iPhones: Yay or Nay?

[darrylduffy]

iPhones: yay or nay?

[Famous Police Dog]

nay

[yumitree]

yay, nay, or gay?

and then maybe something about faye wray.

[seanrush]

You misspelled Tim Russert.

[Jack]

http://highedge.vo.llnwd.net/d1/3_prod/d1/Picture/24/50/87_98785618.gif

[isoS]

nay. 2.0 firmware + apps for touch = yay (still waiting on the firmware)

[sparkiepop]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

[scottbox]

Yay x 10

[isoS]

whuh-whoe: server problems at Apple, 2.0 firmware updates were available, now unavailable, reports of iPhone 3G activation problems nationwide... Some AT&T customers are being sent home with their bricks to activate at home (attn. eBay sellers and jailbreak enthusiasts!), I just want to play MotionX Poker (http://gizmodo.com/5023627/iphone-dice-game-simulates-real-dice-rolling-using-sensors-and-physics) on my touch...

[Rick Paulas]

Best iPhone-related quote I read today (http://twitter.com/anildash/statuses/855740769):

"if you said you loved Wall-E 2 weeks ago, but are disposing of a perfectly-working phone today, you may not have seen the same movie i did."

Stop ruining the world, first adapters!

[aenemaTron]

Best iPhone-related quote I read today (http://twitter.com/anildash/statuses/855740769):

"if you said you loved Wall-E 2 weeks ago, but are disposing of a perfectly-working phone today, you may not have seen the same movie i did."

Stop ruining the world, first adapters!

I think you meant "early adopters."

I heard once that people don't tend to throw their phones away, they keep them for some reason. Me, I give them to people as secret santa gifts.

Sanitation departments nationwide really need to take an initiative to institute pickup programs for electronics and batteries and shit. The sheer amount of stuff is not as bad as the chemicals and shit that are going into landfills.

[nathansmart]

i have a 3G and yes I can't get it activated.

so, nay.

[Rick Paulas]

I think you meant "early adopters."

THAT'S the one. For some reason, I couldn't think of the right phrase. "First adapters" sounded close enough, but it still didn't seem correct. Thanks a lot, stupid brain!

[Meen Bellpeppers]

I just got a Motorola F3, a $30 phone made for third world countries. It arrived in an oatmeal canister and the instructions came in Spanish. Suck on that.

[Berliner]

Yay for new technology for me to read about. Nay for me wanting to buy it.

[isoS]

I am now rocking the 2.0 touch. So far urbanspoon and BoxOffice are life-changers -- the former uses a shakable slot machine to help you decide where to have dinner in your area, the latter gives you location-based movie listings and sorts by rotten tomato scores. MotionX Poker, a dice game where you shake the iPod to roll, is cool, but I think it's going to take a long time to unlock more games (right now all I can do is play dice poker against the computer -- three rolls, whoever gets the best hand wins). I hope it has a full Yahtzee game in it -- that's sort of why I bought it ($5).

[nathansmart]

I think the motionx poker game has a generic dice roller so that you can play Yahtzee but I don't think it keeps score.

I love urbanspoon and BoxOffice - I also like the midomi and Remote applications

[isoS]

The Remote app is awesome. Such a simple thing, but done so well.

Here's a fun story: I was at the Beverly Center just now looking for a birthday present for my mom -- she just got a new MacBook, so I'm thinking accessories. So I went to the Apple Store. Giant line, rope maze outside. Whoa, sucks for those people. I walk up to the door and ask the orange shirt "Concierge" if I can go in to browse. "Not right now," she said dismissively, while avoiding eye contact. The store was not at capacity, by the way -- the only people in there appeared to be staff and customers buying iPhones.

So there you have it: if you aren't willing to wait in a long-ass line to buy our contract-saddled gadget du jour, you're not welcome here. I thought one of the points of the iPhone (from a business model perspective) was to act as a gateway product for Macs, but now it is literally preventing people from buying Macs.

[nathansmart]

that's weird because in the line I was in, people who weren't buying iPhones were allowed in - they just asked and they walked right in.

my story's not as fun

[drieux]

Because of Nathan I know it may have just been one instance of somebody letting that small bit of power go to their head, but I've also had instances where I get the feeling from Apple Store employess that, "walk away angry if you want, there will be more where you came from and besides - you probably love us too much anyway."

