Apple iphone!

rogue-entity

Sweet phone, not coming out in Europe till Q4, just like the N73 was out in Q4 2006. This means it will probably not hit here until Christmas or Jan '08. If the phone doesnt have 3G support when it comes out here, it wont be on 3. I will get one only if the phone has 3G support and launchs on 3, or it has 3G support and launches on a network that can give me the same or better rates than I get on 3.

All network operators subsidise the cost of phones. Contract customers get better subsidisations then PAYG. Even with the lack of proper currancy conversion, extortionate VAT and other rip-off elements, the iPhone will still be cheaper here then it would be on Cingular with PAYG.

Gillo

rogue-entity wrote:

Sweet phone, not coming out in Europe till Q4, just like the N73 was out in Q4 2006. This means it will probably not hit here until Christmas or Jan '08. If the phone doesnt have 3G support when it comes out here, it wont be on 3. I will get one only if the phone has 3G support and launchs on 3, or it has 3G support and launches on a network that can give me the same or better rates than I get on 3.

It's not 3G not, it's very unlikely to be 3G by the end of the year.

irlrobins

Surprised no one's raised this point yet.

How do they get away with calling it the iphone? Linksys have trademarked "iPhone" since 2000.

Solair

Most European networks skipped EDGE and went straight to 3GSM (3G) which would mean that that phone wouldn't work properly for data in most European countries, including Ireland and the UK.

While there are a few networks out there that have EDGE, they're few and far between (and mostly in Eastern Europe)

Meteor toyed with the idea of EDGE for a while then never rolled it out, seems they're probabally going to skip it too and roll out 3G now that they've the Smart 3G licence in the bag.

The situation in the US is quite different, 3GSM rollout is very poor, cingular's 3G rollout is still largely in the planning phase, their first 3G coverage only came on air in late 2005 and it's extremely limited service.

However, Cingular's network has very widespread deployment of EDGE.

There's also problems with the licencing of 3G in the US due to spectrum allocation issues. They're still only in the very early stages.

Most GSM operators in North America as well as others around the world have accepted EDGE as a temporary 3G solution. AT&T Wireless launched EDGE nationwide in 2003, Cingular launched EDGE in most markets and T-Mobile USA has launched EDGE nationwide as of October 2005. Rogers Wireless launched nation-wide EDGE service in late 2003 for the Canadian market. Bitė Lietuva (Lithuania) was one of the first operators in Europe to launch EDGE in December 2003. TIM (Italy) launched EDGE in 2004. The benefit of EDGE is that it leverages existing GSM spectrums and is compatible with existing GSM handsets. It is also much easier, quicker, and considerably cheaper for wireless carriers to "bolt-on" EDGE functionality by upgrading their existing GSM transmission hardware to support EDGE than having to install almost all brand-new equipment to deliver UMTS. EDGE provides a short-term upgrade path for GSM operators and directly competes with CDMA2000.


That would probabally explain why they're not launching in Europe until Q4 2007. I suspect the phone that's launched here will be a different spec. i.e more than likely it'll be quadband 3GSM supporting GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3GSM.

You can squeeze quite a bit of of EDGE, but 3G seems to be the way to go.

chrislad

icemanjimbo04 wrote:

Nokia N80, Has all these features with only 2gb memory card available.
Ok its not all that slim but its not as long as this phone looks.

Its looks like it was made for me aul man, with big huge icons to navigate the menu, and a full keyboard would take ages to txt.

Im sure you could put movies on it and it would be great, but with a 2mp camera pics taken from this phone would look crap on such a clear screen.

Just doesnt do it for me.
Just gona wait for me Nokia N95 I think.

It has some of the features. Not all. Nice try

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Owen

icemanjimbo04 wrote:

Its looks like it was made for me aul man, with big huge icons to navigate the menu

Do you not realise, the reason they're large, is because it's touchscreen? People do have big fingers you know.

icemanjimbo04 wrote:

and a full keyboard would take ages to txt.

:rolleyes: Yes, because you know better than Nokia (e61), and Blackberry, and Palm (Treo). I'm one of the fastest T9 texters I know, but it's faster again to use a mini keyboard.

icemanjimbo04 wrote:

Im sure you could put movies on it and it would be great, but with a 2mp camera pics taken from this phone would look crap on such a clear screen.

