Apple stuns Macworld crowd with multi-function iPhone device - Page 3

That is incorrect. Cell phone companies are NOT required at all to provide any unlocking codes at all. however any individual or company can provide/sell the locks and the cell phone companies cannot sue to prevent it.

Does anyone actually look at competitive offerings before making these comments??? The Palm Trea 750 is $499 with contract (before rebate and who knows about those in the future) and it only comes with 60 MB (that megabytes) of user accessible storage.

Interesting, but semi useful.

Companies don't always support features on phones they don't sell. you might be able to use your phone, but might find that some functionality is lost.

No doubt, Steve lived up to his pre-Macworld keynote teaser, i.e., " The first 30 years were just the beginning. Welcome to 2007.”

And now, with the announcement that the iPhone includes over 200 new patents and his final closing statement after Mayer finished and Steve thanked Macworld Expo attendees for coming, added, "We'll see you all soon," I expect a lot more annoucements and innovations to come and very quickly.


It seems more than possible now that a new laptop or even a tablet could be coming. With the new "Mult-Touch" technology replacing the current mechanical keyboard. Placing two fingers on the spacebar and the keyboard becomes a trackpad.

In fact, why not include a cell phone with a multi-touch numeric keypad/dialpad on the right side.

Thinner. Lighter.

My Treo that I paid $399 for at Sprint, is now going for $299, both there and from Verison.

...which is probably why it won't be shipping until June.

You're taking the fun out of it.

Not saying this works because I've never needed to unlock a phone. But that article or maybe another said it's best to tell your service provider that your are moving out the country and you need to unlock your phone. I don't know, I've never tried.

Well i guess this means more business for random phone unlocking companies. It's usually just a few keystrokes.

They probably also have to finish up the software, and then begin manufacture.

do we know if this uses a standard dock connector?

Dear Ted, reading this thread I do realise that I am more a candyphone kind of profile i/o a smartphone guy! So, to all the smart people around here, enjoy this little baby from apple and please send some condolences to me. But make sure I can open it on my Candybar

I call fake!

I use Sprint, and we have a great plan, so I won't be switching carriers. BUT, since it has built in wifi, can't we use it on wireless networks and use ichat and such? I know it's alot, but I would pay 500 for it.

I think that in February, here in Canada, you'll end up owning your number. Though making a carrier give it to another might prove to be a chore.
flick.

The $500 quoted price is the subsidised price for people who sign a 2 year contract with Cingular. There is no indication (as of yet) that there will be an unlocked version offered for sale by Apple.

No one is concern about the puny 5 hours battery life? Can anyone confirm if the 5-hr is the actually operating time and not including standby time?

Too bad you can't keep your number when you change area codes! (which I've done four times in the past 18 months!)

Yes, it does.

The iPhone is still smaller and lighter than the zune.

Zune :
4.4 in. x 2.4 in. x 0.6 in.
Weight: 5.6 ounces

iPhone :
4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches
Weight : 4.8 ounces

and the iPhone has better battery life for music, and a bigger screen.

5 hours is the talk/video/browsing time. Apple claims 16 hours of audio playback. I would assume that the standby time will be significantly more than this.

Looks like amazing tech. Just a few thigs though.

1. 8GB not enough to store music, pics, video, emails, messages, etc.

2. Cingular. Hopefully this will change in short time.

3. Paradigm shift in how we operate a phone. Most hold phone in hand and operate buttons with thumb of same hand. The tactile sensation of the button allows us to know where we should apply pressure to activate that button. How well this works with the iPhone remains to be seen. Will we now need to use two hands (one to hold phone and other to navigate)?

4. Cost of phone is known. What about the cost of the monthly plans.

5. Not stated is phones 'stand-by' time.

j

Phone is da bomb but no Verizon support means I keep my 8703e black berry.

and it falls short by, oh, 22GB on storage

1) it has a proximity sensor so that it turns of screen when your ear is near the ear hole (bar)

question: what if you are watching a movie (sideways - widescreen) and your thumb gets close to that hole?

does it shut off?

i hope not

2)no flash
no flash on the camera?

did i see right?

that is a big bummer.

3) battery - replaceable? spare battery etc.?

All about market dominance. If Apple creates exclusive partnerships with many of the best web based companies, where does that leave Microsoft?

Gmail is available it says so on the site. They were just featuring Yahoo mail.

People here seem to think that an iPod is coming with all the funcionality of the iPhone iPod. They are (almost certainly) wrong. The reason for this is simple - this phone packs a *lot* of processing/graphical punch to pack all these features in with full multitasking. Even Cover Flow needs a lot of power (try it out on an old G4). An iPod that could do all the non-phone stuff would still need to be really expensive, pretty much as expensive as the iPhone - hence we just get the iPhone.

Furthermore, it is the logical extension of the iPod growth. It started off simple but they have slowly been adding functionality to it. Why have a telephone, and an iPod, and a PDA (as I do at the moment)? It makes no sense because once you get the hardware meaty enough it might as well as do all the things together.

I think the most excititing thing is the multi-touch screen. The keyboard and mouse are ancient technology and a barrier to interacting with a computer naturally. It'll be interesting to see if they do any desktop/laptop multi-touch screens. Anyhow, multi-touch is the beginning; then it's voice recognition - especially on a phone, seeing as they're designed to be talked into!