All of which, unfortunately, is true. With any other company, if I had the awful experience getting my first Powerbook worked on that I did with Apple, I would NEVER buy one of their products again. But when they work, they're wonderful. Which means we always go back, because that one bad experience is still nicer than the million bad experiences I had dealing with PC problems.

While the iPhone is super-duper awesome and kewl, I hope they don't forget there are those of us who have been spending thousands on their machines for years and years before that shiny toy came out.

[yumitree]

you people sicken me.

[crimestick]

What does the Remote app do exactly?

[isoS]

It lets you control iTunes & AppleTV from your phone or touch via wifi and shows you playlists and cover art on your screen.

[crimestick]

That's pretty cool (especially the playlist and cover art details).

[nathansmart]

It's always weird to hear about bad apple support experiences because when I worked there we were always hounded about making sure we were good to the customer - and they are rated tops in consumer reports - of course I'm biased, this was written with my iPhone

[Teaflax]

I got my new iPhone friday morning after about 3 hours of standing in line, which all told wasn't too bad - pretty much the sweet spot, I think. The ones who had waited for twelve hours got their phones about 15 minutes ahead of me, and the ones who got in line an hour after me probably had to wait at least an hour after I got mine until they got into the store.

I decided to fire up the iTunes store and check it out, even though I'm not about to pay too much to rent DRM-crippled music, but still. Album #10 on the featured list was - to my utter surprise - one of my dad's albums, which leads off with one of the songs he wrote specifically for me. Since he's been dead for close to two decades and his albums have been out of print for at least one, that was not only surprising, but very touching to me. My mother, predictably, saw this as a sign from beyond the grave, that my father - ever the gadget freak - approved of the new purchase.

Remember that post I made the other day about how and why iTunes sucks? I was being way too nice.

I simply don't understand how anyone can use that awful piece of software for more than five minutes without getting thoroughly annoyed with it. Just something simple like how it won't allow you to move the "song" field from first position or will split various artists albums into individual artists in the album view. Mind-blowingly bad on all counts I can think of - which is so odd, because Apple have always been very good at interfaces throughout the years, even though OS X was a bit of a step back in that area.

Hopefully Media Center will catch up and work with the 3G iPhone (which is great apart from this iTunes bullshit and lack of sync with usable calendars and browsers) soon.

I need a goddamned Itunes account to find cover art? It's right there IN the folder, moron. And even if I were to sign up, I kind of doubt you'll find the cover art for amateur/fan/private compilations.

And you can't drag and drop files to the iPhone? Calling Bruce Tognazzini - seriously, Apple, get him back on the payroll now.

[ragu sauce]

is your dad eje thelin?

[Teaflax]

That would be correct, strathm. Good sleuthing however you did that.

[nathansmart]

I decided to fire up the iTunes store and check it out, even though I'm not about to pay too much to rent DRM-crippled music, but still.

Well, it's not all DRM'd.. but a lot is and good luck finding a legal service (if you're looking for legality) that has as much as iTunes without the DRM. There are some great services like eMusic, definitely, but the selection lacks in terms of popular music.

I simply don't understand how anyone can use that awful piece of software for more than five minutes without getting thoroughly annoyed with it. Just something simple like how it won't allow you to move the "song" field from first position or will split various artists albums into individual artists in the album view. Mind-blowingly bad on all counts I can think of - which is so odd, because Apple have always been very good at interfaces throughout the years, even though OS X was a bit of a step back in that area.

But, is that something that we've all been pining for? My eyes are able to look to the right one column very easily and the browse option eliminates that anyways. And the various artists thing makes perfect sense when you're organizing the way iTunes does. If ever I'm looking for a full compilation album, I either sort it by Album name or I click on the little eye icon in the bottom right corner and find the album that way. What's complicated about that? And it seems to make perfect sense alphabetically.

Hopefully Media Center will catch up and work with the 3G iPhone (which is great apart from this iTunes bullshit and lack of sync with usable calendars and browsers) soon.

I've never been able to use windows media for organization - it makes me think too much of streaming software like Real Audio and it's so clunky. It doesn't feel like a music organizer program.

I need a goddamned Itunes account to find cover art? It's right there IN the folder, moron. And even if I were to sign up, I kind of doubt you'll find the cover art for amateur/fan/private compilations.

Well, you need an account because it goes through the iTunes store and fills up the cover art - of course it's not going to do a google search and find some fan art compilation cover. It's a little bit more professional than that - and why don't you already have that?

How does media center handle cover art? When I add cover art (from a folder) it saves it in the file so that if I send you the mp3 (or delete the cover art) it's still there when you open it up.

