Comments on: A method to the iPhone madness?
Love it or hate it, the frenzy around Apple's iPhone is forcing consumers to think about what they want from a mobile device.
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Personally, if I have that money for a gadget, I'd spend that money on the PS3.
The only things it has going for it is that it looks nice, will be able to tie into iTunes and will be bought by a fanatical Apple consumer base.
The other problem Apple face has been picked up upon before. The phone market is amazingly fast and it is doubtful whether Apple can keep up.
idiots who will buy anything no matter how bad it is. It is a
fundamentally egocentric point of view. Just because YOU don't
like it means that everyone who does like is a stupid, mindless
fool.
Why not just respect the fact that people might really love Apple
products because they work well for them? There is a reason
why Apple inspires loyalty in customers.
Sure, if one looks at it very simplistically by comparing a
checklist of functions, the iPhone does not have much that is
new. But that fundamentally misses the whole point. The key is
not just "style" but the substantial software improvements and
UI enhancements brought by the iPhone. People will be able to
pick up an iPhone and use it without ever looking at a manual.
You can't say that about very many tech products. That is where
Apple excels.
Java is big and piggy. It is not the way of the future. Apple is
right to leave it behind and focus on Javascript/Ajax/etc.
Now, every time I have raised the above point with a techy friend of mine, we have more or less exactly the conversation you two just had. I say it's cool, he rattles off a list of features it doesn;t have or do well enough that I barely understand, I point out it does most of what I need pretty well, and he says "well, you're just fooled by the design."
There's got to be something profound in this miscommunication between the tech world and the average consumer. I suspect it is why Apple beat the pants off other MP3 players and why it has great odds to wipe the floor with other mobile computing options (Blackberry, etc.) -- though not sure it will do the same for phones per se.
Design and simplicity matter. The average consumer uses only 3-4 functions on even their most advanced gadgets. If those work well enough, if the product is pleasing and clearly designed to work into their lives, and offered at a good price, it will outsell any high-end optimized tech-friendly product with a phone book for an instruction manual and more capabilities than a Cray.
I respect tech purists. I really do. But I suspect they are having the wrong conversation, or , more to the point, they explain when they should listen.
That said, you could probably say the same about me. : )
LOL
Yes the iPhone is what I want. I asked Steve Jobs about eighteen
months ago for a device, better than my camera and Nokia
6230, is an iPod and runs on OSX. Now (2008 in New Zealand) I'll
be able to take my life with me in my pocket, all the while using
it too.
Thanks again Steve!
AT&T. Was this their only option? Even if the device is a success
other carriers can fill this space with products made by the
competition. They may also be the first to offer the new 3g
networks.
Too bad for Apple that AT&T was the only carrier willing to adjust. It remains to be seen if Verizons' rejection will wind up being a major corporate blunder. If the iPhone does become the raging success it appears that it will be, those guys at verizon will be kicking themselves for the next decade.
Finally Confirmed: What the iPhone Doesn't Have
? Songs as Ringtones
? Games
? Any flash support
? Instant Messaging
? Picture messages (MMS)
? Video recording
? Voice recognition or voice dialing
? Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Streaming (A2DP)
? One-size-fits-all headset jack (May have to buy an adapter for certain headphones)
Stuff we already knew it didn't have
? 3G (EV-DO/HSDPA)
? GPS
? A real keyboard
? Removable battery
? Expandable Storage
? Direct iTunes Music Store Access (Over Wi-Fi or EDGE)
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/apple/what-the-iphone-doesnt-have-272571.php
willingness to pay value (pricing) success. Forget all the racing to
the bottom low cost products that doomed the industry. Bravo!
way to go apple!
hate it, it's a game-changing device.
The Apple haters out there can trash the iPhone all they want, but
the device that they choose as an alternative will be better because
of the iPhone. That's what competition is all about.
And I say that as someone who will not buy one yet due to it's well-
understood shortcomings.
article with your liberal (anti-American) dribbling.
