tOfficial iPhone news and discussion thread

[#5]

Originally Posted by Trevor Barnes

Getting a half a million new 2-year contracts in one weekend, half of which are new AT&T customers, must really suck for AT&T. For those doing the math, that's about $840,000,000 in service plan revenue for the next two years......all from just one single weekend of sales. That Apple, a billion dollar pain in the ass.

That is impressive for AT&T but Verizon customers are generally more sophisticated. Verizon is the mercedes benz of the cellphone industry and they offer a higher technological platform across the board.

Verizon customers expect a reliable high performance engine under the hood. Apple was only able to promise a flashy body with low performance engine. In car analogy, it is like Apple put a lamborghini body on a geo storm chasis with a geo metro engine.

Apple will benefit consumers across the board because it will spur a revolution in sophisticated gui's. We will all win because of Apple. But let's not act as though Apple's iphone is anything but an ipod with limited internet and voice capabilities. It's like putting a phone on the PSP and acting as though it is the best phone in the world.

[#5]

Originally Posted by Trevor Barnes

Getting a half a million new 2-year contracts in one weekend, half of which are new AT&T customers, must really suck for AT&T. For those doing the math, that's about $840,000,000 in service plan revenue for the next two years......all from just one single weekend of sales. That Apple, a billion dollar pain in the ass.

Also...congratulations to the people of the United States. One weekend they proved to the world that the US economy is robust and at an all time high. 500,000 consumers going out and spending $600 a unit on a non-essential consumer electronic product is impressive.

We all need to pat ourselves on the back because the people made this happen.

[solsunspartan]

Dammit, i can't find a store that has one....I am unsure what one to get though..Do I really need the 8 gigger?

[Fighting With A Vim]

Originally Posted by PortlandSpartan

One possible explanation for those eBay auctions are that the people bidding them up are in an area without an Apple store. I've read that ATT stores are sold out, but retail Apple stores have stock. The online Apple store is showing 2-4 weeks for shipping.

The other explanation is that those people are idiots.

Yep... completely sold out at AT&T stores, and they are "coming in everyday" at Apple Stores. Best shot at getting one right now is to check availability after 9 PM on Apple's Web site and then get over to an Apple Store when they open the following morning

I will hopefully be doing this tomorrow

[greenballs]

Originally Posted by solsunspartan

Dammit, i can't find a store that has one....I am unsure what one to get though..Do I really need the 8 gigger?

For the extra $100 I would go with the 8gig...at least that's what I'm doing.

[hexydes]

Originally Posted by #5

Verizon customers expect a reliable high performance engine under the hood. Apple was only able to promise a flashy body with low performance engine. In car analogy, it is like Apple put a lamborghini body on a geo storm chasis with a geo metro engine.

I'm gonna have to disagree. The iPhone's specs are pretty damn impressive. I think it has a 624MHz processor, which is really powerful (my smartphone only has a 201MHz CPU).

While I don't think that the iPhone is going to be adopted by the masses, it still is a very nice phone.

[Fighting With A Vim]

Originally Posted by #5

That is impressive for AT&T but Verizon customers are generally more sophisticated. Verizon is the mercedes benz of the cellphone industry and they offer a higher technological platform across the board.

Verizon customers expect a reliable high performance engine under the hood. Apple was only able to promise a flashy body with low performance engine. In car analogy, it is like Apple put a lamborghini body on a geo storm chasis with a geo metro engine.

Apple will benefit consumers across the board because it will spur a revolution in sophisticated gui's. We will all win because of Apple. But let's not act as though Apple's iphone is anything but an ipod with limited internet and voice capabilities. It's like putting a phone on the PSP and acting as though it is the best phone in the world.

That is just about the least accurate thing I have ever seen posted.

[Naggs]

Originally Posted by Fighting With A Vim

That is just about the least accurate thing I have ever seen posted.

