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3G iPhone Going Into Production In May
A few folks noted the rumor mill churning over 3G iPhones coming soon. Apparently they might be going into production as early as May, and announced somewhere in the 2nd quarter. Hopefully they manage to stick a GPS and another 16 gigs of memory in this one.
Because the iPhone was a flop outside North America.
A few folks noted the rumor mill churning over 3G iPhones coming soon.
But my iPhone already has 8 gigs!
If it did, I'd buy it at any cost!
I was thinking about this the other day. Why does the iPhone "succeed"? It is essentially a rehash of a Treo. Sure, it has a nicer interface, but is that it?
I don't think it is so soon. It's already almost been a year since the original came out.
This isn't Apple's other electronic markets, cell phones are updated almost the time, and usually it's not just a "slap a stick of bigger memory on it and call it a day" sort of revision. They need and should be adding more features to compete with the rest of the market.
With that said, I don't understand why the hell people keep begging for GPS, I just feel that there are so many other better self GPS only products that get the job done that Apple shouldn't bother with that market. Besides, if you're shelling out hundreds on an iPhone, I have a feeling you may have a GPS system of some sorts already.
Why so late? It's an iPhone, one of the most expensive phones on the market. I would expect to get 3G if I'm paying that much for a phone regardless of market penetration.
Isn't this a day early?
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Strangely I was thinking the opposite - why so late?
(And really - do we have a Slashdot story for every 3G phone that comes out? I had to double-check my calendar to make sure I hadn't slipped five years or more into the past. Maybe we can have news stories about other new fangled technologies like texting, MMS and Java?)
Also note, that in countries where the telecommunications system is in a stranglehold by a company dedicated to obsolete standards (NextG anyone?), the few providers of 3G are the only usable cellular data method, there is not EDGE so...
:)
Or as you said, if a flip flop saves a flop, well, meh.
I stick to my nokia (edge, 3g, gsm, 802.11g) I think
...
I took the introduction of the "location approximation" feature within the iPhone maps application to be an indication that Apple are thinking the same way as yourself. I think most people can live with the functionality as it is. I understand that GPS uses more battery power and I'd guess most of us already have it in our cars.
I'd be surprised if GPS was in the next revision.
My blog
We're tired of...
"Three PDAs for the Elven Lords
Seven cell phones for the Dwarf Lords and their halls of stone
Nine MP3 players for the
Three Cell Phones for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven PDAs for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine MP3 players for Mortal Men doomed to die,
We want...
One Gadget the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Gadget to rule them all, One Gadget to find them,
One Gadget to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
***
(ie: I don't want a separate cell phone, PDA, MP3 player, GPS and batman utility belt. Especially NOT when the technology is available to easily have all 4 in a single device. And the only thing stopping it from happening is BS marketing idiots.)
Because Apple is just that good. I mean, who cares that both Fedora and Ubuntu have a new version coming out in April. Obviously, just the fact that Apple's going into production in May is news!!! Whoops, did I show my bias?
Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
stereo Bluetooth /and/ standard 3.5mm jack
Camera (at least 5MP)
Mini4 USB2.0 w/MSD capability
extended capacity battery or the ability to plug-in portable power (Power Monkey via usb?)
voice recording
DAB radio, or at the very least, FM
Expandable memory via microSD
Why the original iphone didn't get all these features I'll never know, and if the next gen doesn't get it I'll not bother; I'll be sticking with my Sagem My401c.
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
- AutoFocus/Flash for the Camera
- 3G
- GPS
and I'm set, getting rid of a bunch of electronics for just one deviceWhat else do you guys think could be added?
I do already have three fruit-company-branded computers lying around the house, so gay tech interests me - I'm not gay, so I must be a designer/artist/typography guy/musician. The point is that a 3G iPhone is being rumored since the announcement of the first iphone, and his Steveness himself said in january 07 that 3g was in the plans. This is still by no means news, although I agree that it is likely to happen soon, so I find it an item more for macrumors or appleinsider.
With that much extra memory on top of how much it already has it'll have way more memory than my desktop machine (8x or more). They're not trying to make the iPhone interesting for Microsoft developers and adding a version of Boot Camp to it, are they? Even with 16GB+ I'm not sure I'd want to try and run Vista on an iPhone.
Because a GPS that network enabled is a great tool.
Traveling? Want to find a restaurant? Just use your cell with GPS and you can even dial the number and make reservations. Yes auto GPS systems have that but do you carry them in your pocket? When you travel you may or may not have a GPS in your rental car. Yea you could take your portable one with you but what if you don't have a rental car and are just walking? What if you are riding with someone that doesn't have a GPS?
Again it is always in my pocket. It is the same reason that I have web browser on my phone and a media player.
