iPhone - so...what's the deal? (1 Viewer)

[TonyD]

what is this iPhone that has been on apple.com forever.

from what i can gather it does EVERYTHING. and will be available from The New AT&T.

i cant find any date or mention of it at cingular/at&t.

looks like i want one, whatever it is.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

if you search at cingular.com it's the first thing listed.

http://www.cingular.com/iphone

I'd buy it, but I hate cell phones and refuse to buy one. I love everything else though. Look for Apple's keynote address on the phone, the demonstration is amazing.

CJ

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Its a revolutionary twist to the cellphone concept. Basically its got the potential to do to cell phones what the iPod did for portable music with its interface and features. As is often the case its not so much that Apple invents something totally new it just takes the best idea's and builds them into a slick package that "just works".

Here's a video on it. http://whatis.techtarget.com/definit...240539,00.html

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

I may wind up getting one, but as someone used to Sprint and Verizon's EVDO network for data service, Cingular's EDGE network is just way too slow and a big drawback for me.

 

[Oren]

To me, the big deal is that it's just a really good phone. It's my personal opinion that all the phones currently available, including the one in my pocket, have atrocious interfaces. It's not about the signal, it's about the interface. Finally, a phone that is just easy to use with an interface that adapts to what you're doing. I plan to buy one as soon as it's available.

The camera, iPod, and internet abilities are just icing on the cake.

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

I guess I'll withhold judgement until I can get my hands on one and/or until I see some objective reviews. Sure the feature set looks good, but right now everything is marketing spin from Apple and AT&T. Nobody else has been able to test one.

 

[Oren]

I did.

By that I mean I know someone at Apple, and some time ago Apple let about 15 of them out in the wild (the phones, not the employees). So I sat down with him and he demoed it to me in person.

It wasn't much different than the demo Jobs did. If you haven't seen the video, you should watch it. The little videos on the web site show the same stuff.

So, yes, if the actual signal quality is awful, then it won't be a great phone. I think, though, that the basic phone technology of sending and receiving the signal is pretty much standard, but I could be wrong. To me the only unknown at this point is the battery life.

Whether it's a closed system or open isn't too important to me. It'd be nice for it to be open, but even if it's closed there will still be a process by which third parties can add their software (via Apple).

Not to be overly dramatic, but this phone is one of the few things over the last 20 years that I'd stand out in line for hours to buy.

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

The Windows Mobile phones are both more open and have greater feature sets, but the interfaces on these things pretty much stink. It's not just the fact that they aren't streamlined or easy to use; the fact that the interface is sometimes slow, jerky and flickers, and menus are slow to appear, etc, make them look pretty amateurish and bad. The user inteface really isn't that great, and it mimics desktop things that just aren't suitable for a handheld. If you want to do something on a WM screen, you have to stop walking and focus on what you're trying to accomplish, and you need both hands.

The same is true for Symbian phones. The interface is slow to respond and not very attractive, but they are definitely better at one-handed usage.

It's not, in other words, so much what the iPhone can do, it is the way it does it. I'm very intrigued with it myself, it's one of those "instant gadget lust" things that just cry out "buy me!".

 

[Oren]

I don't know if I agree with that. Collectively they may, but I'm not sure there is a single phone out there that has all the core features the iPhone has plus more. And the iPhone has some things no other phone has. I'm not aware of any other phone that has an orientation sensor, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, soft keyboard, and such a large screen (but small overall size/weight).

Also, third party applications (in the form of AJAX web apps) are starting to appear:

http://iphoneapplicationlist.com/

 

[DaveF]

I want an iPhone. I won't get one: $600 + data plan + not Verizon = no sale.

But I want one. The killer app to me is the voice mail system. I saw the voice mail interface demo and it was a revelation! I realized that's how I wanted to manage my messages -- like email in my inbox, graphically, intuitively instead of arcane keypresses.

But it has a huge achilles heel: locked into one carrier: AT&T. Will people switch carriers for this phone? Will they go to a (IMHO) lesser carrier to get this phone?

