mobile device I think it's very important that it's designed for real life and a company isn't making it because it's stock is currently high in 'cool gadgets'.

If that photo posted of it is an accurate representation of it's size, then my worry about being able to slip it in your pocket isn't an issue unless you have giganta-size pockets and a very tight belt to keep your trousers up. The bag and breifcase arguements still stand, that much exposed screen getting shunted about and crashing into other objects on the move?

It has a rubbery texture on the screen, fair enough, same as my touchpad here, but as I described about that, get it wet or greasy... pain in the fucking hole (it also wears off a bit). The rubber should help to protect it from scratches, but I still feel it will be a bit vulnerable on the go.

My negativity towards it is all about the practicalities of it as a mobile device, I have said in principle it looks great and the features, while they aren't exactly anything new, sound good... just don't think it's been designed for every day use.

[hoonin]

It'll be running Mac OS/X (aka Tiger) so no need for av sw!

Time will tell on that one. I'm not as convinced as you.

Apple are making themselves a prime target just by there shear pressence in the market now. Trojans, exploits and other such stuff will become much more prominent on Mac OS in the next few years as the obscurity value of their brand all but evaporates.

You can quote me on that

[bradigor]

My negativity towards it is all about the practicalities of it as a mobile device, I have said in principle it looks great and the features, while they aren't exactly anything new, sound good... just don't think it's been designed for every day use.

To be fair, don't think I can pass full judgement until I have held one in my hand.
 
Also how much bigger than a 5G ipod will it be? They fit easily in my pockets with room to spare.

[blurred]

By the way.. when is q4? is that like a years time? If so this thing is going to be fairly out of date by the time it comes out, gives the competition a chance to come back with something just as good or better.

Q4 = 4th Quarter of the year, ie October-December.

[Paul]

Also how much bigger than a 5G ipod will it be? They fit easily in my pockets with room to spare.

Looking @ apple.com, seems to be about the same size (a centimetre or so taller)

[james_f]

Like the idea in theory, but I won't be rushing out to get one when they're released. 

First of all it seems too big compared to my current phone (K800i) and it's only 8gb so is not really gonna be much use for replacing my 30gb iPod.  And what about the camera on it?  Any announcement on pixels etc yet?

Also, will it be made from similar materials as the video iPod.  Leave that just in your pocket without a slipcase and it get scratched to fuck, I wouldn't want my phone ending up in the same state as I've seen from some iPods just because of everyday use.

The earliest I'll be looking at getting one is July 2008 though when my (next) contract will be up, by which time it should've been out for 7/8 months and I'll be able to see what the phone is like in practice and hear some proper reviews.

[filopastry]

My upgrade will be September so for now the N95 remains the front runner

[bradigor]

Looking @ apple.com, seems to be about the same size (a centimetre or so taller)

Then I have no issues with size, based on the fact it can play video and show photos and display internet and maps.

[hoonin]

My upgrade will be September so for now the N95 remains the front runner

Battery life looks a bit gash on that though. Think my next upgrade is March, probably too early for that.

Still might have a look and see if theres anything that tempts me to ditch my music player. Whats the max capacity of the N95?

[JP-65]

Time will tell on that one. I'm not as convinced as you.

Apple are making themselves a prime target just by there shear pressence in the market now. Trojans, exploits and other such stuff will become much more prominent on Mac OS in the next few years as the obscurity value of their brand all but evaporates.

You can quote me on that

You may be right, but having just got an IMac to replace my wife's Sony laptop, while still running my Sony 'top of the line' desktop, I am impressed with the Mac OS/X, and she is in love with it.

[filopastry]

N95 is relatively small on the music front , it needs add in memory cards to make it useful, N91 remains Nokia's top end music phone I think.

95 will be much stronger with photography, GPS etc

[Hoppy]

The N95 is the one us industry bods are all waiting for...!!  Don't worry about battery life, all modern handsets have shite battery life due to the improvement of LCD's & functions!

[iSmiff]

the n80 is also a slow piece of shit symbian phone, only its a work phone it would be binned or ebayed long ago

[gerrardspetal]

It all looks too technical for me.   

I think i'll stick with my Nokia 6230i




Because I stuck with it my phone bills have slashed half price!!   

[Claire.]

To be fair, don't think I can pass full judgement until I have held one in my hand.
 
Also how much bigger than a 5G ipod will it be? They fit easily in my pockets with room to spare.

Fair enough.

I want someone to get their hands on one and use it in every day life, because it is only the practicalities of the design of it that I think make it stupid.

There's another level where I personally find it pointless, but that's because I would never want to own such a device as I have no need for it at this point in time.