It is always with me and it is small and light.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Such is the case for most of the connectivity technologies that see more rapid adoption overseas. There are large areas of the USA that are simply not densely populated enough to justify the expense of rolling out cutting-edge networks there. It isn't a matter of the US simply being behind the technological curve, as some like to assume.
Pardon the PHB nature of this next statement, but these are the types of differences that turn a 3 year ROI into a 10 year ROI, and slow down adoption.
Most reviews of A2DP that I've seen mention words like "buggy" or "unreliable". I'd bet that it is relevant for Apple's decision.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
the locate feature is absolutely useless to me. there aren't enough wi-fi access points to be any good.
Besides i don't want GPS built in. As GPS uses a ton a battery power. I want a Bluetooth, or other dongle that occasionally sends GPS data. Why can't I get a car dock, with a built in GPS receiver? Just plug the iPhone in I can listen to tunes, hook up the bluetooth to my car's bluetooth headset, and have driving map to go by all from one device.
Unfortunately the SDK, and Apple's EULA's prevent exactly that from ever happening.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
I do already have GPS but I really hope the next iPhone has it and is available soon. If the first version had GPS I would already own an iPhone and I probably wouldn't have a normal suction cup GPS. I would instead be suction cupping my iPhone to the windshield.
Now that I have a good car GPS system to save me from getting lost all the time, I want one in my pocket. I can think of a few times when I have been out in a city on foot, and had to worry about getting lost. It would have been nice to have GPS in my pocket whith the confidence that I would never get lost again. Knowing that you will never get lost makes you free to explore. This is as true in a car as on foot.
I think the main reason that the iPhone doesn't have GPS is that it is a tough feature to really get right. All the GPS systems I have owned have had their flaws. I can understand why you wouldn't want to introduce all that complexity and accompanying scrutiny when you are trying to get an already compelling (to some people) product out the door. I'm still basing my next cell phone purchase on GPS capabilities.
when fedora and Ubuntu comes out they too will get posted.
other than that Apple makes great random filler for the editors that always generate ad pageviews.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
I have a Garmin nuvi 660 and a Nokia E70. Both are fine devices. But there are MANY times when carrying my GPS is impractical (basically anytime I'm not in a car) and having a phone with even a subset of the Garmin's abilities would be handy. I can do the google maps thing same as the iPhone, but it is not very useful especially compared with a real GPS. Personally I don't listen to much music but a GPS built in to my cell phone (again, with appropriate navigation software) would be a huge win for me. One of the reasons I did not buy an iPhone was because it didn't have any built in GPS capabilities and I found a way to get my Nokia to integrate (via bluetooth) with a compact GPS. Not a perfect solution but a good one. Should the iPhone get some good GPS capabilities that would make it a LOT more attractive to me.
I don't have an iPhone, but according to the Apple FAQ:
How does the Maps location based service (LBS) work?
LBS provides your approximate location using information based on your proximity to known cellular network towers and Wi-Fi networks (when on and available). The more accurate the available information, the smaller the circle identifying your position on the map. The feature is not available in all areas. Known Wi-Fi networks are predominantly in urban areas. In order to provide your location, data is collected in a form that does not personally identify you. If you do not want such data collected, do not enable the feature. Not enabling the feature will not impact the functionality of your iPhone.
I'm assuming you have cell towers near you. Sure, when driving you'll need more accurate information than the LBS provides. But on foot, a map of the surrounding area should be good enough for most.
Has anyone seen an FCC approval filing for this yet ?
Surely since they had to pre-announce the first iPhone to protect against the FCC announcing it for them, we could expect to see a similar request before a 3G iPhone comes into being ?
It seems to me, barring a few specific places, that it takes an act of will to get lost in a modern city. Again, we're integrateing hundreds of dollars of technology with a multibillion dollar supporting infrastructure to replace a FOLDED PAPER MAP that we might need to use for TWO MINUTES EVERY THREE YEARS. This statement will be true for 90%+ of all pedestrians and drivers.
Society of idiot feckless pussies. We are that.
2) What service are you using that only rolled out 3g "within the past 2 years." I have been hard pressed to find a date for when Verizon rolled out their ev-do network (circa 2003--5 years ago--seems roughly it), but I'd guess I've been using it for 3-4 years. Verizon/Sprint/etc just rolled out their RevA ev-do, if that's possibly what you are confused by?
Flop? It isn't on sale in Belgium. Other then that, you might be right. The reason might be that people in Europe are not realy surprised if they see a phone that can do some other things as well.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
Does this mean we can finally get iPhones in the AT&T-less hinterlands of Vermont. AT&T doesn't operate any towers in the state, so they won't let you open an account with a Vermont address. I think Alaska is in the same boat.
#include <signature.h>
Most cell towers don't have accurate information - from your quote "the feature is not available in all areas"
Every time I've used it it's either said no data was available or drawn a huge circle around the city I'm in - that's completely useless.