And you can't drag and drop files to the iPhone? Calling Bruce Tognazzini - seriously, Apple, get him back on the payroll now.

Well, the rumor is that Disk Mode may be used on the new iPhone soon - which would fix this issue.

Honestly, I'm just a dork talking about these issues because it all comes down to personal preference. I could give a damn about the things you care about and that's why I'm okay with it - same for you as well. Different needs, different programs.

But, seriously, have you tried clicking the browse (eye icon) button in the bottom right corner? That may give you some help.. maybe. If not - I hope you find a workaround. I doubt they'll officially allow the iPhone to work with media center.

[isoS]

There's freeware out there that will hunt down cover art and import it to iTunes for you without the need for an iTunes account, but I don't know if it's available for PC. The one I use is a dashboard widget called liquidx or something.

[Teaflax]

There are some great services like eMusic, definitely, but the selection lacks in terms of popular music.

Well, how much popular music do I listen to? EMusic has me covered for a lot. And downloading popular music doesn't really bother me ethically/morally, etc.

But, is that something that we've all been pining for? My eyes are able to look to the right one column very easily and the browse option eliminates that anyways.

It takes up room I might not want it to take up. It seems incredibly narrow-minded to make it immutable when all other columns are movable. It's a song-centric approach that I - as a fan of well-thought-out albums - really find pretty weird, but wouldn't be much bothered by if it wasn't foisted on me.

And the various artists thing makes perfect sense when you're organizing the way iTunes does.

Well "the way Itunes does" and "makes perfect sense" really should never appear in the same sentence without a solid negtion in there somewhere. It makes no sense whatsoever - except in some programmer's mind - when I have it show album art and sort on album name for it to separate out the various artists. I could live with (ignoring) it if there was a solid album view, but there just isn't.

In fact, iTunes gives me the impression that viewing tracks in album form is an aberration and therefore added as an afterthought.

If ever I'm looking for a full compilation album, I either sort it by Album name

Which doesn't work at all, as noted. Well, except for all the tracks of the album being listed after each other, but not in track order - but after artist alphabetically - and with a sleeve icon for all of them, making a 45- track compilation about 12 screens high even on a solid resolution.

or I click on the little eye icon in the bottom right corner and find the album that way. What's complicated about that?

I guess it's not complicated at all, if you know exactly what album you're looking for. I rarely do when I delve into my music collection. I like to scroll through album covers with various parameters in place; by style, by artist, by genre, by year. Can I get iTunes to show me only the sleeves of all the albums I have from 2007 in order of release? No. Can I get it to show me the sleeves of all Genesis albums sorted by personal ranking? No.

I navigate much more easily by sight, and Apple, being the originators of the first wide-spread GUI and refiners of interface paradigms even after the missteps of early Os X should be the first to understand that I don't want to do command-line style thinking, because they've moved away from that in almost everything else they do.

I've never been able to use windows media for organization

My bad. I was unclear, thinking that I'd been raving about it too much in the deleted thread on this: I mean JRiver Media Center. WMP and WMC are both absolute messes. I have used Winamp, JRiver Media Jukebox, AlbumPlayer, MP3 Toys and JRiver MC12 and they are all far superior in customizability and file handling to iTunes - I can't think of anything they don't do better.

Because, let's face it, the tagging functions in iTunes are so rudimentary it's like it's built to specifically discourage you from doing anything but buying already-tagged files - just try tagging files from the file names, for instance. Plus occasionally it just won't read perfectly valid tags unless you press an extra button - you'd think it'd try that option on its own before giving up.

And WHY can't I drag-n-drop files onto my iPhone? What the hell went wrong to stop that from happening? It took me three minutes - way too long for an Apple GUI - to figure out how to get music onto it.

Well, you need an account because it goes through the iTunes store and fills up the cover art - of course it's not going to do a google search and find some fan art compilation cover.

AlbumPlayer will search Amazon for you and gets it right 95% of the time. If that fails, it can look at AMG or it can pop you to Google Images with search words already filled in. All things iTunes could easily do - plus, it smells like a scam to me to give someone a CC to do something that's free. I won't do it on principle. I'll probably have to relent for the app store, however...

and why don't you already have that?

