iPhone, thoughts

[KTBleeding]

4gb for 499?!? Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

The sad thing is, people will buy into this. Plus the fact that you can not keep your current provider, and must switch to Cingular is absolutely ridiculous. I kind of hope to see this flop as bad as this first gen of ps3, but everyone loves Apple so much I bet they refuse to see this product as the red flag that I do.

[Andrew]

I think it's definitely a very cool phone, but it's definitely not worth the $500 or $600 price tags. If the prices come down eventually and they perform as Apple claims, then I might look into getting one, but I'm quite content with my phone and my iPod being separate for now.

[PennylessZ28]

Originally Posted by Lars-Christian

It looks cool, thought a little big to be carrying around in my pocket if you ask me. I also don't like the idea of being left unreachable because I listen to music all the time, so it will definately take some development before it will actually replace my good-old phone and iPod setup, which works just fine for me.

Actually the mp3 player pauses when you receive an incoming call and when you hang up it continues.

I believe that a lot of of people will flock to this phone and its service simply becuase it's trendy.

Lets face it, the iPod is trendy and Apple practices a policy on ipod's that no other manufactures practice to insure that the cost is always the same. Ever notice that no matter where you look the ipod is usually always the same price. Rest ensure, there will be no bundling over services to get a free iphone or two iphones for one with a contract agreement.

499 and 599, and apple hopes to move 10 million units its first year. Will there be 10 million stupid americans who want to be trendy? That's half of Cingulars current customer base? It's a big goal and I'm not totally sure if this will go the way they think. Remeber, you have to switch services and most of the time you have close to 200 dollar FINES for ending your current service. So add that plus the cost of the phone and service and you end up somewhere in the 800-900 dollar range for a TRENDY FAD PHONE.

[projectego]

I hadn't even heard of an 'iPhone' until I read this thread...hehe...

I'm so unhip...

[DaPro]

I would say it would be cool if you traded in your old iPod for a $100 discount or something, I am pretty sure that apple would lose serious money but it would be cool ;-).

[DannyMilner]

I like it, if I was after a new phone this would be the one for me!

[Stunner]

I like it but sadly not a flip phone. I need a flip phone cuz when I shove the cell phone into my pocket I hit all kinds of buttons and with the iPHONE being touch screen..(I think)..ya let's not go there.

It looks smooth and nice though and so does the price,lol

[PennylessZ28]

Originally Posted by Stunner

I like it but sadly not a flip phone. I need a flip phone cuz when I shove the cell phone into my pocket I hit all kinds of buttons and with the iPHONE being touch screen..(I think)..ya let's not go there.

It looks smooth and nice though and so does the price,lol

What a great thought, these phones are trendy and cool, but they will require extra care. They are not as small as most phone either.

They might be onto something with the whole smart phone thing and the concept, but owning one will require you to treat it different from your normal phone.

I am construction contractor by day, and my phone takes a beating. These look cool, but it would not be practical for me.

[Lars-Christian]

Originally Posted by PennylessZ28

Actually the mp3 player pauses when you receive an incoming call and when you hang up it continues.

I was actually referring to how when listening to music I risk draining the battery, thus leaving me isolated from the rest of the world, so to say

I'm aware that the battery capacity on the iPhone is decent, but it's not enough for me as I can easily go a day or two without a charger, and I would still like to have the ability to listen to music (for as long as my iPod Nano 1st Gen battery lasts at least!). I suspect that battery capacity will increase dramatically in the near future though, so hopefully this will be a void issue in not too long.

[PennylessZ28]

NETWORK CAPABILITY

So about that 3G comment. The iPhone will use Cingular's EDGE network, which is considerably slower than the more advanced WCDMA technology. Many next-gen smartphones will allow for the faster speeds, including Palm's Treo 750 and Samsung's Ultra Music Phone, launched at CES with yet-to-be-determined price and availability.

"The math is very convincing," says Muzib Khan, Samsung's vice president of product management and engineering. "If you have to download a music (file) which is 4 MB, iPhone could not do it over the regular network. They may have to go to a special hot spot or WiFi network. Otherwise one song will take several minutes to download, and that's not right."

With Samsung's phone, he said, "they'll be able to download music very efficiently."

STORAGE

The iPhone will have as much storage capacity as iPod nanos currently have -- a lot, at either 4 or 8 GB. But there's currently no potential to expand beyond that, as most smartphones currently offer with SD or micro-SD memory card slots. Such cards are growing rapidly in capacity and also allow simple transfer of music or other files between devices.

"In Apple's case it makes sense to offer that much memory onboard, because they're specifically focused on multimedia," says Palm spokesman Jimmy Johnson. The Treo 750, targeting business customers, includes just 16 MB of storage capacity but allows more with an up to 6 GB mini-SD card. "We feel like expansion capability is a good choice for customers without having to pay initially up front for something they don't need," Johnson says.

TOUCH SCREEN

While the iPhone touch screen innovation has its admirers, it also has drawbacks: exposure to oils on your fingers and the possibility of cracks or scratches that have plagued iPods in the past.

"I think it's really going to stand out," says Tark Abed, lead designer at Spreck Design, which has worked with Apple in the past. "They basically took what's really kind of a cobbled-together interface on most smart phones and most media phones and turned it into this beautiful flow, beautiful graphically."

But what about when it's not so beautiful anymore? "One of the things that people have been talking about is the longevity of the screen. If you put it in your pocket, is it going to get scratched? How's it going to wear?"

Both Johnson and Khan noted the iPhone's lack of tactile feedback -- that feeling of pressing down a button to let you know you've entered a number or letter. "Touch screen doesn't allow you to dial while driving very well. .... You need the tactile feedback." Of the iPhone, he concludes, "It might appear to be very sexy, but it's not very practical."