So - what is the reason for not having 3G on the east and west coast of USA? I would guess the population density there is comparable to most of Europe.
And don't think we have 100% 3G coverage over here(Denmark) - far from it. I would guess by area we're around 40%(Complete guesstimate), but coverage by population is at least 80% - I see nothing that prevents USA from doing something similar.
I would say though that if you are going the separate device route AND only going to use the GPS in the car, you might just consider getting a stand alone GPS. I have one for driving and it works brilliantly. Integration with my phone would be nifty but isn't really necessary if you just use it in the car. If you plan to use the GPS outside a car though I'm totally with you.
"What a lot of North American readers (like yourself) don't seem to understand..."
I fail to see anything in the parent post that suggests that he doesn't understand. In fact, it's likely that he understands all too well. Perhaps rather than take an argumentative tone in response, you simply add your point to further reinforce the his.
Now, if such large areas in the US can't justify 3G then how could they justify WiFi as an alternative? That is, after all, the Apple position on the matter.
Maybe that's the problem with the cell phone market. Too many new "features."
My girlfriend just got a new phone to replace her two year old one that broke. The new one is almost imperceptibly smaller, the camera is slightly higher resolution, and the default ringtone is more annoying and more difficult to change.
Apple has done very well by resisting the urge to cram more "features" into their devices. Most famously, the iPod.
"With that said, I don't understand why the hell people keep begging for GPS, I just feel that there are so many other better self GPS only products that get the job done that Apple shouldn't bother with that market."
Really? You are having trouble grasping the concept of integration? You see no value in having only one device in your pocket instead of two? A GPS unit you have with you will always be better than one you don't have.
As for battery life, GPS only consumes power when it is on. I'm amazed how people don't bother to think before commenting.
Most providers do offer it in major metropolitan areas. AT&T Wireless, the carrier for the iPhone, for instance, shows their data coverage here. A subset of these areas supports 3G, as shown here. It's pretty easy to take a look at the data map, though, and get a feel for where there is population density that supports the rollout of the tech. If you go here you can see a similar coverage map for Verizon Wireless -- click "Broadband & V CAST" and look at the dark blue areas.
Why do iPods outsell other MP3 players? You can tout their UI or iTunes, but I honestly believe it comes down to the fact that they look cool and, perhaps more importantly, many folks who buy them are trying to also make a fashion (or cultural) statement. No longer does one need to have an opinion on individual issues...or evaluate the superiority of a specific product. No...all you need to do is grab a brand and slap it on your forehead.
Someone mentioned that the iPhone is essentially a sexed-up Treo. As a long-time Treo owner, I very much disagree. It isn't even close to a Treo...at least in terms of functionality.
I love my Treo. Is the PalmOS dead? Almost certainly. Is the Treo hardware innovative? Not anymore. Not even close. So why do I prefer the Treo over an iPhone? Countless reasons, 3G and multiple carriers aside (and those are fairly large issues to set aside).
Start with the fact that I can install whatever software I want on my Treo...and do - MP3 players, streaming internet radio players, video players (and recorders), a JVM, games, eBook readers, an RPN calculator, PDF readers, DocsToGo to both view AND create Microsoft Office documents, third-party phone dialers, third-party web browsers and email clients, third-party IM clients...whatever I want...and they are not AJAX applications. They are rich client-side applications with access to the full range of phone functionality.
Memory is another issue. How much RAM does an iPhone have? My Treo? It has infinite storage...since it accepts SD cards. I just came back from vacation...and I brought about 30 hours of video, including full length movies and content from my TiVo. I also brought several thousand MP3s and hundreds of eBooks. SD cards are dirt cheap and extremely portable...and essentially allow you to have infinite storage on the go...and obviate the need to upgrade every time that you have gigabyte lust.
Is the Treo UI sexy? Hell no. Sure, you can change it in many ways with third-party applications, but in general, the iPhone kills it in this regard...but the UI is also very FUNCTIONAL. I can enter an appointment in one click, have a global find function, can cut and paste, can search for a contact by typing a few letters and have it match either first name, last name, occupation, or company (using TakePhone). I can delete (or mark read) multiple email messages at once. I have a real keyboard with tactile feedback and ten other fully programmable hard buttons...and a D-pad. I have utility applications that can change phone behavior in almost anyway - how lights flash for various events, when the phone rings, how it rings (for example, different ring tones for different people...or times of day). I even have a utility that allows me to send a specific SMS to the phone and have it perform any one of a number of functions, include lock, wipe memory, or wipe memory and SD card. The real issue is that the platform is OPEN for development. Applications developed with the iPhone SDK will be crippled...and will have to live in tightly defined sandbox.
