Kornel, Ben and I have summarised our thoughts on the iPhone 3G. I think we all agree it’s a MID but the contract pricing seems to be the sticking-point.
Kornel
This is the iPhone many were waiting for. Here’s what I’m excited about: improved speaker, 3g speeds and…the GPS. I haven’t yet seen an implementation of GPS in a phone that I would like. But this is Apple. Location awareness, Geotagging – all that built in and user friendly. No wonder the GPS makers are scared. Great price and I don’t expect to see contracts as expensive as in America in other countries. And then there’s always the unlock route. Closest thing to a MID you can get right now, considering they are not out. Just sold my N95 8GB – bring on the iPhone!
Ben
The new $199 price point is extremely attractive for a phone with those capabilities, and don’t forget you are getting a top notch DAP as well. As an all in one mobile entertainment device/phone the price is extremely attractive. 2.0 firmware offers some nice updates, I’m not sure about the App Store yet. Jailbreaking an iPhone adds an incredible amount of functionality through third party apps, I’m just hoping the App Store doesn’t put Apple in conflict with the Jailbreaking community. I’m also waiting to see what kind of prices developers plan to charge. The iPhone interface has always been a joy to use and is what makes it much better than the competition in my opinion, Apple is following the right course by continuing to improve it through lots of feedback. GPS is nice but I’m hoping we won’t need to buy an application to get true GPS style driving directions. I’m somewhat surprised we didn’t see the latest BT version and wireless N. I also would have liked to see an improved camera. 3G will make the iPhone 3G a must-have for some people, but others aren’t looking forward to the ridiculous prices of 3G.
Chippy
TCO $70 per month for 2 years. No video. No camera improvements. No screen resolution/size variations (still have to zoom in and out to read/navigate), can I send an Image via Bluetooth? Can I tether? The iPhone won’t satisfy the pro-mobile user and will be too expensive for many customers. With exiting new software and hardware platforms on the horizon, I’d hate to be locked into an expensive 2-year contract with this device right now!
lol @ the “pro-mobile user” who spends his time sending images via bluetooth (instead of using email), tethering (instead of syncing), and somehow browses the internet better than you can on an iPhone. I’m envious at the level of true mobile device sophistication one can reach.
I don’t see how Apple can avoid being in conflict with the jailbreaking community. They want money and control over their platform. Jailbreaking costs them both.
What worries me about jailbreaking is if developers use undocumented features, or treating OS bugs as if they were features. Accommodating poorly written software is one of the reasons why Microsoft hasn’t been able to make the improvements in Windows I’m sure they want to make. IOW, even if developers don’t want to distribute through the Apps Store, I hope they still use the official SDK. (This won’t prevent poorly written software, but at least developers will know what’s off-limits.) There’s no reason to screw the future.
LOL. James, dear, it does worth to use common scense once in a while. If you transfer large files, such as photo album between two devices that are next to each other, bluetooth is the choice. You can use cable of course, but do you really want to drag a spider web of cables all around with you? Tethering is used to connect a laptop computer to the internet using wireless device, such as cell phone, not to “Sync” information. And the deal is you can’t , or at least you couldn’t do it with iPhone 1, I doubt it will be available with Version 2, Add to it no front camera for video calls, no memory extension slot, no handwriting recognition (Chinese only). On top of that no removable battery, Apple claimed great stand by and talk time for iPhone 1, it barely last a day. I don’t see any reason to trust Steve Jobs with this again.
I think iPhone is a great device for $200 – $300 (16mB version), but that’s it. As far as service pricing, There’s no competition for GSM in US, T-Mobile? Good company, but waaaay behind in technology here in US.
I am with Chippy. The m528 with real voice/cellular capabilities will be the dream device for me. And I will definitely buy it even in its curr estimated 750$ price for a year or two before replacing both my MID and smartphone with the next generation I mentioned above.
To put the 3G iPhone into real perspective the $199 should be considered a down payment as when you buy a car :) the “real prices” would be in the $770-880 (which if things hold on as they have recently will be even higher due to exchange rates once the phone is actually available)
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/12/unsubsidized-iphone-3g-priced-at-499-569-in-europe/
Let me be up front here first of all, I was a serious naysayer of the (1st gen) iPhone for many reasons, locked, pricing etc etc, nor an Apple owner at the time. However here I am sitting and typing this on an Apple product and walking around with my iPhone in one pocket and another so called smartphone in my other pocket (with full 5 row qwerty keyboard, there’s only ONE with full 5 row qwerty out there!).
