iPhone, iPhone!!!!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(HBO6 @ Jan 12 2007, 12:01 PM) [snapback]374710[/snapback]</div>

This is a blog.

Apple isn't stupid. They had this problem with the iPod and it has been resolved to the satisfaction of those buying them. No one is going to pay $500 for a cellphone if the battery is going to die in 18 months and the owner has to buy a new phone. They learned this lesson with the iPod. Now, if you have to pay $60 for a replacement battery and Apple has to install it, I don't see that as a downside. I've also read on those same blogs speculation that there will be TWO batteries (sorta like the Prius), one for the phone part and one for the iPod part, so no data will be lost.

I've already found one site advertising Apple iPhone replacement batteries and another a charger.

The best information I've found so far is from David Pogue, who got to play with an iPhone for an hour when he met with Steve Jobs.

Ultimate iPhone FAQ

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Jan 12 2007, 05:15 PM) [snapback]374968[/snapback]</div>

A User-replaceable battery was the implication. For a phone, it would not be acceptable to have to send it in for $60 or so to have Apple replace the battery like the Ipods. Like the new cell phone interface, but Apple has a little too much control over their units and content for my taste. They have certainly exceeded expectations on innovation and design.

 

What did the first iPod look like. (Wasn't it a black and white screen?) How much was it? What was the capacity/how many songs did it hold?

How many iPods are there now? What can they do? How much do they cost?

This is the first phone. I'm willing to wait a few years so I can have my pick of phones (that will probably be unlocked by then).

***********

Orville and Wilbur fly first plane.

Hey, where do the passengers sit? You mean I have to learn to fly it myself?

How fast does it go? That's not fast enough.

What if I have to go to the bathroom?

What if I get bugs in my teeth?

Gee, I can ride my horse faster and farther than that.

You ought to make it bigger so my wife can ride along and serve me sandwiches in case I get hungry.

It's made out of canvas? It will rip the first time I fly it!

Does it come in any other colors? Canvas is so ugly.

It looks kinda backwards. Shouldn't you put the little wings in the back so you can see better? You can call it a 'tail'.

Those guys stole the idea from Sam Langley!

Those guys stole the idea from Richard Pearse!

Those guys stole the idea from Gustave Whitehead!

Aeroplane. What kind of stupid name is that? Sounds Greek to me.

Interesting hobby. But what's the point? You'll never make any money from that thing.

 

it sucks that cingular has exclusive rights for two years. i cant believe apple limited themselves like that.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA @ Jan 13 2007, 06:50 PM) [snapback]375343[/snapback]</div>

From their point of view, Cingular, soon to be AT&T starting next week's transition, has the largest distribution in the US.

 

maybe true, but for a niche product, they are eliminating 51 million verizon, 45million Sprint/nextel, 25 million t-mobile (these are all guesses) etc. you get the picture for 53 million cingular customers???

sorry, dont see the logic in that. i can see cingular getting a 3-6 month release like they did on the razr but 2 years??? that is plain stupid

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA @ Jan 13 2007, 11:10 PM) [snapback]375352[/snapback]</div>

You're free to unlock the phone and take it to t-mobile.

From Apple's point of view, if they had made the phone CDMA for the Verizon/Sprint carriers, they would have lost the european market entirely.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Jan 12 2007, 11:28 PM) [snapback]375026[/snapback]</div>

That's the beauty of Apple. The newest ipods cost the same, and they do a tiny bit more (photos and movies). Certainly nothing more than other MP3 players have done for years.

 

Quad band does have its advantages but i just dont see that large of a market for traveling to europe. sure there is some and even verizon offers a handful of Quad band CDMA/GSM phones, but there is simply not that many buying em and what if you do???

spending $1.29 a minute and UP??? not worth it. gotta be a cheaper prepay solution after you get to europe

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA @ Jan 13 2007, 11:19 PM) [snapback]375357[/snapback]</div>

You missed the point...

Quad Band doesn't mean GSM/CDMA. Quad-Band GSM means they can cut a deal with Cingular to sell them in the US, cut a deal with T-Mobile to sell them in Germany, cut a deal with Orange to sell them in the UK, cut a deal with Rodgers to sell them in Canada...

One phone to sell in all markets.