Have you met Jim Carty?

http://www.spartantailgate.com/forum...een-giant.html

[Fighting With A Vim]

Originally Posted by Naggs

Have you met Jim Carty?

http://www.spartantailgate.com/forum...een-giant.html

That's why I said it was "just about the least accurate thing I have ever seen posted". Carty's article takes the grand prize

But yes, #5's post is Carty-level dumb

[Trevor Barnes]

Originally Posted by #5

That is impressive for AT&T but Verizon customers are generally more sophisticated.

[DeputyMSU]

Originally Posted by Trevor Barnes

Getting a half a million new 2-year contracts in one weekend, half of which are new AT&T customers, must really suck for AT&T. For those doing the math, that's about $840,000,000 in service plan revenue for the next two years......all from just one single weekend of sales. That Apple, a billion dollar pain in the ass.

More like $720,000,000 after AT&T gives Apple its cut of the monthly subscriber fee.
Still not too shabby for AT&T.

[ming]

I would have an iPhone by now if it weren't for the fact that I loathe going back to AT&T. The are by far the worst carrier (at least in LA). I switched from Cingular to Verizon about 5 years ago and the improvement in cell service is like night and day. What sucks is that Verizon has the worst phones running on the best network. My current phone, a Moto Q, is the single crappiest POS cell phone I've ever used. So here I am debating whether to pick up an iPhone (the best cell phone I've ever seen) and deal with AT&T's spotty coverage and primitive EDGE network. The 1st phone call my buddy made on his iPhone to me was dropping out and full of static. And then there's the EDGE vs. 3G thing. Even my sluggish and buggy Moto Q can web browse circles around an iPhone. I can view about 5-6 websites while the iPhone is still loading the first. Of course the display of the website formats like crap on the Q and looks beautiful on the iPhone (when it finally loads).

Maybe I should just wait for the HTC 6800. Bigger and bulkier than the iPhone but uses the same processor and has more features and a WAY faster data network. Why couldn't Apple have made a deal with Verizon?? It would have been perfect.

[Trevor Barnes]

Originally Posted by ming

And then there's the EDGE vs. 3G thing. Even my sluggish and buggy Moto Q can web browse circles around an iPhone. I can view about 5-6 websites while the iPhone is still loading the first. Of course the display of the website formats like crap on the Q and looks beautiful on the iPhone (when it finally loads).

EDGE in Lansing is clocking at around 175-200 kb/s right now. Yes, that's slow, but it's much faster than modem surfing on a 56k modem for instance. With the amount of WiFi hot spots these days though, the vast majority of iPhone users aren't going to be regularly surfing with EDGE. They'll be on WiFi....which is much faster than 3G cell network speeds usually.

Even my sluggish and buggy Moto Q can web browse circles around an iPhone.

Again though, that's not true if the iPhone is on WiFi.

[hexydes]

Originally Posted by ming

Maybe I should just wait for the HTC 6800. Bigger and bulkier than the iPhone but uses the same processor and has more features and a WAY faster data network. Why couldn't Apple have made a deal with Verizon?? It would have been perfect.

Because Verizon forces phone manufacturers to let them load their locked and proprietary interface onto the phone, basically crippling half of the features on the phone. That wasn't going to fly with Apple.

Just wait, AT&T will update their data network. They're sitting on this amazing new device that just screams "use me to send data", and additionally have the largest smartphone selection of any provider. They know their data network is sub-par; they'll eventually catch it up.

At the end of the day, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint...whoever; you're gonna get screwed one way or the other (and likely from multiple angles). Our wireless telco industry in America is basically a joke, compared against the rest of the world. We seriously should be ashamed. Add to that the fact that we have one of the slowest broadband systems (when compared against Asian countries especially), and we really are an embarrassment.

For as much money as we give to our telcos, they should feel like the dirtiest, slimiest, sleeziest car salesman + prostitutes + lawyers amalgamation the world has ever seen. I don't know if entire companies can go to Hell, but if that is the case, the entire telco industry should probably stock up on those mini fans and AA batteries.

[Trevor Barnes]

Originally Posted by hexydes

Because Verizon forces phone manufacturers to let them load their locked and proprietary interface onto the phone, basically crippling half of the features on the phone. That wasn't going to fly with Apple.

