Iphones - Fashionable Hype Or Technology Milestone? make your voice heard

[Grafitti 0]

With all the buzz and hype surrounding the iPhone, is it going to be something that dies down and levels off at a niche market, such as with the AppleTV, or is it going to be more of an iPod success story? Personally, I wouldn't buy one, as they're just too expensive, not to mention the heavy contract you get saddled with... I believe it's currently $60 per month? I would rather get a regular cellphone for $100, and spend the extra cash on a laptop or desktop, or whatever else. Aside from Apple fans, who will buy just about anything Apple makes, I suppose a lot of people are drawn to buy it because off the all-in-one features it boasts. But then is this simply brand awareness, like the iPod, which admittedly is a good product, but besides that there are tons of people who buy one either because they've heard about it or because it's fashionable, not necessarily because its features put it ahead of the competition. There are phones that offer similar capabilities, but there's no craze to buy them. Apple definitely is not aiming at those pressed for cash, but still, is this something that a year down the road will have become too commonplace, and instead of drawing admiring attention, elicit comments like "There's another one of those guys with an iPhone." Viewpoints?

 

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[Jeigh1405241495 0]

I voted yes, even though I wont be getting one haha. Assuming I HAD the money available to me I don't think it's that horrible of a price, really. All cell phones strap you down with some contract for a couple years unless you want to pay $300 for a basic phone, so thats not biggie to me. The plan is expensive but its more then just a basic phone plan so again, makes sense, and the phone itself is damned sexy, advanced, etc, so again it makes sense its more. This is how technology works, the new stuff is way more expensive until it becomes more widely used and produced then prices can drop (really thats more general economics then techonomics).Do I think it will become super commonplace? yes. Not quickly, sort of like the iPod did. At first geeks will worship those who were able to get one or afford one, then they'll release ever cheaper more mainstream versions until everyone has one, and frankly I cant wait. I've always wanted a PDA or something similar but they never warranted the prices. Now I can get something those would do basically all the things I'd want out of a mobile device, so once I can afford one I wouldn't care if it was 'cool' or not, I'd want one for the features. Sure others will buy them because they are the new snazzy gadget on the market, but that happens with every product type. This is a trend that happens over and over, the only reason people seem to care is because apple manages to do it time and time again

[Unregistered 0111405241546 0]

I don't think I'm ever going to buy a iphone, only it becomes cheaper, maybe.. I don't even have a regular cellphone. If I did buy an iphone though, sometime this year, I don't think I would keep it for the 2 years of the contract. I'd probably sell it. Most likely Apple would come out with the second version of the iphone, and it will be even better. I might wait till the second version of the iPhone to buy the first version of the iPhone, because it will be cheaper. They already found a way how to activate the iPhone without using their service. I could just get a iPhone off ebay, and get a cheap regular phone with a plan and switch the sim cards.

[foolakadugie 0]

Hype.1. I wouldn't ever pay that much for a phone2. I got my phone free with my service contract and it came with plenty of functions that the iphone does not have.3. I have hacked my phone to add more functions that I wanted on my phone.4. about 700 mb of the internal memory is consumed by the OS alone. The internal memory is only 4 or 8gb.5. I don't want to switch to AT&T service.6. No 3G support, no MMS, no Java, and an inferior browser.

[Sten 0]

They dont come out here in australia for months (next year sometime)

anyway, i probably wont get one (although id love one), id rather get like a nokia n95 or something

At first geeks will worship those who were able to get one or afford one

LOL Edited July 12, 2007 by Sten (see edit history)

[sparkx 0]

I think the Iphone is a great Milestone in technology. I however cannot say I will get one. With such high prices (and because it is made by Apple we all know that the price will never decline). I thought it would be cool back when they introduced it, but then I thought about it for a while and decided I really dont need a new computer. If I really want to search on google I can simply go home and look it up on my desktop. I could get a phone and a laptop for just more then the price of the Iphone (and its two year contract). I will vote no on the poll because I don't think I will ever have enough money to spend to be able to afford something that could be stolen soo easly.Thanks,Sparkx

[Quatrux 4]

Well, a lot of talk has been made before iPhone went public, I am not even planning to get one myself, after using those new mobiles, with 2 mega pixels cameras, 2 gb of memory, Walkman, radio and etc. lots of colours.. I lost one and I really got upset, due to it was quite expensive, after that I got into mobiles which don't have lots of colours, has the main features sms, calling and the main thing that a battery can stay up for at least two weeks without recharging.. so if I would get an iPhone, I wouldn't use a lot of features it can offer, so buying it would be useless for me Today, but if someone would do me a gift and would buy me iPhone, I think I would gladly use it, due to I think a lot of whom would say WOW :PIn addition, I saw some short stuff, that iPhones isn't something very special, similar products were in the market already, just it didn't have so much publicity and was quite expensive and wasn't sold in a lot of countries, so I don't see anything special about iPhone.. A lot of/some years ago I wanted to buy a GP2X (The GP2X is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and media player created and sold by GamePark Holdings of South Korea, you can find more info on wikipedia if you would want to) but now, I wouldn't buy it, even though it is really cheap comparing to other similar products, for example PSP.

