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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.
It actually becomes $160 more expensive over the life of the contract.
A friend of mine works for a company selling the iPhone 2. According to him if you lose your iPhone 2 you will 1. Have to pay full price to get a new one (not too surprising imo) and 2. Re-sign up for a 2 year contract... Also according to him the employees have been instructed specifically to not mention this fact to customers. Pretty screwy to me. Then again I am ignorant of how most cell phones work so I don't know if this is standard or not. I'm assuming based on his reaction its not.
This thing is catching up to the features already available on my BB.
It's more expensive over the life of the contract than the previous model!
It's not just a plain cell phone!
It doesn't run Linux!
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.
On the meltdown of Apple's servers given international demand:
Quoth ABC News and others:
It's the iPocalypse!!!
The Apple revolution may be televised, but streaming is down at this time...
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
Correction: the problems people are experiencing have to do with the activation servers, it doesn't have much to do with syncing. Although, one cannot sync their phone (or do anything with it, really) until they first activate it through itunes.
...at an AT&T Store. They told me I need to go home and connect to iTunes to finish the activation. It's not ideal but it's no biggie. I'm thinking Apple will have smoothed out any problems out by the time I get home this afternoon. Well, at least I can charge it here at work.
I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.
That's if you ever get past the line to even get a phone in the first place.
iPhone 3G lines make DMV look like baskin robins.
I am completely sick of hearing about this thing. everyfarkingwhere you turn it's 'iphone-iphone-iphone' arghhhh. of course I might be singing a different tune if 1) I had a job and the economy was doing ok so I could afford one 2) knew someone i could actually make a phone call to. but oh how I do want to hold it's shinyness in my filty little hands and multi-touch it's glassy goodness. Unfortunately I have to buy groceries this month and pine for the days when I had a decent credit score.
As a pro geek, my arsenal of electronic gadgets used to climb in number. In the past year or so, I've gotten down to 4 items I need and use daily:
1. iMate Ultimate 6150 (primary phone, T-Mobile, EDGE)
2. HTC Trinity P3600 (secondary phone, AT&T, 3G)
3. iPod Touch 16GB
4. TomTom GO 910 GPS
My Trinity has a great GPS built in, so the TomTom could go. The iPhone 2 would almost get rid of 3 devices, actually, except for one feature that is missing/disabled: tethering.
I travel, a lot, for my businesses. Nationally and internationally, I use my cell phone for email, phone calls, and basic billing. A notebook is not in my list of gadgets, even though I usually have 2 on me some of the time. Being able to tether to my Trinity is a huge need. On the Trinity I run a WiFiRouter app that lets me tether any WiFi device to the web at full 3G speeds. If I am with clients, employees or subcontractors, having a great WiFi wireless router is a huge gain. But Apple refuses to allow it.
I'm sure some third party hackers will eventually get tethering to work. If so, Apple will gain a customer or 15 (I'd give this option to any of my staff who uses wireless tethering regularly or even irregularly). So why did Apple not offer this feature? Battery life? AT&T telling them not to?
I'm using tethering right now, in fact. On the go. I have two notebooks booted up and online, and they're working great. But I'd love to downsize all my devices to one.
So I'm calling you out Apple. Add a tethering feature to the next ROM update!
I wouldnt mind picking one up if I can maintain my discounts as an AT&T premier customer.
Bring back the old version of slashdot.
Well I'm back from the local AT&T store empty-handed. Apparently they only had 30 phones to sell, and with the broken activation servers it took them hours to distribute them. I stopped by at 11:45 because the line was short, but the news came shortly thereafter that the phones were gone. The news came from frustrated customers leaving the store, not the AT&T staff.
Apple had over a year to correct the supply/activation fiasco of the initial iPhone launch, and so far it's going worse, not better. The new iPhone is also more expensive to own - Job's "half the cost" pitch is an outright lie. 3G (where available) simply provides the "user experience" that people expected from the original iPhone. I already had a bad experience with Edge, so I didn't waste my time with it.
They intentionally planned both an iTunes software upgrade and the release of 2.0 software for the original iPhone and iPod Touch for today, and they didn't plan for overloaded servers? I was fortunate enough to have gotten the iTunes update before the rush, but all day long, the "Buy Now" button on apple.com for the 2.0 upgrade (for my iTouch) is "temporarily unavailable".
