Slashdot Mirror
Rumors Flying About New iPhone Capabilities
Jumping on the completely unconfirmed rumor bandwagon, it seems that there have been photos leaked for the new iPhone, which include things like an auto-focus camera, video capture, and a compass. The photos were originally displayed (and then quickly removed) on a Chinese forum, and quickly spread to many other sites, including a complete human translation on the MacRumors forum. Looks like Apple security may have to break a few more pocket protectors to keep employees in line.
The new software also supposedly makes you re-buy apps that you've already purchased, just so they can allow multiple accounts on one phone (have people really asked for this?).
http://www.pcworld.com/article/165834/apple_thwarts_app_piracy_ahead_of_iphone_30_release.html
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
...it had a GPS (thus making a compas possible).
A GPS and a compass are two different things, with slightly different and complimentary features. A GPS tells you where you are. A compass tells you which direction is north. Together they can tell you to turn around and go the other way even if you're not moving. Together they can tell you the building in front of you is the library and the one to your left is the brothel.
A GPS "compass" is just a heading indicator; the direction of travel between 2 samplings. This new compass supposedly is magnet (earth's core) sensing - presumably if you hold a magnet nearby you could see which pole is facing the device and on what edge.
from 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
to 45 2F 6E 40 3C DF 10 71 4E 41 DF AA 25 7D 31 3F
The iPhone camera is fixed focus and can't shoot video (at least not out of the box). And there is no compass. A compass is handy for turn-by-turn navigation and other neat-o things like street view on the G1 making use of the built-in compass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PRfVKzuUJ4
Portable versions of Firefox, GIMP, LibreOffice, etc
I own a G1, and since the 1.5 update, it -can- capture video.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
Mr Gadget points out that Gizmodo's report on these new screenshots are actually screenshots from months ago of iPhone 3.0 OS running on an ordinary iPhone 3G. http://www.mrgadget.com.au/gadget/2009/gizmodo-gets-it-wrong-just-iphone-30-os-screen-grabs/
The OS you are looking for is called Windows Mobile. Its been around a pretty long time and does not restrict anything you put on it.
As for hardware, I am using an HTC Touch Pro on Sprint. Sprint has the cheapest, fastest internet and pretty good coverage as well. The also don't seem to mind if you tether your phone to your laptop.
There is also several great communities of developers and users devoted to getting all you can out of windows mobile devices. Then have gotten to the point where you can download a "kitchen" with a bunch of precanned programs that you pick and choose from. You then create your own customized firmware with the apps you selected. Its great. Or create you own applications.
Check out http://www.ppcgeeks.com/
Seriously, though I think the submitter just a thoughtless idiot rather than being intentionally racist.
He was being neither. "Human translation" is just saying that the translation that was posted to the MacRumors forum wasn't a machine translation from a site like Babelfish. Sheesh.
If you have a GPS, then you also have a compass, because any GPS can compute North
Umm, what?!?!?! That statement makes absolutely no sense.
It knows *where* north is, but unless you're moving, it has no way of relaying that information to you, because it can't know the direction it's facing (which is what a compass does.)
We all know what the difference is between a GPS and a compass
Evidently you don't.
Will it look like an ancient Palm, with a black-and-white screen, a writing area, and only a dozen apps on the homescreen?
SLASHDOT, FFS, GET SOME NEW ICONS!
And WTF is up with the MacBook icon on this iPhone story? I guess I need to change my request to "new and accurate icons."
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
If you have a GPS, then you also have a compass, because any GPS can compute North.
This is untrue. A GPS can tell you what your coordinates are but not which way your device is facing relative to north. If you're moving it assumes the GPS is facing the direction of travel, which is not always the case. When you aren't moving it gets quickly confused.
Hence, because he thought the iPhone had a GPS, he didn't understand why they were "adding" a compass.
The iPhone does have GPS. They're rumored to be adding an internal compass so the iPhone will also know what direction it is facing and can use that to accurately point out objects and give better directions. Most commercial GPS units include a compass as well these days.
We all know what the difference is between a GPS and a compass.
Apparently some of us are confused about the relative capabilities though.
Those pictures are just from an iPhone running OS 3.0, they were taken by a Chinese blogger demonstrating 3.0's capabilities. According to this site: http://www.mrgadget.com.au/gadget/2009/gizmodo-gets-it-wrong-just-iphone-30-os-screen-grabs/ the blogger says (in Chinese) that the pictures were taken of an iPhone 3G with iPhone OS 3.0. This is why you shouldn't spread rumour...
I would be happy with a better ibattery.
I was just given an iphone that was sent to us as warranty exchange. Battery life on this thing is terrible, and from what I've read, this is standard. Now, I'm comparing to the curve I was using before... With the curve, I could count on the battery lasting 3-5 days of lite use. I REA
On this thing, I can BARELY go the weekend. I unplugged before I left the office Friday afternoon, Monday morning on the way in, I got the "Your battery is low" message.
And since it's not a standard USB plug, I couldn't just plug it in to the plethora of USB ports around. You'd think we'd be beyond the days of custom ports by now. I can count of finding USB power anywhere I can find a computer, in my car, friends houses, etc. So THANK YOU Motorola L2, and Blackberry Curve.
Screw you LG Shine and Apple iPhone.
(These are all phones I've had recent experience with.
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
Do you know of any cameras that don't have autofocus?
The iPhone 1G and 3G phones don't. They have a fixed focus camera, which is not the same thing.
