iPhone - The Good, The Bad, The Disappointed

JLM-AWP

OK, so, I want the iPhone. I also don't want it. We just discovered the purpose of this thread!

In all seriousness, though, I can't decided for the life of me on whether or not I want to get this damn thing. I figure we could all weigh in, bring forth facts/evidence/rumors....and, of course, have a huge flame war (j/k no flaming kthx).


TADA!



HAWT



Also HAWT.


Tech Specs:






No SDK? How does that make any sense?:

According to Apple, "no software developer kit is required for the iPhone." However, the truth is that the lack of an SDK means that there won't be a killer application for the iPhone. It also means the iPhone's potential as an amazing computing and communication platform will never be realized. And because of this I don't think the iPhone will be as revolutionary as it could be. That's a real heart breaker.

Also no flash support? Seriously....

Coming out of WWDC are reports that Apple has officially admitted that the Apple iPhone will not support Adobe's Flash plug-in in Safari.

Flash support has been a long unanswered question about the Apple iPhone. Steve Jobs had made comments early on that we might see Flash in iPhone according to David Pogue:

Markoff: “Flash [in the iPhone]?”
Jobs: “Well, you might see that.”

Of note, Jobs did say that Youtube support would be in the iPhone... but by sidestepping Flash altogether:

Jobs: “Yeah, YouTube—of course. But you don’t need to have Flash to show YouTube. All you need to do is deal with YouTube. And plus, we could get ‘em to up their video resolution at the same time, by using h.264 instead of the old codec.”

This portion of Jobs' plan came true with the Youtube add-on for Apple TV which will require Youtube to convert their catalog of videos into the h.264 format.

Man, 2 weeks ago, I was mega-hyped for this phone, and I am nowhere NEAR an Apple fan (but I do love my iPod). Now the browsing on EDGE has been reportedly slow, the battery life is decent, but not mindblowing, and now it looks like all the apps that can be made for it are going to have to be made through Safari or not at all.

Is there any information out there regarding data package pricing from Cingular/At&T? Pre-ordering? Can I order one from Apple's site ON June 29th?

Oh yeah, and it's an iPod. Crazy. Discuss.

Brigade

Word on the street is that it's only 2gb as well.

I guess I could do actual research, but I stand by my rumor!

LewieP

won't a 3rd party devkit be made?

I swear those crazy linux guys find a way of doing everything. (as in the people that put linux on every device known to man)

Seaborn111

comes in 4gb and 8gb flavors, don't know where you got 2 at.

thats been known since announcement

Unco-ordinated

It looks super hot but if it has all the problems that you say it does, I wouldn't go freakin' near it.

You can always buy it later on if they end up fixing all those problems.

Lunker

I've been seeing more commercials for it, and I have to say that the ads are actually fantastic. No goofy posturing or "lifestyle" ads -- just straightforward "Hey, here's how you might use it at any given moment" that shows how everything melds together seamlessly. It's the first time I've really liked an Apple ad in quite a while.

mausmalone

LewieP wrote: »

won't a 3rd party devkit be made?

I swear those crazy linux guys find a way of doing everything. (as in the people that put linux on every device known to man)

Theoretically they could do that, but it's much more likely that they'll simply continue supporting the smart-phone platform, which is much more open (and, surprisingly, a little more feature-packed than the iPhone).

The iPhone is never going to be a contender when it comes to sheer specs and features. Their niche will be people looking for the "Apple experience" on a phone.

Infinite Loop

I'm in the same boat - the thing looks great and the features that are present do sound good, but the lack of Flash (still unconfirmed, just initially if true ... hopefully), 3G (grrr) and real third-party development kind of suck. I haven't decided if I'll get one yet ... I do need a new iPod and a new phone and even $600 isn't that bad for a gadget. And even without Flash proper, it'll have YouTube support.

I guess I'll wait for some solid reviews before deciding.

apotheos

Having seen my share of shitty moblile apps, I imagine this whole SDK-via-Web2.0 will allow the iPhone to have apps that are a million times more useful and cool than the shit that is out there now.

Seriously. I don't think I've ever installed anything on my Blackberry and not said "Wow, this is shit".

