The IPhone is totally awesome oh my gawd thread

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 1:35 pm

wco81 wrote:Been a couple of stories about the impending release of a 3G model.

One analyst predicted this coming quarter.

Would be pretty hard for them to hide though, because new phones often show up on a public FCC site, while undergoing certification.

AT&T 3G network is suppose to be poor but if they can keep the same unlimited pricing structure, the product will be better.

There are a lot of anecdotes about people with iPhones looking up something in the middle of a discussion to back their point, annoying others.

iPhones has certainly seemed to increase Internet use on the go.

Can you post a link to these stories? Other than some bloggers wishing for one, I can't seem to find anything. It's hard to imagine Apple pushing out a G3 iPhone with a 3 hour battery life(ala Blackjack). It's also hard to imagine them making the phone bulky-ier to support a bigger battery.

Jobs seems to have visions of the world being covered in "free wifi" which would render G3 useless. Guess we'll see...

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:01 pm

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=home

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/art ... RTUNE5.htm

Yeah battery life may take a hit but 3G is seen as needed just to enter some Asian markets including Japan and to stimulate sales even in the US and Europe.

I'm really skeptical about free Wifi. You see a lot of Wifi networks but few are open.

Maybe things will change a bit with WiMax.

The cell carriers are already planning 4G using LTE, which is the next progression of GSM/HSDPA. Even Verizon is going to switch to LTE instead of the evolution of CDMA. Sprint is already working on WiMax.

iPhone is a popular mobile Internet device. Now they have to find a pricing model for high-speed mobile data which will spur adoption. It's kind of at the same point as it was in the '90s, before flat-pricing from ISPs came about.

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:36 pm

Interesting. Ask anyone with a Blackjack about 3g & battery life. You almost need to carry a power chord around in your pocket just in-case...

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:00 pm

Well some current owners may not think it's worth the upgrade, unless they can get the battery life up.

Also, maybe they will lower the prices on the current model to make it affordable to more people.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:48 pm

http://www.mobilemessaging2.com/2008/04 ... a-3g-sign/

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08 ... aunch.html

Two contrasting takes on the same piece of news, there.

As someone who works in customer retentions for a network that has nothing to do with the iPhone, I've never found it to be any kind of threat at £269 on contract; UK networks subsidise contract handsets to such an extent that on a £35 per month plan, the lowest available iPhone plan with O2, you'd expect to get pretty much any phone you wanted free of charge and have confidence that it'd be a much better mobile Internet solution than an iPhone is here. At £169 I can see it being more of a worry, but until they launch a 3G variant it'll continue to be very easy to dissuade people from joining O2 and buying one.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 9:14 pm

What is the iPhone lacking as a mobile Internet solution, mainly 3G?

One of the Euro carriers claimed that iPhone already accounted for most of the mobile data usage, only a few months after intro?

But the contracts didn't have unlimited mobile data like the AT
&T plans in the US do.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:00 pm

wco81 wrote:What is the iPhone lacking as a mobile Internet solution, mainly 3G?

One of the Euro carriers claimed that iPhone already accounted for most of the mobile data usage, only a few months after intro?

Mainly 3G, yes, and it's easy to make that into something dramatic regardless of whether or not it is. Vodafone, as an example, have HSDPA running up to 7.2 Mb/s (depending on where you are - that's not nationwide as yet), and it's incredibly easy to either impress or simply confuse someone with a few figures and a quick chat about why that's better, or even why it's "better", regardless of whether it'll make any difference to the customer. 'Quicker', 'faster', 'better', 'higher', all followed by 'than the iPhone', go an awfully long way if you're pitching another device to someone who 'wants the Internet on the phone' rather than 'wanting an iPhone because of its range of features'; I know O2 are claiming high initial sales on the handset, but I know where our lost customers go too, and the iPhone isn't luring too many away from competing networks.

On your second point, I've got nothing to back this up but I wonder whether it's a demographic thing - that those buying an iPhone do so with data usage as a prime consideration (if you're really keen on the idea, the data available on iPhone tariffs can be more than enough to override the lack of 3G), and stop using their P-range Sony Ericsson, Nokia Communicator, Palm or whatever for that purpose.

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:07 pm

free wifi story:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/0 ... one-users/

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:26 pm

There are rumors AT&T will subsidize the 3G iPhone by $200. But nobody knows what they will charge for 3G data.

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Wed May 21, 2008 1:26 am

Can you guys recommend the best tool to use to transfer photos from the iphone onto a PC?

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed May 21, 2008 1:32 am

Isn't it in the manual or something?

You have to use iTunes for the music, video and things like ring tones and apps.

But if you just got the iPhone, return it and wait for the new model expected next month.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Mon May 26, 2008 12:19 am

Does anyone know if they are ever going to implement picture messaging? Having had to use the web site to retrieve some picture messages this past week and 50% of them not working I'm wondering why they though excluding picture messaging was a good idea.

Sport73 · Post by **Sport73** » Mon May 26, 2008 12:31 am

Danimal wrote:Does anyone know if they are ever going to implement picture messaging? Having had to use the web site to retrieve some picture messages this past week and 50% of them not working I'm wondering why they though excluding picture messaging was a good idea.

My guess would be yes and no.

I think Apple/AT&T must have had a reason to not support MMS with the iPhone, and I suspect it's because Apple believes that a true phone-based chat client will serve the function better than SMS or MMS. So, I expect we'll see iChat Mobile announced at WWDC, and it will be the 'client' allowing people with ordinary phones etc. to send you multi-media messages, but it will use a different form of send/receive than traditional SMS, instead woven in to iChat.

