Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Nilsen on January 09, 2007, 01:41:26 PM
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Holy snap!
rubish battery time, but this is the most exciting gadget ever..
http://www.apple.com/iphone/
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That's just goofy, but I am sure they will sell a bazillion of them. If they can get Paris Hilton to use one and lose it, so it can get world-wide press coverage, they should do well.
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Paris Hilton doesn't have pockets.....
:D
Mac
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Skuzzy, what's goofy about it? I try not to be too 'fan boi', but I might be blind to some obvious silliness. I really like the visual voicemail, that's pretty sharp.
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That looks like a great device. Haven't bought an iPod yet... will probably wait until the iPhone settles down and get one of those.
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Skuzzy is happy with what he has now.
(http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/April2003/Brick.jpg)
Dagnabbit, no need to upgrade if it works just fine.
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I dont care if that device is made by apple, microsoft, north corea or creative.... it is simply stunning. Prolly gonna be the first time ill buy a first release of a product ever. Usually i wait a while for stuff to mature.
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a new geek toy.
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new geeks get toys??
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Ya gotta give Apple and A+ for gettin their' products right but at $500, I think I'll pass for now.
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I guess I dunt get it, but then I dunt get iPods either.
And Mak, I love technology when it is useful. I just do not see the usefullness of this. Of course, I dunt see the usefullness of iPods either.
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Well, it's less of a phone than it is an internet appliance. It's a small tablet that provides desktop power browsing (check out the animations), has some sort of location awareness built in so you can say "Hey, where's the nearest starbucks" and it will. It integrates Google Maps w/ satellite data, so you can get good visual navigation, with photographic assistance if needed. Imagine a good handheld GPS with an internet connection, lots of neat opportunities here.
It happens to manage your media too. It'll keep you in music, video, and pictures, that's pretty sharp. With the high speed internet connection, you've got lots of options when it comes to streaming too. High powered MPEG 4 decoding so you aren't watching a jerky thumbnail the size of a postage stamp.
It's smart, it has a proximity sensor so that if you hold it up to your ear, the screen turns off (to save battery) and your face won't press buttons by accident. It has onboard accelerometers so it can tell how it's oriented. They had a neat demo where however you held it, it optimized the display. For instance, if you're looking at something that's better shown in landscape mode, just tilt the phone appropriately and it detects it. I have an Elph with that feature, and it's sweet.
I've browsed the web on cell phones and been underwhelmed at the speed and limitations. I've used handheld GPSs and thought "sure would be need if I could access some of the GIS data or get access to all that location specific data out there". I've played with iPods and said "It's kinda neat, but I don't like carrying around an extra device." I even tried out 2005's Motorola 'ROKR' abortion that tried to marry iTunes with a phone, and it was pretty sad. I have plenty of time on kludgy Windows smartphones that just didn't seem to get it and were poor phones and poor computers.
But this... this looks like it gets so much right. We've got a few months before these start hitting actual people, but the demo stuff I saw was pretty impressive today.
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prepare to be blown away....
(http://www.richardcleaver.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/02/iphone.jpg)
Apple has done it again...
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Errm, that's not the phone. That's a fan made drawing that... did not reflect the actual phone.
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:huh
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Nevermind...
(http://www.infosyncworld.net/resources/products/apple/apple_iphone_p00.jpg)
(http://www.infosyncworld.net/resources/products/apple/apple_iphone_p01.jpg)
(http://www.infosyncworld.net/resources/products/apple/apple_iphone_p02.jpg)
(http://www.infosyncworld.net/resources/products/apple/apple_iphone_p03.jpg)
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The brilliant thing imo about the regular ipods is the user interface and they way they market the players. The rest of the player itself is pretty average.
This new iPhone is to me like a sportscar is to a driving fan.. Can be very usefull, but the big thing is the fun factor.
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Originally posted by Skuzzy
I guess I dunt get it, but then I dunt get iPods either.
Skuz it prevents teenagers from having to interact with the real world.
Which may also perhaps be said of us adults, who fly cartoon WW2 aeoplanes :D
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Uhm,,..all this depends on the ability to be able to read the itty-bitty screen.
