iPhone - so...what's the deal? - Page 12

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Don't take my post as being entirely negative.

The iPhone is way beyond anything else out there
as a collective entity.

Here's the problem....

If you are a "tech head" like all of us that hang out on this forum,
this phone has enough aggravating flaws that it may bother you.
Co-workers are impressed that it looks visually appealing, but
when you get right down to it, this is a $600 phone that for its
price should be perfect, but it's not.

There are better phones for email (Blackberry). There are phones
that haver better voice and speaker phone clarity. There are better
smartphones that handle viewing documents and such.

One magazine article I read perfectly summed things up about this
phone in that it's not designed for business use, as it is not up to par
with other smart phones. On the other hand, for hobbyists, it's the most
remarkable phone out there. I just read a technology article citing that
even the new phones that are trying to imitate iPhone are coming up
short in comparison.

Depending where you live, AT&T can be a curse. I can tell you
that here in the NYC metro area, AT&T is not as good as Verizon.
My signal strength is all over the place at any given time. Additionally,
their EDGE network is slow.

Another concern I have is that Apple is probably 6 months away from
a new version of the iPhone. Don't think for a second that
most every one of us who just paid $600 isn't going to jump to buy
a new phone should all the shortcomings be worked out -and- the
phone supports AT&T's faster broadband network.

If the phone were $400 I'd say go for it! Just realize that the $600
you spend today may be followed by an additional (I am guessing)
$400 expenditure once Apple comes out with a newer revision of
this phone.

Good to get other opinions in this thread.

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Ron:

If you *seriously* believe that we could have a new, better, iteration of the iPhone within six months then I may have to seriously consider waiting for awhile for my "phone fix".

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Joseph,

Please...I have no information that supports that other than the
fact that the day the iPhone was released, many industry
people were speculating Apple would update within 8 months.

Nothing, but absolutely nothing has been even remotely confirmed.
I am certain Apple would want to keep such news quiet as not to
disturb current sales.

My own speculation is that phones get updated yearly. It would
be a good bet to think Apple will have a new version within then.

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Keep in mind that the future improvements come in two categories -- hardware and software. Hardware, which everyone expects to include 3G and possibly GPS will require a new iPhone when it comes out.

But most everything else falls in the software category, and that Apple has promised to improve with periodic free updates to the existing iPhones.

Lastly there is the AT&T network which may (we hope) improve, unrelated to any iPhone enhancements.

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Ron, How did you know??!!!

You just saved me $200! And all I had to do was wait a week!!!

Now that the 8GB iPhone is only $400, I'm going by my local AT&T store on the way home tonight!!

Thanks, again!

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Looks like quite a few people have been upset by the Apple price cut. Steve Jobs has posted this open letter on the apple site.

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/


Unfortunately, we don't yet have the iPhone over here in the UK. It supposed to be coming later this year.

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Thanks for posting this. This is a good move on Apple's part.

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

What is the allure of the iPhone exactly? Now that the iPod Touch is coming out (essentially the iPhone without the phone part), in retrospect, would you rather have a 16GB iPod Touch and a smart phone with better service, better phone features, and better email capability or is there still something about the iPhone that makes you want to own it?

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

All the features I use most on the iPhone aren't on the Touch, namely the phone -- best I've ever used, with visual voicemail which is a once you've used it, there is no going back feature and you're "better phone features" (you are kidding, I hope) phones don't have; e-mail (which, visually speaking is better than anything on another "smartphone"), Google Maps, Camera... Not to mention the inconvenience of carrying two devices instead of just one.

The AT&T network is deficient in some areas. If you happen to live in one of those, don't get an iPhone.

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

The iPhone will still connect to the internet w/o the requirement of being near a Wi-Fi hot spot. Admittedly, it's slow without Wi-Fi, but it still works.

You also get the camera, the customized Google Maps App, and the interactivity between the phone and the email/internet apps. (Touch a phone number in Google Maps to call the person/business, for example!)

"iPod Touch" is nice, but without the integrated phone its communications options are limited.

