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Apple Updates iPhone and iPod Touch
u-bend writes "With little publicity Apple has released new, higher-capacity models of the iPhone and iPod Touch. The new iPhone boasts 16 GB of storage and is priced at $499 (the 8 GB model remains at $399), and the new iPod Touch has 32 GB, also priced at $499. Although the price is still pretty hefty, it indicates that the capacity/price ratio on these wireless flash-based players is starting to move in the right direction."
Seriously, who fscking cares if Apple is doing a normal product refresh? I bet Dell updates the memory/hdd/etc on serveral of it's products every week, don't see that making frontpage news on Slashdot. It even scrolled across foxnews for God's sake, how insane is that? Has everyone drunk that much of Steve's acid spiked Kool-Aid?
This isn't a new product, it is just a ramp in the flash. Something EVERY flash based product does several times per year as prices and capacity get better. It is like announcing water is still wet.
Democrat delenda est
The iPhone is the same size as a current BlackBerry and millions of BB users don't find the phones bulky or fragile. The only people that think they are fragile are those that freak out on the first scratch. My BlackBerry 8830 has been kicked across the room and dropped on tile numerous times. Is it pristine? Oh no. But it still works just fine. When I get an iPhone it will be the same way. Battered and bruised, but I bet it still works.
My complaint on both products: No A2DP. Why...WHY?!! I'd go get an iTouch today if it had it. I want an A2DP player for the gym but also want an iTouch.
Just justify not having one because they cost too much and you do not have the money allocated for it. :)
Protip: You don't need to load every single song in your collection on your iPod. Smart playlists are your friend.
1) Works with libgpod based programs (e.g. gtkpod or Amarok)
2) Which is developed primarily on Linux
3) Which you don't have to employ, but allows you to use the online shop with the most extensive range of products
4) Ogg isn't a popular codec. At best, it is popular container format, which it isn't neither.
5) Works with every store, which provides MP3s or AAC, which contary to Ogg Vorbis ARE popular formats.
6) See 1)
7) For which, for some unknown reasons, exist a very active developer community, and a shitload open source software. Maybe even more than for any other portable player, thankyouverymuch.
8), 9), 10) Point taken, but mainly a matter of taste.
"Between strong and weak, between rich and poor [...], it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free"
It's odd that most people are willing to pay $20,000 for a car they drive 30 minutes a day but they aren't willing to spend $400 on a phone that they use all the time. Most people benefit more from having a good cell phone than a good car, and the difference between a good phone and a crappy phone is much more pronounced than the difference between a good car and crappy car.
The iPod Touch does not use a hard drive to store data. It's flash memory based.
Seriously, how nit-picky do you need to get? Do you remind people that they're not really burning a DVD, but merely heating the dye on the disc?
The problem with that comparison is that spending $20,000 on a car is one of the stupidest things that young people do. It's already an absurd amount of money, and if they figured out how much it actually cost them in future, if they would instead invest some of that money, then the decision to buy that car is completely brain-damaged.
So then what your argument is saying is essentially "If you're so stupid that you would do X, then how can you not do Y, which is not nearly as stupid."
I don't know, the Nokia N800 probably comes closest to an iPod Touch.
There really isn't a good comparison to the iPod Touch or iPhone because "elegant design" doesn't translate very well to a bullet point on a comparison chart (hence the famous Slashdot article about the iPod). It really comes down to whether the Apple touch interface, ease of use, and pretty hardware design are worth the extra cost to you or not.
rm -rf
except that many people spend a lot more than 30 minutes a day in the car. and even if you dont on average; chances are you will take a road trip in it and spend 5+hours in a single sitting. also, if you buy a piece of crap you can easily spend more on fixing it, or buying another piece of crap in the near future. its not an absurd amount of money either.
there is a major difference though. if you dont also pay another seperate subscription fee for the internet and all that crap the iphone is useless. so its not just 400 anymore...
also how often do you really use your cell phone everyday? I use mine in place of a land line, and not counting calls to my girlfriend i doubt i spend 30 minutes on the thing per day. I'm not going to spend 400 on a phone that does crap I don't need it to
do because I have other things that do those things for me. Also the iphone isn't significantly better than many other phones out there now. You are trying to say that the iphone is a bentley to the blackberry curve being an acura and a razr (v3m) being a hyundai. the reality couldnt be further from the truth.
what do you spend so much time on your phone doing anyhow? 'browing the internet?' oh see I have this thing called a computer in the form of a laptop that I use when I'm at work or at home. So i cant check my email while i walk from my office to my car and while i drive home? this is a problem how? "i listen to music" oh see i just listen via my laptop/mp3 player at work and my car stereo when i drive and my home stereo when im at home.
most people Benefit from having a good cell phone more so than a good car? That part is interesting and I might agree; the problem is that you dont define what a good car or a good cell phone is. If you ask me a good cell phone is one that has reasonably good battery life, gets good reception, has plan condusive to my usage patterns, and allows me to use a headset (wired or bluetooth) with it. I don't care if it is color, plays music, makes toast, goes on the internet, plays games, etc. I care that it has good audio quality for phone calls. I would also argue that pretty much every phone out there meets this already. If I didn't have a digital camera, didnt have an mp3 player, and felt like I really needed to engage endlessly in text messages and browsing the net from my phone, sure its a good option. Other than that its just luxury crap. A better analogy would have been comparing someone spending 40K or more on a car. That's the person who should shutup.
Buying a 20K honda accord that will likely last 10+ years wihtout needing a major repair can be a decent investment for someone coming out of college (not that your car is or should be considered as such, its an asset by definition but more often its a liability).
and the difference between a 20K car and a 40k one can be a bit more pronounced. even a 14K car and a 20K car can be significant. you seem to toss those out as trivial and undetectable... i'm pretty sure you will notice the difference between a ford focus and toyota camry/honda accord, and if not today then when the ford dies in 4 years you'll notice the difference.
The other difference is lifetime, the 20K car is expected to live > 6 years, I'd expect it to live more than 8 maybe 10+
the iphone is definately not expected to live that long because a. there is no market for it when you are done with it in 2-4 years and b. because something else will come along and replace it.
I would instead redirect your argument at headphones. You'll pay 400 for iphone, who knows what for your ipod and your music and your stereo, but you wont pay even 50 bucks for a remotely non garbage pair of headphones? (realistically i would say 100$ but I'll start at 50, plus most people are going to want that same pair to be 'bad enough' to be able to use at the gym or running. Or mattresses, you only spend 8 hours a day or more lying on it. But your concern is over a cell phone.
my biggest gripe is "the difference
"Jazz isn't dead, it just smells funny" ~Frank Zappa
EdelFactor
I think it's an important distinction. Our specific language is becoming genericized all the time (q.v. "hacker", "brick", etc). There is no down-side to properly calling the thing "removable storage" or "portable drive" or whatever, as opposed to "hard disk", which is simply wrong. I am all for making the effort to gently help people use accurate and non-misleading terminology.
-b
myselfmusic