I do have it. It's in the album folder, and it's called folder.jpg. Most MP3 playing programs know to read that file - probably all but iTunes at this point. Again, something that they could easily include if they had any interest in doing so - but then they wouldn't get your CC#. It's really unpleasant to me as an old Apple evangelist from way back in 1985 to see what they've turned into. I realize that corporations aren't good-hearted bunny-huggy friends even when they're being pretty cool, but Apple have really turned more mercenary and exclusionary than they were before I left them behind when my iBook died three years ago.

When I add cover art (from a folder) it saves it in the file so that if I send you the mp3 (or delete the cover art) it's still there when you open it up.

File bloat. If you have tens of thousands of files, embedding covers adds one hell of a lot of extra space. Most MP3 players these days have the facility to do so, and at this point I guess it's really starting to become moot as HDD sizes grow and their prices drop, but even just a year or two ago, it was an absolutely valid concern.

Different needs, different programs.

Right, and I think that for someone who is casual about tagging, covers and file structure and has a more text-based than visual relationship to music, iTunes probably doesn't bother much. Honestly, I wouldn't mind it that much if it was made by anyone other than Apple, but they're the ones who are supposed to get these things right, and they've failed so abysmally not only to include features that are commonplace and rudimentary these days, but to innovate at all (exception: album shuffle - this is great and was unique to iTunes for way too long).

I doubt they'll officially allow the iPhone to work with media center.

Well, no. but the Media Center I'm talking about tends to get a fairly quick update for each new iPod iteration that allows for simple drag-n-drop syncing. I'm guessing it's no more than a few weeks away for the G3 iPhone. Until Apple deliberately break that with a minor update. Feh.

But, despite all this - and a momentous lockup yesterday when I could only access my phone favorites - I still loves me my iPhone, because it does get it right in so many ways, primarily when it comes to the GUI and form factor. And despite the first model having been out for as long as it has, no other phone or computer manufacturer has even come close to it. I hope that by the time my contract runs out in 2010, someone has, because I really don't feel like dealing with Apple again, sad to say.

[nathansmart]

Well, how much popular music do I listen to? EMusic has me covered for a lot. And downloading popular music doesn't really bother me ethically/morally, etc.

Yeah, but I had to qualify my point somehow! :)

It takes up room I might not want it to take up. It seems incredibly narrow-minded to make it immutable when all other columns are movable. It's a song-centric approach that I - as a fan of well-thought-out albums - really find pretty weird, but wouldn't be much bothered by if it wasn't foisted on me.

Honestly, I don't really get why you can't move it either. It seems weird to have control over every other thing except the song name.

Well "the way Itunes does" and "makes perfect sense" really should never appear in the same sentence without a solid negtion in there somewhere. It makes no sense whatsoever - except in some programmer's mind - when I have it show album art and sort on album name for it to separate out the various artists. I could live with (ignoring) it if there was a solid album view, but there just isn't.

What are you looking for?

In fact, iTunes gives me the impression that viewing tracks in album form is an aberration and therefore added as an afterthought.

What about Cover View?

I guess it's not complicated at all, if you know exactly what album you're looking for. I rarely do when I delve into my music collection. I like to scroll through album covers with various parameters in place; by style, by artist, by genre, by year. Can I get iTunes to show me only the sleeves of all the albums I have from 2007 in order of release? No. Can I get it to show me the sleeves of all Genesis albums sorted by personal ranking? No.

Sure you can. Have you tried using Smart Playlists? You can make a playlist that have all songs from 1975, rated 4 stars, that are less than 4 minutes long, and include the word dog. You should really try those - they are pretty amazing.

Although I haven't tried Cover View within a playlist. Does anyone know if it works with them? or does it just automatically switch to the entire album in cover view?

I navigate much more easily by sight, and Apple, being the originators of the first wide-spread GUI and refiners of interface paradigms even after the missteps of early Os X should be the first to understand that I don't want to do command-line style thinking, because they've moved away from that in almost everything else they do.

I've never heard these types of iTunes complaints before. It just seems like you really do need something very specific.

My bad. I was unclear, thinking that I'd been raving about it too much in the deleted thread on this: I mean JRiver Media Center. WMP and WMC are both absolute messes. I have used Winamp, JRiver Media Jukebox, AlbumPlayer, MP3 Toys and JRiver MC12 and they are all far superior in customizability and file handling to iTunes - I can't think of anything they don't do better.

I think I end up just wanting simplicity in a program and iTunes does it well. That's where we differ mostly.