[wutske 0]

it's a nice piece of technology, but it's imho not that spectacular. It's just a pocketpc running some light MacOS in combination with a brand new touchscreen technology. I know that I'm not going to buy one, it's too expensive and I don't make that many phone calls so the contract is useless to me.

[Grafitti 0]

Reading various articles on the subject, it seems businesses are a bit wary of it, for several reasons -- and probably the reason that weighs in heaviest: it's a full-featured video iPod as well, and while countless stories abound of businesses who don't know anything or couldn't care less about the security holes in their phones, not one employer likes the idea of employees goofing off on company time. Admittedly, if someone gave me an iPhone (because i wouldn't dream of buying one) I would spend a lot of time including work hours browsing the internet and listening to music. So I think unless they come out with a way to disable those functions of it, it won't see much expansion in the business community. I suspect that the iPhone will become a hot target, like the Acura Integra or the Supra. Once they've hacked it to accept SIMs from other providers, iPhone snatching will probably shoot up. I doubt it would be worth their while to make a generic iPhone but selling a stolen set for a couple hundred bucks is pretty good money. Are there any anti-theft capabilities built in to the iPhone?

[Markymark2 0]

Well I had a great rant about this when it was first unveiled to the world, now I have seen one and played with it I am more qualified to add my two cents.
I am now stranger to Smartphones, I have had a Palm since they came out, I even had the treo you could call on, then I dumped Palm and went over to the HTC smartphones based on the MS Pocket pc OS.I have had my HTC 9090 for about two years and it kicks the *bottom* on anything on the market!! Its an amazing bit of kit.
There are many big companies like HTC, HP, Palm, RIM etc all making really decent smartophones and have been in the market for years already
So I was very skeptical when Apple decided to try and gatecrash the smartphone market with the Iphone.As usual Apple made wild and basically UNTRUE claims about their new product and how they have invented something totally new and different but in reality make something that is a cheaper (but way more expensive to the end user) copy of other products already on the market, like the revolutionary Ipod – funny that I had an Mp3 player with a HD three years before the Ipod came out…
The same has to be said about the Iphone – the actuall technical specs are below the standard of many of its competitors.
HTC have been working on a touch interface for a new phone for a couple of years now and released the HTC Touch a few months ago http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ so the one thing that Apple claim they have invented, the touch screen was already invented and in production a long time before the Iphone.
Apple claims like they do with everything “Its so easy to use” example..it takes three clicks to make a phone call! You have to go into the contacts etc to call, most smartphones have an override “call” button, one press you get a keypad to make your call, press the contacts button and your contacts come up, on the Iphone you keep having to go through the main menu to place a call or enter the contacts because there is no buttons on the phone – this would drive me crazy!! On my phone its got about 6 buttons on the side and front that you can map to do just about anything.
Another problem is the random Echo you get during phone calls on the Iphone.

“I’m definitely experiencing the ‘echo’ on the receiving end of the calls that I place. It’s very annoying for the people I call.”

It now appears that Apple is replacing units for some users reporting the problem.

“I had a lot of problems getting my iPhone to work with WEP. It worked for about 4-5 days…then it started getting really flakey, failing to hold a web connection or a mail connection, bizarre. I tried everything hex, hex(PC), ascii, finally I just decided to move over to WPA (my router has both WEP and WPA…) bingo no problems, it instantly found the wireless connection and my network connection is good.”

So to get the Iphone to work you have to change the config of your Wifi base station and the config of your pc, laptop etc.Also this brings in more problems when trying to Wifi on the hoof, how many public stations and at cafes etc are WPA? 99% of the ones I have ever connected to on my phone are WEP.
How many times have you had to change the battery on your phone in the past? in my case many times!! Now Apple have had the wisdom to install the very same battery from the Ipod in the Iphone.I think they have done this to save themselves a lot of money.
Heres the kicker!! just like the Ipod you will have to send the phone back to Apple to replace the battery!! how obsurd is that!!!!! esp bearing in mind that the Iphone is "on" 24/7.
Heres the price breakdown on a new battery you will need to send your phone to Apple and pay $86 — a service fee of $79, plus $6.95 shipping — to replace the battery.Thats a handsome profit in anyones eyes!!!
There’s no third party applications allowed on the iPhone; with Steve Jobs suggesting that developers use the Safari web browser and AJAX to simulate them on the internet. Yes, he actually claimed that was just as good as allowing third party applications with a straight face.
And Safari really isn’t up to the job it seems..

“I have detected a pattern of iPhone for Safari crashes that is extremely annoying: when loading pages with large graphics. This includes Mapquest. I was looking for a local address in the Google Maps, and even-though it identified the exact address, it would not let me see more than just the zip code area. I switched to Safari and tried mapquest and it found the location just fine. Everytime the page loaded however, it would crash after seeing about 20% of the image on the screen. I had the same problem with viewing other graphic intensive sites. I’m starting to get familiar with seeing the screen collapse and return to the iPhone launch screen.”