I'm delighted you can say something as wrong as this, it means you're obviously not able to grasp the basic tech. 2 MP = 1600x1200 resolution, the screen on the iPhone is 480x320 (Landscape rotation), so it will be a razor sharp, crisp image, 3.75 times better than the display can show.

Read my post re the n93, Nokia has come up with some really shoddy stuff when it comes to the nSeries. I still love the form factor of my n93, but without a Firmware upgrade (Which we're all waiting 4 months for, and there's no sign of, nor is there a Firmware upgrade for the n90 1.5 years down the road), the phone is only operating at about 70% of what it could do. The n95 will be the same, mark my words.

Urban Weigl

Before Apple actually announced the iPhone, I believed Apple would come out with an iPod with phone features. In other words, nothing that would have interested me.

This, however, looks sweet. In fact, it looks better than any other phone on the market, with one caveat: no UMTS/HSDPA support. Once that gets added I'll buy an iPhone. For now, I'll stick with Sony Ericsson.

Again, I have to admit that I thought that since Apple isn't Nokia or Sony Ericsson, in other words they haven't been in the mobile phone business for years and years, they couldn't possibly come out with a good phone. It looks like I was proven wrong, and they didn't just come out with a good mobile phone, they reinvented it and came out with something revolutionary.

mayhem#

As usual Apple has managed to make it look very slick.
However functionality is not that revolutionary at all.
I have a 2 year old Qtek 2020i that does most of that already...

E.

Tom Dunne

mayhem# wrote:

As usual Apple has managed to make it look very slick.
However functionality is not that revolutionary at all.
I have a 2 year old Qtek 2020i that does most of that already...

Agreed. My O2 Atom does all that, even down to the touch screen, but doesn't look half as slick as the iPhone. Don't get me started on the user interface.

That's what you are paying the premium for - Apple's style and finesse.

Urban Weigl

I did not mean revolutionary in terms of features like email, but rather how the user interface works. Heck, my old Palm can also do "most" of the things the iPhone can. In some senses, it's simple things: on my Palm, to switch from vertical to horizontal view, I have to hit a little button with the stylus. On the iPhone, it knows automatically by how I'm holding it.

I guess a good analogy would be the Wii remote. Yes, it doesn't really do anything new (it still only lets you control games), but it's the way that "interface" works that is revolutionary.

Again, I will not buy an iPhone when it comes out. But once they add 3G, I will probably get one -- if it does exactly what I need. In the meantime, I'm thinking about getting a Sony Ericsson W950i.

Tom Dunne

Urban Weigl wrote:

I guess a good analogy would be the Wii remote. Yes, it doesn't really do anything new (it still only lets you control games), but it's the way that "interface" works that is revolutionary.

Great analogy.

It's true, Apple have taken what's there already and packaged it into something that has that all important wow factor, yet still does what it says on the tin.

Even looking at the demos, a simple think like scrolling through a list of names in the address book seems so simple, so intuitive (click,hold and move down). Compare that to my WM5 based device (click on the scroll bar, hold and move down). Simple, but to a non-techy user, it would probably make more sense.

Apple have de-computerised the computer.

I think some of us are suffering from gadget-envy.

mayhem#

Elessar wrote:

Nice phone, but it wont be as successful as everyone points out. It NEEDS better battery life and the 5/16 hours quoted by Apple are optimistic. Most phones now can go for a week.

Absolutely!
This is the problem faced by all mobile devices.
You can cram as much functionality into a small form-factor device as you want nowadays but 5 hours battery life is just not good enough.
I am fairly sure that if you watch a movie on this and make a few calls, while having wifi, bluetooth and all other bells & whistles switched on, that the battery will last even less.
Also take into consideration that battery life will decrease with age...

E.

mayhem#

Another issue is that touchscreen functionality is nice but also hard to use (on a small screen) for someone like nyself with relatively big fingers...

I presume that to do things such as copy&paste you will still need a stylus.

E.

damo86

we will all have to wait until its in someones hands to make a decision, you never know apple might improve things before its released in june(battery life?).

would this be the fastest thread ever made on boards.ie, 4 pages since last night..not bad!!!!

ill be in america aound july so might pick one when over there..ill post a review!!

Urban Weigl

Apple says it has 5 hours of talk time, not battery life. And it will play music continuously for 16 hours. That's in the ballpark, and certainly no worse (or better) than the competition. As far as making the claim of this being optimistic, without the product actually being available, it makes you look foolish to say so. For all we know, it could be pessimistic and based on a poor GSM signal. For example, the battery life quoted for the iPod shuffle was pessimistic: it actually worked several hours longer than Apple said it would.

