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Apple announces iPhone
Author: Wil HarrisPublished: 9th January 2007
Picture courtesy Engadget.
The iPhone, shipping in June, seems to be absolutely everything that Apple fanboys were praying it would be.
- 4GB and 8GB capacities
- Widescreen, touchscreen
- OSX operating system
- Music, video, photos, calls, Internet, IM, Email
- 16 hour battery for music, 5 hour talk time / video playback time
- WiFi, Bluetooth, EDGE, GSM, 2MP camera
- Blackberry-esque push email
- Google maps support
- $499 for 4GB and $599 for 8GB with a 2 year Cingular contract
Here at CES, the press are going absolutely crazy, with journalists typing stories and phones going off non-stop with people spreading the news. The place is seriously mental.
Everything is handled by the touch screen - the keypad, cover flow for iTunes music.
For the full idea of what it can do, we recommend you check out the Engadget coverage of the keynote - it covers pretty much everything, and gives you a sense of Jobs' feel for showmanship!
It's great that the phone is announced, but a 10-month wait? Duuuuuude, that's going to take a long, long while to pass.
Let us know your thoughts on the iPhone over in the forums.
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Comments (72)
I dont think ill be geting one.
Two year contract!!!! Just hope that Apple improves on their dire limited warranties to cover that time.
I'll be getting one as soon as I can
id far prefer it to an iPhone.
Main problem - that screen is going to be ruined very very quickly, a triumph again for apple form over practicality, and sorry but screen protectors always make screens look horrible and ruin the style of the device. Even if it doesn't scratch easily, the touch sensor capability will be damaged.
Also love the usual wild claims by apple - we invented the multi touch screen - we hold the patent for it.
Don't think so actually - one other example most likely has prior art or the actual patent: http://cs.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/ (if it doesn't the uni wouldn't allow it to be shown)
Lots of great ideas converging what others have been trying for ages - main leap is the internal storage. Oh and whats the betting the battery isn't user replaceable AGAIN.
What concerns me, I suppose, is that it sounds like this is also the widescreen video iPod we've all been waiting for, which would have a serious lack of storage. But I don't care, I'm still planning to get one.
Got to hand it to Apple marketing though, seeing as everyone is having kittens over this :D
edit: christ, their marketing dept arent even trying any more
I had a P800 around 6 years ago that did that, and it wasn't revolutionary then either.
Not having a dig at it or anything, it looks great and looks like it will be a lovely piece of kit, but Apple use the word "revolutionary" waaaaay too much
http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/9292/pmvsmiomu9.jpg
Ive got to say im impressed with the battery life but not the camera.
My question to you lot is, do you REALLY need a phone that can do all this fancy-dan crap? I find it hard to believe that alot of people actually need to use the Internet on a phone while on the go, you'd probably end up getting it robbed off you while trying to scroll through a web page. Not only that, but it's stupidly expensive. Sure, I can see the benefits of having a camera, as you're not always going to be carrying around a digital camera everywhere, and sometimes it's handy to capture a funny moment. But for that to be worthwhile, you would need a fairly high megapixel camera on the phone, and that again will cost even more. Also, for those of you planning on getting an iphone, or already have an mp3 phone, do you also have an mp3 player? If so, then why the need for a phone to play mp3, if you can play it through your mp3 player?
As you can see, I'm talking rubbish, but I just don't see why phones need to be so complicated nowadays.
check out apple.com for animations of the product.
At last, the kind of device I think so many have been dreaming of and, tbh, expect in this day and age. Looking at the photos demo with split finger zoom it looks like it incorporates the excellent touch detection present on their notebooks.
Yeah, it could have even more features but I, for one, can't wait. If it's as slick in use at it looks in that demo, I'll be having one.
It doesn't look that great, the interface looks clean and easy, but not revolutionary for a phone.
I'm usually excited for Apple launches as they always introduce really cool stuff. This is just 'meh'.
Can anybody just tell me how this is different than an Apple-branded TREO with more memory, a bigger screen, and a higher price tag - not to mention inaccessible and exclusive to non-Cingular customers?
-ed out
I'm sorry, care to show me another phone that is completely touch sensitive using gestures? I don't expect a reply, because there is simply nothing like this on the market; like the iPod this will be copied left, right and centre.
They say the iPod is a design icon, this I believe has the potential to be Apples finest ever product...
As it is I got my phone for £30 on a £15/month contract. It contains 4gb of my music on it, I can surf the web, I can check my email, I can take photos and videos.
The iPhone looks great but I really don't think it can justify the huge price tag plus it's just too big for a phone. You may as well hold a tea tray to your head for the amount that it will make you stick out while on the train.
