Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

More on the iTunes Cell Phone

Posted by michael on from the only-99-cents-cheap dept.

andyring writes "According to PC Magazine, a Motorola exec demoed the rumored iTunes cell phone. According to the article, the phone syncs with a computer and the iTunes Music Store like an iPod does, and incorporates the iPod interface for navigating and playing digital music." We've mentioned this before.

17 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Worst of both worlds by DrKyle · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Take a cellphone I have to charge every day and add an mp3 player that gets charged every day and I'm willing to be that doesn't make 2 days worth of charge. When will convergence end and manufacturers just give me one thing that works well for a long time? Next they'll add video playback that will kill the battery in less time than to watch a movie.

    1. Re:Worst of both worlds by computerme · · Score: 3, Funny

      well if you have any ideas of how to break the laws of battery physics and do so in a cost effective manner then go right ahead and send them you plans...

    2. Re:Worst of both worlds by SoCalChris · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Not to mention that I generally regard cell phones as being disposable, but keep something like an ipod for several years.

      Two years from now, I'm not going to want to have to get rid of my ipod so that that I can get the newest model phone.

      Personally, I would preffer that device makers stick to making one thing work well instead of converging several items into one bulky and mediocre performing item.

    3. Re:Worst of both worlds by wankledot · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Good thing you don't have to buy one!

      Seriously, if you are tired of new features taking up battery life, then don't use the feature or buy a phone with it.

      --
      My sig is blank, I typed this by hand.
  2. Salling Clicker by Raynach · · Score: 4, Interesting
    There's a nifty little utility called the Salling Clicker that lets you take control of your Bluetooth-enabled Mac with any Bluetooth enabled cell phone. Not exactly like playing music from your cell phone, but navigating your Apple with your cell phone, including iTunes.

    I used it just recently with the car stereo I installed. ;)

    --
    - A
    1. Re:Salling Clicker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Something similar exists for the PC, called PuppetMaster.

  3. This is not the final form factor by computerme · · Score: 3, Informative

    According to appleinsider sources, the form factor of the phone you may have seen in images is only a test mule based on a diff moto phone.

    http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=816

    snip:
    Update: According to sources, the phone shown above and elsewhere on the internet is not the rumored Apple-Motorola cell phone, but rather a development phone used for demonstrating the embedded version of iTunes that will be included with the Apple-Moto phon

  4. Back to "dialing" the phone? by PornMaster · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I can't help but to think that the idea of using a clickwheel to "dial" the phone like in the days before many Slashdotters were born is kind of funny. Even if it's not the preferred dialing method, someone's gotta do a dialing hack for it. :)

    --
    500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
    1. Re:Back to "dialing" the phone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative
      In fact, Nokia was toying around with that idea (obviously inspired by the iPod), witness the now-cancelled Nokia Neo. Rotary dialing works, and obviously such an input method is also valid for a portable music player, but anything more than that (like writing a text message) is pure torture. Thank god Nokia still has some business sense.

      Myself, I'll just continue using my Nokia 6630, which has MP3, AAC and OGG (with a plugin) playback at full 44.1 kHz 16 bit stereo goodness. Transferring music to the phone is easy with Bluetooth, or I could just download music from the Internet with GPRS/EDGE/UMTS (3G) if it didn't cost so much. Anyway, I have no use for an "iTunes" phone, Nokia already has something much better than that.

  5. Oh yeah? by sploo22 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, it may be wireless, but I bet it still has less space than a Nomad!

    --
    Karma: Segmentation fault (tried to dereference a null post)
  6. Re:Will it sell well? by savagedome · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think that people who already shelled out cash for an I-pod aren't going to rush out and buy this now

    Cell phone is even more a 'style' thing for people than an mp3 player. Take a look at how many accessories are available for a cell phone that you and I and most of /.ers would think as asinine. The colorful antenna where the phone antenna goes bling bling when a call is received or even face plates for your phone. People love to decorate the cell phone so that they can whip it out and use it in public to be a little more flashy.

    I am convinced that Apple is going to design one heck of a cell phone as far as style is considered.

    And one more thing. Ringtones is already a multi-billion dollar industry. Now imagine iTunes providing tunes for ringtones. Yeah.

    Buy AAPL. There is more juice left in that stock.

    --


    Free XBox, PS2
  7. Re:Will it sell well? by 2nd+Post! · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think it will.

    If IBM, Alpine, and Pioneer think there is a market for car adapters for the iPod (to transform your car into an iPod sound system) why wouldn't the same market want a phone that can play all their AACs and MP3s after synching with iTunes?

    It's not like the phone market is stagnant! People get new phones every few years, some of them at least.

    --

    GPL Deconstructed
  8. Ummm.. by TheKidWho · · Score: 3, Funny

    Less space then an iPod. Lame.

  9. Motorola code quality - poor, very poor. by zerofoo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Uggh, I can't take any more featureitis from Motorola. My last two motorola phones had all kinds of software problems:

    T720 Phones that would ring and hang when you answer them.

    (T720) Black-screen hang during charging that requires a reboot.

    V710 phones that would crash during MP3 playback and require pulling the battery off of the phone to stop playback.

    Hey motorola, how about STABLE phones first - then gee whiz features?

    -ted

  10. -1 Flamebait by fo0bar · · Score: 4, Funny

    What an idea! You know, I bet this would work for other devices as well. I could probably take a GBA and put a cellphone on it.

    Excuse me while I bouce this off Nokia's marketing department. BRB.

  11. TFA is wrong by pauljlucas · · Score: 3, Informative
    The phone syncs with a computer and the iTunes Music Store like an iPod does ...
    An iPod does not sync with the iTunes Music Store. It syncs with the iTunes music player. The significance is that the iPod (and presumeably the new phone) can play any MP3 file regardless of how you obtained it and not just music purchased from the iTunes Music Store.
    --
    If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
  12. Re:Woohoo! No more asstastic ringtones! by aardwolf204 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Dude1: Check out this new ring tone I gots
    Dude2: Sounds familiar, who is that?
    Dude1: Thats 50 cent y0?!
    Dude2: Right on. Where'd you get it?
    Dude1: Verizon's dank ring tone store online
    Dude2: Really, how much?
    Dude1: Less than a buck. 99 cents.
    Dude2: Hold up, you mean to tell me you paid 99 cents for a 50 cent ring tone
    Dude1: Yeah, whats up?
    Dude2: You paid 99 cents for... ahh fuck it, nevermind...

    True story

    --
    Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the /.crowd.May ur days b merry & bright & may al