The iPhone UI is great, it in my opinion the best mobile device UI, and also for what it “gives” has a decent standby time.
3G, well I reside in the crippled USA when it comes to wireless communication and especially data. Tmo which I use has only recently launched their 3G but of course its on a 1700Mhz band more or less unheard of to the rest of the world, so for me even if I was able to get a 3G iPhone unlock it (or get one from Europe) I’d still be stuck with NO 3G :).
Now obviously that’s not the device’s fault and this is about the device, so let’s see, I receive several hundred emails daily (not counting unwanted ones) and that’s the core of my whole mobile computing (and business), now while the iPhone has a great UI and I actually use Apple’s own IMAP (still called .Mac) it really gets to me that you only can see some 50 messages on the screen of the iPhone and then have to click a buttont for “next” 50 (or was it 20?) emails, now this would be ok if you had a nice SEARCH feature in the email, but NO, there is no such search in the iPhone UI, so if there’s and email I want to find from the beginning of the week for instance, that might be some 10 “pages” away on the iPhone email UI. I believe I heard something about this being resolved in the next version now the 3G iPhone.
Also if the MobileMe has a few new nice solutions it might remove the need for such 3rd party solutions as Soonr etc. This I think could pave the way towards what I’d like to consider the “netbooks” of mobile phones, how do you say? Well instead of trying to stuff everything (read data) into your mobile phone or device and thereby both loose performance and battery time (please refer to the Apple Keynote video on how WMobile is bloated by having all apps running at once) the MobileMe solution MIGHT just have the “answer” meaning with decent speed WWAN and access to everything in a nice UI, you don’t need that 100GB in your pocket.
Despite really missing a REAL FULL FIVE ROW qwerty keyboard (why I carry also another smartphone with me) I really despise the lack of your simple copy and paste, “we’ve” been able to hack the iPhone open but not get copy and paste to work :) except in fake Youtube videos.
Ever since I sold my OQO 02 and then TZ Series Sony and bought the iPhone and then the EEE I’ve come to the conclusion that for now (and I have a feeling for the next 2-5 years) there won’t be much idea in trying to fit what the “real” OS operated devices can offer into my pocket, it just won’t work, or/and it will cost a fortune, serve as a pocket warmer, need to be in standby whenever not being used, make my pants sag…on ONE side etc etc etc. So for me for now its a smartphone (or two) and a netbook. Now will I add a WWAN router to my vehicle(s)? Maybe :) or I might just bite the bullet get an iPhone from Europe and sign up for AT&T without any contract (ok 1 year to get good deal on monthly price) and get an HSDPA modem for my next purchase plan the EEE 900.
Oh I almost forgot, yeah “there is more” :)
Now if/when these 3rd party apps start being available for the iPhone (..and hey lets not forget the touch, if there will be a GPS touch, that might also put a lot of strain on GPS and MID competition, since such a device wouldn’t be locked to any 2 year contracts..) if the Palm emulation
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/23/palm-emulation-coming-to-iphone-ipod-touch/ really does become available, then I hope something like Parallels and VMware will become available for the iPhone platform, now if/when that happens, and if there is some way of getting a real keyboard onto these devices (read: at least a BT one!) then we might be “talking”.
One thing I have to say though for anyone who has actually used the iPhone (not just tested/tried but owned/used for extensive time) I think all those other touchscreen devices out there trying to copy it just doesn’t meet up including the new Opera browser, I am sorry and don’t get me wrong although I am very positively minded towards the iPhone, I recognize and openly point out its flaws. But just as I had been posting and wishing a year from now, the dawn of the iPhone pushed the competition to new levels, which benefits us all regardless if we love or hate the iPhone.
But just as most other Apple copied solutions these other devices fall short in the real user experience. Having just (finally) done the “JKK EEE touch screen mod” in the past 12 hours on my own device I can’t help but to feel that these touch screen devices are not as accurate as the iPhone one, yes the EEE solutions is a cheap few tens of dollars of a panel, but the same goes for the Dell X51V I still own and use, and the Sony UX’s and other touch screen devices I have used over time, you never got the feeling that it was 100% accurate, and now after using the iPhone you feel like your vision is off or something it’s like “I didn’t click there!?!”.
