So this is the iPhone, eh?

[OrR]

Well, my Pokemon Mini already does remote control so I don't need it in the iPhone...

I just heard that the iPhone might not be an open system so 3rd party software won't run on it. WTF? That just NEEDS to be changed. I can't stand proprietary systems, especially not on the device that is supposed to be my future mobile PC.

 

[OrR]

Here is an awesome looking alternative to the iPhone for people like me that need an open system:
http://www.openmoko.com/
Thanks, Apple, for making me find this!

 

[cenotaph]

Considering how I'm pretty unimpressed with all of Apple's offerings (sure, Mac OS X is nice, but am I going to pay for something that's basically the NetBSD kernel with some additions plus a nice front-end bundled with some utilities, all of which I can find suitable alternatives for? Nah. Also, why pay for a regular x86 just to get it in nice packaging with a TPM chip?) I won't be getting this. It looks nice and is probably able to perform as well, but I use my phone for calling and to some extent sending messages, not watching videos or surfing the web (that's what I have my laptop or PDA for).

As soon as the reality distortion field has faded, people will realize this isn't very innovative - it's all about style and less about substance.

 

[Verocity]

hahahahaha. iphone sucks. I don't like apple though, their mp3 players and Itunes bleh.

 

[Kyoji]

I'm in a ranting sort of mood, so, by heck I'm going to rant!

I use to be like all of you. Figured I'd fight the tide. Buy other, "superior" mp3 players because they were cheaper, had more features and , LOL, had a replaceable battery. So, I bought a Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra. Yes, that is the actual name. This thing was a brick. Thick, heavy, and not entirely what I would call, "attractive." "But Kyoji," you say, "it's not about how it looks, its about what it does!" Yes, and no. Yes, an mp3 player is expected to have certain features. No, extra features are not supposed to make up for the fact it looks like crap. Like it or not, you're not gonna feel comfortable whipping out a 1 inch thick mp3 player in a crowd of people, much less feel comfortable carrying it around.

And the software! Oh, the software. Granted, some companies got it right with drag-and-drop. This was perfect for the "expert" windows user such as myself who didn't need an all in one piece of software to do everything for me. I thought I was better, and on the whole much more intelligent than 90% of the population for choosing something other than Apple.

Then, I bought an iPod.

And by golly, I figured out what all the hype was about. The iPod is slick, it plays music well, displays it well, and above all, plays with iTunes VERY well. Now, in my opinion iTunes as a media player is garbage. But iTunes as a program to manage my iPod is genius. It just flat out works, and it works great. The same cannot be said for the majority of the software for other mp3 players. And to make sure it's got a leg up on the drag and drop crowd, it does things like automatically includes album art when added to the library. You know how liberating it is to not have to find that stuff myself? Very. Oh, and not to mention the iPod also looks great, and has an incredibly small footprint.

I'm expecting Apple to do to cell phones what they did to mp3 players. No radical new technology, just refinement of existing ideas to the point where it crushes all other offerings. They'll make it easy, very easy. I used to think that was one draw back of apple products, because I was an idiotic elitist. Then I realized computers where supposed to make things easier, not harder. So, I let them. I'll probably never go back.

As for price, everybody said no one would buy an iPod when Apple announced it, either. And look where we are today. So please, stop trashing Apple because they are popular. They make some excellent products you are missing out on.

 

[Dullin]

Also regarding your 32gb microdrive, that probably cost triple your PDA in the first place. They are putting the iPhone with 8GB because they know it's not an iPod replacement. It's useful for audio of course, but only as a side feature... after all it's called iPhone and not iPodcaller or whatever.

The 32GB would actually be cheaper than the 8G since the smaller one is NAND flash memory and the other one is a hard drive. Kinda like how the 8G nano costs the same as the 30G ipod video.

Point is that they think you're gonna fling this thing around and it still needs to stream data. Either that or they will be making a smaller ipod only version with bigger storage jsut to piss us off (they like to do that alot).

 

[juggernaut911]

not a fan of apple and it would be a shame if they tried to get into video game consoles!!!

the Ipox (Xbox)

 

[mthrnite]

not a fan of apple and it would be a shame if they tried to get into video game consoles!!!

the Ipox (Xbox)

Tried and pfayalled!

 

[juggernaut911]

hehe

 

[Kyoji]

Also regarding your 32gb microdrive, that probably cost triple your PDA in the first place. They are putting the iPhone with 8GB because they know it's not an iPod replacement. It's useful for audio of course, but only as a side feature... after all it's called iPhone and not iPodcaller or whatever.



The 32GB would actually be cheaper than the 8G since the smaller one is NAND flash memory and the other one is a hard drive. Kinda like how the 8G nano costs the same as the 30G ipod video.

