WSJ: Apple plans to build 25M thinner, lighter next-gen iPhones this year

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 73
    physguyphysguy Posts: 920member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    You're paying ten times as much for data plans as you EVER do for a phone. Up front costs are completely meaningless.



    Not true BECAUSE they don't reduce the data plans for a non-subsidized phone. You will be paying for the data plan regardless of what you pay for the phone so that is a sunk cost. The phone price is marginal and so affect the decision.
  • Reply 42 of 73
    guch20guch20 Posts: 173member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sranger View Post


    Unless the Galaxy SII has 4G capability......



    For the small, small minority of the country with access to a 4G network...
  • Reply 43 of 73
    desarcdesarc Posts: 642member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    You're paying ten times as much for data plans as you EVER do for a phone. Up front costs are completely meaningless.



    why can't we get our home ISP's to subsidize the cost of our laptops/desktops?

    if i can get a motorolla DVR cable box for $15/month w/UVerse, why can't i get a MacBook Air for $30/month or a Mini for $15/month - and just send them back for a "free" upgrade when they're outdated.
  • Reply 44 of 73
    stelligentstelligent Posts: 2,680member
    Bigger screen? Very questionable. Think about it - Apple will not change the number of pixels unless they are doubling again, which is impossible right now. To increase screen size without changing the number of pixels would mean decreasing DPI and therefore regressing from Retina Display. Would Apple do that? Really?
  • Reply 45 of 73
    stelligentstelligent Posts: 2,680member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cloudgazer View Post




    Bizarrely I think that Apple likes to keep the weight up, because the feeling that the small phone is relatively dense makes it feel like a high quality object.



    Not bizarre at all. A lighter phone serves little purpose. Anyone who finds a smartphone too heavy has other problems. Thinness, on the other hand, enhances function and form. But, will the new 8MP sensors fit in a thinner phone?
  • Reply 46 of 73
    cloudgazercloudgazer Posts: 2,161member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stelligent View Post


    Bigger screen? Very questionable. Think about it - Apple will not change the number of pixels unless they are doubling again, which is impossible right now. To increase screen size without changing the number of pixels would mean decreasing DPI and therefore regressing from Retina Display. Would Apple do that? Really?



    They could decrease the DPI a bit without giving up the 'Retina' claim, a few percent bigger screen area, which is all they'd get anyway from reducing the margins. It seems plausible.
  • Reply 47 of 73
    cloudgazercloudgazer Posts: 2,161member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by physguy View Post


    Not true BECAUSE they don't reduce the data plans for a non-subsidized phone. You will be paying for the data plan regardless of what you pay for the phone so that is a sunk cost. The phone price is marginal and so affect the decision.



    Maybe not in your market, but some operators certainly do reduce the monthly pay on cheaper phones. For the luxury phone they force you to buy a package that includes far more minutes/texts/GB than you need.
  • Reply 48 of 73
    macinthe408macinthe408 Posts: 1,050member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kimhill View Post


    I don't care about thinner & lighter at this point.



    Give me more battery life.



    Amen, brotha!



    And I don't think thinner is necessarily better. Try holding a piece of paper between your thumb and index finger; not a very reassuring feeling.



    If it's too thin, the phone would 'snap' 90-degrees if you squeezed it too hard, unless you were applying equal pressure on both sides. Sounds like it'd be an annoying balancing game.
  • Reply 49 of 73
    I find it a little frustrating reading all of these conflicting reports. Does anyone else find Apple is normally much more simple than we give them credit for? For example, the iphone 4's introduction was nothing short of humiliating. It brought with it a very public embarrassment in the form of signal attenuation. Cue a public back tracking, $180 million dollars set aside to make the phone, one of the most highly engineered pieces of electronics on the planet, usable in day to day life with a piece of rubber around it and a sheepish Steve Jobs claiming it wasn't just Apple that had trouble with this. Mark Papermaster lost his job (janitor and the keys anyone?).



    With all this in mind as well as Jobs' fierce reputation I think we can get a good feel for what the new iPhone will be like and why it's taken so long. It will undoubtedly have to be a complete redesign. That, we know with the iphone 3g and 3gs cycles, will take time. You can be assured there will be no repeat of the issues with signal. It wouldn't surprise me if it looked different just to differentiate it from iPhone 4.