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Interesting editorial at MacWorld: iPhone 1.0 Forever

I feel that PDA users face an awful conundrum: "upgrade" to four year old designs or "upgrade" and lose all 3rd party apps. My Palm Zire is slowly dying and my cell phone will be up for replacement in a year. I could get a new PDA or a Treo, but Palm hasn't innovated in 4+ years. There's the gorgeous iPhone, except it can't run 3rd-party apps and there's no indication it ever will. (I need SplashID on any new PDA)

Strangely, the tech world has gone backwards for PDA users. I just hope my Zire can hold out another year or two.

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

I have no inside info on this, but I bet third party apps will appear on the iPhone (sanctioned by Apple), possibly in conjunction with a Leopard based iPhone SDK.

I will be shocked and amazed if Apple never allows 3rd party apps -- they may be pretty dense at times, but they do react pretty quickly to strong user reaction/demands -- look at the $100 iPhone credit.

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

As one who was affected by the upgrade and REALLY misses
the 3rd party apps I was fortunate to use for a week, I would
bet the mill that Apple will eventually allow those Apps....

.....but not before the 3rd party vendors come out with
workaround hacks to the blocks Apple has made. Looking
forward to those.

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Please remember that Apple told all the third party software developers back in May that the proper way to write a custom app for the iPhone was to use Safari. That's one of the reasons Apple ported Safari over to Windows: to help out third party iPhone developers. The next software update for the iPhone is rumored to include Flash-enabling for Safari; at that point there's no real need to write native iPhone applications of any kind.

Just for the record, I've only owned my iPhone for a couple of weeks now; but it does virtually everything I need just as it is. Safari is a serious web browser; and that in combination with the Mail, Google Maps, and YouTube apps do about 80% of what i need a laptop to do. Throw in all the personal Video iPod entertainment features (and, oh yeah: a cell phone!) and it's just about the closest thing to a perfect gadget I've ever owned!!

(And, yes: It needs true GPS, 3G connectivity, and more memory; but it's plenty "good enough" just as it is!!)

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

That's correct! And, in fact, you can liisten to archives of your favorite shows *right now* if the station archives its audio in MP3 format. (The "QuickTime player" pops up right out of the Safari browser.)

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Well, my wife and I finally joined the iPhone family. Went out and bought us each one last night. Man do I love this phone. My wife says it's the best gift I ever got her, even better than her car.

Couple of questions. How do I close the browser? I use the home button, but when I go back to Safari its still open to the last page I was browsing. Same thing with Google maps. Also, I can't seem to access Google, it instead opens the mobile version.

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Vlad,

Congrats on your new purchase.

As far as I know, you can't close the browser. I simply
"exit" the browser by hitting the HOME button (center bottom).

By default, going to GOOGLE puts you in GOOGLE MOBILE.
This is something new that changed over the past week or so.

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Thanks Ron. I just read about the Google Mobile thing on the Apple forum. I wonder if they are gonna change it back.

Is anyone using Outlook to sync their contacts? I manually entered all my contacts from my previous phone into the iPhone. But now I want to sync it with Outlook. The problem is I have a bunch of contacts in Outlook that I want to keep separate from the ones on my iPhone. How do I sync my phone with outlook to create a separate contact list?

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Actually, Steve Jobs/Apple announced recently that they will offer a native (meaning Objective C, etc. OS X programs) SDK kit for the iPhone in February 2008 to third party developers. I speculate that the delay was due to an "all hands on deck" effort to get Leopard out the door by the new deadline -- there is every indication of frantic work right up to the release date. Once Leopard is out the door and they've done a 10.5.1 & 10.5.2 to mop up any major bugs, I suspect the developers will be freed up to work on an iPhone SDK, as well as new iPhone firmware enhancements.

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

The introduction of 3rd party apps could be huge. Aside from the AT&T thing, the lack of 3rd party apps makes the iPhone a non-starter for me. If useful and fun apps come to the iPhone, it will become a serious temptation to me. Moreover, I'd be happy now to leave Palm Desktop behind and integrate my PDA data into iCal and Mail, but it's not worth the effort so long as I'm with a Palm PDA.