Really Chairboy, it does not sound all that neat to me. It's just too small for it to be useful to me in the areas of GPS navigation, WEB browsing, and, well,...everything it can do. It's not even shaped well to be used for a phone. Sort of like the Blackberry.
My Wife has one (a Blackberry). Well, she is on her second one, the first one fell out my car window on the freeway. Needs bigger handles, I tell ya.
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Ok, fair enough. I guess that when you said it was "goofy" I didn't realize you meant "it does not sound all that neat to me".
There'll probably never be a 'one device fits all', people have different needs.
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goofy: Silly, odd, contridictory, without merit, questionable, disturbing.
Take yer pick. I use 'goofy' for many things. Much like 'mook'. :)
Originally posted by Nilsen
The brilliant thing imo about the regular ipods is the user interface and they way they market the players. The rest of the player itself is pretty average.
This new iPhone is to me like a sportscar is to a driving fan.. Can be very usefull, but the big thing is the fun factor.
I guess I am too practical Nils. I cannot equate 'fun' to a phone thing. Phones are anything but fun to me. The first time someone told me to "text them", I never talked to them again.
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goofy: Silly, odd, contridictory, without merit, questionable, disturbing.
Our family uses "differant" when we want to say something nice but "think" it is crap or wat not :rofl
Oh , well that's "differant" ;)
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I think most phones are not fun because the weakest part is crappy, confusing interfaces created without any consideration for the user. You shouldn't have to read a novel-sized book to operate a phone.
The elegance is that even an old, old, old graybeard can use it. :D You seem a little young to be so stuck in your ways... ;)
Why don't you go to a store and get someone to show you one? Nothing beats actually holding it and seeing firsthand.
I used to be averse to phones that did anything but work as a phone, but I'm surrounded by cell phones that are state of the art. It's amazing how I've adapted and found uses for many features I thought I didn't want, or would never use.
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It looks very cool to me. The touchscreen interface is the neatest feature, IMHO. You are not stuck with 1 keypad setup for many different applications.
Skuzzy, I understand the "whiz-bang" factor you are talking about, but this has possibilities. Who would have thought a camera / cell phone would have been a hit?
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1. i would never buy videophone, obvious reason...........
2. How different it is from current cellulars? not realy
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meh.
coloured smoke and bent mirrors.
it combines all those dumb gadgets for girly-men into one ugly ****.
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Another pocket kitchen sink.
Integrated phone/internet appliance/DV player will be interesting when they're slimmer a lot than that.
Until then they should let ipods be ipods, phones phones, and cameras cameras... It's too bad they couldn't make a lite version, with just the phone functionalities.. I'd have bought one on the spot.
The ipod should have gotten that tactile widescreen (as I predicted - tm. Lasersailor).
I'll probably fall into buying one, though, despite the absurdity of the storage/price ratio.
Can't the other manufacturers keep up and give Apple some competition?
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If they can get it to play World Of Warcraft online they'll sell millions of them.
Imagine if they could get it to play AHII...hmmmmmm...??
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Moot: Slimmer? It's less than a half inch thick, any thinner and it'd need a Visa logo. 11.6mm = .47"
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Originally posted by Skuzzy
I guess I dunt get it, but then I dunt get iPods either.
iPods are incredibly useful if you really enjoy music and have a lot of it.
Not only can you store a ton of tunes, but you can organize them into playlists, and not have to bother with CDs.
Then, depending on how large your house is and how it is built, you can have every single radio in the place pick up what the iPod is playing, and viola, you have the most obnoxiously loud party on the block :D
I don't own one but I wish I did. If it was free, anyway. It's just the sort of music I enjoy isn't easily found on things like iTunes or Rhapsody, etc., and so I'd have to buy the CD first, anyway, before I could put it on the iPod. That doesn't make much economic sense to me at this time.
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if it's as big as it look the iPhone is iHuge !
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4GB version - $499
8GB version - $599
If the crappy Treo's can still command as much as they charge for thiers, this will certainly outsell everything but the iPod itself.
I have a .mac account, so that is a no-brainer. I can sync my iCal, Mail and everything else.
It's got 802.11 Wireless.