Point is that they think you're gonna fling this thing around and it still needs to stream data. Either that or they will be making a smaller ipod only version with bigger storage jsut to piss us off (they like to do that alot).

Hard drives require more power, and therefore a beefier battery, to maintain the same battery life NAND storage would give you.

 

[Psyfira]

It looks nice and is probably able to perform as well, but I use my phone for calling and to some extent sending messages, not watching videos or surfing the web (that's what I have my laptop or PDA for). As soon as the reality distortion field has faded, people will realize this isn't very innovative - it's all about style and less about substance.

Actually I can see how having an integrated PDA and phone would be useful (probably more for people who don't already own a PDA). But you're absolutely right about the style vs substance argument.

If the iPhone comes out and it "revolutionises" the market by doing exactly the same thing existing phones do just with the Apple name behind it then fine. I'll believe it when I see it. The point is, the phone market is already flooded with handsets. Almost everyone has one. Whereas MP3 players didn't really catch on until the iPod was released. Apple have a much harder fight on their hands to get enough attention to win over the mobile market, bearing in mind that their target audience is already narrowed down to the PDA phone crowd rather that every phone user.

Kyoji mentions simplicity, well how about this: I have an MP3 player. It's pretty, it's small, when I plug it in it just works and so does the software (and as an aside yes, it does do a lot more than a comparatively priced iPod, with extra features I actually use). It was manufactured by Creative. That doesn't turn me into an "oh oh it works so well, everything Creative do is awesome! Even before it's released!" preacher. Even you have to admit that a lot of the love for Apple atm is to do with the company's image. The "underdog that came out on top". The only reason the iPod "crushed" everything else is because it became "cool" to have one, and a well known name to the average consumer who doesn't do their research.

(Incidentally I don't know what this "8GB isn't enough for a music player" crap is. It's obviously not going to carry your entire music collection but it's more than enough for the stuff you would *actually* listen to while out. And everyone knows flash drives beat HDD's in terms of stability, would be nice to wait until the price of 8GB flash drives drops a bit though.)

 

[jhoff80]

I've got a Treo, the iPhone doesn't compare at all.

 

[Azimuth]

iPhone and DRM

iPhone not running OSX

Market Share

The iPhone is gonna have a tough time trying to achieve its 1% market share, but with apple's marketing campaign they might pull it off.

 

[neojei]

It's a nice phone, but gotta remember it is just a cell phone. All those features must have some charge on them, especially since it's cingular. Just to go on the net costs money, its like 10 cents a KB downloaded. To me that leaves out a lot of the 'coolness' factor. Also, making calls on it would be bothersome. Yeah the idea of using a touch screen with buttons sounds cool, but you can't actually just feel the numbers out and just dial by touch, I remember reading a few reviews of the SLVR L7, people complaing about its touch pad, cuz it was harder to touch dial on it. Also, it just boasts a 2megapixle camera, so pictures on it won't be that great. To me it's mediocre, but if you were going to use it to its full potential, such as using its internet features, which from what I can tell carried a lot of weight of the features, then it would be a nice toy to have and show off. I love how it looks, but I just can't see normal consumers using all of what it can do, then again this is business, and all they want is our money, so they can carelss if you just use it for like 1/3rd of it can do thats like buying something for 600$ and just using about 200$ worth of it. Anyways, that's my opinion on the iphone.

 

[OrR]

So please, stop trashing Apple because they are popular. They make some excellent products you are missing out on.

I would love to hype the iPhone. However, there is one problem: Apple have become power abusing arrogant assholes. If this thing was an open system, it could have been great for everyone. However, it's going to be closed so Apple is just going to use it to screw customers. They force me to go with the Linux device. It's going to be more work but in the end it's going to be much more awesome and cheaper.

 

[Kyoji]

So please, stop trashing Apple because they are popular. They make some excellent products you are missing out on.

I would love to hype the iPhone. However, there is one problem: Apple have become power abusing arrogant assholes. If this thing was an open system, it could have been great for everyone. However, it's going to be closed so Apple is just going to use it to screw customers. They force me to go with the Linux device. It's going to be more work but in the end it's going to be much more awesome and cheaper.

I remember reading this is a result of Cingular. Jobs was quoted as saying that user created apps could "cripple" a cell phone network. If this is truly the case, I don't see any major carriers picking up an open Linux based phone anytime soon. Besides, if the iPhone becomes as popular as Apple hopes it does, it'll just be hacked anyway, like every other phone platform out there.

 

[OrR]

The Palm Treo is open and successful. Win Mobile phones are open and successful. I'll be able to use the Linux phone on any network I can get a sim card for. Jobs is lying.
I'm sure the iPhone will be hacked. That won't help much, though. Homebrew stuff that's only working if you are using hacking tools simply won't get as much developer and customer attention as programs written in a legit way will.