But the iPhone looks killer to me, and suggests amazing things to come.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

A few days ago I was thinking hard about dropping Verizon
and going with AT&T for the iPhone.

But you know what? I'm not going to do it.

I have a Blackberry that I am very happy with. I also have
Verizon which I am even more happy with. I have so many friends
at work that have AT&T/Cingular who complain about dropped calls.

The things that bothers me about the iPhone more than anything
is the fact that it doesn't have a replaceable battery. You pay $500
for a phone that essentially becomes worthless once the battery
stops charging.

I'm going to wait until all the hype calms down and actual user
reviews start pouring in. If this iPhone is the greatest invention
it's being made out to be, perhaps I'll take another look at it by
year's end.

I don't know why Verizon, who has the best service, always get
the shittiest phones. Real shame they lost out on iPhone.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It's because AT&T has the most subscribers nationwide - 62 million to Verizon's 60.

The real question is why so many phone makers let themselves be dragged into exclusivity deals. Surely marketing a version for each carrier would be better business than instantly dropping half your potential customers?

I don't have $600 laying around to piss away on a phone. Even if I did though, I wouldn't leave Verizon. When I make a call, it just works. When my friend collapsed after we hiked 11 miles on a humid day, it was our Verizon phones that went into emergency mode and enabled the volunteer EMS to find our position and carry him out. The third member of our party had Cingular, and service was the exception not the rule. That experience gained my loyalty for the years to come.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

You don't know that to be true. The iPod has a "non-removable" battery, and yet, lots of people buy batteries and replace them. I don't know that you CAN do that with the iPhone, but you certainly don't know that you can't.

CJ

 

[Oren]

Supposedly Apple went to Verizon first, but Verizon declined to accept Apple's demands around control over the design of the phone, not locking out features, etc., etc.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

My Verizon contract is up in March 2008. I'll consider the iPhone then.

- Steve

 

[Ted Todorov]

Battery: I just changed the one in my 2nd Gen (20GB) iPod -- it was very easy, the new battery cost $29 (from OWC) and it has 20 hours of playback -- way better than the old one. So far as cell phones, I am yet to have one that lasts long enough for me to need to change the battery.

Verizon -- I don't see how Apple could ever support Verizon or any other CDMA based carrier. Imagine having an iPod or MacBook that stopped working the moment you crossed the border. Well, with Verizon & other CDMA phones that's the exact situation -- you have a useless piece of junk in your pocket the moment you leave the U.S. Apple is nothing if not an international company. People willing to spend $500/600 for a phone tend to travel. It simply had to be GSM.

And, unfortunately Cingular/AT&T is by far the biggest US GSM company. I love my T-Mobile service and would hate to loose it, but Apple really didn't have too many options.

As others have pointed out Apple needed the cooperation of the carrier, for visual voice mail, etc. Most carriers insist on meddling in phone hardware design, locking out features, etc. Clearly Apple couldn't agree to any of that.

Lets hope that AT&T improves is network, and that other carriers offer full iPhone support once the exclusive AT&T contract runs out.

 

[DaveF]

Huh? My Verizon phone works across the border in Mexico and Canada. Do mean Europe?

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

AT&T apparently has a five year exclusivity agreement with Apple so discussion of other carriers is probably a moot point. That said, both Verizon and Sprint are now selling international Blackberries that can use CDMA here in the States and GSM everywhere else. So it is possible to make a "world" device.

If my employer gets me an iPhone because I have to support them, I'll use one. But since I hate Cingular and I hate the slow EDGE speeds, I wouldn't shell out my own cash for one.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Yes, I mean Europe, Asia, anywhere besides North America -- sorry, should have been more specific.

 

[ErichH]

One thing is certain - if people adapt to the interface and it works as well as it looks, the carrier will be a non issue for many people.
The idea of an updateable interface and web based 3rd party software is very compelling. The iPhoto, iPod portion is icing on the cake. Google maps with phone links and future GPS in V2 looks like a strong sale point as well.

We'll see soon enough (8-9 days)

Remember the first Razor was 600+ and it really didn't slow the rage for that minimal device.