Bluetooth 2.0
and I can put almost my whole collection of CD's in there? m4a files
AND when I am travelling to studios I can transfer 2-3GB's of audio files to either a PC or Mac.
Right now I travel about 150 days a year and I carry:
15GB iPod, charger, FM transmitter, in ear monitors
cell Phone, car charger, wall charger
Laptop, charger, mouse
External Firewire Drive, AC
So I will GLADLY pay $600 for this (once it's available)
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Originally posted by straffo
if it's as big as it look the iPhone is iHuge !
Dimensions 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches / 115 x 61 x 11.6mm
Weight 4.8 ounces / 135 grams
Battery Talk: 6
Battery Music: 16
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Crappy Treo's? I've been a Treo user since the original 180's, and a very happy one.
For the last FEW YEARS I've been using its... Push Email (like Blackberry's); MP3 player; SMS; Web Browsing; Realtime Weather and exchange rate reports etc etc. Not to mention the phone functionality, contacts, calender, to do list, voice notes, and camera.
I currently use a Treo 650 with 1 Gb SD card. It holds enough music for a few hours as well as several of hours of audiobooks to listen too. Plus a few vid clips of the offspring for good measure.
My Treo has great battery life, and is rugged. I like the keyboard (the older Treo 180/270's had no keyboard, which I ended up hating. They had the same thing the iphone has, a touch screen keyboard). It plugs into my car stereo so I can listen to music while driving and never miss a call (pauses music playback when a call comes in). I have bluetooth headphones so I can wander around looking completely different to the wired up ipod noobs with their white earburds listening to a book or maybe making a call.
The iphone has a few things I'd be worried about... battery life... and those acceloromators and proximity detectors look like a recipe for disaster. For example: "it has a proximity sensor so that if you hold it up to your ear, the screen turns off (to save battery) and your face won't press buttons by accident", what about when you go to type something, how reliably will it detect between localized hand movement and an ear?
Finally, integretion. The biggest demand for Smart Phone users these days is enterprise integretion with Microsoft products, especially exchange. If it don't have this then the iphone will be stuck to a very small market of Apple fans. I've watched Pocket PC dominate Palm because of this need.
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Originally posted by Makarov9
Skuzzy is happy with what he has now.
(http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/April2003/Brick.jpg)
Dagnabbit, no need to upgrade if it works just fine.
Ding!
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Originally posted by Black Sheep
Dimensions 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches / 115 x 61 x 11.6mm
Weight 4.8 ounces / 135 grams
Battery Talk: 6
Battery Music: 16
Well mine is 100x46x19.5 mm, 99 grams (sony ericsson k750i)
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Well.. the 5 hour batterylife is not the standby time, it is Talk / Video / Browsing time. There is not that many smartphones that has 5 hours of active talk time.
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Vudak, I do not have a radio in my house and do not turn on a radio in my car either. All the music I really care about fits nicely on about 5 CD's. My cxar has a six CD changer, so I still have some room. Not much music today is interesting to me.
Some of you imply this thing is intuitive. No need for a manual. BS. I can look at the pics above and have absolutely no idea what the heck those images/buttons it is showing are.
Rolex, not set in my ways. I just see this as another way to complicate my life. I like things simple when I get home. I get enough complexity at work everyday. When my Wife and I went to get our cell phones, she picked the Blackberry and I picked the simplest phone I could find.
Make fun of me all you like but I, personally, do not see this as being anything useful/practical. It is would be another device to break and/or clutter up my life.
And the reason I do not get iPods, is the sound quality. It sucks.
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5 hour battery life? Yeah, that thing would find a home next my Wife's dead Blackberry on the freeway somewhere in Dallas. :)
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Chairboy, look at the specs.. it's only that small at the cost of the rest of them.
It surely comes close to correctly doing what every other mfg. has failed to do (swiss knife integration), but it's still not right.. although I'll concede it should get the ball rolling.
My beef is the absurdity of a swiss knife with 100 different tools, but each tool 1/10th the size it needs to be, to be really useful, especially at that price.
With enough luck other mfg's will follow suit as they have with the ipod.
- like Skuzzy said above, the sound quality needs improvement. Sony makes a crappy looking digital player that is supposed to sound the best by far, why can't Apple do that too? It's a music player, not an aesthetics showcase.