Still, there are many many unanswered questions. Will we be able to expand the memory? If applications can be programmed for it no problem (it is a slimmed down version of OS X, after all), will we see plenty of 3rd party GPS software (much like TomTom for Windows Mobile 5)? It has bluetooth, so connecting to external bluetooth receivers is no problem.

What's the deal with battery life? I haven't seen that mentioned yet, but it would seem that a device like the iPhone is just begging to be used continuously. How long will it last? Does it have swappable batteries? I think non-swappable like an iPod is a big mistake on a phone.

Will Apple be partnering with just one carrier in each country? Will they be including all these 'extra' features like the voice mail enhancements in all markets? It needs the carriers participation making their network compatible, no?

... this is just the beginning!

This is exactly the phone I wanted.

I think the biggest surprise is that it is actually called the iPhone.

Come June I will bid farewell to Sprint.
Hello to Cingular soon to be AT&T.

Google needs to get on the ball and offer IMAP for GMail.

I would more guess the June release date because the iPhone ties into Leopard.

I think the use of Google Maps foretells Google Maps tied into Leopard

here is one quote: "iPhone uses a rich HTML email client that fetches your email in the background from most POP3 or IMAP mail services and displays photos and graphics right along with the text."(apple.com)

i saw it explicitly mention gmail too.

i think the yahoo mail has some special functionality for the iphone

This is Apple we are talking about. This time the battery will be welded (rather than simply soldered) to the motherboard!

8 gigs sucks, 4 gigs, I wont even go there. It's way too small. And cigular only? Come on... What a joke. It is cool looking though.

This just appeared in a article on News.com:

In a written response to an inquiry from CNET News.com made while Jobs' speech was still going on, a Cisco representative said, "It is our belief that with their announcement today, Apple intends to agree to the final document and public statements that were distributed to them last night." Cisco expects to receive a signed agreement Tuesday, according to the statement.

WOW!! what an amazing device.

The only thing that I want to know is

can I get this in brown????

First of all, these are supposed to be sync'd to your computer. I have hundreds of books for my Treo, but never keep more than a dozen in the phone at any one time.

Same thing with pics and videos.

Do you really want to keep all of them on this at once? It's not like songs. You don't watch videos over and over.

And it would have to be either Cingular or T-Mobile, which is worse.

They needed GSM for the world phone aspect.

I'll spray paint it for you.

It's as big as an iPod with only as much memory as an iPod nano: imagine what it would look like if it had an internal hard drive!

The largest flash drives are 16GB and cost twice about $350. So if you want 16GB, I guess you'll have to pony-up $800 and sign a 2 year contract with Cingular.

And if you want 16GB in an unlocked phone, well, you might as well just buy a Macbook and keep your current phone for the price you'll pay.

So Apple introducs this new phone that EVERYONE has been wanting and talking about and it's too expensive, too locked in and too little storage:

1) It gets released in June - 6 months from now, some of those features could change. Remember when Apple upgraded everyone's MBP processors. Maybe we'll see bigger flash space by that time. Who knows

2) Why go exclusively with Cingular? While I've had Cingular for a long time, I'll be the first to admit I really hate dealing with them, but Cingular could have let Apple have a bigger profit on the phone. Cingular also has the largest subscriber base in the country - so you get access to more customers. Why not release on Sprint or Verizon or Cricket or T-Mobile or whatever? Who knows what went down in the business meetings. Cingular could have made one hell of an offer. I hope we'll see more carriers, but it's a start. Shit, remember all the people that griped when Apple came out with the iPod? Too many MP3 players on the market, too much to compete with, etc., etc. - and the product evolved into what it is today. The iPhone will do that as well.

3) Expensive is not exactly what I'd use to describe the phone. The Treo can run as much as 400 bucks, but they have considerably less storage and of yeah no OS X-ness. Is the iMac expensive compared to a beige box from CompUSA or Fry's? Sure, you'll pay almost 500 - 600 more for the iMac, but I'll bet you'll be happier with the iMac.

Let's wait and see what happens come June, and the let the product evolve. I can tell you one thing though, I'll buy one.

Some observations...
-It appears as though the OSX it is running is based on Leopard tech.
-Mail & Notes but no ToDo.app
-Voice memos? Audio recording? a microphone jack was mentioned I believe
-2MP camera but no video capture mentioned
-No Preview.app for reading PDFs!???
-No TextEdit so no way to view a .doc attachment??
-no Apple logo on front of device(I can't imagine any other company exercising that kind of restraint)
-GPS should be doable through external Bluetooth GPS reciever
-.Mac integration not mentioned at all, instead Yahoo! push email
-No pics of desktop dock, but I assume it should be compatible with current iPod chargers.
-Will developers be able to get in on this? (Skype, Mozilla, Parallels, just kidding)
-Will Apple control the apps like it does iPod games?
-Will they sell additional apps through iTunes store?
-No games on this! Not even Chess!
-Only a single battery meter is showing (Kevin Rose said it had dual batteries?)
-I see Clock but I also hope it has an Alarm Clock function.
-No infared! (can't use as a universal remote)
-Didn't actually show the calendar app in action
-I hope it supports the Nike+

A Treo 750 here in the UK from vodafone with a 12 month £25 a month contract is £40. If you go for an 18 month contract it's free.

The P990 I had from Orange with a 12 month contract as an upgrade for me was free too.

Most of the HTC clones are about that too.

The only phones that attract more of a premium are things like the Nokia 8800.