By the way, It's $10 to "upgrade" the iTouch to accept the 2.0 software upgrade. This upgrade is needed to run 2.0, which is required if you want to install any additional apps from the Apple Apps store. An original iPhone and my iTouch both cost the same ($399), but if I had an iPhone, the software update to 2.0 would be free. Also, I made the mistake of buying the earlier $20 iTouch software upgrade. Turns out the 2.0 upgrade includes that upgrade as well, and already having it doesn't make the 2.0 upgrade any cheaper (or free, as it should be)
How much longer before the masses will finally see through the bad customer experiences with Apple (they go on and on - unreplaceable iPod batteries, rip-off price of the original iPhone (reduced shortly after release to really tick off the loyal early adopters), and now another botched product release. When will the loyal fans finally say "ENOUGH!"
First post!!1
I' so pumped up about these super pony fast 3g networks and the wireless coverage is spotle
Sent from my iPhone.
Trolls are like broken clocks. They show the truth two times a day. The rest of the day they talk nonsense.
Damn you Nokia! Or is it Motorola?
A friend of mine works for a company selling the iPhone 2. According to him if you lose your iPhone 2 you will 1. Have to pay full price to get a new one (not too surprising imo) and
This is true of all cell phones. Not only if you 'lose it', but if you damage it in ways that are not covered by warranty, or if you damage it out of warranty. (most cell phones have a 1 year warranty although you can often buy extended warranty.) however liquid damage and physical damage are never covered.
2. Re-sign up for a 2 year contract.
This really makes no sense.
There is -always- an early termination provision that can be exercised if the phone is lost, or you move out of country or whatever. Here in Canada on Rogers, for an iphone, it is the greater of $100 or $20 per month remaining in the contract, to a maximum of $400.
http://www.rogers.com/cms/html/iphone_vpterms.shtml
Based on that losing the iphone 2.5 years in, one could always payout $120 (20$x6 months), and then get a new one on a 3 year contract for $199... (or whatever they would be at that point.)
And that's 'worst case'. Usually if you have the intention of signing a new 3 year contract and your well into an existing contract the carrier will offer you a some sort of 'deal'.
Now suppose you lost an iphone on day 2 of your 3 year contract, typically, you'd simply have to replace it at full price, and you'd still be held to the terms of your original contract. Its absurd that they would tack on an extra 2 years (a 5 year contract on a cell phone?!), and even more absurd that you'd have your contract shortened.
And under this scenario, if you lost your iphone on the 2nd day, and they wanted to rope you into a 5 year contract, and charge you $600 replacement, you would simply exercise the early termination: $400. And then sign up to a new 3 year: $199. Same $600 bucks, but only a 3 year contract.
From talking to people in the industry, the innovation with the iPhone isn't so much with the device itself, it's with the kind of deal Apple was able to cut.
No, the innovation is making the features easy to use. Surveys have been done asking phone users if they use the email, internet, etc., capabilities of their phones. Compared to other smartphone users, iPhone users use more of their phone's capabilities, and more often.
I'm too lazy to find the survey right now, and you certainly have no reason to trust me. But the innovation with the iPhone may be related to its pricing structure, but people like it because it is a solid, stable, and very usable device. Add to this the ability to couple it with your computer at home and it really is easy to see why this device is popular.
So play find the iPhone. You should be able to get in a good couple of rounds before it gets activated.
To make it interesting, start the game with copious amounts of vodka.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
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.'"
I was going to buy an iPhone 2 but my friend's mother's brother's cousin said that his kid knows someone who works for Apple and he said the iPhone 3 should be out by Christmas. So everyone buying the iPhone 2 is getting suckered.
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.
Liquid damage?
You mean when they take your phone in the back to "check it", bring it back a few seconds later and show you a red dot under your batter cover?
They routinely put water on the dot (which is white) and bring it back to you saying "liquid damage, no warranty, buy a new one, get a new contract, too".
Same goes for laptops.
"Liquid damage" is the go-to scam.
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.
Your friend is wrong. Even people not eligible for ugprade can get the iphone at the middle price ($400/500).
The subsidized price is available when you are eligible for an upgrade; just like any subsidized phone - if you lose it, you pay an unsubsidized price. AT&T has a freaky offer of a non-contract iphone at $600/700, but it makes no sense to buy it, since the ETF is the same or less than the cost differential.