I also don't get the point of a phone that's less of a phone to make room for camera functionalities. Why not just make a phone that's a simple compact tablet with the whole front face a tactile screen, and no boat anchors like a camera that's 100 times less good than average contemporary cameras?
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A halway decent camera in a phone is actually perfect for me .
I do not bother bringing a camera with me at all times so many of my most interesting/fun shots have been mande with my phonecam simply because its always available.
In a phone my only true basic needs are: good phone, decent cam and a very good calendar with keyb or touchscreen that i can sync with my computers. The rest of the gadgets like wifi, email and gps in a phone are just fun extras.
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Oh, for the record, I have a nice Garmin GPS for my car. It is very useful.
I am not opposed to technology when it serves to make things easier. I just do not see this device doing anything to make things easier.
Cell phones do not make my life easier, but it is a neccessary evil for my line of work.
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I guess it's just me.. I'm not splitting hairs or being capricious.. It's just that when I walk by cell phones on display, and I see all that stuff stuck to them, miniature keyboard and all, it just looks like junk to me, honestly.
Another thing is that I like carrying as few things on me as I can.
Technology needs to be seemless. I'll gladly buy a phone that doubles as a camera, or anything else, when those features only negligibly deminish the phone they're sharing the plastic/metal shell with.
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Originally posted by Skuzzy
And the reason I do not get iPods, is the sound quality. It sucks.
If you're referring to those annoying things you shove into your ears; you're correct. You can get great sound by using headphones, or porting an iPod to a standard stereo system or Bose radio/cd player.
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on the fence with this one:
I love gadgets and have a Nokia N80, so already have Wifi, TV over 3G, full web browsing and 3Mp camera and its smaller though thicker than the iphone and I like it. Its maybe just not that user friendly for your average person and as there is very little advertising for these top end smart phones alot of people dont even know the technology exist yet where as we are gonna get the iphone rammed down our thoats 24/7 until we believe.
I'm a 3d Graphic Artist (Military Simulation industry) so having access to my website portfolio is always useful for those impromtu meetings or when I'm trying to explain what i do when people ask "your a graphic Designer then?" Grrrr
Now its here that iphone interests me, bigger screen, nice porfolio in your pocket, tis all good in this respect.
But is the big touch screen a Pro or a Con? will it forever have dirty sticky finger marks on it?, will sandy fingers scratch it, how will the massive great screen cope with 24/7 life in your pocket? or are you gonna have to treat the iphone with kid gloves and buy a massive great protective case for it?
have to wait and see.
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Great questions, Blank. I'm looking forward to seeing how this works out too. If they can protect against smudgy, oily fingers, then they really might have something. Same thing with protecting against FOD scratches from being in a pocket. I always put my cell phone in a different pocket than my car keys for exactly that reason.
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There will hopefully be some sort of leather casing and white gloves :D available for it. It will ruin the sleek design, but that doesnt bother me.
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i don't like gadgets that combine so many things with small buttons and screens, although the technology is a wonder. I have a buddy who will definately buy one when it comes out... (he is one of those who walks around with one of those blue tooth things in his ear yakking away in the supermarket for example, like a lost pilot talking to ground control at the wrong airport - a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that he is talking to them), he is quite the gadgeteer. Most people who have to put on reading glasses (magnifiers) to manipulate the thing lose out on a lot of the convenience factor.
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Originally posted by Nilsen
There will hopefully be some sort of leather casing and white gloves :D available for it. It will ruin the sleek design, but that doesnt bother me.
(http://ironic4.free.fr/Hommages/Garcimore.jpg)
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That's so french Saw !
I guess I'm among the few who can understand this :)
(héhé ... encore raté ;))
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:D
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Gunthr: Regarding small buttons, apparently the phone doesn't have any. The display takes up the whole face, and it uses some sort of smart touchscreen. It'll support multiple simultaneous contacts (so you can hold down a shift button, for instance) and is supposed to have some real smarts for figuring out what you MEAN to type, to make up for the fact that there isn't tactile feedback.