The bottom line is that I think you'll get the functionality without paying $$$ to AT&T for more SMS messages.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Mon May 26, 2008 2:34 pm

Apple may have to accommodate or do some give and take with the carriers, if they want exclusive deals.

But then again, they may be giving up exclusive deals, at least if you infer from various announcements by different carriers which stated plans to carry the iPhone later this year (the expected 3G model). Many of these carriers have overlapping countries, which suggest that some countries will have iPhone available from more than one carrier.

AOL showed a demo version of AIM for iPhone and there have been rumors of iChat as well. Would the carriers continue to provide relatively low prices for 3G data, especially with chat programs enabled which could eat into their SMS revenues?

The other thing is, all the clamor for 3G in Europe and if you look at prepaidgsm.net, 3G data isn't cheap and there's no flat, unlimited pricing.

RallyMonkey · Post by **RallyMonkey** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:47 pm

Okay, ill ask. Any of you iPhone owners debating a switch to the 3G version this week (assuming the rumors of release are true)? I'm on the fence, but the supposed photos of it look real nice.

macsomjrr · Post by **macsomjrr** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:56 pm

RallyMonkey wrote:Okay, ill ask. Any of you iPhone owners debating a switch to the 3G version this week (assuming the rumors of release are true)? I'm on the fence, but the supposed photos of it look real nice.

It all depends on exactly what gets unveiled tomorrow by Jobs. If its a 3G phone, capable of video chatting/conferencing, with 32+ GB then I'll probably pick it up. The battery life issue is the one thing I'll be watching closely as I've heard the addition of a 3G antennae drains it like crazy. Supposedly you can turn it off but I don't want to be continuously fumbling through menus in order to do that.

I'm REALLY excited about the native apps:) I'll be purchasing and DL'ing tons of those if they update the iTunes store after the keynote.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 9:23 pm

No 3G where I'm at so I'll stick with my current phone. I can't wait for the App Store to be unleashed later this month with the 2.0 update.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:48 pm

RallyMonkey wrote:Okay, ill ask. Any of you iPhone owners debating a switch to the 3G version this week (assuming the rumors of release are true)? I'm on the fence, but the supposed photos of it look real nice.

Not really and truth be told if they don't update and allows Multimedia messaging soon I am going to dump my phone altogether and go with something else.

I realize it's not a big deal for everyone, but MMS does serve a purpose to some people. It's not just 14 year old kids sending picture to each other.

macsomjrr · Post by **macsomjrr** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 12:03 am

Danimal wrote: I realize it's not a big deal for everyone, but MMS does serve a purpose to some people. It's not just 14 year old kids sending picture to each other.

Crazy talk I say! No but seriously Danimal what about MMS do you like so much that it would make you give up your iPhone?

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 3:00 pm

$199 for the 8G 3G starting July 11th.

Not a single word about MMS. Basically the key points were.

1. 3G
2. Cheaper
3. Ap Store so you can buy apps for the phone.
4. GPS

Let me say great price, nice about the GPS but for God's sakes do something about picture messaging if one of my clients sends me a picture message now I need to go to some AT&T website an enter a code to see a reduce picture. The best part is the site doesn't even work from Safari in the iPhone.

f***ers!

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 3:04 pm

macsomjrr wrote:
Danimal wrote: I realize it's not a big deal for everyone, but MMS does serve a purpose to some people. It's not just 14 year old kids sending picture to each other.
Crazy talk I say! No but seriously Danimal what about MMS do you like so much that it would make you give up your iPhone?

I don't want to get into a big long explanation but I need it for work. I need to be able to send and receive picture messages without using email. Right now if I get a picture message I need to find a computer, go to a website and enter a code. Assuming it works (it's 50/50) the image that gets displayed is a scaled down thumbnail of what was sent.

This is the worlds best phone? No flash on the camera, can't record video, can't send & receive picture / video messaging.

I'll bet my ass they develop and app to do this and it cost $50.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 5:52 pm

http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/09/technol ... tm?cnn=yes

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 6:19 pm

Danimal wrote:
macsomjrr wrote:
Danimal wrote: I realize it's not a big deal for everyone, but MMS does serve a purpose to some people. It's not just 14 year old kids sending picture to each other.
Crazy talk I say! No but seriously Danimal what about MMS do you like so much that it would make you give up your iPhone?
I don't want to get into a big long explanation but I need it for work. I need to be able to send and receive picture messages without using email. Right now if I get a picture message I need to find a computer, go to a website and enter a code. Assuming it works (it's 50/50) the image that gets displayed is a scaled down thumbnail of what was sent.

This is the worlds best phone? No flash on the camera, can't record video, can't send & receive picture / video messaging.

I'll bet my ass they develop and app to do this and it cost $50.

You are in the minority of people that need this feature. It's like if I need a truck for work but my a Prius and then complain that the prius doesn't have the features I need for work.

And if it's work, the should provide a work phone that does this. Call me crazy, but if my work required specialized features or even I had to use my cell a ton for it, I would require that they buy me a phone or compensate me for having to get a phone that complies to their requests.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 6:33 pm

Even if I am in the minority (and I highly doubt that is the case), explain to me why it doesn't have it? What is one good reason why they can't include it?

Besides don't you think with a cheaper phone they are going after a wider audience. Wouldn't that audience include college kids and older teens. Do you think many of them will buy and iPhone if they can't send picture messages? It doesn't even make sense from a marketing stand point.

Finally to respond to your remark that I bought the wrong phone, I didn't buy the iPhone my work did. They made the decision to go this route for the company, not I. I'm not sure how things happen where you work, but here they aren't going to go back on something like this when they have wrapped so much money into it.

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 6:39 pm

My wife's company just received a request form to exchange your blackberry for an iPhone in July. Interesting (we're talking 1000's of blackberries that could be replaced).