iphone

MikeC78

Halo,

I'd make sure the wife grabs the "Free Replacement Warranty" with that phone. Just incase she drops/breaks or loses the phone, they'll give you another.

Shizelbs

POLKOHOLIC wrote: »

so let me get this straight: your cell phone and ppc (which are 4 yrs old) had the ability to connect to 802.11b/g, surf the internet in a fully functional browser, had a 'real' high resolution touchscreen, had 8gb of storage, supported quad band gsm, edge, bluetooth, played mp3's and movies, had a 2mp camera, AND was loaded with Mac OSX - all in a 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 package weighing in at 4.8 ounces?

Lets see, my PDA has Wifi B, not sure about G, I can surf the internet, it is high resolution yes, the touchscreen is not as advanced as the iphone, maybe, but its there, I have 4gb of storage, but I could have 8 if I wanted it, yes to bluetooth, yes to movies and mp3s (it makes an outstanding movie player), I don't have a camera, but there are available, and its loaded with Windows Mobile, not OSX. You got me on the operating system. And yes, the package is about the same size and weight.

PolkThug

POLKOHOLIC wrote: »

that much huh? :rolleyes:

It will also take a 4GB micro SD card, and its got a 2MP camera, with full qwerty keyboard.

Systems

POLKOHOLIC wrote: »

so let me get this straight: your cell phone and ppc (which are 4 yrs old) had the ability to connect to 802.11b/g, surf the internet in a fully functional browser, had a 'real' high resolution touchscreen, had 8gb of storage, supported quad band gsm, edge, bluetooth, played mp3's and movies, had a 2mp camera, AND was loaded with Mac OSX - all in a 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 package weighing in at 4.8 ounces?

If the Iphone can be even half as productive as my Treo700w sitting on my desk right now... connected directly to my Exchange 2003 server, I'll eat my shoe.

One of IPhones biggest problems strait up is Cingular... I personally just moved 120 lines of service (and 50 PDA's) off Cingular over the past year because they just strait up suck.. period. Everyone complained all the time about service. God, it was a nightmare. I say this straight up, since I moved all 120 lines to Verizon, not one damn complain from not one single person (in 7 offices across the entire NorthWest). Its absolutely amazing the difference. Cingular/At&T is a complete failure. Verizon is such a success here that 30 employees have moved their wives/husbands service to it based on their work service.

To compare their high speed service was fun. We had the high speed Cingular laptop card and the high speed Verizon card. We tested the thing everywhere. You could light up the Verizon card anywhere, establish VPN and work for hours at high speed. With the Cingular high speed, VPN and connection would literally drop every 5 minutes and was completely worthless to use. We even brought Cingular in to try to figure out why it was so bad. New cards didn’t help. Its important to note that Cingular hit this market with high speed before Verizon.

halo

MikeC78 wrote: »

Halo,

I'd make sure the wife grabs the "Free Replacement Warranty" with that phone. Just incase she drops/breaks or loses the phone, they'll give you another.

Thanks bud, will do

bobman1235

Strong Bad wrote: »

Because it is prettier and more sophisticated with a larger screen than regular cell phones, people will feel more compelled to use the web browsing and other features while driving.

Repeat after me - objects dont' cause people to do dangerous things, stupid people cause people to do dangerous things. Just like handguns don't cause crime, availability of drugs doesn't cause addictive behavior, etc etc.

I don't want an iPhone either, but only because it's too expensive, too unproven, and doesn't offer tactile feedback (I dont' like giving my undivided attention to my phone every time I want to use it). I'm not going to make up catastrohpic societal problems just because I don't WANT something.

MGPK

PhantomOG wrote: »

+1 for me. But hey, if people want to shell out $1000+ dollars to suffer with AT&T service for two years, more power to them.

Steve Jobs seriously has mind control over a large percentage of the population. He could crap in a box and call it "iShit" and people would be camping out to pay him $300 for it.

But, how would people feel about buying that anaLOG device?;)

PhantomOG

Seems to me the only thing "new" about this phone versus plenty of others is the touch sceen and Apple UI. Neither of which I desire. I know that using a touch screen would drive me mad, and I have no desire to wade though Apple's bloated UI to make and receive calls. Sure, the average idiot might have an easier time learning to use the iPhone (as is the case with Macs/PC's), but I can guarantee you that everything I do on a day to day basis with my current phone can be done much quicker currently than with the iPhone.

