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right...

the only thing it is missing is 3g video confrencing in ichat.... complete communication via the web plus cellular and position on maps and an MP3/video player... seems a very big deal.

the only thing it is missing is 3g video confrencing in ichat.... complete communication via the web plus cellular and position on maps and an MP3/video player... seems a very big deal.

Actually it's missing all of 3g. It's also missing a GPS. Oh, and you can't use external media with it. The battery is not replacable and 8gb is going to seem tiny in six months.

As a phone, it is nice. As a smartphone, it lacks a bit for now, such as 3G, and it remains to be seen how much of the features that will be made available on other OSes than OSX (will you need a Mac as well?). As a PDA, it definately seem to lack features such as Office tools integration and possibility to play back presentations on an external screen, which would also be nice for a functional multimedia device.

As Eugenia said, give us Java and an SDK, but also a mini-DVI port, GPS, room for an optional stylus pen and support for libre media formats.

The problem is though, that with all those additional things in there, the little machine would probably cost more than a Mac mini (and possibly even replace it).

If it DOES end up having an SDK, I'd expect it just to be awesome even without using it as a phone. i.e. I think that it might make a nice little PDA IF it has decent battery life AND an open SDK.

As to being a phone: I HATE cell phones, and therefore would find it entirely useless as a phone. I'll read email and other text messages while moving, but phone calls?! No thanks.

And what exactly makes you think that? There are plenty of phone Operating Sytems, even a couple from Microsoft.

Also it is quite unlikely that Apple is going to license it out... you don't realy think all phone manufactors are going to say "oh my goth, Apple introduced an Phone... let's stop making phones, we don't have a chance anyway!"

By the way, i doubt the markets for cheap Phones are going to cease existence and the Apple Phone is sure as hell going to be quite premium priced.

Mmmnnn ... no.

This is OSX in the same way that Windows Mobile is desktop Windows. You can't run the same apps, so it's a completely different OS, and it is a little dishonest to dress it up otherwise.

Windows Mobile is NOT the same OS as Windows, you are mistaken. You can NOT run the same applications. iPhone can not run OSX apps either.

I think you are mistaken. His comment indicates that Windows Mobile != regular Windows.

1) They have a screen keyboard because they're pushing this as a multimedia device, and as one, it needs a large, wide-format screen. I'm all for tactile feedback as well, but don't call it out until you've actually used it (not one like it, but the one on that phone itself).

2) The iPhone is not in the same class as your Nokia 6131, and for that matter, it well sized for the phones that it IS competing against: http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/apple-iphone-sized-up-and-compar...

3) Your Nokia 6131 is on the order of $100 with a 2-year contract. Strap the storage of an iPod nano and the functionality of a 5G iPod onto that, huge screen, scalability, and all the R&D that goes into the interface that you can see on Apple's website. How much should it cost?

The tone of your post does nothing but remind me of October, 2001. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipod#History_and_design

Watch the demos on Apple's site. It only dawned on me just how different this phone is when I watched how one interacts with it. Apple understands that it's not always just about features. How something works is also just as important. Look how you can flick through your address book using the iPhone. When I use my M600i, I need to take out the stylus if I want to be able to scroll through the phonebook at any decent speed. Being able to flick through it like that? Priceless.

"Though the iMac for the home does look quite interesting!"

I think you meant Apple TV there, Apple TV does look promising and so does the new Airport Extreme incorporating the 802.11n standard.

I can counter those arguments and you can too if you think about it.

1) The "fixed" keyboard has been a longstanding problem with handhelds and smartphones and Jobs said so too in the speech. You can't possibly accomplish the next gen smart communication and entertainment device rolled in one without a virtual interface that changes as you go. There's just too much functionality to be able to cram it into a fixed interface. The touchscreen is pretty much the only feasible solution available today.

2) Being too big... it's not _that_ big. And it uses the large size mainly for 2 dimensions, for the touchscreen, so it's not all bad.

The only thing I can think that would be better for both the above points would be a device like a thin pen, which projects its interface holographically in the air. And that's not around just yet, although I've seen proofs of concept.

3) Expensive it sure is. But is that such a big suprise, coming from Apple?

and you think touchscreens weren't considered by everyone else? PDA's are touchscreens but you use a stylus. Why? The fundamental problem is that touching ruins the beautiful screen!

Edited 2007-01-10 15:44

I would imagine the phone can be unlocked, though it wouldn't surprise me if it couldn't. And if it can be unlocked, then this is usually something that Cingular will help you with for free. I did the same thing with a Sony Ericsson w810i (their current Walkman phone). I bought it via Cingular and called them up and told them I wanted to unlock the phone. They had no problem sending me an email with the necessary information.

You say you work with your phone in one hand. How's that text messaging with your thumb working, on that one hand?

