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Full Review of the iPhone 2 On Launch Day
With the launch of Apple's brand-spanking-new 3G iPhone today, Engadget has a great review of the product and many of the prominent features. The review has quite a few good pictures and is not shy about technical details, but I guess they would know a fair bit about it, having ripped one apart yesterday. "The wireless industry is a notoriously tough nut to crack, and it's become pretty clear that the first iPhone wasn't about total domination so much as priming the market and making a good first impression with some very dissatisfied cellphone users. With the iPhone 3G, though, Apple's playing for keeps. Not only is this iPhone's Exchange enterprise support aiming straight for the heart of the business market, but the long-awaited 3rd party application support and App Store means it's no longer just a device, but a viable computing platform. And its 3G network compatibility finally makes the iPhone welcome the world over, especially after Cupertino decided to ditch its non-traditional carrier partnerships in favor of dropping the handset price dramatically. $200? We're still a little stunned." Update 17:17 GMT by SM: The guys over at Engadget also pointed out that Apple is having some severe problems with their iTunes servers and many customer are being sent home without their sync complete for new iPhones.
As an 1st generation iPhone owner, I'm excited about the new Software, which will enable all the new features save for GPS. Staying with edge support only will even save me $15 month (3G is $10 more and doesn't include the 200 messages I can already send). I'll likely upgrade with the next generation.
The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
"You have to sign up for a contract!"
I think that's a pretty valid complaint. Being locked into a contract lowers the companies desire to offer decent customer service when compared to how they would want to treat you if you could just switch providers whith a phone call.
Spelling and Grammar errors have been added to this post for your enjoyment
It's not just a plain cell phone!
Y'know, that used to be one of my complaints about ridiculous phones like these. I always said that the durn thing should make phone calls, and that should be the primary functionality of it. Plain and simple.
But then I realized that nobody wants to call me anyway, so maybe what I want really IS a portable computing platform that just happens to have a cell phone buried in it somewhere just in case. :-)
Demanding constant attention will only lead to attention.
He was refering to the raise in the cost of service for the new phone that will end up costing you $160 above what "phone service" used to cost you.
Ok, 160/24 = $6.67 per month. Or a premium of 12% over your minimum plan with the EDGE iPhone.
Your data rate increases by (absolute worst case) a factor of three, even while moving at highway speeds (3G > EDGE). Standing still it's four to ten times as fast. I fail to see how it's a bad deal.
I just sold my soul and gave $200 to AT&T, I'd really like to play with my iPhone.
And you're not even allowed to play with it by yourself without activation?
Try and tell me that the future wouldn't be darker with Apple at the helm than Microsoft... Just try.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
If they were smarter they would have pushed the 2.0 update out to existing iPhone owners already, and been learning things and doing updates so that the 2.0 users would have a closer-to-trouble-free launch. But, you know, they aren't.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Two months is a really early time for a price cut of $200.
"It's a reverse vampire...they....they crave the sun!"
1. Expose the full minimum costs (including taxes) for the deal over its life
2. Provide overnight replacement of defective phones, and have remote diagnostics to prove it
3. Bogus charges of moisture sensors should be grounds for no-fault contract termination
4. No charge for instant termination if your bill is paid on time
5. Full backup of user data services at no charge at the carrier on-line
6. No extra charges for text, data, or voice (they're all the same anyway)
7. User-selected least-call-cost routing
8. Users can put any app on their phone they want, so long as they take responsibility for it
9. No throttling of service by type; all user controlled.
10. User password-controlled kill switches to brick stolen phones
11. One single mini-USB jack for charging purposes and sub-mini audio plug standard on all phones
12. No charges for directly uploading and downloading any media or datafiles to the phone within its capacity
13. Destroy all 'deals' between phone vendors and carriers; reveal the true cost of using all services on each contract
14. Allow treble damages for carrier slamming
15. Mandate unbundled deals, so that true costs can be assessed by consumers
Cell phones need to leave the telco world and enter the computer world.