 

Quad band is GSM which can receive and transmit on the 850 (U.S.), 900 (Europe), 1,800 (Europe) and 1,900 (U.S.) frequencies.

 

ya... like the Motorola A840?? 800/1900 CDMA- 800/1800 GSM ?

the ONLY thing quadband means is that it will transmit and receive on 4 frequencies. hardly a GSM exclusive

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA @ Jan 13 2007, 11:52 PM) [snapback]375370[/snapback]</div>

CDMA/GSM phones are exceedingly rare.

 

expensive too. i have a friend who has one, its more of a headache than its worth. the SIM card has to be taken to the store, dropped off to be programmed. and like i said, its a minimum $1.29 a minute for most of Europe and that is the CHEAPEST rate.

 

Being a Sprint user (CDMA), I have a cheap unlocked GSM phone I use for travel in Europe. In each country, I buy a prepaid SIM card. It was only 20p per minute to call home from the U.K. (Virgin Mobile), and about 80 Euro cents per minute from the continent (T-Mobile).

P.S. In Europe, incoming calls are free.

 

OK I am usually under the reality distortion field of Steve... but I recently had an epiphany, well a minor one! Steve lied to us! Yes it is true. At the very end of the Keynote he told us that he had not talked about a Macintosh computer so he would change the name of Apple Computer to Apple Inc. OK I guess... but he spent nearly half of the Keynote describing a Computer with a Intel processor, running a version of OS X, with a new touch screen uses interface. OK this Computer has some cell phone stuff graphed on it, but it is a Macintosh Computer with a chip that allows it to hook up to a cell network. I think that I can buy a interface very much like that and plug it into my Mac? So Steve said that he did not talk about Mac Computers and then spent a considerable amount of time describing a hand held, touch screen Manintosh?

 

Someday it's going to be a handheld, touchscreen Mac. But it isn't yet.

Apple is moving into media besides computers. Hence, Apple Inc.

 

It's not a mac yet, and it doesn't use an Intel processor.

Some day, they'll get sophisticated enough that you get home, turn on the TV, grab the remote for your Apple TV, and scroll to "bob's iPhone" (or whatever your phone is called), and see a full screen, 40+ inches high def full version of OSX. You then grab the bluetooth keyboard and mouse sitting on the end table and start cruising, surfing the web, playing World of Warcraft, whatever. The next day, you walk into the office, sit down at your desk and turn on the monitor, and the exact same desktop you had on your TV the previous night is right there on your monitor - along with another wireless bluetooth keyboard/mouse set. All because you were carrying the computer around in your pocket with you... Oh, and if you don't like the bluetooth keyboard/mouse idea, then you can turn the remote sideways for a full keyboard layout, and wave it around ala the Nintendo Wii to control the mouse...

Not there yet, but i firmly believe Jobs will take it there in the next few years.

And as for the non-replaceable battery... that bites. with the short talk time, if i was going to be traveling for a weekend, i'd probably want to bring a backup battery with me - that way, at the end of the day on Saturday when the first one dies, i can just swap it out for the second one to still have full use on Sunday. I would be more than willing to have the phone be a few millimeters thicker and a little bit heavier if it meant the battery was user replaceable in this manor.

 

keyboard???

think so?... i think that it will soon become the lesser used option much like electronic sketch pads are a niche product, keyboards will go the same way...only used when privacy is necessary. but in the privacy of your own living room?? no way

 

to the contrary, i doubt we'll ever get away from keyboards. Sure, they're used for privacy when texting someone, for example. But voice recognition software isn't good enough to be able to distinguish between multiple people talking, music playing, etc. Plus it would make the work place way too loud. Typing is by far one of the best ways to input stuff into a computer. Additionally, you can map the keys to perform specific functions (like in computer games where the "WASD" keys can be used as arrow keys, etc), which comes in as way to useful.

Simply put, without a keyboard, computers are pretty much useless

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA @ Jan 13 2007, 09:10 PM) [snapback]375352[/snapback]</div>

From a development side, it makes sense.

Apple only has to have their developer team work with one company to get the internals right on their first phone. It's not like Motorola or Nokia where they already have all the 'code in the can' for whichever system you happen to have. They only have to get it right for Cingular. this lets them get the phone to market sooner while they spend the next 12 months trying to get the Verison and other vendors supported in their version 2 of the phone.