I was wrong

Buckethead Buckethead

Here we are in only the second week of the new year, and already we have movement on some of my predictions. Most notably, yesterday Steve Jobs made a liar out of me by introducing the iPhone. Completely, utterly, wrong on that one. However, I have rarely been so pleased at being wrong. The new iPhone is, I must say, pretty damn impressive.

image

I am no Apple fanboy, but I am deeply impressed by the iPhone. I want one.

So what's the big deal? It's a widescreen iPod. It will play movies and music. Okay, cool. It's a quad band GSM cell phone. Okay, cool. It has a 2 megapixel camera. It's a little taller than an iPod, but otherwise similar in dimension. Not too heavy, and while it doesn't have the disappear in a pocket form factor of my razr phone, it is certainly eminently portable. Ok, cool. There are other devices that have these functions. Why is the iPhone so damn cool? The answer is what you might expect: design and user interface, which have always been Apple's real strength.

The whole front of the phone is a multi-touch screen. No keypad at all. The touchpad technology is just like what we linked here at perfidy a while back. (The original video link is stale, but here's a new one.) Apple bought the tech, and has integrated it into the phone. Watch these three movies, and you'll get a feel for how sweet this thing is going to be. Cell phones, even very expensive nice ones, are not user friendly. Most functions are difficult to find, and harder to use. This is, well, the opposite. The iPhone is slick as all hell. This looks like it will be a joy to use, as easy for all of these functions - photos, email, music, video, web, sms, phone - as the iPod is for music.

Further, it is wireless capable, so that leaves open the possibility that you could use a service like skype for phone calls when you're near a hotspot. You won't have to use hideously expensive cell phone data transfer to get on the internet, either. The thing runs OSX, so you've got the reality of real applications running on the phone from other developers. It will come with Safari for web browsing, and the email system hooks up with Yahoo for push IMAP, and they've also worked with Google for googlemaps. Cingular pitched in and worked with Apple to make a visual voicemail system - so you can choose which voicemails to listen to, rather than be forced to listen to them in order. And hackers will realize that the OS has UNIX lurking in the basement. How cool can it get?

The only downside is the price - $500 for a 4GB model, and $600 for an 8GB version. And, we have to wait til June. But wait, my birthday is in June... Another problem for some is that Cingular will be the only carrier - they and Apple have an exclusive deal. Happily for me, I have Cingular, and coverage where I live is excellent. If I save $50 from every paycheck from now until June, I can have one. And I do want one.

Gizmodo has the best coverage of the release, that's where I found most of this info. They've got pics, movies, and Apple even let them play with a phone for a few minutes. Check out their coverage.

On the positive side, prediction-wise, I was less wrong about Vladimir Putin. While he didn't poison half of Europe, he did cut off their gas. And he's charging hard towards something closely resembling "Tsar." I'd rather be wrong about the iPhone. But at least I don't live in Russia.

[wik] Engadget points out that all is not sweetness and light:

  • It's not extensible by third parties, only Apple. The means at the moment no RSS readers, no Slingplayers.
  • No 3G. We know you know, but still, it hurts man.
  • No over the air iTunes Store downloads or WiFi syncing to your host machine.
  • No expandable memory.
  • No removable battery.
  • No Exchange or Office support.

[alsø wik] A surprisingly interesting Time article.

[alsø alsø wik] Make your own size comparisons with sizeasy! You have no idea how hard it was (so to speak) for me to resist making a dick comparison chart. No idea.

Posted by Buckethead Buckethead on   |   § 10

§ 10 Comments

1

Of those engadget complaints you posted as updates whilst I was penning my comment, some are in direct conflict to yesterday's news.

I'd swear that the Reuter-rooter story I saw said it had 3G, had WiFi & Bluetooth sync, and had SD card memory expansion. Some of that (the wireless bit) appears supported in the Gizmodo spec sheet.

The lack of spare battery capability is viciously bad design, if true.

Patton Patton

2

Riddle me this, Batman: Why is it that, seemingly alone in consumer electronics, only Apple can seem to understand good user interface design?

On the downside, this thing is priced high enough ($900+ if you DON'T take the Cingular service to go with it) that it's aimed at the top 1% of the market. I don't think that's nearly as shrewd a move in cellphones (1 billion sold/year) as it is in laptops.

But it shore is purty, ain't it?

Patton Patton

3

ok, so it is missing a multitool on the side, or maybe they could modify the design so it could be one of those marshal arts throwing stars.

If they do that, I want one for sure!!

ArmyWife-ToddlerMom ArmyWife-ToddlerMom

4

Apple seems to have a thing for non-replaceable batteries, which is a shame. But apparently, there is in fact no 3g. WiFi would make up for that lack, mostly, I think. Not having expandable memory is an issue, but still, 4 or 8 gigs is a reasonable amount of storage - in the ballpark of a DVD's worth.

More troubling, if true, is the fact that it's not an open platform. If you could install and run 3rd party apps - which honestly doesn't seem like much of a stretch, given that they've got a real OS on the thing - then the utility of the iPhone would greatly increase. Like all those palm aps you can get. On the other hand, if the safari browser supports java, you could do lots of iPhone-dedicated web aps. I think in the long run Apple will allow third party aps. Not being able to wirelesly synch when the thing has wireless seems kind of retarded. Not being able to buy music off the interweb from a Starbucks also seems a missed opportunity.

500 or 600 dollars is a lot, granted; but when you consider it's an iPod ($250), a nifty cell phone ($150), and a PDA ($300-400); plus "interactive web tool" and performs all these functions (if we are to believe the demo) better than any existing device - then, well, that price doesn't seem quite so unreasonable.

Buckethead Buckethead

5

It's a bummer they are doing it exclusively with Cingular. I'd jump on this if they actually had it with my service.

I keep eyeing the Treo and talking myself out of it. But 2nd gen iPhone, if my service offers it, will be mine!

Mapgirl Mapgirl

8

Talking to my coworkers, the consensus seems to be wait until after the European launch, see if they offer upgrades and wait for the kinks to get worked out, and then buy one. The next model might have more memory, etc., or cost a bit less. Another factor to consider is that since most of goodness is in the software, you'd be able to upgrade it easily. And I imagine there will be many people desperate to hack the crap out of it, and the result might be some nifty goodies.

A pocket knife on the side would be helpful, too.

Buckethead Buckethead

9

Further, I have no idea why apple is the only company out there that can make software and hardware that slick. You'd think that someone else would be able to manage the trick.

Buckethead Buckethead

10

Apparently, there is a 3G iPhone in the works.

"According to an engineer who worked on the network/radio for the iPhone, there's a good reason Apple didn't have 3G in this iteration of the iPhone. He says less than 1% of Cingular customers have HSDPA capability—it's only available in a dozen or so markets. Plus, the engineer says the target users wouldn't know the difference anyway. Great confidence in the consumer, even if it's sorta true."

Valid point, I should think.

Also, the no wireless synch might only apply to iTunes content, not other stuff like contacts. Who knows?

Buckethead Buckethead

[ You're too late, comments are closed ]