I mean seriously, you buy a phone and then you need to go home and activate it through some software?
What if I don't run Windows nor Mac?
I mean, Apple, cmmon ..
That means that obligates me to have a computer running the OS you choose. Or installing another OS just for activating it.
What's next?
Will I be obliged to have 4 gigs RAM to move my pics to the PC's hard disk?
P.S. I know I could just go to a friend and activate the phone, but will you just go to his house to use his computer and you have your own at home?
[insert lame sig here]
You think your lot are shockingly incompetent, try our lot. Their authentication software is just a basic form filling thing, barely more than a web page, but it requires IE. Applestore staff are really enjoying having to cobble together an emulation solution today as nobody realised that IE for Mac was killed off years ago, especially when they found out that the back end software is as stable as a dizzy stiltwalker in a ball bearing factory.
Meanwhile I'm not even in an Apple store as O2 randomly decreed that existing customers can only upgrade at O2 stores. I should have been able to upgrade online and have the phone delivered, but despite sending me 3 mails saying I'd successfully ordered online, and debiting my credit card, O2 randomly decided I wasn't getting one, and the estimated delivery date was 'hopefully by the end of Summer'. The idea of reserving the a phone for me at the shop, or couriering one from the shop to me was for no readily apparent reason unthinkable, so I decided to queue at the shop. I was 11th in line. After making a grand total of 3 sales in the first hour after opening, the staff decided to switch to filling in the paperwork offline, which slowed them down to just 2 completed sales in the 2nd hour.
At about this point, they finally realised that some people in the 100 strong queue would not get one of the 30 phones they had in stock. They counted the 16Gb phones, and gave the first 12 people in the queue a yellow post it note that designated us as the lucky ones to get the big memory version. Then they took the 12th post it away, having discovered that their counting abilities matched their organisational abilities. Purple post its for the 8Gbs followed, and the back two thirds of the queue were told they were out of luck, and had waited over 2 hours for no reason.
Five minutes later, they noticed the *other* box of iPhones, and handed out more post-its to people who had only just arrived and joined the back of the queue (of course it didn't occur to staff to stop people joining the queue after the first batch of phones were all accounted for). After much arguing they finally stopped trying to allocate the newly found 16s to the newcomers and swapped purple post its for yellows. Several staff genuinely couldn't understand why people who had queued for hours and been told they could only have an 8 were angry that people who arrived 5 mins ago were getting first dibs on the second lot of 16s. One just kept repeating 'but you've been allocated an 8' over and over.
After nearly 3 hours, I was the 11th person to leave the store with a phone. I expect the store won't sell out today, because they had about 40 left, and only 9 hours before closing time.
My activation worked just fine though :-)
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
Add to this the ability to couple it with your computer at home and it really is easy to see why this device is popular.
And therein lies my biggest complaint with the iPhone. I can use it with my computer at home, or my computer at work, but not both. iTunes is one of the biggest piece of shit software packages I have ever used, second only to RealPlayer, but getting close. The iPod functionality is basically useless for me if I can only sync with one computer. Just let drag and drop things to the phone for fucks sake.
I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
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?
I downloaded an earlier version of the iPhone 2.0 software and installed it on my iPhone yesterday. Works great and I've spent a lot of time in the app store. Here are my observations:
1. AolRadio is an amazing offering. Within wifi zones, it offers a ton of digital radio stations that blow my Sirius satellite subscription out of the water- better music offerings and for free. It supposedly works to some extent over 3g, while not offering ALL stations. So it makes the iPhone a cool portable internet radio player.
2. eReader is an ebook reader that's free, but it only allows you to install books purchased from their website. For $9.99 you can purchase an app called 'bookshelf' that lets you install your own ebooks, and supports multiple formats. It doesn't currently support PDF, but I assume it will.
3. Most of the good games are not free or cheap. Super Monkey Ball is $9.99.
4. Weatherbug is an app similar to the original weather APP, but it offers radar views and current condition photos. The radar would be excellent, but it doesn't automatically zoom in to the city you are interested in. At least one other feature on it seems incomplete.
Seth
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
Liquid damage?
You mean when they take your phone in the back to "check it", bring it back a few seconds later and show you a red dot under your batter cover?