FaceballMcDougal

Seaborn111 wrote: »

comes in 4gb and 8gb flavors, don't know where you got 2 at.

thats been known since announcement

he probably misunderstood 2G for 2GB... it's on a 2G network... which people also dislike for internet speed

LockeCole

Seaborn111 wrote: »

comes in 4gb and 8gb flavors, don't know where you got 2 at.

thats been known since announcement

Thats kind of retarded, my ass old iPod still has 15gb of storage. If you want me to buy your new shiny apple, it needs to upgrade IN ALL WAYS the old shiny you sold me 3-4 years ago.

ArcSyn

8GB flash iPod +
Nice touch screen slim phone +
Apple brand = fairly reliable +

Only on Cingular

---

(basically, I'll never own this phone unless Verizon seriously screws me over)
Only 8GB flash max? -
Touch screen buttons requiring you to look at your phone to use it (no blind dialing or texting) -

Infinite Loop

FaceballMcDougal wrote: »

Seaborn111 wrote: »

comes in 4gb and 8gb flavors, don't know where you got 2 at.

thats been known since announcement

he probably misunderstood 2G for 2GB... it's on a 2G network... which people also dislike for internet speed

EDGE is technically 2.5G, but that's just nerd semantics.

JLM-AWP

Lunker wrote: »

I've been seeing more commercials for it, and I have to say that the ads are actually fantastic. No goofy posturing or "lifestyle" ads -- just straightforward "Hey, here's how you might use it at any given moment" that shows how everything melds together seamlessly. It's the first time I've really liked an Apple ad in quite a while.

If you haven't watched the keynote for the iPhone revealing, it's basically an hour-long commercial just like the ones on TV. Watching him use it just makes me want it. The threaded texting, the fading music when you get a call, the instant picture emailing....it's just fantastic. Mainly, I want this for the web-browsing, which is why the slower speed really concerns me. Even though it may be slow and may not (not confirmed) do Flash, it is still worlds better than any other mobile browser.

That phone would make my 1 hour train commute to work fly by.

Radikal_Dreamer

I'll never buy an mp3 player with less than 40 gb. More than likely, my next will have 80 gigs, and so this iPhone is out of the question for me for even solely that reason. 2g or 3g or whatever is just waaaaaaay too small for me. I don't talk on the phone nearly enough for it to be worth it as just a phone, either. And 600 dollars? No freaking way. It is a pretty sexy looking device, but I'd say it's just not for me right now.

projectmayhem

For the edge thing people keep bringing up, does this effect its speed on wi-fi?

As for me I can handle waiting a year or two for the bugs to get worked out and for the phone to get cheaper.

FaceballMcDougal

I really don't think the speed would be an issue with Google's mobile stuff. You can surf through Google basically and they strip a lot of the fat away from any web page.

TheMorningStar

I think in a few years when the bugs are all worked out, and the price goes down, this thing will be a tiny god. I mean, look how much the iPod has evolved. Who knows how the hell this thing will end up.

apotheos

JLM-AWP wrote: »

Lunker wrote: »

I've been seeing more commercials for it, and I have to say that the ads are actually fantastic. No goofy posturing or "lifestyle" ads -- just straightforward "Hey, here's how you might use it at any given moment" that shows how everything melds together seamlessly. It's the first time I've really liked an Apple ad in quite a while.

If you haven't watched the keynote for the iPhone revealing, it's basically an hour-long commercial just like the ones on TV. Watching him use it just makes me want it. The threaded texting, the fading music when you get a call, the instant picture emailing....it's just fantastic. Mainly, I want this for the web-browsing, which is why the slower speed really concerns me. Even though it may be slow and may not (not confirmed) do Flash, it is still worlds better than any other mobile browser.

That phone would make my 1 hour train commute to work fly by.

That commute would do wonders for you cel-phone bill.

Infinite Loop

apotheos wrote: »

JLM-AWP wrote: »

Lunker wrote: »

I've been seeing more commercials for it, and I have to say that the ads are actually fantastic. No goofy posturing or "lifestyle" ads -- just straightforward "Hey, here's how you might use it at any given moment" that shows how everything melds together seamlessly. It's the first time I've really liked an Apple ad in quite a while.

