Can you do web browsing from anywhere on Earth?
If so, how’s that work? Satelites?
-FrL-
Its been more than 12 hours since they started selling them, with idiots starting fights over who was ‘first in line’ :rolleyes: .
Somewhere out there, whether they’ll fess up to it or not, has to be the very first person who stupidly dropped theirs into a toilet & fried its circuitry… 
I think it’s anywhere that can access AT&T’s EDGE network. Other than that, if you’re in range of a WiFi hot spot, it’ll automatically switch over to that.
Hehehehe. If anyone is interested, here is a thread on a Mac-obsessives board, full of people gibbering with glee over how awesome their new gizmo is.
Even dedicated mobile phone websites are spooging over the thing, and they’re normally very picky.
I’m curious to know how long it will be before some post-purchase dissonance sets in and we get the first calls for the waaahmbulance
I’m slowly shopping for a new phone. I really want a smart phone because I hate having two gadgets (phone and PDA) when I could have one. I’ve also been wanting to get an iPod and figure it would be nice to have all three in one.
So, I’ve been looking at a couple of non-iPhone smart phones on the AT&T site (it’s the service I have, so that makes the iPhone an easy possibility), but they’re not really convincing (Treo, Blackberry Pearl, a Cingular-branded one).
Tell me about a few aspects:
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How’s the call quality? My current phone, a cheapie Motorola, has really good call quality. I’m not giving that up. I’ve used my brother’s Treo and never feel comfortable speaking or listening.
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Interference? The cheapie phone sometimes interferes with computer speakers and sometimes with my TV. Annoying, but I’ve been living with it for more than two years, so not THAT annoying.
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Does it sync with Outlook? I need the device to sync with stuff at work where we have PCs.
Any details about these aspects of the iPhone would be appreciated.
GT
No user-swappable SIM card?!!
Apple just broke one of the Cardinal GSM Rules right there.
If you have twinklefingers, you can swap the battery yourself. If not, there’ll surely be someone who can do it for you at a better price and much quicker that Apple.
I want to know if this will plug in to my car for hands-free and music.
It’s a thing of beauty. I’m making myself wait. Oh, I’m 62. No generational disconnect here. Sorry, naysayers. 
It’s my money. Nothing else matters, bottom line.
Peace,
mangeorge
I don’t think this is a solvable problem except with well-shielded speakers. The problem is the RF interference caused by the signal coming from the nearest cell tower to your phone. If any of your speakers are in a direct line of fire between your phone and the cell tower, you’ll get that annoying beep-beepbeepbeep-beepbeepbeep noise. If your speakers have very good RF shielding, this may mitigate the problem, but that’s about it.
This was the biggest deal breaker for me, which is why I made it the first point. I refuse to go CDMA (even though Bell has a better mobile internet deal than Rogers) specifically because if you want to sell a CDMA phone to buy a new one, you have to get it unlocked. And then you have to get the new phone locked. (You have to unlock GSM phones if you bought them from your cell provider, but new phones don’t need to be locked to be usable) SIMs are as easy as swapping a memory card, because technically, that’s what they are.
As far as I know it uses the same connector as the iPod and should work with existing iPod docks, car or otherwise. I could be wrong though.
It does have a user-swappable SIM card. I removed mine last night, just for the hell of it.
However, the iPhone will not work with SIM cards from other providers - only AT&T.
The call quality is excellent. The volume coming from the speaker could be louder, but the included earbuds/microphone works great.
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Haven’t noticed anything.
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It does. It will even import your bookmarks from IE.
Ah, so it is user-swappable. That’s good. At least then, you can take your card out to use in a loaner phone if your iPhone breaks. But they should be make the thing available unlocked, even if it’s at a greater price than locked.
(Incidentally, I believe that selling locked phones is illegal in some countries, like Finalnd. I wonder what Apple will do when it wants to sell the iPhone in those countries.)
That bud/mic think looks really cool in the demo tour. Glad to hear it also works good. The iPhone, imo, really needs voice dial. I usually won’t talk while driving, but there’s no way I’ll dial manually.
I asked a question upthread that wasn’t answered so I’ll try once more because I’m curious.
Is the internet really accessible anywhere or only at Wi-Fi “hotspots”? I don’t totally understand the whole Wi-Fi thing to be honest, I only know that there are certain places that have free access, and others that require paid subscription to services. Someone mentioned that the internet access is included as part of the phone plan, but what I am trying to figure out is where does the access come from?
Do you work for Apple? 
This is the best, most enticing layman’s review I’ve ever read. Shit! I don’t even want one and I just may have to get one based on your rave review! Have fun with it! (I’m gonna go git me some Apple stock!)
All cellphone companies have data plans any more. This means that the phone uses the cell networks to access the interweb. Wifi is not tied to a cell company. You can buy wifi gear at Wallyworld which will allow you to wirelessly connect to your internet connection any where in your house. Companies that offer wifi service have gear similar to what you can buy that they use to make their internet connection available to people within range.
The GSM cellphone standard, which the iPhone uses, includes its own internet access. But that access must be installed separately by the carrier: it’s optional. You may find an area that has voice coverage but not data.
GSM internet access is also usually much slower and more expensive than WiFi. On the other hand, it can be used while the phone is in motion, handing off from tower to tower just like a voice call.
WiFi (the 802.11 family of wireless networking standards) was originally intended for data connections that will always remain in contact with the same base station. There are enhancements to WiEi that will let you roam from one base station to another, but they are usually intended for use in the same facility or local network. And it is usually more complicated.
The GSM roaming capability and infrastructure was built in to the system from the start and is seamless. None of this nonsense about having to enter your credit card when you get to a new hotspot, for instance.
So, the difference is:
GSM internet access: expensive, slow, not always there… but will work if it is, and you can use it while moving.
WiFi internet access: inexpensive, inconvenient to set up, fast… but you generally have to stay in the same place to use it.
The iPhone also has Bluetooth, which is a “personal area network”, intended for connecting to local accessories such as headsets and keyboards. Many cellphones have it, and also computers. I use it to connect to my computer to upload pictures and such from my phone.
Basically, WiFi is hispeed internet that’s being beamed to your computer or phone (in this case) from a local network thru a wireless router. A lot of homes, offices and even storefronts like starbucks have this setup.
EDGE is basically internet thru the cell towers. If you don’t have WiFi access already available, the iPhone will automatically switch over to this convienient, yet slower, internet access. As far as i know, EDGE is available anywhere cell coverage is.
And all sorts of places offer WiFi internet access for their customers. At Teriyaki Havens near work, it’s free; you just need to create an account. In downtown Toronto, it’s offered by Toronto Hydro and Starbucks, among others, and you have to pay. But it’s really intended for people who are going to remain a while and use their laptops. You often have to use a browser to log in, for example, which has tripped up a number of WiFi Skype-phone users that do not have browsers.
Yes, EDGE is one of the GSM data standards (there are several, with the newer ones getting successuvely faster to compete with WiFi).
I plan on getting one. But how will I be able to type Japanese on it? Will it have the languages function that OS X does?
TY.