I've had bad luck with on-screen touch keyboards before, so I'll be very curious about how well this works. I'd be more confident if they used that Ten something keyboard that fits a QWERTY keyboard into 10-12 onscreen buttons and can figure out 99% of the time what words you're typing based on context, and you don't really even have to aim at small buttons.
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Originally posted by Max
If you're referring to those annoying things you shove into your ears; you're correct. You can get great sound by using headphones, or porting an iPod to a standard stereo system or Bose radio/cd player.
Or he may be referring to the horrible lossy 128 bit constant rate MP3 encoding - eeeew
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just another noise maker ...
I guess one day in the future someone will create a device that provides the silence everyone is running away from today.
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Hmmm...I wonder how long until the Trademark lawsuits start?
Cisco/Linksys has owned the name "iPhone" for it's internet-based phones since 1996, and another company has been using the "iPhone" Brand-name for an IP based phone service (iphone.com) for awhile now as well.
CptA
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Originally posted by Nilsen
The brilliant thing imo about the regular ipods is the user interface and they way they market the players. The rest of the player itself is pretty average.
This new iPhone is to me like a sportscar is to a driving fan.. Can be very usefull, but the big thing is the fun factor.
Yup, I have to give major credit to Apple Computers.
They didn't feel OK just settling with making substandard computers. So they branched into a different market and are making a killing.
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I dont want my mp3 player, phone, camera, and laptop combined into one tiny device.
Why? Because none of them will be as good as having individual pieces of equipment to perform those functions.
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Originally posted by CptA
Hmmm...I wonder how long until the Trademark lawsuits start?
Cisco/Linksys has owned the name "iPhone" for it's internet-based phones since 1996, and another company has been using the "iPhone" Brand-name for an IP based phone service (iphone.com) for awhile now as well.
CptA
Apple is in the process of signing an license agreement with Cisco for the use of the iPhone name. Will prolly be signed this week.
There wont be any lawsuit over this one.
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Originally posted by Skuzzy
Oh, for the record, I have a nice Garmin GPS for my car. It is very useful.
I am not opposed to technology when it serves to make things easier. I just do not see this device doing anything to make things easier.
Cell phones do not make my life easier, but it is a neccessary evil for my line of work.
I for one couldnt live without a cell phone anymore. Say you're stuck with a broken car 100 miles from the next phone booth.. Or you're commuting and forgot to tell your wife to bring pizza on her way home..
Cell phones bring convenience and most importantly security. You can call help whenever you need it.
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I turn off my cell phone when I am in the car.
And if my car breaks down, I just press the 'help' button and let it call for road side assistance. It even does that automatically if I am in an accident which required the air bags to deploy.
My Wife is always far ahead of me in what is needed at the house, so all I could do is insult her by calling her to remind her.
Like I said, a cell phone really does not do a thing for me, but I do have one. It is more for the benefot of others, rather than myself.
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Originally posted by Skuzzy
I turn off my cell phone when I am in the car.
And if my car breaks down, I just press the 'help' button and let it call for road side assistance. It even does that automatically if I am in an accident which required the air bags to deploy.
My Wife is always far ahead of me in what is needed at the house, so all I could do is insult her by calling her to remind her.
Like I said, a cell phone really does not do a thing for me, but I do have one. It is more for the benefot of others, rather than myself.
Do you have one of the devices we see on TV that calls the EMT if you fall down too? Clapper installed yet? :D
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Originally posted by CptA
Hmmm...I wonder how long until the Trademark lawsuits start?
Cisco/Linksys has owned the name "iPhone" for it's internet-based phones since 1996, and another company has been using the "iPhone" Brand-name for an IP based phone service (iphone.com) for awhile now as well.
CptA
You're ahead of the game sir! Cisco says they are going to sue in federal court http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070110/ap_on_hi_te/cisco_apple
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Originally posted by Ripsnort
Do you have one of the devices we see on TV that calls the EMT if you fall down too? Clapper installed yet? :D
Nope, I do not see that as being useful as I am still motive.
For ths cost of that option I figure it was worth it. I do like technology which is useful to me. Besides, it came with a GPS tracker which lowered my car insurance a bunch. Overall the option will pay for itself in 3 years, even if I do not have a break down.
Kind of made sense to me.