"The OS you are looking for is called Windows Mobile. Its been around a pretty long time and does not restrict anything you put on it."
Not always, like many other mobile features, this can and often is also disabled by the carrier. I've had HTC and moto smartphones (winMo) that flat out refuse to install apps OR require the app to have a certificate. At least with the iphone, if it's on the store, it will install and work.
the kind of people willing to "create your own customized firmware" for a winMo phone are the kind equally comfortable jailbreaking an iphone. The average joe is NOT comfortable with either of these and for them the issue of "restriction" is largely a non issue. The kind of apps that require a hacked handset are probably not what they're looking for anyway.
my only real gripe with the apple app model is the cost of entry for devs. I don't have mac and I'm not going to buy one just to write an app. At least on a winMo device, I was able to load up visual studio and write an app. Yes, VS costs money, but you can get cheap copies of VS all over the place. Cheaper than a mac anyway.
If you have a GPS, then you also have a compass, because any GPS can compute North.
This is untrue. A GPS can tell you what your coordinates are but not which way your device is facing relative to north. If you're moving it assumes the GPS is facing the direction of travel, which is not always the case. When you aren't moving it gets quickly confused.
No, actually it is true. You just need multiple antennas in a known orientation.
Sources:
We all know what the difference is between a GPS and a compass.
Apparently some of us are confused about the relative capabilities though.
In context of the iPhone, no, calculating attitude from the GPS data isn't possible due to its size. But calculating attitude using GPS is quite possible and has already been done.
All editorial writers ever do is come down from the hill after the battle is over and shoot the wounded.
The iPhone seems to be priced just about the same as most other smart phones and have the same contract requirements.
There are cheaper smart phones but none that offer as good of a browser. I am waiting for the Pre myself but the price will be about the same. Sprints contract is cheaper and I have had no problems with Sprint as a carrier. I don't like AT&T because of the cost, I am not fond of Verizon because of cost and they tend to cripple phones, and TMobile doesn't offer 3 g in my area yet.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Signing is only required for apps writing special registry keys or installing some drivers. You can easily change the security policy just by changing a registry key (nowhere near like jailbreak) and without losing warranty.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Security\Policies\Policies]
DWORD 00001005
if the value of that DWORD is 0 then unsigned CABs won't install. Set the value to 16, it is a safe value which gives the unsigned CABs the normal level access. If you really trust your software, set the value to 8 (Admin rights).
Additionally, you can set the DWORD 0000101a to 1 so you won't be bothered with the warning that the software you want to install is unsigned.
After the registry change, switch the screen of and on and reboot the device.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
UI design is largely a subjective field. However, there is a significant body of research that states that aesthetics do play a key role in usability. Other aspects such as typeface selection play a big role as well.
That said, we can do objective analyses such as counting the number of clicks or keypresses required to complete a certain task, or using a stopwatch to track the amount of time that it takes a novice user to figure out how to use the UI to perform a given task. Apple are notorious for performing formal UI testing and QA on all of their products. Most phone manufacturers are....not.
It's fairly easy to see how moving every aspect of the UI onto the touchscreen would approve Apple's rankings in these objective analyses. Virtually any function of the phone can be accessed with 2-3 "clicks." Apple have also gone through considerable lengths to avoid the use of any sort of "menus" for common tasks in their applications. There are no hidden options or features. Multitouch is also another big plus, and is extremely intuitive.
For starters, the included suite of applications is fairly comprehensive. You could be quite happy without ever visiting the app store. (I know this is subjective, although I do think it's important to mention that Apple *have* covered all the bases here -- things such as the built-in weather and stock quote apps are nice touches, considering that many users will check them frequently. It would reflect poorly upon the UI if users had to resort to the web-browser for the most common tasks)
The maps application is, in all honesty, probably the high point for the iPhone (and yes, it's almost *exactly* like Google Maps, which is widely regarded as a quality application with a good interface). The multitouch interface works particularly well for viewing maps by panning, zooming, etc. There are also a few 3rd-party applications for viewing subway/mass-transit maps in a similar fashion (I'm not sure if Google Transit has been integrated yet). This alone makes the iPhone an invaluable tool to many. I can say from experience that a simple map search (say for the nearest Pizza place) takes me under 30 seconds on an iPhone, as opposed to a little over a minute with a Blackberry.
Visual Voicemail is another feature that showcases the UI. Voicemail is indexed, retrieved, and managed via the UI, rather than by calling in. It boggles my mind why Apple were the first ones to think of this, given how obvious it is.
Most applications work in portrait and landscape mode. The iPhone automatically senses which way you're holding it, and adjusts itself automatically.
The web browser faithfully renders pages according to standards (most phones don't). Once again, the multitouch interface makes it easy to scroll, pan, and zoom, while the orientation sensor allows you to hold the phone in either orientation.
Recognizing the trend that SMS is frequently used for continuous chats, conversations are grouped and threaded (a la GMail)
The music player preserves the essence of the iPod UI. This is familiar to many users, and has been studied and discussed ad nauseum elsewhere. Most people seem to like it.
Music purchased "over the air" is DRM-free, and may be synced back to your computer. I don't know of any other provider that allows this.
On the more mundane side of things, Apple clearly put a lot of effort into their predictive keyboard. Although this is once again subjective, many people (including those with big hands) find that it works much better than the average touchscreen keyboard.
Is that subjective enough for you?
-- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose