B2ET i-Phone Home

[Brett]

Whats Andy's take on this, he owns an iPhone?

[Andy Millne]

Loving the iPhone, popping up safari and not finding browsing the web with it a chore is fantastic. Nothing from Nokia comes close on this. I think some of the newer Android based HTC phones have got their act together now though. I'd probably love the iPad too but somebody would have to buy one for me because I think it's overpriced. I had a play with one in the Sheffield Apple store the other day and, although it's nice, I don't think I could justify it.

[threegee]

...Nothing from Nokia comes close on this...

Except the N900!

Which is open mostly source (Not Symbian), has a proper keyboard as well as touch; a higher resolution screen; supports flash well; you can swap the battery; you can use standard MicroSDs, and there's loads of PD software for it.

http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_n900-2917.php

You should have waited a few months as you can now get them on contract!

On a usability and practicality note I have to concede that the iPhone has certainly improved your contactability, or maybe not! Try ringing my old Nokia E70 (with full keyboard) - it cost me £130 (no subsidy) and still gets answered!

[Monsta®]

n900 £450

rather not!

[threegee]

A lot more functionality for your money than an iPhone. They were about £550 at launch, and you can buy them new for £399 now, without a contract, and unlocked. But I will wait until they launch the N910 and pick up a brand new one for £200 or so. I'd only be tempted at below £300 at the moment. An Intel Atom powered phone running Linux would grab my attention immediately though, as might a cracking Android one.

I've got a N770, N800 & N810 in my collection so far! None were bought new at anything like original retail. None of those tablet models are actual phones like the N900 though.

[Monsta®]

A lot more functionality for your money than an iPhone. They were about £550 at launch, and you can buy them new for £399 now, without a contract, and unlocked. But I will wait until they launch the N910 and pick up a brand new one for £200 or so. I'd only be tempted at below £300 at the moment. An Intel Atom powered phone running Linux would grab my attention immediately though, as might a cracking Android one.

I've got a N770, N800 & N810 in my collection so far! None were bought new at anything like original retail. None of those tablet models are actual phones like the N900 though.

why have so many? i've got a nokia 1650 does what is says on the tin and its got a torch!

[threegee]

10 reasons not to buy Apple's new iPhone 4G

...the handset is a triumph of marketing over functionality. And it's so ubiquitous it's not even cool any more.

http://www.telegraph...mpaign=tech0706

From The Telegraph; I could have written this (but didn't!). The only thing they missed was a mention of the N900, and in the "Its battery life is terrible" bit they forgot to say that you can't pack a spare, unlike any other phone on the planet! Or maybe with the 4G Apple is going to recant on that particular diktat?

[threegee]

And it's confirmed: you can't swap the battery on the 4G either.

http://www.damego.com/the-iphone-4g-features-specs-and-release-notes

4G marketing pitch: "This changes everything. Again" Reality: Nothing changes. Apple is arrogant and treats their customers like idiots. (Chiefly because there's a surplus of idiots with more money than sense around at the moment).

Proof of this the iPad launch where the audience is hanging on Steve Jobs every word, and their applause when the most basic things are being passed off as innovative. Any other company and a critical audience would be pointing out that this or that product could do exactly the same thing, and asking what was really new. They'd also have been asking why it couldn't multitask, and how much of the snappy presentation was because of the lack of any multitasking overhead - a point neatly swept under the carpet by those masters of marketing.

What's really galling is the huge price differential between the same Apple product sold in the USA and the UK. It's almost as if they are saying we know where the biggest idiots live!

[Mr Darn]

What's really galling is the huge price differential between the same Apple product sold in the USA and the UK. It's almost as if they are saying we know where the biggest idiots live!

This is the single most reason why i do not currently own an IPhone.

I want one, and it would be useful to me, but the fact they openly advertise them from $99 yet over here your talking £200+

Its totally wrong.

Why should the same item cost 4 times as much here as it does over there?

[Monsta®]

best launch yet!

[threegee]

...and if the N900 is too complex for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrXHXin9Iio

You don't have to send it back to the factory and pay megabucks to change the battery; the maps are free; they aren't trying to tell you that you can't view Flash websites because THEY have issues with Adobe; there is a flash memory slot; and the audio doesn't have a ball and chain attached to it. It's most likely pretty good at making phonecalls too!