Oh well, Palm is all but dead...but that doesn't make my 3G Treo any less valuable...at least until something better comes along. I will admit, the iPhone's 320x480 screen (50% larger than my Treo's 320x320 screen) looks AWESOME...and I would love to have it. Safari also beats the pants off of Blazer and Opera Mini...and WiFi would be killer in certain situations. Thus, I am keeping a very close eye on the next iPhone...and developments in the iPhone SDK world...as I am with Android. I seriously doubt my next phone will be Palm-based...and I am no longer on contract so I am ready to jump platforms...but I have just not seen the compelling reason yet.
Your mileage may vary.
BTW, whatever phone you have, this software is an excellent way to get video on to it - http://www.pqdvd.com./ I am not affiliated with them in any way. I am just a very happy customer.
cheers,
Steve
What I really meant about 'rolling out' was 'mainstreamed'. 3G was really new 4 years ago, but now I think almost every phone product line sold by Sprint, for example, offers several EVDO ('SprintSpeed') compatible models.
My blog
Wouldn't that be an opportunity for Apple? Are they really that dependent on others to fix the bugs first? Can't Apple do their own bluetooth software AND the headset to match?
I thought Apple was innovative. The only thing innovative is people's excuses.
Forget 3G. I'm curious if it'll have Michael Uy's Fly Eye Camera. The patent is a couple of years old. I wonder if Apple is just sitting on the patent or if they're actively developing it.
A key benefit of the camera is if you're on a video conference, your image will be looking straight at the camera instead of off screen.
then MAYBE you'll have a decent argument about why maps are superior in every way. Maps are useful to be sure but GPS devices do a lot more than just show where streets are located. I use my GPS almost daily. Bet you I get a lot more value out of my GPS than you do from your map.
They can't. That was a stall tactic by Apple to be able to give users very good performance in some limited situations while waiting on the 3G chips with lower battery drain to come out. I love my iPhone, but I'm not about to claim Apple really expected WiFi to be the primary network access method any time in the near future. But it sure does improve tech demos.
Every time Apple sneezes they get press and a post on Slashdot. I continue to marvel at Apple's marketing expertise. They're being lauded now for releasing a 3G device a year late. Hey guess what - The AT&T site lists 6 other 3G smart phones, and 5 have GPS if you count Blackberry (which does not have 3G yet). That's just the Smartphones.
Personal anecdote warning:
I am an Apple fan and always have been. My wife tried the iPhone and hated it. I think her words were, 'This is the most overpriced, over-hyped toy I've ever used.'
It would help me greatly in many situations. Like when I went to Detroit(save money on plane tickets vs. Toronto) trying to find the airport, it seems easy from the mapquest directions but one wrong turn and I'm instantly lost and have to rush to find how to get back to where I'm going so I don't miss my plane(yes I found my way back to the interstate and was early for my flight).
Actually we have ~80% 3G coverage from both 3 and TDC.
I already have a 3.5G phone with a full WebKit-based browser, multi-tasking, and full programmability. It has a standard USB modem, GPS, a full Bluetooth stack, and tons of software. I can use as a tethered modem, via Bluetooth, and even use it as a WiFi access point using 3.5G for Internet access.
The iPhone has crippled software, crippled hardware, and crippled contracts. There is no reason on earth to buy one.
No, but it requires a high power receiver. GPS signals are some of the weakest ones you can actually use with consumer gear and it takes a lot of work (battery power) to get them.
Worse, because GPS signals require so much work to read, receivers typically require several minutes to achieve a usable result from a cold start, so the option of leaving it off for the 99% of the time you're not using it is less appealing because staring at a busy cursor on your phone for 5 minutes sucks when you just want some quick directions.
That said, cell tower location approximation systems are pretty lame. I tried using one on my phone and in some areas (dense urban areas) it would do ok, mostly, but once you got out into the burbs your error bars start expanding rapidly. It's not completely useless (you can find the street name you're on and only have to look in the circle on your phone most likely), but compared to a real live GPS system it's rather unsatisfying.
I read the internet for the articles.
Dude.. You live in Chicago, it's a grid, lucky you. Try to find your way around Houston or New Orleans without help sometime. It's a bona fide nightmare. New Orleans has streets that are parallel in one place and intersect in others, they call it a the "Crescent City" for a reason. It also has streets change names at random places for reasons that, while historically interesting, make no navigational sense. New Orleans is a bit unique by any standard, but most of what I like to call the "post-WW II Southern Cities" are huge sprawling things with little planning and often several "downtown areas" interspersed with residential subdivisions and bedroom communities. I've been to New York and Chicago, their well planned grid and awesome public transportation are things to be envied... Most of us do, because we don't have them.
I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
This isn't true anymore. About 83% of the U.S. population lives in cities. We just aren't a rural country anymore. The simpler answer is that we have a de facto telecommunications monopoly in this country, and we all know how much monpolies love innovation.
I am a believer of momentum and curves.