Because, let's face it, the tagging functions in iTunes are so rudimentary it's like it's built to specifically discourage you from doing anything but buying already-tagged files - just try tagging files from the file names, for instance. Plus occasionally it just won't read perfectly valid tags unless you press an extra button - you'd think it'd try that option on its own before giving up.

I guess I just don't know enough about tagging to have a proper opinion on it.

And WHY can't I drag-n-drop files onto my iPhone? What the hell went wrong to stop that from happening? It took me three minutes - way too long for an Apple GUI - to figure out how to get music onto it.

To me that seems to be something they've done to appease the music industry - to somehow add another dumb limitation to stop piracy. I agree with you.

AlbumPlayer will search Amazon for you and gets it right 95% of the time. If that fails, it can look at AMG or it can pop you to Google Images with search words already filled in. All things iTunes could easily do - plus, it smells like a scam to me to give someone a CC to do something that's free. I won't do it on principle. I'll probably have to relent for the app store, however...

I thought you could use PayPal?

I do have it. It's in the album folder, and it's called folder.jpg. Most MP3 playing programs know to read that file - probably all but iTunes at this point. Again, something that they could easily include if they had any interest in doing so - but then they wouldn't get your CC#. It's really unpleasant to me as an old Apple evangelist from way back in 1985 to see what they've turned into. I realize that corporations aren't good-hearted bunny-huggy friends even when they're being pretty cool, but Apple have really turned more mercenary and exclusionary than they were before I left them behind when my iBook died three years ago.

You don't have to buy anything from them to use iTunes and the iPhone. You keep talking about CC#s but you don't have to give them a number in order to put album artwork in there. It takes an extra step but it's not mandatory.

File bloat. If you have tens of thousands of files, embedding covers adds one hell of a lot of extra space. Most MP3 players these days have the facility to do so, and at this point I guess it's really starting to become moot as HDD sizes grow and their prices drop, but even just a year or two ago, it was an absolutely valid concern.

I like it better this way - specifically for Leopard as it shows the cover instead of the iTunes icon.

Right, and I think that for someone who is casual about tagging, covers and file structure and has a more text-based than visual relationship to music, iTunes probably doesn't bother much. Honestly, I wouldn't mind it that much if it was made by anyone other than Apple, but they're the ones who are supposed to get these things right, and they've failed so abysmally not only to include features that are commonplace and rudimentary these days, but to innovate at all (exception: album shuffle - this is great and was unique to iTunes for way too long).

But is it fair to say they've failed just because they haven't focused on appeasing the most hardcore of music organization fans? Do they have to do everything perfectly for everyone to "get things right?"

Well, no. but the Media Center I'm talking about tends to get a fairly quick update for each new iPod iteration that allows for simple drag-n-drop syncing. I'm guessing it's no more than a few weeks away for the G3 iPhone. Until Apple deliberately break that with a minor update. Feh.

But, despite all this - and a momentous lockup yesterday when I could only access my phone favorites - I still loves me my iPhone, because it does get it right in so many ways, primarily when it comes to the GUI and form factor. And despite the first model having been out for as long as it has, no other phone or computer manufacturer has even come close to it. I hope that by the time my contract runs out in 2010, someone has, because I really don't feel like dealing with Apple again, sad to say.

The problem is, no one has still come close when it comes to the iPod. I can see it being a long time until someone makes a worthy mp3 player and phone.

I'm actually very surprised no one's been able to do it..

[matt in the east]

I see some mp3 tagging talk up there, so I'd recommend a program called mp3tag. it's free and wonderful and it allows you to access the amazon.com database to name all your music.

[Teaflax]

I'm actually very surprised no one's been able to do it..

I'm with you there. It's not exactly a no-brainer, but it should be a challenge for software and hardware companies alike, yet everyone seems to be entirely asleep at the wheel when it comes to this. I haven't even seen anything that seems to be a credible attempt at aping or learning from the iPhone

My complaints with iTunes are primarily the really blatant lack of customizability (and I don't want to have to make smartlist for a view I want just this one time - it seems a little off, and they are still rather limited), the often counter-intuitive GUI from the supposed GUI kings and a feature set that undershoots the mark compared to every other product in its category. Again, if it was an M$ product, I would just swear quietly and shrug it off, but I want Apple to do better; much much better.

BTW, TuneSleeve seems to be a pretty good shareware solution for downloading sleeves for iTunes without signing up for the Music Store (and, no, there's no PayPal option, at least not here in Sweden/Europe).

[Valorie]

It lets you control iTunes & AppleTV from your phone or touch via wifi and shows you playlists and cover art on your screen.

