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iPhone Gets Better Battery, Scratch Resistant Glass

Dekortage writes "Prior to its much-hyped launch on June 29, Apple has announced upgrades to its battery life (almost 40% more than originally announced) and scratch resistance (using "optical quality glass" rather than plastics). The announcement also includes a comparison chart pitting the iPhone against smartphones from Nokia, Samsung, Palm, and Blackberry."

527 comments

  1. Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apart from not selecting like for like that's arguably the most horribly biased selection of measurements I've ever seen used in a comparison chart. I know the aim of the chart is to try and make the iPhone look good but when doing these type of charts most companies at least give their competitors some credit so as not to look too desperate. Probably the most obvious is the first - thickness comparison without weight, width and height comparison? It's a shame it doesn't list things like features either because that's where the iPhone really fails miserably, it simply has no killer app like the Nokia N95's built in GPS.

    Posted anonymously to avoid the Apple fanboy army that plagues Slashdot and that can't accept that Apple aren't always capable of producing a decent product.

    1. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by pantherace · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You've not looked at many of Apple's comparison charts have you?

    2. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by piecewise · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The press release is about the physical attributes of the iPhone, so the comparison charts deal strictly with physical attributes, not things like GPS.

      Finally, slimness is what consumers care about. If you want to make l x w x h comparisons, all that data is readily available.

      Fails miserably on features? Plays TV shows, movies, music, Google Maps with traffic and directions, syncs with iTunes, iPhoto, iCal, Office/Outlook, supports third-party development, on a huge 3.7" screen. How is that failing on features?

      --
      The next comment I write will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
    3. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by eln · · Score: 5, Insightful

      the comparison charts deal strictly with physical attributes, not things like GPS.

      Really? I had no idea that "Internet Use", "Video Playback", and "Audio Playback" were physical attributes.

    4. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by fishthegeek · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Seriously, if you are the sort of person that must rely on GPS and a four billion dollar infrastructure to get lunch you probably shouldn't be allowed in public unescorted anyway.

      GPS is a gimmick unless you are :
      A) Plotting cruise missile strikes
      B)Lost in a forest being chased by bigfoot

      TomTom is much better for in car navigation than any cell phone could be.

      --
      load "$",8,1
    5. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why do you think an otherwise terrible phone like the RAZR ever got so popular? Thickness is a *huge* feature, as it's the most detrimental dimension for pockets.

    6. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Wabin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Supports third party development? Are you kidding? Sure, you can make web apps, but palm, symbian and even windows mobile kinda blow it out of the water on that front.

      --
      Most exciting phrase in science: not "Eureka!" but "Hmm... That's funny..." -Asimov (abridged for \. limits)
    7. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by killmenow · · Score: 5, Funny

      ... on a huge 3.7" screen...

      Only on slashdot will you ever hear 3.7" referred to as "huge".

    8. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Xest · · Score: 3, Informative

      You sound roughly about as biased as the comparison chart. To be fair the OP has a point.

      If it's about physical attributes why does it list non-physical attributes? and only one of the few physical attributes?

      Slimness is all consumers care about? If that was the case everyone would be happy with the iPaq phones because they're so slim, of course in reality, the issue is they're too wide for most people to want in their pockets. Personally I also prefer phones to be light, so for me weight is one of the largest issues.

      As for features well, yes it does have a few but not as many as the new Nokia and Sony offerings. Supports 3rd party development? this is a joke right? again, other offerings have full Java and some even C++ application support - that's an awful lot more than rich internet apps which nice, are still extremely limited - again, you aint EVER going to see anything like this on iPhones with their supposed 3rd party application support:

      http://www.midlet-review.com/index?content=news&id =1023

      It's probably worth noting the iPhone's camera is pretty dire in comparison to the new Sony/Nokia offerings too - 2megapixel vs. 5 megapixel.

    9. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by madsenj37 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Alone they are not. However, they are physical attributes when related to use of battery time.

      --
      Choosing the lesser of two evils is a choice for evil.
    10. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by walt-sjc · · Score: 1

      I'd also like to see weight on the chart. All fit in a pocket just fine unlike the phones of yester-year, but some phones are just bloody heavy and don't sit well in a pocket.

      Talk time is great and all, but if you can swap batteries it's not all that important. If you have sacrificed features such as a keyboard (I prefer a slide-out keyboard), memory card slots, replaceable battery, etc. for the small size, then you have also sacrificed usability and utility.

    11. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by toleraen · · Score: 0, Troll

      he press release is about the physical attributes of the iPhone, so the comparison charts deal strictly with physical attributes, not things like GPS.

      Explain to me how Talk Time, Internet Use, Video Playback, and Audio Playback are physical attributes?

      Finally, slimness is what consumers care about. If you want to make l x w x h comparisons, all that data is readily available.

      When it's down to a few mm width really doesn't matter. And if the data is readily available, why didn't they include it? This IS a physical attributes comparison chart after all. H x L x W and weight are generally the most important attributes when describing the physical make up of a product.

      Not going to go into a battle of product features, but my current phone does all of that, except it supports products that are installed on ~90% of the market, instead of ~5%. Not saying it isn't feature rich, but what you listed is nothing special (feature wise), except the bigger screen.

    12. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I notice they also left the Motorola Q off the list, arguably the best smartphone out there right now for the money.

    13. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well my phone is physically incapable of doing any of those things!

    14. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by dintech · · Score: 1

      What does that matter? He was talking about this one in particular.

    15. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by pla · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Finally, slimness is what consumers care about.

      So you'd feel just fine with a 0.25in thick phone 1ft high by 6in wide and weighing 15lbs?

      I care about exactly one aspect of my phone's geometry - Does it fit in the little half-pockets on the mid-leg side of all my jeans.

      For the record, the iPhone comes in at 0.46x2.4x4.5in. That would probably not fit in said pockets (which have a flattened width of just under 2.5in on the pants I have on today), or at best would fit too tightly for comfort. My current phone fits nicely, however, at 0.9x2.0x4.3in, despite literally twice the given-yet-irrelevant thickness.



      the comparison charts deal strictly with physical attributes, not things like GPS.

      The "Wi-Fi", "Talk Time", "Internet Use", "Video Playback", and "Audio Playback" rows on that chart would tend to disagree.

    16. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Da+Fokka · · Score: 1, Redundant

      TomTom is much better for in car navigation than any cell phone could be.


      You are aware that TomTom also uses GPS?

    17. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by theGreater · · Score: 2, Informative

      A better comparison chart might include

      • 02 XDA Flame
      • Eten Glofiish x500+
      • FIC neo1973
      • Sharp 904SH
      • T-Mobile MDA-IV

      These models are all in a similar price range, have nice touchscreens (I think), and full 640*480 resolution. Have I missed one?

      -theGreater.

    18. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by neoform · · Score: 1

      Did you really expect apple to say negative things about their own products? I'm a little confused by you calling apple biased towards it's own products.. like.. why wouldn't they be?

      --
      MABASPLOOM!
    19. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Bloke+down+the+pub · · Score: 5, Funny

      One isn't a valid sample. He should get a load of them and compare them. Maybe on a chart or something.

      --
      It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
    20. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The original poster said this chart was "arguably the most horribly biased selection of measurements I've ever seen used in a comparison chart".

      So the point of the post you replied to was to suggest that all apple comparison charts are similar, and that if this one is the "most horribly biased" he has seen, then he must not have seen any other apple comparison charts before.

      See how it makes sense now?

    21. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by djdavetrouble · · Score: 3, Insightful

      GPS is a Gimmick ?!?

      HOORAY, I LOVE GIMMICKS !

      seriously, isn't that what this is all about anyway? most gimmicks wins ?

      --
      music lover since 1969
    22. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by iMac+Were · · Score: 5, Funny

      Depends if that's the width, honey.

      --
      You thought my name meant what? How very dare you!
    23. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by eyeye · · Score: 1

      TomTom is much better for in car navigation than any cell phone could be.


      My phone RUNS TomTom, something you don't have an option with on the iPhone, even if you coupled it with an external GPS unit since you can't run software on it.
      --
      Bush and Blair ate my sig!
    24. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      nope the picture has tech features such as wifi, battery life etc

      slimness is not what consumers care about

      features: GPS and a decent SDK to name but 2

      I am not on either side of the fence but apple will find that the phone market is a tough nut.

    25. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Rakshasa+Taisab · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Are you saying you have larger balls?

      --
      - These characters were randomly selected.
    26. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by mgabrys_sf · · Score: 1

      Fine - but where's bigfoot?

    27. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Firethorn · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Slimness is all consumers care about?

      Another oddball consumer here-

      What I care about is reception range/quality and battery life. I actually prefer a larger phone, as long as it'll fit in a pocket. Note: I shove paperback books in that pocket all the time. The reception range is on the list because I live a long ways from the nearest cell tower. The battery become second because as a result my phone ends up having to use full power much of the time.

      Followups would be durability, then various features like bluetooth, GPS and MP3 playing. I know how to use a map, and do so, so I normally know where I am, and already have a dedicated mp3 player.

      A nice big brick phone with a sensitive receiver, powerfull transmitter, huge battery with bluetooth would almost be my ideal phone. That way I can use my nice headset and stick the monster on my belt or passanger seat of my car.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    28. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I blanket metamod all apple fanboys down... and I'm proud of it.

      I own a quadra 950, silver tower g4, 1ghz white g4 ibook

    29. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Weezul · · Score: 0, Redundant

      GPS is not the N95's killer app. GPS is just the next essential phone feature. Nokia got it first cuz Nokia is better than everyone else, including Apple. No news here.

      N95s are cool cuz they do everything better than every other current phone, including the iPhone, period. N95s also have video output which seems potentially quite important.

      But N95s are kinda clunky and short on battery life. Otoh Apple's iPhone is actually physically larger in your pocket. Apple's chart is obviously biased to avoid admitting that their phone is larger in other dimensions.

      http://www.gsmarena.com/

      --
      The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
    30. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Scyber · · Score: 4, Funny

      You missed the one I have ever heard of.

    31. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by IdleTime · · Score: 1

      Slimness?

      Couldn't care less! But I do care about the contracts you need to sign in order to use it. I don't like being bent over a barrel and ass raped while the service provider suck my bank accounts dry. No thanks! Apple can have this shit to themselves.

      --
      If you mod me down, I *will* introduce you to my sister!
    32. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Fulkkari · · Score: 4, Insightful

      the comparison charts deal strictly with physical attributes, not things like GPS.
      Really? I had no idea that "Internet Use", "Video Playback", and "Audio Playback" were physical attributes.

      Time! Internet Use [Time]. Video Playback [Time]. Audio Playback [Time]. Timetimetime! How long the battery can keep up with the load. That certainly is a physical attribute.

      --
      I demand the Cone of Silence!
    33. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by empaler · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's probably worth noting the iPhone's camera is pretty dire in comparison to the new Sony/Nokia offerings too - 2megapixel vs. 5 megapixel. Give me a 2 MP cam with good photosensitive silicon rather than a 5 MP with cheap third-rate silicon.
      I'm not saying that Apple has shelled out for a better cam function, I'm just saying that MP count is like snakeoil.
    34. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "Seriously, if you are the sort of person that must rely on GPS and a four billion dollar infrastructure to get lunch you probably shouldn't be allowed in public unescorted anyway."

      There's a difference between 'rely' and 'better convenience'. You'll be happier in life when you figure that out.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    35. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by W2k · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Plays TV shows, movies, music,

      So does any PDA with a media player. My ancient Windows Mobile 5 device does this remarkably well, using an SD card for storage (my music collection isn't that big).

      Google Maps with traffic and directions,

      Also available on any PDA which runs Java. Or any device with a semi-competent web browser. I usually use Opera Mini to surf for directions on my WM device. Which is fast because while old, my device supports 3G, which the iPhone lacks.

      syncs with iTunes, iPhoto, iCal, Office/Outlook,

      Again, old hat. Just replace the first three with the Windows equivalents and this applies to almost all WM devices in existence. The PDA I had a decade ago could also sync my calendar, contacts and e-mail, by the way.

      supports third-party development,

      That's a joke, right? It's common knowledge by now that the iPhone locks out third-party developers.

      on a huge 3.7" screen.

      Now I know you're joking. 3.7" isn't huge.

      How is that failing on features?

      It's failing because despite all the hype, the iPhone offers practically nothing that competing devices hasn't had for years, except the "Apple feel" which frankly will only win over people who don't need anything but a shiny toy anyway. It lacks important features like actual support for third-party developers, 3G and GPS. I for one won't buy a PDA without a fold-out QWERTY keyboard, since I use my handheld a lot for blogging and e-mailing on the go.

      --
      Quality, performance, value; you get only two, and you don't always get to pick.
    36. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Snake oil is talking about "photosensitive silicon", when there's not many companies making camera CCD's, and at least at consumer grade, they're all pretty much the same. The lens before the CCD and image processing electronics after it counts for a lot more. And there's where you realize it's a phone, and you're not going to get optical zoom out of it, and probably not a flash either. Lacking all these other features, the resolution dominates.

      But hey, way to spin it, fanboy.

    37. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by supremebob · · Score: 1

      I'm curious about the weight as well, since the glass screen is probably going to add some weight.

    38. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Firethorn · · Score: 2, Interesting

      More than likely.

      fishthegeek was likely refering to the fact that a dedicated GPS navigation device, such as TomTom* is going to be a better performer for any serious navigation devices than the system stuck in a multirole system such as a phone. It's getting to the point it might eventually not be much of a hit, but the dedicated device is still likely to be far easier to work with in it's intended role.

      *I hate that name.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    39. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by gman99 · · Score: 1

      >>so the comparison charts deal strictly with physical attributes
      So, WiFi is a physical attribute, but GPS isn't?
      Even if we give them that, both the N95 and the iPhone have WiFi, yes; but the N95 can connect/stream to your home server/TV/whatever that supports UPnP. Last I checked, the iPhone only does internet browsing over WiFi (OK, they did not say it does not support UPnP, but if it did, you can bet your bottom dollar it would be on the feature list)

      >>slimness is what consumers care about
      I'll wait till I hold the phone in my hands before I make any judgement calls on that. It's slimmer, yeah; but it's also bigger in every other dimension. Personally, I find it difficult to hold a wide phone comfortably and use it (but I guess the iPhone is meant to be used with two hands)

      I'd agree with the GP: "that's arguably the most horribly biased selection of measurements I've ever seen used in a comparison chart"

    40. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Bender0x7D1 · · Score: 1

      The question is, are the phones in the comparison chart displayed at the same size ratio? If they are all displayed at 6:1 (or whatever) then you can do a visual comparison of the size (length and width) of the phone, but not really a depth comparison, so they include it. I don't have any of the phones listed, so I have no idea if they are displayed with the same size ratio or not. Does anyone on Slashdot have access to some of the phones displayed so they can verify, (or falsify), this idea?

      Also, does anyone know what kind of battery is in the iPhone? It seems like it gets a lot of battery life, even compared to specific-use devices designed to do 1 thing efficiently, so I was wondering what, if any, advancements in battery technology they used.

      --
      Reading code is like reading the dictionary - you have to read half of it before you can go back and understand it.
    41. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      How can it be a comparison if all the other answers are "they don't say"?

      What are we meant to be COMPARING it against?! Man, I was actually hoping to see something intelligent on there. That chart alone just put a bullet in apple's foot.

    42. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Shakrai · · Score: 3, Informative

      What I care about is reception range/quality and battery life

      An oft unappreciated phone (and the one I use on a day to day basis) is the Motorola V195. It's offered by T-Mobile and Cellular One, but it's GSM, so you can get it unlocked and use it with anyone.

      It has the highest RF output of any non-brick phone I've ever seen (1.7 watts on GSM850/900 and 1.0 on GSM1800/1900), the best reception, an insanely long battery life (rated for 10.5 hours of talk time -- I tend to get six or seven, depending on signal strength), class 1 (long range) bluetooth, plus it's a quad-band phone and will work in any country with a GSM network.

      Yeah, it has no camera (who cares?) and is slim on features. But if all you want is a phone, I'm hard pressed to think of a better GSM one. And the full retail price is only $120.00 ($20 with contract) from T-Mobile. I'll cry a lot less when my $120 phone goes into the swimming pool/toilet/stolen then I will when something happens to my $600 iPhone. And that's with contract -- wonder what they'll charge you to get one at "full price" once you are already under contract?

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    43. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by jim_redwagon · · Score: 1

      >How is that failing on features

      how about the big failure of making me pay for a cr@ppy ATT data plan in order to use Wi-Fi?

      I was going to get one after my July 4th vacation, now I'll just hold off and see what Christmas brings me...

      --
      I forgot what I wanted to say, but honestly, it was important.
    44. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by 0xdeadbeef · · Score: 1

      Forgetting GPS? The original image lied about the N95's WiFi capabilities.

    45. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by ronanbear · · Score: 1

      Not all navigation is used in car either. Sometimes it's not in your car either. They're portable but you're not going to have them anywhere. It's very useful to have the functionality.

      Finding the shortest route is useful for drivers but at the end of the day an extra mile or two isn't the end of the world. Makes a massive difference when you're walking somewhere though.

      GPS phones also allow tie-ins. My GPS can look up local restaurents and can also ring them.

      It's not something that Apple are focusing on so they haven't included it.

      --
      the more they over-think the plumbing the easier it is to stop up the pipe
    46. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by wild_berry · · Score: 1

      Please hand in your geek card: FIC neo1973 is the OpenMOKO free-as-in-gplv2 handset.

    47. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "fishthegeek was likely refering to the fact that a dedicated GPS navigation device, such as TomTom* is going to be a better performer for any serious navigation devices than the system stuck in a multirole system such as a phone."

      Amusingly, this is not necessarily true. The cell phone's 'multirole' function also includes a data connection to the internet. This gives it some interesting flexibility that a TomTom does not have, especially with regard to things like traffic updates or use with other applications. That's not to say that TomTom doesn't have its plus sides, but "better performer" is a judgement solely left up to the beholder.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    48. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Red+Flayer · · Score: 1

      Followups would be durability, then various features like bluetooth, GPS and MP3 playing. I know how to use a map, and do so, so I normally know where I am
      So obviously you have no idea of how fast you are going.

      Maybe a phone with a GPS would be more useful than you think, since velocity could be extrapolated from change in location?
      --
      "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
    49. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by nasch · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'll cry a lot less when my $120 phone goes into the swimming pool/toilet/stolen then I will when something happens to my $600 iPhone. And that's with contract -- wonder what they'll charge you to get one at "full price" once you are already under contract? The $600 price is with no discount for signing a contract, that is full retail price. Apple has stated there will be no discount for a contract - it's just that they won't sell the phone without a contract at any price.
    50. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by prockcore · · Score: 1

      Otoh Apple's iPhone is actually physically larger in your pocket


      Actually, it's physically larger than your pocket. It's huge.
    51. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Onan · · Score: 1

      Y'know, "clarifying" a bunch of phones of which no one has ever heard by saying that one of them is something else of which no one has ever heard does not really help much.

      My geek card has tenure. I just have no idea what you're talking about.

    52. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Achromatic1978 · · Score: 1

      The press release is about the physical attributes of the iPhone, so the comparison charts deal strictly with physical attributes, not things like GPS.

      No it doesn't.

      Finally, slimness is what consumers care about. If you want to make l x w x h comparisons, all that data is readily available.

      Right, so weight isn't a factor? Keep drinking the kool aid.

      Most of your features listed have been available on other phones for months, in many cases, years. The Nokia N92 offered TV 18 months ago. Almost all smartphones can play movies. Music? I have a Sony Ericsson K790i with 2GB of memory and MP3 support. Google Maps? I have a HTC with Live Search traffic and directions. Syncs with Office / Outlook? Welcome to the world of Blackberry, Nokia PC Sync, ActiveSync. Third-party development? Welcome to the world of J2ME, Symbian. Nice screen, though.

      For my money, though, the Nokia N95 will be my next phone.

    53. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by earlymon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      GPS is a gimmick unless you are :
      A) Plotting cruise missile strikes
      B)Lost in a forest being chased by bigfoot


      C) Called unexpectedly to Boston, where streets have no signs and you don't have your Garmin or TomTom or whatever
      D) Have been avoiding a TomTom, Garvin, whatever waiting to see how things like OpenMoko or an iPhone might do, would give anything to carry one less piece of specialized tech, and have been to Boston and harbor dread at returning.....

      --
      Pathological kinda promises Path + Logical - but instead, you get stuck with pathetic.
    54. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by toleraen · · Score: 1

      Obviously this won't apply to the iPhone, but TomTom* can be installed onto PDA phones. So if the phone already has GPS, you just need to get the software to turn it into a 'dedicated' device.

      *Agreed.

    55. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by ksheff · · Score: 1

      I find it hard to believe that any phone made since 2000 could be considered "bloody heavy". I take it that you don't want to go to a phone holster for these 'heavy' phones?

      --
      the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
    56. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Finally, slimness is what consumers care about. If you want to make l x w x h comparisons, all that data is readily available So your saying that out of three dimensions consumers only care about one? Interesting...
    57. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought that was about standard for a mac user?

    58. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Finally, slimness is what consumers care about. At least someone's got a sense of humour*. Maybe next April 1st all /. posts should have to go through a "fanboy filter" before being accepted?

      * I'm assuming that you're being ironic here. If you're not, there's hope for neither you nor I.
    59. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by walt-sjc · · Score: 1

      I consider the Palm Treo to be on the heavy side, and yeah, I don't really care for holsters in general.

    60. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Really? I had no idea that "Internet Use", "Video Playback", and "Audio Playback" were physical attributes.

      You should have stayed anonymous as in your first post so that we wouldn't know who looked so foolish in each.

    61. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Bill_the_Engineer · · Score: 2, Informative

      Amusingly, this is not necessarily true. The cell phone's 'multirole' function also includes a data connection to the internet. This gives it some interesting flexibility that a TomTom does not have, especially with regard to things like traffic updates or use with other applications. That's not to say that TomTom doesn't have its plus sides, but "better performer" is a judgement solely left up to the beholder.

      You obviously don't get around much ;)

      A co-worker friend of mine brought his brand new GPS phone from Verizon with him on our recent trip to New Mexico. During some off-time, we decided to take a road trip around New Mexico. The navigational system was totally useless. If you were not on Verizon's network, you had no navigation available (not even GPS coordinates or heading). Being in New Mexico, We had no navigation available. This is despite the fact that we still had phone service on someone else's network.

      Anyone who seriously believes that a GPS phone is anything remotely useful as a Garmin or TomTom is delusional at best...

      --
      These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
    62. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Tim+Browse · · Score: 1

      Google Street View hasn't got to his neighbourhood yet.

    63. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple's killer app is great integration of a cell phone, the Internet, and a video iPod, all in a small device with a huge display. All best-in-class applications, except for the slower EDGE speed. Qualitatively, the N95 would seem to have about half of that feature set. The N95 weighs about 0.5 ounce less but the iPhone more than makes up for this with its huge, glass screen.

      N.B. The words "up to" are very important when describing the talk time, internet access, etc. These maximum times might be associated with using the iPhone while standing next to a cell tower. Typical usage times are much more interesting.

    64. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

      Oh come on now, Apple never said it was going to be a smart phone. Remember the original announcement? It's a iPod + a phone + a camera and a few basic apps. You can get away with not having a real developer kit with arguments like 3rd party developers make the phone unstable and crash a lot. Apple is protecting their rep by limiting access so it will be stable and just work as expected. And it's not marketed to the business crowd. It's not a Blackberry, or a Palm Treo, or a Nokia N95, and wasn't meant to compete with them, so comparing them is completely silly. They're not even the same market. Apple is going for the people who want to combine the functionality of their phone and iPod so they don't have to carry multiple devices. Jeesh, where do you people come up with this stuff, what a rediculous comparison. You freaking morons just don't get it!

      (I'm trying to paraphrase what my fanboy friend explained to me when I brought up some of the concerns I read in previous slashdot threads)... It's hilarious to me now that Apple is pulling out such a comparison chart, I'd ask if it was a joke, but I can believe they're serious. I'm not buying one. If it ends up surviving to a gen2 or gen3 and turns out to be cool then maybe...

    65. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by evilbessie · · Score: 1

      So you want some form of 'chart of tables', which you might like the ability to sort through by some attributes. You perhaps might wish to collect the information together from different tables to display on simple charts, perhaps you just want a subset. I'm sure that there is something like that but for the life of me I can't remember what that is.

    66. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by snarkbot · · Score: 1

      By that logic, GPS is a physical attribute when related to the use of battery time. GPS uses battery, too.

      GPS wasn't included because it's not an iPhone feature. Not that I blame Apple -- feature comparison charts rarely list features that the product advertised doesn't have at all (like GPS) or where the metric in question makes your product look worse (width). They're not being completely forthcoming, but no one ever is. That's what third-party reviewers are (theoretically) for.

      Likewise, I'd like to see some data to back up "slimness is what people care about" vs. "slimness is what is easy to advertise and what they like to emphasize." I can only give anecdotal evidence here, but I care about width more than thickness because I have to take it in and out of my pocket (it's why I don't like the Q), and I have at least one other friend who has a similar concern. I think this is really about the same thing as above -- only displaying what makes you look good.

      -snarkbot

    67. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      It's a shame it doesn't list things like features either because that's where the iPhone really fails miserably, it simply has no killer app like the Nokia N95's built in GPS.

      I don't see how GPS is a killer app for a smartphone. While this phone has many capabilities, Apple has stressed that making phone calls is a killer app. Playing video is a killer app. Internet is a killer app. It might be nice if it had GPS but so many phones don't get the first one right much less do all three well. I mean how many times are you doing to use GPS on a phone unless you were planning a hike in the great outdoors. At that point you probably want a dedicated GPS device.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    68. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by fireslack · · Score: 1

      What were you expecting? For Apple to release an advertisement for another company's product? Apple, like any other business, exist to make money on products they sell. So it stands to reason that they would only advertise in a way that is favorable to their products. And that is just what this is, an advertisement, not an independent comparison.

      --
      This sig only exists because you are observing it.
    69. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "...Probably the most obvious is the first - thickness comparison without weight, width and height comparison? It's a shame it doesn't list things like features either because that's where the iPhone really fails miserably, it simply has no killer app like the Nokia N95's built in GPS...."

      That's because the iPhone IS THE Killer App, silly. :P

    70. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by trisweb · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Wow, I thought slimness was a bit obvious. When you get your head too far in statistics I can see how you might lose the obvious... but man.

      With my current phone I wish I had an electronics pancake maker press thingie so I could press it as thin as possible, I don't even care how wide or tall it gets as long as it's as thin as possible.... it's all about seamlessly fitting in the pocket and not sticking out and making you look stupid.

      And besides, it's not like Apple actually STUDIED phone users or anything, like they would EVER ask people what they want, or look at statistics... I'm sure they did. If I were a designer, I'd have looked for a good balance between width and height and thickness, and I'm sure they did too. The phone looks both slim and not too wide, I think that could be a good combination.

      Anyway, just because there are a lack of statistics about it doesn't mean they didn't design it well, or collect their own stats. I highly doubt it was just for the advertising emphasis.

      --
      "!"
    71. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Moskit · · Score: 1

      The press release is about the physical attributes of the iPhone, so the comparison charts deal strictly with physical attributes, not things like GPS. You are not correct (or even strict).

      If "wi-fi" is a physical attribute (it is on that list), then "GPS" is a physical attribute as well.

      Going further, the list lacks some important physical attributes: iPhone doesn't have UMTS nor HSDPA (Samsung and Nokia have it), even such simple and important attribute as weight is not shown (iPhone is heavier)

      Regardless of my subjective opinion about iPhone (I love the big screen!) that chart is a pure example of marketing "truth" (similar to "Safari 2x faster, secure from day one" because it presents only the convenient part of the story) .
    72. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by thrillseeker · · Score: 1
      I'm sure that there is something like that but for the life of me I can't remember what that is.