The size thing, looks about the same size to me, which for me would be annoying for going into my pocket... the exact reason why I opted originally for the Mini over the normal iPod 2 years ago, all my friends had the normal one and I thought it was too big/bulky and looked a bit fragile... noticing a trend

[PaulF]

Q4 = 4th Quarter of the year, ie October-December.

= only be able to buy them on ebay before christmas at 300% of retail price.

[bradigor]

= only be able to buy them on ebay before christmas at 300% of retail price.

hmmmmmmmmmm thinking of pre-ordering

[filopastry]

I do find an integrated phone/music player handy in summer, in winter when you're normally wearing a jacket/coat its not really an issue having a phone plus seperate mp3 player.

[filopastry]

hmmmmmmmmmm thinking of pre-ordering

Why?

The only affordable way to get one will be with a hefty contract and I doubt the network will be taking pre-orders anyway, anyone buying this when it first comes out without a contract will be looking at a hefty retail price which will no doubt fall quickly in line with the rest of the mobile phone market

[PaulF]

hmmmmmmmmmm thinking of pre-ordering

Make sure you order at least half a dozen then 

Because a lot of the phones will be on contracts, I can't see how ebayers will be able to get more than one or two though. Possibly order one from each of the phone companies?

[bradigor]

doh

[Kez]

I think I'm going to give up on law. Instead I'm going to start up a mobile phone business that manufactures and sells moblie phones, not walking, talking, flashing, ringing phone/camera/tvs/personal computers etc. etc. I'll make a frigging fortune selling phones to people who just want a phone. I've ended up with a camera phone, but I've got a digital camera to take pictures. The camera function on my phone only gets used when I'm either drunk, in which case the pictures make no sense anyway, or the one time I forgot my digi camera and went to Chester Zoo. I don't need my phone to play music because I don't listen to music when I'm on the move, and if I wanted to I'd get an iPod.

I swear, I'm going to be rich I tell you. Making phones for people like my parents' generation who don't give a toss how many mega-pixels its got or how many games they can download. All they want to do with it is sent texts and make calls.

[JP-65]

Another interesting comment, from a previously anti-apple analyst

The Moment the iPhone Won Me Over

I have to say, Steve Jobs won me over was when he showed that "pinching" feature to change the size of a pic. Simply phenomenal.

One other major thing to note:

There is a decent chance a mobile P2P program could come out for the iPhone, since it runs OS X and theoretically is capable of running desktop-type software. I have previously identified mobile P2P as a killer app for mobile phones.

It's also interesting that even at 5:00 this morning, the stream of Jobs' iPhone presentation kept crashing on me, most likely due to volume. Akamai (AKAM) just couldn't keep up. FYI, if you see "edgesuite" in an URL, its a sign that Akamai is at work.

CNet (CNET) has a condensed video here.

[iSmiff]

why would i want to use my phone to p2p, it would cost an absolute fortune is pretty worthless unless we get that hsdpa network installed

suppose it might be ok on 3g if you want smaller apps for your phone or picture mp3 downloads but still, too expensive at the minute to be viable

[hoonin]

The N95 is the one us industry bods are all waiting for...!!  Don't worry about battery life, all modern handsets have shite battery life due to the improvement of LCD's & functions!

For me. battery life becomes a bit more important is the device is a music player as well.

[mulfella]

why would i want to use my phone to p2p, it would cost an absolute fortune is pretty worthless unless we get that hsdpa network installed

suppose it might be ok on 3g if you want smaller apps for your phone or picture mp3 downloads but still, too expensive at the minute to be viable

Absolutely. Its all a bit pointless without 3G. Wen and Walk from T-mobile eliminates the cost debate a bit, as other networks will likely follow at some point.

Theres lots of good things to be said for it but they are currently being endlessly repeated all over the web.

Without dwelling on any other drawbacks, the lack of 3G support is, well, staggering.

Its the equivalent of the new macbooks only being able to use the internet over dial up.