My boyfriend likes to mess with my mind when I'm on the Mac and control my iTunes from his iPhone.

[Teaflax]

All my gripes melt away (for a while at least) when Tune Sleeve fixes up my files and I resync. CoverFlow is gorgeous and wonderful - visual, album-based; just the way I like it.

[nathansmart]

I thought you would like that!

[nathansmart]

all Puzzle Quest/Puzzle League fans should check out Aurora Feint in the Apps store. It's a free game that is pretty great!

[Teaflax]

Thanks for the tip, ns. Looks like fun.

[nathansmart]

also, I know it's costs a couple of bucks, but since you were talking about dragging files to the iPhone, here's one for you - FileMagnet: http://www.fluffypig.com/2008/07/top-10-best-iphone-3g-apps/

[Americas Team]

This made me laugh:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wKiIroiCvZ0&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wKiIroiCvZ0&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[aenemaTron]

Wow, Martin Short's impression was really good!

[tockxie]

Nay until they figure out how to expand it to 32 gigs, increase the battery life, and make it so I can activate one on the first try without having to compete with other nerds for Genius Bar attention.

[isoS]

I think they will accomplish two of those three things by the end of the year, but don't hold your breath on battery life. Fuckin' thing is like a tiny laptop with a cell phone and a navi unit inside it, so it's gonna suck the juice. I mean, if you don't use it much you'll be okay, but seeing how quickly certain apps drain the battery on my touch (which doesn't even have GPS or a 3G chip to power) has been a wake-up call for me.

[Americas Team]

increase the battery life

You can always keep a spare battery around to easily swap out.

[Berliner]

WHAAAAAAAAAAa? they allow swapped batteries?

[nathansmart]

no

[isoS]

Remember all that talk of AT&T having a 5-year exclusive on the iPhone? The good news is, it wasn't true! The bad news is, Apple just extended the actual exclusivity deal from 2 years to 3, meaning no AT&T-free iPhone in the U.S. until 2010. :(

http://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/01/atandt-to-remain-sole-us-iphone-carrier-into-2010/

[isoS]

Anyone getting a Google Android T-Mobile [htc] G1 phone-a-ma-jig? (solmssen, I'm looking in your direction.) I'm intrigued, but Android looks like a hot mess at the moment, and the phone is a fugly plastic brick. I've realized that something deep within my soul wants a QWERTY keyboard on any smartphone I buy, so this complicates the long-held iPhone craving. Since I'm prejudiced against WinMo (which rules out the Touch Diamond and many others) and Palm is all but dead, I guess that leaves me with the G1 (for now -- hopefully some better Android phones are in the pipeline, and hopefully Android gets its shit together).

Completely unfounded yet mouth-watering iPhone rumor of the month: iPhone coming to Verizon next year.

[Gene George]

Speaking as the guy who provisions mobile devices at a 180,000+ seat company, "I wouldn't touch iPhones with your dick" speaking as a regular dude "Meh."

I'm going to take a look at the diamond today in our demo room as I'm at our IT conference right now!

I use a PPC 6700 for work and aside from losing styluses I think it is just fine.

[isoS]

The Mogul is too thick. If I went business-y I think I'd be looking at a BlackBerry Bold, but that option always brings me back to the sync issue with macs, which is why the iPhone is so attractive to me. Also, I'm a little skeptical about RIM's ability to get developers to support their platform. Then again, Apple is killing their golden goose by being so control freaky with their app system. I don't understand why they can't look at the shareware model they themselves helped foster on the Mac and realize it's good for everyone if 3rd parties are free to be you and me on the iPhone. And hey, if you're not going to give people a video camera app, or a turn-by-turn navi app, or MMS functionality, or CUT AND PASTE, then for god's sake let someone else!

[isoS]

(which rules out the Touch Diamond and many others)

I meant Touch Pro (qwerty!).

[nathansmart]

if you're not going to get an iPhone then the next best thing is Android. The openness of the software is its biggest selling point and that is a really big deal.

[Gene George]

The Mogul is too thick. If I went business-y I think I'd be looking at a BlackBerry Bold, but that option always brings me back to the sync issue with macs, which is why the iPhone is so attractive to me. Also, I'm a little skeptical about RIM's ability to get developers to support their platform. Then again, Apple is killing their golden goose by being so control freaky with their app system. I don't understand why they can't look at the shareware model they themselves helped foster on the Mac and realize it's good for everyone if 3rd parties are free to be you and me on the iPhone. And hey, if you're not going to give people a video camera app, or a turn-by-turn navi app, or MMS functionality, or CUT AND PASTE, then for god's sake let someone else!