      Hang on - I'll ask Bob.

    73. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by carvalhao · · Score: 1

      Excuse me?! Have you EVER tried writing ANYTHING for Symbian?! It's a nightmare, a bad one! That is why most apps you get in a Nokia are... well... Java :D

    74. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Fahrenheit+450 · · Score: 1

      slimness is not what consumers care about

      And you have market studies to back up this claim? I believe what you mean is that you, and maybe a couple of people you know don't care about slimness (or at the very best, that some consumers don't care about it), but that doesn't really mean anything. Hell, I don't particularly like chocolate, yet M&M Mars seems to be doing OK. I just don't understand that... don't they know I don't like chocolate and would by one of their stupid candy bars if it were macaroon based instead? Who do they think is going to buy a candy bar not based around macaroons?

      --
      -30-
    75. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by trisweb · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Nah, he's right, the characteristics of the imaging sensors are mostly what hold the camera phones back. They're tiny, pack a ton of pixels in a very small area, and therefore have a very low SNR, so they capture lots of noise and not much light (hence, they're not the best at being "cameras"). This is probably because the sensors themselves are so small, and the photosites on the CCDs are proportionally smaller. In that case, packing 2 million pixels into an equal space as 5 million will give you more than twice as many photons per photosite and should increase the SNR accordingly, giving higher quality images regardless of the optics.

      Lens quality being equal, the 2 MP sensor will probably be better (unless of course you really need the extra resolution, which is highly unlikely when using a telephone as a camera...).

      --
      "!"
    76. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Control+Group · · Score: 1

      Now I know you're joking. 3.7" isn't huge

      Boy, I hope you're not my wife.

      --

      Reality has a conservative bias: it conserves mass, energy, momentum...
    77. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by dave420 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      No actual phone SDK, no GPS, no synching with major office software, etc. Being able to sync perfectly with the desktop OS with 10% market share is still only syncing perfectly with 10% of the market share, no matter how well it does it, or how great it looks when it's doing it. It doesn't do anything other phones can't do (and which do other things the iPhone can't).

      The "third-party development" doesn't touch the phone, any more than a website touches the computer it's running on. It'll make loads of web-integration tools possible, but seeing as it's hardware, you'd expect custom apps to be able to use the hardware. As it is, all they can interface with is the screen and the speaker. Compare that to pretty much every other phone on the market, and it does look a bit shallow, to say the least.

      I'm not railing on Apple - I'd be shitting candy if they bought out a phone which was as capable as some of the other smart-phones on the market, and looked as good as the iPhone, but it's looking more like a cluster-fuck of conflicting interests, corporate shennanigans, locked-in, locked-down needlessly-expensive technology.

    78. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple iPhone Technical Specifications
      http://www.apple.com/iphone/technology/specs.html

      Weight
      4.8 Ounces / 135 Grams

      Dimensions:
      4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches / 115 x 61 x 11.6mm

      Apple iPhone Technology (Features)
      http://www.apple.com/iphone/technology/

      Posted anonymously to avoid the Apple hating technologists that plague Slashdot and are apparently unable to visit a web site to find information. Perhaps there superior smart phone can't render the site properly? :-)

    79. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by skiflyer · · Score: 2, Funny

      Cause the parent to your post was making a joke about how all Apple's comparison charts suck... so if the original poster had seen more, he wouldn't find this one to be the worst ever. Thanks for making me explain the joke so that every ounce of humor it may ever had held can be sapped.

    80. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by shmlco · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "It's failing because despite all the hype, the iPhone offers practically nothing that competing devices hasn't had for years..."

      I could rephrase that to "It's failing because despite all the hype, the iPod offers practically nothing that competing devices haven't [sic] had for years." And look where that got them.

      "...except the "Apple feel"..."

      Which is the point you've missed entirely. Yes, many phones may have done some or all of those things before. Doesn't matter. The iPhone, like the iPod and the Mac, is about integration, and about doing those things consistently, seamlessly, and WELL. It's about elegance, and as such about NOT cramming in the kitchen sink, just because you can. Some people get that. Others don't.

      You'd also do well to remember that it's merely the first iPhone. Future versions may have some or all of those features you deem to be necessary for success.. Then again, future versions may have FEWER features (e.g. nano).

      --
      Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
    81. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by shmlco · · Score: 1

      It's roughly the same size as a 30GB 5.5g iPod. Huge? Larger than your pocket? Huh?

      One should also consider that it merges both your phone and your video ipod into a single device. As such, eliminating a device and its size and weight from the equation.

      --
      Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
    82. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Fahrenheit+450 · · Score: 1

      Sure... but if you're walking, chances are you either know where you are or can easily find out (you don't often walk along, say, remote West Texas highways with nothing in sight in any direction, do you?) And if you know where you are... well that's where the iPhone's Google Maps integration comes into play. That's how Apple's focused on the problem, and what they've included.

      --
      -30-
    83. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Vancorps · · Score: 1

      Actually yes, honesty is a much more effective sales tool. I ran into this when we selected our camera management software. When the pros and cons that the sales guy gives you match what you have researched on your own you're much more inclined to buy from them with all else being equal.

      Of course when all else isn't equal then you have to resort to other tactics. Not a statement about this particular case since the product in question hasn't been released yet so a lot could still change.

    84. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Adambomb · · Score: 1

      Radius, Dave. Radius.

      --
      Ice Cream has no bones.
    85. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Vancorps · · Score: 1

      That's funny because you obviously don't get around much. My parents traveled to Arizona, when I needed to meet them somewhere I just give them the address and off they go using their cellphone GPS with no problems.

      I did the exact same thing when I went to San Diego getting around the city I'm completely unfamiliar with. I was never once lost and since I was in the city I had perfectly fine reception. Of course I also have Pandora on my phone which I love. Of course when I'm driving cross country it's always XM radio instead because coverage can be spotty. Although with Sprint I was good all for the entire length of the i40. i10 is well covered as well.

      Also, I find I have very little need for GPS on long trips since the route is planned ahead of time. For running around a city it is most definitely very useful despite you thinking me delusional. I've used it in Vegas, LA, SF, SD, NYC, Palm Beach, Burlington VT! And countless other cities without any issue whatsoever.

    86. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or it could have been because the RAZR is not a "terrible" phone. In fact, the RAZR is very good at being just a phone (good sound quality, good reception, decent battery life, reasonably sturdy construction, quad-band GSM for travelers, etc), which is all a lot of people need and want.

    87. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1
      Let's start with the obvious deficit of TomTom:

      It won't fit on my bike.

      Really! There are lots of people in both the US and the world who don't drive everywhere. Not as many here in Southern California, necessarily...

      But, in general, it's the argument between the specialized and the general. I do a lot of biking. I have three devices that I take with me when I bike:
      1. Garmin Edge 205 GPS Bike Computer
      2. iPod nano (for use on trails, not on street)
      3. Cellphone (for my emergency use)
      While I love the idea of the iPhone replacing all three of these devices, my concern is the "emergency" aspect. In my case, the GPS is mounted on my bike (which is where I'd want the iPhone, so I can see things like speed and distance and such). The iPod usually lives in a jersey pocket. The cellphone is usually in the backpack--well protected and turned off. If I were to get injured, I would want a working cellphone. The iPod can get trashed. The GPS could get trashed. But the cellphone must be available.

      Having all of these units in one handy device which I can carry about or mount on my bike means one point of failure. Not sure that's the best strategy.

      But I still love the idea.
    88. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So... it's called an iPHONE and yet, no where in that list of "features" (one man's feature is another man's useless, battery-eating crap), did you mention that it actually can make PHONE CALLS! Which is one of the main reasons I will never waste that much money to own the thing. I need a phone to make phone calls. I have a tv to watch tv and it has a bigger screen that 3.7 inches to boot. I have an mp3 player to listen to mp3s. (can you imagine going running with something that big and heavy strapped to your arm?) At what point exactly did American's attention spans become so short that they need to have an mp3 player and a tv with them at all times?

      Oh, the other reason I wouldn't waste my money is that it's network. Cingular sucks down my way and everyone I know who had a Cingular phone has dumped it for Verizon. They may not be able to do math but at least they don't drop calls and their network stayed up through, count them, 4 hurricanes.

    89. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 1

      Only on slashdot will you ever hear 3.7" referred to as "huge".


      Not true; you might also hear that mentioned on www.smalldick.com.
      --
      You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
    90. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by iluvcapra · · Score: 1

      Ditto Palm.

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
    91. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Fahrenheit+450 · · Score: 1

      So were they in Phoenix or Tucson?

      Major cities and highways are all that are covered in this part of the world. Now tell me that the cellphone GPS works in say Carrizozo, Datil, or hell Farmington or Jemez Springs and I'll be impressed.

      --
      -30-
    92. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      That's what the speedometer and odometer are for. If I'm hiking; landmarks do well.

      Now, I did list it as a feature because I think that it'd be neat and maybe occasionally useful, but I'm not willing to give up other features just for it.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    93. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by enjo13 · · Score: 1

      Since we're off on a tangent, I have... (http://www.quickoffice.com).

      Symbian is definitely...uhm.. quirky. Modern Symbian development, however, can be made quite bearable. They do support 'real' exceptions (just not exception objects). You can get most of the STL up and running (sans iostreams, although that should be doable with OpenC on Series 60 at least). With a little bit of discipline you can turn the whole thing into a pretty standard, and even portable platform.

      So while it's not easy to write for Symbian, it's certainly possible to do it quite well. There are thousands of native applications at this point, so I do take exception to your assertion that most apps are written in Java. It's just not true.

      --
      Turn s60 photos into awesome videos with mScrapbook for all S60 3rd edition phones!
    94. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Red+Flayer · · Score: 1

      Sorry, was just trying to make a lame Heisenberg joke.

      --
      "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
    95. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by vertinox · · Score: 1

      Supports third party development? Are you kidding? Sure, you can make web apps, but palm, symbian and even windows mobile kinda blow it out of the water on that front.

      I dunno...

      I didn't buy a cell phone to put 3rd party software on it. I use it to make calls.
      I didn't buy an iPod to put 3rd party software on it. I use it to make calls.
      I didn't buy a Nintendo DS to put 3rd party (homebrew) software on it. I use it to play store bought games.

      See... If I really wanted something more open ended I would purchase said device and do it, but mostly I don't have the time to futz around anymore like I used to (I'm tempted to try an SNES emulated on a DS)

      That said, just because there is no SDK doesn't really matter to the target group Apple is aiming to sell the iPhone for. The crowd that wants it to "just work" (well maybe the crowd that likes to pretend they are in hip and cool)

      My complaint is that the provider is ATT and its $500. If I wanted a programmable phone I'd buy one off eBay from a Korean manufacture.

      --
      "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
      -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
    96. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by neoform · · Score: 1

      >Actually yes, honesty is a much more effective sales tool.

      I'm going to have to disagree completely.

      If you don't think deception works in order to sell products, you haven't looked at corporate culture..

      Apple's job isn't to be an unbiased party reviewing it's products and it's competitors products.. Apple's job is to make their products seem the best so that people will want them.

      Would you open a restaurant, then tell your customers that, in your opinion, the place next door has better tomato sauce? I mean, common.

      --
      MABASPLOOM!
    97. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by CaptainZapp · · Score: 1
      As far as I know said Nokia has an autofocus Zeiss lense.

      Now, Zeiss is probably like Shimano for gear shifts. It's never really crap, but the top of the line offerings have little to do with the mid - and low range offerings by said manufacturers.

      Anyway, the fact that Nokia sprang for 5MP, a Zeiss lense and (whatever form of) real autofocus indicates to me that some thought and expense went into the camera function of that phone.

      Mind you, it's not a replacemant for a good digital camera, but it may come in handy at times. Out of arse I trust that it's the significantly better camera offering then what the iPhone has to offer.

      --
      ich bin der musikant

      mit taschenrechner in der hand

      kraftwerk

    98. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by bigtrike · · Score: 2, Funny

      What are you talking about? They provide you with their own special version of c++. You can even debug your apps in their simulated phone, assuming it supports the features you're debugging and you've got two serial ports and a serial loopback cable. Sometimes, your code even works similarly on their simulator as it does on an actual phone!

    99. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Linux_ho · · Score: 1

      Oh come on now, Apple never said it was going to be a smart phone.

      Please take note of the subject of your post. Apple's own PR chart compares the iPhone with four smart phones, in a very biased way, pointing out the advantages the iPhone has over the others. I think it's fair game to point out a few of the ways each of those phones kick the iPhone's ass...

      --
      include $sig;
      1;
    100. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by ozric99 · · Score: 1

      That has nothing to do with the actual phone, and everything to do with the mobile phone infrastructure in the US being about 5 years behind the rest of the world.

    101. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Vancorps · · Score: 1

      I'm not trying to impress anyone. Even the TomTom commercials show a driver in a city using it to navigate the freeways. That's the biggest use of GPS. Of course I do my wifi site surveys with GPS as well but I wouldn't expect a phone to let me do that.

      The fact that is works flawlessly in most parts of Vermont says a lot too given the rural nature of the majority of state. The parts where you don't get cell coverage are usually deep in the woods and mountains where you wouldn't want to rely on a cell phone for anything. There you use a GPS unit more suited to the rough nature of hiking. Even then I don't think GPS is necessary because you would have been studying your route before hand and it wouldn't be a big deal to pull out a small map and compass. When you're driving taking your eyes off the road to look at a map just seems like a bad idea.

    102. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like my mobile phone, that *came* with GPS and TomTom :)

      Avoiding traffic jams is not included, but could be added using TomToms $-Services or a little antenna that reads the traffic-info from the radio-services available in Europe. I avoided the iphone for now because it only has 8GB of RAM so it couldn't replace my iPod 60 GB and it has no GPS.

      I'll just wait for future iPhone-versions that come 2nd hand or without a built in contract.

      About how cool the iPhone really will be remains to be seen. Let's just wait for this thing to arrive. Let's wait for the reviews and wait for it to arrive in Apple-stores to try it out.

      There is no point in saying it ain't cool until we tried it. I am shure I won't buy this version, but with a huge HDD (screw battery life and slimness :) and GPS and a good way to sync it with Outlook (not via itunes!) that's a different matter entirely. For me.

      And no, I'm not using Outlook for my emails. But that's a different story.

    103. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by BlackSnake112 · · Score: 1

      "...on a huge 3.7" ..."

      naa I am not gonna say it.

    104. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Vancorps · · Score: 1

      Yes you would let your customers know that next door has better tomato sauce but you have a better meat selection. Deception only works in the short term, in the long term you get repeat business through honesty. Apple may not care about repeat business although given that the vast majority of their buyers are repeat buyers I wouldn't think that would make sense to them.

      This kind of advertising is too transparent. Any customer doing any research into these products will see through it and think negatively of Apple for playing their customers as fools.

      They should instead focus on things that make it unique and explain how this product will do for phones what the iPod did for MP3 players. That would be far more effective.

    105. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by curious.corn · · Score: 1

      I suppose a GPS receiver only works when placed on a car dashboard or hopelessly held like a rabdomant cane.
      Oh, don't forget to mention it doesn't have bluetooth+wifi+SD card reader+3 MPxl Zeiss zoom camera... and a kitchen sink.
      Relax, it's supposed to be an ipod+phone+other stuff normal people tend to use in the course of their social life, not some kind of new theodolite.

      e

      --
      Mi domando chi à il mandante di tutte le cazzate che faccio - Altan
    106. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Vancorps · · Score: 1

      I'll add one more reply since you seem to think deception works in corporate culture although we're talking about the consumer end of things. In the corporate side of things I had a certain online auction company pitching to me about their product and the things that were unique about their product. Nothing they mentioned was actually unique. Upon asking questions they started describing implementation details but they never got into anything that I would consider unique and even remotely superior to my current solution.

      Of course the worst part about it was that they gave me a presentation which showed clear lag and then proceeded to tell me the "real" product was sub-second delay. They didn't have anyway to show me this of course in the demonstration they setup for me. They also had the audacity to tell us how to run our business despite us being in it for 30 years and them being in it for four years. They might have had some interesting insights but their poor demonstration resulted in me deciding they were not worth my time. They didn't even follow up the next day like they said they would which wasn't surprising.

      Compare that with the company we currently use, they gave us a real demonstration giving us access to an auction they were putting on for someone else. You could hear it over the phone and hear it over the company with proper sub-second delay. They were open an honest telling us that everyone does has distributed data-centers because you'd be stupid not to. Honesty is far more valuable as you base it on service and the willingness of the company to work with you rather than against you.

      There is most definitely room for corporate ethics in the modern world. It's a shame more companies don't practice it. Let's hope the company we went with which is growing like crazy and the trend Ben and Jerry's started continues. It's shame Ben and Jerry's sold off but they became successful because of a great product and great ethics. The ethics separated them from everyone else and as a result during the history of private ownership the company only saw a loss in its first year.

    107. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      iPhones were not planned to be in a pocket, they are meant to be on your hands or an glossy armstrap or anywhere else that serves the purpose of showing off!

    108. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by empaler · · Score: 1
      trisweb already put it better than I would have, but please, for the sake of proper debate, refrain from this divisive flamebait bullshit:

      But hey, way to spin it, fanboy. I even put a disclaimer in my post (if you'd care to read it)

      I'm not saying that Apple has shelled out for a better cam function, I'm just saying that MP count is like snakeoil.
    109. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by VlartBlart · · Score: 0

      Errr, my cell phone (Mio A701) has TomTom on it so your point is moot.

    110. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by empaler · · Score: 1

      Anyway, the fact that Nokia sprang for 5MP, a Zeiss lense and (whatever form of) real autofocus indicates to me that some thought and expense went into the camera function of that phone. I couldn't say, since real world testing of the iPhone still hasn't appeared, but you already have a better argument there than pure MP count (measurement of penis?).
      Two-three years ago I bought a 6.6 MP cam that takes worse pictures than my cheap-as-free Ericsson K750i with 2.0 MP. The lens is better, and the lens area is probably bigger, too.
    111. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by snarkbot · · Score: 1

      Really? Obvious? Except that it's not important to me. I thought that width being important was obvious. Perhaps your head is too far in your own preferences (my previous sentence was a joke) to see that not everyone has the same requirements.

      If it's about seamlessly fitting in your pocket and not sticking out, then why doesn't how tall it is matter? I'm not following the logic there.

      But the main point is that I'm not even debating what the most important features are to the most people, or whether Apple has researched it. Nor am I debating whether it's a good design -- I happen to think it's a great design. My point is that they put things in the chart that they are competitive on, and not things which they are not. The fact that the iPhone is taller than a lot of phones and has no GPS makes for a bad comparison chart, so they don't put those things in. It doesn't necessarily make for a bad phone, and I never said it did.

      To summarize: I think it's a great phone, and that doesn't change the fact that the comparison chart is designed (like most such charts) to omit things which don't make the phone look good by comparison.

      -snarkbot

    112. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      If you were not on Verizon's network, you had no navigation available (not even GPS coordinates or heading).

      That reminds me, I seem to have some collection that many 'GPS' cellphone systems aren't actually GPS, they get most of their location information from the local cellphone towers via a sort of pseudo-GPS.

      That would indeed fail to meet my standards for a system; if I have to use GPS I'm likely to be out of cellphone signal range.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    113. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by IdleTime · · Score: 1

      Wow, AC, you lived up to the name...

      Let's see, you are: member of Freerepublic, Likes Ron Paul and think Bush is smart and a great American.

      You should really read this: http://www.populistamerica.com/the_america_haters_ strike_again

      --
      If you mod me down, I *will* introduce you to my sister!
    114. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Firethorn · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Aha!

      Basically, it sounds like many cellphones don't have the computing power necessary(or aren't set up for it) to do GPS calculations, so it transmits the information to a server that does the calcs for it. So off the verizon network - no server to do the GPS calcs, no GPS coordinates.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    115. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by trezor · · Score: 1

      Dude fuck that. All those are lackings, mad lackings, which pretty much puts it behind any $10 phone I can pick up on the street. This however is irrelevant.

      It has NO sim-slot. You are tied to one operator.

      This might fly in the US where people are used to telco's screwing them over, but will never sell at all outside the US where people are used to 100% unlocked phones, total freedom to do anything they want with their phone, and ability to switch operator and keep their number at will if a cheaper offer comes by.

      This phone will cost the consumer the price of the iPhone plus the costs of the operator lockin. This will never fly outside the US, which happen to be the worlds biggest cellphone market.

      --
      Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.
    116. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by dwater · · Score: 1

      I think 'lie' is a bit strong. 'Wrong' is better, I think.

      I saw that mistake yesterday and sent them a quick email - I don't suppose I was the only one either. It didn't take 5 minutes for them to fix it.

      --
      Max.
    117. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by dwater · · Score: 1

      > It has NO sim-slot.

      I am lead to believe that it does have a sim slot. It's on the 'top' of the phone.

      --
      Max.
    118. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by prockcore · · Score: 1

      It's roughly the same size as a 30GB 5.5g iPod. Huge? Larger than your pocket? Huh?


      "Roughly". The 30 gig iPod is 69.3 cubic centimeters. The iPhone is 81.4

      The iPhone is 20% larger than the iPod.
    119. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by abundance · · Score: 1

      supports third-party development
      erm... sure, and it also makes cappuccino...
    120. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      "You obviously don't get around much ;)"

      Boy that's the truth. I live in Los Angeles and I need a GPS to find the road that leads out of it!

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    121. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by ucblockhead · · Score: 1

      Heh. That sounds like Taco's first review of the iPod.

      --
      The cake is a pie
    122. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by shmlco · · Score: 1

      The iPhone is 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46. The 30GB iPod is 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.43. (80GB is 0.55.)

      It's effectively four tenths of an inch taller and barely a millimeter thicker. So I say again. Huge? My iPod fits all of my pockets just fine (well, with the exception of the watch pocket on my jeans).

      --
      Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
    123. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by greatcelerystalk · · Score: 1

      I have epilepsy and issues with directions/spatial orientation. I have to walk to a location several times before I can get there without becoming lost. It took me two weeks to figure out how to get to one of the places I worked a few years ago. A handheld GPS would have been helpful. I'm not saying Nokia's implementation is helpful, mind you, but there are those of us who benefit from such systems.

    124. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Erik+K.+Veland · · Score: 1

      Insightful? The only insightful about this comment is that a TomTom is better for car navigation than a cell phone.

      Obviously the poster hardly does any travelling at all. Ever been to a foreign city? I don't own a GPS enabled cellphone myself, but I can clearly see the benefits.

      --
      "I tend to think of OS X as Linux with QA and Taste", James Gosling, creator of Java
    125. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Matthew+Bafford · · Score: 1

      I mean how many times are you doing to use GPS on a phone unless you were planning a hike in the great outdoors. At that point you probably want a dedicated GPS device.


      I use it constantly. My ipaq has a decent built in GPS receiver and, using the TomTom software, I now have mapping data of pretty much anywhere I might want to go. With a car mount, I can use it in the car quite easily. If I'm on foot in the middle of an unknown city I can use it to find a restaurant or other business (Google Maps for Windows Mobile is nice for that as well). If I'm riding with a friend and we get lost, it's there to help us get unlost.

      Do I need the GPS? Absolutely not. I still remember how to read a map, and I still prefer to do so to plan my route. I do, however, use the GPS at least once a week, and out of the car at least once a month. It's a killer feature for me; I don't really like the ipaq as much as some other Windows Mobile phones, but it's the only one to offer GPS along with the other features I want.

      Battery life with the receiver turned on is horrible compared to my old Garmin V, so if I'm in the car I need a power supply. For a few random quick fixes on my location, though, it works quite well.
    126. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You could probably look a little bit more on the HTC phones (I think the parent call it the T-Mobile). HTC produces nice phones, but they are sold with the carrier name, i.e. the Cingular 8125 is also an HTC phone.

    127. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by jerkface.us · · Score: 1

      It might be bad, but at least they left out the total cost of ownership row. There are some things I just don't want to know. ;)

      --
      Fortune favors the bold.
    128. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's the amount of time the battery will hold a charge you fucking moron. Compression and power saving techniques (not encoding and transmitting silence for example) can boost battery life for talk time, but this particular phone plays video/audio and browses the internet. Therefore, the power consumption required for each process will be different.

      Maybe these other companies should post some fucking numbers or those of you in the anti-apple fan club who own one of these phones can post numbers yourselves, instead of whining like little girls about how Apple doesn't have a 'killer app'.

      Killer App. Rofl. I don't need a fucking GPS system to tell me where to go. I spend 95% of my time in places that have fucking roads.

    129. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by DDLKermit007 · · Score: 1

      Have you actually USED an N95 for it's GPS functionality? I bought one on day 1 it released in the US. It's PISS, POOR. More often than not I can get halfway to my destination via pulling up google maps, and going before it even gets a GPS lock, and I live in Las Vegas where theres virtually no buildings to block the view. Not to mention even when it gets a GPS lock it's very lousy when in a car. The GPS functionality in my N95's built in GPS receiver is next to useless compared to my aging 3 year old Holux receiver I used to use with my Palm. Not to mention the N95 is a gaw damn pig when it comes to battery life. Full charge lasts 1 day (usually less with moderate use), and GPS use will kill it in 2 hours or less.

      What we have here is a classic case of something worse than an Apple fanboy. We have an anti-Apple fanboy on our hands. Yes I personaly own allot of Apple crap, and I'll probably just stick with my N95 for 6 months or so even with it's MANY shortcomings, but jury is still out on the iPhone until it hits.

    130. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by gig · · Score: 2, Insightful

      People are crazy over the iPhone because it has the features that it has. How do other phones compare to the features of the iPhone? That is what is answered here. It isn't a comprehensive journalistic look at all of the various features of all phones. It's from Apple PR, not Consumer Reports.

      If Apple thought this feature set was important enough and desired enough to make a whole phone around them, surely Apple PR thinks they are important enough to compare to the rest of the industry? Same feature set applied once by Apple designers and engineers and then now by Apple PR.

      No, they don't compare Java compatibility or GPS, those are pocket calculator features that require glasses just to use.

      You should be picking on these other phones for still sucking so much. Try and defend them in 3-5 years. Wi-Fi is coming up on 10 years old and these phones don't have it yet? Oh yeah, they don't have real Web browsers either. Pick on that. That is a shame, to have that much computing power and connectivity not be Web-compatible. BSD and Firefox are FREE. It's not rocket science.

      As far as width and height goes, they fit in your hand, and you can compare that in the photos. What you can't see in the photos is thickness, can it fit in your pocket? I would bet the iPhone's width and height were basically a constant during the whole production, based on the screen size, but they worked to make it thinner and thinner, they almost got it down to a centimeter. Unless you make the screen smaller how do you suggest that the iPhone could reasonably be smaller? There are phones with half the features that are thicker.

    131. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...

      Jobs said that third party software would be supported about two weeks ago. Since the iPhone menu looks like a collection of OS X widgets, I'm expecting widgets will be supported or easily ported to the iPhone platform.

      Take a look at:
      http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/
      http://developer.apple.com/macosx/dashboard.html

      to see hundreds of examples of what can be done with that.

      Why do you need a fold out QWERTY keyboard when the phone has a touch-screen keyboard implemented?

      What you fail to understand is that the reason Apple is still around and doing so well, is because they make products that work and in my opinion "do it right". Yea, we've seen web-browsers on phones. We've seen calendar/contact syncing. Ok? So? It can be done better. In my opinion, it's a nice feature that text messages are formatted like a conversation, and that you can browse voicemails visually and listen to the ones you want. It has a button to call the person back right on the screen. The implementation of the Safari browser looks really smooth. I haven't used one so I don't really know much more than I can see on the website. I'll probably get to play with one on Monday and that will be pretty cool.

      Everyone who wants to take a shot at the iPhone says "NO GPS?". Are you an explorer? Do you take journeys in the wilderness often? Should we just call you all Daniel Boone? I have a GPS. It sits in a drawer. When you have nationwide maps/directions available, how is a GPS going to be useful 99% of the time?