[polared]

must admit i've been a mac user for years but it never ceases to amaze me how the hell the original Steven Gerrard M.B.E. manages to get away with the absolute shite he comes out with.

the new revolutionary iphone is nothing more than just another smartphone/pda hybrid that happens to be possibly nicer looking than most, and runs apples mobile version of their os, big fucking deal, hardly anything revolutionary or earth shattering there really is there.  i've had a qtec for the last 3 years and it does pretty much everything that stevie boy was creaming himself about as well as doing GPS. and as for the touch screen demo and stevie boys pinch on the photo zoom, http://cs.nyu.edu/~jhan/ , saw that ages ago and soon to be implemented in a whole bunch of things soon i'm sure, the only thing apple have is an advantage in the assurance of being able to charge a premium on their products thus allowing them to use it, hardly apple innovation though.

but the best one by far is what they're saying about the appletv

"The revolution will be televised.
Say you’ve just downloaded Cars from iTunes. Instead of huddling around your computer to watch, you pop some popcorn while your computer wirelessly syncs your new flick to Apple TV. Then you pull up a seat, put up your feet, and pick up the included Apple Remote to play your movie on TV. Give yourself a hand: You've just changed the way you watch digital media."

like fuck, the revolution happened about 5 fuckin years ago with the first media extenders and HTPCs, apple are becoming more and more the tech equivalent of the premier league, nothing else exists before they've done it even though they are usually 3 to 5  years later than everybodyelse, i wonder if they really believe their own bullshit even though it's obvious that unfortunately many others do.

[kumbriankopite]

I think I'm going to give up on law. Instead I'm going to start up a mobile phone business that manufactures and sells moblie phones, not walking, talking, flashing, ringing phone/camera/tvs/personal computers etc. etc. I'll make a frigging fortune selling phones to people who just want a phone. I've ended up with a camera phone, but I've got a digital camera to take pictures. The camera function on my phone only gets used when I'm either drunk, in which case the pictures make no sense anyway, or the one time I forgot my digi camera and went to Chester Zoo. I don't need my phone to play music because I don't listen to music when I'm on the move, and if I wanted to I'd get an iPod.

I swear, I'm going to be rich I tell you. Making phones for people like my parents' generation who don't give a toss how many mega-pixels its got or how many games they can download. All they want to do with it is sent texts and make calls.

Exactly.
Presently i have a 20 gig MP3 with 24 hour battery life, i have a phone that allows me to text and partake in the lost art of phoning people. I'm happy to carry both of these devices around, and when new cost me a combined total of 150 quid and are still in good nick. Call me cynical but I just cant see the point in spending 300-500 quid on the i-phone

[Matt S]

must admit i've been a mac user for years but it never ceases to amaze me how the hell the original Steven Gerrard M.B.E. manages to get away with the absolute shite he comes out with.

the new revolutionary iphone is nothing more than just another smartphone/pda hybrid that happens to be possibly nicer looking than most, and runs apples mobile version of their os, big fucking deal, hardly anything revolutionary or earth shattering there really is there.  i've had a qtec for the last 3 years and it does pretty much everything that stevie boy was creaming himself about as well as doing GPS. and as for the touch screen demo and stevie boys pinch on the photo zoom, http://cs.nyu.edu/~jhan/ , saw that ages ago and soon to be implemented in a whole bunch of things soon i'm sure, the only thing apple have is an advantage in the assurance of being able to charge a premium on their products thus allowing them to use it, hardly apple innovation though.

but the best one by far is what they're saying about the appletv

"The revolution will be televised.
Say you’ve just downloaded Cars from iTunes. Instead of huddling around your computer to watch, you pop some popcorn while your computer wirelessly syncs your new flick to Apple TV. Then you pull up a seat, put up your feet, and pick up the included Apple Remote to play your movie on TV. Give yourself a hand: You've just changed the way you watch digital media."

like fuck, the revolution happened about 5 fuckin years ago with the first media extenders and HTPCs, apple are becoming more and more the tech equivalent of the premier league, nothing else exists before they've done it even though they are usually 3 to 5  years later than everybodyelse, i wonder if they really believe their own bullshit even though it's obvious that unfortunately many others do.

yeah i sort of agree now to be honest. This thing is out of date already, has no 3g capability. So in a years time when the next load of xda's come out its going to be even further behind.

The thing that attracts me is the itunes, and the fact that it will actually sync with my mac where as my sony ericsson phone doesnt.

[JP-65]

yeah i sort of agree now to be honest. This thing is out of date already, has no 3g capability. So in a years time when the next load of xda's come out its going to be even further behind.

The thing that attracts me is the itunes, and the fact that it will actually sync with my mac where as my sony ericsson phone doesnt.

Matt
I bought my wife an IMac and a Blackberry over xmas.
 
Blackberry doesn't sync with Mac either, but I found a 3rd party software that does this.  I'd think something would be out there to enable you to do this.

[Jimmy Conway]

Lad in work went Macworld, and he reckons everyone was mumbling that the European/Asian version will be 3G enabled. Could be bollocks like, but apparently 3G is nothing technology in the good old US of A!

[Mudface_]

I bought my wife an IMac and a Blackberry over xmas.

Ahhhhhh. I got mine some Immac and a Raspberry. No wonder she seemed underwhelmed.