Apple iPhone details a plenty
Now that we all know when the iPhone is dropping, some further rumors about Apple’s upcoming wireless Coup de’Tat are in order. Here’s a short rundown for your viewing pleasure:
1. The iPhone will interact with your Mac through iPhoto and iTunes, but will not appear on your desktop as a removable drive.
2. There will not be an external SIM slot, contrary to the announcement at MacWorld stating that the phone would have a SIM slot at the top of the device.
3. The battery will be next to impossible to remove, as there are no external latches, release buttons, or clips (but you already knew that, didn’t you?).
4. An iChat program will not be included in the initial operating system. Coupled with the lack of support for 3rd party apps for the time being, this means that there will be no way to get your instant messaging fix for now.
5. Safari for iPhone features tabbed browsing, making it an even more appealing alternative to the Pocket IE world.
6. There is a VPN client currently in beta that may or may not be included in the initial release.
7. The screen is surprisingly resistant to smudges and blemishes.
Keep in mind that all of this is subject to change, augmentation, and alteration as the release date approaches. That being said, the glaring possible omission of IM support at launch could turn out to be a deal breaker for some. Tsk tsk, Apple.
i want iChat, not just for the IM, but for the video, and VOIP
no iChat, no iPhone for me.
Rumors, rumors, rumors…You people trust this site??? I haven’t heard the “no SIM access” anywhere else so far.
i love it!!! the thing hasn’t even come out and we know everything about it! everyone is sooo sure it’s going to have crap for battery life among other things…
call me old fashioned but i’m going to wait to see it in person, touch it, read the box, and ask some questions after it is released. i don’t like making my mind up based on speculation.
Not having access to the SIM card would negate the option of having the phone unlocked to use somewhere else. It’s a brilliant idea, until someone wants to use another phone and switch back and the SIM card is disabled because they had to get a new one for the other phone…
Wonder how that would work…
First, the battery is replaceable by the owner should you need a new battery. I use my 80Gig iPod to watch everything and can’t wait for the iPhone to be able to see it in landscape mode. AND I use a second USB connector to my Windows machine at work to recharge, which takes all of 15 minutes. I’ll be able to replace my iPod with the iPhone to watch movies, check and send email, browse the web, buy crap off the ‘Net, listen to music, take and send pix – geez, what do you people want?
Second, Video iChat is probably not feasible. Transmitting real time video over any cellphone is near impossible (bandwidth problems for one) but text messenging will be fine. The keyboard includes word identification so punch in the start of a word and OSX will offer the most logical result, hit another letter (if the word is wrong) and OSX will go for the next logical word.
I love the guy who says “I’m off in France and my iPhone breaks, what will I do if I can’t remove my SIM card? What a dolt!
Third, pricing plans have already been announced. Unlimited Data access (Internet) is $40 a month. Minutes run from 300, 450 to 900 ($30, $40 and $50). Total monthly bill around $100 with tax.
Can’t afford it? Then stick with your Curve or your BlackBerry – but don’t be peering over my shoulder to watch my movie or whining because your phone has 1/3 the features of the iPhone.
BTW, RadTech now has a tiny little BlueTooth ear/speaker piece that is very cool. I hate those big old BlueTooth contraptions hanging from some guy’s ear as he yells like a banshee to his caller. The RadTech device can broadcast a whisper and is fully duplexed for voice. Blocks out extraneous noise (like wind) and taps on and off or by voice command. So cool!
Tim…
Uh … yes there is a slot for a removable SIM. It would be nice if people would know at least a little bit about the tings they post. Steve Jobs mentioned the SIM tray in the keynote. Here is a picture.
http://taiwan.cnet.com/sharedmedia/Computer%20channel/feature/2007macworld/iphone_04.jpg
Tim –
Sure thing, I won’t do any whining about having 1/3 the features on my BlackJack. I certainly won’t be whining about not having 3G data access, being able to stream live TV, DVR’d shows, and other videos from my PC.
I also won’t complain about not being able to be signed into Live Messenger or Skype everywhere I go. I also promise not to complain about having “push” e-mail for my Exchange and Live Mail accounts, or having IMAP access to my personal e-mail server.
I swear I’ll never complain about being able to swap out my battery on long trips, or switching to a pay-as-you-go SIM card when I’m in Europe.
Oh wait a second… my phone actually does all those things!
So which 2/3 features were you talking about? The “look at my massive brick with 30 minutes of battery life” style points?
No IM’ing capabilities? That’s lame. I’m sticking with my Curve for now. I think I’ll wait until next year to upgrade to the next version of the iPhone – I’m sure that one will come with everything I’ll want in a phone.