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Originally posted by lasersailor184
...Apple Computers... settling with making substandard computers...
Which Macs have you owned or used?
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Originally posted by Skuzzy
I guess I dunt get it, but then I dunt get iPods either.
And Mak, I love technology when it is useful. I just do not see the usefullness of this. Of course, I dunt see the usefullness of iPods either.
I'm with you Skuzzy - hype just doesn't impress me. Why the hell would I want to keep music on my phone? And spend $500 for the privledge? Then when I lose the phone (or it breaks - cause it all breaks eventually folks), I can buy another one and re-buy all the music I had on the stupid thing. NO THANKS. I'll just keep my CD collection, and rip them into mp3s myself when needed.
I still bust on Verizon for V-cast phones - who the hell wants to watch TV on a 1" screen?
Latest news tho - Cisco suing Apple for trademark infringement - turns out they have the tm on iphone ROFL. Hype drives technology, and lawsuits follow like a towed glider.
EagleDNY
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Originally posted by CptA
Hmmm...I wonder how long until the Trademark lawsuits start?
Cisco/Linksys has owned the name "iPhone" for it's internet-based phones since 1996, and another company has been using the "iPhone" Brand-name for an IP based phone service (iphone.com) for awhile now as well.
CptA
it has started (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6250511.stm)
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Originally posted by Skuzzy
I turn off my cell phone when I am in the car.
And if my car breaks down, I just press the 'help' button and let it call for road side assistance. It even does that automatically if I am in an accident which required the air bags to deploy.
My Wife is always far ahead of me in what is needed at the house, so all I could do is insult her by calling her to remind her.
Like I said, a cell phone really does not do a thing for me, but I do have one. It is more for the benefot of others, rather than myself.
Ok you have a fancy 'help' button in your car. Did you ever try it? :D
If not, how can you be sure it even works as promised? ...
Car breakage aside. What if you go mountain hiking, break your legs and lie helpless 500 yards from your car? Or witness an accident, will you use the help button to call car repair service to save the victim(s)? :p
As you see, there are a million scenarios where a cell phone can save yours or someone elses lives. Ever notice that in the movies nobody ever has a cell phone? Why is that? Because anyone realizes they wouldn't be getting into such trouble if they could call help.
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Originally posted by AWMac
Paris Hilton doesn't have pockets.....
It is thin enough to be held in the push-up cleavage.
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Originally posted by MrRiplEy[H]
Ok you have a fancy 'help' button in your car. Did you ever try it? :D
If not, how can you be sure it even works as promised? ...
Car breakage aside. What if you go mountain hiking, break your legs and lie helpless 500 yards from your car? Or witness an accident, will you use the help button to call car repair service to save the victim(s)? :p
As you see, there are a million scenarios where a cell phone can save yours or someone elses lives. Ever notice that in the movies nobody ever has a cell phone? Why is that? Because anyone realizes they wouldn't be getting into such trouble if they could call help.
The fancy help button was an option I purchased just to get the GPS locator so I could cut my theft insurance by 50%. I consider that a practical option which has immediate usefulness. I hope I never need it.
And once I get off the beaten trail, I have no cell signal. So carrying the phone around while doing many activities would be just more stuff to keep up with. Ever see how fast a cell phone battery will drain when exposed to really cold weather? I know mine will die within hours.
And if need be, I can press the panic button which calls the police and gives them my location. If it does not work, then the cell phone will not work either as they all use the same technology to place a call. I trust the car's system more than I do a cell phone.
The first cell phone I had was a big analog phone. To this day it was still the best cell phone I ever had. Since the mad rush to miniaturize the phones, the connection quality has gone down the tubes. It is very rare to have any call on the phone that does not include the phrase, "Say again, over".
I would truly be concerned if I had to depend on a cell phone for an emergency.
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That apple phone looks pretty "goofy" to me too. There's no way in hell I'd ever buy it. It's the wrong size, the wrong shape, and has the wrong features.
I want a phone that fits into my pocket in such a way that it doesn't bother me, I don't ever worry about cracking the screen, and if I put my car keys in the same pocket it shouldn't ruin the display or dial 911 by itself.