"You say you work with your phone in one hand. How's that text messaging with your thumb working, on that one hand?"

Text messaging with one hand is easy.

take the "2 key" for example: click once for "a", twice for "b", three times for "c", and four times for the # 2.

And no, you don't have to wait for the timeout to type two letters bounded for the same key.

For example, if I want to type "ba", I can just type "b" #2 twice, hit another key, hit clear, and then type the #2 key once for the button "a".

This way, I don't even have to look at the screen to type a word like "bag" b/c I don't have to care about the timeout. It's fast and intuitive when u got the hang of it.

I often send short SMS with one hand without looking at the phone, sometimes even while driving. My thumb knows where the letters are

And, going to text message composition on my oldish nokia is "menu->down->menu->menu->menu". I can do it in less than a second.

They are going for 1% markett share. I'm sure not 99,5% of people type in messages as they drive.

Abou the price: Mobile phones are like watches. You can buy a watch for half a dollar. And it will tell you the hour.

But people spends hundreds of dollars for having a "quality" watch.

It tells you exactly the same hour, but, men, that's a Rolex!!

Mobile phones are just the same, because they tell about you the same as your shoes, your shirt or your hair.

So being expensive is not going to be a problem.

Finally, anyway, I think nokia's 770 device is sligthly a better idea, even when they didn't push the best they have yet.

That is: you have a mobile phone in your pocket, really wereable, and you most times you have a nokia 770 in your suit. You don't have to carry your 770 around to call. But if you want to, you can use its build-in microphone and it acts as a bluetooth speaker to your mobile phone.

The interfaces in the matrix and minority report are really inefficent. But look really cool.
I hope that's not were we are heading.

that's a really good point. But I would also point out that that's where we're coming from too.

I dunno who thinks that the windows interface is exactly efficient. or even OS X. The Dock is kinda a useless fifth wheel to me right now (been on OS X for a yr or so)

Basically I think that inefficiencies in interface design will continue as long as people think that more is better. why have simple operating systems with more features when everything can be transparent? lol. gotta love vista for that. (that one looks less useful then minority report to be honest.)

Really! The M600i gives you visual email? How about wifi?
How about a 3.5 inch screen? How about multi session SMS that looks like a chat interface so you can actually follow a conversation?

The I phone isn't just a touch screen it allow multiple touch points to allow things like the pinch gesture to zoom.

That's what people said when the ipod debuted oh it's cool but nothing revolutionary! It's all about how easy it is to use in the end and how it seamlessly integrates with iTunes.

Let's get our hands on it before passing judgment.

I've got a SE M600i too. It's a nice phone, but simple stuff like browsing for a contact in the phonebook drives me nuts. If you want to scroll through the list quickly, you need to use the stylus. Scrolling is laggy and I tend to overshoot the contact I'm looking for. The iPhone's interface seems so much better, to be honest.

If you want to scroll through the list quickly, you need to use the stylus.

Use the jogdial wheel.

"Also, Apple dropping "Computer" from it's name scares me."

I agree whole heartedly.

Hopefully they won't pull a Be, Inc. stand with their "focus shift" back then...

If it scares you, you haven't been paying attention. Apple's been a CE company since the iPod took off, and they've been taking steps to slowly disentangle themselves from the computer business since.

It makes perfect sense that they'd drop "computer" from their name as an acknowledgement of that at a time when it's not going to get so much notice.

experts are laying here all their knowledge and opinion down without using the device theirselfs, watching the keynote demo or even reading the tech specs on Apples website.

Well, I watched most of it, and my impression is that it's damn cool ... not $500-$600 cool, but cool nonetheless. If I can get a phone with a slightly steeper learning curve for $300 less, I will.

As for people bitching about the touch screen, I kind of like the idea. If this phone really catches on, perhaps the non-tactile keys will convince a lot of assholes out there to quit dicking with your f**king cell phone will you drive and watch where the hell you're going.

Ralf, I just do not like interfaces that lack tactile feedback. Whether I've used the phone or not.

Thom, there are lots of things that you don't like that are totally irrelevant to just about everyone else out there. Just because you don't like it makes it a bad idea? Get real. The general tone of just about everything you write suggests that you believe if you don't like it nobody else should either.

Yes, touch screens have been tried and in the past have been quite dismal - but you have ignored the 200+ patents that are associated with this device - a number of which are related to the interface and input methods - and from what I saw in the keynote they have gone significantly beyond anything that has been offered on a touch screen device previously.

Maybe its time to put aside the prejudices and try something new and exciting...

I don't understand the bashing, except that it may be a reaction to the unqualified orgasmic prasing that this thing is getting.

I think the iPhone looks great! But not $600 great. As for "putting aside prejudices and try something new and exciting", $600 is a lot of money to "try" something. I think the wealthy will eat this up, but not the masses. This is too expensive to be a massmarket success like the iPod, IMO.

