Existing Motorola handsets talking to iTunes 4.9 (image)
The first Motorola cell phone built specifically for iTunes may still be a few weeks away, but in the interim iTunes users have discovered that some of the company's existing handsets are already willing to communicate with the latest version of Apple's jukebox software.
iTunes talking to existing phones
Specifically, it appears that iTunes 4.9 is happy to recognize certain flash-memory enabled Motorola phones as an 'iPod phone." When one AppleInsider tipster connected his Motorola cellphone to his PowerBook he was taken back as iTunes 4.9 automatically launched and prompted him to provide a name for the phone.
After a name was provided, the phone registered itself in the main iTunes window below the iTunes Music Store icon, the tipster said. He was then able to transfer a number of music tracks to the phone and access the iTunes "iPod Phone" preference dialog (shown below).
Based on the preference dialog, it appears that users of an iTunes compatible phone will be able to view album art on the phone. They'll also be able to choose how much flash-memory space should be reserved for music tracks verses data.
The wait could drag on
So what's holding up the unveiling of the first official Motorola iTunes phone? It could be standard Cingular quality assurance procedures.
According to sources close to the wireless carrier, once Cingular agrees to carry a new handset it must then be manufactured specifically for the carrier. This first requires that the handset's software be tailored to Cingular's network equipment and settings -- a process that could take weeks.
Next, sources say that Cingular traditionally performs a series of extensive in-house quality assurance test before allowing the phone to hit the market. Again, this process could tag on a few more weeks, sources say. Whether or not these processes have begun remains unknown.
While Cingular does have plans to roll-out support for a brand new Motorola phone in the immediate future, it may not be the one some are expecting. Cingular sources say a black-skinned Motorola RAZR phone will likely precede the ROKR (iTunes) phone, if only by a matter of weeks.
Motorola recently stated that it is on track to ship its first iTunes compatible phone during the third quarter of 2005, which begins tomorrow.
iTunes talking to existing phones
Specifically, it appears that iTunes 4.9 is happy to recognize certain flash-memory enabled Motorola phones as an 'iPod phone." When one AppleInsider tipster connected his Motorola cellphone to his PowerBook he was taken back as iTunes 4.9 automatically launched and prompted him to provide a name for the phone.
After a name was provided, the phone registered itself in the main iTunes window below the iTunes Music Store icon, the tipster said. He was then able to transfer a number of music tracks to the phone and access the iTunes "iPod Phone" preference dialog (shown below).
Based on the preference dialog, it appears that users of an iTunes compatible phone will be able to view album art on the phone. They'll also be able to choose how much flash-memory space should be reserved for music tracks verses data.
The wait could drag on
So what's holding up the unveiling of the first official Motorola iTunes phone? It could be standard Cingular quality assurance procedures.
According to sources close to the wireless carrier, once Cingular agrees to carry a new handset it must then be manufactured specifically for the carrier. This first requires that the handset's software be tailored to Cingular's network equipment and settings -- a process that could take weeks.
Next, sources say that Cingular traditionally performs a series of extensive in-house quality assurance test before allowing the phone to hit the market. Again, this process could tag on a few more weeks, sources say. Whether or not these processes have begun remains unknown.
While Cingular does have plans to roll-out support for a brand new Motorola phone in the immediate future, it may not be the one some are expecting. Cingular sources say a black-skinned Motorola RAZR phone will likely precede the ROKR (iTunes) phone, if only by a matter of weeks.
Motorola recently stated that it is on track to ship its first iTunes compatible phone during the third quarter of 2005, which begins tomorrow.
Comments
It would be nice to have a phone that truly integrates with iSync (hopefully).. iTunes I'm not sure about.. it might replace me buying a shuffle..
Originally posted by w_parietti22
Does anybody find it funny that the pixels around the text are different than the normal pixels?
Sorry guys, it's just compressed. We serve several GB of data each day and it becomes costly. You can see the dialog template corresponding to the screenshot by opening the iTunes 4.9 English "Localized.rsrc" file in an editor and viewing DITL resource #265 "iPod Phone Prefs."
Cheers,
Kasper
Originally posted by canadianmacguy
I was thinking that was just because of the low quality of the image (to save bandwidth no doubt).
It would be nice to have a phone that truly integrates with iSync (hopefully).. iTunes I'm not sure about.. it might replace me buying a shuffle..
Hmmm... But if you look very very closely the lined background stops just before the text and starts right after. also if you look very closely at the iPod Phone symbol theres a line going down on the left.
Im not saying that this is fake, but it loks like this was added to itunes.
Thats cool that there might be a Razr iTunes Phone. I might just have to save up for one of those!!!
Originally posted by Kasper
Sorry guys, it's just compressed. We serve several GB of data each day and it becomes costly. You can see the dialog template corresponding to the screenshot by opening the iTunes 4.9 English "Localized.rsrc" file in an editor and viewing DITL resource #265 "iPod Phone Prefs."
Cheers,
Kasper
Thanks for clearing that up Kasper
Originally posted by w_parietti22
Does anybody find it funny that the pixels around the text are different than the normal pixels?
Oh, its got to be completely fake. I can't imagine Apple is advertising AppleInsider.com by splashing their name all over their dialogs. I mean, let's get serious here!!!
