Apple iPhone

[Undertoad]

Apple suggests WiFi use by iPhone will be greater.

For netting, sure. But for wireless calling?

[wolf]

Originally Posted by sycamore

Of course, you paid out the nose for that phone too.

I don't think so. You didn't own that phone, after all. You were granted the ability to use it by MaBell. I remember when we had to return the old phones or pay for them.

I wasn't paying the phone bill in those days, but I think the phone bill represented a smaller percentage of overall household expenses before the monopoly was broken.

[Shawnee123]

That's what I was thinking. I remember getting a new phone from Ma Bell when ours broke and I think they just dropped it off at the house or something.

If there was a bad thing about breaking up Ma Bell it was that before there was just one freaking phone book. Now you get about 12 a year and you have to keep looking to find what you want. It used to be you were listed, or you requested to be unlisted.

Now, can we break up cable?

[elSicomoro]

Originally Posted by wolf

I don't think so. You didn't own that phone, after all. You were granted the ability to use it by MaBell. I remember when we had to return the old phones or pay for them.

That's what I'm talking about though--you rented the phone and could wind up paying hundreds or thousands of dollars for it in the end.

[mbpark]

1. There are STILL people leasing their phones from whatever company took over for Ma Bell, be it AT&T Part II, Verizon, Qwest, or whoever else. These are mainly elderly people who don't know any better, and this has been documented over and over (how people paid thousands of dollars for those phones at $5-$10 a month).

2. The iPhone is on the EDGE network because AT&T (nee Cingular) caved into their demands. Verizon is a lot more demanding about reliability of network devices, and control of marketing/sales.

3. Unfortunately, the Treo killed the idea of having users develop their own C/C++ programs for the iPhone. Cingular, and every other carrier, must get a ton of calls from people who install programs on their phone, and have their phone crash on them because of it. They also have a lot of "hack" programs for the Treo that sometimes cause instability with PalmOS (not that it's a hard thing to do, PalmOS is a POS). Windows Mobile comes in a close second on this one.

The Treo is a nice device, but they've hacked PalmOS 5 so much that it can become highly unstable with the addition of many PalmOS programs. The phone software runs in the same address space as the user programs, and many a Treo has been "bricked" by PalmOS programs. Cingular, seeing this, didn't want the risk unless Apple could absolutely prove that the add-in software would not crash the basic phone software. This may not be obvious to many people, but they've spent (read: lost) millions supporting the Treo due to the fact that the OS is unstable.

Hence, Apple "sandboxed" the apps by running them in Safari. Safari has seen a lot of work to make it much safer, so much so that they've actually delayed MacOS X Leopard to get this right.

The Blackberry runs many of its programs in a Java sandbox, so they don't affect the actual phone software. The iPhone does not have Java (initially).

Expect that or a special Objective-C runtime sandbox in iPhone 1.1 (soon!) that runs the iPhone apps in a special area with many limitations.

Otherwise, it's a nice device if it's your thing, but I'll wait until version 1.1 or 2.0.

[Rexmons]

fuck everything how about this:

T-mobile is introducing a new "hybrid" phone that lets you either place calls using regular cell standards OR you can use wifi, for a nominal fee of $10/month. Imagine living in a city like San Franscico where Google has so generously hooked everyone up with free wifi. I can not wait until wifi enabled cell phones do to the cell phone carriers what unlimited calling VOIP did to landline carriers.

[Kitsune]

Originally Posted by Rexmons

T-mobile is introducing a new "hybrid" phone that lets you either place calls using regular cell standards OR you can use wifi, for a nominal fee of $10/month.

With T-Mobile's network, this is almost a necessity. I dropped them after only being able to make calls when outside on my patio from home that's inside Tampa's city limits. Weak, sparse GSM network.

[xoxoxoBruce]

17 Reasons Why Apple’s iPhone Sucks

iPhone Debate: I’m a Mac vs. Bill Gates

[jinx]

Ho-lee-shit! The line/security at the KoP apple store was unfreakinbelievable. Are these people nuts?? Its a goddamn phone!
Honestly I was just glad it wasn't the line for Starbucks.... got nervous for a few secs...

[elSicomoro]

Originally Posted by Kitsune

With T-Mobile's network, this is almost a necessity. I dropped them after only being able to make calls when outside on my patio from home that's inside Tampa's city limits. Weak, sparse GSM network.

I convinced April to switch to AT&T...she travels to rural areas quite a bit as part of her job, and she could never get a signal when she goes to them. In addition, when we've gone traveling around the Midwest, I would have a signal almost all the time while hers could be sporadic outside St. Louis or Chicago.

[Rexmons]

a reporter is interviewing a guy who got an iphone before they officially went on sale when some iloser tries stealing it while the cameras are rolling, but ends up grabbing the microphone instead

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by jinx

Honestly I was just glad it wasn't the line for Starbucks.... got nervous for a few secs...

Just out of curiosity, what would you have done it it was the line to Starbucks? How much do you love your coffee? Does it love you back?


BTW, my mom called this morning. She and my father saw the Iphone media blitz and wanted to know if I wanted one for my upcoming birthday.

I thanked her and declined.

a)I had this horrible picture of my mom and dad joining the crush to get one of these overhyped dongles. Now, my mom a tough negotiator who usually got what she wanted, but in this case she would be outmatched.

b) It's overpriced.
c) It's version 1.0
d) It would require switching carriers to what I am sure is some hideously expensive service plan (I heard iPhones are locked to AT&T for 5 years)
e) While I respect the Apple operating system, I found iHardware to not be technologically superior to any alternative and that most of the additional cost is associated with brand and sleek packaging.

*I cannot f**cking believe that they are pulling that 'no removable battery' sh*t again. Didn't they learn anything from Ipod 1.0?

[tw]

Originally Posted by richlevy

*I cannot f**cking believe that they are pulling that 'no removable battery' sh*t again. Didn't they learn anything from Ipod 1.0?

It's an early version just like Ipod. I understand there are some technical reasons why the battery had to be non-removable. iPhone does not even have GPS. But don't for one minute doubt that feature is an oversight. GPS will be required for new Google functions - and Google is a major partner of iPhone.

Even pricing is likely to follow what happened with iPod.

Apple is striking into a market chock full of successful competition including Nokia, Motorola, Ericson, and Qualcomm. Don't expect the competition that has access to and experience with 3G networks to remain dormant. If nothing else, Apple has stirred up many bees nests in an industry that was earlier betting on (and fighting about) $20 cell phones. Suddenly the industry does not look so ‘commoditized’ anymore.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by tw

It's an early version just like Ipod. I understand there are some technical reasons why the battery had to be non-removable.

Hence my 'version 1.0' rule. So far the only version 1.0 I've been happy with is my wife.

(and no, I'm not going to ask her to post her 'user experience')

[wolf]

Originally Posted by tw

non-removable. iPhone does not even have GPS.

Now that I like. Nice little feature. Might consider one just because of that.

So, what did everybody think of Mayor Street making an ass of himself on National TV over one of these things?