We simply won't know until it's available and someone reviews it. Claiming to know otherwise is foolish.

quintron

I reiterate.. jobs said they were planning 3G support et al in the near future.. so relax everyone.. this proto phone, still in early development, (just like the ipod was once) will ultimately support the network features most prominent in a geographic region... They are not stupid for chrissake.

Only thing I see problematic are data costs (network dependent) battery life (apple dependent) and end user cost (apple+network+tax dependent).

jester77

hmm, a little disapointed by it. It doesn't do anything my O2 Neo can't do and that phone has already a newer model with build in GPS plus it will have an even newer version by the time the Apple makes it out here that will support the new SD card format which currently have 32 gig cards! It does have a nice interface but it lacks exchange support, battery is built in, no 3G, no expandable memory. A little limited but not bad for a first attempt! I'm sure they will sort those probs out in version 2.

tom dunne wrote:

Agreed. My O2 Atom does all that, even down to the touch screen, but doesn't look half as slick as the iPhone. Don't get me started on the user interface.

Have a look at Wisbar Advance and Wisbar Desktop. Excellent app for personalising your desktop! Ironically mine is an Apple OSX Desktop with widgets etc.

mayhem#

Urban Weigl wrote:

We simply won't know until it's available and someone reviews it. Claiming to know otherwise is foolish.

I dunno, wouldn't going by the specs on Apple's website be a good point to start?

E.

cormie

Weird, I think I had a dream last night that a number pad rose up out of the screen of this to allow non-touchscreen, but traditional push button texting:o

jrey1981

Very similar to Nokia's new N800...

Elessar

Urban Weigl wrote:

As far as making the claim of this being optimistic, without the product actually being available, it makes you look foolish to say so.

Eh, no. Apple's claims to battery life are always optimistic regardless. Take the iBook G4 for example, 6 hours was quoted. The only way you could get 6 hours was with the display on minimal brightness and with wifi and buetooth off; real daytime use gets max 4 hours. I guarantee the iPhone will be no different. So don't make yourself look like a fool.

icemanjimbo04

ned78 wrote:

Do you not realise, the reason they're large, is because it's touchscreen? People do have big fingers you know.

I Understand that but a small pannel of buttons below the screen makes more sence than to have huge icons taking up all the space on the screen.

ned78 wrote:

I'm one of the fastest T9 texters I know, but it's faster again to use a mini keyboard.

congratulations. But a full keyboard is not faster than T9.

ned78 wrote:

Read my post re the n93, Nokia has come up with some really shoddy stuff when it comes to the nSeries. I still love the form factor of my n93, but without a Firmware upgrade (Which we're all waiting 4 months for, and there's no sign of, nor is there a Firmware upgrade for the n90 1.5 years down the road), the phone is only operating at about 70% of what it could do. The n95 will be the same, mark my words.

I didnt mention the N93 or N90.
I was comparing the N80 to this phone, N93 + N90 only have small displays
(240 x 320 pixels, 36 x 48 mm) compared to the n80, and there have been 3 firmware updates on the N80 since March so you just bought the wrong phone .
So dont see how the N95 will be any different.

Urban Weigl

Elessar wrote:

Eh, no. Apple's claims to battery life are always optimistic regardless. Take the iBook G4 for example, 6 hours was quoted. The only way you could get 6 hours was with the display on minimal brightness and with wifi and buetooth off; real daytime use gets max 4 hours. I guarantee the iPhone will be no different. So don't make yourself look like a fool.

I think it's funny that you're trying to turn the tables, while admitting that you didn't even read my post: I even noted a specific Apple product that has better battery life than what Apple states. Not to mention that I actually noted that it may be optimistic or pessimistic, we simply won't know until it's here. I repeat: we simply won't know until this thing is available. For all we know, 5 hours talk time and 16 hours music playback could be spot on. For all we know, it could be pessimistic. And finally, for all we know, it could be optimistic. Making any claims about it now is silly. That's not even including the fact that batteries degrade over time.

And like I said, 5 hours talk time and 16 hours continuous music playback are pretty much in the ball park; no better and no worse than other similar phones on the market.

