is launching June 29. Anyone thinking of getting one? Need a little feedback on whether or not you think its going to be all that?
I think it's going to be great. Chicos will disagree with me ;)
I'm obviously an Apple guy and love most of the iLife apps. The iphone intigrates many of these apps along with their usual winning interface, so I'm in. If you can stomach the price and realize its funtions are more suited for entertainment than business, then you can bitch and moan with me on the 29th, because unless you camp out, you ain't gettin' one.
Quote from: SoCalwarrior on June 21, 2007, 07:47:11 PM
I think it's going to be great. Chicos will disagree with me ;)
I'm obviously an Apple guy and love most of the iLife apps. The iphone intigrates many of these apps along with their usual winning interface, so I'm in. If you can stomach the price and realize its funtions are more suited for entertainment than business, then you can bitch and moan with me on the 29th, because unless you camp out, you ain't gettin' one.
Actually I don't disagree with you. It has some bugs right now from what I understand, but I'm looking forward to it. I love my iPODs and I have high hopes for the iPHONE. The interface looks wonderful.
Interesting article about next week.... http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=sci_tech&id=5411122
any idea on how long before the price drops. i'd love to get the iphone but $500 may be a bit steep.
this is exactly why I am not much of an Apple fan.. every time I hear people talking about the company or its products I feel like there's a big group hug coming on...
that said.. I really do like my iPod.. :-\ *shuffles feet and joins group hug*
The stock market certainly likes it. AAPL has been moving up quite nicely the last 6-8 months. And AT&T is hiring 2,000 for the launch: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200706212216DOWJONESDJONLINE001091_FORTUNE5.htm
Welcome spiral!
The cost of the phone isn't the biggest deterrent to me. The fact that they've not released the pricing plan (which they've said is iPhone-only) to me means it'll be pricey. I'm just not willing to pay $150+ a month (for two years!) on top of the $5-600 buy in. I guess a lot of people do already, though, so maybe it is no big deal to a lot of folks.
I like Apple, but the secrecy of the most crucial part of the phone, irritates me.
nate
Here is the guided tour of the device:
http://www.apple.com/iphone/usingiphone/guidedtour.html?cid=CDM-US-iPhone-5405A&sr=em&cp=ip-bob (http://www.apple.com/iphone/usingiphone/guidedtour.html?cid=CDM-US-iPhone-5405A&sr=em&cp=ip-bob)
do you remember back in 1998 when apple was dying and under $20 a share - oh jeez
great concept. price a bit steep. I'd wait for a later model. Apple does better the 3rd or 4th time around...less bugs and whatnot.
a guy i know has been using a beta model for the last couple of months and says the commercials don't do justice to how fantastic the iphone is. i'll be waiting for 3rd generation though...it'll take me that long to sell all my non-vital internal organs so i can afford it.
Quote from: MU Chi_IL on June 22, 2007, 03:20:00 PM
Here is the guided tour of the device:
I can't believe I sat and watched a 20 minute commercial, but...wow. I hadn't really paid much attention to the iPhone, so I had no idea what it was. Very impressive product.
With everything that they put on there, I can' understand whey they didn't work out a deal with Garmin to make it a fully functional GPS system. It seems like that would be a natural extension of what they've done and would be pretty easy to integrate. When he was doing the demo of the map, I just couldn't help thinking that they should have gone that one extra step.
What does this have to do with Warrior Basketball? Are they a sponsor?
Quote from: Phi Iota Gamma 84 on June 23, 2007, 07:48:27 PM
What does this have to do with Warrior Basketball? Are they a sponsor?
Probably should have been discussed in the Superbar, but heck, the mods were here too, so sit back, relax and enjoy the summer college hoops doldrums.
Quote from: Phi Iota Gamma 84 on June 23, 2007, 07:48:27 PM
What does this have to do with Warrior Basketball? Are they a sponsor?
1) OT=off topic.
2) The person who started the thread, 4everwarriors, is actually the guy that mows Tom Crean's lawn, so he would know if we have a sponsorship or not. ;D
Quote from: StillAWarrior on June 23, 2007, 07:50:39 AM
With everything that they put on there, I can' understand whey they didn't work out a deal with Garmin to make it a fully functional GPS system. It seems like that would be a natural extension of what they've done and would be pretty easy to integrate. When he was doing the demo of the map, I just couldn't help thinking that they should have gone that one extra step.
