The Joyent Community

rsimplicio wrote:

I agree with you. But I must say someone needs to write a big check to whoever did the iPhone's marketing campaign. Everytime I see it I say: "AT&T's not that bad. Really. I can deal with it. Because the phone's soooooooo coool...."

Agreed.

Marketing was really well done.

I may still end up getting one, mostly because I am absolutely sick and tired of my Moto Razr. Pile of crap. And the fact my iPod is toasted.

That's an expensive iPod though. Will likely make a more educated guess on whether I'll get one after reading more. Gruber has some interesting stuff up on his linked list. Mostly saying that the biggest complaint is that the phone is tied to AT&T.

But everytime I see the damn phone I think "I can deal with AT&T's crappy service coverage if I can just use the phone." just as you say.

Brad Smith wrote:

For me, here's why I think I'm getting an iPhone...

1) I'm already on AT&T. I hate the service, but there are no other phones I'm interested in and it is a hassle to switch.

2) 3G is fairly irrelevant for most people, including myself. There are only 160 cities with 3G on AT&T's network, and Nebraska has no city with 3G.

3) I currently don't do any internet on my phone, so any internet/e-mail/etc. at any speed is better than none.

4) The joystick on my Sony Ericsson phone is broken.

This is true. I'm not doing any internet on my phone. So that would be nice to have at all.

However, I'm only paying $10/mo for the second line on my parents family share plan. So the extra $50/mo is a big leap for me.

Someone help me justify this ;)

Must. Hold. Out. Until. Version. 2.

And might I add that once I actually went to the AT&T site and started looking at the plans and stuff, I was totally put off. The first thing the site tries to do is set itself as your homepage. Now I didn't click on the little annoying-ass circa 1996 link-spam page pop-up that promised to do this for me, so I'll never know if it was my browser's home page it was trying to set or the one on the at&t site, but damn.

Apple could have thrown a dart at the phone book and found a better partner for the launch of quite possibly the most anticipated cell phone in history. I mean, ever since the iPod came out, people just couldn't shut up about an iPhone being around the corner. Sometimes I think it's a better business decision to accept a little less payola and partner with a company who at least acts like they know what useability is about.

rsimplicio wrote:

As a treo owner, who has had to type on more than one on-screen keyboard, I also have my doubts as to how useful a touch-screen keyboard will be. We're so used to having a button to push that your brain just doesn't trust the lack of tactile feel that you'll get from the glass on the iPhone.

Yeah I've got to agree with that. I'm sure the iPhone will be really popular, but I figure the on-screen keyboard will be the biggest stumbling block for the business market.

I've been reading assertions from all kinds of bloggers that business IT depts are going to be forced to support the iPhone because all their staff will be buying iPhones and demanding support. I have to question that, since those business users area all about crackberry-style rapid thumboarding, and the initial reviews I've seen indicate that thumboarding is slow and difficult on the iPhone (or any on-screen keyboard without tactile feedback).

The trouble with expressing opinions like that is that I'm immediately jumped on by iPhone enthusiasts as being unrealistic and an "iPhone doubter". Honestly, I hope it works out, I'm all for excellent mobile devices on the market. But the main reason I'm looking forward to the iPhone being released is that I'm absolutely sick of hearing about the damn thing already.

UnLogikal wrote:

Someone help me justify this

No. I like you Kyle.

stewartj wrote:

rsimplicio wrote:

As a treo owner, who has had to type on more than one on-screen keyboard, I also have my doubts as to how useful a touch-screen keyboard will be. We're so used to having a button to push that your brain just doesn't trust the lack of tactile feel that you'll get from the glass on the iPhone.

Yeah I've got to agree with that. I'm sure the iPhone will be really popular, but I figure the on-screen keyboard will be the biggest stumbling block for the business market.

I've been reading assertions from all kinds of bloggers that business IT depts are going to be forced to support the iPhone because all their staff will be buying iPhones and demanding support. I have to question that, since those business users area all about crackberry-style rapid thumboarding, and the initial reviews I've seen indicate that thumboarding is slow and difficult on the iPhone (or any on-screen keyboard without tactile feedback).