I would really love one, but I think I might have to wait for the price to come down. Maybe this time next year :(
I've drowned it 3 times, twice in salt water.
I've thrown it across the pub on occasion to prove its durability.
I've owned it for 5 years, with minimal lockups & errorz.
It still runs like brand new, no problems at all, and I've used it almost every day of its life.
Why would I pay $800au for a phone that I'll break on the first day? Iphone looks like an expensive wank, but lucky for apple there's a lotta wankers out there.
So then, your phone runs 'nix, has 8gb of storage, integrates into your corporate email, has a full qwerty keyboard, has a full calendar app that integrates into your calendar at work, has mapping and phone number lookup software that automatically figures out where you are,...... whew - I'm too out of breath to list the rest.
No, not everyone needs a smartphone. This is not competing against your little nokia or whatever. This is (deadly) competition for blackberry, palm treo, and samsung's new thing. (Also, this is competition for Windows CE)
Anyone who has talked about DRM in this context still isn't paying attention. iPods, including this one, can play any music except for ogg and DRM encrypted Windows Media Audio files. You can play mp3, aac, wav, apple lossless audio and others. If your files are UN-encrypted WMA, itunes can automatically convert them to any format you want.
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This will replace my phone and my ipod - I have both devices on me at all times. I also can be usually seen with my laptop. This machine will replace a lot of the functions that I have to lug that around for. I will be getting one come June. (And, it will be tax writeoff!!)
To anyone who doesn't get it, I say:
"Bah. You obviously don't get it."
Yea, iPhone runs full OSX and that is really cool but usuless unless I can actually install desktop apps on the thing. The multi-touch and guestures is very cool however I'm not seeing anything that spectacular other than the highest smartphone price I have ever seen. In the year that it takes to come out who knows where Windows Mobile based smart phones are going to be.
I suppose I don't really need a smart phone to do all of that as I don't use a calendar very much and I don't need email everywhere I go. But yeah anyway my little non-smart phone does all of those things except perhaps figure out where you are. Does the iPhone have GPS or something? How does it do that? As I said I have 4gb for music and pictures and videos but I think by the time the iPhone comes out I'll probably be able to upgrade the storage to 8gb.
I'm not denying that the phone is great. I'm sure it is. Smart phones have needed the touch of great designers like Apple's for a long time. But think about the cost. These days the most expensive phones are free with a year's contract for £30 a month. This will be around £400 in addition to the £720 you'll pay to your provider over the 2 year contract. The price is just way more than anything else on the market at the moment without offering that much more.
That's not new - Sonys and Nintendos are always released in Japan first, nokias and some others are always released in europe first, and apples and some other stuff are always released in the US first.....
Touch sensitive gestures!? Isn't that just fancy marketing rhetoric for a touch screen? We've had touch screens for years.
Alright, it has large screen, I'll give it that. Of course, until I've used one, I can't make any actual claims about it, but so far, first impressions are not that great. I don't dislike Apple. I love their design. I remembered when the iPod came out for Mac only, how much I wanted one. I remember the iPod nano, the iMac.
iPhone just doesn't impress me.
It looks pretty big too, height/width-wise. If I were to get a phone of that size, I'd probably got for something with a built-in thumb-board.
Of course not, but I can see your sex life improving just by carrying this puppy around.
However, it's hyper-mega-cool and all that...but 499$ PLUS a 24 month contract? That's a bit excessive, I think. I'll wait and see at which price point is it available here...and probably wait until it's cheap and ubiquitous as a V3.
OTOH, I spent nearly as much in just a GPU last Christmas...and said GPU does nothing for my social life (nor gaming life, when I think about it ), so perhaps the price isn't that outrageous.
I think it looks great and regardless of cost it will be the 'must have' item to be seen with and to be stolen next winter regardless of its price. Plus the phone market needs a good kick up the arse as the innovation seems to have dried up long ago.
the htc tytn as seen here http://www.trustedreviews.com/mobile-devices/review/2006/09/07/Orange-SPV-M3100-3G-Smartphone/p1 has most of the above features although to be fair doesn't look anywhere near as nice and you can't use your own headphones. crucially it's free with a £35 a month contract. the iphone can't compete with that. and the next iteration of that phone will have built in gps among other things.
note i REALLY like the iphone just not at that price.
I understood the 24 month contract was inclusive with the price?
To be honest, I kinda like the phone. However, while the screen may be smudge proof, I'm still dubious about how durable it is in real-world usage. Time will tell, though. It's a bit too pricy for my tastes, however - the last phone I got with a contract was free - and so was a Gigapack PSP with it as well...