Perhaps this will be what it takes to bring the phone into Canada? 2 of our 3 major providers are 3G (Telus, Bell), so it the 3G iPhone would make perfect sense as a starting point for a Canadian release.
It's almost cruel how little Apple has said about a Canadian release (nothing). They haven't even hinted, nor have Telus, Bell, or Rogers. Only recently have we gotten a sign a 'something' in that there's a "French - Canadian" language seeting in the new 2.0 software.
Sigh, I'll keep waiting.
Actually, thats not true. Telstra here in Australia has recently rolled out 3G UMTS at 850MHz in rural and remote areas. And the population density of the areas that now have NextG coverage is comparable to the population density of large areas of the US.
There is no reason why carriers in the US couldn't do the same and roll out UMTS at 850 or 700 or some other number that gives the same coverage as Telstra are getting.
If you search through the various Apple/iPhone forums, you'll find something that users
are particularly annoyed at : speakerphone mode, and the speaker in general. One of the major
problems is that its maximum volume is abysmally low. How hard is it or how much cost does
it take to put in a beefier microspeaker? Probably next to nothing. Are they trying to save
a few pennies? I'd like something ala the Qtek 9000. Not only does this thing have stereo sound
but it has about everything but the kitchen sink. If they'd just go with dual speakers on the iPhone
I'd be happy though.
jdb2
Rank State pop per sq. mi pop per sq km
1 New Jersey 1,138.0 439.39
2 Rhode Island 1,003.2 387.35
3 Massachusetts 809.8 312.67
4 Connecticut 702.9 271.40
5 Maryland 541.9 209.23
6 New York 401.9 155.18
7 Delaware 401.1 154.87
8 Florida 296.4 114.43
9 Ohio 277.3 107.05
10 Pennsylvania 274.0 105.80
11 Illinois 223.4 86.27
12 California 217.1 83.85
The point is that more than 44% of the population of the USA live in areas more densely populated than Spain, and more than 30% of the population live in areas that compare in population density to France. So stop using it as an excuse for not providing decent services. At the very least you should be able to provide services equivalent to France for around a 3rd of the population. In some densely populated states, the services compare poorly with Greenland (much less densely populated than any state in the USA including Alaska), Australia, Iceland or Canada, any of which would be in the bottom three by population density if they were states in the USA.
I get fed up of wah wah, population density, wah wah anytime you challenge a USAian on why the roads are rubbish, or the network coverage is so bad.
You're right about TMO. I keep wondering why every Sidekick revision is stuck on slow data access when it's a nice little data device, but TMO is partly to blame here for not embracing 3G yet. It was nice when it went to using Edge last year, but that's still not good enough.
that does everything the iPhone plans on doing (and more):
http://www.wireless.att.com/businesscenter/atttilt/
You can even change the system look and feel to have it look and behave like an iphone... for 1/3 the cost.
Wake me when the iPhone gets an 800x480 screen.
-516
My Nokia N73 - which I seriously do not like very much do just that and that s about the only thing I like about it :) It's ugly, bulky, the user interface is a horror story, the os is buggy - but when I get into my car it connects to my bluetooth gps receiver and my bluetooth headset - and the screen is big enough so the navigation actually works.
To be not irritating, GPS has to be ALWAYS on. If you turn it off it takes at least a few minutes to reacquire. Probably more for the crappy little antennas it has to work with in a cell phone.
If you look at a coverage map, you'll see those areas you just listed are covered quite well.
I realize it's quite tempting for people inside the US and out to play these kind of one-upsmanship games, but let's not assume that market forces aren't working here the same way they work everywhere. I'm not sure if that was sarcasm about the Greenland coverage, but according to the only coverage map I could find, there's no "densely populated area" with that little coverage. If there was a way to expand coverage with the types of efficiency enjoyed by geographically smaller areas, we'd be doing the same.
Note that AT&T's 3G coverage appears to have significantly improved since the iPhone was released. Last July, I took a look at AT&T's coverage, and it looked a lot more spotty than it is now. There are still waaaay too many holes for my liking, but the coverage is starting to look minimally acceptable (to me).
I'd guess the real reason, that the iPhone uses EDGE and not 3G, is that the chosen iPhone carrier (AT&T) didn't have sufficient 3G coverage at the iPhone release. If so, then it would have been utterly pointless to release a 3G iPhone if very few people could use it (in California, where Apple's HQ is -- don't know about the East coast or other places).
Don't get your hopes up, people. Even if you ignore the reports that say that manufacturing bidding is still ongoing, and assume that the "production in May" report is correct, "production in May" is likely test production runs. Add some time for working out the production kinks, and for building up stock, and you're probably looking at a Q3 release date, if things go well. Given the timing, my wild-*** guess is that Apple might be shooting for a "fall, back-to-school" release (August/September, maybe very late July). However, if bidding really is still ongoing, I wouldn't expect a new iPhone before Q4 (but I'd love to be wrong). I don't see Apple making any early announcements, either, due to possible Osbourne effects.