I use mine for all business so it sits on a desk or in a laptop bag so the form factor is not really a dealbreaker for me. My personal phone is a Razr so in real life I do care if it's not a work appliance. I love the touch screen/ full qwerty keyboard.

We support thousands of Blackberries and we're adding about 500/month onto our network so it's a going concern from my pov. But the caveat to all that is we are also very restrictive in regards to the apps we allow on our mobile devices so we don't run into much issues in terms of dev issues on RIM devices.

We have Gov't compliance and security issues to deal with so iPhones are just not on the table until they can get secured as well as WM and BB devices.

I've never understood Apple's anal-retentive policies in general but that's even more wack than usual. Sure keep a good grip on who makes things for you and make the standards high, but yeah. It's very odd that they can't seem to handle apps.

[Gene George]

Here's mine in the wild. Taken seconds ago while on a terribly boring conference call. Bonus set list and joke notebook background. I has to have my qwerty.

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/9492/utppc6700smgt1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[darrylduffy]

get that phone out of the way i wanna see more. did you film anything in sf?

[Gene George]

get that phone out of the way i wanna see more. did you film anything in sf?

No video, but I should've.

[chapina]

Anyone getting a Google Android T-Mobile [htc] G1 phone-a-ma-jig?

I kinda want to get one. I would have an iPhone but I'm (stupidly) loyal to TMobile. I am worried though, that I'll be buying the Edsel of phones. I don't know why. Plus, no standard headphone jack, whaaaaaaaaaat?

[isoS]

Yeah, that is uber-lame. Not so much for the phone-talking (bluetooth works), but for the music-listening. I think I will again be waiting to see what happens in the next six months -- will the iPhone come out on another carrier? Will a better Android phone come out (maybe even for Sprint, which I have always liked and am still on)? Will Android itself get better and more cohesive?

One thing is for sure: after a few months with the iPod touch, I can say pretty confidently that there's a definite limit to how serious a game machine can be without buttons. Some games are fine (Solitaire), some new ones might emerge that suit touchscreen/accelerometer controls perfectly, but some, you just want -- nay, need -- a D-pad. There are a bunch of games that don't seem to realize that your own fingers get in the way of seeing the action on the screen.

[Gene George]

All of the wobbly screen games I have seen remind me of those ball-rolling games like the maze and the sorta pachinko one. They seemed to be popular back in the 70's. I sucked at them then and I suck at them now. I hadn't really thought of the implications of the touch screen though, strange because I play bubble breaker on my 6700 in meetings all the time.

[Itslikeimsayin]

will the iPhone come out on another carrier?

I don't know when or where you heard the rumor you mentioned earlier, but this (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/09/29/verizon-iphone-in-2009-unlikely/) seems to suggest that will not be happening anytime soon.

[isoS]

It's wishful thinking, but keep in mind everyone thought it was a five year exclusive until that USA Today article said it would've been up in '09 were it not for a one-year extension. Point being, no one knows anything, and any (or all) of the reports could be wrong. Also, there are plenty of ways around exclusivity contracts (BlackBerry has done this dance, ditto the Moto RAZR), including simply breaking it because the potential profit hugely outweighs the penalty. AT&T is the #1 carrier in the U.S., but it's possible that VZN would have overtaken them were it not for the iPhone. Also, Apple is obsessive about quality, and I'm guessing it burns Jobs to be on such a shit network. Apple actually went to Verizon first with the iPhone, but VZN didn't want to give up any control of what goes on their phones -- now that the iPhone has sold 10 million in less than 18 months, and subscribers are defecting to AT&T for it in droves, maybe they've changed their mind.

[a lot of these points come from the ars technica post (http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/09/30/two-sides-of-a-rumor-verizon-could-get-iphone-in-2009) on this from 9/30, and the ensuing comments]

[Darryl]

No iPhone here in Montana since there's no AT&T service. I love my iPod touch, but I don't carry it with me all the time; I use the Nano as my main iPod.

As much as I lust over an iPhone, I'm not sure I would really want to carry one. I like to travel light, so my Juke (http://www.phonedog.com/r/i/400/3522/9152-3522-400-395-498x483.jpg)is a great phone for that. It fits in my jeans coin pocket and it doubles as an MP3 player, so I keep it loaded up with music and NNF episodes for when I don't want to carry my Nano and the phone.