I agree the iPhone is a "Ray-of-Light" in dark times and hope
the American leaders (not just Bush) can find a legitimate out
from Iraq, but your other liberal comments are definitely not
shared by me. I'm glad the immigration bill failed! Wow... what a
cost to the American citizens and the nation as a whole that
would have been (not just $$).
This is an exciting day for tech-freaks! Thanks again Mr. Krazit
(author) for the broad perspective the iPhone plays in computing
future. I also believe Apple is going to use these "3 legs" (Mac,
iPod, iPhone) to tie into and build AppleTV - the "4th leg".
Imagine accessing AppleTV from your iPhone or iPod one day.
Your complete library of music, movies, TV shows, and photos
available anywhere at anytime using the iPhone or future iPods.
What I take away from the whole iPhone frenzy is that technology companies keep forgetting that consumers care about good design. Or maybe that should be CONSUMERS CARE ABOUT GOOD DESIGN. People are going crazy over the iPhone because they see the videos and say "that's cool" and, unconsciously, "I understand how it works." There were music players before the iPod, but what Apple did was make using one intuitive and simple. There are other smart phones, but this one is exciting to people because it looks like they can use it without devoting 100 hours to learning how to use it.
What other technology companies need to do is to learn to duplicate Apple's attention to design detail and not just throw tech products out on the market that are only 75% complete.
designers. They take their time. They don't crank out useless
tweaky features at a blinding rate. Features that don't really do
anything. To find a designer of Jonathan Ivy's quality (mostly
responsible for a majority of Apple's design hits since the iMac,
and a few not-so-big hits like the Cube) they would have to pay
a lot of money. And give him freedom to go against focus
groups and egg-headed engineers and management that
wouldn't know good design if it fell off the Empire State Building
and crushed them.
The biggest problem in this world is that business models that
run the country don't allow for the culture that's inside Apple
and makes it such a great company. Apple doesn't kiss Wall
Street's rear end and they don't over emphasize stockholders.
Though they do give them a great return - especially since the
iPod came out!
As long as they have a "good enough" attitude, and not an
attitude of "this must be the best I can possibly make it" there
will only be Apple. Steve Jobs for all his quirks really serves the
rest of the world. Because now the cellphone companies are
being put on notice. The iPhone seems to be living up to the
hype to a large degree. Of course not completely. And they are
going to be burning the midnight oil trying to figure out why
every other phone on the planet just became obsolete. They
make have more tweaky pieces and bits. But that doesn't matter.
They not elegant, cool, easy, and ultimately useful.
20 times as long to fill the form and look at the content of a screen you need to look at to fill that form using iPhone compared to a laptop.
Iphone = more useless crap from Silicon Valley hyped by their Big media gang
Japanese give us Prius that gets 60 Miles per Gallon, French give us TGV that goes 300 Miles per Hour while seating in lap of luxury from city center to city center and what do we get from USA (Silicon Valley), useless Hypes such as iPhone, 2nd life, etc. etc., nothing useful or new.
masses longing to be free...
This is how the iPhone
speaks to those that listen (metaphorically speaking)
I wonder
what you did in a past life to become such a tiresome,
unenlightend person?
Second, it must be horrible to have such a closed mind.
You obviously were not around for the early days of computing
when a 5" screen was the norm. Yet plenty was accomplished
with those screens. You also seem to be under the impression
that people will be using the iPhone to replace their desktop
computers.
As a last observation, when you have to resort to name calling
you have already lost the argument. The article was well written
and objective. Love it or hate it, I think the device will reshape
the phone market. And BTW, I will not be buying an iPhone on
this go around, but might when the next model comes out.
I surf very effectively on 1.5" screen and on EDGE -- slow sure, but
not for what I use the web for during business travel hours. (ie.,
getting comparison info, address, list of vendors, etc).
A 3.5 inch screen is a MASSIVE improvement.
"It would literally take 20 times as long to fill the form, blah blah blah". Really? And how would you know? I think I'll take the word of the likes of Walt Mossberg and David Pogue who say the keyboard has a small learning curve but then is fast and easy to use.
I think LOSER is someone who flames and bashes a product without ever having used or even seen it.