Same thing was said about the original $500 iPod.

Maybe its time to put aside the prejudices and try something new and exciting...

I cannot use a device that does not give me tactile feedback. The reason for this is that it is impossible t use devices like this blindly (without looking at the screen). This is annoying.

I can send text messages on my Nokia 8800 without looking at the phone even *once*. This is extremely important in i.e. class, while listening to boring presentations, while riding my bike, while being at the cinema. The iPhone will NOT allow me to do these things, and that is a MAJOR drawback for me.

For the same reason, I detest the iPod. Because of the lack of tactile feedback, you have to *look* at its screen when browsing through the songs on an album. That just SUCKS.

Thom im sure Apple iPhone will do just fine with out you, just like the iPod is doing right now!!! I respect that you do not like it, its a free world right? However as a journalist I would prefer that you keep your personal (maybe biased) opinions away from the front page. That's what makes a good reported right?

To the ppl saying that this is too expensive or not feature rich blah blah blah; all i can say is wait and see. Much harsher things were said about the first iPod, and look where it is now.

I liked Eugenias article howerver I feel she rushed to submit this article without first watching the Keynote. Jobs does mentiion that this is not a crippled down OS, the UI might seem oversimplified. Apple however has not released any info on the capabilities of the OS so dont be fast to judge.

As for tactile feedback; are u kidding me?
Look at what kind of device it is. Widetouchscreen with video capabilities. Tell me where would u like the keyboard? Maybe opewn downards like nokia phones ? Maybe, but that would make it larger, and ppl are already complaining about its size. You have to understand that compromises have to be made.
Personally, and i believe that sales of this device will agree with me, this is an amazing device with most of the features ive been looking for into a smartphone and it damn looks good.

PS: didnt apple release a bluetooth headset ? what are you ppl sayin ? watch the keynote before you start talking

For the same reason, I detest the iPod. Because of the lack of tactile feedback, you have to *look* at its screen when browsing through the songs on an album. That just SUCKS.

And how does tactile feedback help you choose songs on an MP3 player? Have you memorized the exact order in which your songs appear so that you can 'count the clicks'?

Touch sensor systems have traditionally been bad yes, but Apple have coupled the scroll wheel with audible feedback. Most people can handle this fine and will actually see that the precision control over large songlists coupled with audible feedback more than compensates for the lack of any tactile feedback. There is not that much value in the ability to navigate blindly. Depending on how you look at it you've either got too much time on your hands or too little to need to do that.

You're over blowing the issue so much, it's starting to sound shrill.

Yes, and you are one of them. You know, when people complain that they don't like touchscreen controls on a phone it quite might be because they already tried that with another phone.

If you make sure that your movies are h.264 and well-optimized, then you don't need more than 300 MBs per movie for the 480x320 resolution. That's enough for at least 25 movies on a single iPhone.

Apple will own the high end musicphone/smartphone market with the iPhone. It overclasses its direct competitors which are in the same price bracket like the SE-w950 or the Palm Treo's by a large margin (larger screen, touch screen, wifi, iTunes syncronisation, motion sensor, ...). SE has been pretty serious about this market lately with their walkman branded phones and they'll have to get their act together if they want to stand a chance.

Nokia has nothing that can even touch the iPhone. They're trying to sell their new high-end phone on the basis of DVD quality movie recording, what's that all about ? They've completely lost the plot and it doesn't help that they seem to have fired their design department.

Once Apple own the high-end they can move into the low-end, like they did with the low-end iPod models. Someone has already joked about an "iPhone shuffle" : hit a button and call one of your friends at random :-)

I'd totally agree, but for the simple fact that, as others have said, the American mobile phone business is designed from the top down to screw its customers. In other words, you hate Cingular, I hate Verizon... I don't think Apple could have picked a carrier that would have made people happy.

Of course, if they want to sell it outside the States, they'll have to make it unlockable...

T-Mobile (if you have good service where you live) is generally considered a good cellular provider. They are constantly rated best for customer service, etc.

Since the phone doesn't have 3G anyway, pretty much the only complaint people have about T-Mobile is moot.

You're right though, no matter what provider was picked, some people would have complained. I suspect less so if they had chosen T-Mobile, but that's ok.

If they are smart, they'll offer an unlocked/unbranded version along side the Cingular exclusive version. Having an exclusive contract with Cingular as a partner for wireless service doesn't prevent them from offering the phone on its' own. We'll see...

1. You shouldn't be trying to dial phone numbers while driving in the first place.

2. iPhone will surely have voice dialing capabilities built in. Even the cheapest free phones that are given away do this.

3. Almost every new car on the market since 2005 has an optional bluetooth integration kit to allow hands-free operation of your cell phone. Time to upgrade that rust bucket