Ok. Whew. I'll get off my soapbox. Now for the barrage.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
And this, my friends, is exactly why none of the other clueless companies have managed to put out a similar product that can even come CLOSE to competing with the iPhone on its own terms. The innovation was in the software and to a lesser extend the hardware. The deal with AT&T was because AT&T saw the innovation and said to themselves, "Oshit, we best get ourselves in on this shit." Even having something of a dislike for Apple (honestly, I'd rather have Microsoft in a position of power than them), real credit is due to how slick their software on the iPhone is.
Free upgrades? You mean like the rest of the industry? SP1, SP2 for example. Myriad bug and security fixes, along with minor new features. Why pay $10 mainly for the opportunity to buy more software. Only a company like Apple could pull that off.
But all available evidence has shown that no one can fix Windows.
The evidence has shown mostly that it will take everyone to fix Windows.
Microsoft has been making more token displays of Openness because people are demanding that they be more Open.
If we demonstrate (financially) that it is not sufficient, then they will actually become more Open as have various other companies like IBM and even Apple (although they are going back and forth on their Open Source promises.) IBM sells more Linux than AIX today. Much of the MacOS is Open Source. Back in the day, Apple sold you a computer you couldn't open without a special screwdriver (I've had two MacCaseCrackers stolen from me already, criminy) and if you wrote software on an old IBM mainframe, it became the property of IBM. (Perhaps not at the same time.) Microsoft can be shown the error of their ways as well, if we just decide that it is possible, and don't settle for half-measures.
But meanwhile, Apple is still half-assing it, and it's still Apple's way or the highway. Why shouldn't an iPhone let you use all the non-phone functionality right out of the box? Why can't you pick it up and start using the WiFi functions and the web browser? Answer: because Apple wants your personal information.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I just sold my soul and gave $200 to AT&T, I'd really like to play with my iPhone.
And you're not even allowed to play with it by yourself without activation?
Try and tell me that the future wouldn't be darker with Apple at the helm than Microsoft... Just try.
Let's see:
Apple's iPods - no activation
Apple's computers - no activation
Apple's other hardware - no activation
Apple's operating system - no activation
Apple and AT&T's iPhone - mandatory activation
AT&T's other mobile phones - mandatory activation
Blaming Apple for cell phone activation is almost as silly as blaming your sports car manufacturer for speed limit signs.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
"Your data rate increases by (absolute worst case) a factor of three..."
No, the worst case is if you live in a non-3G area, and your data rate increases by nothing, but you still have to pay for the 3G plan.
Sent from my iPhone
... to activate other phones.
So try again genius.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Blaming Apple for cell phone activation is almost as silly as blaming your sports car manufacturer for speed limit signs.
(-1, StupidCarAnalogyByStupidPerson)
Guess what? My RAZR V3i lets me play Java games if it has any SIM in it (including a test SIM, which is about $6.) It doesn't have to be activated. The device wasn't locked when I got it (not even a subsidy lock, since I got it from edge wireless, now part of AT&T, god damn it.)
It's more like having your sports car delivered to your house, then having to contact the manufacturer with your name, address, phone number, current location and VIN before you are able to turn the key and drive even on your own property - and right now, their call center is very, very busy.
See, in this analogy, WiFi is your own property; at least, it's not the phone company's. And the cellphone network is the phone company's network. Apple is the auto manfacturer; it's not only none of their fucking business where or who you are, but just as it is perfectly legal to purchase a car and not register it and then use it for off-road use only (and I don't mean dirt roads in BLM land, which are considered roads for all purposes of law, but instead dune riding or on-track racing) it is also totally legal and reasonable for you to use such a device on your own network.
See what I did there? For those at home who missed it, I just took your analogy which bore no resemblance whatsoever to the situation at hand, and made it almost make sense.
If you had to get permission from GM via onstar before being allowed to pull your car out of your garage and into your driveway, would you be amused? Especially if it didn't work?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Don't buy it. I like the look of the new Lamborghini, but I wouldn't buy one if I had to drive on dirt roads.
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The strangest thing of all is that you paid them to treat you like that.