The trouble with expressing opinions like that is that I'm immediately jumped on by iPhone enthusiasts as being unrealistic and an "iPhone doubter". Honestly, I hope it works out, I'm all for excellent mobile devices on the market. But the main reason I'm looking forward to the iPhone being released is that I'm absolutely sick of hearing about the damn thing already.

Yeah I don't think it'll replace anything in the corporate arena to be quite honest with you. And the bloggers are wrong, as I've worked in corporate IT departments for almost half my life, and if there's one thing I know, it's that the hardware purchases of the employees of the company do not a standard make. Hell, they really don't count for much at most places. Most corporate CrackBerry/Treo/Smartphone implementations are financed by the company themselves, because there's one overriding factor here: Most normal people are not going to pay for a $600 phone so that they can be forever tormented by their e-mail inboxes. I am not normal. Neither are many of the people on this forum (and I mean that in the best possible way). But that doesn't mean that the CIO is going to wake up one morning this year and say "We have to support iPhones". Come now. You (the bloggers) give the corporation entirely too much credit.

rsimplicio wrote:

And might I add that once I actually went to the AT&T site and started looking at the plans and stuff, I was totally put off. The first thing the site tries to do is set itself as your homepage. Now I didn't click on the little annoying-ass circa 1996 link-spam page pop-up that promised to do this for me, so I'll never know if it was my browser's home page it was trying to set or the one on the at&t site, but damn.

Apple could have thrown a dart at the phone book and found a better partner for the launch of quite possibly the most anticipated cell phone in history. I mean, ever since the iPod came out, people just couldn't shut up about an iPhone being around the corner. Sometimes I think it's a better business decision to accept a little less payola and partner with a company who at least acts like they know what useability is about.

The vibe from Apple is that none of the other phone companies were willing to give up as much control as AT&T were. Dunno how much of that is spin, though.

The essential question here, as everywhere, is, "Is human happiness being maximized?" And speaking strictly for myself, I must say no. I do not even know what an iPhone is, and perhaps partially due to my unhappiness with the cell phone to which I was obliged to upgrade this year, which has many amazing features at the cost of an inability to accept and make phone calls as well as the unit it replaced, plus a sooper stealth ringer that I can't hear over any ambient noise louder than my own heartbeat, I remain skeptical to the point of deep cynicism about feature rich mobile phone-based devices, especially ones that cost over half a grand USD. I really can't imagine what it might be that is missing from my life that the iPhone, whatever it is, will be able to fulfill. If it doesn't moderate the weather or advance criminal indictments against Dick Cheney, what possible use could it be? That's my point of view, at least. I like my phone to be a phone, and I use my PCs for e-mail and the interwebs. If that is wrong, sir, I don't want to be right.

Last edited by redneck (2007-06-27 02:39:20)

redneck wrote:

I like my phone to be a phone

You should come to Japan and get a TU-KA.

Ray wrote:

Now that's a phone madams.

I miss my Timeport. Easy to use, built like a hammer, long battery life, small, open face design, light weight... brilliant. It did one thing and one thing well. It made phone calls over a cellular network.

Ahhhh....nostalgia

I miss the old 6100 series I had back in '98. Decent interface, nice phone. Not bad for a company that used to make boots.

rsimplicio wrote:

And speaking of phones I miss, this was my all time favorite cell phone:

Nokia 8260
!http://www.apolloconcepts.com/Assets%20for%20whole%20site/Nokia8260blue.jpg!

That was a fantastic phone. My all time favourite too.

Not sure about the exact model number, but that Nokia looks like my first cellphone.

My current phone (au Infobar) is rather ancient but I just love the form factor. I have the red one.

madams wrote:

My current phone (au Infobar) is rather ancient but I just love the form factor. I have the red one.

Argh! My Eyes! My Eyes!

Have an issue with colour combinations, do we? :)

I've been watching the iPhone keyboard video, and I don't think the keyboard would end up being as bad as I thought once you got used to it. http://tinyurl.com/yr7ctu

That being said, my Pearl does do everything I need to do. It would be nice to browse regular websites with fewer limitations though, and the way the iPhone handles photos and music would make them much more useful to me on an iPhone than on my Pearl.