      3G? The USA is still rolling out their 3G networks AFAIK (LAGGERS.), which is probably why the initial release doesn't have a 3G offering.

    132. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by gig · · Score: 1

      > Supports third party development? Are you kidding? Sure, you can make web apps, but palm, symbian and even windows mobile kinda blow
      > it out of the water on that front.

      Have you looked at the software that is available for those platforms? I mean, really looked? It is like the worst of shareware 1992. Because you live in the year 2007 it may be hard for you to imagine just how bad the third-party apps for those platforms are. You can do better than a lot of it in Web 1.0, never mind with Ajax, CSS 3, MPEG-4 audio video, SVG, Google Gears.

      You can also make dock accessories for iPhone. It already runs over 3000 of them. Are there 3000 apps total on those other platforms, even taken together? The Nike iPod Sport Kit is the most popular third-party handheld app ever. Nobody ever sold on a handheld like Nike. People bought iPod nanos just to run it, no pun intended.

      There is even a sex toy you can plug into the iPhone dock connector and it vibrates to the beat of the music and gives you a very tactile ring when calls come in.

      So yes the fucking iPhone supports third-party development.

    133. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by dwater · · Score: 1

      I *would* like to see someone do a real table - like Apple's one, but filled out a bit with more figures/features. I'm sure the iPhone wouldn't come off so well...

      --
      Max.
    134. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by drsmithy · · Score: 1

      >i>The $600 price is with no discount for signing a contract, that is full retail price. Apple has stated there will be no discount for a contract - it's just that they won't sell the phone without a contract at any price.

      Ie: "that's the discounted price for going on a contract, but we won't call it that because customers hate the idea of contracts".

      (It's exactly the same as the "full price, full version" OS X that's actually an upgrade (because you can only run it on an existing Mac).)

    135. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by gig · · Score: 1

      >> Plays TV shows, movies, music,

      > So does any PDA with a media player. My ancient Windows Mobile 5 device does this remarkably well, using an SD card
      > for storage (my music collection isn't that big).

      That is the kind of excuse-making that perpetuates consumer mistrust of all things technological.

      Yes, you played music on your PDA with an SD card. OK. Great. Are you going to go to my brother's house and set up his PDA for him so he can play movies or should I tell him to just buy an iPhone? Are you going to go from house to house setting up people's PDA's as shitty music players?

      > syncs with iTunes,

      We are talking about you plug in one cable, and automatically all of your Podcasts go over, as well as MOVIES, full-length, H.264/AAC modern movies, that can then be played for 7 hours on battery. You are basically arguing that the iPod was unsuccessful and unnecessary.

      > supports third-party development,

      You are being an ass, you should think before just saying what everybody else said. The iPhone has a dock connector on it. It already has over 3000 third party apps. The Nike iPod Sport Kit (which won't run on iPhone, it is nano only) is the most popular handheld app ever. More Nike iPod Sport Kits were sold than Blackberries. There is a huge community of third-party developers making these, the components are cheap, they are easy to make. There will be a GPS for iPhone within six months, if that. There are also 3-day batteries and many other useful items, and none of these are actually for the iPhone specifically yet, those are to come.

      But even if we were to ignore the iPod dock and it's thousands of third-party developers, and only focus on next-generation Web apps, then there is already at least one honest-to-goodness, developed-for-the-iPhone Web app already running and nobody has their iPhones yet. How many apps did these other phones have one week before launch?

      Finally, I have to say, I have a friend who is 19, her favorite "apps" are MySpace, Flickr, Twitter, that kind of thing. Those are the third-party apps she wants to run. I have another friend who is a nurse, he has a Mac and doesn't install software on it. It already has too much stuff on it for him to ever explore when you factor in he is on the Web most of the time.

      >> on a huge 3.7" screen.

      > Now I know you're joking. 3.7" isn't huge.

      Go to your dictionary and look this up: "context". Then look at the sizes of screens in handheld devices which by definition, have to fit in your hand. They are almost all 2.5". Therefore a 3.5" screen is "HUGE". Also, the iPhone screen is 160 dpi which is at the very high end.

      > It's failing because despite all the hype, the iPhone offers practically nothing that competing devices hasn't had
      > for years, except the "Apple feel" which frankly will only win over people who don't need anything but a shiny toy
      > anyway.

      You are in some kind of denial, possibly brought on by iPhone lust.

      The iPhone is the first phone with:

      - a real Web browser (HTML4, CSS3, JS, Ajax, SVG, MPEG-4 audio video)
      - a resolution independent UI (the actual screen size is much larger, you use the screen like a magnifying glass to move around it and zoom in and out)
      - Unix
      - Wi-Fi "n"
      - multi-touch screen with interactive 3D animations (true 3D, not cut-scenes)
      - computer-level storage, 4-8 GB storage built-in, with 500 MB system software
      - wireless video streaming to other devices
      - world-class audio video (MPEG-4 H.264/AAC like on Blu-Ray and HD DVD, right out of your iTunes no configuration)

      That is just off the top of my head.

      If these other phones all have these features in such abundance, why are they so unpopular?

      No other handheld even has a real Web browser yet. They are not good enough to criticize. The Web is almost 20 years old, it's not a fucking fad. Wi-Fi is almost 10 years old, get with it.

    136. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by gig · · Score: 1

      The iPhone has a dock connector. If you want GPS, you can plug it on. Probably be out in less than six months. Might ship first day.

    137. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by gig · · Score: 1

      > Obviously this won't apply to the iPhone, but TomTom* can be installed onto PDA phones.

      Do you think the geniuses at TomTom can hack the iPhone's dock connector? Because then you can plug on a real GPS hardware instead of installing a faux-GPS app.

      I can't believe people are stressing about "what can't be added" to an iPhone when it has a dock connector. The great iPhone third party app dilemma of early 2007 is going to go down in history with the famous Slashdot first impression of iPod.

    138. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by vuffi_raa · · Score: 1

      it isn't that thick either

    139. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by vuffi_raa · · Score: 1

      durability for sure- I use a craptacular little 3 year old nokia no-feature because I can drop it and knock it around and it doesn't crack when I go through the turnstile when I get on the train to go to work- because hey all I want to be able to do is make a phone call- I have a better portable media solution in oh- say an actual dedicated pmp- w/a 60g hd that doesn't need to use iTunes and supports wider ranges of media formats (I don't see the iPhone supporting ogg or xvid do you?)

    140. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does it fit in the little half-pockets on the mid-leg side of all my jeans. For the record, the iPhone comes in at 0.46x2.4x4.5in. That would probably not fit in said pockets (which have a flattened width of just under 2.5in on the pants I have on today)
      I'm sorry to interrupt, you seem to have somehow strayed from your AOL chatroom and into the wild, untamed Internet. But don't worry, we'll get you back there in a jiffy. Just type "what are you wearing" in the white box near the top of the flat glass thingie. All righty then. Bye bye now.
    141. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by gig · · Score: 1

      > My phone RUNS TomTom, something you don't have an option with on the iPhone, even if you coupled it with an external GPS
      > unit since you can't run software on it.

      iPhone already has 500 MB of software on it, and they update that through iTunes. If a "GPS navigation" interface is required to enable third parties to make GPS iPod dock accessories then Apple will be able to build that just like they make the UI for voice recorders, Nike iPod Sport Kit, and other dock accessories on the iPod. The advantage of this is that all iPhones will be prepared to host GPS at any time, even if you are in the woods and your friend drops his iPhone and smashes it and has to plug off the GPS from it and you plug it on your iPhone. You can also borrow or buy second-hand any dock accessory and it just works without driver disc or software download. You can buy a dock accessory on eBay and when you get it just plug it on it will work.

      Arguing against this system is arguing against the success of the iPod. There are more Nike iPod Sport Kits in the world than Blackberries. I have a friend who can't wait to get an iPhone and he has never ever installed software on his Mac even. He bought a Nike iPod Sport Kit, though. Hardware that just works, no "software" required (as far as the user knows) is not only usable by everyday people, they are willing, even happy to pay for it. Compare to trying to get money out of someone for software.

    142. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by adolf · · Score: 1

      So what?

      I don't know of a digital cellular phone existing -- ever -- which does not have a "dock connector." Even a bloody Startac can talk RS-232 just fine. All new(ish) phones have USB ports on them.

      But good luck getting GPS data out of any of them. The most you can expect, for any particular phone, is basic modem emulation functionality, and an undocumented interface for accessing contacts/photos/music/whatver.

      If history is any indicator at all, then the iPhone will not be different in this regard.

    143. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by weicco · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yep. That simulator is pretty awful piece of ... something that stinks awful.

      It runs on your PC processor (phones runs on different processor type) so it doesn't catch any, for example, memory misalignment errors. Same goes for Windows emulator but you can do actual on-device debugging on Windows thingies.

      It doesn't have GSM or SMS functionality! At least last time I checked it. Of course normally PC's doesn't have GSM card in it but how about if I attach my GSM into PC, why couldn't simulator use it to make calls?

      Two way constructors and those exception look-alikes are awful. I know there wasn't exceptions in C++ at the time when Symbian was made but there was experimental stuff and there sure is now!

      Does it still use Perl and whole bunch of weird scripts in compile? Can't they even write a fricking native Windows program to handle this. It was pain to hassle with those scripts.

      C++ interface is awful but that's just my opinion.

      Documentation is pure sh*t. It's easier to read .h headers and poke around with method calls at random than trying to understand what the heck they wrote on docs.

      Yes, I once was Symbian coder. I did code for Nokia and SE. Then I quit and never go back, no matter how much they offer me.

      --
      You don't know what you don't know.
    144. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by LKM · · Score: 1

      I still regularly use my 2 MP Kodak digicam, which is about 6 or 7 years old. The pictures are great. Phone cams? Not so much. I think the CCDs in the phones are too small, so you have to have perfect, bright conditions to make non-crappy pictures.

    145. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damn it! Are you saying Apple isn't even selling good snake oil?!

    146. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Cederic · · Score: 1


      My phone has three main dimensions. Height, width and depth. The iPhone has only 2/3 the depth - very nice. It's also 20% higher and twice as wide.

      Which phone do you think fits more comfortably and discretely in my pocket?

      Oh, and yes - my phone does have built-in wifi, 3G support (sorry, are modern communication protocols beyond the iPhone?), the Opera web browser (is that a real one?), a full qwerty keyboard, 2 weeks standby time, and sadly only 7.7 hours talk time.

      Btw, if GPS is a pocket calculator feature that requires glasses to use, you must carry a magnifying glass around to read your email on your phone. Shit, I can (and do) use Putty on my phone in 80x25 character resolution and I only have a tiny screen on it.

      There are phones out there with better features than the iPhone that are smaller. This is why so many people aren't very crazy over it. The Apple PR comparison does nothing to sell the phone to such people - it merely confirms the initial impression that Apple are marketing an overly expensive hyped up product that is at best comparable to other products in the market.

    147. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by trisweb · · Score: 1

      "Apple are marketing an overly expensive hyped up product that is at best comparable to other products in the market"

      Well, if you compare the entire user experience and not just individual features, it's pretty clear Apple has more of a chance in the market than you think. Incredible, everyone here's still thinking about feature comparison. Ha ha ha. It doesn't even matter once you transcend that and think of how the features work together to make the whole much more than its parts...

      That's what everyone's missing in this discussion, and a common fallacy... everyone always forgets to look at the bigger picture. Those who can are buying AAPL.

      --
      "!"
    148. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Cederic · · Score: 1


      I didn't say the marketing wouldn't work.

    149. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by troc · · Score: 1

      To be honest, unless you are into macro photography or something, autofocus on camera phones is mostly a waste of space and battery life etc. The teeny sensor, coupled with a teeny lens results in huge depth of field, so big that everything from around 10cm -> infinity will be in focus anyway. My Sony Ericsson D750 has an autofocus lens and the only advantage it offers over my Nokia N70 (both 2MP) is that it focuses down to a couple of cm.

      To a certain extent, this extends to compact digital cameras too, they can never off the range on depth of field that a (digital) SLR can and even these will differ depending on whether you are using a full-frame or smaller sensor.

      An optical zoom would be rather handy though.

      --
      Troc's dubious podcast and blog: http://www.trocnet.net
    150. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by ijdod · · Score: 1

      People have been going to foreign cities for millennia without GPS, so I don't think GPS is absolutely necessary for just that purpuse. I agree it might be handy, but so far I've managed fine without, and that includes some cities with few signs, and those is non-western writing.

    151. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by bryan1945 · · Score: 1

      So, exactly, when did the anti-photon special interest buy your vote? Hmmm? 2 photons > 5 photons? So, you are trying to tell us highly edumecated and super-specialized uber-professionals the 2 is great than 5, huh! We can see through you sophisticated PR blah blah. What next? That camera phones can out resolve the the Hubble!?!?! I see your evil plans on single-transistor phones. I am soooo onto you. I WILL patent this first, you bastard!

      Muahahhahahaa!

      (for the humorous deprived (and I still can't believe how many of these are on /.), this was a parody)

      So sad I had to even say that. But really triweb, I agree with you.

      --
      Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
    152. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by bryan1945 · · Score: 1

      "It's failing because despite all the hype"

      Just one point. It has not even been released yet.

      I don't want to go back to the whole iPod intro fiasco, but at least the iPod was released at that point.

      --
      Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
    153. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Admiral+Ag · · Score: 1

      "There is even a sex toy you can plug into the iPhone dock connector and it vibrates to the beat of the music and gives you a very tactile ring when calls come in." Oh God. Really? That's going to make for some interesting phone calls. Ring ring... ring ring... "Hellllloooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhh".

      --
      "by that I mean people who don't sit on slashdot all day wondering why everyone else isn't building robots" DECS
    154. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by toleraen · · Score: 1

      Where is TomTom's announcement saying they'll support the iPhone? Outside of any Web2.0 apps, where is ANY third party software support for the iPhone? It kind of comes out in less than two weeks, there should at least be a few companies on board by now.

    155. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On digg it's referred to as "enormous".

    156. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Firethorn · · Score: 1
      Probably not...

      from the article:

      We've been getting lots of questions lately surrounding the new Apple iPhone from people wondering if there will be GPS in the iPhone. The one word answer is no, there will not be GPS in the iPhone. No, you won't be able to connect a Bluetooth GPS receiver to it. And finally, No, you won't be able to install (fill in the blank) type of GPS software. But.... that is only the short of the story.


      From reading the rest of the article, the iPhone looks less and less like a good deal. Frankly speaking, it makes Apple and Steve Jobs look like asses the way responses always seem to be 'NO'.
      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    157. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by nasch · · Score: 1

      If there is no other price that gets discounted, then how can you call it a discount? It's only a discount if it's less than the retail price. In this case there is no other price. So no discount. If they later start selling it with no contract requirement and a higher price, *then* the contract price will be a discount. But right now there's no discount, only a single price with an accompanying contract requirement.

      And if customers hate the idea of contracts so much, why do so many of them sign up? Do you think most cell customers hate the contract they're on, but put up with it for the discounted phone? I'm not saying you're wrong because I doubt either of us have numbers, but I would guess there are a lot of them (like me) who aren't planning to change carriers anyway, so give up nothing in exchange for a hardware discount. Could be Apple thinks the same thing - that the requirement for a contract isn't going to significantly slow iPhone sales.

    158. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by r3m0t · · Score: 1

      "I was wondering what, if any, advancements in battery technology they used."

      How about the advancement of lying about the battery life? They do it with their laptops, after all.

    159. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Tug3 · · Score: 1

      Sorry, but it was only 11.6mm thick...

      --
      If all else fails, pull the plug and get out...
      The Life is out there...
    160. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then I quit and never go back, no matter how much they offer me.

      Yeah, well what if they offered to learn you much grammar?

    161. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by 3choTh1s · · Score: 1

      Give me a 2 MP cam with good photosensitive silicon rather than a 5 MP with cheap third-rate silicon.
      I actually have a SE(sony ericsson) w810i. It has a 2MP cam with "good photosensitive silicon." Actually it's borders on great. I have seen some really good pictures come from other SE phones too mostly in the "K" series phones. So if this is any indication, would you rather have a 5MP cam that most likely will turn out very good pictures or a 2MP cam of unknown quality at best.
    162. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by skia · · Score: 1

      The rest of us got it.

      --

      --

    163. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by curious.corn · · Score: 1

      If it had no SIM slot it couldn't be a GSM/GPRS/UMTS thingie. It's like having to be redbook compliant to call your piece of plastic a Compact Disc.

      You're off track my friend...

      --
      Mi domando chi à il mandante di tutte le cazzate che faccio - Altan
    164. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by drsmithy · · Score: 1

      If there is no other price that gets discounted, then how can you call it a discount?

      Perhaps you'd prefer the word "bundled". Regardless, the meaning is the same.

      It's only a discount if it's less than the retail price. In this case there is no other price.

      Ie: the price for _just_ an iPhone is infinite.

      So no discount. If they later start selling it with no contract requirement and a higher price, *then* the contract price will be a discount. But right now there's no discount, only a single price with an accompanying contract requirement.

      Regardless of the euphamism you want to use, the iPhone is locked into a contract and, hence, it's actual price is obfuscated.

      And if customers hate the idea of contracts so much, why do so many of them sign up?

      Some common reasons:

      * No alternative (How else can you get an iPhone ? No pay as you go plans.)
      * Little alternative (Can't afford the phone up-front, have to pay it off monthly on a contract.)
      * Artificially skewed pricing models (same call patterns on a pay-as-you-go plan costs 3x as much as on a contract)
      * Stupidity (Sure, I'll be happy to sign on for 3 years, just gimme the phone. [time passes] What's that ? You're doubling your rates just like the contract allows you to ?)

      Do you think most cell customers hate the contract they're on, but put up with it for the discounted phone?

      I think most people, at best, _tolerate_ the contract they're on. Have you ever met anyone of reasoanble intelligence who, all else being equal, would prefer to be tied to a fixed-length contract for a given service or be able to move between providers at will ?

      I'm not saying you're wrong because I doubt either of us have numbers, but I would guess there are a lot of them (like me) who aren't planning to change carriers anyway, so give up nothing in exchange for a hardware discount. Could be Apple thinks the same thing - that the requirement for a contract isn't going to significantly slow iPhone sales.

      I doubt it will either, given the demographic who will probably be buying most of them. However, I know *I* would never buy a phone that was irretrievably tied to a particular carrier - but in Australia I'm used to a mobile phone market that finds it a bit more difficult to screw over the end users.

    165. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by nasch · · Score: 1

      Perhaps you'd prefer the word "bundled". Regardless, the meaning is the same. bundle: to offer or supply (related products or services) in a single transaction at one all-inclusive price.
      discount: 1. to deduct a certain amount from (a bill, charge, etc.) 2. to offer for sale or sell at a reduced price
      Those don't look like the same meaning to me.

      Ie: the price for _just_ an iPhone is infinite. If by "infinite price" you mean "not for sale" then yes.

      Regardless of the euphamism you want to use, the iPhone is locked into a contract and, hence, it's actual price is obfuscated. The price is $500 or $600, depending on which kind you get.

      * No alternative (How else can you get an iPhone ? No pay as you go plans.) This actually doesn't have any bearing on current customers since you cannot get an iPhone yet, by any means.

      * Little alternative (Can't afford the phone up-front, have to pay it off monthly on a contract.) I went and found a prepaid plan (no contract) with a $10 phone. And that was just the first phone listed on the first plan I picked.

      * Artificially skewed pricing models (same call patterns on a pay-as-you-go plan costs 3x as much as on a contract) So basically you're saying customers get a contract because it gives them the best price. How is that a problem? It's just like signing a 12-month lease on an apartment often gives you a better price than renting month-to-month - but I don't hear people complaining about that for some reason.

      * Stupidity (Sure, I'll be happy to sign on for 3 years, just gimme the phone. [time passes] What's that ? You're doubling your rates just like the contract allows you to ?) Yes, it would be stupid to agree to such a contract.

      I think most people, at best, _tolerate_ the contract they're on. Have you ever met anyone of reasoanble intelligence who, all else being equal, would prefer to be tied to a fixed-length contract for a given service or be able to move between providers at will ? Nice strawman. I'm sure you're aware that all else is not in fact equal.

      but in Australia Ah, there we go. I've heard outside of the US the market is very different. I don't like the caller pays thing, but there's a lot more competition, isn't there? That can only be a good thing.
    166. Re:Worst comparison chart EVER by weicco · · Score: 1

      If you learn finnish first :)

      --
      You don't know what you don't know.
  2. Interesting by drhamad · · Score: 1

    Not that most/any battery lives up to its ratings, but in terms of announced figures, this is pretty impressive. Other smartphones out there tend to have 4-5 hour talk time batteries. Maybe 8 hour talk times will stem complaints of non-replaceable batteries a bit. After all, if you're on your cellphone more than 8 hours a day, you might need to re-evaluate your life... even as a business user ;)

    And 24 hours audio playback? Where do I sign up? Goodbye recharging my cell phone every night and my iPod every other.

    --
    -Daniel
    1. Re:Interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, I get way more than "5.5 hours" talktime on my Blackjack, with the standard battery. In fact, the only time I get less than 8 hours talktime is when I'm using my BlueTooth earpiece. Besides, Cingular includes both the standard battery and the extended life battery with every Blackjack now, so if one dies, the other can easily be put in without having to find an outlet to plugin a charger.

    2. Re:Interesting by notanatheist · · Score: 2, Insightful

      quote "if you're on your cellphone more than 8 hours a day, you might need to re-evaluate your life"

      If you're on a business trip for a couple of days without access to a charger then it sure would be nice to have that exteneded talk time. Though it can be considered irrelelvant if it uses a standard mini-USB connection as you can always find a shop that'll sell the cable for less than $10.

    3. Re:Interesting by theelectron · · Score: 1

      Goodbye recharging my cell phone every night and my iPod every other.
      Keep in mind that talk time will cut into listening time. So if you talk on the phone for 4 hours, you'll only have about 10~12 hours audio playback. You'll still probably be charging it at least every other night.
    4. Re:Interesting by Mia'cova · · Score: 1

      I was under the impression that there were two batteries to address this concern directly. Has that thinking/speculation changed?

    5. Re:Interesting by Thirdsin · · Score: 1

      But here is the question;
      By upgrading the battery and changing the plastic screen to glass, how heavy is this thing now?

      If i feel like i'm working out with free weights everytime i pick the thing up i think i'd just assume go with a phone smaller and more practical.
      Bluetooth headsets aside, you still gotta find a pocket to put that thing in when youre walking around...

      --
      No words of wisedom here.
    6. Re:Interesting by Wite_Noiz · · Score: 1

      From what I've read, it's one built-in battery.

      For a phone/video/music device, that battery-life isn't going to be enough for a lot of people.
      And since you can't just swap the battery to get more life, long-distance travel seems almost out of the question (at least, if you want to watch a film or listen to audio while you travel).

    7. Re:Interesting by Mia'cova · · Score: 1

      You can get extra batteries that attach to the dock connector for ipods. I would imagine that would make for one alternative. In fact, owing to the immense popularity of the ipod itself, that compatibility on your phone could come in handy. For example, I've gone on snowboarding trips with my ipod and forgot my charger but every night at the hostels, it only took a few minutes to find someone with a charger. You have to love being a part of the in-crowd :)

      If I forgot my cell phone charger, I'd be completely fucked. Cell phone companies tweak their connectors every model, often in a systematic way! Move the notch in the connector to a different place for each new model. It's pretty bad. And then, a couple years later when they feel you're due for a new phone, the chargers are no longer sold even. What started off as a progression for miniaturizing connectors has turned into a corporate strategy. I'd like to choke anyone supportive of the strategy.

  3. Nice by timeOday · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Those are upgrades every user will appreciate. Battery life is obviously good, and remember all the furor over iPod Nano scratches?

    1. Re:Nice by empaler · · Score: 4, Funny

      In a year you'll be writing "(..) and remember all the furor over the iPhone glass cracks?"

  4. How about.... Price? by EveryNickIsTaken · · Score: 0, Troll

    Look.. This thing can have all the features in the world, but when it's revealed that it'll cost $800-$1000, who's going to actually buy one? The iPhone suffers from PS3-itis.

    1. Re:How about.... Price? by Paulrothrock · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If 1% of the people getting new phones buy on, Apple's met their goal.

      --
      I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
    2. Re:How about.... Price? by EveryNickIsTaken · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah. That 1% didn't work too well for the N-Gage.

    3. Re:How about.... Price? by RingDev · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'll pay $250 tops. This is the first smart phone that I've seen that I would actually consider using. I just set up my VP's black berry last week and after 5 minutes my thumbs were already sore. But I just can't justify spending more than $250 on a phone. I'd like the extra features, but I can live without them.

      -Rick

      --
      "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
    4. Re:How about.... Price? by east+coast · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Ok, what percent of AT&T users will need to buy this to get it to equal 1% of all new phone sales? I think the lack of choice in carriers has a bigger impact than the price, right off.

      --
      Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
    5. Re:How about.... Price? by tgatliff · · Score: 1

      Well, then I must have PS3-itis, because I very much want one. Also, last time I checked, it was only $600, but if it is now $800, fine... For Apple products, it definitely worth it. That is just my opinion, though.

      I am also no "fanboy" as everyone seems to like to call people who likes Apple. I just love better products and are willing to pay extra for them. If you are not, then that it fine. Also, any break from the Blackberry barbie doll features madness would be greatly appreciated. I am tired of having calluses on my thumbs... Quite annoying..

    6. Re:How about.... Price? by soft_guy · · Score: 2, Informative

      No wonder you were modded troll - the cost isn't $800 - it is $500 or $600 depending on the model.

      --
      Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
    7. Re:How about.... Price? by pitdingo · · Score: 1

      how could it have ps3-itis if it is not for sale yet? No one knows if it is going to sell millions or tank. It goes on sale on the 29th. once all the hype has died down around the initial release, we will all know for sure if Apple has another hit or failure.

    8. Re:How about.... Price? by Futile+Rhetoric · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wait, are you serious? NGage is a gaming machine, and had to attract third party developers for any kind of success. 1% of the market simply wouldn't be enough for that. This isn't even apples and oranges, it's apples and bloody watermelons.

    9. Re:How about.... Price? by MrPerfekt · · Score: 1

      I'll see you in 13 days when the phone is selling for the same price they've been advertised as ($499 & $599).

      --
      I just wasted your mod points! HA!
    10. Re:How about.... Price? by BlakeReid · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'll pay $250 tops.
      Wrong. You'll pay $499, line up 12 hours in advance, sign an 8 year contract with Satan and give your first born over to me - and you'll like it! Love, Steve Jobs
    11. Re:How about.... Price? by east+coast · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I am also no "fanboy" as everyone seems to like to call people who likes Apple. I just love better products and are willing to pay extra for them.

      Also, last time I checked, it was only $600, but if it is now $800, fine... For Apple products, it definitely worth it.

      Just as a note: take it from me, you're a fanboi if this is the way you really think.

      You're already proclaiming that spending as much as 2-3 times what most smart phones cost is Ok with you because it's an Apple, without even getting the phone into your hands? Actually, even more than Ok but "definitely worth it."

      If that's not fanboism what is?

      I'm not saying the phone is not worth it. If all the promises are true and if the phone is as reliable as my iPod has been I can understand why people found it desirable. But the fact is that you're pretty much saying it's a done deal. No one on slashdot, or at least very very few, have even had one of these in their hands let alone made a call on one or beat it around for a few months or a year to give us the kind of serious insight into this device that dictates spending big money on it.

      To sit there and publicly proclaim a product get's a "thumbs up" simply because of the name etched into it's shell is fanboism. 100%. Every company makes a bad product and Apple has had enough to show us they're no different than anyone else. To deny that is also fanboism.