LOL
But finally, someone realizes why some of us tech nuts have been
so excited over this device.
Congratulations TK!
It seems to me that any device that is out there today can be critically examined and fault can be found with any numbers of features ... usually by those who don't use it.
So it is/will be with the iPhone .. it has shortcomings in the eyes of some and not others. The fact remains that it will get released tonight, and I and many others who have been reading the reviews and commentary for some months now, will be delighting in it's features tomorrow.
All you clowns waiting in line - you're guinea pigs for a v1 product. The minute you buy it it's obsolete, they've been working on v2 probably since this was announced. Remember how much better the 3g etc. iPods were compared to the overpriced and too small 1g? There was one guy locally selling his truck to afford an iPhone and then he was going to buy a moped for transportation - guess what - you won't be able to use your iPhone while driving (blessing in disguise?) your moped dude.
So now we wait for the hoopla to die down and the next great POS to hit (the fan-boys in the face).
I personally would like an iPhone, to simplify of not carrying a bulky mp3/video player and cellphone seperately. The web browser seems like a nifty add on since most of the time I'm in a Wi-Fi environment (airports and such). The only concerns is what would battery life be like if I constantly play music, plus the price is a bit hefty at the moment.
We all know we'll love the thing since we've been playing with it on-line.
It's technology is a huge leap into the future, and it just looks WAY cool! It will be well worth each and every penny it costs.
We call it the "MyPhone" or the "MacPhone", names that mean more to us.
http://www.myfirstmac.com/index.php/mac/articles/man-
suffocated-by-iphone/
Edge is plenty fast for typical mobile tasks like: emailing, syncing email, getting directions, looking up a number, checking the weather, etc. Further, 3G is not so sexy when you consider how it affects battery life (like, HALF). Unless you are going to use a phone as a tethered modem, 3G is a troublesome extravagance.
Everyone uses phones differently, and I also fall into the trap of iinitially wanting a phone that does things I'll never do, so I take pity on the nerdlings lining up to spend $600 ON A PHONE and will be understanding when, for the first few weeks, they walk into traffic blankly staring at their tiny screens while checking the latest Wired News every ten minutes. After that wears off, and when the 3G iPhone comes out (either with half the battery life or twice the thickness or the original iPhone), I am confident that yhe nerdlings will still be proud of their EDGE phones and find ways to justify continued use.
Since I am still within the thirty days since my recent Blackberry 8800 purchase, I went over to a local Cingular store and asked to fiddle with an iPhone and, to my surprise, they said "sure." I have had WimMo devices, Nokias, and motorolas galore, and, most recently, the Blackberry 8800, so I really have high expectations.
Now, this is a review based on a five minute test, but I have to say I was very, very impressed. The user interface is slick, slick, slick. Without boring details, here is why I walked back out with the recently-bought Blackberry:
1. The iPhone text input method is lightweight. No tactile feedback and I had to press harder than I expecgted on the screen to register input.
2. While the screen is big and beautiful, and reportedly optical grade glass, I put numerous smudges on it in less than five minutes and think that it would still be very easy to scratch. I am not particular about scratches, but I know that the screen/body would be difficult and expensive to replace, unlike just about any other phone that you can buy parts for on Ebay.
3. No GPS. Do not underestimate the value of GPS in a cell phone. That is the coming thing.
4. Several steps to reach a dial tone. You really have to look at the device and pay attention to what is on screen and where you are poking to do anything. Not a phone you want to be using while driving or walking.
5. Multimedia capabilities looked very cool, but superfluous for my use. I already have an iPod.
6. Blackberries have visual voicemail (free add-on software). Otherwise, that would be a killer-app for me.
7. Can't picture walking around with something that nice in my pocket. Concerned what would happen to it if I dropped it.
8. I did not get to test the voice q
Since I am still within the thirty days since my recent Blackberry 8800 purchase, I went over to a local Cingular store and asked to fiddle with an iPhone and, to my surprise, they said "sure." I have had Windows Mobile devices (HTC and HP), Nokias, and motorolas galore, and, most recently, the Blackberry 8800, so I really have high expectations.