I have never, and probably never will, browse the web from a cellphone. The closest I'd ever come to that would be using an integrated phone book feature to look up stuff near where I am. I have a palm pilot and take it with me on the road, but it's all "wrong" for a phone as far as I'm concerned. The palm phones are simply too big to stick in a pocket when going out to do *whatever*, so I'd never use it just like I never carry my palm pilot with me when I go to parties or to get groceries. My cellphone goes with me almost everywhere, because it is small and unobtrusive.
For that matter, here is all I want in my phone:
Thin "flip" design with a 3-1 or greater aspect ratio when opened. Those short wide phones do nothing for me, and sound quality is best if the speaker is near your ear and the mic is near your mouth. The screen and buttons are protected when closed.
Good battery life. I'll give up a color screen for an additional 2 hours of talk time anyday.
Good reception and voice quality. I couldn't care less about any of these other features if the damn thing doesn't function as a phone when I need to talk to someone.
GPS. Knowing where I am is good, and if integrated with a 911 service it can save your life.
No web browser, but instead a phone book feature that has both name, store type, and "near me" search features. Like "find a PF Changs near me".
Bonus feature but only if kept REALLY simple: 8 gig MP3 player with a SIMPLE interface like the ipod mini or ipod nano. No stupid tiny videos, no color screen, just music and playlists like my ipod mini.
I don't even need or want bluetooth, PIM, calendar, or any of those other features. I'm not a road warrior even though I travel TDY on business a couple times a month. I do some work at home and use a real computer (with dual monitors...) to do my work because real computers are designed to do that better. For a phone, I want something that can slip in my pocket and be the best freaking TELEPHONE, first and foremost. If it lets me leave my gps, phone book, and mp3 player at home, then that's a bonus.
Texting is for children and the unemployed... What a freaking time waster. I will argue that even "pro" road warriors and executives who use blackberrys are not really optimizing their time, because it is a constant distraction and it dilutes the attention they spend on anything, all the time. The most effective managers I've met do not use blackberrys and they also hate powerpoint presentations. They want information fast and on demand, but they also focus intently on what they're doing and when they're doing something else, they don't fiddle with email.
Some people swear by their crackberries but I am convinced that a great number of those people are fooling themselves into thinking they are being more effective. Some jobs can be greatly enhanced by mobile connectivity but I think most people do it because they either think it's cool, or they WANT to be distracted because they hate whatever else it is they have to do. I am personally far more productive if I can focus on what I'm doing, take pen/paper notes, and then sit down at a real computer (or my awesome IBM T41p laptop when I'm on the road) to check email and do other work that requires a computer.
Apple's phone... It is almost the exact opposite of what I want in a mobile phone.
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Skuzzy,
Regarding relying on a cellphone in an emergency...
Remember I taught USAF woodlands survival at the academy...
I consider a cellphone a great piece of emergency survival gear. As a matter of fact, when cellphones first came out and I realized what a good tool they were, I added one to my car survival kit and made my parents buy one too. They were minimum-service plans, intended only for emergency use. A great deal of survival training goes into effective signaling and making your position and status known, and cellphones are perfect for that in almost the entire country where most people might find themselves in trouble.
The payoff - I've used my cellphone to call in 2 major injury car wrecks on the road and my wife has called in help from relatively remote areas twice when she ran out of gas. My parents have both called for assistance while on the road. A squadron-mate of mine rolled his car while on the I-14 in the UK (a major highway) between Cambridge and RAF Lakenheath, and nobody stopped to help for over 30 min. Finally another USAF servicemember stopped and used his cellphone to call for an ambulance.
Yea it's just a gadget but it's #4 on my list of critical car emergency survival gear, right behind a wool blanket, fire starting gear (usually flares), and water. Even when hiking and doing other outdoors stuff, I have routinely gone out with a cellphone instead of a GPS because although I have never been lost (yay boyscout orienteering!), I have twice had to either go over a mile in rugged terrain for help or assist an incapacitated person more than a mile back to camp. In both cases, a cellphone in my possession would have resulted in almost immediate vehicle assistance.
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At this point I don't get it either.
What does it do that is so great?
I have a razor phone that has a voice gps navigations system that works as good as any... problem is... It's $10 a month.
