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Inside Apple's iPhone
DECS writes "Despite CNET's wild claims, Roughly Drafted is reporting that Apple's market position and recent performance show the company has the ability, capacity, and interest in shaking up the mobile phone industry. Something that service providers, manufacturers, and consumers desperately need."
You'll finally be able to transform your daughter into one of those silhouettes!
The problem is cell providers who make most phones ones that force you to pay ridiculous fees for things that you should be able to get for free (like ringtones, backgrounds, etc). This is the reason why apply had problems with the iPhone the first time around, because the cell companies wanted to charge people for being able to transfer songs to their phones.
For me VOIP on a PDA is the way to go. Works great with with my wireless broadband, or wi-fi hot-spots if they are around. Not the most reliable setup for incoming calls, but having a $10/month pager solves that problem.
It wont be called iPhone because Cisco/Linksys has already released one and owns the trademark for iPhone. The Canadian trademark is controlled by Comwave, I believe (someone linked to them defending the trademark against Apple in another article but I can't find it now).
MacPhone perhaps? That seems to be more in line with some of their recent naming conventions as well.
You didn't get that iPod you wanted for Christmas huh?
MP3 is itself a proprietary format. And iTunes (and iPod) fully supports MP3. So how can iTunes be crippling the "MP3 industry" when it supports MP3?
... and then they built the supercollider.
But if it works well AS A PHONE, it gets my vote.
Well, the iPod sells like crazy, because it works very well as a music player. This lesson is not lost on Apple: notice how they've been very careful not to add a feature just because they can, and when they add something like games, they don't clutter the UI. It's the same number of clicks to get to a song on an iPod today as it was on the first ones they shipped.
If Apple brings out a phone, one thing you can count on is that they will have really studied what's good and bad about the existing products. It will be very, very easy to look up a number in your address book and dial it, to record your voice mail messages, to capture and save a number from an incoming call, to set your ring tones, etc.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
The RAZR is the most popular cell phone in the US, and the newest version (available in the US through Cingular) interfaces directly with iTunes. This is a much nicer phone than the ROKR and comes with a 512MB microsd card (see review). Although it has the restriction of only holding 100 songs, this is about what will fit on the included memory card. I have one and I find it a compelling alternative to carrying around a separate nano. I'm not sure why people are so dismissive of this.
Apple doesn't sell form over function. They differentiate on form, since for this class of device, nearly all the market entrants deliver the minimum required functionality.
Notice that the iPod sells as well as it does without published audio specifications. It is not an audiophile device. In fact, I think at the moment there is no such thing as an MP3 player that would meet the requirements of a discriminating audiophile, and for the vast majority of available content, this is irrelevant.
Just about any MP3 player with a decent pair of aftermarket headphones is going to deliver a "good enough" experience for most listeners. The differentiating factor is how the device looks and feels, how easy it is to use the player's interface, how easy it is to load content on the device, and how intrusive the required copy-protection restrictions are.
The combination of the iPod line of players and the iTunes software is "good enough" for a large number of people.
As far as phones go-- poorly integrated with carriers? Yes, please. I prefer unlocked GSM phones so I can choose my own provider whenever and wherever I am. As far as the bad, misleading and restrictive things that tech companies can do to you, Apple doesn't hold a candle to just about any cellular operator in the world.
Mediocre player? Depends on how you mean mediocre. The device, if it exists, will likely be as mediocre a player as the iPod itself is. You can take that however you like.
However, if, from the perspective of interface design, the first iteration Apple phone is anywhere near as good, compared to other phones, as the iPod is to other MP3 players, then I see no reason why the device couldn't be at least as good as the best Symbian based phones, and a good deal better than just about anything Motorola has produced in the past ten years-- including all-hype, no-function phones like the RAZR and, the ill-fated ROKR.
Why doesn't the iPod publish audio specs? Because it under performs compared to every other player in the market.
Not trying to be difficult, but what does that mean? I mean, granted, I don't listen to music on great headphones or anything, but every CD player or mp3 player I've tried has sounded fine to me. And why would they need to release the specs? Can't people just test it themselves?
-Bucky
I've wandered a bit into corporate culture and away from the impending iMobile. I apologize. But for the iMobile to reach the maximum number of consumers, it won't be a powerful product. It will flash Apple's minimalist design and carry a premium price point, because you're not just buying a cellphone, you're buying "cool".
That entire paragraph was written with the kind of blissful ignorance that discounts the idea that form can be powerful. The parent seems to think that if something is cool, it _can't_ be powerful - that the two concepts are mutually exclusive.
What prevents cool from being powerful? Nothing.
Check out Mac OS X Server. It is quite plainly "cool" and it is demonstrably as powerful or more so than competing products.
XServe RAID - extremely competitive on price, powerful, and very "cool" - the fit and finish of this product far surpass anything else in the space. The management software is very flexible and powerful.
The click wheel and hierarchical interface of the iPod are two more examples. How much could you do with four poles and a clicker? You can provide users with a way to navigate music and build a playlist without even looking at the device - if you're Apple.
The built-in handle and kid-proof shell of the teardrop iMacs is another example.
Form can quite easily be demonstrated as power. I think you're too wrapped up in the idea that something has to have myriad dialog boxes, option sub-menus and configurators to be "powerful".
In reading published US patent application 20060268528 filed back in 2004 - Handheld Computing Device - Apple
In the description, section 0111
"In one embodiment, the device is or includes functionality for supporting cellular or mobile phone usage. In this embodiment, the device includes processors, transmitters, receivers, and antennas for supporting RF, and more particularly GSM, DCS and/or PCS wireless communications in the range of about 850 to about 1900 MHz."
In the claims, they detail the invention as a handheld computing device that is a cell phone made of a non-plastic material to have better wireless signal reception (claims 1, 6, 7).
She's a Heek (hot geek). A creature of fable, second only to the unicorn in it's rarity. Capable of singing a siren song that tends to compel creatures from basements and dark places. If you see one, an easy test would be to gather your courage, scramble your Rubiks and hand it to her. If she completes it in under a minute, propose to her. If she accepts, you may also be a Heek. Congratulations!
If she refuses, she's just a nice looking lesbian.
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
n fact, I think at the moment there is no such thing as an MP3 player that would meet the requirements of a discriminating audiophile,
True. Gold is very heavy, and carrying it around is a pain. Plus it's easy to get the electrons flowing the wrong way down your cables when you're unplugging them and replugging them all the time. Not to mention oxygen gets in every time you unplug.