The IPhone is totally awesome oh my gawd thread

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:28 pm

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/01/10

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:39 pm

DivotMaker wrote:Hmmm, got no issues with the screen on mine...the new 8525 is supposed to support a higher resolution though...

That is the one he's got. I misread and mistyped previously. The screen just isn't very clear and bright. At least not compared to my Q and all of the new Blackberry screens I've seen recently. Hey, if you dig it, it's all good. That is one powerful little phone though...I LOVE that about it.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:52 pm

I love it!

I've had a Blackberry for about a year now (company provided) and I love it. Nothing like being sick in bed, but being able to quickly type emails. I also use it for traffic reports in the morning as well as for google maps and internet access to sports scores when I'm not at home. All that and it's a phone to, heck my old cell phone never gets used anymore.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:03 pm

wco81 wrote:
I'm guessing you don't pay for international roaming out of your own pocket.

Or you get reimbursed.

There's a huge market for prepaid SIMs in Europe and Asia, just for travelers.

I pay $6.99/month for Intl. roaming and $.49/minute for each call. I do expense my calls as we have a corporate contract with Cingular. If I were having to pay out of my own pocket, I am sure I would look at other alternatives....

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:05 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:
DivotMaker wrote:Hmmm, got no issues with the screen on mine...the new 8525 is supposed to support a higher resolution though...
That is the one he's got. I misread and mistyped previously. The screen just isn't very clear and bright. At least not compared to my Q and all of the new Blackberry screens I've seen recently. Hey, if you dig it, it's all good. That is one powerful little phone though...I LOVE that about it.

If I understand you correctly, he has the 8525? If so and the screen is blurry, that does not match what I am seeing with the 8125. If this is the case, then Cingular and the manufacturer really messed up....

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:21 pm

Yeah, he's got the 8525...this one:

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=954

And even he was disappointed when he saw my Q compared to it. Sure, the screen is bigger (and touch sensitive) on his 8525...but the clarity and brightness left a lot to be disired. I guess it just got worse when the form factor shrunk.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:46 pm

That is a shame that the display is so poor. That helps me make my decision not to upgrade.

Sudz · Post by **Sudz** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:49 pm

how long before they discontinue it and announce a 20Gig model?

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:22 pm

Funny column about which companies fear the iPhone:

http://mytech.talk.newsweek.com/default.asp?item=424985

Take care,
PK

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:24 pm

Sudz wrote:how long before they discontinue it and announce a 20Gig model?

Probably a year or two, the way NAND prices are going down.

But the people who buy the first one are locked into it for 2 years.

If you think about it, Apple designed this in such a way that you'll want to buy a regular iPod as well as this thing. I think 8 GB is fine, I mostly use my Nano now and don't use my 5G because it's so much easier to carry around.

But the iPhone is bigger than the full-size iPods so you can't use it at the gym (do you want to perspire and subject the $600 thing to heavy shaking?).

On the other hand, a Nano and a good phone would be cheaper combined and smaller in volume combined. Which are you more likely to lose though, two smaller devices or one big device? Which is easier to carry around, two smaller devices or one big device?

Sport73 · Post by **Sport73** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 4:17 pm

pk500 wrote:I would be interested in Apple TV if it wasn't tied to iTunes. F*cking DRM strikes again.

Then again, someone probably will come up with some homebrew software that will allow Apple TV streaming of movies and programming found through the "alternative" methods that I love so.

But then again, I just bought a "Swiss Army Knife" Philips DVD player for $40 from Circuit City that will play ANY kind of disc medium. I can "obtain" programming, burn it to a damn CD and play it on my TV. I do that with all sorts of motorsport from Eurosport that's not shown in the U.S.

So I guess Apple TV is superfluous for me. Neat concept, though. But limiting because it's mated to iTunes. Can't blame Apple, though.

Take care,
PK

You can RIP commercial DVD's through a thousand free utilities (like Handbrake for the Mac) into mpeg-4 or h.264 and stream/store them to Apple TV. You can stream/store unprotected mp3, AAC, AAIF and WAV as well as protected music.

Video formats supported: H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): 640 by 480, 30 fps, LC version of Baseline Profile; 320 by 240, 30 fps, Baseline profile up to Level 1.3; 1280 by 720, 24 fps, Progressive Main Profile. MPEG-4: 640 by 480, 30 fps, Simple Profile

Audio
Audio formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps); protected AAC (from iTunes Store); MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps); MP3 VBR; Apple Lossless; AIFF; WAV

Photos
Photo formats supported: JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PNG

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 4:19 pm

Thanks. That's fine and dandy, but it takes me about 10 minutes to burn a movie or show to a CD-RW while I'm already here working, and it's just a smidge cheaper.