But again I feel Apple has come out with some nice and great solutions, and the fact that we are reading/writing on this subject just proves that, not to mention the hundreds of iPhone UI copycats out there now.
Lets hope this brings us the ultimate pocketable full OS full keyboard device in the near future, right?
Sorry I think I’ve written more than Chippy ever did in any blog input by now :)
James, tethering refers to sharing the 3G connection with a BT enabled computer or other device, and is a pretty big deal to mobile users who need connectivity on the go.
Let me pose this question – do people in the US even use cellular video chatting? I’ve barely heard about carriers offering it, or phones here that support it. IMO no forward facing camera isn’t a big deal, but I would have liked an improved rear camera.
“do people in the US even use cellular video chatting? I’ve barely heard about carriers offering it, or phones here that support it.”
What do you mean by “carriers offering it”??
James, it’ more about being flexible rather than finding the right solution. When i got my UMPC, I considered BT useless, but I’ve used it a few times.
Anyway, engadget has proven the on the 12 month contract it will cost more than the previous phone.
Just to clearify TWO years = 24 months.
The 3G iPhone contract is for TWO years! This would mean that if/when an updated iPhone would be available in a year of year and a half your contract still isn’t up, hence more money to upgrade :( “been there done that” with my Sidekicks and contracts…(P.S. Typing this on my SK LX)
sorry, 24 months. Sorry, my bad. Thanks ecsk2. I’m a prepaid person anyway. Maybe I’ll pick up a 2nd hand original iphone for a bargain. :D
Icura,
How much is a “bargain” our son wants to get something with a keyboard… :)
I still believe the iPhone is the no 1 ….. look at their sales figures…who else sold the same model for a year with over 6 million pieces??? and any other BEGINNER (yes Apple makes computer, this is their FIRST phone…well now it’s the second….:P).
Again owning one will make you understand the EXPERIENCE, even gramma can use the iPhone at it’s FULLEST something she won’t be able…let’s say with the EXERIA.
The iPhone has some features that could be improved but rememer design is not what it looks like or what it has, it is HOW IT FUNCTION and no phone or smart phone today functions bettere the the Apple iPhone!
Apparently 02 in the UK will be offering the new iPhone on their Pay as you Go service, which is probably what I’ll be opting for. I really don’t want to be stuck into another 18 month contract with any service provider.
I was talking to some people in the office and they were dissapointed that apple didn’t improve the camera, especially as phones like the N96 have a 5 megapixel one.
Also the lack of an SD (or Micro SD) card slot to support extra storage is a bit of a shame.
Even with the issues above, I still thinks it’s the nicest looking phone on the market :-)
If there wasn’t “something” called HTC Dream running “Android” coming out in a few months, I would have considered the iPhone 3G as the device of… the century. Unrivaled UI speed, beautiful graphics, desktop internet, SDK available and easy….etc
BUT.
There is an Android.
There is an HTC Dream coming out.
It has a powerful SDK available.
And it is everything that the iPhone is, and everything it isn’t.
So while the iPhone is incomparable to WM and S60 phones, there is a new player in the game, and I’m saving my money for that player.
RE: yabeweb
Well as I mentioned above I was a critic of the iPhone but now own and love it for what it is and does (and yes now being an Apple owner increases the iPhone benefits). Yes the UI (user interface) and thereby the user experience is unique and beyond most devices out there, as well as the touch screen feature (see my post above), however beyond the UI and touch screen and perhaps the way it uses the low resolution of HVGA to the point where hardly anyone talks about the resolution after it was released are all great. But you make the claim that it is how it functions that counts and that no other phone “functions like” the iPhone. Care to elaborate on this, as an iPhone owner and user and having owned a smartphone from just about every platform/manufacturer I can’t really think of a single feature outside the UI (mentioned above) that the iPhone has that another phone doesn’t have. As for design I personally still hold that its a “Nokiafied” copy of the Dell Axim PDA, how do you say? Well see my post from here:
http://www.meizume.com/minione-m8/2874-08-08-07-m8-update-2.html
It’s not the feature… it’s the how it works…sure many other phone do even more than the iPhone…how they do it and how the user interact with such featres???
RE: yabeweb
Ok well that’s what I’ve been saying the UI (user interface) of the iPhone is indeed unique and beyond any other UI including the (now many) iPhone UI copies. But aside from UI there’s not much new/unique, rather a lot of things lacking such as a simple and extremely annoying lack of copy and paste feature.
Iphone Sucks….
