I think the iPhone Shuffle will be next - stores hundreds of your contacts, but who you will actually call next is a bit of a mystery.
Actually, with the lack of tactile buttons, that could very well be the current model. I’m retracting the title of this thread; I no longer want an iPhone. I just want a touchscreen, wide screen iPod now.
That’s pretty much where I stand. The fact that I can choose to leave my phone at home and make phone calls from my iPod will be just a little welcome bonus.
More about the iPhone from someone who actually got a chance to use one. He mentions a couple of things that make text input easier despite the lack of tactile feedback. Apparently, he’s pretty stoked about it.
Another well-informed guy’s opinion about the UI. He also talks about the speculation behind yet another processor that OS X has been ported to (big thing for Apple/Mac geeks) and what implications that has in relation to Apple/OS X/iPhone.
Quite a few people have mentioned that third-party apps will probably be available, despite what Jobs has said. I find it very unlikely that Apple would shut out all developers for the phone since they’re usually pretty nice to developers. Considering how critical and public this iPhone thing is, I have no doubt Apple will be very, very careful about how they vet things though.
Links via Daring Fireball. Gruber will probably be keeping up with this issue pretty well. He’s a good source for links and commentary.
The “vetting” thing is somewhat of a show-stopper when it comes to third party apps, though.
If I want to pay to download a limited selection of apps that have gone through an expensive, time-consuming testing and certification process, I can do it right now with my Verizon phone. The reason I don’t is, well, because they’re expensive and the selection is limited. The effect of forcing apps through that process is that they cost $5-$10 each (because the developers have to make back what they paid for testing) and a lot of apps simply don’t get made (because they don’t have enough mass appeal to make back the investment).
OTOH, if you have a Treo or another real smartphone, you can download plenty of freeware, and you can find apps that are only useful to a handful of people, which is nice if you happen to be one of them.
Minor nitpick: both DoCoMo and Softbank have GSM networks in Tokyo. You can even rent handsets for North American and European SIM cards.
But they were all visual feedbacks. You still can’t dial while driving on the freeway or in other situations where the eyes are needed for other duty. I wouldn’t presume to make recommendations to Jobs, but if he would just give maybe some audio feedback — a certain tone when the finger approaches a number and before it is pressed. This could even be done by a “tactile” setting, so you could toggle it off.
Dialing a phone while driving seems rather dangerous, n’est pas? I can support voice-activated dialing, but that can be somewhat distracting as well.
Oh, I agree. But there are levels of danger here. Like you say, it’s bad enough with tactile dialing. But at least you can keep your eyes on the road while your thumb contracts and extends, feeling for buttons. With nothing but visuals, you have no recourse but to look away from the road.
Mr2001, you are definitely not the target market for this phone, then. You would be much happier with another phone since what you value is much different from what they’re offering. Apple has always been about making stuff that works, works well, and has a consistent way of working. The people who buy their products value those things more than tinkering with their gear. The ability of their products to run niche applications is not a concern for Apple, or for most people who buy their stuff.
This is also a big risky deal for Apple. They’re not going to willingly do anything that will break their phones, mess up the network, or even just make the things unreliable, because that would be disastrous for them.
Cerowyn, you know, I didn’t know that. I always got the impression that GSM was offered for international use and didn’t know that that network was even available in Japan. Thinking about it logically, it would have to be used or international customers couldn’t use their phones in Japan. I’m out in the semi-boonies though, so I don’t know if a GSM-only phone would have consistent network access, or any access at all.
WCDMA phones are what a lot of people cal 3g phones. They all will work with GSM networks along with the WCDMA networks. It is part of the WCDMA standard. There may come a time when most GSM networks are retired that the GSM functionality will be not be put in new phones. But currently I would be amazed if you can buy a WCDMA phone that does not support GSM.
Well, the iPhone runs OS X, which Apple touts as being a reliable operating system. If the ability to install third party apps would break the phone, perhaps OS X isn’t as reliable as they claim…
As for messing up the network, that’s pure BS. Either Steve Jobs knew he was lying when he said that, or he just doesn’t know a thing about how cell phones work.
Ha! This is more pure Jobs RDF. Symbian and Windows Mobile smartphones have had the ability to install abitrary apps for AAAAges and they haven’t done a thing to mess up the network. My new guess at all this is that Apple wants to position iTunes as a central distribution point for EVERYTHING. The global store for all digital content and they’re trying to use the iPhone to push this. Secure DRM, micropayments, consistent installer and GUI. This is Steve Jobs’ vision for iTunes and we’ll see how that works out.
How about simply staying off the phone and keeping your eye on the road?
Oh boy, JUST what we all need, another overpriced, proprietary, neutered money making machine for Apple! :rolleyes: I get pissed off at the Sidekick, which is just the other side of Apple trying to get its stranglehold on the pursestrings, what with the whole “you have to do everything through OUR server, even your ringtones and pictures aren’t yours, they’re resident on our box so if you don’t pay your bill we keep your content!” attitude…
I have T-Mobile and I have both the SDA and the Dash–Windows Mobile smartphones from HTC, the Tornado and the Excalibur, respectively. There was a complaint upthread about mobile specific website formatting–well, I’ll tellya what, the SDA can be monkeyed into full html browser mode but it’s not worth the hassle because regular web pages just aren’t formatted right for the screens and navigation is a bitch. The Dash uses the mobile version and it’s perfect, easy to use, easy to read, easy to navigate, easy to do anything. The pictures come up just as clear as they do on the laptop and damned fast, too. Mobile IE is optimized for the phones, and browsing is easy peasy whether you use EDGE or WiFi. Me, I just use EDGE all the time now because it’s always on and there’s no real difference in speed loading pages. EDGE is easier on the battery too.