Easy to answer: Apple doesn't like to share!
They created their own OS, keep their products underwraps, and really do their OWN thing.
The flipside is...everyone else is still buying PCs.
Apple likes to keep everything in house, but, say on the iPod, there are a ton of licensed technologies (including the original OS and scroll wheel).
As far the GPS goes, I thought it was an odd thing to leave out -- especially because the GPS modules aren't that expensive (I thought someone came out with one for like $2 wholesale) and Google maps already supports lat/long directions. After seeing it work on that video, though, I think they've come up with a pretty good solution. Still would have rather had the GPS, though.
With Apple gaining on the PC market (http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/06/23/mac-laptops-outpace-pcs-in-sales), especially in laptops, how long until we have another Microsoft, except this time with a company that is completely vertically integrated? That sounds a lot more monopolistic than MS ever was :)
Quote from: nathanziarek on June 24, 2007, 11:24:52 AM
With Apple gaining on the PC market (http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/06/23/mac-laptops-outpace-pcs-in-sales), especially in laptops, how long until we have another Microsoft, except this time with a company that is completely vertically integrated? That sounds a lot more monopolistic than MS ever was :)
True that! But it will never happen because Apple will control their interests thus not selling out by letting everyone in on their secrets for a price! Apple (the company) has a distinct culture and they value it immensely.
And, I do a damn good job of it as well. When I can get Crean's ear, I rip him a new one. ;D
Just in from the San Jose Mercury News...
Early reviewers praise iPhone, pan AT&T
By Troy Wolverton
Mercury News
San Jose Mercury News
Article Launched:06/26/2007 07:06:09 PM PDT
Does it live up to the hype?
Some of the top tech reviewers weighed in Tuesday on the iPhone - what one described as the most widely anticipated gadget he had ever seen - and answered the question with a qualified "Yes."
Most praised its easy-to-use software and impressive touch screen - even while panning the AT&T service it uses. The reviews also provided new details about what the gadget will and won't do.
These influential reviewers, including Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal and David Pogue at the New York Times, were given exclusive early access to the tightly controlled device by Apple. The iPhone won't go on sale until Friday at 6 p.m.
While these early reviews probably won't sway early buyers, they could influence those sitting on the fence, analysts say, as those consumers decided whether to pluck down $500 to $600 plus the cost of a two-year service plan for the phone.
Their praise was in general lavish, especially of the device's software interface.
Newsweek's Steven Levy, for instance, noted that his own Motorola phone can do many of the same things that the iPhone can. But where he was able to figure out how to surf the Web and check email on the iPhone easily, he hadn't figured out how to do many of those functions on his Motorola phone even after owning it for two years.
"And there it is: One of the most hyped consumer products ever comes pretty close to justifying the bombast," Levy said.
But Levy and the others quibbled about some of the iPhone's features and sharply criticized Apple's wireless partner, AT&T, and its network.
"Yes, the iPhone is amazing," wrote Pogue. "But no, it's not perfect."
Among the shortcomings: Users won't be able to make calls using voice dialing; they won't be able to assign one of the songs in their music library as a ring tone; the built-in Web browser doesn't support Flash applications; the phone doesn't support instant messaging; and its built-in digital camera can't zoom in on a scene or take digital video.
On the plus side, the reviewers gave the touch-screen, which many feared would scratch easily, high marks for resiliency. Most found the iPhone's virtual keyboard easy to use. And most were impressed with the iPhone's battery life, although they noted it didn't appear to last quite as long as Apple has promised.
Given the largely positive nature of the reviews, "A lot of people who might hesitate to buy (an iPhone) are going to feel encouraged," said Roger Kay, founder and president of Endpoint Technologies, a high-tech consulting firm.
"The bottom line is those guys are kind of taste makers. What they say matters."
An Apple spokesperson did not return a call seeking comment about the reviews.
For their part, the reviewers raved about both the iPhone's physical design and the software at its core. Most noted how sleek and thin it looks. Mossberg, for instance, noted that the phone was thinner than the Samsung BlackJack, a recently released smartphone.
