IPhone

[NLN]

Has anyone here purchased a new Apple iPhone? If so, I'd like to hear what you think about it.

[KatherineLee]

I've been hearing about the phone everyday on National Public Radio.

 

I'm also interested in hearing if it lives up to all the hype. I particularlly want to know if the touch screen keyboard is preferred over other keyboards on other phones.

[NLN]

The touch-screen navigation is supposed to be awesome. But the internet connection is slow, until you come into Wi-Fi range (I've only read about this). The phone is too expensive for me to get one now, but later -- when prices drop and features are added -- I'll seriously consider getting one. I can even see that day when GPS systems are built into them.

[clapstyx]

From what I can work out its basically a case of technology for the sake of increasing the redundancy of existing appliances that do the job better than the thing thats replacing them. There is no actual benefit to owning the device in terms of improvement of quality of life and in actual fact the quality of life actually falls becuase of it due to the fact that it means that the resources expended in previous incarnations of the technology were a waste. personally I cant work out how Apple justify the release of the product. And lets be honest they wont because from a marketing point of view they would prefer that the consumer didnt think about those aspects too intently lest it reduce the desireability and sense of the purchase. They proved with the iPod (in my experience) that they cant make a product that lasts and they also proved that they cant provide warranty when they fail. For these reasons I wouldnt touch it with a barge pole

[Mercedes Benzene]

Today while I was at the mall, I stopped by an apple store. They had about 8 phones set up that customers could try out.

 

I got my hands on one, and let me tell you, it was awesome! It lived up to all the hype, and there was nothing wrong with it that I could tell. The internet connection is kinda slow, but not much slower than any other internet connection. I love the look too. The images are clear and crisp, and the interface is bold and easy to work with. Sound quality was good for songs.

Overall, AMAZING.

 

The only problem.... I have Verizon.... and apple signed a contract with AT&T/Cingular which makes them the sole service provider untili 2009 (I believe). :(

[KatherineLee]

The only problem.... I have Verizon.... and apple signed a contract with AT&T/Cingular which makes them the sole service provider untili 2009 (I believe). :(

 

Just wait a couple years then. It'll be about a third of the original price, and maybe if you switch your phone service to AT&T/Cingular at the time you could get it for free!

 

 

I'm still weeping about the fact that I have to keep my crappy cell phone for another year until I renew my contract, or I get to give my first born to the company to get a different phone before that time.

[Buffy]

The IT press has decided:

 

Ten Reasons Why You Shouldn't Buy an iPhone

Nine Hangups that Threaten to Keep the iPhone Disconnected from the Enterprise

20 Reasons I'm Not Getting An iPhone Today

Pogue (who got one free) answers your iPhone questions

 

Its not really looking terribly good. Is it the Next iPod or is it another Newton?

 

The hype will go on forever...

 

Always waits for 2.0,

Buffy

[CraigD]

I don’t yet have an iPhone. Unless I’m given one – and, given my current role, this is very inlikely – I likely won’t have one in the next few years.

 

I’ve had several years (late 2000 through early 2007) of experience with something physically similar – a Handspring Visor with a Visorphone GSM Phone Springboard module, which looks like this in the handheld, this out of it (minus the mike-less headphone, which never saw much use).

 

Handspring/Palm abandoned the whole Springboard concept – an ordinary PalmOS touchscreen PDA into which you can snap, GameBoy-fashion, various add-on modules for such things as ROM data and apps, GPS receivers, MP3 players, Cameras, modems, phones, PA controller, etc. - some years ago in order to concentrate the market on their Treo smartphones, which I regret, though not, I suspect, as much as bizzes that got onboard with the concept and put time and money into developing lines of Springboard modules.

 

The module concept worked well for my wife and I, as if one of us was going out, they could snap it in on the way out the door. The module had a separate battery from the handheld (which used removable AAAs, good for about a week using rechargables, a month for disposables), so could be kept charged (as the phone module didn’t have a separate charging jack, we used an old, broken visor for this). Since the handheld with the module inserted weighted about as much as a PDA and a cellphone, keeping them together all the time was to be avoided.