In future, I would suggest reading before digging a hole for yourself. Unless of course you wanted to make yourself look foolish (as you did) on purpose. That is your prerogative.

But back on topic, there better be a version with 3G and ideally HSDPA support soon to follow.

Urban Weigl

mayhem# wrote:

I dunno, wouldn't going by the specs on Apple's website be a good point to start?

E.

I guess that is why I have repeatedly stated the specifications on Apple's web site: 5 hours talk time and 16 hours of music playback. Which, as I've already said, appears to be inline with similarly featured phones. They don't give any information about standby time yet, I'm guessing because the phone won't be released for at least another 4 1/2 months.

Urban Weigl

There's a rumour floating about that O2 will be the first mobile operator to offer the iPhone in Europe. If it has 3G at that point (not just EDGE, which is fake 3G), and O2 launch their new HSDPA network (supposedly 14.4 Mbps by the end of 2007), this could get interesting.

Owen

icemanjimbo04 wrote:

a full keyboard is not faster than T9.

What part of your body did you pull this Statistic out of? I'm guessing it's your ass. You fly along with T9, come across a word the T9 dictionary doesn't know, you have to go through the permutations, hit the star button for alphanumberic entry, then enter the word (2x3 for c, 3x6 for o, 8x3 for v and 3x2 for e spelling cove), requiring dozens of keypresses, where a thumb board takes 4 presses.

On top of that, I'd warranty that the thumb board is faster full stop, especially for punctuation. Try again mate!

icemanjimbo04 wrote:

I was comparing the N80 to this phone, N93 + N90 only have small displays (240 x 320 pixels, 36 x 48 mm) compared to the n80, and there have been 3 firmware updates on the N80 since March so you just bought the wrong phone .So dont see how the N95 will be any different.

Well then you're not thinking clearly. The n80 has an onscreen resolution of 416x352. The n90 and n93 are more power consuming as they have 2 displays, both of which have backlights. As an engineer, I can tell you right now, powering two backlights is much more of a drain on a battery, than having 1 large display with 1 backlight. To counter your point of the N95 being any different than the n80 ... (And I can't believe I have to go to the trouble of writing this again) ... Nokia can't even write solid Firmware for the n93 - which was the Flagship model before the n95 was released. What makes you think the battery life on the n80 will be so amazing, and what also makes you believe Nokia will back it up?

Oh, by the way, Nokia list the talk time of the n80 as 3 hours. So try looking at the respective websites and tech specs before you make an argument.

sprinkles

Well there seems to be a massive amount of interest in this thing, but thats not surprising. To be honest I'm very impressed with how it looks. It's sexy as hell. However, I have a 60gig Ipod and a SE k800i and they do everything I want. I don't think I could reduce my music storage to 8gig tbh. I would definately consider buying one if they came out with a 20gig version or bigger (I'm sure it'll come along down the line).

I wonder what sony's responce will be. I think the SE range are fantastic and the interface is excellent but this looks like it will destroy it. I mean look at that screen. If other ocmpanies didn't have something similar int he pipeline they will now. This could get very interesting indeed....

Owen

sprinkles wrote:

Well there seems to be a massive amount of interest in this thing, but thats not surprising. To be honest I'm very impressed with how it looks. It's sexy as hell. However, I have a 60gig Ipod and a SE k800i and they do everything I want. I don't think I could reduce my music storage to 8gig tbh. I would definately consider buying one if they came out with a 20gig version or bigger (I'm sure it'll come along down the line).

I wonder what sony's responce will be. I think the SE range are fantastic and the interface is excellent but this looks like it will destroy it. I mean look at that screen. If other ocmpanies didn't have something similar int he pipeline they will now. This could get very interesting indeed....

I'm in the same boat as yourself Sprinkles, 60 gig iPod, and n93, and when I go travelling, I will use the iPhone as a convergenace device. It's just easier to pick 8 gigs of music I will listen to for the week I'm away, and leave the iPod at home.

One thing's for certain, Apple have raised the bar for all other manufacturers in terms of sheer sleekness, and tech. The next 5 years of mobiles should be incredible

cormie

20GB wouldn't even be enough to convince me to spend that kind of money. A 100GB HD will be coming onto the market shortly, I'd love to see them use that. I have enough difficulty choosing what albums to delete off my 40GB iRiver when I get new albums. Reducing to 20, never mind 8, would just kill me:o

Does anyone know if you could use this for a Sat Nav?