I understood it like Paradigm, but if the cost of the contract is included in the 499, it makes the iPhone price more palatable (I pay a fixed 6 per month...6x24 = 144 I could shave from the iPhone's price).
The durability of these things is something I always question. People go out and buy a nice looking iPod, then get a case which covers it all up to stop it getting scratched I can throw my Nokia about without worrying if the mirror shine surface will get dulled
I'm assuming the European model will receive 3G support.
This is non an phone + iPod + camera. This is a PDA + iPod + Phone + Blackberry + TabletPC, and frankly, I'd say this is not what most consumers want nor need. I know Apple likes to cater to high end segments, but if they are not careful, other companies could start taking bits from the iPod market with useful, easy to use, feature light and cheap mp3 + phone combo.
For what I'm reading both Nokia and Sony Ericsson with it's Walkman series are getting very close... I'm waiting for a nice one before I dismiss my V3 and my shuffle, but frankly, I'm not going to carry 600 worth of cash in my pocket. For that amount, I could get a perfectly functional laptop...And I don't see people jumping to get those iPhones like they did with iPods. It's the same bloody price of a PS3, for pete's sake...and boy, haven't forumites had a field day since such a price was announced?
This is Apple though. I know lot's of people who have bought every generation of the iPod, without actually needing it.
Sure...but still, the iPod didn't became mainstream at 500$ nor 400$. And if it weren't for the nano, I wonder how many people would be still buying 60Gb or so versions at 400$. There is certainly a market for high-end palm-like devices...but it's not a mainstream market.
And this is not the inmature mp3 market Apple stormed with the iPod. There's lots of competence on the phone market and the mayority of consumers don't really want palm-like phones. If Apple were to launch some kind of iPhone Nano, that combined an easy to use, well integrated iPod, phone and camera with Apple's killer design at 250$, I could see it being an iPod like success...but in it's current iteration, I see the iPhone as a Mac Pro...jaw dropping but ultimately out of reach for the vast mayority of consumers.
Some good points.
I can imagine there could well be more than one version of the iPhone, it's obvious though they wanted the first to have a 'wow factor' and I think we can agree on that :)
"Wow" factor? Gheee I've been salivating all day I now that I don't NEED something like that...but I hope I never find myself with one in my hands and a credit card in my pocket...
Apple doesn't invent technologies (well.. it does sometimes), it invent better ways to use the technologies.
They didn't invent the mp3 player, nor the computer, nor the PortableVideoPlayer. Do I care??? No!!
Secondly, they say "it's running OS X", but what does that mean? It's running a trimmed version? a completely new version? exactly the same version as on a normal mac?
???
Its a nice looking phone i will grant you that, however I have misgivens about the OS, granted OSX isnt too bad as an OS go, I personally dont like it. MS, Palm, RIM have had years of experince of making lightweight OS for mobile products, it will be intresting to see how well Apples OSX has been adapted for this phone.
Kimbie
Something tells me this won't even go to court, and Apple will fork over a large chunk of money to get a licence to use the name. It's just part of the song and dance of big business. :) Still funny though.
The good news is that in a week there will be unlocked iPhones on eBay ;)
The Iphone will suck on that. Even in the keynote you could see how when showing the "scroll" functionality in iTunes library with you finger, Steve jobs left greasy finger marks. Use it every day and damn that thing will be dirty. And you won't really be able to put it in your pocket because it will get scratched up, so you will need a case or some screen protectors.
As a phone, I think iPhone sucks. As an ipod and Wifi device it is great. Though unless I see more functionality added to it (so it could come close to my cell+pda combo), I won't be rushing to get one.
And the most common comment I see on mobile 'phone forums when discussing the 6233 and it's Sony Ericsson equivalent (the K700i I think) is, "The 6233 is so ugly! The K700i is so much sexier!" Personally, I feel the opposite, but I'm just saying...
Nezuji :)
I couldn't agree more with this statement. Apple is combining technologies from multiple industries and claiming they are being "revolutionary" with new, never seen before technologies. . . Quite honestly, I like having a keypad on my phone. Not having a camera hasn't bothered me either.
I think Apple has most likely made a mistake. The world of cell phones is not exactly evolving at a slow pace and I don't believe many people will need that many features on their cell phone. Overall, I believe this will turn out to be a poor web-browser (screen to small), a poor cell phone (Apple has no experience in the cell industry), a poor media player (not enough space) all cobbled together into a shiny plastic case that Steve expects people to pay $500 for. I'll pass
L J
hope it comes true soon!