Comments on: Update: All your base are belong to iPhone

Apple's latest toy is loaded, and it could set the bar for mobile devices across the board.

[edoboza]

iPhone price tag

Proposed prices for either iPhone version is still ridiculous. Bring it down!

[alexmitchell]

wow i am amazed

i am absolutely stunned, i am getting this device as soon as it comes out. This looks like the ultimate gadget. it maybe be a little heavy but tis beautiful. You have everything in this phone. I have read other comments on other sites about not having HSDPA and 3g, but cingular is only JUAT coming out with 3g, and thatz not even video calls, only data. so it will be a while till US has gotten the 3g shinanagins under control, and with other carriers. so this device is perfect for this time. i am just happy with edge. Those sensors are also soo sweet too itz the lazy man phone, it does everything for you!

[alexmitchell]

wow i am amazed

i am absolutely stunned, i am getting this device as soon as it comes out. This looks like the ultimate gadget. it maybe be a little heavy but tis beautiful. You have everything in this phone. I have read other comments on other sites about not having HSDPA and 3g, but cingular is only JUST coming out with 3g, and thatz not even video calls, only data. so it will be a while till US has gotten the 3g shinanagins under control, and with other carriers. so this device is perfect for this time. i am just happy with edge. Those sensors are also soo sweet too itz the lazy man phone, it does everything for you!

[desiderata12345]

No mention of Cingular's 8525 Smartphone ?

Interesting the 8525 didn't get mentioned in the article nor the comparison chart. How about a REAL comparison chart? And throw in the Sony while your at it.

The only thing that was ever appealing about the Ipods were their design & software simplicity. When they start losing the simplicity, THEN they are on equal playing ground with other MP3 players/Smartphone manufacturers and they are way behind. AND no one wants to be locked in to the Itunes and Mac OS for the rest of their life, and especially in a smartphone arena. I doubt this will be much more than a "gadget" until the 3rd gen or so when Ipod doesn't lock you into their OS and Itunes, bugs are worked out, PC sync issues are solid, 3rd party software is plentiful, etc...

[tmoynihan]

Just added the 8525...

Hey desiderata -- thanks for reading.

I just added the basic specs for the Cingular 8525 and the unlocked Sony Ericsson P990i to the chart. I didn't add them at first because they are slightly fatter phones and just wanted to put the basic iPhone specs up against similar skinny smart phones. They do have similar feature sets, so I added them to the mix.

Also, the reason the chart is so basic is because we haven't done any hands-on testing of the iPhone yet. As such, it's hard to say whether the vendor's claims for battery life, call quality, etc. are accurate in real-life use.

Also important: It's unclear whether the iPhone will allow users to download directly from iTunes over Wi-Fi. But the pieces are there, and it would sure be nice if that's the case...

[audiopainter]

Locked into the Mac OS and iTunes?

Everybody has been locked into Windows and media player for so many years, is
that any better. NO. Apple is just opening the eyes of every PC user, one at a
time, and showing them what great products are...not just what they look like.
Apple doesn't lock you into anything! Even if they did, I'd prefer it to the
Windows alternative.

[jmhal]

I'm liking the iphone

This looks like the first Apple product I would actually consider buying. The only con I see is the price, which seems to be the trend with apple product. I'm not an ipod fan (I have a Creative Zen Micro Photo instead)and probably won't become one for a while because I never felt the features justified the price, there was always something with more features and a better price. But this looks different. 4 or 8 GB of storage, ipod functionality, web browser, email, improved voice mail, a camera, Oh yeah and a phone (not to mention wi-fi and bluetooth) all bundled with Apple's well known ease of use sounds great. I just bought a new cell phone and even though it has all the features I listed, except the storage space, the manufacturer overlooked its ease of use and everything buried in a menu somewhere instead of where you need it. Even though I wouldn't trade in my Creative zen micro for this, apple's new cell phone looks like a great device that can do it all and do it well.

[op3rand]

Cingular?!?

Great job Apple by utilizing one service provider. Bravo - really.

[ejmarin]

Agreed -- one carrier, bad idea

Apple linking the iPhone to exclusively one carrier (Cingular, no less!) has been an absolute buzz kill.

[jeffgoblue]

One carrier is a necessity (unfortunately)

I too am disappointed it's only Cingular, but it sounds like the exclusive relationship is necessary for the Visual Voicemail. I don't see how that could be done w/o the direct participation of the carrier. It's a super cool feature, but that being said, I'd be willing to forgo that feature to get an unlocked phonne.

[rdendi]

IPhone is not worthy.

Agreed that it has lot of features, but I think IPhone is over priced. They should have put at least 30 Gig on it. Does it have a memory expansion, like a SD slot? How about built-in GPS? As speculated by people, do they come with 2 batteries - one for the phone and other for rest? I would get a IPhone if it has built-in GPS, a memory expansion slot and/or at least 30GB, and two separate batteries.

[Revlution4ever]

It has everything you need.

Does it matter if it has two batteries? Steve clearly said

5 hours for video/talk/browsing
16 for audio.

Doesnt that say it all? If you wanna use it as an IPod, well go ahead, u will get a 16 hour WideScreen, Touch Sensitive, Ipod. Did I mention it basically has IPhoto in it, WITH a camera? Oh Yeah, and Apple Mail, Safari, widgets.

OH wait, I didn't mention the PHONE.