If you haven't watched the keynote for the iPhone revealing, it's basically an hour-long commercial just like the ones on TV. Watching him use it just makes me want it. The threaded texting, the fading music when you get a call, the instant picture emailing....it's just fantastic. Mainly, I want this for the web-browsing, which is why the slower speed really concerns me. Even though it may be slow and may not (not confirmed) do Flash, it is still worlds better than any other mobile browser.

That phone would make my 1 hour train commute to work fly by.

That commute would do wonders for you cel-phone bill.

Cingular/AT&T offers unlimited data plans for all of its web-capable phones. Of course, that's not unlimited unlimited, but it should cover everything this side of downloading 1GB worth of porn per hour on the train. So, he'd be paying the same amount for data on his bill whether he browses the web all day or just for an hour. What that price will be hasn't been announced yet. Anywhere from $20-$60 per month is a guess.

baddman

i'm too lazy to do the math, but what kind of download speed would you need to stream music played from your home iTunes? could apple theoretically let your itunes at home stream to your iphone on the go, thus eliminating storing your music library on a mobile device?

also, i looked up the stats of EDGE and 3G... doesnt seem like there was that significant of a bandwidth difference. where does the lack of 3G support woe stem from?

Infinite Loop

baddman wrote: »

i'm too lazy to do the math, but what kind of download speed would you need to stream music played from your home iTunes? could apple theoretically let your itunes at home stream to your iphone on the go, thus eliminating storing your music library on a mobile device?

The bandwidth needed would be astronomical, even with lesser quality streaming. No phone company in their right mind would allow this.

also, i looked up the stats of EDGE and 3G... doesnt seem like there was that significant of a bandwidth difference. where does the lack of 3G support woe stem from?

Real world vs. theoretical. The speed differences between EDGE and HSDPA (AT&T's 3G flavor) are significant. EDGE should be fine for browsing, though. I use an EDGE phone and have no real complaints. HSDPA would be nice, though.

blackranger3d

Is Cingular GSM, do they use sim cards?

baddman

what about apple's recent love for youtube? if you can't stream music, surely you can't stream youtube content.

Dublo7

I dunno, man. Touch screen electronics can get pretty fucked up after a while.

projectmayhem

baddman wrote: »

what about apple's recent love for youtube? if you can't stream music, surely you can't stream youtube content.

The poster ment stream music from your home itunes library.

Sonos

Dublo7 wrote: »

I dunno, man. Touch screen electronics can get pretty fucked up after a while.

my treo 600 is ridiculous on how inconvenient the touch screens are. I didn't have a large ear complex until I got that phone. Locks up frequently and randomly decides when the touch buttons are hit in the middle of a conversation.

it was too much phone for me in the first place though.

Dublo7

Also, is it me, or is the iPhone pretty fucking big?

It's bigger than my Zune.

GrimDog420

apotheos wrote: »

Having seen my share of shitty moblile apps, I imagine this whole SDK-via-Web2.0 will allow the iPhone to have apps that are a million times more useful and cool than the shit that is out there now.

Seriously. I don't think I've ever installed anything on my Blackberry and not said "Wow, this is shit".

as a developer of mobile apps as soon as i heard there would be no sdk and we would have to push everything to the iPhone via Web 2.0 ajax and the client was basically a closed system; I immediately dropped my pants and took a shit on the whole thing. I will continue to do my enterprise development on windows mobile i guess.

edit:

this pretty much sums up my fears of iphone development :

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/fast-and-furious/no-iphone-sdk-means-no-killer-iphone-apps-267899.php

Lach

Also, throwing around the "term" Web 2.0 is kind of lame. Trying to hide their closed platform as some kind of feature.

cloudeagle

Lach wrote: »

Also, throwing around the "term" Web 2.0 is kind of lame. Trying to hide their closed platform as some kind of feature.

Isn't Web 2.0 about openness, sharing and collaboration anyway?

The iPhone has some awesome ideas wrapped up with some really O_o decisions. Which is typical Apple, really. (Didn't the company just recently ditch the one-button mouse standard?)

mausmalone

apotheos wrote: »

Having seen my share of shitty moblile apps, I imagine this whole SDK-via-Web2.0 will allow the iPhone to have apps that are a million times more useful and cool than the shit that is out there now.