Combined with the extremely high price and poor ATT&T/Cingular service makes me wonder why people would even bother. Status symbol? Not a status I would want.

MrNightly

I think the phone looks freakin' sweat. If I had the coin, I’d probably pick one up myself. I'm excited where the technology is headed, and support any step in the advancement direction!

HBombToo

I see no point in all the iphone hype. I went as far as to shut down mail on my Treo because it just got too busy.

Phone, SMS and a little web browsing is just fine with me. A total teather is crazy IMHO.

HBomb

krabby5

PhantomOG wrote: »

+1 for me. But hey, if people want to shell out $1000+ dollars to suffer with AT&T service for two years, more power to them.

Steve Jobs seriously has mind control over a large percentage of the population. He could crap in a box and call it "iShit" and people would be camping out to pay him $300 for it.

LOL:D

brettw22

I did see for the first time how thin the phone is and that does appeal. I've seen some PDA's that are so bulky that I wouldn't really want them carried with me all the time, but this doesn't look so bad......(even though I wouldn't be interested in a fully touch screen type of phone)

halo

So, if you had to stick with at&t and didn't want an iPhone...what do you think is the best phone (I'm lumping PDA's in here as well) that they currently offer that does everything the iPhone can do but cheaper and or better?

dorokusai

bobman1235 wrote: »

Almost any modern device is GSM - if you want your product to sell on the global market, especially Europe, the only way to go is GSM. The US is one of the few countries that has anything else (TDMA, Sprint PCS, etc).

Absolutely incorrect.

bobman1235

dorokusai wrote: »

Absolutely incorrect.

Sorry if I'm mistaken, but, the four major US celluar companies are Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint, and...:

Verizon (from their own website) uses CDMA2000, available in a handful of countries, but not Europe or Japan.

Sprint uses a combination of things, but predominantly CDMA, mentioned above.

T-Mobile and AT&T both use GSM, which is actually defined as the industry standard for 2G technologies, and is available throughout Europe, with 2 billion of the 2.29 billion global cell users using GSM as of one year ago. That sounds like a pretty significant market share to me....

audiobliss

How can you leave Altell out of that? I don't know how big/small they are, but they've gotta be fairly large, no?


Might be a good place for this question...or maybe not...but here it goes...

I have a Razor V3m with Altell service; will I be able to use it in Albania?

bobman1235

Sorry, no Alltell in New England, so I'm not familiar with them. Looks like they share the Verizon network for the most part, so CDMA.


And I don't know if you're joking about Albania, but their biggest carrier is Albanian Mobile Communications, which uses... shockingly... GSM.

dorokusai

bobman1235 wrote: »

Sorry if I'm mistaken, but, the four major US celluar companies are Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint, and...:

Verizon (from their own website) uses CDMA2000, available in a handful of countries, but not Europe or Japan.

Sprint uses a combination of things, but predominantly CDMA, mentioned above.

T-Mobile and AT&T both use GSM, which is actually defined as the industry standard for 2G technologies, and is available throughout Europe, with 2 billion of the 2.29 billion global cell users using GSM as of one year ago. That sounds like a pretty significant market share to me....

GSM began in Europe, created an ISO and is covered quite well in that respect, worldwide even. Although it was a "standard", Sprint chose to bring CDMA to North America (via APC & eventually Sprint Spectrum LLC) because of the flexibility of Qualcomm's original patent. It's still more flexible than GSM and the CDMA platform is picking up alot of speed overseas. It is being used overseas in many places and guess what the future holds for US carriers? Do you know what's hapening to the Nextel backbone in the next couple years? It's all about 3G, 4G & WiMax, just to name a couple acronyms......and not GSM.

I worked for the very first GSM/TDMA based US company back in 1996....APC(Wash/Balt MTA) then Sprint Spectrum, Sprint PCS, Sprint Nextel and am currently with Verizon Wireless. I may have seen a couple trends in technology in my travels but to each his own.

You might check out some trade magazines like Wireless Week, Wireless World and RCR for some more information on telecommunications here and abroad.

P.S. I say all this in a pleasant tone of voice, FYI.

audiobliss

bobman1235 wrote: »

Sorry, no Alltell in New England, so I'm not familiar with them. Looks like they share the Verizon network for the most part, so CDMA.