Hi Friends,
I have been using the IPHone 1st gen and have the firmware 1.1.4, must say that Safari has issues on being compatble with Hotmail.
If I log in from one day to the next, it does not recognise the passowrd, solution, do a soft reset and then re log.
Pain, isnt it….
Regards,
RE: Vishal
Why not just add your hotmal to the mail program under Settings->Mail->Add Account->Other
Thanks, doesnt sync with the Hotmal app. Shall appreciate if I could get the POP 3 settings and get this to function correctly.
Tnx..
@ Vishal,
If you don’t have the pop3 hotmail service then no you won’t be able to use the mail with hotmail.
As for using it over Safari there shouldn’t be any issues see this
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1694
Hi, Thanks today another problem creeped up. The Iphone just went dead, none of the buttons functioned. Solution was removal of Sim Card SLot atlease three times, then inderting it back and doing a soft reset. This has been a fresh issue with the device. :(
@Vishal,
If your phone freezes just use the ON/OFF button and the “HOME” (large one at the bottom) button at the same time to reset the phone.
I have never had to remove the SIM card ever so far, though I’ve had my fair share of freezes, though no where near as many as with the WM devices I’ve had and still have (working on some WM SP custom active homescreen solutions as we speak)
What (if any) 3rd party sw have you installed?
I bought and used both the 8GB and 16GB iPhone in an attempt to get as objective an experience as possible on this device vs. many years using various WinMo devices. Of course the UI is basically unbeatable by any WinMo device so far, although some of the latest offerings are getting closer (I have a Touch Cruise right now and have to say its a significant step forward for WinMo devices). Can’t say I ever liked the touch interface, though, since it’s based on capacitive changes not pressure so I found myself repeating my various finger moves more often than I liked. Perhaps it’s just my being accustomed to stylus use (I use a pocketable stylus multi-pen) but I still prefer the touch sensitive screen.
My biggest criticism of the iphone, and the reason I ultimately abandoned and sold it (twice) is its limitations in areas like cut/paste compared to what I’m used to — and limited 3rd party apps — both my iphones were jailbroken so I downloaded and used numerous apps but couldn’t get anywhere close to the ones I use regularly in my WinMo devices. I do not like the limitations imposed by Apple by their proprietary OS — maybe it does help make for a better interface but I experienced about as many soft resets on my iphones as with my WinMo so that argument is weak at best, based on my experience.
My chief frustration, though, is not with the iphone or even with Apple — it’s all this overdone hype from the fan-boy community. I’m tired of reading all these blogs/articles/reviews/etc. promoting the iphone (not much objectivity there) and hooraying “features” and “new improvements” as though no one ever had them before, when virtually everything to be offered on the iphone 3G has been available to the WinMo community for over a year. And these repetitive claims of being faster (as yet untested) but only when compared to much older 3G devices. Then there’s the hooraying about how many iphones have been sold in a year and how even Aunt whatshername can use it — taken in perspective the iphone is still only a small fraction of the overall market and I’m not so sure Aunt whatshername really can use it “fully” — although I agree Apple has done a really good job giving a more intuitive interface than WinMo or the various WinMo device mfrs. have done.
Bottomline — Apple deserves praise for once again moving the peg forward but let’s be a bit more rational about all this!
@Bruce Wilson,
Thank you for your honest overview, acknowledging the praise it is worthy of but recognizing the serious flaws and lacking it has. I fully agree with everything you have said including the overdone hype, of the fan-boy, although I now am indeed an Apple “fan-boy” to some extent I do try to keep a realistic view of it all, which should be obvious by the fact that I am even visiting this UMPC site :)
As for 3rd party sw and compatibilities (and silly lack of copy & paste) I hope to see an improvement of all of this now with the SDK and all coming along. One can always wait and hope. What I think will quite down most critique is when/if we will be seeing the possibility of running other mobile platform OS’ under the iPhone OS as one can do with the Apple computer OS.
Well, I did try the soft reset, by pressing both the power and menu button, it did not work,The phone behaved like a paper weight with none of the buttons functioning. I am also a user of HTC advantage and really looking out for the 6.1 WM Rom. Thanks.
@ Vishal,
Is your iPhone unlocked (jailbroken)? It sounds like the things you’re experiencing is related to that rather than the product itself?
When I recd the phone sware was 1.1.2, I did an upgrade to 1.1.4, then jail breaked it. thnx