Take care,
PK

WillHunting · Post by **WillHunting** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 4:55 pm

I built a HTPC for the sole purpose of consolidating my entertainment and allow endless possibility. It is alittle bit of work and certainly cost more than a $50 DVD player, but it makes life so much easier in every which way:

-Replaces existing DVD/CD player
-Hooks up to my receiver, and TV
-Up converts all DVD to TV's native resolution
-Can record TV shows with TV Tuners (which I have not setup to do yet)
-Stores all my music (rip all CDs into FLACs, and download MP3s)
-Plays Emulators, PC games on TV
-Surf Internet on TV

It basically serve as a server and distributes all music/TV/movies around the house (I can watch TV shows in upstair bedroom's PC). I just love the convenience, I download my favorite shows from BT and just click to play. My wife initially thought it was superflouous to spend $1500 for this computer but now she cannot live without it. We watched Dexter, Rome, How I met Your Mother, etc because it is so easy...

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:20 am

This could get ugly for Apple:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/ ... 64895.html

RallyMonkey · Post by **RallyMonkey** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:15 am

Some of you may have seen this, but holy mother does this thing look sweet in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgW7or1TuFk

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 12:55 pm

Amazing how you an stretch a photo with that device. I just hope their always suspicious battery can handle all the features that the iphone offers.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 5:17 pm

I heard it only has like 5 GB of memory...is that true? I would like to see at least 30 GB...like the iPod or Zune. Something like that could bring me over to the dark side

I'm already with Cingular.

Sudz · Post by **Sudz** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 5:20 pm

Diablo25 wrote:I heard it only has like 5 GB of memory...is that true? I would like to see at least 30 GB...like the iPod or Zune. Something like that could bring me over to the dark side I'm already with Cingular.

like the ipod...they will release a new one every 3 weeks and right after u buy the latest one.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 5:24 pm

4GB and 8 GB.

Of course they will upgrade it every year. It's done in the phone business and the MP3 player business.

One obvious thing will be to upgrade for 3G networks as well as add more memory.

Only thing is the people who buy the first versions will be locked into a 2-year contract.

The other thing is, eventually, you figure they will have to come out with CDMA versions because Verizon and Sprint are 45% of the US market. However, Sprint is rolling out their 4G network using WiMax, starting with a couple of cities this year and then a nationwide rollout next year.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 11:34 am

I'm interested in this device from the makers of Slingbox:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070108-8569.html

Sends any video from PC to any TV in the house or lets you send the signal from one TV to another in the house, with one important bonus -- NO DRM OR CODEC ISSUES!

This device seems to avoid all of the proprietary issues of Windows Media Center and iTV. Very cool.

Take care,
PK

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 11:55 am

The SlingCatcher streams codecs used on videos found on file-sharing networks.

But I would be surprised if it streamed any DRM content, such as iTunes videos or downloads from other legal services or files on DVRs.

There will no doubt be hacks to try to remove the DRM.

On the flip side, there are probably ways to stream Xvid and other codecs from an MCE and there probably will be for AppleTV. If nothing else, through time-consuming transcoding.

I've transcoded some Xvids to MPEG2, burned to DVD. I've also hooked up my laptop to my TV and played the Xvid file directly on VLC.

These computer-to-TV boxes need to support all video content (those with and without DRM) seemlessly out of the box. But something like AppleTV will NEVER support pirated content because Apple has to court the studios. Meanwhile, Sling will never get support from the studios if it puts out products which make it easy for people to watch torrents.

So there will never be a one-stop solution.

Anyways, people will continue to buy and rent discs, rather than download (both legally and illegally). There are reports that AACS, the copy-protection system for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, was cracked. So maybe we'll see some torrents from these discs. But if they transcode it down from say 30 GB to under a GB, what's the point? You lose all the quality so you might as well download the DVD rip instead.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:31 pm

wco81 wrote:The SlingCatcher streams codecs used on videos found on file-sharing networks.

And that's all I need because that's where all of my PC video comes from. So it's a perfect device for me, with no DRM or codec shackles or hassles.

Take care,
PK

jLp vAkEr0 · Post by **jLp vAkEr0** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 11:53 am

Steve Jobs on MadTV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p01RjigiYF0

EZSnappin · Post by **EZSnappin** » Thu May 31, 2007 6:16 pm

EZSnappin wrote:I'm a back in the paleolithic with PK - no cell phone, never owned a pager, don't even have cable. It's nice not being tethered by tech all the time.

Well, I'm biting the bullet - got a cellphone this week, and the cable guy comes next week.

I'm in the sticks and I have a truly local phone company (they own lines in like 5 towns) and their service is getting worse and rates going up, so cells and cable internet it is. Still too cheap to get anything but the bare-bones TV options - 150 channels of mostly crap isn't very enticing.

Anyone use Cingular? Only option for service in my neck of the woods. Signal seems decent so far, and the sound quality is actually better than my land line.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Thu May 31, 2007 7:46 pm

Well if you just signed on to Cingular (now AT&T), then you may be able to swap for an iPhone later in June.

Digital Sportspage

The IPhone is totally awesome oh my gawd thread

Cheap bugger spends a dime