Apple iPhone

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Most of you know that I am an old lady but I am completely fascinated by all the new technology that comes out every day and makes life simpler and more fun for everyone and keeps us connected together by phone or by email too. I was checking out the show that Frank missed this week in Las Vegas and looked at some of the new electronic gadgets too that were shown there until I finally saw the video clip of Steve Job introducing and demonstrating the new Apple iPhone because one of the key Panasonic people left the CES show early and flew to the MacWorld Exp in San Francisco to see what Apple had to show. This iPhone looks really exciting and so easy to use to me and it is so much more than just a phone. You don't have to travel with a notebook anymore especially going overseas or a separate iPod too.

I thought that the Samsung Helio was the answer but not anymore. The Apple iPhone doesn't have any buttons or a keyboard like some of them do with tiny little buttons but it all goes by touch on a big, bright screen and is so simple that even a small child can do it.

I remember the day well that Apple introduced the tiny little Macintosh as I bought one right from the start. I used it seven years on a row and left it on day and night until it finally burned out. The screen was black and white and very tiny but it did what no other personal computer did that day. It was so very simple too.

Then Apple came out with the iPod and now this iPhone. Have a look at the demonstration that Steve Job gave himself to the audience in San Francisco and tell me if you are not blown away too and would like to have one? It will work all over the world.

I have no idea how expensive the iPhone is or the service but I do know that Apple is expensive but people will pay it, I am sure. We are stuck with our Cingular contract for now but not for always! This phone will work with everything else you have as it can sync with everything that is out there today and you can transfer all your addresses and music too.

[pcgirl54 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pcgirl54]

My husband is an IT Director and electronic gadget junkie. After buying the new IMAC 4-5 months ago with the dual OS systems, he now is an Apple convert after 20 + years of IBM and Dell. Apparently many like him were waiting for the IMAC release as well.

Needless to say Iphone is $500-$600 and at the top of his list. He IM'd me as soon as the announcement was made that this was the end all of phones. I agree that is it just incredible. It will likely change the market in his humbel opinion.

I bought him a portable Magellan GPS last year and what a blessing for vacations that has been.

[mshatty Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close mshatty]

The funniest thing about this new announcement is that Apple got sued for milliions the very next day for copywrite/trademark infringement. Turns out another large techonology company owns the name "iPhone" as a result of a merger with another company.

Can't you just hear Steve Jobs ask, "didn't anyone think to check this out?"

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

Can't you just hear Steve Jobs ask, "didn't anyone think to check this out?"

My DH thinks they knew, and the reason for long term announcement is to allow for time to work it out.... 6 months lead time is pretty unusual for them, i think...

DH got the Treo for his bday in November, he called me whining like my teenager when the announcement was made about the iPhone (he has been a Mac fan from the very beginning). The saving grace is that it will, initially at least, be available with Cingular and a mandatory 2 year contract, neither of which appeal to him...cost $599

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

It's already available

My DH thinks they knew, and the reason for long term announcement is to allow for time to work it out.... 6 months lead time is pretty unusual for them, i think...

DH got the Treo for his bday in November, he called me whining like my teenager when the announcement was made about the iPhone (he has been a Mac fan from the very beginning). The saving grace is that it will, initially at least, be available with Cingular and a mandatory 2 year contract, neither of which appeal to him...cost $599

And there is nothing the iPhone says it can do that the Treo doesn't already have. And the Treo adds the wonderful, intuitive PDA features unique to Palm products. When you add in the requirement to use AT&T wireless (Cingular is no more within 3 months) who's broadband service, which the iPhone features require to fully utilize, isn't 1/3 of the coverage that Verizon offers this starts to sound like an extremely cool gimmick that isn't going to fly. Apple is far from perfect on releasing products. In fact they have far more failures than successes but the successes have been beyond huge. This one may be destined for the failure pile despite the massive hype of an unavailable product.