Step away from the computer! And good lord man, avoid all Apple stores at all cost!

I'm getting one. Here's my rationale:

1) Finally have a modern phone that works with my Mac without me having to tweak a bunch of different things.
2) Just like with the iPod, an entire industry will develop around the iPhone with custom websites, accessories, etc. For example: 37 Signals: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/475- … experience
3) As ridiculous as this sounds, cable management. I have iPod docks around my house, chargers in both of my cars, and a iPod cable in my bag at all times. One less thing to carry around. And given that everybody and their grandma has an iPod these days, a charger will always be easy to find.
4) Real mail and safari. I'm sure a bunch of you will jump all over me on this one, but I've owned a Nokia N80 and a SonyEricsson W800i. The N80 uses a mobile browser built off of WebKit and on the W800i I used Opera Mini. They both are pretty painful to use. The mail clients on both were supposedly advanced, but choked on the simplest of HTML emails that many less savvy users send me. There have been complaints about EDGE, but I've done all this with GPRS on T-Mobile, and I don't mind, so I'm sure it's a step up.
5) Real headphone jack. I will never understand other manufacturer's insistence on making me use a dongle to use my headphones.
6) The plans are actually fairly decent. Over the last three months I've averaged 160 texts/month, and our minute usage is mostly nights, weekends, and mobile to mobile, so it's perfect. Rollover will be nice for those times we travel.
6) Did I mention that it will just work with my Mac.

Things I will miss from my current phone

1) Tethering my laptop to the Internet. Granted I am using a workaround to let me do this with my $6/month plan from T-Mobile, but it is nice. Of course with real mail and safari, I may not miss it.
2) Blind dialing. Being able to hold down "4" and call home is pretty sweet. It looks like initiating a call on the iPhone is a multi-click affair.
3) User applications. None of this Web 2.0 crap. I want real 3rd Party applications. Of course, I don't use any of the ones on my existing phone, but I like the idea of having them there.
4) Not being on contract. It's amazing how T-Mobile bends over backwards for me because I am not on contract. I love it.
5) Auto-focus and camera flash. The well lit sample pics from the Pogue article look incredible, but not so much in the dark. I have a camera on me at all times, but it's nice when you want to snap a pic and send it to somebody.
6) RSS reader. It's pretty damn convenient. I'm sure some good web based iPhone RSS readers will show up. Now if Newsgator gets one that syncs with
NetNewsWire, I'm in heaven.

Things that make me say WTF about the iPhone:

1) Where is iChat? Seriously. That seems like a no-brainer. I'm sure it has something to do with AT&T wanting to charge text messaging rates for instant messaging rather than letting us sit on the data plan. In any case, they need to get that going stat. If they had iChat, I wouldn't miss tethering.
2) Some sort of quick dialing. I've never used voice dialing on my existing phone, but it would work. Really they should make use of that huge display. Gestures would be awesome for quick dialing from the home screen.
3) GPS, 3G, blah blah blah. I can do without 3G for the excellent battery life. It's not available in my area anyway. Instead of GPS, it'd be nice if it could at least pull some sort of location from the cell towers so I don't have to tell Google Maps where I am.

Wow, that came out in like five minutes. The resizable textareas in Safari 3 are awesome, btw!

anoop, you could try using AIM forwarding. That's what I use on my Pearl and it works great (even though I actually have AIM on my Pearl).

Ray wrote:

Unless you're driving a car that has zero payments left on it and isn't more than four years old, have REAL disposable cash in a bank account and have zero consumer debt (no credit card payments etc) then leave purchasing an iPhone to the "first in line/rich kid on the block with the latest toy/gotta have one just because" crowd who have the means to spend $600.00 USD.

It's brand spanking new, there will be a newer version in the near future and the price will drop. There's a price to be paid for early user privileges (bragging rights) and it ain't cheap.

Every time someone disses the iPhone, God kills a kitten.

Think of the kittens.

redneck wrote:

Every time someone disses the iPhone, God kills a kitten.

Think of the kittens.

I thought it was: Every time someone disses the iPhone, John Gruber has a kitten. Think of the mess!