 

There’s a basic class of awkwardness issues for phones and handhelds in one unit – it they’re big enough to be good for reading and writing on, they’re too big to hold to your ear. If they’re small enough to easily hold to your ear, they’re to small to read well on (Treos suffer from this problem). Since you often need to read and write while on the phone, having your PDA pressed against your ear is not where you want it – the VisorPhone module tried to deal with this by oversize/powering the module’s speaker enough that you could hear it while reading/writing on it, while you sort of shouted at the microphone (which was built into the bottom of the handheld, but, oddly, not electrically connected to it, its 2 wires just passing through to 2 contact on the springboard slot’s connector). This worked OK as long as you were in a quiet enviroment. Because the handheld was so wide, it always felt a bit like it was going to squirt out of you hand when you put it to your ear. The module prevented the whole unit from fitting into many of the cases made for the handheld alone.

 

It seems to me the iPhone will suffer from this class of problems, much like the Visor+VisorPhone.

 

The best thing about the iPhone, IMHO, is its touchscreen technology, which, everyone has likely heard, is “multi-touch”, as opposed to ordinary PalmOS touchscreens like the Visor’s and the Treo’s, which can sense only a single touch (if you try touching it in multiple places, it “averages” the touches to come up with a single point between the actuall touchpoints). It’s not altogether an improvement on the old touchscreens, however, as it’s unable to sense small touches, such as with a stylus. As far as I can tell, this makes it largely worthless for precision input, like sketching, which the old PalmOS devices were pretty good for.

 

I doubt the iPhone will support any programming language interpreters, as PalmOS does, which is a killer drawback for me, as I’m the sort who absolute must be able to write a quick BASIC program while riding on a bus, sitting on the beach, etc. It also appears stuck on the idea of a virtual keyboard for input, which I like much less than stylus input (I’m familiar only with PalmOS’s “Grafitti”, and like the original Grafitti much better than the current Grafitti2).

 

What I’d really like to see is the touchscreen and basic form factor of an iPhone on a generic, openOS device, without any phone or other radioconnectivity other than Bluetooth. Separate phone and Wi-Fi receivers, and a Bluetooth headset offers, IMHO, better solutions for a phone and TCP/IP connections, and there are times when it’s nice just to have a computer, without any connection to anything but you :(

 

I’d really love a chance to play with input systems on an iPhone-type touchscreen, as it seems to me to have as much potential as the palm of the hand of a deaf-and-blind person. It seems to me that the current iPhone should be physically capable of reading ordinary fingerspelling, or, for really high-speed input, ASL a similar gestural language.

[KatherineLee]

I just saw a commerical for the iPhone http://youtube.com/watch?v=VLo1USJIkgY and I am absolutely convinced I must have one now!

[NLN]

Hey, thanks for all the replies, everybody! As more time passes and others have experience with the iPhone, please add to this thread as I would like to keep track of why people like or dislike this new product.

[Zythryn]

The IT press has decided:

 

Ten Reasons Why You Shouldn't Buy an iPhone

 

Just from the first link, did you notice the number one reason?

 

1. I'll Get to the Apple Store Ahead of You

If you've read this far then you've finally discovered the *real* reason I wrote this column.

 

You see, I'm out to dissuade as many people as possible from buying an iPhone so that I have less competition on Friday when I go to get mine.

 

Now, there are a number of drawbacks to the iPhone such as no games and spotty speed with the EDGE service.

 

In my case, I bought mine yesterday. I absolutely LOVE it. I have been waiting for this technology since the first Palm Pilot came out. I have never found an interface that worked well for me, be it a stylus, keyboard or some combination.

The virtual keyboard of the iPhone is PERFECT for me. The only drawback that has affected me is that I can't download ringtones yet (which I suspect is a software fix which will be coming in the future).

 

I love the touchscreen navigation. I have not had an issue, even when purposely trying, of having two buttons trigger with one press. The built in intelligence of the kb is as good as I have seen.

The images are very clear, the music is cool (still don't like the standard ear buds though). I enjoy being able to scroll though songs, albums, emails or other lists with a flick of my finger.

After just a few hours with it, I can type faster on the iPhone than I have been able to type/stylus with any other handheld, phone or PDA.

In my opinion, Apple did exactly what they are so good at. The improved the human machine interface by a magnitudes.

 

I have heard AT&T stores work on pushing accessories on you. The experience I had at the Apple store was very low key, low pressure. The didn't push anything on me (I walked out with just the iPhone and nothing else).

Activation was all handled through iTunes. It had to wait a few hours for the final activation to be completed as I was keeping my old cell phone number. I have heard from others that if you don't need your old cell number and get a new one activation is typically 5 minutes or less.

 

Internet speed is good (not great) when hooked up to a wi-fi network (which is very easy to do). I have heard the EDGE service can be very quick, or increadibly slow depending upon where you are (with more slow areas than quick from what I have heard).