Now, this is a review based on a three minute fiddle test, but I have to say I was very, very impressed. The user interface is slick, slick, slick. Without boring details about the iPhone that have been well-documented elsewhere, here is why I walked back out with the recently-bought Blackberry:
1. The iPhone text input method is lightweight. No tactile feedback and I had to press harder than I expected on the screen to register input.
2. While the screen is big and beautiful, and reportedly optical grade glass, I put numerous smudges on it in less than five minutes and think that it would still be very easy to scratch. I am not particular about scratches, but I know that the screen/body would be difficult and expensive to replace, unlike just about any other phone that you can buy parts for on Ebay.
3. No GPS. Do not underestimate the value of GPS in a cell phone. That is the coming thing. The uses to which a Blackberry with GPS can be put are truly mind-bogglingly neat.
4. Several steps to reach a dial tone. You really have to look at the device and pay attention to what is on screen and where you are poking to do anything. Not a phone you want to be using while driving or walking.
5. Multimedia capabilities looked very cool, but superfluous for my use. I already have an iPod.
6. Blackberries have visual voicemail (free add-on software). Otherwise, that would be a killer-app for me.
7. Can't picture walking around with something that nice in my pocket. Concerned what would happen to it if I dropped it.
8. I did not get to test the voice qquality or signal quality, but I bet both are terrific. Steve Jobs pulls no punches on hardware (cept for those laptop screens, I guess).
9. There are no Apple stores in this part of the country, so Apple doesn't have the hipness factor that might exist elsewhere, and repairs by my local AT&T/Cingular folks, well... like leaving your BMW with a guy named Bubba.
10. Blackberry is the easiest to use device (considering a thousand contacts, numerous email accounts, calendar sync with Exchange,etc.) that I have ever had, for my purposes.
11. The price. I think the price is just about right (could be 50-100 bucks less) if you want to make this baby seem exclusive. When all of the hipsters have one, I bet Apple lowers the price to about three hundred bucks. I am not really price sensitive when it comes to new gadgets, but $599 plus tax plus activation plus two additional years on my Cingy contract... too high.
12. Sadly, only one battery, no way to change it out, and no way to replace it. The case is practically seamless, like an iPod. That is part of the neatness (it is like holding jewelry), but undermines its functionality for my purposes.
And lucky 13: Once you master all of the pre-programmed options and screens, there does not seem to be a high tinker-factor in this device. No SEEMS to edit, no registry to hack into. That could be a plus (unless you enjoy risking bricking your phone), but might be a minus, for me.
Still, I felt a twinge. A BIG TWINGE. Temptation was high. For people less concerned with business use and living where repairs and hipness are abundant, this would be the new "it" gadget ot play with at Starbucks.
morning? Ooops.
- The iphone will be an Apple triumph.
- by savagesteve13 June 30, 2007 3:42 AM PDT
- Anybody who says otherwise has a celeron running vista on 256mb at home, is tightly gripping their Zune, and still thinks that the Xbox 360 overheats because users are careless.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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- Apple Iphone = Garbage
- by accssdenied June 30, 2007 8:55 PM PDT
- 1. 2-megapixel camera when others have 5-megapixel shooters on board
- Like this View all 3 replies
Processing -
Showing 1 of 2 pages (57 Comments)2. 5-hour talk time: not enough battery life
3. No expansion slot. Go for the 8-gig model and that's it.
4. No 3G: EDGE is so last year
5. No removable battery: You mean we can't take along a spare battery? ***
and I'm running vista ultimate/osx86 dual boot on a amd athlon 64 x2 5600+ AM2 with 8gb of DDRII ram, oh 800 mhz ddr2 I might add. Oh and don't forget the x1950xtx 512 hooked into my 40 inch lcd via hdmi. Got an xbox 360 elite that DOES NOT overheat what so ever. Would you like pictures? oh, btw did you read why the Iphone sucks big donkey DIC*. well if you didn't use google, it is mighty helpful. Iphone=garbage=SLOW. The only people dumb enough to pay for one of these garbage cans are the itunes/apple fanboys. GAY!!!!!!