A reputable dealer will flip it open and remove the battery cover right in front of you to check that dot with you.
The red dots in my experience with cellular has been a pretty accurate predictor. And in virtually every red dot case I've ever seen, when at the customers insistence that they've never been anywhere near moisture ever and at their expense we've had our service technicians open the unit -- significant corrosion was invariably plain to see.
A phone can be sopping without getting dunked. An unlucky drop or two on the ground, or not putting the battery cover on properly and the water proofing can easily be compromised. Once that's the case, water vapor and humitity from being left in a pocket on the counter while you take a hot shower, or on a windowsill at night... etc... and the inside of the phone will be full of condensation, which rapidly turns in it into a useless paperweight.
All that said, I wouldn't doubt a disreputable dealer might do what you describe.
If you genuinely suspect a scam, take the device someplace reputable, and have them check the actual electronics -- if they are bone dry and free of corrosion, you have a lawsuit on your hands.
But don't be surprised if the insides come back looking like they spent a week at the bottom of a lake.
Actually... the iPod Touch also won't work without activating it by connecting it to iTunes. It's got a notepad application, a YouTube viewer, a mail client, a web browser, none of these things are set up by iTunes, but none of them works until the iPod Touch is activated by connecting it to iTunes.
... 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.'"
Blaming Apple for cell phone activation is almost as silly as blaming your sports car manufacturer for speed limit signs.
AT&T's other cell phones require "activation", but AT&T does it with their own system.
The iPhone must be activated using Apple's servers. Today, that appears to be where the problem lies. That puts the responsibility squarely on Apple's shoulders.
AT&T is having no problems doing activations for non-iPhone customers today, other than they have to wait in line along with all the people waiting for an iPhone.
Yeah, but why do they design mobile phones so shittily? Isn't it a scam?
I could understand with the first generation, but by now, don'tcha think they ought to have figured out a way to get a waterproof seal over the battery when you close the lid??? I think it's pathetic.
Actually back in the old days I saw a Motorola 2-way unit sitting in a fishbowl at a tradeshow. People could come up use it, and then put it back in the fishbowl. Its not that they can't make them waterproof... its that they can't make them water proof, feature rich, light, 4 millimeters thick, stays cool while you use it, and on top of all that cheap.
Most cellphones are actually quite water reistant, and I've seen countless survive drink spills, and even falls into sinks and worse. But the engineering tradeoffs mean most are still fairly vulnerable. You -can- get waterproof phones though... manufacturers do make units designed to survive immersion... Sony, LG, Fujitsu and others have all released waterproof models. And for the rest, there is a thriving market for waterproof cases.
And its not just the battery cover... the keypad, buttons, charging port, along with the hinges and slides of phones that do that -- are all potential entrances. There are membranes and coatings in place - and the better devices -are- fairly resistant, but if you want water 'proof' you'll have to make some tradeoffs, and the market despite its moaning about liquid damage doesn't exactly snap up the water proof options that are available.
True, but the "activation" just pairs the device with the computer; it doesn't verify anything with Apple's servers. You can set up an iPod Touch with no Internet access whatsoever.
The techno-survivalist geek in me wants gadgets that are fully functional right out of the box, but the experienced IT geek in me has learned that without a degree of control, inexperienced users get themselves into deep trouble.
In other words, I'd rather spend a minute pairing the handheld device with the PC at the very start than spend hours trying to get the two to sync properly after the fact... It's always fun making two semi-overlapping contact lists/mail folders/calendars on two separate devices perfectly merge with no loss or duplication of data. While the CFO breathes down your neck.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
That many of the highly modded pro-Apple posts all in the 2415* UID range? Looks like Slashdot may be succumbing to sneaky advertising tactics.
I'm not eligible for an upgrade until next august, and the sales rep tells me I will have to pay $400 for an iphone no matter what. I thought about trying to save money by paying $175 to terminate my current plan, but then I would get screwed by the activation fee again.
It seems pretty lame that they tricked me into getting a crappy razr for free a year ago, and now the screen doesn't even come on anymore and they tell me to suck it up or give them more money. It seems I should get the subsidized price by agreeing to extend my contract, but they just don't seem to care about their own customers at all once they get you to sign that contract. Hooray for broken capitalism!