 

Two thumbs up here:)

[CraigD]

In my case, I bought mine yesterday. I absolutely LOVE it.

At last! An actual review from someone who actually has an iPhone! :doh:

I love the touchscreen navigation. I have not had an issue, even when purposely trying, of having two buttons trigger with one press. The built in intelligence of the kb is as good as I have seen.

From the hype, advanced reviews, and descriptions of the underlying technology – basically, an iPhone screen senses touch by detecting changes in the light reflected between two layers of glass when your finger(s) touch one – I expected this to work great, far better than previous touchscreen technologies – with the limitations I noted above.

(still don't like the standard ear buds though).

Isn’t there out-of-the-box compatability with off-the-shelf Bluetooth wireless headsets? Come to think of it, I’ve not seen that demoed or ballyhooed, so maybe its not the given I thought. If not, I’m surprised – even my current, old-tech Palm TX can play songs through a Bluetooth headset.

After just a few hours with it, I can type faster on the iPhone than I have been able to type/stylus with any other handheld, phone or PDA.

This most interests me.

 

Zythryn, have you had an opportunity to try any speed trials for data entry? Enough to get a words-per-minute measurement for comparison to your regular keyboard WPM rate?

 

Much of my dislike for newer, Grafitti2 PalmOS devices is that, even after months of experience, my WPM rate hasn’t reached 75% of what it was on an old, Grafitti1 boxes, and my accuracy is worse. Since my basic requirement of a handheld is that it be able to replace a pencil and pad of paper, this is a serious shortcoming. I wonder, assuming the iPhone has or will get a decent, simple text editor app, if its text input scheme would better match old-fashioned paper and pencil (which, at best under grafitti1, was only about 70% of my paper & pencil speed)

[Zythryn]

Hey Craig,

Bluetooth headsets are supported.

Apple has their own model & states 'most' others should work.

My situation is different from yours. I could get about seven wpm with the grafitii system.

I am still not close to my typing speed (50 wpm), I would guess about 20 wpm now.

 

There is a notepad, as well as a calander, contact book, weather, news, etc.

I am typing this on the iPhone actually:) Much quicker on a PC, but not painful like other handhelds have been for me.

[CraigD]

I could get about seven wpm with the grafitii system.

I am still not close to my typing speed (50 wpm), I would guess about 20 wpm now.

That’s excellent – I’d be happy with 20 WPM on a handheld. My Grafitti2 speed is only about 12-18 WPM, and needs lots of cleanup – “i” and “t” and other awful multi-stroke characters get misread a lot.

 

I assume you’re one-handing it, but using different fingers – about the way you use a regular keyboard when one of your hands is occupied elsewhere, so getting close to your two-hand typing speed isn’t likely to happen.

 

Can you type without looking at your fingers on the virtual keyboard? That’s something I like about stylus input like Palm Grafitti – I’m about as good at it blindfolded as looking – something not true for writing on paper.

[Zythryn]

Right now I am quickest with just my right index finger.

I have tried the two thumbs method seen in one of their 'tutorial videos'. For me it doesn't work too well due to a slight tremor I have (it is more pronounced in my left thumb).

I am not sure how easy it would be without looking at the keypad. Some more practice will tell I guess. The keyboard is laid out QWERTY style although the 'extra' keys change depending upon what you are doing. For example, if you are in the URL address bar of the browser, the space bar is gone and replaced with a few keys (. / .com).

 

It has a built in dictionary and will 'suggest' corrections. If you hit space it plugs in the suggestion, if you type anything else the suggestion goes away. It also increases the size of the activation area for some letters depending upon what you have typed. For example, if you type 'tim' the iPhone will increase the activation area of the letter 'e' as there are no words that use nearby keys such as 'r' 'w' or 'd' after 'tim'. This is done 'behind the scenes' you don't actually see the E button get larger, but it cuts down on the miskeys.

[alexander]

if i had 600 dollars to blow on a phone, i would buy one, but for now, i'm more focused on hacking my phone :cool:

 

i actually found it funny, they pulled the phone apart and found all the chipsets that apple uses (including intel, ti, realtek and others), the chip makers stocks rose due to the phone today, and yet apple, the maker, lost money as their stocks went down.... find that kinda funny....

[Zythryn]

Apple stock has been soaring all year as everyone knew they made the iPhone:) Minor correction today as some cashed in their gains.

I just wish I had some apple stock:)