The iPhone is "a classic example of the Apple look: slim, shiny and elegant," wrote Levy. "As it did with MP3 players, Apple has made even its most stylish competitors look like Soviet-issue contraptions."
The iPhone's software "sets a new bar for the smart-phone industry," added Mossberg and Katherine Boehret in their joint review for the Journal.
Most reviewers gave high marks to the iPhone's Web browsing capabilities. But they unanimously lambasted the speed at which the device accesses the Web over AT&T's network.
The gadget can access the Internet using a relatively fast WiFi connection, but those can often be hard to find. When users don't have one near by, they can only jump on the Internet through the company's EDGE data network, which is considerably slower than its newer 3G Broadband Connect one.
Using the EDGE network, the iPhone took nearly a minute to load the Times' home page and two minutes to load Yahoo, noted Pogue.
In his most cutting assessment, he wrote: "You almost ache for a dial-up modem."
And then there's the things that they revealed that the iPhone can't do. The iPhone has the same connector on bottom as an iPod, for instance. But many iPod accessories, including adapters that allow users to connect them to their car stereos, may not work with them, the reviewers reported. Apple will address this in the future by allowing accessory makers to put a "made for iPhone" stamp on their products and through some software fixes, the reviewers said.
Instant messaging also seems to come up short on the phone. Apple didn't include a version of its iChat program on it, nor did it provide any built-in software to access AOL or Yahoo's popular IM networks, the reviewers reported.
What's more, the phone's text messaging can't be used to send pictures, Pogue noted. While users can email pictures, most cell phones can't receive regular email messages, he noted.
And there are no games yet for the phone, potentially a big oversight, considering the growing popularity of mobile games.
While Apple may be able to address those and similar problems with software updates, it likely won't fix other shortcomings, at least not in this version of the phone. Users can't remove the smart card within the phone, so it can't be used with rival wireless networks such as T-Mobile's, and you will have to pay roaming charges if you take it overseas. Nor can users remove the battery, which means when it inevitably runs out, they'll have to send the device back to Apple or to a fix-it shop.
Still, all-in-all, the reviewers gave the iPhone high marks.
"Expectations for the iPhone have been so high that it can't possibly meet them all," said Mossberg. "But, despite its network limitations, the iPhone is a whole new experience and a pleasure to use."
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on June 21, 2007, 08:16:51 PM
Quote from: SoCalwarrior on June 21, 2007, 07:47:11 PM
I think it's going to be great. Chicos will disagree with me ;)
I'm obviously an Apple guy and love most of the iLife apps. The iphone intigrates many of these apps along with their usual winning interface, so I'm in. If you can stomach the price and realize its funtions are more suited for entertainment than business, then you can bitch and moan with me on the 29th, because unless you camp out, you ain't gettin' one.
Actually I don't disagree with you. It has some bugs right now from what I understand, but I'm looking forward to it. I love my iPODs and I have high hopes for the iPHONE. The interface looks wonderful.
Interesting article about next week.... http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=sci_tech&id=5411122
I'm going to get a second generation one when they come out in a year or two. They should have all the bugs worked out by then and the price will have dropped considerably. Saw an ad for one last night. That thing is really, really cool.
check out David Pogues' hilarious video on the iPhone over at nytimes.com
look toward the middle of the page, they have a video section -- its a product review wrapped into a short film
http://video.on.nytimes.com/index.jsp
did you guys see the actual minute plans for the phone? i heard on the news last night that a 450 minute plan will run you $60 a month. while a 1000+ minute plan is going to be $100. people keep thinking debating over dropping $500 for the phone, but no one mentions the costs of running it. till they work the bugs out and make it more reasonable, ill stick to my phone. $39.99 for 1000 minutes is fine for the time being.
first post from an iphone. The thing has so many cool features you forget its a phone too. Muscoop renders in all of its glory.
Quote from: SoCalwarrior on June 30, 2007, 11:51:29 PM
first post from an iphone. The thing has so many cool features you forget its a phone too. Muscoop renders in all of its glory.
:o
Can we get a screen shot of MUScoop on the iPhone?!?
