doctorfrog on 12/1/2007 at 04:26
It looks interesting, and characteristically, Apple is introducing a few new ideas into the mix, or simply taking leaps that others are too timid to do.
But me, I like my video at home, and my phone to be mainly a voice communication device that can take a few knocks and be easily and cheaply replaced. Other entertainment devices need to be usable without paid subscription 'services.' With an iPhone, I'm tethered to a phone network that will likely exercise a monopoly over video and audio content if it can, and if it can't, Apple will do the honors with its iTunes service. I'd be more interested in a device with a blank drive and open hardware, just waiting to be exploited rather than locked down.
Enthusiastically, I'm saving my points for viable, readable, cheap e-paper. And yeah, I've seen the Sony reader, and it's merely a step in the right direction, not a solution. Someone do that already; I want to use the Gutenberg Project for what it was really intended for.
Matthew on 12/1/2007 at 09:35
Quote Posted by Rug Burn Junky
If you want an all in one phone, the best one has been around for years: Sony Ericsson's P series. Only thing it's missing is a 3G data pipe
Truth, the P990 was the phone I was referring to. Having said that, in the UK at least I think it is 3G capable? O2 certainly bundled a 3G SIM card with it.
ignatios on 12/1/2007 at 14:36
There was early speculation that the iPod was going to suck too. Just saying.
The touch screen is what irks me about it; RBJ and Jason have it. On the one hand it's neat to have a really sexy fluid interface thingy, but on the other hand it's not the best way to make a device useful. Some people are already working on (
http://www.advancedinput.com/Touch_Feedback1.html) touch screens with tactile feedback so that might change, but we're not there yet. Jobs & co have to nail that aspect if they really want it to succeed.
Ironically enough, the iPod is engineered not only to have tactile response, but to be generally pleasing to use. They even put the speaker behind the click wheel so that it really sounds like the wheel itself is doing the clicking.
When I'm in the market for a new phone and mp3 player (around 2 years for each) I'll give it a serious look, but until then my needs are met.
Rug Burn Junky on 12/1/2007 at 14:47
Quote Posted by Matthew
Truth, the P990 was the phone I was referring to. Having said that, in the UK at least I think it is 3G capable? O2 certainly bundled a 3G SIM card with it.
You're right.
I was actually referring to the P800 and P910. I conveniently omitted the 990 from my memory, since I remember that there were a couple of trade-offs on it that were a step backwards from the 910, and made me not want to upgrade in spite of the faster data access. But still, the 990 is a fantastic phone as well, and is worlds better than the iPhone out of the gate, as well as the godforsaken blackberry I'm currently saddled with.
oudeis on 12/1/2007 at 15:28
Quote Posted by doctorfrog
It looks interesting, and characteristically, Apple is introducing a few new ideas into the mix, or simply taking leaps that others are too timid to do.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_distortion_field) o rly? (Sorry, cheap shot. It's pretty clear from your post that your are not a bleating macintard but it was too good an opportunity to pass up :p .)
Everytime Jobs intros Apple's newest gizmo people go into fits of religious ecstasy over it, even (or especially) technology writers who are supposed to know better. The day the Rokr was introduced, Apple submarined it and Motorola with the Nano. Never mind that Motorola partnered with Apple on it, or that the phone had iTunes, Jobs had to have the limelight on himself. The result: the press spunked out the usual paeans to the genius that is Apple while deriding the Rokr for its lack of style compared to the Nano and its crippled version of iTunes, conveniently glossing over the fact that
this was at Apple's insistence. When all was said and done, however, the Nano turned out to be nothing more than a flash-memory mp3 player with a display screen that scratched if you breathed on it. While I'm sure the iPhone (god i hate that
i) won't have that particular problem, I'm equally sure there will be some other embarrasing or even show-stopping shortcoming to it, and that the faithful will once again conveniently gloss over it.
Matthew on 12/1/2007 at 15:34
Quote Posted by Rug Burn Junky
I was actually referring to the P800 and P910.
Ah, of course, I see what you mean. Yeah, I had both of those as well and they were fantastic devices, but I must confess that my P990 (had to upgrade due to broken P910) hasn't had any serious problems so far (touch wood). Better in some ways, worse in others really.
The Alchemist on 12/1/2007 at 16:12
You know oudeis being a Mac hating zealot isn't any better than being a Mac fucking technophile. :p I'm not exactly on either camp I don't like OSX or iPods (and god I hate iTunes but strangely enough I love quicktime) but I don't exactly go SHUN!!!! soon as I see new mac hardware and argue that it's obviously, undoubtedly going to contain some show stopping life threatening karma balancing flaw.
I'd be happy if this thing worked just cause I think it's so neat, but it's too expensive of a silly gizmo toy to be a phone, I mean the torture I put my phones through....risking half a k in every day use? Eh, nah, not practical. If the price drops I'm all over that shit though.
oudeis on 12/1/2007 at 17:34
Quote Posted by The Alchemist
You know oudeis being a Mac hating zealot isn't any better than being a Mac fucking technophile. :p
Yes, it is. It very much is.:p
David on 12/1/2007 at 18:10
It is a phone, and one that doesn't bring many new features to the table. For example it does nothing that my Sony Ericsson K800i doesn't already do, (other than touchscreen) but Apple seem to have tied everything together nicely with their customary slick interface.
There's quite a nice (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgW7or1TuFk) video on YouTube demonstrating the Apple iPhone quite clearly. The transition between screens is extremely nice and something that is massively overlooked in most mobile phones.
oudeis, you're as bad as the fanboys and as bad as people who use the term 'Micro$haft'.