Just wait, AT&T will update their data network. They're sitting on this amazing new device that just screams "use me to send data", and additionally have the largest smartphone selection of any provider. They know their data network is sub-par; they'll eventually catch it up.

At the end of the day, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint...whoever; you're gonna get screwed one way or the other (and likely from multiple angles). Our wireless telco industry in America is basically a joke, compared against the rest of the world. We seriously should be ashamed. Add to that the fact that we have one of the slowest broadband systems (when compared against Asian countries especially), and we really are an embarrassment.

For as much money as we give to our telcos, they should feel like the dirtiest, slimiest, sleeziest car salesman + prostitutes + lawyers amalgamation the world has ever seen. I don't know if entire companies can go to Hell, but if that is the case, the entire telco industry should probably stock up on those mini fans and AA batteries.

Truth.

[hexydes]

Originally Posted by Trevor Barnes

Truth.

And it makes me so, so very sad that I'm right.

[ming]

Originally Posted by Trevor Barnes

EDGE in Lansing is clocking at around 175-200 kb/s right now. Yes, that's slow, but it's much faster than modem surfing on a 56k modem for instance. With the amount of WiFi hot spots these days though, the vast majority of iPhone users aren't going to be regularly surfing with EDGE. They'll be on WiFi....which is much faster than 3G cell network speeds usually.

Ok, that's the other thing. About a dozen people at my company bought the iPhone. One of their main rationales was the claim that the iPhone would automatically connect to WiFi when available instead of EDGE. And since the city of LA is pretty much competely covered in WiFi they thought they would always be connected at high speed. So far this claim appears to be BS. They all had trouble connecting to the WiFi network at work, and walking down the street the iPhone had trouble locating and/or connecting to hardly any WiFi networks. We tested this on about a dozen iPhones for most of the day. The majority of the time download speeds hovered around 64-100kbits/sec. We hung out in a Cafe that advertised free WiFi and none of the iPhones could locate it. I know this is anecdotal, but the sample size is significant.

[hexydes]

Originally Posted by ming

Ok, that's the other thing. About a dozen people at my company bought the iPhone. One of their main rationales was the claim that the iPhone would automatically connect to WiFi when available instead of EDGE. And since the city of LA is pretty much competely covered in WiFi they thought they would always be connected at high speed. So far this claim appears to be BS. They all had trouble connecting to the WiFi network at work, and walking down the street the iPhone had trouble locating and/or connecting to hardly any WiFi networks. We tested this on about a dozen iPhones for most of the day. The majority of the time download speeds hovered around 64-100kbits/sec. We hung out in a Cafe that advertised free WiFi and none of the iPhones could locate it. I know this is anecdotal, but the sample size is significant.

Maybe a silly question, but is it safe to assume that they entered in the key necessary to access said wi-fi networks?

[Trevor Barnes]

Originally Posted by ming

Ok, that's the other thing. About a dozen people at my company bought the iPhone. One of their main rationales was the claim that the iPhone would automatically connect to WiFi when available instead of EDGE. And since the city of LA is pretty much competely covered in WiFi they thought they would always be connected at high speed. So far this claim appears to be BS. They all had trouble connecting to the WiFi network at work, and walking down the street the iPhone had trouble locating and/or connecting to hardly any WiFi networks. We tested this on about a dozen iPhones for most of the day. The majority of the time download speeds hovered around 64-100kbits/sec. We hung out in a Cafe that advertised free WiFi and none of the iPhones could locate it. I know this is anecdotal, but the sample size is significant.

Sounds like they don't understand how it's intended to work. It automatically connects to WiFi routers that you have previously connected to. So it won't automatically connect to random open WiFi routers it's never connected to before. However, if it has connected to that wireless hotspot before, it'll pick it up and automatically connect.

So if you connected to your home WiFi network. Left for work, switched to EDGE during the day, then came home, it will recognize and rejoin your network automatically with no prompting. Same thing if you power it off then back on. As soon as it sees a hotspot it recognizes, it will connect automatically.

That's how it's been working in East Lansing anyway.

I'm not sure you'd want it connecting to any random hotspot you haven't specifically chosen anyway.