It makes phone calls.
It has a camera with an sd card.. the camera will take ok pictures.. fine for an emergency.
It is small.
That is all I want in a phone. Does this thing do any of those things better?
I don't want to try to get online with anything as small or cumbersome as a phone.... I don't want to listen to music on one. I most certainly do not want to type on one.
So what does this thing do that would make it worthwhile?
lazs
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Originally posted by Nilsen
Holy snap!
rubish battery time, but this is the most exciting gadget ever..
http://www.apple.com/iphone/
It's all fun and games until someone slings their iPhone into the TV set while playing video tennis.
Wait, what?
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Originally posted by Saintaw
it has started (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6250511.stm)
Oh noes did Steve Jobs lie to nilsen again :)
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Originally posted by Vulcan
Oh noes did Steve Jobs lie to nilsen again :)
I havent talked to him.
Apple and cisco have been discussing the name thing for years and it will get settled. I am tho suprised that cisco and apple had not settled it in time for the launch.
Steve Jobs btw is the slickest guy out there and even worse than Bill Gates. I cant stand either of them.
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i am sure it will sell well to 15 year old males, who will immediatly see the use in having internet browsing on a pocket sized device.
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Originally posted by vorticon
i am sure it will sell well to 15 year old males, who will immediatly see the use in having internet browsing on a pocket sized device.
I can already imagine the kids getting their first bill from xxxsmutlandia.org :D
That's development. In the old days it was the Playboy under the mattress. Now it's iPhone and $100 bill from smut.com :rolleyes:
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Some notes from around the Web:
Cringely has a couple good theories:
about the g. 2.5 internet connection (basically works like dialup) instead of a gen. 3.0 high-speed link:
Cingular has their own service, with RealNetworks-based video streaming. If the "iPhone" had gen. 3.0, then they'd either need to get cingular to change their system over to Apple/iTMS stuff, or they'd need to give up on Apple/iTMS vertical integration. The former is probably not possible given cingular's contracts, and in any case not something Cingular wants to do. The latter is contrary to Apple's "lock down" philosophy. So they don't use Cingular's gee-whiz network (though the hardware might support it), but rather offer wifi and bluetooth connections so you can get your stuff directly from Apple.
Also, The Apple TV announced at the same time as the iPhone was initially announced last year as the iTV. They had trademark problems too, and the result is that it's now called "Apple TV". The result of this iPhone/Cisco flap is probably going to be the "Apple Phone".
other points out there:
Cingular is locking in a 2-year contract. Apple's "cutting-edge" design is notorious for cutting-edge problems: think cracked G3 cubes, scratched iPod nanos, and any number of laptop problems. An early adopter is usually a tech enthusiast with money to burn. Locking these guys into a two-year contract on a handset that likely will not last that long is asking for trouble.
Besides, the non-replaceable battery may work fine for an iPod, but a cellphone with computing facilities is gonna be going through a lot of juice, possibly generating a lot of heat, and 2 years is a long time on a Li-Ion battery. My laptop cooked off its battery in one year.
The touch screen means that you have to look at the screen to dial or send messages. That's not exactly how everybody uses a device.
The big issue, and the classic problem with cellphones, is that this thing tries to solve what the Celcos have viewed as "The Big Problem": how to get people to spend money on cellphones beyond the tight margins of phone calls. They ask themselves, "How do we market a phone that encourages people to use all these great features on which we make a huge profit?"
We ask ourselves: "Why the hell would I want to use video on a cellphone regularly? Why would I want to use a device with a slow interface (even if it were elegant) to access (slowly) data at a high price, when I can go to my computer and do it for free?"
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Of course Apple's phone is a tiny, niche-market device. I think their goal of 1% global market share is a stretch, but all goals need some reach. Their going to have to do most of it in the US and European markets. I don't see them having much success in Asia when (if) it comes here.
There won't be many 2G networks left in another year, so they'll have to use upgrade to 3G. Also, getting agreements with providers is going to be an uphill battle and almost everything in this phone has been around Japan or Korea for almost 2 years.
English article on iPhone reaction: Link >> (http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-japanphone11jan11,0,6424968.story?coll=la-home-headlines)