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Yes, that's correct. When I posted that back on October 5th, Apple was still telling anybody that would listen to write iPhone apps via Safari.

On October 17th Apple officially announced that they would release an iPhone SDK for the purpose of writing native apps. This is really exciting stuff since this means that there will be virtually *no* limitations (other than available memory) for the original first-generation OS X-based 8 GB iPhone. "Virtual" GPS, enhanced text messaging, flash plug-ins for the Safari Web Browser; all of these enhancements – and more – will soon be (officially) available!

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

You're assuming that Apple will a hands off approach to iPhone apps. Many Mac pundits predict that Apple will gate applications, requiring approval before they can be sold. And through that prevent the sale of programs that intrude upon Apple's and ATT's space. So, perhaps, there may not be any chat programs (interferes with SMS profits) or ring tones apps (interferes with music licensing and profits).

But this is all speculation. I'm hopeful thought that this will move the iPhone from "fancy phone" territory to "PDA" territory.

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Speculation that another iPhone may be on its way within
the next 3-4 months...


Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/2007...s9B5MmBo4E1vAI

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Ron,

Most observers *are* expecting a new iPhone to be announced at MacWorld and then appear around March (about a month following the release of the SDK). But most are also expecting it to simply be evolutionary; *not* revolutionary. For example, it will probably be offered with 16 GB of memory and 3G connectivity at the same $399 price point.

If you're near a Wi-Fi hotspot 3G connectivity is superfluous; so the increased memory will probably be the main benefit that most users will notice. Even if the original 8 GB iPhone is reduced in price by another $200 at that point -- which is unlikely -- I doubt seriously that there will be any complaints from the current users.

I've only owned my iPhone for a little over a month; but I feel as though I've already gotten my $400 out of it! (Please keep in mind that this is also my first Video iPod ...) The thing is, due to the beautiful interface, it's actually easy to get to and use all the advanced features of this phone. That's the main thing that sets the iPhone apart from all the other "smartphones" that I've seen. And increased memory and faster internet connectivity speed (when not near a Wi-Fi Hotspot) is not a good enough reason, IMO, not to own one now.

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Just curious if anyone here has had any problems with your phones causing you to have to reset? It hasn't been two weeks since I bought the phone and I've had to reset three times, while my wife's phone has worked flawlessly. Another thing I noticed is that her screen is noticably brighter than mine. I even turned the brightness up to max on both phones, and hers is still brighter. I'm wondering if I may have gotten a defective phone, and if so, what are my options? Warrenty? Return to store? I bought at an AT&T store. Or is my phone fine and I'm just overreacting?

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

Vlad:

Regarding your "Brightness" problem:

Do you have "Auto-Brightness" turned on in "Settings"? If so, temporarily turn it OFF on both iPhones and then see if there's a noticeable difference between the two.

If you've recently upgraded to Version 1.1.1 of the software, I've found that it's pretty normal to get a re-boot occasionally until you've totally turned the iPhone off for a few minutes. (Press and hold down the Sleep/Wake button until the "Slide to Power Off" message appears, then drag the slider. Leave the phone off for at least two minutes.) Now ... If you're using any unauthorized third-party apps, then all bets are off! (The only third-party apps that I'm running right now are all Apple-sanctioned web-based apps.)

If your display still "pales" in comparison to your wifes' and/or the phone continues to require resetting, then I would take it to an Apple store (if you have one near you) for evaluation.

Good Luck!

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

iPhone browser question.

Are you able to visit, say, HTF on it? And, can you respond to posts and such?

Re: iPhone - so...what's the deal?

You can ... and I do.

HOWEVER, there's some "flakiness" involved with this site and the Safari Browser: For example, it's often difficult-to-impossible to get the "Quick Links" pull-down menu to appear (even if you "zoom-in" on it); and sometimes once you get to a thread that you want, you can't go back to a previous page.

I've only seen this problem with Safari on this one site, for some reason.