And I don't know if you're joking about Albania, but their biggest carrier is Albanian Mobile Communications, which uses... shockingly... GSM.

Didn't even think about it sounding like a joke, but I can see that now, re-reading my question.

I'm actually going to Albania for two weeks and haven't found out yet if my phone will work over there.

michael_w

I thought about getting the iphone but then backed out and decided to pass. The major joykill for me was the lack of software suport, as in how you can't install anything that's not apple approved. The idea that the majority of customers will be happy right out of the box always seems to be the Apple way and that just doesn't do it for me -- that's actually one of the main reasons that fuels my dislike for apple.

Also, the lack of tactile feedback by having no buttons really does hurt. It's cool for about the first two days you play with it, but after that it just becomes a pain in the ****. Touchscreens have their place but they do not go well on their own in phones.

I'll stick with my hp pocket pc (running at 597mhz - tad faster than iphone and the same size ) and my sony k750i for a while...

bobman1235

Lasareath wrote: »

They went to Verizon first and Verizon said No Thanks we don't want it!

As per the "hard Drive", I'm pretty sure it's a Compact flash card like they had in the minis, 4GB & 8GB compact flash cards. There are 64GB compact flash cards out there now but they are like $799.99, that would have been a $1400 iPhone with 64GB!

The current iPod Nanos also use flash. And not to be nitpicky but they're not "flash cards" (since they're not removable), it's actual soldered flash memory. It would be nice if it were expandable in card form.

dorokusai

Lasareath wrote: »

They went to Verizon first and Verizon said No Thanks we don't want it!

Correct, although that's simplifying the overall decision.

Polk user

Another product that we are told is a must have and then the same companies hold back the quantities of said item so people have to stand in line and fight each other for something that will be completely forgotten in 6 months when the same people are standing in line for the next must have item. I have no use for these people. These people are free to do what they want and spend there money as they see fit but they all remind me of Paris Hilton.

mutelight

At some point down the road I can see myself picking one up. However, I in no way ever considered picking up one of the first generation models. I want to let all the die hard fans run into the issues and act as guinea pigs first, then let Apple sort them out, after that I will consider one. Also, ditch AT&T or offer them on other carriers. I made a $100 bet with a friend I wouldn't purchase one in the first year. The same friend that spent hours in 98 degree weather for one. Sucker...

The interface is absolutely brilliant I think. Also, I don't know what some people are saying about their Windows Mobile device being faster. From all the videos the iPhone is very quick and responsive (which of course it would be in promotional videos) but I will know for sure when I mess around with my friend's tomorrow. I own a Windows Mobile device and it can become very sluggish, especially since the OS isn't clever enough to actually kill tasks when you close them.

PhantomOG wrote: »

Seems to me the only thing "new" about this phone versus plenty of others is the touch sceen and Apple UI. Neither of which I desire. I know that using a touch screen would drive me mad, and I have no desire to wade though Apple's bloated UI to make and receive calls. Sure, the average idiot might have an easier time learning to use the iPhone (as is the case with Macs/PC's), but I can guarantee you that everything I do on a day to day basis with my current phone can be done much quicker currently than with the iPhone.

Bloated? You press the phone button on the main screen.

You want to talk about bloated, try out my Windows Mobile phone or my PC in the kitchen. MS products are far more bloated than Apple.

michael_w

Sorry to stray off topic but if you have a windows mobile ppc you need to take a look at spb pocket plus. It's pretty much a must have if you ever want to get anything done or have things work the way they should (when you hit ok / x / close it actually closes the app unless you specify to not close it). Think of a ppc as running Vista. Unless you know the little tweaks, it can just simply be a frustrating and disappointing experience.

POLKOHOLIC

they are releasing it in europe in a few months so im sure you will see unlocked versions of this soon. apple bloated? give me a break...

as far as the gsm vs tdma, cdma etc... debate goes...i can careless which of the technologies is the 'future'. at the moment...gsm is used in pretty much every country you can think of. i can use my quad band moto pebl in all of europe and asia. can you do that with your verizon/sprint phone?

another factor to look at is...in many countries gsm sim cards are sold in grocery/convenience stores....in pakistan you can literally get in ur car , go to the nearest grocery store, pay the guy 5 bucks and he will give you a prepaid sim card...which you can throw away once your done or recharge the balance.