It's not like a hardware manufacturer can press a magic button, and fill up the hundreds of Apple/AT&T stores with new iPhones overnight.
That hasn't been my experience. I've used a Garmin pretty extensively. When I leave it on all the time, it usually knows where it is seconds after walking outside. When I turn it off and drive a good distance away, it takes maybe 30 seconds to reacquire enough satellites to get its bearings. It may not get all of the satellites that it wants right away, but it's always been spot on after 30 seconds.
hear hear....
the only thing i find lacking in the iPhone is the lack of enabled bluetooth profiles. lack of a2dp on a music device just seems strange, i can somewhat understand not enabling the DUN profile (though i don't really see it adding that much more to their network throughput), and, most importantly, not having the serial port profile enabled just seems ridiculous on a device that's supposed to be a hub for other, separate devices.
The IRS is the one organization that you don't want to fuck with. Remember, these are the guys who took down Al Capone.
"When the president does it, that means it's not illegal." - Richard M. Nixon
but there's just too much missing. Problem isn't so much it doesn't have 3G - it's the current clunky phone I want to get rid of HAS 3G (and for that matter the one before it)... I don't even use 3G that much, just a handy (if pricey) internet connection for my laptop when out and about. I (like many people) already own an iPod. I love my ipod. I carry it about everywhere with me - but I'm not going to buy an iPhone and still carry my iPod. Sooo if Apple wants to sell me an iPhone that I'll replace my 5G 60G ipod with, then well... I'd like some more memory. I'm not worried too much about the cost, just give me the option..please? 32Gig would at least ease the musical cull.. Then I'm running TomTom on my current phone, so well GPS would be nice on an iphone. Otherwise I'm going to end up lugging around my current phone as well as my iPod. I just get the idea that the iPhone is never actually going to deliver what I want. It's just going to be a continual drip-feed of features. If anybody is listening. GPS (with decent software available), 3G, 32G+, ability to install all manner of funky apps etc would sway me. Anything less just frustrates me (as the UI is so pant-dribbling gorgeous).
I bet you running a real old PC 300mhz box in a low res screen 320x240 with win2000 or directx will have faster performance.
Any slowness is due to 50 layers of api calls/stack pushes, none direct frame buffers and probably slow REAL ram speed (not flash ram speed)
Sure the iphone has 8gig (RAM) but thats storage, not DRAM, if they put in 1gig DDR ram in there it would fly, but fast ram uses OODLES of power.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Two of the items on your list are available if you jailbreak your phone.
1. RPN Calculator: You can run emulators of the HP15C, (and the 12C and 16C for that matter). These are native apps, so they run at top speed, that is to say, faster than the original calculators. The touch screen interface is quite lovely for these calcs, and the best part is, HP fans already know them!
2. IM Client: Apollo is a wonderful chat client which I use all the time. You can also install BitchX to IRC from the terminal, or you can install an iphone version of colloquy.
Just thought I'd point those 2 out. Enjoy!
I am the penguin that codes in the night.
consider how it's not just marketing from Apple themselves, but from phone shops that promote it, and news media from Slashdot to the BBC.
Somewhere along the way you left the land of Marketing, and entered "Word of Mouth". This is simply undirected endorsements generated primarily by users who like the device - and there are many of them. Word of Mouth is a different force because it's a symptom of a product that works really well for people, unlike Marketing which is a force that tries to convince people of value in a product. Marketing can only succeed for so long before attributes of a product are well known, and then it must succeed on the merits. Word of Mouth is derived *from* attributes inherent to a device, and is thus an indicator of potential popularity in a way Marketing can never be.
Apple appear to be taking advantage that many people are unaware how almost every phone (even cheap ones) can do Internet access as standard, so they are able to promote it as a new and wonderful thing (even on Slashdot, I see this happening).
Apple is LEVERAGING the fact that until now, for normal people, internet access through phones kind of sucked. The web browsers certainly sucked. The mail clients kind of sucked. Platform stability often sucked. The iPhone is the first mobile device where if I want to look up something, and my computer is across the room or downstairs - I'll still use the iPhone because it's in my hand and will work just as well. Can any other device pass that test for 90% of the populace?
And it's not clear it has "succeeded" apart from in the sense of not flopping? Sure it's succeeded, but so has the Treo and many other phones, but if you mean been a success above all others, that's not clear at all to me.
Refer back to the very Word of Mouth that has you so mystified, where the iPhone gets press for coming out with a 3G model where no other phone does. Why is that not a big flashing neon sign that something akin to success may be occuring under your very nose?