      --
      Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
    12. Re:How about.... Price? by Jack9 · · Score: 1

      With the service contract, you're looking at 800+

      --

      Often wrong but never in doubt.
      I am Jack9.
      Everyone knows me.
    13. Re:How about.... Price? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Whew! At least my soul will be intact!

    14. Re:How about.... Price? by thefinite · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's fine to add the service contract to the price of the phone. After all, that will be the true cost. However, just make sure you add the service price to all of the iPhone competitors as well, just to give an accurate comparison.

      --
      Boom Shanka
    15. Re:How about.... Price? by cerelib · · Score: 1

      You complain that your thumbs were sore, but what does the iPhone do to make that situation better? I don't see how this will compete with a Blackberry for texting and writing emails. Their solutions seems to be presenting the same type of keypad on a touchscreen. I can't buy into a true tablet device that does not fully utilize either handwriting recognition or at least a Palm style graffiti system.

    16. Re:How about.... Price? by allanc · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hehe. Sounds like *someone* didn't read the *fine* print.

    17. Re:How about.... Price? by Lepton68 · · Score: 1

      They want 1% of the World Market by the end of 2008. This translates to 10 million phones, but not all in America. They will roll out to the rest of the world starting at year end, they said, so if they can get some of Europe and Asia...

      --
      Mike from www.myallo.com/blog
    18. Re:How about.... Price? by soft_guy · · Score: 1

      No, you're looking at a LOT MORE than $800 if you include the service contract. More like $3,000* assuming you cancel the contract after the required 2 year. You are trying to defend a figure of $800 and you are just grasping at straws because that figure is wrong, not matter how you cut it. *I'm basing 3,000 on $100/month plan at 24 months + the $600 for the device itself.

      --
      Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
    19. Re:How about.... Price? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      SO if beers two bucks and I have ten of them and a burger, beer's 30 bucks?

    20. Re:How about.... Price? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Know how I know you are a fanboy? Because your gay!

    21. Re:How about.... Price? by Jack9 · · Score: 1

      No, the meal is 30$. When you talk about going out to get a pizza, you dont expect it to cost 19.99 you expect it to cost 25-30$
      Welcome to real life.

      --

      Often wrong but never in doubt.
      I am Jack9.
      Everyone knows me.
    22. Re:How about.... Price? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WTF $800 ?! If we're talking this price range for an iPhone, why not start comparing to laptops? Get a full blown O/S, a much bigger screen, bigger storage due to an included HD, WiFi, VoIP, full blown keyboard. I'd rather go for the crappy free phone and get a laptop, than spend that much on a phone. You can probably find a new or close to new MacBook for that much or a little more.

    23. Re:How about.... Price? by hansonc · · Score: 1

      SO if beers two bucks and I have ten of them and a burger, beer's 30 bucks? No. Your burger costs you $30 if it requires the purchase of 10 $2 beers as well.
    24. Re:How about.... Price? by xornor · · Score: 1

      I for one welcome our black t-shirt wearing billionaire overlord!

  5. Glass why? by Lumpy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why dont they simply use polycarbonate and use the same coatings used on glasses? There are some anti-scratch coatings for polycarbonate that give you nearly the same durability as glass does with far less weight and problems.

    Although I have wondered this cince the Ipod came out. anti scratch coatings are pretty darn impressive.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:Glass why? by Penguinisto · · Score: 3, Interesting

      anti scratch coatings are pretty darn impressive.

      Probably for QC/QA reasons. I have a spare pair of glasses at home w/ Polycarbonate lenses, where the left lens has a lot of crazing and surface imperfections due to the anti-scratch coatings wearing off/out prematurely. A previous pair of lenses on the same frame did the same thing on the right lens. It could be the metal used in the frame (though it's not exactly kryptonite or anything), or it could've been in reaction to the environment I'd worn them in... dunno.

      Even if only one of 100,000 who experienced this problem (a reasonable figure, I think - the optometrist in my case said it happened occasionally on glasses), it would still be a fairly large headache for Apple to keep ahead of.

      /P

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    2. Re:Glass why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      There is no such thing as a "scratch coating" for optical polycarbonate lenses. The lenses are coated, true, but without the chem treatment and UV curing you'll scratch the lens by _breathing_ on it.

      Polycarbonate is _soft_ compared with optical plastic. It's more shatter resistant because it's soft, and bends under an impact, rather than stiffly resisting like glass.

      That doesn't mean that they perhaps dont have a bettr class of chem treatment, but optical polycarbonate == compact disc material. Tell me that resists scratches as much as glass!

    3. Re:Glass why? by TheRequiem13 · · Score: 1

      If you want to protect a screen like that on any device, buy an Invisible Shield ( www.shieldzone.com ). I know this sounds like a blatant product pimping, but I'm just very happy with my purchases. I've had one on my Zen V:M for over a year, and just bought a second one for my W810i cellphone.

      When friends ask how to protect stuff from scratches, I pull out my Zen (or now my cellphone) and scribble all over the screen with a key, and let them do it too. Then I tell them to buy one of those.

      I'd rather have the electronic product be cheaper (because the "scretch-resistant" surface they use wont be work squat anyway) and I spend $20 for my own shield that I know will work.

      Caveat: I have no idea how they would impact the touch screen input, but I'm sure IS will clarify once they start cutting shields for it.

      --
      What?
    4. Re:Glass why? by mgabrys_sf · · Score: 1

      Watches. Those with glass lenses on them, I've rarely scratched - at least enough for it to be noticable. I think it's a great move. Thought they were glass out of the starting-gate, glad to hear they switched to it. Plastic is putty in comparrison.

    5. Re:Glass why? by Dripdry · · Score: 1

      Planned obsolescence, perhaps?
      I've had this happen on every pair of glasses I've had with an anti-scratch coating.

      This is a me too post, and I endorse it.

      --
      -
    6. Re:Glass why? by ubernostrum · · Score: 1

      Even if only one of 100,000 who experienced this problem (a reasonable figure, I think - the optometrist in my case said it happened occasionally on glasses), it would still be a fairly large headache for Apple to keep ahead of.

      Apple's stated goal is to capture 1% of the market by the end of 2008. That's roughly ten million phones. If your 1 in 100,000 figure is correct, that means there'd be one hundred iPhones having that problem. One hundred out of a run of ten million is probably not "a fairly large headache".

    7. Re:Glass why? by Penguinisto · · Score: 1
      True, but that would depend on there being such a low rate, and would depend on it only happening to someone who is not a blogger/reviewer... :)

      /P

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    8. Re:Glass why? by ElAsturiano · · Score: 1

      Anti Scratch coatings are meant for eyeglasses and things of that sort: something you wear on your face, not in your pocket pressed against a key or a coin.
      Glasses are also very light in comparison with a phone. If you put them down on something rough, the coating has to resist a comparatively smaller pressure from the scratching agent.
      if you were to coat iPhone screens, they would get worn off fairly quickly and people would be crying like babies when their $600 piece of geek bling is not pristine anymore.

      --
      http://frag-legion.uk.net/wiibar/mario-57327995510 90669.png
    9. Re:Glass why? by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 1

      Screw that, this is Apple we're talking about. Why aren't they giving us sheet diamond?

      --
      You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
    10. Re:Glass why? by evilviper · · Score: 1

      Why dont they simply use polycarbonate and use the same coatings used on glasses?

      As a glasses wearer, I can assure you the scratch-resistant coating on plastic glasses is crap. It's certainly an improvement over nothing at all, but it wears out over time, and doesn't come close to the scratch resistance of actual glass.

      I imagine a touchscreen undergo far more scraping than eyeglasses, and with a high sticker price, most people are going to want the screen to be legible for more than just the first year.
      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    11. Re:Glass why? by iluvcapra · · Score: 1
      One hundred out of a run of ten million is probably not "a fairly large headache".

      Unless ten of them have weblogs. One nastygram blog posting about "iPhone scratches are teh suxx0r" has a way of getting repeated, ad nauesum, for years ;).

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
    12. Re:Glass why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Personally I was wondering why they dont use whatever coating Nokia is using. I've been through bunch of nokia phones and never had a real problem with the screen scratching.

    13. Re:Glass why? by TrekkieGod · · Score: 1

      Why dont they simply use polycarbonate and use the same coatings used on glasses? There are some anti-scratch coatings for polycarbonate that give you nearly the same durability as glass does with far less weight and problems.

      How often do you actually touch the lenses instead of just the frame? The iPhone has a touchscreen so you're going to have your hands all over that screen during normal use. And you'll probably have fingerprints there all the time, so you'll need to clean it a lot.

      I've always wondered why my non-touchscreen LCD monitors didn't have a glass cover. It would make them heavier, but I wouldn't have to be in paralyzing fear every time they need to be cleaned. My CRT I can just get any wet cloth and rub the screen until the dirt is out. The LCD in my first laptop, I was extremely careful about and still scratched the hell out of it when I first cleaned it. Then the hunt started for something that wouldn't scratch LCD's as much (tissue paper won, btw), but you still have to be ridiculously careful and gentle as to how you go about it.

      Not that I'm buying an iPhone... Maybe if it cost $100 (free with contract).

      --

      Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.

  6. But.... by svendsen · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How is the actual voice quality since well it's a phone and all?

    1. Re:But.... by Shakrai · · Score: 2, Informative

      How is the actual voice quality since well it's a phone and all?

      Probably shitty, cuz it's Cingular^wAT&T and they make everybody use a half-rate codec even in those markets where they have enough network capacity to allow you to use full-rate. What, 60mhz of spectrum isn't enough for you to let me use full-rate? T-Mobile does friggen NYC on 5mhz....

      Of course, the to-go joke here could also be: "What, you wanna use your phone to talk to people? What a concept!"

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    2. Re:But.... by dloose · · Score: 1

      To the grand-parent: Very few people know how well the iPhone performs in any respect. It's still very much a wait-and-see kind of product. To parent: I have Cingular/AT&T and I've never had a problem with call quality. It's a phone, not a hi-fi.

    3. Re:But.... by Shakrai · · Score: 1

      I have Cingular/AT&T and I've never had a problem with call quality. It's a phone, not a hi-fi.

      Compare the quality of a call side by side with a T-Mobile call running with the full-rate codec and you'll change your mind pretty quickly. Granted, T-Mobile doesn't always run at full-rate, their networks will fall back to half-rate if they have capacity issues during peak usage, but at least they give it to you when they can (which is virtually all the time in suburban/rural areas, generally only have capacity issues in urban areas). AT&T runs at half-rate regardless of the available network capacity in a given area.

      If you really want to get sad, compare any cell phone (even a full-rate GSM or 13k CDMA) to a landline->landline call. Nobody realizes just how much quality they've dumped in order to squeeze more calls into their networks.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  7. Dvorak strikes again by Space+cowboy · · Score: 4, Informative

    A little while back, Dvorak (the original, not the popular term for a retard) was claiming the iPhone would have 40 minutes talk-time [the link doesn't go to Dvorak's site].

    So, where's the retraction, John - after all, any *responsible* journalist's priority is the truth, not just seeking attention for himself at the expense of others...

    Simon

    --
    Physicists get Hadrons!
    1. Re:Dvorak strikes again by killmenow · · Score: 5, Funny

      ...Dvorak (the original, not the popular term for a retard)...

      Please stop insulting retards.

    2. Re:Dvorak strikes again by dintech · · Score: 1

      I can only talk for 40 minutes you insensitive clod!

    3. Re:Dvorak strikes again by dfghjk · · Score: 1

      Actually, it appears Apple has responded precisely to that criticism.

      Dvorak is not a journalist BTW. Your mistake, not his.

    4. Re:Dvorak strikes again by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      Dvorak said that his (unnamed) source at Cingular said that the iPhone would have 40 minutes talk time based on what his source had seen.

      First of all it is based on hearsay. Second, even if it is true, there was no way to verify that the iPhone his source had seen was the final manufacturing model. It could have been a demo model used to show off the other features like the widescreen, UI, etc. Just like the demo game console you see in the store. I'm sure if you bought the game console, it wouldn't reset itself every 15 minutes.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    5. Re:Dvorak strikes again by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      You forget the point of Dvorak.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  8. all of this and... by friedman101 · · Score: 0

    Steve Jobs was even kind enough to include safa...er.....a development platform.

  9. Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by Gary+W.+Longsine · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Looking at these phones it becomes clear that battery life was a secret feature of the iPhone, probably known to Apple all along. It's clearly one of the intended design features of the phone. By eliminating the keyboards (and sliders), and stylus storage slots, Apple wound up with a phone that not only has almost twice as much space available for the display screen, but also has nearly twice as much room for battery. Sure, they probably put a lot of effort into power management features of OS X, and other optimizations in the hardware design, but the biggest win is undoubtedly the physical design.

    --
    If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
  10. Does Anyone Do Hype Better? by dprovine · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I used to think the NFL was the world's greatest hype machine, with the annual orgy of coverage about the Super Bowl, a game that's usually not as interesting as the commercials.

    But Apple has probably gotten something like a billion dollars of free publicity for six months about the iPhone, which almost nobody has actually held in their hands yet. I'm convinced that the business last week with Safari was planned way in advance, as was this bit with the batteries and the screen, so that in the last few weeks before the iPhone came out Apple would be getting more gobs of free press.

    Is there anybody who works the press as well as Steve Jobs?

    1. Re:Does Anyone Do Hype Better? by tritone · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Is there anybody who works the press as well as Steve Jobs?"

      Uhh. Paris Hilton?

    2. Re:Does Anyone Do Hype Better? by BuR4N · · Score: 1

      Probably not, the amount of free publicity they get is nothing less then amazing. As a company owner, I can assure you that getting something written about your company is very tricky.

      I think however that Apples decade long love affair with printed media have played an important part in this, it cant just be credited Jobs alone.

      Think of it, most of the people that decides whats getting printed and not, have spent most of their professional life working on Apple products, and are probably card carrying members of the Apple fan club, cant get better than that.

      --
      http://www.intellipool.se/ - Intellipool Network Monitor
    3. Re:Does Anyone Do Hype Better? by Shakrai · · Score: 4, Funny

      Uhh. Paris Hilton?

      Paris! You must find your way out of this place or you will surely die. Make your way to the Sparrow Prince! He will guide you the rest of the way. Now go! Make haste!

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    4. Re:Does Anyone Do Hype Better? by J-1000 · · Score: 1

      He's probably the best at it, but it's not entirely due to his charisma. It's mostly based on Apple's careful track record of never crying wolf. That is, never over-hyping something that isn't truly cool in one way or another.

    5. Re:Does Anyone Do Hype Better? by consonant · · Score: 1

      Are you saying Paris Hilton's worked Steve Jobs? Scary thought!

    6. Re:Does Anyone Do Hype Better? by mkiwi · · Score: 1

      "Is there anybody who works the press as well as Steve Jobs?"

      Uhh. Paris Hilton?

      Amen. Nicely put, too. Paris works with people who get get content out. So what if BitTorrent is full of OMG PARIS HILTON XXXX!!!

      The Southpark quote above needs "Stupid Whore" to the end.

  11. Battery Life by TitusC3v5 · · Score: 1

    Seven Hours of video playback? Color me skeptical.

    --
    And the masses cried out, "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0!"
    1. Re:Battery Life by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Seven hours of video playback from 8 Gigs (max) of RAM? Color me skeptical, too.

      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
    2. Re:Battery Life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      most people will just watch the same porno again and again- perhaps even the same few seconds of it.

    3. Re:Battery Life by pnaro · · Score: 5, Funny

      You forgot to read the small print ... * Battery life affected be screen intensity. Video playback assumes LCD display off.

      --
      If we can't fix it, we'll fix it so nobody else can!
    4. Re:Battery Life by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Seven hours of video playback from 8 Gigs (max) of RAM? Color me skeptical, too.

      I don't know what Apple has actually done, but there's no need to power all the flash at the same time.

      And it's not like it's DRAM. You don't have to refresh it, which is where a lot of the power consumption goes.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re:Battery Life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WHOOOOOSH!

    6. Re:Battery Life by Vancorps · · Score: 1

      Well hey, they could just be playing the same 30 seconds of porn over and over for seven hours.

    7. Re:Battery Life by Goaway · · Score: 1

      Are you implying you couldn't fit seven hours of low-res h.264 video in 8 gigs? You could probably fit 24 hours even at high quality.

    8. Re:Battery Life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I LOL'D!

    9. Re:Battery Life by vuffi_raa · · Score: 1

      I am skeptical as well, but a nintendo ds gets about that much (on high screen brightness) w/ 4m of ram and 2 backlit displays-

  12. Uh huh by lewp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The battery probably didn't even change. The only difference is that the old numbers came from engineering, and the new numbers came from PR :P

    (I kid, I kid. I think it's a pretty sweet little device, personally.)

    --
    Game... blouses.
    1. Re:Uh huh by Paulrothrock · · Score: 1

      You're probably right about engineering or a software change. Apple is well known for using creative software to compensate for bad hardware or make great hardware even better. Bill Atkinson started this with the window rendering software in the original Macintosh. He could render rounded rectangles faster than anyone could imagine on a machine nobody thought was capable of such a task.

      --
      I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
    2. Re:Uh huh by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      He could render rounded rectangles faster than anyone could imagine on a machine nobody thought was capable of such a task.

      I'm pretty sure that nobody thought it was impossible to render a rounded rectangle on a mac. I mean, I can draw one in Logo on an Apple ][ in nothing flat.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:Uh huh by Rakshasa+Taisab · · Score: 1

      Funny, but likely the reverse with a twist...

      PR probably got a more detailed analysis, where they had some rather unimpressive current numbers for the prototype and another set of number with predictions how how much they were likely to squeeze out of it after optimizations. PR then uses the former numbers to fool their competitors into a false sense of security, in addition to having something nice to announce weeks before the launch.

      Their engineers aren't so stupid they don't at least estimate how much they'll gain through various possible optimizations.

      --
      - These characters were randomly selected.
    4. Re:Uh huh by Paulrothrock · · Score: 1

      You can render anything on any computer, it's just a matter of how soon you want it. The fact that he wrote a program that did thousands of rectangles per minute was what people thought was impossible.

      --
      I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
    5. Re:Uh huh by Dominic_Mazzoni · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure that nobody thought it was impossible to render a rounded rectangle on a mac. I mean, I can draw one in Logo on an Apple ][ in nothing flat.

      Actually what was a big deal was not tracing the outline of a rounded rectangle quickly (no big deal), but making every single overlapping window on the screen have a rounded rectangle outline rather than a plain rectangle. Yes, even back to the original Macintosh, every window had rounded corners, and you could see other windows behind it in the corners. Pretty impressive for an 8 MHz processor, don't you think? It was even possible to make oval-shaped windows or star-shaped windows that overlapped with others, and it worked great. Windows didn't get a similar capability until Windows 95, about a decade later - and even then, windows were all rectangular by default because they probably hadn't optimized the code as much.

    6. Re:Uh huh by drinkypoo · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Yes, even back to the original Macintosh, every window had rounded corners, and you could see other windows behind it in the corners. Pretty impressive for an 8 MHz processor, don't you think?

      Not really. The Amiga cost far less and did far more because they added some of their own fancy silicon. The Macintosh was a graphics-only computer with no graphics acceleration. And the Amiga 1000, 500, and 2000 (in order of release) all had processors between 7 and 8 MHz.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    7. Re:Uh huh by Dominic_Mazzoni · · Score: 1

      I agree entirely, the Amiga was an awesome computer. But what was impressive was what the Mac was able to do in pure software. The Amiga had some amazing features, but the Mac provided a more polished experience despite having more limited hardware.

    8. Re:Uh huh by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The Amiga had some amazing features, but the Mac provided a more polished experience despite having more limited hardware.

      What do you mean more polished experience? If you mean it looked more "professional", where "professional" == "boring", then I'll agree. Otherwise, I don't think that I do.

      Or if you mean "the CEO didn't pocket the company's money" I guess it works on that level too :)

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    9. Re:Uh huh by ryanov · · Score: 1

      Not true...

      What had rounded corners? I know the SCREEN had rounded corners, but the Windows were very boxy. Anyone have a photo/capture of such a thing?

  13. Will it Survive a Fall? by Greyfox · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Cell phones get dropped fairly regularly. I'm sure the same goes for ipods. Will the iphone be able to withstand a fall from 3 or 4 feet onto carpeting or concrete?

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    1. Re:Will it Survive a Fall? by soft_guy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I assume you are specifically referring to the fact that it has glass?

      The Newton had a glass screen and I recall seeing a lot of them fall and none ever broke the screen from the fall. One time someone dropped a newton onto the screen of another newton and the screen did break, but the one she dropped was OK.

      So, who knows? It is possible that it might survive a fall but it is hard to say until it actually ships.

      See you in line on the 29th!

      --
      Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
    2. Re:Will it Survive a Fall? by CastrTroy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I know a guy who worked at RIM, and they said they actually did testing like this with their blackberries. I'm not sure about the current models, but 3 or 4 years ago, they were made to stand up to quite a substantial drop. This kind of stuff is really important. I almost wish there was independant crash tests done on consumer products the same way they are done on cars.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    3. Re:Will it Survive a Fall? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm a football kinda guy (soccer for the usians), and i don't tend to drop things that often, but when i do, i usually end up kicking them for some strange reason. Dropping a phone isn't nearly as bad as droppping it, kicked it into something and then having it hit the floor again. I'd be worried about something with a large screen if it couldn't take punishment.

    4. Re:Will it Survive a Fall? by HappyDrgn · · Score: 1

      RIM must have done some awesome field tests on these things, my bb 7250 has survived flying out a window, sliding across the street and landing in a patch of snow.

    5. Re:Will it Survive a Fall? by agingell · · Score: 1

      You are correct, it is part of the GSM mobile specification.
      If I recall correctly it is a drop test of 1.2m or 1.5m onto concrete.
      The phone is allowed to come apart, e.g. the battery may detach, but it should work fine once re-assembled.

    6. Re:Will it Survive a Fall? by CastrTroy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Leave it to the Canadians to make a unit that will stand up to landing in a patch of snow.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    7. Re:Will it Survive a Fall? by darkmeridian · · Score: 1

      My Blackberry 7290 has survived multiple falls from 3-4 feet onto solid concrete subway floors, or hard-tile bar floors without being worse for wear. I haven't dropped it on any objects with protrusions, however, so time will tell.

      --
      A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
    8. Re:Will it Survive a Fall? by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 1
      The Newton had a glass screen and I recall seeing a lot of them fall...One time someone dropped a newton onto the screen of another newton

      You have a strange life. Was this some sort of drunken note-taking party?

    9. Re:Will it Survive a Fall? by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1


      The Newton had a glass screen and I recall seeing a lot of them fall and none ever broke the screen from the fall. One time someone dropped a newton onto the screen of another newton and the screen did break, but the one she dropped was OK.


      I once left my Newton on the roof of my car and drove off with it. It probably left the roof at about 55MPH.

      Somebody came by work and dropped it off to me. There was a bit of a scuff on the side of the case.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    10. Re:Will it Survive a Fall? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I had a co-op term there once, and I can verify that I saw these testers doing their work.

      They don't strictly test in sanitary conditions either. When the 8800 came out I saw the guy outside in the parking lot dropping it into puddles from over his head. If you hang out near RIM campus, you might see him doing it with the Curve. RIM prides themselves on their ability to create incredibly durable devices.

      I'd also like to point out the RIM has been producing Wifi devices for at least 3 years now. They aren't included in the newest devices because the adoption rates were incredibly low. It's not a feature people care to pay money for.

    11. Re:Will it Survive a Fall? by X-treme-LLama · · Score: 1

      Everyone who has a moto RAZR (At least the original, and I assume most, if not all, of the revisions) raise your hand.

      Now keep your hand raised if you have broken the (outer) screen. What, like 10 people left? Total? Wow nice...

      See the outer LCD covering (and perhaps the covering over the camera (not the lens)) is glass. Yes it really is. I've dropped my razr many many times, the case is scuffed up a bit, but the glass is fine. Never has broken, or honestly even scratched. Of course the piece of glass is smaller, but I'd say it was at least a starting point to go on. Glass FTW!

      Glass has most often been replaced in consumer devices for cost reasons, not breakage. Look at cars, how many cars have a poly* windshield(yes I know safety glass uses a plastic coating)? Poly* is cheaper to implement in a product, and yes lighter as well. But Glass is the quality standard. Ask anyone who wears glasses if they have had better luck with the latest generations of glass lenses or plastic ones. Glass can and does break, but it takes some effort to do it. Poly* will scratch if you look at it wrong. So they're trading millions of people who will fuck up the face of their iPhone, for a few dozen who might manage to break it's glass. End of story.

    12. Re:Will it Survive a Fall? by Zhe+Mappel · · Score: 1
      Given the iPhone's slick surface and less-than-ergonomic shape, this is a question for which we'll soon have a rich dataset. ;-)


      Two predictions, though.


      1) It'll survive better than the egos of its owners after it's scratched up a bit.


      2) Due to 1), there's going to be a busy market in refurbs.

  14. It's a kind of magic.. by delire · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ..and the new Intel Macs were supposed to be four-to-seven times faster than a 1.7GHz PPC and have 4 hours battery life.

    I think I might just wait for the first few 100k sales before I look at the next 'comparison chart' from Apple Corp..

    1. Re:It's a kind of magic.. by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      My MacBook Pro takes 7-10 second to do a complete build of my thesis (pdflatex, bibtex, gnuplot for graphs, etc running from a big Makefile), while my 1.5GHz G4 PowerBook took 40-60 seconds. Of course, that's not all from the Core 2 Duo, a big part of it comes from the faster hard drive, but it's not a completely unreasonable speed comparison. I have had 4.5 hours of battery life from it when I tried hard (low screen brightness, not doing much with the CPU or GPU), but 3-3.5 seems more reasonable.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    2. Re:It's a kind of magic.. by hritcu · · Score: 1

      My MacBook has in fact a 4 hour battery life. What's so unusual about this?

      --
      If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough. (Alan Kay)
  15. missing rows from the "competitive" chart... by Qubit · · Score: 1
    • Price
    • # of carriers on which the system is supported
    • Available SDK for developers
    Apple makes nice hardware, but they want to make a buck just like all the other companies with phones in that lineup. The chart was pretty, but what I'd really like to see is some independent site doing a reasonably fair comparison.
    --

    coding is life /* the rest is */
    1. Re:missing rows from the "competitive" chart... by starbuckr0x · · Score: 1

      I agree. The biggest drawback IMHO to buying this guy is simply the service agreement I'll be signing at the cash register. I currently use Verizon, so I'm pretty much SOL unless I want to break my contract. If the iPhone really does start any kind of revolution, then it needs to learn how to play with others first.

      --
      -50 DKP for lame post!
    2. Re:missing rows from the "competitive" chart... by mmeister · · Score: 1

      Don't blame Apple for this. Apple tried to set up a deal with Verizon first and they said "No". They viewed it as too risky for them (probably because they are uncomfortable doing anything new).

      AT&T took the risk, but required an exclusive contract to do so. So in order to play with the carriers, Apple had to do an exclusive. In order to get some of the "cool features" like random access voice mail, Apple needed a carrier that was willing to make changes to their system.

      So I don't think it's Apple that can't play with others, but the others that make it difficult to play with everyone.

      The real risk is that Apple is relying on AT&T's customer service. Given my past experience, that is the *ONE* thing that Apple cannot control and that could hurt the iPhone. Apple can write software patches to fix most iPhone issues that comes up, unfortunately they cannot patch the customer service representative you talk to when you have a problem with your bill. Mind you, this is not a problem exclusive to AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile don't do well in these areas either.

    3. Re:missing rows from the "competitive" chart... by dloose · · Score: 1

      Dude, you're posting on Slashdot. Plus, most gadgety-types (i.e., people who buy smartphones) like the ability to install applications (i.e., games). You can spin it any way you want to, but the lack of an SDK is not good for the iPhone. It probably won't kill the product -- especially if the iPhone can run JavaScript+DHTML widgets from memory -- but it won't help much either.