Also, we have until June. who knows what else they will announce.

[dfichtner]

Wait for the reviews before you buy one!

I live in South Korea, where phone technology is several months ahead of the USA (they test new things here before releasing world-wide).

We've been watching DMB video (satellite-fed and/or antenna-fed TV) on our phones for about 6 months now. There are over 20 channels, and you can watch pretty much anywhere in the country.

One of the things I'd like to mention is that whenever new phones that promise to be new and innovative come out, they end up totally missing the boat on those little everyday phone features we take for granted. For example, ring loudness and vibration strength. It sounds stupid, but it's true -- many new phones miss the boat on this.

There are other issues, as well.

And don't feel excited that this phone is so thin. We've got phones here that are barely a quarter inch thick (closer to 1/8th of an inch). Slim phones are not my preference, however, because they are easily dropped.

This begs the question: How easy will it be to get service on these phones? I have a feeling it won't be quick and easy.

By the way, does anyone know if this device will actually have a removable battery?

[thomusvoo]

im down for one

this thing looks suppppppperrr nice. for the price. its a phone, web browser, mp3 player and camera all in 1. its the only thing you need to carry on trips.

[artgoi]

Remember, remember!

remember though hardware wont be updateable, software is. the ability to buy songs could be added later on with even more stuff.

[ryork272]

Oh boy! Ra, ra!

Wow, some time in the future we will be able to download iTunes to the iPhone and pay Apple even more money for restricted use multi-media. You people are just plain stupid! Here, I have the Golden Gate Bridge for sale!

[ormus1--2008]

iCar? Point me to the showroom!

WHEN Apple builds a car... I'm in line.

[therearenorules]

The Beatles on iTunes!??!

The only thing about that picture that gets me is the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Wow! Is it really on iTunes now!?

[ryork272]

You're a loser...

So lets go buy it because it has Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band! Dumb twit!

[gxc0an0]

Love the phone, however I noticed a discrepancy...

Love the new iPhone, it looks to have alot of promise for digital junkees like myself... However, I noticed for the Samsung BJ CNET didn't list UMTS/HSDPA as one of the communication protocols. The BJ currently supports and uses UMTS similarly to that of the Cingular 8525.

Will the iPhone support UMTS as well?

[tmoynihan]

Thanks gxc0an0...

Thanks for catching that omission. I just added UMTS to the Blackjack's column.

The iPhone will not support UMTS, according to Apple's official specs page:

http://www.apple.com/iphone/technology/specs.html

[PhillyBoy919]

Nope, no 3G at all

It only supports EDGE, which makes this thing completely useless to me. I can;t even fathom how they put all this amazing technology into this phone and left out something so stupidly obvious.

[keith.in.trinidad]

If you think this is special...

...just wait until Steve Jobs rolls all these new patents into a 12-inch tablet.

[Browse33]

Phone is extremely "Not Worthy"

There is one glaring problem with the iPhone that nobody seems to be mentioning, the fact it isn't on Cingulars high speed network. They crammed everything in the World into the phone but almost none of it is useable if you are not in a WiFi spot. Cingulars Edge date around me is completely useless (Syracuse) and takes forever to load webpages and can not possibly stream music/videos etc.

The phoen reminds me of the first PDA phones on Sprint etc back when they had "everything" in the phones for online but could only dial up at 15kb per second thus making them paperweights.

[PhillyBoy919]

No 3G is terrible

The lack of 3G data connectivity kills the usefulness of this phone for many business users. I need a phone that can be tethered, either by Bluetooth or USB to my laptop when I'm on the road, vacation, whatever. The Q does this well and on Verizon's EVDO network I regularly get speeds rivaling basic DSL (650-750 Kbps). That isn't possible with EDGE. It's not like Cingular doesn't offer 3G, they do, so why include everything and the kitchen sink and leave out the one thing that would be the most useful to many people.

What a terrible decision making an otherwise other-wordly device completely useless to me.

Looks like my Q will be hanging around for a while.

[budolivares]

IPHONE AND CINGULAR

Sure, that's a 2 year deal for the contract and phone services, having said that,
the 2 year deal DOES NOT INCLUDE THE UNLIMITED EDGE NETWORK, THAT
COSTS AN ADDITIONAL $49.95 PER MONTH! IT'S $15 WITH T-MOBILE AND $19
WITH VERIZON.

[budolivares]

iPhone and Edge 2.5 G

Getting cingular 2.5 G Edge really sucks AND it's ONLY $49.99 extra!

[lucianvarlan]

Where is Nokia?

I am sure iPhone is a great phone which many users would love to have. But how come in the comparison chart CNET haven't included a single Nokia phone. Remember, Nokia is by far the largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world.

[gthurman]

Apple's usual great tech

80% of cell phone users would have trouble with my 8525 (HTC Hermes). This is great tech, but like PC software, of those that buy, probably 80% of the functions will never be used. It's not the design, it's the humans.

[ryork272]

$600 & 2 Yr Contract! No way!

Come on Apple. $600 AND one must commit to a 2 year contract?!*&! Not to mention it only holds 8Gb of multimedia. Lets put it into perspective: Most of us think the PS3 is over priced at $600 but at least it plays real games and has BlueRay DVD included. No question the iPhone looks cool, but in the end its just another multi-media cell phone with limited capacity and an extremely high price tag. If it were $300 I'd be jumping up and down.