If you look around success is very clear from the wide base of different kinds of people that use the iPhone unlike the far more technical userbase of previous smartphones. Just like the result of addition of one and one is not much of a mystery even before I cross over the equals sign, or an ill-written mystery novel gives away too many clues before the ending and you figure out who the killer is by page ten. Some people on Slashdot seem to delight in being oblivious to such clues as to growth of market, just as they have made a sport of rejecting things in the past like Blu-Ray and the iPod itself.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I've been looking at getting a Treo for years - the thing that stopped me was actually the keyboard, because all I ever really wanted was a Treo with a large screen and graffiti (Jot) support instead of a keyboard. And also (perhaps as a result of the keyboard) the Treo was always just a little too bulky to suit me, when I always loved the form factor of the classic Palm V.
But Palm never shipped that phone - Apple did. And so now I am an iPhone user. Palm abandoned the core of what made them great, lost their way somewhere along the path of mobile integration and schizophrenic PalmOS/Windows Mobile development.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
To understand, that is:
but I honestly believe it comes down to the fact that they look cool and, perhaps more importantly, many folks who buy them are trying to also make a fashion (or cultural) statement.
I'm sure you believe that. However, it's quite wrong.
For some people the iPod may be about fashion. But fashion is not an enduring force - fashion is fickle. By the very longevity of the platform, the iPod has shown there is something stronger than fashion at work. Fashion is also self-limiting - you can never reach a truly broad range of people by just being fashionable, because different people have different ides of what is fashionable. The iPod is used by many different segments of society, not all of them fashion conscious.
You are being just as superficial as the iPod buyers you scorn by not looking past the surface of the device to see what forces make it truly popular. You confuse the style of a product being sufficient to ALLOW use by the fashionable, with that being the reason FOR use. The iPod, no matter how shiny, is not a belt buckle.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
That's been my experience, as well. I've used older GPS units that did, in fact, take several minutes to acquire satellites every time you turned them on. All recent models that I've used, though, incorporate various trickery to greatly reduce this time. My Garmin Nuvi acquires satellites incredibly fast, and even the GPS that was in my Blackjack II would always pinpoint my location in less than a minute.
I get pictures today - it's called email. If your friends do not have a phone that supports email, they need a new phone or you need new friends. Friends don't let friends use cell phone relics of the past like MMS.
Flash support so I can finally have the real internet in my pocket (contrary to the advertisement's claims, I DO NOT have the real internet in my pocket). If you think you do have the real internet in your pocket, try visiting a car company web site with your iPhone.
Have you tried those same sites with other phones that supposedly support Flash?
Where there is Flash a smart company always has another option. The real internet is accessible. Some people have driven off that path for too long now, and are facing a reality check.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Versamail allows you to create/delete/and manage iMAP folders, and I can cut and paste. I guess you never needed either of those functions?
Actually no, how often are you REALLY managing IMAP folders on the phone? That's the kind of setup most people might do every few years (if ever), so we're not hurting for the lack of being able to change what is there.
As for cut & paste - I can quote email. I can send other people links to things. I can send images. Miss cut & paste? Every now and then, but not much and the other advantages far outweigh that seeming lack. It's never stopped me from doing what I wanted to do.
The address book integration is also better, though Palm's stuff along those lines was always decent.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
People today are using network proxying from the iPhone to share internet connections with laptops. You just need to install SSH... wouldn't you rather use a network connection shared via WiFi anyway?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
SHOW ME THE iPHONE
SHOW ME - THE iPHONE
SHOW - ME - THE - iPHONE
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
is that it think it is between 1.5km and 6km (1 to 4 mi) from where it really is.
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
What a lot of North American readers (like yourself) don't seem to understand is that the population density in the countries where 3G coverage is widespread justifies that widespread deployment of 3G technology by giving companies a speedier return on their investment.
and your argument falls on it's face when you look at the deployment of 3G in Australia, and it's population density is far far below North America's
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Dude.. You live in Chicago, it's a grid, lucky you.
Unlucky him. No character in a place like that.
It also has streets change names at random places for reasons that, while historically interesting, make no navigational sense.
Ah, so its like the UK. Where places have some history and character. Great. Sounds like a place I'd like. I know the music is up to the job.
Hate to burst your bubble dude, but for some of us, the thing you envy (the grid) is sterile and featureless.
Who orders food before they get to a restaurant they've never been to? Practically no one. Its not a reason to own a GPS. It is a marketing strawman. If you have not been to that restaurant before you don't know their menu, and you don't know their execution, thus ordering before you get there will gaurantee you only order what you know, not what they are capable of.
For those of you that can't live without a GPS, I pity you. Map reading is a bloody useful skill. One that you will need should your batteries fail you when you are several thousand metres above sea level on a mountain somewhere (and yes, that is worth doing, so get some exercise!) Yes, a GPS is useful, but life goes on without one and the damn thing does not need to be able to play MP3s, its a navigational device, not a disco.