You can’t import more or use your MP3s as ringtones which for me is a pain because I actually have my own ringtone I made and its very distinctive and I have been using for ages ;(( The headphone jack is 3.5mm great!! So you can use any type of headphones right?? Wrong!! They have recessed the connector so far into the case it seems only Iphone or Ipod headphones can fit in the hole!! Oh my another product “lock in” also may I point out that the headphones supplied on the Ipod and Iphone are REALLY bad for your ears!! I have spent years with headphones on ( I used to be a professional DJ) and have perfect pitch hearing.I would not put these things in my ears for more than 10 mins or I would be really worried about my ears.
The Iphone only has 4gb storage and cannot be upgrade – why? Because there is NO expansion slot for any kind of flash memory!! What the hell is this? For what reason?I think its because Apple have not got around to making storage cards yet? Yes I think so!! I bet my house on the new gen Iphone having its own totally uncompatable storage system, a totally new memory card that will not fit with anything on the market also forcing you to buy a new card reader from Apple if you don’t want to keep hooking your phone to the computer. My phone on the other hand came with a 2gb fast TX Sd card.I now have a collection of these, a 4gb for music, a 2gb for my maps of Europe for Tom Tom and my GPS add on to the phone and I have a cheap 512mb card for backups of the phone incase anything goes wrong..not that it has ever crashed in two years of being on 24/7.
Service contracts – Apple have decided to let only one carrier per region that is worthy enough to handle the Iphone.In the US its AT&T – In Europe they are using Orange as their “Sole” provider…FFS this is just plain WRONG!! How many times over the years do you hear Mac freaks complain about MS and being “locked in” to their software and their partners..when in reality Apple are FAR worse at doing this!
On my pocket PC I do not have to use Windows Media player (infact I have never used WMP on my phone- I am allowed to install other 3rd party software that is better) to register my phone, on the Iphone you have to contact Orange or AT&T via Itunes!!
Lots of people in the US are having major problems actually registering their phones on the AT&T network,

I have been through pure hell with this phone. I can’t say that it is the phone rather the phone company. AT&T staff don’t know how to handle this phone and the problems that have arised. I had my phone activated on 7/6 but on 7/9 I had no service and still don’t have any service. This is after about ten hour spent on the phone with both AT&T and Apple techs. I would say don’t buy this phone because the service sucks. AT&T is not prepared nor ready to handle such a phone. I have canceled my service and will return the phone.

So you have paid all that money, signed up to a really harsh contract worth a lot of money, and now you cant even use it!! Nice customer service from AT&T and Apple.So if you have read all this, how do you feel about the Iphone now?
I know what I think…Its garbage!! A toy for teens and people who think they are "hip" and ofc the legion of Apple freaks..Nothing that the serious tech user could live with and use…

[unimatrix 0]

I am waiting for iPhone 2.0. It's a first generation Apple product and therefore I don't buy. I purchased the last gen Quadcore PowerMac simply because I wanted no part of the first gen Intel machines. (plus none of the software I needed was going to universal for at least 6 months after the launch). Eventually I see the iPhone going to all the major phone networks. Cingular/ATT had a monopoly on the Razer at first and now everyone carries it. I don't even own an iPod yet, which has amazed people, but I've been waiting for the decent all in one package and for all the problems to come out.

[Chesso 0]

I wouldn't buy an iPod, nor will I ever buy an iPhone, or an iMac or anything that starts with i, particularly Apple based products.I like my cheap little 1gb MP3 Player, it's small (fit's in jean hip pocket), I can navigate through several pairs of pants (so I need not remove it from the pocket), has more than enough space for MP3's (who on earth stores 20gb+ of frigging songs in a player that does not have some form of sophisticated scroller and/or music management, honestly, what's the point? you going to sit there for 10 minutes just scrolling through 500 songs to find the one you want to listen too).I would rather carry a PC mouse around all day just to scroll the darn thing lol.Plus mine cost me $40.

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

I'm not going to get the iPhone since it's not sold in Canada anyways and it's too expensive (like most Apple products, except their computers). I found the iPod was no different than most music players. I have a ROKR right now, so I don't think I need an iPod since it uses iTunes, although a really crappy phone. Then again, I got my phone for free from Rogers Communications Inc. . (I'm swapping phones next Feb anyways)xboxrulz

[Sten 0]

lol chessoi love mac stuff, i just wouldnt buy it :Pi have a 2 gb mp4 player that fits in my pocket, except it cost me $190my brother has a 30 gb mp4 player thats like bigger than iphones. its got media center on it

[Grafitti 0]

Though it's a lot more expensive, I like the nokia equivalent to the iPhone a lot better, and if I were to blow that much cash on something so small, it would be the Nokia.... but in reality I never will. I've got a Nokia 3210 from 2005 that I paid $45 for, and a Creative MP3 20GB player that I picked up at a duty free for $200 3 years ago, so unless something goes bad, I don't plan on wasting more money on those things.