  16. Nokia N800 should be on Comparison Chart by tggreen · · Score: 0


    I've been putting off purchasing a Nokia N800 until iPhone appears in stores. I don't find the chart to be helpful because it doesn't list the N800 or other competitive phones.

    1. Re:Nokia N800 should be on Comparison Chart by DoctorPepper · · Score: 3, Informative

      Um, because maybe the N800 isn't a phone? You can do VOIP, but it doesn't have cell phone capabilities (I know, I own an N800).

      --

      No matter where you go... there you are.
    2. Re:Nokia N800 should be on Comparison Chart by tggreen · · Score: 1

      By that reasoning, we shouldn't rank digital PCS phones against analog cell phones, either. I think all technologies that allow one to make a voice call to someone else's phone are equally worth considering. I think it's perfectly legitimate to compare an IP phone against a PCS phone-- particularly if the IP phone is cheaper for phone+web+mail+messaging.

    3. Re:Nokia N800 should be on Comparison Chart by DoctorPepper · · Score: 1

      Well, the real problem with the N800 is WiFi availability. Don't get me wrong, I love my N800. I use it mainly for minor web surfing and IM in the evenings, at my own house. But until municipal WiFi becomes the standard, and you can use it pretty much anywhere, the N800 (and all VOIP portables) will be basically useless.

      My cell phone (a Blackberry Pearl), on the other hand, can be used pretty much anywhere I go. I can send email, surf the web, make phone calls and IM my friends/family. Now if the N800 was also a cell phone, and could use EDGE/GPRS/GSM/WhatEverIsOutThereTomorrow, it would be 10X more useful and portable, and would thus be comparable to the iPhone (except it's bigger, and has a lower battery life).

      --

      No matter where you go... there you are.
    4. Re:Nokia N800 should be on Comparison Chart by splortnik2003 · · Score: 1

      Within a wifi zone, a VoIP phone is a cellphone!
      Within my apartment my cordless phone is a cellphone! (Why isn't that on the list?)
      Within my dreams, that's where I'm an electric stove!

    5. Re:Nokia N800 should be on Comparison Chart by gradix · · Score: 1

      Yeah, comparison with the new Sony Ericsson P1 could be interesting...

    6. Re:Nokia N800 should be on Comparison Chart by *weasel · · Score: 1

      I'm also an n800 owner.
      And if the iPhone wasn't tied to AT&T I'd probably buy one when my current phone contract runs out in about 9 months, just to have a single device again.

      But as it is, i'll just keep my small 'free' phone in my pocket, leave bluetooth on and use the n800 through that.
      I wouldn't consider the n800 a 'phone', but it's 10x the mobile internet platform that the iphone will be. (bigger screen, better screen, replacable battery, expandable memory, cheaper, infinitely hackable) And for me personally, that's more important than the phone stuff. It's easy enough to leave the 'free' small phone in my pocket.

      Besides, by the time I can even get an iPhone without AT&T, I'll probably be comparing at least an n900 to a second gen iPhone. And who knows how that'll shake out.

      --
      // "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
    7. Re:Nokia N800 should be on Comparison Chart by peterpi · · Score: 1

      Within 2m of the socket, my home phone is a cellphone!

    8. Re:Nokia N800 should be on Comparison Chart by Etherized · · Score: 1

      I use my n800 in almost exactly the same manner. When your phone is just a phone, you can pick up one that's really small and cheap and keep it tucked away with you at all times, using it as a bluetooth modem should you need to use the n800 and are out of wifi range.

      At first, I thought the n800's non-phoneness would bother me - but I've quickly come to appreciate the fact that it is a distinct device. If I go cycling or kayaking, for example, it's very nice to have a phone, but I generally have no need for the features of the n800. Since the two devices are separable, I can easily take the small, cheap phone with me into the "danger zone" and leave the n800 safely behind.

      I had originally hoped to find a device that reasonably combined the functionality of the n800 with that of a phone (the Nokia N95 comes very close, but its lack of US 3G killed it for me, and the iPhone's limitations are too severe), but I'm fairly happy with my current solution at roughly half the price. Maybe, if prices drop enough, the platform is opened up, the device is freed from AT&T's network, and the feature set catches up a bit with Nokia devices, the iPhone will be a contender for my next purchase - but right now, I too am enjoying the flexibility of the cheapo phone + n800 combo.

  17. Can it service the wife? by gelfling · · Score: 3, Funny

    Mow the lawn, teach me Spanish? Is it waterproof, shockproof? Can it float fly and sit in an oven? Will it let me run my personal build of BSD? No? Then it's shit and we should shun it and hate it.

    How many N95's sell anyway? They cost $800 (list from Dynamism).

    1. Re:Can it service the wife? by Cerberus7 · · Score: 1

      By "Can it service the wife" do you mean "can it perform cunnilingus on a hard wood floor?"

      Oh, and as for being on-topic, I don't believe the battery life just yet. I'll wait until real people are using them in real life before I believe a statement like that.

      --
      I don't know about you, but my servers run on the power of cotton candy and happy thoughts. -Anonymous Coward
    2. Re:Can it service the wife? by eyeye · · Score: 1

      I am waiting for HTC's take on the big touchscreen phone, it probably will mow the grass!

      --
      Bush and Blair ate my sig!
    3. Re:Can it service the wife? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Talk about ipod and servicing:

      After being hit from behind by a motorcycle Sunday evening, a 32-year-old woman was left lying near a crosswalk in Fort Collins, Colorado. Two women witnessed the accident and called police. She had been knocked out from the hit and had a broken and bleeding left arm ,said one of the women on the seen.

      A small crowd around the lady had formed quickly in the busy neighborhood off of Boardwalk Ave. When paramedics arrived she was still unconscious. The paramedics were stretching the victim out to examine her injuries ,said one witness. They took her fanny pack off and pulled it up with an iPod attached. The iPod had wires to her ears but also wires running into her shorts.

      "This was a serious accident", said one witnesses, "but when they pulled that vibrator hooked to her iPod out of her shorts you could see everyone's faces turn red. She was lucky she was still knocked out for the ride to the hospital. I don't think I could have survived the embarrassment".

    4. Re:Can it service the wife? by Joel+from+Sydney · · Score: 1

      How many N95's sell anyway? They cost $800 (list from Dynamism).
      You'd be surprised on this point, they've been selling like hotcakes down here in Australia. Waiting lists and everything. I've got one myself, and it's an amazing little gadget, though the battery life is a bit ordinary. I'd imagine the N95's strong sales are due in no small part to the fact that the iPhone won't be making it down here for at least another year, possibly even longer.
    5. Re:Can it service the wife? by Cederic · · Score: 1


      first site I went to: http://phones4u.co.uk/shop/shop_contract_details.a sp?ItemKey=160711&MPItemKey=166668

      Nokia N95 for free. Sure, you're tied into a (very) expensive 18 month contract. But most people don't worry about that..

      I'm sure you could find more sensible contracts, but compared to $600 AND a long term expensive contract? Please.

    6. Re:Can it service the wife? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, judging by your post...

      Probably better than you.

  18. Pick one. by thesolo · · Score: 1

    Why did Apple choose to use millimetres to represent the thickness comparisons, but then use inches to represent the screen size comparisons? Is this some kind of marketing ploy made to emphasise the minuteness of the millimetre, and the heft of the inch?

    How about they pick a unit of measure and stick with it? If you want to describe thickness (I'm surprised they didn't say thinness) in mm, then use mm/cm for the screen size too.

    1. Re:Pick one. by cowscows · · Score: 3, Informative

      Inches for the screen because Americans know what inches are.

      MM for the thickness, because the point of the chart isn't the actual thickness, but the relative thickness of the iphone compared to the other phones. It's much easier for most people to compare the MM measurements against each other than it would be to compare 3/4" to 5/16" to 3/8", or whatever the imperial measurements would end up being. I deal with fractional measurements all day at work, and I still have to take a few seconds to think about it when I compare them.

      --

      One time I threw a brick at a duck.

    2. Re:Pick one. by Timesprout · · Score: 1

      If only you had not switched between Imperial and Metric English for your post we might have been able to understand what you were trying to say.

      --
      Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
      What truth?
      There is no dupe
    3. Re:Pick one. by Hognoxious · · Score: 2, Informative

      Sorry to rain fact on your little rant, but Screen sizes are quoted in inches in some countries that have been metric since longer than anyone can remember. No, I don't know why.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    4. Re:Pick one. by jbeaupre · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I've found that most people don't know units at all. Sure, 12 inches in a foot, 10 mm in a cm, stuff like that. But ask people to hold their fingers 1 cm or 1/4 inch apart. For non-integer or fraction sizes, it's worse (3.3 cm for example). Even with technical people, it's hit or miss. If someone comes close, it's because they try to match something known.

      For comparing relative sizes, you could probably get away with a mix of cubits, angstroms, and width of a human hair ... as long as you were consistent. Most people, though not all, can still figure out number A is bigger than number B.

      --
      The world is made by those who show up for the job.
    5. Re:Pick one. by tgrimley · · Score: 1

      not sure if you're aware, but you can use decimals for inches too...

    6. Re:Pick one. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uhm...quoting a length in inches is independent of whether you represent it using fractions or decimals. Or is there no such thing as 2 1/2 cm, or 2.5 inches?? Seriously, why is this modded up ?

    7. Re:Pick one. by Conanymous+Award · · Score: 1

      For some reason, screen sizes are always given in inches, even in the metric parts (read: the majority) of the world. That's the explanation.

    8. Re:Pick one. by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 1

      Plus, everyone knows that millimeters are REALLY thin. If it was thickness they were measuring, rather than thinness, they'd give measurements in inches. The USS Missouri, for example, has armor that is 12 inches thick. You can't measure thickness like that in millimeters. Not in America.

      --
      You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
    9. Re:Pick one. by rthille · · Score: 1

      Interestingly, I just tried to make 4 marks, two 1cm apart and the other two 1 inch apart. I was about 15% too far apart on each.

      --
      Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
  19. Obligatory... by BlakeReid · · Score: 0

    Wireless. Less plastic than a Palm. Lame.

  20. Where are the useful features? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Will there be an ssh client or an rdp or ICA client for the thing?
    What will the "keyboard" be like? The adverts are really piss poor on details..
    Add some real communication applications so I can quit lugging around a laptop when on call and I'll be intereted!

    1. Re:Where are the useful features? by MrPerfekt · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Okay, you want marketing material on "sshing to your linux box"? Are you daft? Do you realize that nobody save for a few technical people will know what that means? The point of advertising is to reach the largest number of people with your message. Disqualifying 90% of the audience with severely technical things is stupid. The same people that would complain about that are the same people would complain because the OS isn't free (like beer and freedom). You're obviously too picky.

      Saying all that, I too want these features but it's far from what I'd call a deal breaker if I can't ssh from it given all that it CAN do.

      --
      I just wasted your mod points! HA!
  21. One one upgrade I'm interested in.... by JakiChan · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    If AJAX is truly only going to be the way to develop apps for the phone then give us 3G. Sorry, I'm not gonna do ajax surfing over a lousy GPRS connection...

    --
    "Where quality is like a dead stinking rat - you just can't miss it."
    1. Re:One one upgrade I'm interested in.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damn, users are getting dumber and dumber these days.

      PLEASE DO NOT put 3G on this phone.

      Most of the time in a city I'm in a wifi hotspot. Many cities are rolling out free wifi as well.

      But what is KEY for me, and for folks who actually travel and don't just complain on slashdot, is that I can get my email / voicemail easily and anywhere.

      This is OBVIOUSLY where GPRS comes in, with very very wide coverage which is critical.

      The 3G push if from stupid hipsters who want to watch video and porn while they sit around in major cities. Folks who actually use these things for work will use wifi in city / office setting, and be very glad for GPRS elsewhere...

    2. Re:One one upgrade I'm interested in.... by dloose · · Score: 1

      Keep in mind that some applications won't need to touch the network at all. I imagine many games could get by with just DHTML and JavaScript. Has Apple announced if it will be possible to save data to the local storage? If so, that could enable a fairly large class of iPhone "applications" to run directly from the flash memory (possibly at the expense of privacy & security, of course).

  22. Look at it this way... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why does it fucking matter?

    Of course it's a marketing ploy. What do you think that chart is? Pure marketing.

    Realistically, they probably picked millimeters for the thickness because you can be more accurate with fewer decimal digits than inches at the dimension they're examining. On the other hand, screen sizes are almost always measured in inches.

  23. Re:Can it service the wife? Probably with iGasm by Gary+W.+Longsine · · Score: 1

    Presumably this device will be compatible with the iPhone, and may assist you in your desire to perform other tasks with your phone: iGasm.

    --
    If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
  24. RDF by Hognoxious · · Score: 2, Funny

    Apple has announced upgrades to its battery life (almost 40% more than originally announced)
    All they had to do was find a way to turn off the inbuilt RDF generator.
    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  25. Amazing! Still not buying by grasshoppa · · Score: 0, Redundant

    iPhone is great and all, but as long as they are paired up with ATT, I'm not touching them. Hell, given the price tag, I wouldn't touch them anyway. But ATT? No thanks

    --
    Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
  26. what is needed... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    proper broadband (3G), skype, cheap plan (voice+data for $30/mo), no sim lock.

    the rest (GPS etc) isnt going to be a killer app.

  27. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by toleraen · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How exactly is removing features to extend other features brilliant? Don't forget they removed the battery cover, circuitry for 3G, GPS, etc etc.

  28. Motorola Q review: battery life... stinks by Gary+W.+Longsine · · Score: 1
    It looks like the Motorola Q isn't competition with respect to battery life.

    Motorola Q Review
    "Here's the ugly part. Battery life of the Q just plain stinks. I know, I know, I've said all along that a lot of the Q is based on compromises based on the design. Motorola quotes 4 hours talk time, but that's full of caveats. In the real world, with moderate phone use and 10 minute pulls from our Exchange server, the battery won't make it through the work day. Heavy phone users are going to be flustered pretty quickly. Motorola has an extended battery option, but this of course ruins the lines of the device. So either go that route and give up a little bit on design, or invest in a car charger, backup battery and a charger for your home."
    --
    If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
  29. printing money by joeldg · · Score: 1

    they are going to print money with this thing..
    though, I am still thinking I will wait until a version 2 or so.. glad I never bought a first gen ipod

    1. Re:printing money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "glad I never bought a first gen ipod"

      In my opinion, the first generation was probably the best model. It had a real Firewire plug, and the buttons seemed to work better for me. I'm fine with my 3rd generation model, but i hadn't accidently smashed the first, i'd still probably be using it...

  30. I don't see what all the fuss is about. by JoeD · · Score: 0

    People are all excited about this thing, and I don't understand why. Is it the iPrefix somehow making people think this will be as big a deal as the iPod? The difference here is that the iPod came in at the beginning of a new market, while the iPhone is trying to crack an existing and highly-competitive one. And I'm just not seeing anything special.

    Let's see.

    It's expensive. It only works on one provider. And it's closed platform.

    If it used a SIM card, and had an open API, I'd be a lot more impressed.

    As it stands, I'll wait for the Openmoko.

    1. Re:I don't see what all the fuss is about. by MrPerfekt · · Score: 1

      If it used a SIM card, and had an open API, I'd be a lot more impressed.

      It uses a SIM card and has a (sort-of) open API. Go away.

      --
      I just wasted your mod points! HA!
    2. Re:I don't see what all the fuss is about. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bullshit. You can't jump providers. Changing the SIM is useless.

      Go away^2.

    3. Re:I don't see what all the fuss is about. by JoeD · · Score: 1

      But you can't change the SIM to change providers, which is my point.

      And you can't develop apps that run natively on it, either. Calling browser-based apps "an API" is a bit disingenuous.

    4. Re:I don't see what all the fuss is about. by Phroggy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      People are all excited about this thing, and I don't understand why. Is it the iPrefix somehow making people think this will be as big a deal as the iPod? No. I don't care about the iPod. I've never owned one, and don't plan to buy one. If I get an iPhone, I don't expect to use its iPod capabilities very much (although, who knows, I guess that could change when I have it).

      The difference here is that the iPod came in at the beginning of a new market, while the iPhone is trying to crack an existing and highly-competitive one. Yes, that is one difference. That probably explains why the iPod has something like 85% market share while Apple's stated goal is for the iPhone to capture 1%.

      And I'm just not seeing anything special. Then you're really not looking. Forget about the technical specifications for a moment; nobody cares about that. Look at how the user interface works. Go to www.apple.com/iphone and view the Flash walkthroughs. All of them. See how easy it is to e-mail a photo to somebody, how to browse your voicemail messages, how to use Google Maps while a call is on speakerphone. My current phone has all of these features (except for using Google Maps during a call), but the interface is painful and it takes forever to do anything. I would never think of e-mailing someone a photo I've just taken with the built-in camera, because it takes too much time and effort on my phone. I use it to check my e-mail sometimes, but it takes forever, I can only access one e-mail account at a time, and even though I'm using IMAP, it will only show me new messages; I get no access to existing messages or other folders. Apple hasn't stated that the iPhone will definitely support multiple servers and IMAP folders, but I expect that it will, and it will be as easy to set up and use as it is on my iBook.

      Let's see.

      It's expensive. It only works on one provider. And it's closed platform. It is expensive, but I support Apple's efforts to wrest control of the American mobile phone market out of the hands of cell phone carriers. It's an uphill battle, and Cingular was the only company willing to allow Apple to do this; everyone else refused. That's the reason it only works on one provider. Hopefully, if the iPhone proves successful and customers on other networks start demanding it, the other carriers will back down.

      I am concerned about the iPhone being a closed platform. AJAX widgets are great, and completely appropriate for a lot of the things I would want a phone to do, but they can't be the only solution. I want an SSH client, for example, and that just can't be done in AJAX. A VNC client that I could tunnel through SSH would be a nice bonus. Hopefully in the future, Apple will begin to support third-party development of real native applications for the iPhone. In the mean time, the iPhone can do just about everything my current phone can do, plus a whole bunch.

      If it used a SIM card, and had an open API, I'd be a lot more impressed. As someone else already said, it does use a SIM card.

      As it stands, I'll wait for the Openmoko. Openmoko does sound promising, but maybe by the time that's ready, Apple will have addressed your other concerns in the next version of the iPhone. Don't buy one yet, but understand that your needs are not the same as the needs of a lot of other people, and the iPhone does everything most people want just fine. This is the first release, and the next one will be even better. Don't write it off.
      --
      $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
      $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
    5. Re:I don't see what all the fuss is about. by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

      on't buy one yet, but understand that your needs are not the same as the needs of a lot of other people, and the iPhone does everything most people want just fine.

      Actually a plan old Motorola or Samsung meets the needs of almost everyone. And you must understand the needs (or desires) of iPhone fans are not the same as the needs of a lot of other people.

      I think OpenMoko / Neo 1973 can be viable for average people if we put out a free "killer apps" for it. The price of the Neo is certainly much less than the iPhone, especially if you consider that you don't have to bundle it with a costly contract.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    6. Re:I don't see what all the fuss is about. by Achromatic1978 · · Score: 1

      It is expensive, but I support Apple's efforts to wrest control of the American mobile phone market out of the hands of cell phone carriers. It's an uphill battle, and Cingular was the only company willing to allow Apple to do this; everyone else refused.

      Hilarious. Are you serious?? By requiring customers to sign up for a cell phone carrier contract to get a hold of their product, how are they doing ANYTHING BUT further enabling the cell phone carrier's control of the market? You can buy Nokia without a contract as well as with, but you'll never hear anyone claiming such a thing as "Nokia's efforts to wrest control...".

      Hint: it ain't so.

    7. Re:I don't see what all the fuss is about. by dave420 · · Score: 1

      It's not really an API any more than AJAX is an API for your OS of choice... And the fact they can't be unlocked means whether it uses a SIM or not (which it obviously has to) is kind of irrelevant.

    8. Re:I don't see what all the fuss is about. by vocaro · · Score: 1

      I want an SSH client, for example, and that just can't be done in AJAX.

      Are you sure about that?

    9. Re:I don't see what all the fuss is about. by feranick · · Score: 1

      "Hopefully in the future, Apple will begin to support third-party development of real native applications for the iPhone." Did that ever happened for the iPod? No, and so it won't happen either for the iPhone.

    10. Re:I don't see what all the fuss is about. by Phroggy · · Score: 1

      I want an SSH client, for example, and that just can't be done in AJAX.



      Are you sure about that?

      Fairly sure, yep. Atlas is a project to "assess the feasibility of such an app"; I'll be pretty surprised if it turns out to be feasible.

      There are various hacks you could do with AJAX, requiring server-side support, which could simulate having an SSH client on your phone. Essentially, have the phone present the UI of an SSH client, but just send AJAX queries to a web server, which would in turn operate a real SSH session on your behalf. This would be better than nothing, but it's not the same as being able to run an SSH client on the iPhone.

      I would like to be surprised, though.
      --
      $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
      $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
    11. Re:I don't see what all the fuss is about. by vocaro · · Score: 1
    12. Re:I don't see what all the fuss is about. by Phroggy · · Score: 1

      Yep, that looks exactly like what I just suggested. I'm glad someone's working on it, but it's not an SSH client. However, it's definitely better than nothing.

      --
      $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
      $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
  31. Charging iPod by todspace · · Score: 1

    Can`t the iPod be recharged with human warmness, as in the most cases it is located in persons pocket ? And the backside could be a solar based recharger. Heh, once I even cracked my head if it could be possible to recharge a laptop through WiFi :D

    1. Re:Charging iPod by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In this forum, we obey the laws of thermodynamics!

    2. Re:Charging iPod by Phroggy · · Score: 1

      Heh, once I even cracked my head... This explains the rest of your post.
      --
      $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
      $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
  32. Worst AC excuse EVER by Gary+W.+Longsine · · Score: 1, Insightful

    No. You posted AC because you posted a flamebait troll. Claiming to be afraid of the "fanboy" is an interesting ploy. I think you would have found that the mod points awarded to your AC post wouldn't have been much different if you had posted under your regular login, Mr. Ballmer.

    --
    If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
  33. Re:Amazing! Still not buying by nastrama · · Score: 1

    Exactlly....why the iphone will be a flash in pan at best 1) no one likes ATT 2) too expensive especially given roll out of several devices like VIA intros NanoBook Ultra Mobile Device - $600 ultraportable laptop and cheaper like devices... 3) touch screens s*ck, they make your finger tips sore after extended use especially on glass 4) glass? so is it unbreakable glass? or does one drop take out the iphone? 5) as usual Apple overprices a combined component item charging the max for each component instead of discounting a grouping.... as for example selling 5400 rpm drives in their high priced pcs when everyone else uses 7200 rpm unless its a cheapo....

  34. You need better AJAX training by SuperKendall · · Score: 1, Troll

    If you look back to the beginning, the whole REASON AJAX developed was so that you could update a small portion of a page without a whole refresh.

    If you need lots of bandwidth for an AJAX application, you need to rethink what you are doing. AJAX is perfect in combination with a somewhat but not terribly fast connection like Edge, and it will also keep designers from building applications that essentially require WiFi or 3G to function, instead of the far more widespread coverage EDGE has.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:You need better AJAX training by zyzko · · Score: 2, Informative

      The problem is not with the bandwidth, it's with the latency. GPRS/EDGE has a latency of 200-300ms to default gw in the best scenarios, and it can be as high as 1000ms. That makes designing interactive apps "challenging" - AJAX or not. In fact - traditional web pages can be more intuitive on slow connections because you don't have to guess if the page is updating part of it or not.

    2. Re:You need better AJAX training by ivan256 · · Score: 1

      In fact - traditional web pages can be more intuitive on slow connections because you don't have to guess if the page is updating part of it or not.


      Only if the site designer is too stupid to include visual indications that a portion of the page is loading. Although there are a lot of crappy web app/page designers out there as a percentage of the industry.
    3. Re:You need better AJAX training by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

      Latency is an excellent point, but is 3G that much better?

      It may point to a little better notification from the client side when it's initiating an update, which actually would be kind of nice even on faster lower latency networks, since often the server can be slow...

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  35. You *can* get one for $250 by Steffan · · Score: 1

    Just look on eBay

    In mid 2008 :)

    1. Re:You *can* get one for $250 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That was my plan with the Wii.

  36. no 3G by jzuska · · Score: 0, Redundant

    No 3G = No Iphone. This is a dealbreaker.

    nuts to wifi and gps, I need speed. I use it as a dsl modem on the freeway baby.

    1. Re:no 3G by dave420 · · Score: 1

      It doesn't have GPS, btw.

  37. So basically it comes with two batteries by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The iPhone, from this chart, essentially comes with two batteries compared to other devices. That was one complaint...

    But even if that were not enough for you, there is a viable solution to extended power I have seen used with Windows Mobile phones - a small external battery pack that can recharge the phone. It's around the same size as a normal phone battery, and gives quite a bit more power.

    In fact, it's such a good idea - they are already being made today. That's for the iPod, but since the iPhone uses the same dock connector...

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  38. diamond by Gary+W.+Longsine · · Score: 3, Funny

    The current scratch resistant coatings are problematic. I want Optically Transparent, Scratch-Resistant, Diamond-Like Carbon Coatings on my iPhone.

    --
    If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
  39. "Optical quality" glass by dpbsmith · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "Optical quality: would that be like "industrial strength," "high definition," and "premium?"

    What would you call the high-index polycarbonate plastic in my eyeglasses? I certainly hope it's "optical quality" plastic...

    1. Re:"Optical quality" glass by goombah99 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Like plastics (including poly carbonate) there's optical quality and non-optical quality. It's not a hard concept.

      --
      Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
  40. How about capabilities? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    It's a cute comparison, but my Palm does:

    SSH
    VNC (with and without SSH)
    IMAPS and SMTPS with multiple account support
    NES emulator
    Doubles as a broadband modem
    Google Maps
    IRC
    IM (AIM, YM, Jabber, GTalk, MSN, ICQ)
    Full keyboard for typing up emails

    As for hours, my phone is constantly connected to IM and email, often times notifying me of new emails before thunderbird does on my laptop. All that, with occasional phone usage, and I get about 12 hours out of it.

    Looks like the iPhone has a beautiful interface for looking at pictures and playing music, but it won't give me the tools I need to leave the laptop at the office when I take the afternoon off.

    Best of all, I'm not tied to Cingular. I jumped ship when AT&T started having lots of connection issues. I have numerous friends who still use Cingular, and I refer to them as "two-call" friends, since the connection usually takes two calls to get through. I don't have that problem calling Verizon, Sprint, or T-Mobile friends.

    1. Re:How about capabilities? by furball · · Score: 1

      it won't give me the tools I need to leave the laptop at the office when I take the afternoon off.


      You're not supposed to need tools when you take the afternoon off.
  41. I'm reminded of those "comparison" ads by Solandri · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Thankfully they seem to have gone out of vogue, but they were ubiquitous back in the 70's and 80's. Basically a product's marketer would take the spec sheets for their product and their competitors' products. Then they'd go through and cherry-pick all the features where their product was the best. Then they'd make an ad based on it. It was incredibly annoying because you'd see ads for a half dozen competing products all (semi-truthfully) claiming to be the BEST in bold letters with the details hidden in the fine print. "This cereal is the BEST! (has 100% recommended dietary allowance of niacin)." "No, this cereal is the BEST! (has 100% recommended dietary allowance of vitamin C)." etc. This was in direct contradiction to the common accepted definition of "best" which implies that only one product can qualify.

    The fanboys would also pick up on it too, trying to think of excuses why their list wasn't a list of features that made their chosen product look good compared to the competition, but rather was a list features that mattered. I see nothing has changed in that regard.