Stephen
Is that a good enough excuse?
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A big twelve channel parallel receiver with a good antenna can acquire within 30 seconds, provided you haven't gone too far away. I've got a handheld Garmin and that's the way it works. I also have a wrist-watch style Garmin Forerunner. It takes a good couple of minutes to reacquire, even if it hasn't moved in between. If you've moved a long way (such as taken a plane trip) it can take quite a bit longer. The Forerunner has an antenna that's several times bigger than anything that would be acceptable in an iPhone.
As GPS uses a ton a battery power
Actually, it doesn't - or doesn't have to. A recent firmware update to my HTC 6800 (Sprint Mogul) phone just enabled the A-GPS chip (and ~2 Mbps EVDO, very useful for tethering!). I have been testing it in several modes. In the full "Assisted GPS" mode, which narrows your location down to within a metre or so, the A-GPS does use more battery (if you leave it on) because it is pulling data down over the net connection. But if you select just basic GPS mode it becomes just a *receiver* and the power delta is not noticeable. The biggest energy hog continues to be running the backlight at a brightness sufficient to be seen clearly in strong sunlight, Now that will kill the battery dead within an amazingly short space of time.
Da Blog
I know we're supposed to be trashing Apple but can't we throw them a bone here? They came out with an SDK package within the year and within 15 months it looks like they'll be making a 3G. Rather than saying how unresponsive they are I have to say they seem to be listening to customers. Unbundling isn't going to happen for a few years not because they are being mean but they have a contract so expect unbundling once that contract is up. People have gotten really impatient. It's new product give it time. I'm sure they will address 90% of the issues people have brought up. The other 10% people will have to live with. It's an expensive product so don't expect open source and total freedom. If you need that there are other products out there so it's unproductive singling out Apple. People complain "because" it's an exceptional product and and they want more. If no one wanted one it'd be a non issue. A year later there's still nothing like it. I don't see Microsoft coming out with a microPhone to compete with it.
The iPhone has crippled software, crippled hardware, and crippled contracts.
True.
There is no reason on earth to buy one.
False.
If your highest priorities are open hardware and an open software economy and network freedom out of the box, then yes, the iPhone is not the phone for you. But remember, those are your priorities, and it's entirely possible for someone with different ones to be significantly unhappy with the product that you're quite pleased with.
Tweet, tweet.
"Because the iPhone was a flop outside North America."
I live in Hong Kong, it's amazing to see just so many jailbreaked IPhones are on sale here, and people are buying it.
Shouldn't it be "jailbroken" rather than "jailbreaked?"
Really? How about the fact that the Australian government forces a certain percentage of telecom company profits to go to projects supporting rural areas, and that they probably don't have that in the US? It would be unprofitable for telstra to do this without this huge support.
The main reason is that most people in EU live not like you guys. Owning a house is a privilege in EU, and you would never see something like suburbia as far as your eyes can see out of a descending airplane... A LOT of Europeans live in smaller space(apartments,smaller houses) than Americans, and when you count urbanized areas, you count in those suburbias...
When I came to US for the first time I thought: "What a large village!". Because in Europe you will not see a lot like it.
My blog
You misunderstood my comment. I was referring to the presentation of WiFi as an alternative to the nonexistent support of 3G in the existing iPhone being a stall tactic.
Of course WiFi is extremely relevant for use in the enterprise, on corporate LANs/WANs, as a substitute for a bulkier tablet PC that doctors could carry in their coat pocket in a hospital, etc. The question asked was specifically "Now, if such large areas in the US can't justify 3G then how could they justify WiFi as an alternative?" I was simply looking to establish that it isn't a real alternative to 3G support for the consumer market on the basis of coverage area, but was being used to stall for time to address that issue (in the consumer segment). That has no relevance to WiFi's long-term viability for the platform as a whole.
Forgive my ignorance, English is my 3rd language.
When you are walking having to hold a separate BT GPS and operate Google Maps on you phone can be cumbersome. Far easier to have them in one device. Looking forward to June when my contract is up and I can get an N95.
You mean like Australia... which is about as sparse as you get (same size as the continental USA and 20mil people) but has had 3g and Edge and etc for ages. Sure the coverage sure can suck at times but we've had all this for ages in the major population centres. What has slowed iPhone adoption here in oz is the fact you have to go to China and buy a 'chipped' one because the darn thing has not formally been released down-under. People I know who bought black market un-sim-locked ones (and apparently unlocked iPhones make about 30% of total iPhone sales) are very very happy with them, 3G or no. Come to think of it the Sony Erricsson phone I have is Edge only and I have not noticed the difference between that and my old 3G phone when using apps like Google Maps, or web browsing. Still i'll be holding off for the official 'enterprise' version to be released in oz. d
I used to have a better sig than this, but I got tired of it