PhantomOG

mutelight wrote: »

Bloated? You press the phone button on the main screen.
You want to talk about bloated, try out my Windows Mobile phone or my PC in the kitchen. MS products are far more bloated than Apple.

I'm talking about phones, NOT PC's.


From a review:

Making a call, though, can take as many as six steps: wake the phone, unlock its buttons, summon the Home screen, open the Phone program, view the Recent Calls or speed-dial list, and select a name. Call quality is only average, and depends on the strength of your AT&T signal.

Yeah... I call that bloated. I can call almost all of my contacts with 2 button presses. Call me crazy, but the most important thing in a *cell phone* to me is the ease and efficiency with which I can make calls.

bobman1235

POLKOHOLIC wrote: »

they are releasing it in europe in a few months so im sure you will see unlocked versions of this soon. apple bloated? give me a break...

as far as the gsm vs tdma, cdma etc... debate goes...i can careless which of the technologies is the 'future'. at the moment...gsm is used in pretty much every country you can think of. i can use my quad band moto pebl in all of europe and asia. can you do that with your verizon/sprint phone?

another factor to look at is...in many countries gsm sim cards are sold in grocery/convenience stores....in pakistan you can literally get in ur car , go to the nearest grocery store, pay the guy 5 bucks and he will give you a prepaid sim card...which you can throw away once your done or recharge the balance.

Time to tone it down a tiny bit POLKOHOLIC, your Apple Fanboyism is really hanging out there.

And Apple is still looking for a carrier to partner with in Europe, so I'm sure it'll be a similar situation over there.

mutelight

michael_w wrote: »

Sorry to stray off topic but if you have a windows mobile ppc you need to take a look at spb pocket plus. It's pretty much a must have if you ever want to get anything done or have things work the way they should (when you hit ok / x / close it actually closes the app unless you specify to not close it). Think of a ppc as running Vista. Unless you know the little tweaks, it can just simply be a frustrating and disappointing experience.

I had a friend of mine telling me about that program a while back, I'll have to check it out. I just think things as simple as that should have already been integrated. :mad:

Thanks for reminding me about that app. :cool:

halo

OK, my wife managed to get a phone from the at&t store. The at&t store was a joke. They had people waiting in line fill out a card with what they wanted. Did they bother to see if they'd be able to accomodate everyone? no way. They were letting 3-4 people in at a time. Only iPhone on display was in the hands of an employee who was playing with it - not showing it to anyone. nice :rolleyes: So, hours later a guy walks out (while she is still in line waiting) and announces that the 8 gigs are gone. Only 4 gigs are left. Does he say how many 4 gigs are left? nope. By the time she got in she got the 2nd to last 4 gig they had.It was late by the time she got back so she didn't open it.

The next morning we went to the apple store to look for a case and they had plenty of phones in stock with no lines and no waiting. Staff was very helpful. Answered all questions. They had plenty of iPhones on display for us to play with. Got to tell ya, I was impressed.

So, since she wanted an 8 gig anyway she bought the 8 and a case from the apple store and proceeded to return the 4 gig to the at&t store. When they asked why she told them that she went to the apple store and that they had the 8 gig in stock this morning with no lines and no waiting. The guy was shocked. Looks like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. That or the the jackasses at the at&t stores know what's going on but would rather have people order the phone from them so they can pad their sales. Pretty stupid IMO. at&t stands to make more (faster) if people get the iPhones in hand and activate them (sooner) vs. ordering an iPhone from an at&t store only to wait for it to be delivered.

Now for my lovely wife's thoughts / review of the iPhone (its her typing from here)

Hi everybody! I' m very happy with my phone! The touch screen works really well and the camera takes pretty decent pictures (for a phone). The ipod works great. I enjoy scrolling through the album covers. The internet works better on wi fi than at&t's edge but to me the speed with edge is not bad at all (as so many would claim). Navigating the phone is very simple and easy. Call quality so far has been good. Only thing is people I talk to while on speaker phone say that I am quite loud even though I am speaking normally. You tube is a cool thing to have and it works very well. I haven't quite figured out the maps just yet but It works just like the demonstration on the internet at apple.com. Activating the phone was a breeze. Only took about 5 minutes. The phone grabbed all of my information from my address book very quickly. It updates the address book every time you sync so if you add a contact or bookmark it will add it to the phone. Overall Im very happy and I give it an 8 out of 10.