It's tough to get a good pic, but here's a couple screenshots.
(http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d88/kenwoodla/IMG_0454.jpg)(http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d88/kenwoodla/IMG_0451.jpg)
And here's a video demo. The iphone display is great. Recording it with my ten year old video camera is not. But you should be able to get an idea.
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?action=tpmod;blog=view;cont=44;uid=5 (http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?action=tpmod;blog=view;cont=44;uid=5)
Very cool.
How's the battery life?
good so far, but only had a day.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1860359/posts
Quote from: SoCalwarrior on July 01, 2007, 04:12:04 PM
And here's a video demo. The iphone display is great. Recording it with my ten year old video camera is not. But you should be able to get an idea.
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?action=tpmod;blog=view;cont=44;uid=5 (http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?action=tpmod;blog=view;cont=44;uid=5)
Very Cool - I don't really need any more toys, but that is attractive...
I would be curious to know how the sales of iPhone (and all other cells) would do if they were required to put a yearly cost on every price tag.
$600 for the iPhone is just the start. Minimum $60/month plan = $720 plus at least $200 in tax, we're at $1,500 smackers for 365 days of iPhone toy playing. That's iPopping.
...they'd just have less buyers over all :)
Engadget had a good cost breakdown: http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/26/how-does-the-iphone-stack-up-in-total-cost/
Interesting. The cheapest phone is the Blackjack, and even that runs you $3/day for the cheapest plan...
If you want one cheap and want a "free" $400 blender to go with it you can bid on it here (http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-iPhone-and-Blendtec-Total-Blender_W0QQitemZ170129995323QQihZ007QQcategoryZ64355QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem). :D
they blend a lot of stuff! but the iphone was just cool.
http://www.willitblend.com/videos.aspx?type=unsafe&video=iphone (http://www.willitblend.com/videos.aspx?type=unsafe&video=iphone)
P.s. for a giant long review with tons of pictures and a review of each function:
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/apple/no-bs-iphone-review-276116.php
So .. SoCal, what do you think after a month of the iPhone?
I've read reviews .. a minute ago, this one, survey results: http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20070807/tc_pcworld/135595
.. and it seems like the iPhone sucks (for the $$). Slow network/browsing. Little customization, like ring tones, bad camera, no instant messaging, no GPS (even basic cell phone gps) .. no cut and paste .. no voice dial. (even my POS phone does that.) .. a different review I read lambasted the phone call quality, bad speaker, bad mic.
All say it's a great iPod, though. For $500-600, it better be.
Hey, if it's good enough for Karl Rove, it's good enough for me.
(http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d88/kenwoodla/whblog_0806.jpg)
Honestly, I love it. My biggest complaint is browsing the internet on AT&T's 2.5 Edge. Too slow. I suspect this will be upgraded with Iphone2.0. Or perhaps in an update as hackers claim the software/hardware is already in the phone.
As for the other things you mentioned were missing, I was willing to do without for the time being in return for the new stuff. It's the life of an early adaptor.
Other than the GPS, all of the things you mentioned should come in an update via download in the coming weeks.
I wasn't asked :(, but I'll give my impression...
I still don't know if it is worth the $600 I plunked down for it. But, as a device, I consider it on the best pieces of consumer electronics I've ever used. The user experience is unlike anything I've ever used. While there are lots of places things could be better, the interaction design is top notch, and I've yet to find a feature missing that I'd call crucial.
Network: I live by Mitchel, and when I turn the WiFi off, I get decent speeds. I'm not going to switch to EDGE as my full time data provider, but for on-the-go browsing, its fine. I work downtown, and there are some spots, seemingly in the open, that I get no network -- no EDGE, no signal at all. I'm not sure who to blame that on, but it is aggravating. For the record, with 4/5 bars, I loaded ESPN.com in about 12 seconds vs. 2 over broadband. That's a little faster than usual, but think no longer than 20 seconds for most pages.
Customization: On my RAZR I had the theme to "The Office" as my ring tone. It was neat for like two days before I switched to a default ring. This may be a big thing to people, in which case, yeah, there is no ring tone customization that can be done. You can change the background of the lock screen, but not the main menu (and probably for good reason, as it'd be hard to read then). This doesn't bother me even a little.