    1. Re:I'm reminded of those "comparison" ads by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To me, the worst of those that are still around are for web hosting, because the fact is there are so many features that they can differentiate from (1,000 vs. 2,500 email accounts), or it could be the fact that I read too many computer magazines.

    2. Re:I'm reminded of those "comparison" ads by gig · · Score: 1

      It doesn't seem weird to me that Apple made a list of features they thought were very desirable at some point and then they not only built a phone with those features, they also tell people about those features on their Web site. That just doesn't seem weird to me at all.

      What would be weird is if Steve announces the iPhone features and then Apple PR does an exposé on GPS and third-party crapware development on pocket calculators. That would surprise me.

    3. Re:I'm reminded of those "comparison" ads by vuffi_raa · · Score: 1

      "The iPhone is the BEST! (has 100% recommended dietary allowance of microwave radiation)."

  42. Dock connector by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Informative

    If you're on a business trip for a couple of days without access to a charger then it sure would be nice to have that exteneded talk time. Though it can be considered irrelevant if it uses a standard mini-USB connection as you can always find a shop that'll sell the cable for less than $10.

    It uses the same dock connector with other iPods, so it's almost as easy to find a charger... or if you are bringing a laptop, just remember the iPod sync cable.

    However there are other external battery solutions like this one.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  43. You abuse the mod system by Gary+W.+Longsine · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Furthermore, you're not proud of it. If you were proud of it, you would post under your account.

    --
    If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
    1. Re:You abuse the mod system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and the way apple fanbois systematically/methodically squash dissenting opinions ISN'T ABUSE?

      whatever.

  44. 5 reasons IPhone will fizzle by nastrama · · Score: 0

    Exactlly....why the iphone will be a flash in pan at best 1) no one likes ATT 2) too expensive especially given roll out of several devices like VIA intros NanoBook Ultra Mobile Device - $600 ultraportable laptop and cheaper like devices... 3) touch screens s*ck, they make your finger tips sore after extended use especially on glass 4) glass? so is it unbreakable glass? or does one drop take out the iphone? 5) as usual Apple overprices a combined component item charging the max for each component instead of discounting a grouping.... as for example selling 5400 rpm drives in their high priced pcs when everyone else uses 7200 rpm unless its a cheapo....

    1. Re:5 reasons IPhone will fizzle by dr.badass · · Score: 1

      no one likes ATT

      Cingular/AT&T is the largest wireless provider in the US. Maybe not all of its 60 million subscribers "like it", but you can't argue that the iPhone will fail because AT&T doesn't have a big enough user base.

      too expensive especially given roll out of [...] $600 ultraportable laptop devices

      None of which are phones.

      touch screens s*ck

      This in an era where the overwhelming majority of laptops have touch pads that don't "make your finger tips sore". Maybe you're just pressing down too hard? Touching most things is not supposed to hurt. If it does, you're doing it wrong.

      glass? so is it unbreakable glass? or does one drop take out the iphone?

      Maybe you didn't get the memo, but most of us have been using lots of things made of glass for a long time without too much trouble. I am in fact wearing some scratch-resistant glass much like what the iPhone would use on my face right now, and I've yet to have a problem with it shattering into my eyes. You worry too much.

      as usual Apple overprices a [lots of words that make me doubt English is your first language]

      Bzzt. You already said it was overpriced. Move to the back of the line.

      --
      Don't become a regular here -- you will become retarded.
  45. Phony "upgrade" by ClosedSource · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You can't upgrade a product that doesn't yet exist. The original announcement was probably deliberately misleading so they could announce an "improvement" just before the product is made available.

    1. Re:Phony "upgrade" by suv4x4 · · Score: 1

      You can't upgrade a product that doesn't yet exist. The original announcement was probably deliberately misleading so they could announce an "improvement" just before the product is made available.

      The iPhone unit Steve demoed in 2006 had glass on it. In fact I'm surprised people thought iPhone had plastic - apparently from fake spec lists.

      The reason could be, he didn't want to hint his competition on some of the design decisions of iPhone. Second reason - generate some more news right before launch.

  46. what percent? by Gary+W.+Longsine · · Score: 2, Informative

    Since AT&T has about 1/3 of the U.S. market, that would mean about 3% of AT&T subscribers would need to switch for the iPhone to capture 1% of the market. This doesn't account for people who will switch carriers.

    --
    If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
  47. What is? by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If that's not fanboism what is?

    Prediction based on past performance?

    Apple has shown they can do a good job with UI on a small device, and furthermore have a lot of demonstration videos that convincingly show the utility of this small device. Is it so unthinkable to say, I have liked products from this company before, I'll trust them with a new purchase now?

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:What is? by east+coast · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Prediction based on past performance?

      I would agree with you if this was a new generation of an existing product instead of a new product with no past history. Again, manufacturers produce shoddy products from time to time. This is true of every manufacturer.

      Is it so unthinkable to say, I have liked products from this company before, I'll trust them with a new purchase now?

      Ah ha! But that's not what the OP was saying. The OP was saying that it was definitely worth the money without ever even seeing the product (nor having any real market data since none exists!) based on the fact that the Apple brand name was attached to it. To say "It should be a good product given..." is a far cry from "This product is definitely paying over current market value for..."

      --
      Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
    2. Re:What is? by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

      I think you are taking the OP's words too literally - He's saying it comes from Apple, which implies previous expereince with Apple products to me.

      And although it's a new product, the iPod itself went through a number of revisions and new models, some of them rather different like the Shuffle - and again, there are enough details and walkthroughs published on operation that you can get a pretty good feel for the way the device operates.

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  48. Re:Motorola Q review: battery life... stinks by dreamchaser · · Score: 1

    I read that review too and that was my first thought until I used my Q for a few weeks. I have Exchange pushing email, I do some web browsing (amazingly fast with EVDO by the way!) and use a couple of POP 3 mailboxes. I get over 4 hours talk time most days, and given my routine use I have no problem making it through the average workday. No, it's not 8, but I'll also believe that figure when I see real world numbers.

    I notice their chart doesn't compare the bandwidth of the various phones. That and the need to use 2 hands is why I won't touch an iPhone in it's current incarnation.

    Still, I would expect a chart put out by Nokia to target things that make their phones look good, or a chart from Samsung to be tailored in favor of Samsung. This is just marketing fluff at this point. The proof will be when people actually have the things in their hands and start using them.

  49. Already too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I own a Nokia N95. For all that it does (wifi, integrated gps, bluetooth, 5 megapixel camera, 3G support), the batter life is decent. I go 2 days without recharge with good amount of bluetooth and camera use. The iPhone is truly a gimmick, and it certainly will not live up to the hype.

    Oh, did I mention that you actually program the N95 with C++ Symbian API, Java, and Python? Trying doing that on the iPhone...

    1. Re:Already too late by abes · · Score: 1

      The 3G and integrated GPS definitely have an advantage over the iPhone, but I just checked the price, and on average it is around $700. But how big is the HD? What browser does it use? How does the interface compare? The CNet review I looked at also mentions poor performance of battery lfie for the the phone.

      Of course, since the iPhone isn't out, some of these comparisons are difficult. Being able to write c++ code for it, would be really nice, but we still have to wait and see what Apple does. Steve Jobs did not say that there wouldn't be an SDK, only that Web + AJAX allowed a secure way to develop apps for the phone. He has also been known to contradict himself later in time. I suspect that Apple would prefer to wait and see how necessary it is to produce an SDK (or maybe more simply, isn't ready to release one just yet).

      Geting C++ and Python on the iPhone would be really awesome.. I really don't think that AJAX is going to cover all the needs writing apps..

    2. Re:Already too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Symbian S60 interface is slick, not apple slick, but still kicks ass. CNet's review of the N95 battery life don't do it justice. If you are not constantly using wifi, gps, then you can squeeze 2 days out of the battery without a problem (I do). HD is micro-sd card. My phone came with 1GB card, but you can buy 4GB card online.

      The biggest thing for me is the 5 mega pixel camera on the phone. It's crisp. Just go search for N95 on flickr.com if don't believe me. The pics out of this phone looks better than some pics I've taken with dedicated 6 mega pixel cameras...

    3. Re:Already too late by abes · · Score: 1

      That's interesting. I think the hard part to these comparisons are the relative importance each of these features are. Personally, I don't need need a 5 MP camera, and actually would be fine if they left the 2 MP off the iPhone (in fact I would be *much* happier if they replaced it with a GPS unit). Also, adding the 4 GB adds about $40 on to the pricetag, making it roughly $240 more expensive than the 4 GB iPhone (at least according to CNET's prices). I can also justify the price of the iPhone somewhat by the fact that I need a new iPod. I don't love the fact that playing music could drain the batteries so no calls can come in, but they already sell battery packs for the iPod, so I think carrying around an extra battery for emergencies will be easy enough.

      Personally, I'm most intrigued by the mulitouch screen of the iPhone. If Apple ever does release an SDK, there is a huge realm of possibilities that you could do with it (e.g. think Nintendo DS on crack, not to mention plenty of non-gaming purposes). Also, since it's running OS X, getting things like Python to work should be easy enough (if/when they open it up).

    4. Re:Already too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think there probably will be an SDK released, at the latest around the time of the first major version update to the software/Tiger in general. The reason there isn't one now, and there wasn't one six months ago, is that Apple didn't want anyone going and blabbing internal details to rumor sites or other companies. I know, I know, NDAs and all that, but remember, Apple has had problems with unauthorized leaks in the past...

      Rather than building and debugging an SDK for the iPhone (which would detract from actual iPhone development), Apple just figured they'd put 90% of the things people need in a phone right into the box. They have Safari, iChat, Google Maps, some Dashboard widgets--basically 90% of the crap that 90% people need in a phone. Third party developers can do the remaining 11%, but it's not essential to have them available at launch time.

    5. Re:Already too late by abes · · Score: 1

      I hope that's the case, though it's a bit weird to me that Jobs wouldn't just say somethng along the lines of, 'we'll eventually release an SDK when we have all these other things sorted out'. Instead at first he wavered on whether an SDK would be released or not due to security reasons, then claimed that creating web apps was an SDK. What's even stranger to me, is he had to know that developers were not going to be happy with the web app solution (I think?). I mean, this was announced at WWDC -- to the people specifically who want an SDK, and not the more general Mac convention..

      So my current theories are:

      (1) SDKs do take and and effort, and if he can avoid the headache, web apps are much easier.
      (2) There's some secret weapon related to the SDK, which he doesn't want to give away (photocopiers and all). Therefore, in order not to give away any details of the secret weapon, he won't even talk about the SDK.
      (3) Jobs is being himself, and just doesn't want to release *any* information he doesn't have to, but with Leopard will come XCode 3.0 which will support the iPhone
      (4) There is a lot of profit to be made from licensing fees for companies that want to make games for the iPhone, so there's no plans to ever release an SDK, and he's being vague about it avoid the angry developers
      (5) There really are security concerns, though many other phones allow you to develop apps, so I'm not sure I understand this (does anyone know if AT&T phones allow indie developers?)

      Of course, there might be an option of hacking the iPhone to run your 3rd party apps anyways. People have managed to with iPods (well, at least as far as putting linux on), as well as the Apple TV. Apple in general has never tried to completely lock down their platforms, but rather just put up a speed-bump to disallow the general folk from doing so. So, I'll add:

      (6) Jobs assumes people will hack the iPhone, and watch if stability issues arise. If anyone complains about their iPhone crashing too often, it's because they hacked it. If the hacks don't cause any major issues, then they might release an SDK.

      While (6) seems a bit odd to me, it isn't so far off as to what happened with Bootcamp. It wasn't until other people came up with a running solution that
      Apple released their own version.

  50. Re:Phony "upgrade" REMEMBER THE ROUND MOUSE by nastrama · · Score: 1

    Apple released the ROUND MOUSE a few years ago that was a real case of design takes the lead over utility....

  51. Why not use sapphire or diamond? by Animats · · Score: 1

    The cool thing would be to use sapphire or diamond on the screen surface. Not only would it be great for bragging rights, it isn't that expensive. Supermarket scanner glasses are often coated with sapphire or diamond; otherwise they have to be replaced every few months. Twelve hours a day of canned goods being dragged across the scanner glass is worse than anything that happens to a PDA-like device. Sapphire coated scanner glass even holds up at Home Depot.

    The Nokia 8800 has a sapphire window.

  52. One upgrade I'm interested in.... 3G by Gary+W.+Longsine · · Score: 1

    The AT&T 3G network isn't widely deployed in the U.S. Since the iPhone supports WiFi, high speed access to networks will be available to people on the iPhone in WiFi hotspots. EDGE will work fine for SMS text chats and email. When the 3G HSDPAnetwork gets rolled out more widely, we will undoubtedly see 3G capable iPhones to use it. Meanwhile, EDGE is deployed in 13,000 cities, 3G in only a few dozen.

    See the AT&T Wireless coverage chart (and see link below the chart for a list of 3G cities).

    --
    If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
    1. Re:One upgrade I'm interested in.... 3G by SykeZareason · · Score: 1

      "in only a few dozen" Actually, it's "currently available in most major metropolitan areas and is expanding rapidly", and that also includes some HSDPA deployments.

  53. the iphone hands down best for browsing by backslashdot · · Score: 1

    By far, the iphone is the best phone for web browsing. I hope iPhone 2 has even higher resolution (meanwhile the "one step behinders" (motorola, blackberry, sony ericsson, nokia etc) decide that the original iphone resolution must be optimal. It's clear that other phone vendors believe that web developers should make applications that work on QVGA resolution. iPhone's philosophy is different, they will make the device capable of having a decent experience browsing regular websites ..they bend to the consumer not the other way around.

    It's a design philosophy that no other company has. Well outside of maybe Nintendo.

    Now on the negative side of the iPhone the fact that the keyboard takes up a portion of the screen probably isn't the best for IM chatting or email, but the decent resolution makes up for it.

    Now as the iPhone takes the market by storm .. other phone vendors will wrongly claim it's the itunes tie in that is making the phone successful.

    1. Re:the iphone hands down best for browsing by toleraen · · Score: 1

      That's funny, it looks like mobile phone makers have been moving to VGA (higher than the iphone) since well before the iPhone was announced. HTC announced a VGA phone almost two years before the iPhone. Are you sure Apple is one step ahead? Looks like they're half a step behind on the resolution front.

    2. Re:the iphone hands down best for browsing by traveller604 · · Score: 1

      Actually it will suck and here's why: NO 3G. So perhaps it'll still be nice with wifi huh? Doubt that too. You can't see shit while typing, how is that for a nice browsing experience? I reckon it might be nice ebook reader thou :)

    3. Re:the iphone hands down best for browsing by trezor · · Score: 1

      I take it you didn't know Opera runs on pretty much any mainstream phone-platform these days?

      There is today no better browser for surfing regular pages on a cellphone regardless of resolution compared to Opera. I use Firefox exclusively on PCs, but for cellphones it's Opera, and Opera only.

      Also, I run Opera on a 3G phone and have been doing that for quite a while. You know, since modem speeds suck and all.

      --
      Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.
    4. Re:the iphone hands down best for browsing by traveller604 · · Score: 1

      Well imo Nokia's S60 3rd edition fp1 browser is superior to Opera's but yeah.. :)

    5. Re:the iphone hands down best for browsing by dwater · · Score: 1

      > Nokia's S60 3rd edition fp1 browser

      It's not just on fp1. You can d/l it for fp0 (ie just 3rd) too - I have it on my 3250.

      --
      Max.
    6. Re:the iphone hands down best for browsing by gig · · Score: 1

      > it looks like mobile phone makers have been moving to VGA (higher than the iphone) since well before the iPhone was announced.
      > HTC announced a VGA phone almost two years before the iPhone. Are you sure Apple is one step ahead? Looks like they're half a
      > step behind on the resolution front.

      That is not a phone, it's too big. I'm sorry, it is just too fucking big to be a phone. Here is the first paragraph from the first hit on your Google search:

      > As a phone, I think the the HTC Magician VGA Pocket PC phone is a giant YIKES waiting to happen!
      > Cool looking, yes. But wow is that huge! While it has features galore and a nice, easy to use keyboard.
      > I can't imagine using this as a mobile phone!

      Yay for HTC, they made the cell phone BIGGER. They welded it to a sub notebook.

      If you think HTC bent the laws of space and time and reasonable engineering, Google "eMate" that is the corresponding Apple product. A clunky PDA with stylus and as many computer features as you can pack in. If Apple could put half a VGA into a handheld in 1995 then it is no wonder that HTC can put the whole VGA in there 10 years later. The advances in display technology are outrageous since then.

      The iPhone screen is as big as it can be in inches and still fit on a phone that still fits in your hand, it is the biggest reasonable phone in the same way the iPod is the biggest reasonable music player. At 160 dpi, the iPhone screen has more pixels per inch than almost all of the displays on the planet, you cannot reasonably ask for more this year. So complaining about the iPhone screen either means you want an impossibly big phone or an impossibly higher resolution screen.

      The iPhone display is also resolution independent. Make a little "director's square" with your hands and hold it up to your computer screen and move it around the whole computer screen, that is the iPhone. Inside the phone's memory you have a huge screen, but you can only see it through a little 3.5 inch window. In your mind, though, you remember where everything is outside of the window, it's like reading a newspaper with a magnifying glass. It will feel much bigger, especially because you can move the screen around by pinching and tapping, directly sliding the material around.

      The sophistication of the iPhone screen is not due to simply adding more inches or adding more pixels. That is the kind of unimaginative thinking that Apple leaves to the I-T industry. What Apple did is figure out a way to browse today's Web on a screen that can fit in the palm of your hand. They accomplished that. They put the Web on handhelds first, they obsoleted the whole art of "handheld" style sheets, that is done. WML? Done. WBMP? Over. Replaced by Web 2.0. So handhelds just leap-frogged PC's which are stuck on Web 1.0 for a while due to IE market share. They just ported MySpace and Flickr and so on to the new mobile Web, zero developer hours required for those sites.

      But that's not as exciting as an elephantine Windows Mobile (0.6% of the market after 10 years) PDA with phone built in. Sure it's not.

      Phones outnumber PC's 4:1 right now, in 5 years it will be 8:1 and over 75% of Web browsers will be in phones. Adjust your perception of what time it is outside of Microsoft World where everything old is new again.

    7. Re:the iphone hands down best for browsing by LKM · · Score: 1

      I use the mobile versions of Opera. Opera Mobile or Opera Mini are not the real Opera. They can't be compared to Safari on the iPhone.

    8. Re:the iphone hands down best for browsing by toleraen · · Score: 1

      Wow, nice little tirade there. I was merely pointing out that there are phones with VGA screens on about the same size packages already. Check out the Glofish sometime. But thanks for bothering to look past the first link. Don't know where you pulled the 0.6% market share for WM out from, but I'm guessing its a dark place indeed. You're off by just a smidgen, roughly 16%, but don't worry about it.

      But outside of whatever Jobs told you to say, what does web2.0 have to do with any of this? My phone loads flickr, myspace, youtube, etc etc just fine. Opera mobile has the option of 'doing away with style sheets' to view the webpage as a window. Oh, pocket internet exlorer does too, but opera does it a little better since it actually changes the user-agent string to force the desktop view. Oh, have you tried browsing on the Nintendo Wii? Because it looks EXACTLY like navigating the web from the iPhone commercials. Click and drag stuff around, zoom in/out, etc. It's not that great of an experience.

      But let's forget all that and revel in the iPhone's presence. afterall, nothing beats having to put your hands in the way of what you're trying to read to navigate, smudging up the screen with finger prints. Don't forget to buy a little bottle of windex when you get yours. You'll have plenty of time to wipe the screen off while you're waiting 10 minutes for everything to load over that WONDERFUL(!) 2G network they provided you with. Remember dialup? Remember loading image heavy webpages (Your wonderful web2.0 applications) over dialup? Get excited!!11!1~

  54. Re:Phony "upgrade" REMEMBER THE ROUND MOUSE by ClosedSource · · Score: 1

    I didn't know about Apple's round mouse, but I used something like it on a DEC workstation in the 80's. The really bad thing is that if you tried to grab it without looking, you couldn't tell which way was up by touch.

  55. It has a spell checker. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But what is rdp? ICA?

  56. Oh good grief by Gary+W.+Longsine · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The chart is very clearly focused on a small set of features related to key differentiators of the iPhone. It's designed to attract people, to make them want to learn more about the iPhone. People who are curious will explore the feature set of the relative devices beyond this little chart. A giant chart with every feature of all devices would not attract nor interest anyone.

    Your use of the term "fanboy" is unnecessary, as no actual fanboy performing actual fanboy stunts is cited. Attempting to use the propaganda technique of creating a boogeyman, "the evil fanboy" who pollutes your, uh, your advertising world by making excuses for, uh, advertisements, undermines any rational argument you may attempt to make.

    --
    If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
    1. Re:Oh good grief by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your use of the term "fanboy" is unnecessary, as no actual fanboy performing actual fanboy stunts is cited. Attempting to use the propaganda technique of creating a boogeyman, "the evil fanboy" who pollutes your, uh, your advertising world by making excuses for, uh, advertisements, undermines any rational argument you may attempt to make. Yes, but the situation he describes is the hypothetical of how a fanboy will take the stats and try to turn them into some great proof that the iPhone is superior, when in fact the stats are largely irrelevant and almost 1/2 of them are not true comparisons. (It is nice that they find stats, which they claim others "do not tell".)

      Nice job building that straw man though.
    2. Re:Oh good grief by Solandri · · Score: 1

      The chart is very clearly focused on a small set of features related to key differentiators of the iPhone. It's designed to attract people, to make them want to learn more about the iPhone. People who are curious will explore the feature set of the relative devices beyond this little chart.
      Exactly. In other words, it's an advertisement, not a comparison.

      A giant chart with every feature of all devices would not attract nor interest anyone.
      It doesn't have to be the entire feature chart. But let's take thinness as an example. Typically, a listing of a dimension specification includes all three dimensions and usually the weight. The fact that those are missing (and the iPhone doesn't fare the best in those measures) is a pretty big tip-off that this is an ad first, a comparison second.

      Your use of the term "fanboy" is unnecessary, as no actual fanboy performing actual fanboy stunts is cited.
      I leave it as an exercise to the reader to determine who the fanboys are. ;)
  57. Underpromise and overdeliver by ajlitt · · Score: 4, Funny

    Congratulations, you've caught on to Apple's marketing secret. Now sit back and wait for the men in black turtlenecks to cart you off for re-education.

  58. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by dfghjk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think you have that exactly backwards. The iPhone is limited by it's thickness and weight. Any manufacturer can add a bigger battery if they're willing to sacrifice in those areas. With the iPhone, removing a keyboard that consumes no power and replacing it with a double-sized screen leads to more power consumption, not less. Apple has had to contend with a device that uses more power for its size than its competitors. It is also using an OS not specifically written for low power devices. That doesn't mean that the device will be a failure but it sure indicates the unlikeliness of your claim. It's far from clear that battery life is the secret feature; everything suggests the opposite.

    I'll also note that, in true /. fashion, the author claims in the title that the iPhone gets a better battery. Not true, of course, as the iPhone gets better battery *life* *ratings*. I'm curious what the new weight *rating* is especially with glass replacing plastic for the screen.

  59. Re:Worst pants ever by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    In the winter that's fine... you have coat pockets and such. Where do you put all of your do-dads in the summer? Wallet, mp3 player, phone, keys, change, etc. overload your average pair of pants, especially when you live in the city and have to consider the back pockets off-limits.

    Tell me you don't wear a hip-pack!

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  60. Apple's goal: 2 million iPhones by cdunworth · · Score: 1

    Parent's got it right. In terms of subscriber numbers:

    In 2005, US market was about 200M phones, so 1% is 2M phones. AT&T (then Cingular) had 61M subscribers. Thus, 2/61 = 3.3% of AT&T subscribers.

    Also, roughly 1/3 of all mobile phones in the US are replaced each year, so 20M AT&T subscribers would be expected to upgrade this year, even in the absence of the iPhone as enticement. So 10% of this more motivated group would also net the desired 1%.

    As parent mentioned, this doesn't account for carrier hoppers.

  61. Price, Fanboism, Fascism and Monty Python by Gary+W.+Longsine · · Score: 1
    You keeping using that word, fanboy. I do not think it means what you think it means.

    The parent to your post makes two primary statements, which you cite:
    1. corrects a gross overstatement in the price of the iPhone, e.g. presents a verified fact which should have been known to the grandparent
    2. states a personal preference that price is not the only consideration
    This is not fanboism. This is a rational argument, a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.

    Unfortunately there is no equivalent vaguely pejorative term which can be applied to people with your particular handicap, that being an obsessive refusal to consider facts in the assessment of a value proposition of goods in a marketplace, a pathological unwillingness to look beyond "sticker price" accompanied by lashing out with name calling when facts are presented for your consideration.

    The term "fascist" is generally applied to people who use propaganda techniques like name calling to silence people with different viewpoints, rather than engaging in a rational discussion. That seems a little harsh.

    In any case, your use of the term fanboism here represents an ad hominem attack. It serves only to undermine your credibility and does nothing to further your point. Since you didn't actually make one, perhaps that doesn't matter to you. It matters to the rest of us.
    --
    If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
    1. Re:Price, Fanboism, Fascism and Monty Python by radl33t · · Score: 1

      You have got to be kidding me. This is the funniest post I have ever read in my entire life. Are you an alien?

  62. Missing Option (Re:Worst comparison chart EVER) by Cap'nPedro · · Score: 1

    Hammer time.

    1. Re:Missing Option (Re:Worst comparison chart EVER) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      taadadadap...taadadap...you can't touch this.

  63. Re:Whoever buys the iPhone is dumb. by catdevnull · · Score: 3, Informative
    I'm not a fanboy, but I'm just comparing specs from the perspective of a Mac user--
    • Does it work with a Mac without using 3rd party software?
    • Does it play music from your iTunes library you bought from the iTunes store?
    • Does it have a 2 megapixel camera?
    • Does it have a 3" screen?
    • Does it have 4GB of memory?
    • Does it have 802.11g WiFi?
    • It might have an accelerometer to detect position, but does it have a proximity sensor or an ambient light sensor?
    • Does it have an 8-hour talk time battery?
    • Does the 8125's display match the 320 by 480 pixels (160 ppi) of the iPhone?

    It seems to me, that they are just a little different.
    --

    I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
  64. iPod Mini had a glass screen by snowwrestler · · Score: 1

    I have one and have dropped it a number of times with no ill effect. I think that unless the screen strikes a pointy thing directly, the durability depends on the strength of the case. If the case is strong and stiff enough to resist deformation, the glass won't break. So far so good with my iPod.

    --
    Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
  65. Here's another chart.. by traveller604 · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/4885/untitledma5. jpg And it's still missing stuff like.. you know GPS :)

  66. Re:Worst pants ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Get a travel wallet that has a belt loop and then you can keep your keys in one pocket and the phone in the other. The change can go in either one. Leave the mp3 player at home and focus on your environment.

  67. Probably because they don't work by snowwrestler · · Score: 1

    Those coatings help prevent the minor surface scratches (often called fogging) that can occur when people clean their plastic lenses with their cotton t-shirts. They don't do anything to prevent actual gouges of the lens material. If you put your polycarb glasses in your pocket with your keys and coins, they will get scratched--coating or no.

    For real scratch and gouge resistance, glass is better. It is much harder, and the property is intrinsic--nothing to wear off or deform.

    --
    Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
  68. Quick Size Comparison by slarrg · · Score: 2, Informative

    For those who are interested:

    Apple iPhone
    115 x 61 x 11.6mm
    135 g

    Nokia N95
    99 x 53 x 21 mm
    120 g

    Samsung Blackjack
    113 x 59 x 12 mm
    106 g

    Blackberry Curve 8300
    107 x 60 x 15 mm
    111 g

    Palm Treo 750
    111 x 58 x 22 mm
    153 g

    1. Re:Quick Size Comparison by Achromatic1978 · · Score: 1, Informative
      In other words:

      • It's the second heaviest
      • It's the tallest
      • It's the widest

      I can't imagine why Apple might have left those comparisons out, hrmmm...