    It is true though that Apple has sold the phone in the millions, some might ask why they need to change it. It has already been admitted that the iphone 4 drops more calls than it's predecessor. Well from a personal viewpoint, the iphone 4 is the worst phone i've ever used. The signal is terrible and that is a direct comparison against the 3gs. A lot of people have never had any issues with it and i'm pleased for them, this is not the case for me. I wouldn't at all be shocked to find that Apple know this too from their work with their carriers. It is unlikely that it is just me who has their calls dropped or not connected where before I had no issues. Surely therefore the redesign will have to be substantial. As for their phones being complex and difficult to manufacture, that's like saying rain gets you wet. It comes with the territory.
  • Reply 50 of 73
    inklinginkling Posts: 768member
    Why thinner and lighter? It?s not as if our iPhones were as heavy and thick as a brick. A lot of us would rather Apple concentrated on a less expensive, less inclined to break when dropped iPhone with a much longer battery life. A smart designer would give the engineers enough space to build well and fill the rest of a reasonably sized phone with as large a battery as possible.
  • Reply 51 of 73
    stelligentstelligent Posts: 2,680member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cloudgazer View Post


    They could decrease the DPI a bit without giving up the 'Retina' claim, a few percent bigger screen area, which is all they'd get anyway from reducing the margins. It seems plausible.



    That would be a marginal gain in screen size, and no gain in image quality. Does Apple do things for marginal gains in specmanship? Not too often, I'd say.
  • Reply 52 of 73
    stelligentstelligent Posts: 2,680member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hailthehamster View Post


    The signal is terrible and that is a direct comparison against the 3gs.



    That simply is not uniformly true. I'd say my iP4 is better than my 3GS, but are just worse than my BBs. My Android is the same as my iP4.
  • Reply 53 of 73
    xsuxsu Posts: 401member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by foxhunter101 View Post


    I want thinner, lighter, more battery life, bigger screen, 8mp camera, a much improved antenna system, 4G capable and a faster processor. Too much to ask for?



    Adding a solar charger in there would be nice too.
  • Reply 54 of 73
    cloudgazercloudgazer Posts: 2,161member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stelligent View Post


    That would be a marginal gain in screen size, and no gain in image quality. Does Apple do things for marginal gains in specmanship? Not too often, I'd say.



    This isn't just a CPU speed bump, this is something the user interacts with directly, and even a 5-10% bigger screen is relevant. Apple don't care about 'spec' but they do care about performance.



    Adding 5% more pixels at the same size would be a pointless spec bump, adding 5% size to the screen within the same device form factor feels a significant performance difference, at least to me.
  • Reply 55 of 73
    cloudgazercloudgazer Posts: 2,161member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macinthe408 View Post


    Amen, brotha!



    And I don't think thinner is necessarily better. Try holding a piece of paper between your thumb and index finger; not a very reassuring feeling.



    If it's too thin, the phone would 'snap' 90-degrees if you squeezed it too hard, unless you were applying equal pressure on both sides. Sounds like it'd be an annoying balancing game.



    How on earth do you cope with plates? Cutlery? Pencils?



    Does your hand look like this?







    (Source :http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/ )
  • Reply 56 of 73
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stelligent View Post


    That simply is not uniformly true. I'd say my iP4 is better than my 3GS, but are just worse than my BBs. My Android is the same as my iP4.



    I'm not suggesting that it is a uniform truth. I found a huge drop in signal and phone function after upgrading from the 3GS to 4. I mostly use handsfree, not attenuating the signal with my hand. That has me suspicious I'm not the only one and this is something apple may wish to remedy. Apple and the carriers do monitor dropped calls.

    I'm not in a position to comment on other devices. By the by how many phones do you have? A man only needs so many, you seem to have them all
  • Reply 57 of 73
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member
    Honestly, I am not all for thinner. The device needs to be a certain thickness to feel comfortable in the hand. I actually prefer the 3GS thickness for that reason.



    The quest for thinness sometimes backfires on Apple. For instance, the iPod Shuffle without the controls. That was a flop. We know this because Apple quickly redesigned it.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleGreen View Post


    Thinner...lighter...8 megapixel camera...somewhat bigger screen...



    Yeah. That should do it !!



  • Reply 58 of 73
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member
    Exactly. Thinner is not always better. In the case of the iPhone, I think it would be bad. I like it to feel slightly weighted as well.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macinthe408 View Post


    Amen, brotha!



    And I don't think thinner is necessarily better. Try holding a piece of paper between your thumb and index finger; not a very reassuring feeling.



    If it's too thin, the phone would 'snap' 90-degrees if you squeezed it too hard, unless you were applying equal pressure on both sides. Sounds like it'd be an annoying balancing game.



  • Reply 59 of 73
    cloudgazercloudgazer Posts: 2,161member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TBell View Post


    Honestly, I am not all for thinner. The device needs to be a certain thickness to feel comfortable in the hand. I actually prefer the 3GS thickness for that reason.



    The quest for thinness sometimes backfires on Apple. For instance, the iPod Shuffle without the controls. That was a flop. We know this because Apple quickly redesigned it.



    That wasn't because the device was too thin, that was because the lack of screen was a bigger issue than anticipated. The nano was extremely thin from the start and was hugely popular.



    The shuffle is a really good example though of Apple pushing a successful product downmarket to deny competitors space to grow.
  • Reply 60 of 73
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TBell View Post


    Exactly. Thinner is not always better. In the case of the iPhone, I think it would be bad. I like it to feel slightly weighted as well.



    the ip4 could be a touch thinner







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