By the way Slingbox just announced a Palm client for the 1st Quarter 2007. That means live tv on your phone at n/c if you subscribe to the broadband features. The 700w already has a Slingbox client and it works quite well. The 1/3 sharper screen on the Palm 700/750p models should make it even better. So on one device we have at a minimum:

- The classic, fast Palm PDA features fully integrated with the phone
- The cell phone
- A multimedia player (mp3, avi, mp4, music, movies etc) Requires expansion card
- Over 10,000 Palm programs, games, utilities
- GPS (may require receiver)
- Recorded TV content (Sprint/Nexte/Cingular soon Verizon)
- Live TV (Slingbox free, MobiTV paid)
- High speed Internet access
- Browser
- Email access (no special set up or accounts required)
- Touch screen and thumb keyboard access
- Brightest & sharpest screen available
- $400 or less

and more. This is a mature product that is evolving into better and better versions vs a version 1 that has far less capable and will cost $600 or more from only one source (AT&T Wireless formerly Cingular).

I'm all for the latest and greatest and I really like to see Apple/Palm/Linux -anything other than Microsoft (with yet another loser with the biggest bust of 2006 "Zune") - succeed. But this one is no where near the breakthrough they are trying to make it sound like it is. It is a very nice option for combo phone/iPod but its not worthy of all the press it got.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

And there is nothing the iPhone says it can do that the Treo doesn't already have. And the Treo adds the wonderful, intuitive PDA features unique to Palm products.

John, did you look at the demonstration that Steve Jobb gave himself? You will see many features here that are completely new. Apple has over 200 patents, he said. Last night, I hadn't looked all the way to the end of the introduction yet because it is 1 1/2 hour long but you learn in one single session how to use this phone and all the features together. It is so simple and there is not a single button as it is all done by touch. You should see how fast the scrolling is. You can fly through your address book and music collection and it shows the beautiful album covers too.

I didn't know what the price was going to be until he explained how they got to this price and there are two models. I believe it was $499 and $599. He also introduced the CEO of Cingular and together they will add many more features yet. I can't imagine what they will come up with but it will be better and faster. To me, it looks like everyone will have the Internet in their pocket soon and be connected all over the world. He also had the CEOs of Google and Yahoo speaking. I would see the demonstration and you will be excited too, I believe. He also introduced the Apple TV which will work for the PC and Mac and is so easy to use too and nice to have. It is less expensive. I believe it is $299. They start shipping this product now and the iPhone in June.

What I really like of the iPhone is the ease of using all the features together. The only thing missing is my "talk radio" show feature as I use that more than music while I am surfing.

We have looked at all these PDAs or smart phones just before Christmas but my DH kept objecting to the tiny buttons. The phone we have now has decent size buttons and is still very small but to change over from phone to email or looking at photos and sending them is pretty cumbersome plus the photos are of poor quality. I always have to stand in deep shade to do this. Apple makes it fun! The picture quality is awesome too what you see on your screen and wait till you see the Internet as you can see a whole web page just like you see it here but then enlarge what you want to read or see the photos better. You should see the Google maps and he showed the Eifel Tower and the Coliseum in Rome. There is so much more and even the stock market too as well as the weather and you have free IMAP by Yahoo or you can use POP access for everything else. I would have to listen to this again as that is all beyond me but it is free what you get from Yahoo! I am very excited about the iPhone and we already use Cingular because you can use it in Europe too. I only wonder how much Cingular will charge you for this service? They charge around $60 for unlimited connection with a PC card in your notebook.

Have you noticed too how Apple stock has gone up over the last two years as they knew that his vision was starting to take shape nicely and once the stock starts rising, other people buy too. If sales are going to be as good as they expect, it may rise even further yet, otherwise now is the time to start shorting.

I hope that Apple will succeed. Have a look at the demonstration that Steve Jobb gave and you may be more excited too.

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

saw it - its nice

Emmy - I saw it & all I kept thinking was "I already have that". The Intermet on a 4oz device with national coverage. Got it. Touch screen? Got it. Email, integrated contact list, phone numbers and on & on. Since AT&T wireless has only 25 percent high speed coverage vs over 60 percent for Verizon means the functions they are touting won't work. Plus the phone is 6 months away - a lifetime in electronics. Its a wonderful gadget but not the breakthrough the press is making it.