Originally posted by Louzer
Oh, its got to be completely fake. I can't imagine Apple is advertising AppleInsider.com by splashing their name all over their dialogs. I mean, let's get serious here!!!
It will not be called iPod phone if the handset is called "roker" or whatever. I could see iTunes Phone or iTunes mobile but not iPod phone because it is not an iPod, it is a phone with a mobile version of iTunes/iTms
The fact that the labels on the slider haven't been changed from the DITL resource (555MB?!) is also suspicious. Combined with the complete lack of detail (which phone? would the songs play?), I really don't see why this got posted.
Anyone try bluetooth recognition?
A non-Motorola phone?
I pulled the iTunesLocalized.dll file up on my windows PC in notepad and did a seach for "p h o n e". The following lines are in the file.
1. Setup Phone
2. Phone:
3. No Phone Connected:
4. Open iTunes when this mobile phone is attached
5. Diplay album artwork on this mobile phone
6. Set up your mobile phone
7. The name of my mobile phone is:
8. Automatically choose songs for my mobile phone
9. iTunes will automatically fill your mobile phone with a random selection of songs from your library. You may fill your mobile phone with a different selection of songs by pressing Autofill in the mobile phone playlist.
As stated by Kasper, that should confirm the screenshot.
Originally posted by rdas7
All of you guys screaming fake, learn about jpeg compression (for starters) then engage brain.
There's nothing I like more than being condescended by someone who doesn't know what he's talking about.
Yes, there's an iTunes-compatible phone coming 'soon'. Yes, that is exactly what the preference pane for it will look like (aside from the obvious problems with the placeholder numeric values). This was '*confirmed!*' the moment iTunes 4.9 came out, as anyone with ResEdit can verify.
It is extraordinarily unlikely that the phone you have now will become 'iTunes compatible'. Aside from the clear support and compatibility issues, most phones just lack the necessary hardware. I suppose there's an outside possibility of Apple allowing you to sync your MP3 phone with iTunes, but you certainly wouldn't be able to play any iTMS music.
I stand by my assessment: this 'report' is a poorly-perpetrated fraud.
Proof of the image. Stuff I found in iTunes
Originally posted by Skirwan
There's nothing I like more than being condescended by someone who doesn't know what he's talking about.
My apologies, Skirwan - sometimes I can get a little carried away. What I simply meant was that when I logged in and saw this report, I immediately opened the forums to see what people were saying and all I saw was petty arguing about the pixelation artifacts around the icons being proof that the whole report was a scam. I thought: come on guys, let's have a little thought engaged before dismissing something out of hand.
Originally posted by Skirwan
It is extraordinarily unlikely that the phone you have now will become 'iTunes compatible'. Aside from the clear support and compatibility issues, most phones just lack the necessary hardware.
Now this I understand as being people's main argument for Apple developing some proprietary solution. HOWEVER, I'd like to note that the type of phones common in the US today are roughly one generation behind those being sold in the rest of the world. In fact, ALL of Nokia's current mid-range and hi-level lineup are mp3 and aac capable. Ditto with motorola (RAZR,SLVR, PEBL, etc.) and Sony Ericson (the old K700 and above).
The problem with these phones at the moment, is that while the hardware is very capable, there is no decent software. My Motorola e398 has an mp3 player and expandible memory to 256MB, my girlfriend's Nokia can hold up to 1GB internally (hello Shuffle?!). Unfortunately the J2ME (Java) mp3 player APPLICATION is so rudimentary that you can't adequatly even fast forward a track. I mean, if this mp3 player software app was available on MacUpdate it would get ONE star and a hundred people slating the developer's mother!
So, in this scenario, the software platform for mobile phones is open for someone like Apple to come in and start offering solutions for. If Apple were to release a compelling piece of software to install on handsets of a "minimum spec" it would have several results:
1.) everyone would be keen to download and install it, to enable features that they paid for in a phone, but are finding difficult to use.
2.) drive the demand for next-gen phones, as people with old phones like the SE T610's and below would want to update their phones.
3.) tie people into using iTunes/iTunes Music Store
Originally posted by Skirwan
I suppose there's an outside possibility of Apple allowing you to sync your MP3 phone with iTunes, but you certainly wouldn't be able to play any iTMS music.
I don't understand where your pessimism comes from. If they can write their own Java mp3 player (basically modifying the current built-in ones) why wouldn't they enable DRM? It's basically a little bit of code that processes the header or "wrapper" for any of their m4p files... Hence why DRM enabled music would only play through the iTunes Mobile app... heck, according to that preference pane, it looks like you'll be able to downsample files to! If they could do it in a Shuffle, why not a mobile phone?
Originally posted by Skirwan
I stand by my assessment: this 'report' is a poorly-perpetrated fraud.
I respect your point of view, I'm just not clear on what you base it on.
Fight!
I assume that we'll see an update to iTunes when iPhones are finally introduced. While the current version has support built in already, I suspect that this is there simply because taking it out would require a seperate build tree for features which are soon to be released anyway. Its much easier to include all the features and simply remove one icon from the preference toolbar.
If nothing else, they'll fix the incorrect icon which gets displayed when switching to 8bit color. I've made that error myself when working with numerous images at multiple bit depths. It's easy to copy the wrong image and developers aren't running in 256 colors so it simply went unnoticed.
The real news is here and here you can find english translation
the clip was made by World So Cold