Seriously. I don't think I've ever installed anything on my Blackberry and not said "Wow, this is shit".

Web 2.0-as-SDK means no persistent 3rd party apps ever. No games. No dictionary. No nothing without an internet connection. So if you're not in the EDGE coverage area at some given moment (like, for example, the state of Maine) then you're kind-of SOL for using any 3rd party app.

It's not even like they could just cache the whole thing since AJAX apps run server-side.

nexuscrawler

Apple's pne of the moe openly hostile comapneis to 3rd party devs. They're obsessive about quality and control of thier market. That's why they've never marketted components for thier Pcs, are very limted on approving peoplel to service thier machines and tried to make it for non approved 3rd party Ipod Accessroies, etc. It's no surprise they're doing it here too.

tkejlboom

I hate apple, so I just thought I'd suggest an alternative

http://www.htctouch.com/

apotheos

mausmalone wrote: »

apotheos wrote: »

Having seen my share of shitty moblile apps, I imagine this whole SDK-via-Web2.0 will allow the iPhone to have apps that are a million times more useful and cool than the shit that is out there now.

Seriously. I don't think I've ever installed anything on my Blackberry and not said "Wow, this is shit".

Web 2.0-as-SDK means no persistent 3rd party apps ever. No games. No dictionary. No nothing without an internet connection. So if you're not in the EDGE coverage area at some given moment (like, for example, the state of Maine) then you're kind-of SOL for using any 3rd party app.

It's not even like they could just cache the whole thing since AJAX apps run server-side.

There are lots of moves afoot for "offline" web applications.

Given the spottyness of wireless internet access in most areas I imagine this is not a coincidence.

But we won't know till we see it.

Bionic Monkey

I could care less about the phone, but I pray to god every night they release a 100 gig or a 120 gig iPod Video this fall with that screen.

skippydumptruck

JLM-AWP wrote: »

Is there any information out there regarding data package pricing from Cingular/At&T? Pre-ordering? Can I order one from Apple's site ON June 29th?

My boss is buying me one as part of my contract -- anyone know if I can just walk into Cingular and pick one up on the 29th?

DigDug2000

mausmalone wrote: »

apotheos wrote: »

Having seen my share of shitty moblile apps, I imagine this whole SDK-via-Web2.0 will allow the iPhone to have apps that are a million times more useful and cool than the shit that is out there now.

Seriously. I don't think I've ever installed anything on my Blackberry and not said "Wow, this is shit".

Web 2.0-as-SDK means no persistent 3rd party apps ever. No games. No dictionary. No nothing without an internet connection. So if you're not in the EDGE coverage area at some given moment (like, for example, the state of Maine) then you're kind-of SOL for using any 3rd party app.

It's not even like they could just cache the whole thing since AJAX apps run server-side.

I have no idea what Safari in the iPhone is doing, but the big thing right now is allowing web apps to run whether you have a connection or not. Apple's been pretty involved in the whole process of standardizing that. I'd be surprised if the iPhone didn't support some sort of offline storage and syncing for apps.

I got the feeling from what they said that this was more than just AJAX too. That they were exposing internal libraries to secure web pages through javascript. Maybe I'm wrong though. We'll have to wait and see.

cloudeagle

skippydumptruck wrote: »

JLM-AWP wrote: »

Is there any information out there regarding data package pricing from Cingular/At&T? Pre-ordering? Can I order one from Apple's site ON June 29th?

My boss is buying me one as part of my contract -- anyone know if I can just walk into Cingular and pick one up on the 29th?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Seriously, no. Not only are you working with limited supply (something Apple's notorious for), you're also working with rabid Apple fans who will instantly buy any random iProduct that comes out. I'd wait a few months and save yourself the headache.

J3p

I'm going to guess they'll release new generations of the iPhone every few years.

Can anyone confirm / deny / mangle this?

InfestedGnome

I don't think ill ever buy another Ipod device again. I have had 3 all they all breakdown on me within a couple months. Its just not worth it. Looks cool though