Wheres that picture above pointing too? Under what should be the battery cover? lol
It was said by Jobs that yahoo will be push email but everythig else will be pop email that will be pulled to the device through the mail app. Its not a bad setup but it cannot compete with blackberry, for all of us that are used to it, it would not be an upgrade.
brandon you asked for it, the blackjack was a major failure for for samsung. Please do not stir them up about that pos.
anyways I agree with kida that everyone should wait till its out to say what is right or wrong with it.
and yeah where is that arrow pointing in that picture? man cnet taiwan has some pretty horrible pictures.
Here is a vid with Steve Jobs mentioning a tray for your SIM card on the top.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeWj_6OeCTU&mode=related&search=
At approx 1:14
the AT&T id will be there along with the globe
just thought I’d pitch that unless I saw it wrong
Mikeyp -
POP e-mail sucks. It doesn’t even track read/unread state across devices. If it doesn’t support IMAP, it’s useless.
Also, why do consider the BlackJack a failure? They’re *everywhere* – I haven’t seen a more ubiquitous phone lately. That, and aside from a quirk or two, I love mine. Certainly wouldn’t trade it for a POS iPhone, for the reasons listed above.
Anyone tried to call Jobs yet???
Hey Tim why would I be peering over your shoulder watching movies when I’ve already probably seen them and I wouldnt have time to do that anyways being that I have a life. Try and keep your hard one over the iphone under control everyone here is just sharing there skeptcism. First off the iphone is coming out a lot sooner then Apple would like so expect a lot of problems. Next the ipod battery is changable but Apple doesnt recommand it through a third party and they replace the ipod not change the battery and that is with a warranty AT&T is not going to warranty the iphone.
no IM are you kidding??? even the most basic of basic phones has IM. thats really really disappointing……
Does anyone know if one were to switch from TMO to ATT today and get the Curve, would they be able to get the iPhone for the contract pricing if it lived up to the hype upon its release?
http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/9/20/230112/blah.bmp
There have been some high resolution shots of the top of the iPhone, there is quite clearly a well-fitted tray that I expect pops out (using a paperclip in the small hole next to the headphone jack).
Of course, this is simply speculation after viewing a photo and after hearing Apple’s CEO confirm that there is a tray… what is the source of speculation for there NOT being a removable SIM?
The main appeal of the iphone in the end is its beautiful software interface. Yes, alot of other phones on the market right now can do the same things the iphone can, but the difference is in the way the software presents these functions which makes iphone such a cool device.
I’ve been thinking about this for a long time now and it seems the closer to launch, the more I want to stay away from the iphone. It comes down to two reasons really. One reason is I do not want to sign up for another 2 year contract. Second, if I were to buy it w/o the 2 year contract this phone would most likely cost me $800! Is it worth $800? I just don’t think so.
If this story from 9to5Mac is accurate and that the iphone will not allow the user to swap sim cards then this is possibly the biggest blow to the iphone. Without the ability to swap sim cards and use it for those who step out of the country is just ridiculous for a GSM phone.
The Blackberry will reign as king in terms of email, it’s just too hard for one to experience push mail and then turn its back on it. The iphone’s strong point comes down to the best integrated music player and its web browser. Yahoo push mail will suck compared to BB pushmail. It just doesn’t have the backbone reliability the BB has. All the other gimicks, just forget it, all the rest are hype. Aside from those two mentioned, everything else is only just a cool factor.
Like I said, hopefully this is a preproduction model or else an iphone w/o the ability to swap sim card… Big big mistake steve…
If the device is mechanically “locked” by not letting the user change the SIM card, it would be strange, but it would be better than an the phone being electronically “locked” (ie. like most branded phones are)…
Perhaps I’ll just be the first crazy person to crack my iPhone open and try another SIM card
Sombody said they watched a movie on an iPod, and it nearly drained the battery.
Actually, nobody has EVER watched a movie on an iPod that didn’t have an internal, spinning hard drive. AFAIK, the iPhone has no such component, which means that battery drain comparisons between the iPhone and existing “movie capable” iPods are irrelevant.
I think the biggest problems that people will face is that the first generation iphone will be very faulty. I know that Apple is known for its quality but they have never had a device this hyped and had this kind of pressure on them that they are pretty much in a lose, lose situation. I believe that coming out in Jan and saying they were going to release in June was a mistake when the product wasnt even completed because now they are obligated to come out with the product unless they plan on taking another stock hit like they did with the speculation of the iphone being delayed until Oct. I think there are going to be many intial problems with the phone and Apple isnt really ready to release the phone but have to now because of the situation at hand with the business side of things and people will be very disappointed with the quality of the product. I would recommnend people wait until the next generation iphone comes out because that product wont be rushed and they will most likely have corrected all the initial problems.
The screen still smudges, we got to play with one last week…it smudges and honestly is no better then a treo
I think the issue is that the majority of people do NOT want to carry a cell, MP3 player, palmtop for accessing office email, contacts and calendar…..hence the incredible success of the Treo. I don’t want to look like I am wearing a toolbet with all my tech gadgets in it. One device for me please.