Camera: I think the camera is pretty good for a cell phone! Of course, I'm coming from like a VGA camera (800x600 max, maybe lower), but the pictures I've been taking look nice. Not as nice as a DSLR or even a 6MP point-and-shoot, but nice for what they are. Here's a shot of my nephew (http://www.ziarek.com/_temp/IMG_0063.jpg). Nice color, reasonably detailed and sharp. I think it replaces a basic point and shoot camera completely.
no IM: Yup, this sucks, especially since Apple is putting so much emphasis on iChat in the new MacOS X "Leopard." I don't get why it isn't included, unless AT&T wanted us using up our SMS messages. I'd guess it comes out eventually, but big drawback that it isn't on there at the start.
no MMS: Huh? I guess Apple is thinking that since it has email, it doesn't need MMS. I like to send pictures to family / friends that don't get email on their phone. Another drawback.
no GPS: eh. I have a GPS system, so this probably isn't the biggest deal to me. That said, I left the GPS at home the other day and had to rely on the phone's map program which sucked. It provides directions, and even lets you click "Next" to get the next leg of the trip, but it turns off after 60 seconds on inactivity, and isn't friendly to use while driving. I hope that there is a car-dock in the works that offers built-in GPS and radio connections, as that'd alleviate a lot of the problem.
Cut n Paste: I've not found the need for it yet (I'm only typing little emails and URLs), but if you did need it, it not being there would suck. I've actually found the keyboard to be so good (just type, 99% of the time I either hit the right button or the software figures out what I wanted) that I don't mind erasing and just typing over. I've never had to retype a paragraph or anything, though, so my opinion probably doesn't matter here :)
Voice Dial: I feel like "unlocking" the iPhone is cumbersome. You take it out, turn it on (home or top button), slide your finger across to unlock, and you are in. If I could do voice dialing in fewer steps -- maybe even from my bluetooth headset like I've seen other phones allow -- that'd be nice. This is totally one of those features I thought was dumb and now actively crave.
Call quality is fine, comparable to my RAZR if not better...speaker and mic seem fine (I can hear and I've never had someone constantly yelling "What?!") and the speaker phone is decently loud, although that could be improved.
I wouldn't call it a great iPod (I think the scroll wheel is easier to use, personally) but it works, and videos on that screen are gorgeous.
I would give it a 8/10 right now. But that's the thing: people are judging this not by what it does right now but by what it could do (or might do). Like I opened with, I'm not sold that it is worth $600, but if $ was no object and given my usage, it is easily the best piece of consumer electronics I've ever owned.
n
Quote from: Prevent Offense on August 07, 2007, 09:47:05 AM
I still don't know if it is worth the $600 I plunked down for it.
Well - apparently it's only worth $400 now - apple just slashed the price by $200, dropped the original $400 model, and added wifi to the $300 iPod. That's gotta' piss some people off.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070905/apple_ipods.html?.v=21&printer=1
Quote from: rocky_warrior on September 05, 2007, 02:22:53 PM
Quote from: Prevent Offense on August 07, 2007, 09:47:05 AM
I still don't know if it is worth the $600 I plunked down for it.
Well - apparently it's only worth $400 now - apple just slashed the price by $200, dropped the original $400 model, and added wifi to the $300 iPod. That's gotta' piss some people off.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070905/apple_ipods.html?.v=21&printer=1
And pissed they were.. but at least Apple has agreed to give a $100 credit to the buyers of the 8GB version who got it directly from Apple or AT&T and did not get any other rebates.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/09/06/technology/iphone_price/index.htm?cnn=yes
Course, the credit is only good for buying other stuff at Apple's website or store.
QuoteWhile Jobs defended the drastic price reduction, saying every new device has price cuts and improved models on the horizon, he apologized to customers who paid the original price for the iPhone.
Uhh...yeah...but the iPhone is only 2 months old. That's a little quick for a 33% price drop. Glad Apple is at least partially making it up.
good read here -- iPhone ....... the view from a couple of months into the product lifecycle
http://www.patrickweb.com/weblog/archives/2007_10.php