      But it is the slimmest! By 15/1000 of an inch! Apple fanboys, go forth and spread the message! "It's the slimmest!"

      Bleh.

    2. Re:Quick Size Comparison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And away they go! You got "trolled"!

    3. Re:Quick Size Comparison by shmlco · · Score: 1

      It's a smart phone and ipod and web browser and video media device. Hence, and especially considering the web/video aspects, having a larger screen is probably a good thing, no?

      --
      Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
    4. Re:Quick Size Comparison by Fahrenheit+450 · · Score: 1

      But it's got the second smallest volume, and the highest density!
      I'm sure someone here actually cares about one of those...

      --
      -30-
  69. [ot] in ur commets: can i has laugh? by wild_berry · · Score: 1

    I see that you're also unable to click links and find things out for yourself. I'll take that as strike two. :P

    1. Re:[ot] in ur commets: can i has laugh? by Onan · · Score: 1


      I did in fact follow your link and take a brief look around. It was enough to confirm that it was: not something of which I had heard by another name; not something that seemed important enough to feel bad about not having heard of, and; not something that seemed interesting enough that I really wanted to look into it much further.

      So I'm afraid that I must stand by my assertion that your accusation of non-geekery simply based upon having not heard of one tiny and uninteresting project was not justified.

    2. Re:[ot] in ur commets: can i has laugh? by wild_berry · · Score: 1

      Then I'm mistaken that fanatical obsession over small details, technologically-advanced devices and obscure fields are the mark of a geek. Sorry that this attempt at humour failed.

    3. Re:[ot] in ur commets: can i has laugh? by BVis · · Score: 1

      I think what the GP was saying was that just because you had never heard of something, doesn't mean it's not cool or useful. That's a marketing problem, not an engineering problem. Things that are 'mainstream' enough to be in your little segment of the collective consciousness aren't necessarily 'better', just better promoted. Millions of people shop at WalMart, but that doesn't change the fact that what they're buying is cheap Chinese crap.

      Personally, I don't trust marketing to tell me the sky is blue without applying large amounts of sodium chloride. If a product fits my needs and is well supported, I don't give a crap if I can't buy it at a Best Buy.

      --
      Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
  70. 3G? by Raere · · Score: 1

    Would it really be that hard to add HSDPA or even UMTS support? One of the commercials advertises 'real internet' but EDGE is only about 4 times faster than dialup. I'd rather have faster speeds than 'scratch resistant screens'. That's what cases are for.

    1. Re:3G? by dr.badass · · Score: 1

      One of the commercials advertises 'real internet' but EDGE is only about 4 times faster than dialup.

      Even dial-up internet access is still the "real internet". That's not the point of the commercial anyway: the point is that Safari is a real browser, not a stripped-down mobile version like Mobile Internet Explorer or a WAP browser. And don't forget that it has WiFi. You may not realize how common it is unless you've walked around with a WiFi capable device.

      --
      Don't become a regular here -- you will become retarded.
  71. none by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What's hilarious is Jobs compares this thing to other "smartphones"... we have YET to see the phone fit into this category. Put a huge battery into my 5 year old Nokia and it'd get kickass talk time too. Further, it's great how the so-called upgrades made 11 days before launch will apparently be thoroughly untested, and further, address many of the problems iPod users have complained about with the recent nano and other portable apple electronics--which of course Apple has taken no responsibility for. At least it will be a sexy phone.

  72. 100 microns thinner WOW! by peter303 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Reminds of an ancient TV cigarette commercial where their cigarettes were 2.55 inches long compared to industry standard 2.54 inches - "just a silly little millimeter longer": Benson & Hedges 101s.

    1. Re:100 microns thinner WOW! by Vegeta99 · · Score: 1

      haha. Camel sells "99's" now. Guess it works both ways!

  73. Re:Worst pants ever by pla · · Score: 3, Funny

    cargo pants, carpenter pants, and any other pants with random pockets are fucking retarded.

    So write me a ticket, Fashion Cop.



    buy regular pants.

    Then I wouldn't have extra pockets... Duh!

  74. hmm by cjdkoh · · Score: 1

    glass? 'cause that's a good idea.~

  75. size problem ,maybe not ! by panchi2131 · · Score: 1

    for those complaining of size and not fitting in pockets ,i saw 1 person whose pockets it did fit into :) steve jobs during the recent event where he and bill gates were present together ;)

  76. Re:Whoever buys the iPhone is dumb. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No phone has 4 gig of memory, the damn desktop you posted your tripe from probably doesn't even have that much. Memory means RAM dickwad.

  77. Lack of Skype support for Apple iPhone by erwincoumans · · Score: 1

    The Apple iPhone is a very attractive phone, but it seems to lack Skype support. http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=74159 http://www.disruptivetelephony.com/2007/01/apples_ iphone_a.html Lack of SDK means we just have to wait until people hack the iPhone so Skype support might be added through homebrew.

    1. Re:Lack of Skype support for Apple iPhone by dr.badass · · Score: 1

      The Apple iPhone is a very attractive phone, but it seems to lack Skype support.

      That's because it is a phone. Phones are like Skype except more people use them.

      --
      Don't become a regular here -- you will become retarded.
    2. Re:Lack of Skype support for Apple iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just to mention: Skype is available on the Nokia N95 and other Symbian models using Fring.

    3. Re:Lack of Skype support for Apple iPhone by erwincoumans · · Score: 1

      Some of the Nokia and other cell phones already can do Skype (or other VOIP)

      VOIP is catching on, so it is just a matter of time when it will become more popular then ordinary phones.
      And note that you can call normal phones using Skype out.
      The iPhone has all hardware and facilities (Wifi) to enable VOIP, so it is just the lack of SDK that prevents it.

    4. Re:Lack of Skype support for Apple iPhone by luckingfame · · Score: 1

      You're holding a fucking PHONE!! Do we really need to get that complicated?!?!?

    5. Re:Lack of Skype support for Apple iPhone by dr.badass · · Score: 1

      Some of the Nokia and other cell phones already can do Skype (or other VOIP)

      Good for them. People that want it can get it.

      VOIP is catching on, so it is just a matter of time when it will become more popular then ordinary phones.

      And it stands to reason that span of time will be longer than the average lifespan of any phone coming to market today. i.e. the phone you buy today is not going to be the phone you use when VoIP becomes useful to most people.

      The iPhone has all hardware and facilities (Wifi) to enable VOIP, so it is just the lack of SDK that prevents it.

      It also has all the facilities to play a miniature finger version of the very popular game Dance Dance Revolution, but that doesn't mean it's "missing" it.

      --
      Don't become a regular here -- you will become retarded.
    6. Re:Lack of Skype support for Apple iPhone by erwincoumans · · Score: 1

      Apart from making phone calls, making phone calls over VoIP/Skype seems less far-fetched then other features in the comparison chart such as playing video, using internet and wifi.

  78. Re:How about.... RAZR? by End+Program · · Score: 1

    When the RAZR cell phone was first launched, I had a friend who bought one. I asked him how much he paid, and he said 600 dollars. Granted he is the type who wants the latest gizmo, but it proves there is a market for 600-dollar phones.

    Now, here comes the iPhone with a great deal more functionality and hype to go with it. I think they will sell a few.

    Apple has a marketing group. I am sure they crunched the numbers before any engineer put a pencil to paper...

  79. Re:Worst pants ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Please do not feed the trolls.

  80. Please don't use the subject line to by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 1
    begin your post, as it's really annoying.

    Though I did like the content.

  81. The _missing_ data is here! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This chart adds Ericsson for an even more fair comparision!

    http://superzealot.blogspot.com/2007/06/iphone-com parison-chart-follow-up.html

    (yes, belogspam. sue me)

  82. When did Slashdot turn into Digg? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Here's a comparison chart:

                    Slashdot  | Digg
                    ---------- --------
    Apple Fanboys:  Yes         Yes
    Bad Moderation: Yes         Yes

    Obviously Slashdot is now Digg based on this chart!

    1. Re:When did Slashdot turn into Digg? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      The only form of "good moderation" is lack of it. Anybody thinking differently is naïve.

  83. hell no! Jobs works it better. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    His nick name isn't "blow" for nuthin.

  84. Re:Whoever buys the iPhone is dumb. by Achromatic1978 · · Score: 1, Insightful
    • Does it work with a Mac without using 3rd party software? - define 'work'. It comes with a USB cable, and shows up as USB Mass Storage. It supports industry standard Bluetooth OBjectEXchange profiles. So, yes.
    • Does it play music from your iTunes library you bought from the iTunes store? - No. No non-Apple item does. This is a "failing" of Apple's licensing policy, not phone featureset.
    • Does it have a 2 megapixel camera? - No. 1.2mp. HOWEVER, it is an obsolete model, by several generations. All current HTC products (of which this is one) do.
    • Does it have a 3" screen? - 2.8".
    • Does it have 4GB of memory? - microSD - can go to 4GB. Mine came with 1GB. (Notwithstanding you meant storage. The device has 64MB of RAM, again, several generations obsolete.
    • Does it have 802.11g WiFi? - Yes.
    • It might have an accelerometer to detect position, but does it have a proximity sensor or an ambient light sensor? - Current models have ambient light sensor.
    • Does it have an 8-hour talk time battery? - Six hour claimed talk time.
    • Does the 8125's display match the 320 by 480 pixels (160 ppi) of the iPhone? - 320x240. iPhone definitely wins here.

    I don't think the iPhone's "superiority" on the above bullet points is anywhere near as conclusive as you seem to think. I think it's pretty comparable, which is awkward, considering the obsolescence of the comparison model.

  85. Re:Whoever buys the iPhone is dumb. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    scary how good your words match the "updated" chart:

    http://superzealot.blogspot.com/2007/06/iphone-com parison-chart-follow-up.html

  86. Re:Worst pants ever by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1
    MOM!

    I told you to stop posting on Slashdot!

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  87. Re:Amazing! Still not buying by mmeister · · Score: 1

    I am glad you have several reasons not to buy an iPhone, leaves an open slot for someone who does want one.

    1) I admit that AT&T is a risk (customer service wise), but remember Apple when to Verizon first and Verizon chose not to play.

    2) the problem with ultra mobile device is that it is not a phone, it's an ultra mobile device

    3) apparently texting on tiny little buttons of existing phones doesn't make your finger tips sore at all, making you a very unique person.

    4) clearly Apple is in a lose-lose scenario with you: They do plastic and you'd probably freak about how everything gets scratched up. They do glass and you freak out how easily it will break. Do you avoid glass/ceramic objects at all costs because you are prone to dropping it?

    5) yes, Apple charges a premium for delivering cutting edge software/design. If you've ever owned a BMW, Lexus, Infiniti, Mercedes, you'll know that you often pay a premium for a brand. There is much more that goes with a brand than just component pricing.

    But you don't have to pay, go get a Nokia or Motorola whatever and move on. Very strange how folks just love to bitch about how they won't be buying an item. If you're not planning to ever buy the item in question, then you're not even a *potential* customer and really offer little value to the argument.

  88. Re:Whoever buys the iPhone is dumb. by catdevnull · · Score: 1

    Great creative comeback, Einstein.

    --

    I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
  89. Bad math by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your phone is 5.8 in. in circumference.

    The iPhone is 5.72 in. in circumference.

    The iPhone will have more room around it than your current phone does in said pants.

    1. Re:Bad math by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      owned, imo.

  90. Drastically underestimating the power of.... by trisweb · · Score: 1

    good UI design. That's all this is folks, it's a phone with no buttons and what seems to be a very well thought-out and useful user interface.

    You people (none of you, especially not the software developers) understand how important that is. Get a clue.

    What was the iPod anyway? It was "just an mp3 player" when it was first announced, and everyone thought it would flop. You could get the "same thing" for half the price with even more features! Why would anyone buy it? Oh, right, it had an amazing user interface and was beautifully designed. Oh, that.

    What were Apple stores anyway? They were just another niche computer store, when they were first announced they were predicted to flop just like every other company's foray into that market. You could get the same thing for cheaper online, or from a big name like Best Buy, why would you go to the branded store? Oh, right, they have incredible customer service and are beautifully designed, essentially a great store UI. Right. Forgot about that.

    So what's the iPhone anyway? It's just a phone, you can get the same thing for half the price with even more features! Why would anyone buy it? Pssh.

    That's exactly what's being echoed back and forth in the technical crowd about this thing, but look at the market -- Slashdot readers are not who they're targeting. They're aiming for real people, specifically iPod users, and if you have any idea how big that market is... well...

    No one here gets it. You people are all caught up on features and specs and parts and price, but it's the whole picture that makes an amazing product. None of the cell phone companies get it either, no one's nailed a cell phone UI yet, every interface is confusing as heck and looks like a Super Nintendo's running the graphics.

    Apple gets it. If that's not obvious by the success of the iPod, the apple stores, the Mac laptops, OSX, their entire image in the US market... they have everything from product design to quality to marketing to customer service down, and that is why they work. They get it.

    You don't get it. Look at the big picture. You all will look back on your stupid one-track criticisms in two to three years and wish you had bought Apple stock, and threads like these will be linked to like "LOL Thread about the reaction to the iPhone announcement... look how dumb they were."

    --
    "!"
    1. Re:Drastically underestimating the power of.... by stewbacca · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No one here gets it. You people are all caught up on features and specs and parts and price, but it's the whole picture that makes an amazing product.
      And this, my friends, is succinctly why people have been bashing Apple since 1984. They don't get it, and for some reason, find extreme bliss in blabbering on about specs and dollars (to sooth their aching insecurities, I suppose).
    2. Re:Drastically underestimating the power of.... by MrAngryForNoReason · · Score: 1

      good UI design. That's all this is folks, it's a phone with no buttons

      That is precisely the reason I am sceptical about the iPhone. Aside from the strange idea of watching video on the same screen that you just covered in fingermarks queuing it up there are reasons to have buttons. Buttons provide tactile feedback when pressed, they are normally different shapes depending on their function so they are easily distinguished without looking. This allows someone to skip a track or change the volume without having to take the phone out of a pocket and look at it.

      The same applies to sending text messages. I realise that text messages are not as popular in the US as the UK they are still a major function of a phone. Having seen demos of the iPhone's onscreen keyboard with it's dock like magnification of letters I can't see how it will be possible to send a text message without looking at the screen. Something that I do all the time at the moment especially if i'm walking.

      no one's nailed a cell phone UI yet, every interface is confusing as heck and looks like a Super Nintendo's running the graphics.

      Off the top of my head Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Nokia all have good phone UIs. The Samsung phone I have at the moment has a perfectly functional UI and I haven't had any problems finding and using the different features of the phone. Starting a text message or making a call can be accomplished with only 1 or 2 button presses.

      As far as graphics are concerned most phones now display 65k colours and have pretty nice looking interfaces. If your point is that they don't use 3d effects and other eye candy throughout the interface then you are right. The reason for this is that most people want to be able to make a call or play a music track quickly and easily. What they aren't interested in day to day is the fancy transitions between menu options or other visual effects.

      The early iPod models were exactly the same, they had easy to use functional menus that allowed you to quickly and easily navigate to the song you wanted to listen to. They also had (and still have to a certain extent) buttons and controls that allow you to quickly skip a track, pause or change volume without having to look at the device or take it out of a pocket.

      It is true that apple has come up with a revolutionary UI and very impressive graphical effects but I am sceptical that any of this will help me make a phone call. Or that after the initial wow factor wears off those transitions and effects won't start to annoy, just like they do in the iMac media GUI when using the remote control (twinkly noises and spinning icons are all very nice but what I want to do is play a song quickly without having to wait for menu effects to finish).

      I'm not saying it won't sell, or that it doesn't do the job it is made for, but I do think Apple have lost their way. From a company who revolutionarised user interfaces triumphing ease and speed of use they seem to have shifted the emphasis to more flashy effects and wow factor, losing sight of what the device is for and how people want to use it.

  91. Re:Keyboard thoughts. by trisweb · · Score: 1

    2 - Don't think they've thought of that maybe? Nah, they're just going to release it with a crappy touch-screen keyboard even though the rest of it is well designed. This touch screen isn't a PetSmart kiosk touch screen, I promise you.

    --
    "!"
  92. The Chart Apple Forgot to show by cfaslave · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Guys, I'm not a fanboy of any of these phones. I'd love to have an iphone or even a blackjack for that matter, but the chart Apple is showing was simply a marketing ploy. I made a new and improved chart with just three phones for simplicity, but it shows the Iphone, the Nokia N95 and the Samsung Blackjack. It adds the weight, the true maximum talk time (not apples version of N95 or blackjack talk time and other stuff like data speed etc. Let me know what you guys think. I'll add some other phones to the chart later today. http://brentevans.blogspot.com/2007/06/chart-apple -forgot-to-release-on-iphone.html

    1. Re:The Chart Apple Forgot to show by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let me know what you guys think.

      You're new here. In fact, you're past the 1 million mark for Slashdot user accounts. Let me put it to you simply: There are no "you guys" here. There is no "community".

      And furthermore, nobody around here stands for people posting links to their ad-ridden blogs and acting like they're doing us a favor.

    2. Re:The Chart Apple Forgot to show by cfaslave · · Score: 0

      I guess I can't see how your sorry, Anonymous Coward ass is helping the conversation here. You're obviously an apple fanboy who thinks the iphone is perfect. Go drink some more apple juice flavored koolaid and move on. The link was appropriate and was pertinent to the conversation. The "new" features need to be taken in context and you can't do that without comparing to the competition.

  93. Will sync properly with my Mac by gsfprez · · Score: 1

    i am spending $500 for an iPhone because it will sync properly with my Mac.

    I have already spent twice that on a veriety of phones and software packages that claim to sync with my Mac, but in every case - Treo, Blackberry, Symbian - it only sorta works, and usually requires me to backup my old address book and stickies file prior to use because i KNOW that whatever craptastic 3rd party software i'm going to be forced to use will suck ass and not work.

    SE and Moto phones were close to okay - but SE only makes phones 2 and a half inches thick, and Moto phones could have a slower UI in them, but would have to have a waterwheeled abacus for a CPU for that to be possible.

    The iPhone is fast, slim, and will not treat me, a Mac user, like a second-class citizen. For that reason alone - i couldn't give a shit how expensive it is. Many mac users i know feel the same...

    of course, for all i know, software for windows for all those phones could blow ass too, but you don't hear any bitching because... well... we're talking about Windows users, right?

    --
    guns kill people like spoons make Rosie O'Donnell fat.
  94. Free your phone by eli173 · · Score: 1

    I'm looking forward to the Neo1973... my ability to bend the phone to my will is more important to me.

  95. Re:Whoever buys the iPhone is dumb. by trisweb · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Eh, everyone's comparing on the wrong points...

    1. Does it get everything right with the UI in harmony with its features in harmony with high quality, in harmony with beauty and great design, balanced with good customer service, marketability, fashion, desirability, user needs and usability, all understood and designed-in from the start?

    Oh right, it's the balance of everything together, not individual features, that people want... ohhhh we are so closed minded in the technology world..... but Apple's not.

    (There should be light bulbs going on in the parts of your brain that connect combinations of different discrete fields and views right now, if they're not then you didn't get a good enough liberal arts education (probably a one-track engineering student right?), and should enroll in the nearest university).

    --
    "!"
  96. straw man by Gary+W.+Longsine · · Score: 1, Interesting

    You keep using that phrase,straw man. I do not think it means what you think it means. You see, I didn't misrepresent my parent poster's opinion. You, however, misrepresented my argument by mischaracterizing it as a "straw man" argument when it was not. Thus it is you, not I, who have constructed the straw man argument. That, by the way, is an example of irony.

    Furthermore, by assuming that I've made a straw man argument, and then asserting without any other evidence that I've done so, you have also provided a nice example of begging the question (aka "petitio principii").

    Thank you for providing a two-fer example for logical fallacies with such brevity.

    --
    If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
  97. Uh, show me the WHOOOOSH by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Informative

    You can fit more than seven hours of video into eight gigabytes of memory. In fact, you can condense an entire feature-length film into a pretty good-quality video at 700MB, enough to fit it into a CDROM - at DVD resolution.

    If you're willing to sacrifice resolution and frame rate, you can probably get days of video into 8GB.

    And if the joke was something else, it just wasn't funny. Sorry if I can't detect stupid humor.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  98. Of course... by aardwolf64 · · Score: 1

    Of course, at 4GB you'd be watching the same 30 minute clip 14 times back to back...

    1. Re:Of course... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Of course, at 4GB you'd be watching the same 30 minute clip 14 times back to back..."

      Not if you're streaming the video via .Mac's "Back to My Mac" feature from your Mac at home, across the internet, and through the iPhone's WiFi connection. I don't know that it'll actually be able to do that, mind you, but in any case when you have an internet connection available, the video source doesn't need to be local.

  99. A few pointers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    int* p;
    char* c;

    just kidding

    -Screen size: All other devices have a keypad.
    -Talk time: I don't know about the others but N95 has 3G and iPhone only 2G.
    -Display surface: Only iPhone has a touch display.
    -24h audio playback sounds quite impressive.

  100. Re:Whoever buys the iPhone is dumb. by catdevnull · · Score: 1

    I wasn't trying to claim superiority, but I did intend to show that the iPhone does have its strengths. I don't think buying an iPhone necessarily makes one dumb--it's a nice little device (based on the specs--that's all we've been able to see). Some people think I'm dumb to buy a Mac when PCs are so much cheaper. I don't want to run Linux or Windows--I want MacOS X. It's not dumb--it's a preference.

    I don't think anyone is happy with the unholy union between Apple and ATT/Cingular because the price point and service are the dumb part. Personally, I don't think sales will be as explosive as people seem to think it will be--unless all of the potential buyers are ready to pay through the nose for the service contract and the locked unsubsidized unit.

    After the unlocked GSM versions leak out of Europe in Q4, we'll probably see the prices drop.

    If it were cheaper and Apple released a freakin' SDK for it, I think the critics might like the iPhone better.

    The deal breaker for people like me is the fact that I don't have to purchase or install Missing Sync to get basic synchronization to work. And by that, I mean clean sync between my address book and my iCal (the Apple calendar not the standard), iTunes, and iPhoto--all the things I use. Since it is also an iPod, my iTMS purchased music (hard to find classic jazz and orchestral music that is out of print) transfers nicely.

    For now, I'm still happy with my aging Treo 600 and my iPod. When it's time to replace BOTH my phone and my iPod, the combined cost will equal or greater to the iPhone.

    PS> Yes--memory is an ambiguous term. I should know better to be more precise because Slashdot weenies split hairs about such a general term for storage (a form of memory).

    --

    I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
  101. Re:Whoever buys the iPhone is dumb. by catdevnull · · Score: 1

    Well, I did read it just before I saw this post. I compared the two phones (iPhone and the 8125) side-by-side to compare them. I must have been looking at an outdated spec sheet on the ATT site.

    I'm not a rabid fanboy, but I don't think the iPhone deserves all of the "hater taters" its getting from the slashdot snobs. The ATT/Apple deal does suck, but the device itself looks pretty cool and appears to use the technology in intuitive ways. I bet Rev2 will be worth buying.

    --

    I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
  102. Chart is incomplete by M0b1u5 · · Score: 1

    Why not list the iMate Jasjam device alongside those others? Frankly, is pisses all over the crackberry and that useless Nokia. (Both of which I tried out)

    http://www.clubimate.com/t-DETAILS_JASJAM.aspx

    I've been using this phone/PDA/computer/camera/MP3 player/video conference unit for about 3 months now, and at $1198 New Zealand (wholesale), it's a bargain, especially with a 2GB micro-SD card thrown in.

    --
    How many escape pods are there? "NONE,SIR!" You counted them? "TWICE, SIR!"
    1. Re:Chart is incomplete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      if that is the same as an Orange SPV M3100 (looks the same) it is utter rubbish. I have one and I have been very disappointed with it. WM has a horrible interface to work with. Its unreliable, slow and buggy. The screen is constantly going out of alignment, calls are often dropped, and applications often crash. It may have a long list of features, but it doesn't all fit together into a nice, easy to use and functional device.

  103. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by CmdrPorno · · Score: 1

    The truth is, it needs a really powerful battery. I can run my iPod nano battery down halfway in one day of off-and-on use, if I'm switching songs a lot (which turns on the backlight, draining the battery). My Motorola cell phone battery will last through two or three days of normal use. Imagine putting them both in one device, and without a really good battery, it will need to be charged at least once a day.

    One of the things I look forward to is that the iPhone will have a battery display like the iPod (which appears to go down in about 10% increments) as opposed to my Motorola's battery display, which has only three bars. (If you go into the menu on the Motorola, and go to the battery information, it will display either 2/6, 4/6, or 6/6, depending on the status of the three bars. WTF? Why not use 1/3, 2/3, and 3/3 if your battery display is that imprecise? Awful design that gives the false impression of precision...)

    --
    Sent from my iPhone
  104. Re:Whoever buys the iPhone is dumb. by Achromatic1978 · · Score: 1
    Apropos of the issues with lockin, etc, I think the iPhone would be a decent enough phone-phone. I have my HTC Trinity, and I'll move to a Nokia N95.

    Nothing wrong with the Apple stuff, my next laptop is 90%+ likely to be an Apple. But yeah, the hype in the geeksphere over this thing is way beyond anything I can see.

  105. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by abhi_beckert · · Score: 1

    It is also using an OS not specifically written for low power devices.

    That's bullshit, I don't have a figure handy but at around half of the machines running Mac OS X are notebooks. It's absolutely built for low power devices, plus it's a far far more mature operating system, which means Apple's engineers will have spent a ton of development-hours improving battery life/power management.

    There is a reason mac notebooks get 4 to 6 hours of battery life. And yes, my iBook does get the "up to 6 hours" apple was claiming when I bought it.

  106. Re:Phony "upgrade" REMEMBER THE ROUND MOUSE by dr.badass · · Score: 1

    Apple released the ROUND MOUSE a few years ago that was a real case of design takes the lead over utility

    The failing of the mouse wasn't that it was round, it was that it was also very small. This was good if you held the mouse in an uncommon way (with your fingers instead of your palm) or if you were a child with small hands. Holding the mouse like that is actually superior from an RSI standpoint, and the original iMac it shipped with was intended to be usable by children, and somehow those demands mistakenly overrode all others at the time.

    It was a terrible design for everyone else, of course, but it wasn't made that way just for show.

    --
    Don't become a regular here -- you will become retarded.
  107. Re:whoops by vertinox · · Score: 1

    I didn't buy an iPod to put 3rd party software on it. I use it to make calls.

    Apparently that was a Fruedian slip when I mean to say "I use it to play MP3s", but I'm still not going to buy the iPhone at $500 and if ATT is the provider.

    --
    "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
    -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
  108. iPhone "SDK" Security Woes by BSDetector · · Score: 0
  109. never buy Apple 1st gen kit by GURU+Meditation+8000 · · Score: 1

    once again we are shown how foolish it is to be a 1st gen purchaser of Apple kit.

    1. Re:never buy Apple 1st gen kit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I WANT version 1.0
      but,
      I'll buy version 3.0 . . .

      Let them double the battery life with LiSO2, and increase the screen size to cover the whole 1 side of the device,
      quadruple the storage to 32 GB, and include GPS and WiFi Live Video Blogging...

      Then, I'll buy.

    2. Re:never buy Apple 1st gen kit by stewbacca · · Score: 2, Funny
      Uh, this upgrade is occurring BEFORE 1.0 is available. What is your point again? I pity those fools who were able to buy the iPhone before it was available, and got stuck with a crappy battery and a (snicker) plastic screen?

      Sorry, I just can't let empty statements like yours go unchallenged.