Sample Photo 1

[Brett]

...and if the N900 is too complex for you:

You don't have to send it back to the factory and pay megabucks to change the battery; the maps are free; they aren't trying to tell you that you can't view Flash websites because THEY have issues with Adobe, and the audio doesn't have a ball and chain attached to it.

ThreeGee. Do you have shares with Nokia?

Edited June 13, 2010 by B2ET_M

[threegee]

ThreeGee. Do you have shares with Nokia?

I live in Europe, and I don't like to see American marketing outfits sell overpriced tat when we've got better technology at home!

[Brett]

I live in Europe, and I don't like to see American marketing outfits sell overpriced tat when we've got better technology at home!

The main thing that put me off having an iPod for so long was the fact that I had to use iTunes with it. Cant stand it is an application and the only thing I remotely liked about it was the 'visualizations'.

Now got an iPod but only due to the fact I can use WinAmp or Foobar to transfer media..

Like I have said, I was going to invest an an Apple Macbook Pro not so long back and even though I intended on getting one whilst in the store I just couldn't justify spending the money on a mediocre setup when I could get something quicker and better for less money with a Windooze computer.

Still on my old laptop now as the money I was going to spend went on other things

[threegee]

And now... the iPhone that you have to be careful to hold in the way Steve Jobs tells you to hold it:

Richard Warner, one of the first to buy an iPhone 4, contacted BBC News, saying that he thought the phone was "useless in its current state".

"Apple have created a phone that has an antenna on the bottom left-hand side of the phone."

"This means that when you hold it in your left hand, the signal bars slowly fade until there is no signal," he wrote.

http://news.bbc.co.u...ogy/8761240.stm

Maybe when they get on to the iPhone 172c they'll have learnt what proper mobile phone manufacturers learnt about designing good phones - twenty years ago!

[Andy Millne]

"Just don't hold it that way" Why do I have a feeling that one is going to come back and bite.

[threegee]

It's OK, it's all in the imagination. There isn't a problem at all.

"Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don't know it because we are erroneously displaying four or five bars,” Apple said.

"Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.”

Doesn't quite explain why the calls then fail to get through, but maybe that's psychosomatic too?

BTW I hadn't up until this moment realised that multitasking Apple style involves only those selected apps that Apple gives you permission to multitask. In my naivety I'd though that it meant what the rest of the World has always considered it to be. So, there you are: back in pre-history when we ran a TSR program on an early PC we were really multitasking all along! You live and learn - unless - you are an Apple fan, when you simply queue, pay double, and worship!

[threegee]

...and independent engineering tests confirm that this is a real hardware problem.

http://blogs.consume...etwork-gsm.html

Read just some of what Apple have removed from their discussion boards here: http://cc.bingj.com/...fddb6d,f506f19b

[Andy Millne]

I refuse to rely on any consumer report from a magazine that you can't open from the bottom left corner.

[threegee]

Spot the ever-so-subtle knocking copy from Motorola's ad agency:

[threegee]

You really couldn't make this up! Screencap from engadget.com of recruitment ad's posted just after the fading signal reports became widespread.

Ring, ring... personnel ... "CEO here. Sack that idiot ????? and hire three RF engineers who know what the %^% they are doing. NOW!"

[Andy Millne]

You are gonna love this...

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/your-iphone-ipad-and-ipod-touch-devices-are-all-wide-open-to-hackers/9207

The above link describes a vulnerability in iDevices which allows unrestricted access

[threegee]

You are gonna love this...

I'm gonna say that it has a certain inevitability to it.

And, of course, I'm going to say that - as Apple is the antithesis of open source - it was only a matter of time.

The really sad thing is that the people who were conned by the Job's Marketing Machine won't even understand the implications. They will continue to buy overpriced CrApple at every new flawed product release. However, the majority will still buy into the proposition that you can have closed source without any one person's "grand vision" of how it should all be. A trade-off between a bit more hassle and a fair bit more flexibility, all at a significantly lower perceived price. That's still the overall winner as far a Joe P. is concerned.

That there should be a third way that's both better and toll-free, is beyond the bounds of credibility. Yes, "Free" is a really tough sell when it involves turning your brain on! And here I include many supposedly computer literate people.

[threegee]

Ring, ring... personnel ... "CEO here. Sack that idiot ????? and hire three RF engineers who know what the %^% they are doing. NOW!"

I can now be revealed that:

????? = Mark Papermaster

http://www.loopinsig...e-antenna-woes/

What a wonderful company to work for; Jobs takes all the glory, and some other poor bee takes all the blame!