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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.
"things like an auto-focus camera, video capture, and a compass"
You mean they're gonna release a G1?
Portable versions of Firefox, GIMP, LibreOffice, etc
Apple themselves leaked the pictures, after all they are the masters of "media" manipulation.
/. :-)
After all's said & done; it's just made the front page of
If I had an Ass, I'd call it Fanny Bottom, then I could slap my Ass; Fanny Bottom, on the Arse.
Symbian and Android have 60% of the smartphone market? What? Where?
... it will be less than capable of the respective Nokia N-device but as always the Apple marketing and fanboyz
There have always been products competing with both the iPod and iPhone that have a longer and more impressive bullet list of features. The problem being, the average person doesn't enjoy using them and half those features are so poorly implemented they are just painful to use. Many geeks are happy to work around poorly designed interfaces for the sake of overall functionality.
Is Apple becoming the Microsoft of the mobile world?!
The problem with Microsoft is that they use a very large market share in one market to destroy competition and innovation in other markets, thus slowing progress. Apple doesn't have dominance in any markets, so their locked down products drive innovation by providing real competition. When Apple has a monopoly o near monopoly and ties to other markets, then "ll lump them in with Microsoft.
I don't know... but I'm telling you something guys: this is 2009 and we have Symbian & Android which together reach some 60% of the mobile smartphone market...
Yup, that's very cool and I have high hopes for Android, which have not really panned out yet. I still wonder if Android would exist or if it would have the level of functionality it does if Apple were not providing such strong competition.
So let's not pull are eyes out with our own hands and choose iPhone NOT.
For many people the iPhone is still the best offering. Since we're not dealing with a significantly broken market for smartphones, people should pick what works best for them, be it iPhone or an Android or some other phone. This drives developers to work hard and try to make better products. I don't see the point of picking a product that is not as well suited to my tasks based upon the underlying OS. All that does is provide incentive for developers of that OS to not work harder to meet my needs and not compete as strongly. (Note: I don't own any kind of smartphone, iPhone or other.)
You are, as is usual here, missing the point about Apple products.
They frequently don't have the raw capabilities of their competition, but they are reasonably stylish and very easy to use. You and I may be able to efficiently handle complicated interfaces, but most people have a great deal of difficulty with them. They will learn what they have to, and no more. The average smart phone is used only for a very few things.
The iPhone is easy to use. It's easy to figure out how to do things. There are darn few glitches or gotchas. There's a fairly thick manual, which nobody has to read. This is important, since nobody but us actually reads the manuals. It's easy to extend the functionality, now that the App Store is there. It has never been easier to make a telephone generate its own fart sounds, or do a variety of other things, some of which are actually useful. I find this attractive, since I've long since tired of learning complicated things that aren't actually important to what I want to do. (For example, why would I want to learn Microsoft Word's more arcane features when vim and LaTeX already do what I want?)
If this makes no sense to you, or if you think Apple's popularity is due to nothing but marketing and fanbois, please do not do any interface design for end users.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
Being available for Verizon is the only iPhone feature I'm looking for. No chance I'm going with AT&T - period. Maybe I'm the only one that feels this way, or maybe the lure of the iPhone is enough for other people to make the switch. Meh.
Do cars shipped to China have trip, km and other english words on the dash instead of the equivalent Chinese? The reasons for the fuzzy photos don't wash as the photographer brandished the phone in public in a car. Seems to me better photos could have been taken easily.
Mr Gadget attempted to be smart. Unfortunately the screenshots show an iPhone with compass and autofocus features which are not possible on an iPhone 3G.
More proof /. needs a (-1, wrong) mod.
The iPhone version 3 is finally getting all the stuff that other cellphones have had for 10 years ? And people will still blindly pay through the nose for these "exclusive features" ?
Not sure about the compass though, I'd have preferred a pair of nail clippers, a corkscrew / bottle opener, and a pair of scissors ... wait, we're talking about a Swiss Army Knife right ?
We can only hope that the iPhone version 4 will at least upgrade the camera to 1.3 megapix.
*ducks*
You know what would be awesome new features?
The ability to run whatever software I want, and the ability to operate on whatever phone network I want.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
> Both Symbian and Android can do what iPhone does and even more.
And vice versa. The intersection is not the universal set.
> And developers can leverage the WHOLE underlying technology.
You don't know the same developers I do then.
> So the iPhone Store story is only a stupid buzz.
And 37 million installed base. It's the platform, stupid.
> I'm afraid of what will happen if Apple somehow prevails and becomes the Microsoft of the mobile OS market.
Why? Their stranglehold on the music player market seems like it's improved the entire market. Do you remember the suckage that people used to sell before the iPod got rolling?!
Maury
You're right, Apple should have probably learned their lesson about taking their time and getting features correct rather than trying to have the most features on the block after the whole iPod thing blew up in their faces. "No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame." (2001)
Steal my band's record! Seriously,
No, actually it is true. You just need multiple antennas in a known orientation.
The claim was that any GPS can compute north, which we know is untrue.
Mmmm... Apple's dominance includes not only portable music devices (iPods)
I don't think this will stand up legally due to the numbers you cite not including music playing cell phones, which make up a significant portion of the market. This, of course, depends upon how the market is distinguished.
...but the actual distribution of music (iTunes)
First, the ITunes store and the iTunes application are in different markets and it is important to distinguish that you're referring to the former not the latter. Second, while Apple may well have dominance in said market, it is a problematic market, since it is already compromised by the illegal actions of a cartel, convicted multiple times of undermining free trade. Personally, I think Apple has had a net positive impact on innovation in the market, but it is so broken already the issue is quite muddled.
In any case, it's not illegal to have a dominant market position; it's only illegal to use that dominance to stifle competition. Fortunately, Apple hasn't demonstrated any significant tendency to eliminate competition in the markets they do dominate.
Elimination of competition is not the only issue, simply undermining free competition in a way that artificially increases their share is sufficient to damage free trade. Some of Apple's actions in said markets certainly qualify as tying in the eyes of the law, if they are ruled to have dominance in either of those markets. The issue being, they probably don't in the first market and the second market is so broken any tying is fairly immaterial or even positive. There is a lot of room for debate on it though.