  110. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by dfghjk · · Score: 1

    Rah rah! Notebooks aren't low power devices in this context nor was OS X specifically written for notebooks, but if you want to believe that your iBook has superior battery life because it runs OS X then who's to argue with you? Meanwhile, suggesting that OS X is optimized for cellphones in the same way as Symbian or Blackberry is absurd.

    OS X is "a far far more mature operating system" than what? OS X for iPhone hasn't even reached 1.0

  111. Re:Whoever buys the iPhone is dumb. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't see no charts on that page.

  112. Apple Marketing Machine Pressed Into Overtime! by BSDetector · · Score: 0

    http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2147467,00.as p

    Where it is reported 'Apple, ..., said its battery claims are dependent upon specific configurations and "many other factors."'

    So it's rock solid true then because of the "claims"!!! So what are the "specific configurations"? And what are some of those "many other factors."?

  113. Re:Worst pants ever by corifornia · · Score: 0

    For god sakes, its a fanny pack, not a hip pack... get with it.

    --
    crap.
  114. Blurry Chart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is it me or is the chart in TFA blurry. Would installing Safari help?

  115. Re:Worst pants ever by AmiAthena · · Score: 1

    I agree with both- to an extent. Pocketful clothing becoming hip is dumb. Decorative pockets hurt my brain. Seeing a girl who's never used a tool in her life (except maybe a nail file) with a hammer loop on her pants just makes me laugh. Oddly enough, carpenter pants on a carpenter doesn't seem so silly. If you want the pants with the pockets so you can put stuff in them, that's a beautiful thing! When pockets stopped being "cute" on girls I gladly bought men's jeans for work for the extra pocket space. (Also men's clothing sizes make sense.) I've kept my phone in that side pocket since I got a phone. When I went to buy more work pants, I found out they even started calling it a cell phone pocket. Utility > Fashion, mostly.

  116. Re:Amazing! Still not buying by grasshoppa · · Score: 1


    But you don't have to pay, go get a Nokia or Motorola whatever and move on. Very strange how folks just love to bitch about how they won't be buying an item. If you're not planning to ever buy the item in question, then you're not even a *potential* customer and really offer little value to the argument.


    The problem isn't that we aren't potential customers; We'd very much like to be, or rather I would very much like to be. However, given all the strings attached to this thing, I wind up sorely dissappointed that I won't be getting one. Hence the reason for the bitching.

    --
    Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
  117. Re:Face it man, Apple is gay! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And you are a homophobe.

  118. Sight for sore eyes! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Use of glass should mean no trouble reading the iPhone display while wearing polarizing sunglasses. This is a common problem with plastic windows in consumer electronics devices, due to stress induced in the plastic while it polymerizes. Polarizing glasses reveal the stress lines, which obscure what's being displayed. Palm blows it often in Treos. Even Lexus has blown it with plastic windows on their OEM stereos.

  119. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 1

    It is also using an OS not specifically written for low power devices.

    Do you REALLY think that just because an OS wasn't designed for low power devices it cannot run well on low power devices? Most OS kernel designs are agnostic to things like this and if a proper power management mechanism is in place, makes this claim meaningless.

    Here is an example:
    WindowsCE is technically using a variant of the NT fork, just like Vista.
    Windows XP & Windows Vista Embedded both work on very tiny and very low power devices as well.

    And Windows Vista Embedded is Vista with features removed, just like OS X is on the iPhone. Get it?

    So the OS begining 'designed' for low power is not notable or 'remarkable' that Apple was able to get OS X to run well on a low power device. Remove GUI bloat, add better or device specific power management and bingo, a Phone OS.

    Also for the claims, removing 'space' for items like a keyboard and increasing the 'weight' are relevant to increasing battery life that other manufacturers don't have to deal with because overall size and weight won't matter to Apple's Fanboi base.

  120. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by abhi_beckert · · Score: 1

    Rah rah! Notebooks aren't low power devices in this context nor was OS X specifically written for notebooks, but if you want to believe that your iBook has superior battery life because it runs OS X then who's to argue with you

    It has nothing to do with "low-power/high-power", it's about getting as much life out of whatever power you have. The OS is the only difference I can think of, both mac notebooks and pc notebooks are using pretty much the same hardware, and I can't imagine a good PC notebook ships with a shit battery. Unless you can give me an example proving otherwise, I'm going to continue believing that it's OS X vs Windows/Linux that makes mac notebooks have longer battery life. I don't have a mac-intel notebook to test windows on, but my iBook only gets 2 hours if I'm lucky under ubuntu, while it gets at a minimum 4 hours under OS X.

    Meanwhile, suggesting that OS X is optimized for cellphones in the same way as Symbian or Blackberry is absurd.

    OS X is "a far far more mature operating system" than what? OS X for iPhone hasn't even reached 1.0

    The iPhone has a much faster CPU than the machines OS X was originally designed to run on (back in 1985). It's software like iPhoto that needs a fast machine, not the operating system. They won't have needed to do many optimizations at all to get OS X running beautifully on such "slow" hardware, which means they're working with code that has had over 20 years to mature.

  121. Re:Whoever buys the iPhone is dumb. by Shag · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Sooo... you're saying the 4-8 gigs of something in the iPhone isn't Random Access Memory? What is it?

    --
    Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
  122. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by dfghjk · · Score: 1

    "Do you REALLY think that just because an OS wasn't designed for low power devices it cannot run well on low power devices?"

    Did I say that?

    "Most OS kernel designs are agnostic to things like this and if a proper power management mechanism is in place, makes this claim meaningless."

    Proof please. Have you ever seen any such code?

    "WindowsCE is technically using a variant of the NT fork, just like Vista."

    Proof please. I would love to see that.

    "And Windows Vista Embedded is Vista with features removed, just like OS X is on the iPhone. Get it?"

    I know nothing of Vista Embedded but that's your example, not mine. Yes, I know what OS X for iPhone is. It is an OS not specifically written for low power devices, like I said.

    Yes, I do believe that an OS specifically written for low power devices can have power management advantages over one that isn't. That seems incredibly obvious except to fanboys.

    I believe that size and weight DO matter to prospective buyers of the iPhone. I believe that fanboys will take it as gospel that whatever the size is will be exactly what it should be. The iPhone is nicely proportioned though. Hopefully the battery life will be adequate.

  123. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by dfghjk · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    "The OS is the only difference I can think of, both mac notebooks and pc notebooks are using pretty much the same hardware..."

    Not in the case of your iBook. Apple, and its users, are known to exaggerate their battery life just as they exaggerated the performance of PowerPC processors. Now that Apple uses Intel, battery life and processor performance are quite similar between Mac and PC.

    "Unless you can give me an example proving otherwise, I'm going to continue believing that it's OS X vs Windows/Linux that makes mac notebooks have longer battery life."

    I think you're going to do that regardless. ;-)

    "I don't have a mac-intel notebook to test windows on, but my iBook only gets 2 hours if I'm lucky under ubuntu, while it gets at a minimum 4 hours under OS X."

    Lord knows you wouldn't want to test on relevant hardware before making your sweeping claims. I suppose that proves OS X for iPhone offers power management as good as other smartphones?

    "The iPhone has a much faster CPU than the machines OS X was originally designed to run on (back in 1985)."

    It does? Where are the specs for that? Have you run benchmarks? What does speed have to do with battery life? OS X existed in 1985?

    "They won't have needed to do many optimizations at all to get OS X running beautifully on such "slow" hardware, which means they're working with code that has had over 20 years to mature."

    I have no earthly idea what you are talking about, but OS X is nowhere near 20 years old with much of it relatively brand new. The iPhone's UI is entirely new and has never shipped in a product. The touchscreen hardware and the cellular radios are both brand new hardware to Apple and OS X.

    Just what does it mean to run "beautifully" and how does that relate to power management? When OS X was first released in 1999 it didn't even run beautifully on even the newest Mac hardware of the time. I think you need to come out of your dreamworld now.

  124. Just like the cell carrier ads! by r_jensen11 · · Score: 1

    The *New* [Insert name] Wireless, with the best reception and fewest dropped calls from an "indendent" survey!

  125. Who is winning? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    War of moderator's camps at its best. Who is winning?

  126. Translation: by TheVelvetFlamebait · · Score: 1

    Finally, slimness is what consumers care about.

    So you'd feel just fine with a 6.4mm thick phone 30cm high by 15cm wide and weighing 68kg?

    I care about exactly one aspect of my phone's geometry - Does it fit in the little half-pockets on the mid-leg side of all my jeans.

    For the record, the iPhone comes in at 12x61x114mm. That would probably not fit in said pockets (which have a flattened width of just under 6.4cm on the pants I have on today), or at best would fit too tightly for comfort. My current phone fits nicely, however, at 23x51x109mm, despite literally twice the given-yet-irrelevant thickness.



    the comparison charts deal strictly with physical attributes, not things like GPS.

    The "Wi-Fi", "Talk Time", "Internet Use", "Video Playback", and "Audio Playback" rows on that chart would tend to disagree.

    --
    You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
  127. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by abhi_beckert · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    "Not in the case of your iBook. Apple, and its users, are known to exaggerate their battery life just as they exaggerated the performance of PowerPC processors. Now that Apple uses Intel, battery life and processor performance are quite similar between Mac and PC.

    I think you're going to do that regardless. ;-)"

    Lets not even go into bias, if you're not willing to take my word for the battery life I get on a machine I've been using daily for 3 years, that's up to you.

    "Lord knows you wouldn't want to test on relevant hardware before making your sweeping claims. I suppose that proves OS X for iPhone offers power management as good as other smartphones?"

    I never said it was a perfect claim, I was just giving you what evidence I have to suggest OS X has better power management than windows. You are correct to point out that I could be wrong, since I haven't had a chance to properly test the battery life of an intel-based mac notebook. I have a friend with a first-gen mac book pro, and it's battery life is shit. However apple's estimate of the current release of his machine is twice as long as it was when he purchased his, so his experiences aren't really valid anymore.

    "It does? Where are the specs for that? Have you run benchmarks?"

    There was a website at some point that listed the specs, I don't have it handy. No I haven't run benchmarks. However assuming the iPhone's has a current generation mobile cpu, it will probably similar speed to my sister's G3 iMac*, which also runs OS X perfectly.

    "OS X existed in 1985?

    I have no earthly idea what you are talking about, but OS X is nowhere near 20 years old with much of it relatively brand new. The iPhone's UI is entirely new and has never shipped in a product. The touchscreen hardware and the cellular radios are both brand new hardware to Apple and OS X."

    According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXT), work began on OS X some time between 1984 and 1987 (based on skim reading the article), which would put OS X somewhere between 20 and 22 years old. I write mac software in my spare time, and I can assure you that the API's developed in those years are the API's of choice for any software that doesn't need to be cross platform, and even that will likely change soon (the NeXT OS, was way ahead of it's time. It had features that still don't exist in the latest releases of windows/mac/linux). Certainly, it's not the same OS anymore as it was then, but the core of it is the same.

    Certainly, some features like touch-screen are new, but others like check-spelling-as-you-type are ancient.

    * no, I haven't run bench tests on that either. Which is why I said "probably".

  128. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by vuffi_raa · · Score: 1

    they could always remove the screen since it takes up power and replace it with a few more batteries... and a solar panel- then it would last forever, with no display you can play a lot more video. and with four times the battery power it would be more powerful than any phone on the market, and self charging.

  129. What the iPhone offers that nothing lese does by LKM · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A user interface that does not suck.

    Really, all these feature comparisons are meaningless. People aren't going to buy this phone because it has some innovative new feature. It doesn't. It does, however, seem to have an UI that does not drive you insane. Which immediately makes it better than pretty much any other smartphone in a lot of people's minds.

  130. I normally refrain from posting to /., but.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ..sorry: No.

    This "they don't say", not even an "unknown" is so obviously an attempt to look smug that _anyone_ not seeing that the very second they glance upon the chart must be either heavily biased, have a slewed perception of what is acceptable in advertisements or both. And that is a perfect match for what one calls a fanboy.

    Side note: When people are forced to do nonsensical things under hypnosis and you ask them why they did it afterwards, their brain will automatically create a fitting story that also happens to be completely ridiculous. That goes a long way to explain fanboyism, to me..

  131. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Do you REALLY think that just because an OS wasn't designed for low power devices it cannot run well on low power devices?"

    Did I say that?"

    Yes, jackass.

  132. Parent is wrong by maroberts · · Score: 1

    Most dating sites have the same problem

    --

    Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
    Karma: Chameleon

  133. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Looking at your posts in this thread, I just have to assume you hate the iPhone/Apple. Making claims of Apple users' "making" up battery life claims? You asked for proof in other areas, so where is your proof. No, forget it, you obviously just want to trash a product/brand/company for whatever reason. Yes, I own a MacBook. No, I'm not getting an iPhone.

    I'm only posting this AC because I don't want to get into a back and forth with you. You don't like some stuff, great, but man, in really seems you got your knickers in a bind over a non-released product.

  134. More than that by bryan1945 · · Score: 1

    It's not the only thing she works well.....

    --
    Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
  135. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXT), work began on OS X some time between 1984 and 1987 (based on skim reading the article), which would put OS X somewhere between 20 and 22 years old. I write mac software in my spare time, and I can assure you that the API's developed in those years are the API's of choice for any software that doesn't need to be cross platform, and even that will likely change soon (the NeXT OS, was way ahead of it's time. It had features that still don't exist in the latest releases of windows/mac/linux). Certainly, it's not the same OS anymore as it was then, but the core of it is the same.

    Apple Aquired NeXT in 96, they then gutted the OS and extracted what bits were salvagable, Lots of good ideas there with lots of bad implementation. At the very best you could claim OS.x was 10 years old, more realistically you are looking at 7 years. OS.X is probably the LEAST mature of modern OSes (that is not to say it is bad though).

  136. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "an OS not specifically written for low power devices" ?

    If you mean CPU power, I must remind you that the Next OS shipped on 68030 (40Mhz) workstations with just 8 MB RAM.

    Funnily enough, this iphone is a much more powerful workstation than the machines that OS was designed for.

  137. Re:Face it man, Apple is gay! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're also an idiot - although, clearly more so.

  138. Better comparison chart here by CaptCanuk · · Score: 1

    There's a better comparison chart here: http://www.standandcount.com/index.php/iphone-spec s-change-12/.
    It compares the iPhone specs with the Motorola V3i, the Nokia 5700, and the video and nano iPods.
    I think I'll get one based on this spec comparison mainly because I don't already have an video iPod and I need a new phone.

    --
    ---- The geek shall inherit the Earth.
  139. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by dfghjk · · Score: 1

    "I was just giving you what evidence I have to suggest OS X has better power management than windows."

    By making claims of its performance on an iBook? Since when did Windows ever run on an iBook? Since when was an iBook comparable hardware to PCs?

    "However apple's estimate of the current release of his machine is twice as long as it was when he purchased his, so his experiences aren't really valid anymore."

    Because Apple changed its estimates? Where do you think this doubling of battery life came from? Don't think too hard!

    "There was a website at some point that listed the specs, I don't have it handy."

    Apple has NEVER reveealed the source, type, or speed of the processor. You can't possibly know this and you are just quoting as fact some meaningless speculation from a fanboy like yourself.

    "However assuming the iPhone's has a current generation mobile cpu, it will probably similar speed to my sister's G3 iMac*, which also runs OS X perfectly. * no, I haven't run bench tests on that either. Which is why I said "probably"."

    Why do you make knowingly absurd speculation then footnote them where you admit they are such? PDA processors and desktop ones cannot be compared on clockspeed. As a PowerPC owner, I'd figure you'd "know" that by now considering Jobs marketed that message to you for years.

    Considering that the iPhone relies on CoreImage and CoreImage uses GPU acceleration, how do you think this iPhone hardware that we know nothing about compares you your sister's G3 which you also don't know anything about? Have you used modern PDA/smartphone processors?

    "According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXT), work began on OS X some time between 1984 and 1987 (based on skim reading the article)..."

    It's good that you skimmed a wikipedia article! When was the first time you could buy OS X? BSD dates back earlier than 84 and Unix far before that. Considering Unix's age, why aren't you claiming that OS X is 45 years old? You are a moron.

    "Certainly, some features like touch-screen are new, but others like check-spelling-as-you-type are ancient."

    Hell, that proves it then. The question is, if OS X is over 20 years old, why did it take Apple until 1999 to release it and why did it suck so bad until the Panther release more than 4 years later?

    To summarize your points, (a) OS X is over two decades old yet it is still the most advanced OS and offers the most advanced power management on the market, (b) iBooks are comparable in performance to modern PCs, (c) iBooks offer superior battery life without sacrificing performance, size, weight or function, and (d) iPhones have computing capability just as good as Macs. I think it can safely be said that you're a raging fanboy.

  140. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by dfghjk · · Score: 1

    Here's what I said, you anonymous retard:

    "It is also using an OS not specifically written for low power devices. That doesn't mean that the device will be a failure but it sure indicates the unlikeliness of your claim. It's far from clear that battery life is the secret feature; everything suggests the opposite."

    Just where in that do I say it "cannot run well"?

    Perhaps you will learn reading comprehension when you get to high school.

  141. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by dfghjk · · Score: 1

    So you are attacking me personally now? Is that the best you can do?

    Every manufacturer makes up battery life claims. Apple doesn't just do that, they've refined bullet-point lying to a fine art. They've even changed their battery life estimates on the iPhone before first ship, and let's not forget their desktop "supercomputer" Altivec lies. It's just par for the course.

    "Yes, I own a MacBook. No, I'm not getting an iPhone."

    Then you aren't unlike me. I own 3 macs. Surprised?

    "I'm only posting this AC because I don't want to get into a back and forth with you."

    Well yeah. If I posted your drivel I'd be too cowardly to attach my name to it too.

    "You don't like some stuff, great, but man, in really seems you got your knickers in a bind over a non-released product."

    A little sensitive, fanboy?

  142. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by dfghjk · · Score: 1

    "If you mean CPU power..."

    No I didn't mean that and it's obvious from the context that I couldn't have possibly meant that. Thanks, though, for making a point that can't be disputed.

    "Funnily enough, this iphone is a much more powerful workstation than the machines that OS was designed for."

    Bullshit. You think CoreImage was designed for a 68030 class machine? Considering that we know nothing of the iPhone's hardware capability, your statement couldn't possibly be right regardless of what OS X was "designed for". You realize that capabilities of OS X that are being touted in the iPhone are brand new?

    What is with you fanboys trying to talk up the iPhone's hardware capabilities when nothing has ever been documented?

    It's all irrelevant. I was responding to a battery life comment and my point about OS X and what is designed for has only to do with battery life. I never commented on its performance or capability.

    It is a fact that every other PDA/smartphone OS platform has specific design details tailored to very low power and small memory footprint. It is unlikely, though possible, that OS X has received such changes since porting large libraries and sharing large portions of OS code is incompatible with that. Anyone who think Windows Mobile is Windows with a few pieces trimmed off is sadly mistaken. WM, Symbian, and PalmOS are written exclusively for ultra-low power devices and OS X is not.

  143. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 1

    I assume you can find wikipedia.com or microsoft.com, so go do your own freaking homework.

    It is not my responsibility that you are this stupid and unwilling to educate yourself.

    BTW, yes I and a lot of other people on SlashDot have seen a lot of OS kernel code, from Linux to even NT core code, and especially MACH with a BSD interface, which is what OS X is. Do you also not realize that many of us have seen and worked with Darwin specifically?

    Even just questioning the accuracy of the Windows Embedded or WindowsCE/Pocket PC example I gave you is an immediate red flag that you are more stupid than anyone would have expected even on SlashDot.

    I apologize for responding to your post, I assumed you might care or have a clue of what you were talking about. It is obvious you don't.

  144. How to get an iPhone for 250 bucks. by luckingfame · · Score: 2, Insightful

    1.) buy 2 shares of apple right now, at $124. 2.) Wait a month or two and sell the shares when they're at $250. 3.) Sell stock and buy iPhone. You know Apple stock is going to explode.

  145. Re:Whoever buys the iPhone is dumb. by 3choTh1s · · Score: 1

    Now the real question to all of this is(not to the poster but to everybody)... Which of these do you really care about. My phone works works perfectly with my macbook, no 3rd party software needed. I don't use iTunes so nothing lost there. It has a 2 megapixel camera of great quality. I don't need a 3" screen, I just use it for calls, music and the occasional google maps(looking up phone numbers not directions), so 3" is far bigger than I need. I currently have 4 GB of memory and since it accepts flash cards I can expand it to whatever my little heart desires. Again I don't need WiFi on my phone. It's neat but unless I can skype from it there is little use for it in my little world. I personally have never needed an 8 hour talk time but I wouldn't be surprised if my current phone couldn't do that(and I can replace the battery at will). And because I don't need a 3" screen I don't need all those pixels. My current phone is good enough in that regard. Sooooo all in all... Do I want an iPhone. Hell yes I do, it's cool. Am I going to get one. No bloody way. Way too much for something I wouldn't use half the functions for.

    The Proximity sensor and ambient light sensor btw, are not just something that they tossed in there to be cool. They are requirements as if you tried to do the things that it can without those sensors you'd get a shitload of mess. Just try putting the iPhone in your pants pocket without those sensors and customers would come back screaming.

  146. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by dfghjk · · Score: 1

    "I assume you can find wikipedia.com or microsoft.com, so go do your own freaking homework.

    It is not my responsibility that you are this stupid and unwilling to educate yourself."

    This coming from someone who thinks WindowsCE is a variant of Windows. It's the responsibility of those making idiotic statements to back them up. I knew you couldn't.

    "BTW, yes I and a lot of other people on SlashDot have seen a lot of OS kernel code, from Linux to even NT core code, and especially MACH with a BSD interface, which is what OS X is. Do you also not realize that many of us have seen and worked with Darwin specifically?"

    I realize that there are people here who DO do that, but you aren't one of them.

    "Even just questioning the accuracy of the Windows Embedded or WindowsCE/Pocket PC example I gave you is an immediate red flag that you are more stupid than anyone would have expected even on SlashDot."

    That's because it's blatantly incorrect. WindowsCE/PocketPC (not that they've been called that for a long time) were independent products from Windows. They were not derivatives.

    "I apologize for responding to your post, I assumed you might care or have a clue of what you were talking about. It is obvious you don't."

    Surely you can bluff better than this. If you're going to call me stupid, perhaps you should check your facts first. Meanwhile, keep dreaming you're a Darwin programmer. Maybe someday after you reach puberty you might understand what that means.

  147. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 1

    You went from calling all my information incorrect to hitting on a single point that is harder to trace than others.

    So which is it now, everything I said was incorrect, or only you couldn't find kernel design references that were used in WinCE that came from NT, so you are going to pretend that is the only point you have contention with because you found out the other information I supplied was correct?

    To find the WinCe information you are looking for you have to go back to the timeline between NT 3.5 and NT 4.0. WinCE was designed specifically to fit into low MEMORY footprint devices, it was not designed for low power or any other claim you seem to be making.

    MS originally planned on using a variation of the kernel design of the Win3.1 or Win95 architecture, but when they found they could use a modified form of the NT kernel technologies without doing the client/server kernel design of NT(i.e. pushing the API interfaces to related to an agnostic kernel and embed the APIs needed for the WinCE platform), it would meet their minimalist memory requirements and offer features needed for terminal type computing devices, like true pre-emptive and near real-time performance.

    Actually because WinCE could drop the subsystem references and move the API more into the kernel interface directly than, it was more realtime than NT in the 90s because they moddifed the scheduler from the NT Model for WinCE.

    Now I know you aren't going to find this information on a lot of sites, as most people don't give a crap about the origins of WinCE, and its evolution into Windows Mobile. I honestly don't even care much about it other than I know it will not be around as the main mobile product from MS, as Vista Embedded is positioned to move into phone and other PDA markets, which is why the UMPC platform was designed to ease the development transition for desktop application designers to consider smaller screens and handheld devices as the first step.

    However if you look at the code for the WinCE kernel code, which is available for academic use, you will see that it draws on the NT kernel design 'SPECIFICALLY', but forgoes the upper end features of the NT kernel like subsystems, abstracted API interface, etc.

    BTW The reason I called the product WinCE, is because that is the basis of Windows Mobile/PocketPC and it WAS WinCE specifically when the original kernel design was put together and drawn on from the NT kernel designs.

    I'm not here to argue WinCE is the NT kernel, but its basis was the NT kernel and it ALSO was NOT SPECIFCIALLY designed for power usage any more than NT was, which was my main and original point. It was designed to fit in a small memory footprint and was used for small 'terminal' type computing originally, not Mobile or PDA technology.

    As I mentioned at the begining, you seem to focus only the credibility of WinCE, but you no longer are arguing about Windows Embedded XP/Vista. Why is that?

    Did you actually look it up and see that it is being used in 'portable' devies that 'power consumption' is important. Or did you find out that it is also being used in small memory footprint and real-time devices like routers and even freaking print servers?

    I actually think that no matter what I say, you are going to try to dismiss whatever crack you think you can get water into. So with that in mind I realize you are proud of your ignorance and determined to keep it.

    Good Day...

  148. Re:Look at the phones. Battery life was a secret. by dfghjk · · Score: 1

    "So which is it now, everything I said was incorrect, or only you couldn't find kernel design references that were used in WinCE that came from NT, so you are going to pretend that is the only point you have contention with because you found out the other information I supplied was correct?"

    It is none of that. You chose to argue with me, not the other way around. I'll point out that you offered nothing that actually contested my points. All you did was put words in my mouth.

    "MS originally planned on using a variation of the kernel design of the Win3.1 or Win95 architecture, but when they found they could use a modified form of the NT kernel technologies without doing the client/server kernel design of NT(i.e. pushing the API interfaces to related to an agnostic kernel and embed the APIs needed for the WinCE platform), it would meet their minimalist memory requirements and offer features needed for terminal type computing devices, like true pre-emptive and near real-time performance."

    So you now admit you were lying when you claimed "WindowsCE is technically using a variant of the NT fork, just like Vista."

    In reality, they only share design similarities. All this in response to my claim that "It is also using an OS not specifically written for low power devices." An absolute truism I will add.

    "I'm not here to argue WinCE is the NT kernel..."

    It's a good thing now that you've admitted it isn't. Why didn't you do that in the first place?

    "WinCE was designed specifically to fit into low MEMORY footprint devices, it was not designed for low power or any other claim you seem to be making."

    "...its basis was the NT kernel and it ALSO was NOT SPECIFCIALLY designed for power usage any more than NT was, which was my main and original point. It was designed to fit in a small memory footprint and was used for small 'terminal' type computing originally, not Mobile or PDA technology."

    Small memory footprint and low power go together and somewhat interrelate. It is, however, irrelevant since WinCE is your example, not mine. There are other OSes specifically designed for these types of devices and they emphasize both low power and low memory footprint since those are characteristics of such devices. It is a fact that MacOS was not designed with low power devices in mind. It is also true that it was not designed specifically for low memory footprint, although what that means changes with time. Talk WinCE all you want...all you are doing is redirecting an argument YOU started into something you hope you can win.

    Incidently, my OS X point was not criticism of the iPhone, it was a direct counter-argument to the absurd, fanboyish suggestion that "battery life was a secret feature of the iPhone". I never said it was an iPhone weakness or that it couldn't work well. Those were your mistakes.

    "As I mentioned at the begining, you seem to focus only the credibility of WinCE, but you no longer are arguing about Windows Embedded XP/Vista. Why is that?"

    Really? Just who introduced WinCE and Embedded XP/Vista into the conversation? I could give a shit and never mentioned any og those things.

    "I actually think that no matter what I say, you are going to try to dismiss whatever crack you think you can get water into. So with that in mind I realize you are proud of your ignorance and determined to keep it.

    Good Day..."

    Indeed! You are so kind and friendly.

    Now, why don't you go back and read my post which, while factually correct and not disparaging of the iPhone/OS X in any way, motivated an unjustified response from you, then stick your WinCE arguments up your ass?