I have about 20-30 third party programs, midlets and reg hacks on my phone, the SO is over 60 on his and so far he hasn’t managed to crash T-Mobile’s network in spite of it (although if it were possible, he’d probably have found out how to do it–purely for informational purposes of course!) I have a 1GB micro SD I paid 20 bucks for just full of nice mp3’s, avi’s and mpg’s, and I could get a bunch more if I wanted to schlep movies and suchlike around with me. I have a one touch ringtone editor that uses any mp3 on the phone, clips it, and saves it. The SO has his set up with voice command and can start any app, call any contact or play any media just by hitting one button and telling it to go. I have Virtual Earth, mobile Astronomer, Pocket Streets, mobile Office (PDF viewer, Word, Outlook, Excel, Notepad, etc.) a bunch of games including a first person shooter that can be played multiplayer via Bluetooth and a flight simulator with something like fifty different planes. I have a one key call recorder. I have a cut/paste app that’s very handy for posting on the SDMB and making sure the quotes are right. I have media streamers for music and TV. I have a really fabulous media player that beats the shit outta the Windows one, and doesn’t have nearly the overhead. A conservative estimate of Windows Mobile apps out there is better than 3500. No third party apps for a six hundred dollar phone? WTF? Sounds like either A) a nice paperweight, or B) a code word for “all your monies are belong to Apple.”
The touch screen thing is a bitch as well. I originally lusted for the MDA (Wizard) but after talking to people who had it I decided to pass–because if you’re in the middle of an app when a call comes in, your face fucks up whatever the app was doing. I’ve heard people make the same complaint with the Treo and the iPaq as well. Color me unimpressed with a touch screen that can’t even use a stylus, too–WTF?
So, I have a spiffy little 200 Mhz processor smartphone that’s wide open, ergonomically and tactilely friendly, has a nice little 1.3 megapixel camera with video, is an mp3 player with infinite capacity assuming I don’t mind investing in a few micro SDs, WiFi and EDGE browsing, Bluetooth, and more third party apps than you can shake a stick at and what did I pay for it? Oh yeah, 150.00–would’ve been 100.00 if I hadn’t just upgraded to the SDA three months ago. Six hundred bucks for a locked down Apple POS? Do NOT make me laugh…
Reliable doesn’t mean completely bulletproof. People who are realistic about things know that nothing is perfect. No system’s security is absolutely foolproof, no equipment is invulnerable.
There have been some hacks from third-party software makers, like Unsanity, that monkey around with low-level processes and that can have an effect on the stability of the system. This is sometimes perceived as a flaw in Apple’s software when in fact it’s the third party’s responsibility for altering parts of the operating system in a way that messes things up, and the user’s responsibility for installing something that undermines the security and stability of the system. Jobs obviously isn’t willing to let that happen with this product.
Messing up the network might be bullshit, it might not. I’m not a wireless communications engineer and don’t know enough about how it works to know what is possible and what isn’t. Security may have been one of the things that Cingular was concerned with. His statement about bringing down the network was probably hyperbole, but there have been increasing reports of malware on mobiles in the last few years. In any case, do you think that Apple wants to take any chances with something this big? I don’t.
I don’t know why you’re arguing with me about this. You don’t want an iPhone. I get that. It’s not what you want, it won’t do what you want, and it’s not compatible with the way you want to work. Fine, don’t buy one.
Funny you should say that. I’ve been thinking for some time now that Apple is rapidly transforming into the iPod Corporation. Computers are becoming less and less important to their bottom line. Now they’ve even removed the word “computers” from the company’s name. I suspect that this might be a sign of things to come in Jobsland.
Certainly. But OS X is a pretty stable system, and just as the slight chance that a new app might break your Mac shouldn’t scare you into never installing any software, neither should the slight chance that a new app might break your phone scare you into crippling it.
IANAWCE either, but I know enough about the basic principles here to say that a rogue phone app bringing down the whole cell network is about as likely as a rogue app on your PC bringing down the whole internet. It just isn’t going to happen.
If Cingular were honestly worried about that, then they’d have stopped selling Treos, Windows Mobile devices, handsets that can run Java apps… basically everything except the iPhone. But it looks like the only “security” they’re concerned with is DRM.
Because you’re arguing in favor of Steve Jobs’s lies. Everything Apple has said about the choice not to allow arbitrary third-party apps has been disingenuous or downright false.
You’ve obviously got an axe to grid. You accuse Jobs of outright lying instead of exaggeration or figurative speaking, and then you accuse me of supporting his statements when that’s obviously not true. I said earlier that I thought there would be some third party software in spite of what Jobs said. Apple might have reasonable concerns about stability and safety. Cingular might have had problems already with the other products you mentioned. I don’t know, since I’m not an insider. All I did was theorize about reasons why Apple is, at this point, not planning to allow user-installable software.
You can try to nitpick what I say but I don’t see what the point is. Neither one of us has access to anything other than sketchy second-hand and third-hand information about a product that is at least 6 months away from launch and might undergo significant changes in the meantime.
In addition, I’d really appreciate it if you’d stop attacking me in what should be a thread concerned with news sharing and speculation about the iPhone. If you’re not going to be helpful and friendly, go away. I’m not interested in “debating” you any more, especially when you accuse me of being gullible and misrepresent what I actually said.
Sleel, I don’t mean to make this personal, and I apologize for accusing you.