Just last month we were driving to Fl with the laptop hooked to the Treo surfing the net, receiving email and, a few times, watching live tv on the slingbox client. When we left the car & just carried the Palm we still had high speed Internet & email. I don't need to wait for Apple or switch to Cingular AT&T - which would have had no coverage for much of that trip - I have it now.

Oh, as are many of my posts this is from my highspeed Internet link on the Treo 700p. Why wait?

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

I agree with you that Cingular has to get their act together and start getting better coverage in our area too so that the new PC card will work better. We have tried several different cellphone services but all were very poor in our area. We are too close to the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station so may get a lot of interference from them.

It may be easy to do with your Treo so why would you want to change if you like Verizon too? I have never used a PDA so don't know how much better they are than a regular cell phone. Ours is a Motorola V557 so using this little phone for sending pictures or a little note is not user friendly and forget the Internet access so the iPhone looked very attractive to me.

Yes, six months is far away but Cingular may improve their service fast if they want market share. It's going to be interesting how well the iPhone will be received or not because you have to go with Cingular. I like to know what else they have in store for us as they didn't say.

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

Apple is making a mistake in the choice of one service

It may be easy to do with your Treo so why would you want to change if you like Verizon too? I have never used a PDA so don't know how much better they are than a regular cell phone. Ours is a Motorola V557 so using this little phone for sending pictures or a little note is not user friendly and forget the Internet access so the iPhone looked very attractive to me.

Yes, six months is far away but Cingular may improve their service fast if they want market share. It's going to be interesting how well the iPhone will be received or not because you have to go with Cingular. I like to know what else they have in store for us as they didn't say.

And I agree that coverage is what makes or breaks these types of whiz bang gadgets. It turns a nice toy into a real tool if it works wherever you are reliably. Cingular already offers the Treos but they are crippled by a very limited high speed service area. Thats the biggest mistake I think Apple is making - tying it to one vendor. It reminds me of the Sony decision to be the only manufacturer of the BetaMax. Thus a superior product got killed by the massive amount of VHS licensees. When Sony opened it to others it was too late.

No, no matter how cool it was I wouldn't want any phone/pda/iPod that forced me to switch suppliers. I've had AT&T/Cingular, Nextel and Verizon. Verizon is far from perfect but has the most coverage by far. And thats really what its all about not the phone.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

John, you are right and I hope that Apple will not blow it. We have Cingular because we want it for Europe too. However, you can now rent a phone for a short time or buy a throw away. This industry is changing so fast and I hope that Apple made the right decision. Time will tell and you are the expert here which I am not. I just liked the phone.

[Guest Close Quarterbore]

The technology I am pretty excited about is the Apple TV which was also announced...

I FIRMLY believe that the TiVo style video recorders are the next big step and that this AppleTV system which is supposed to be a box that wirelessly connects to a computer to save or play digital video, photos, and music has awesome potential for the future.

Just imagine having your videos on a computer somewhere in the house and you browse those movies from a box at the TVs then the videos are played, paused, etc as they stream from the media server.

Next, imagine the media server having two or three TV tuner cards so that the computer could record multiple shows at the same time. Add your various digital photos, MP3s, and home videos...

This has the potential to be the big step forward for home entertainment that the PC was to the typewriter! I just hope that Apple is smart enough not to go into some stupid propriety mode like they did with the MAC system all those years ago as had they played their cars correctly way back then we would have never known a company called Microsoft and Windows!

If they screw up, I would expect Microsoft TV to be released in a year or two that will be licensed to all the electronics companies... Did I say I was excited to see this yet...

[AmyL4408 Member Find all posts View Profile Close AmyL4408]

What I wonder is why car manufactuers have not put USB ports in the car stereos yet!!


Wouldn't that be a nice thought? I plan to buy a new car within the next 2 years, but would love to have it iPod compatible!