The iPhone is the slickest phone out there, and the multiple functions are a great feature. When Matt Haughey (founder of MetaFilter) got his, he did an experiment to see if he could do all of his web-based duties on the iPhone instead of his laptop, and he could. That's pretty sweet if you rely on that kind of functionality.

[sparkiepop]

You have have HAVE to buy the <a href="http://ocarina.smule.com/">Ocarina application</a>. I have been playing it all weekend and am ready for a recital filled with holiday songs, Stand By Me, Yesterday, The Winner Takes It All and a couple of classical songs.

[Americas Team]

You have have HAVE to buy the <a href="http://ocarina.smule.com/">Ocarina application</a>.

After seeing you play it last night I second that statement. I can't believe what people are coming up with when it comes to iPhone apps.

[TenJay]

this is awesome, thanks for the heads up!!!

[Mindyjoy]

My mom offered to get me an iphone as a Christmas gift, but I'm not sure I want to pay for the additional $30 a month data plan. What do you think, AST? Should I go for it?

[sparkiepop]

Der. Yes. It will change your life.

[wrinkle_in_my_pants]

I think you meant "early adopters."

I heard once that people don't tend to throw their phones away, they keep them for some reason. Me, I give them to people as secret santa gifts.

Sanitation departments nationwide really need to take an initiative to institute pickup programs for electronics and batteries and shit. The sheer amount of stuff is not as bad as the chemicals and shit that are going into landfills.

dude i so know. when i recently moved all my stuff into storage i looked online for hours for a place i could recycle my electronics in nyc. i found several numbers and they were shocked i was even asking them for a drop off place. they have a place in cali that is open 24 hours, 7 days a week to drop stuff off, you can ship there to. they recycle all of the products into new, working items and give them to schools and charities...


i don't even have an ipod, let alone iphone. anyone have the new google phone? i want to get one or the other.

[wrinkle_in_my_pants]

i feel silly for asking but i would love to be able to have music on my phone and be able to check the internet and send emails with microsoft word attachments. i don't need games, but would gladly play them. any thoughts? then i could work from anywhere, without lugging around my laptop. that would be awesome! camera is not important because i am looking for a nice digi with video too.

also, does anyone know how to transfer my itunes files to mp3's?!? i uploaded hundreds of cd's to my computer. at first into media player, which saved the files as mp3s. then i just uploaded them to itunes, and they aren't saved as mp3's. wtf? i can't share music on this one site unless they are mp3s.

[Michael Blacklist]

also, does anyone know how to transfer my itunes files to mp3's?!? i uploaded hundreds of cd's to my computer. at first into media player, which saved the files as mp3s. then i just uploaded them to itunes, and they aren't saved as mp3's. wtf? i can't share music on this one site unless they are mp3s.

You can choose which format iTunes will import to in your preferences tab.

[wrinkle_in_my_pants]

is there a way to change them? i've already imported all of them. thanks for the info.

[isoS]

You can probably convert AACs to MP3, but I can't imagine they'll sound very good. (Or maybe it won't make a diff.)

[biloon]

I love my iphone...but it has developed a new highly irritating problem. Recently, it thinks that I have my headphones in when I don't. So that means, the volume doesn't work at all for anything. I found that you can fix it by putting in your headphones and taking them out however many times until it notes that the headphones aren't in use. I call this technique "fucking the jack." You can also blow into the jack nintendo cartridge style. That is a low-fi version of some people's solutions which is using compressed air. Last but not least, Popular Mechanics suggests taking one of the ends off a qtip, dipping it in rubbing alcohol and then cleaning out the jack that way.

THIS IS THE MOST ANNOYING FUCKING PROBLEM EVER.

why, steve jobs, why?

[AmericasMobileDevice]

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/how_to/4291585.html

Dust in Your iPhone? It's Time for a New One
The problem with gadgets that "don't have any parts" is that you can't fix even very minor problems. In his biweekly trends column, PM Senior Technology Editor Glenn Derene buys a new iPhone and destroys his old one—all in the name of a little pocket lint.

[ArtsyMcShitshimself]

I love my iphone...but it has developed a new highly irritating problem. Recently, it thinks that I have my headphones in when I don't. So that means, the volume doesn't work at all for anything. I found that you can fix it by putting in your headphones and taking them out however many times until it notes that the headphones aren't in use. I call this technique "fucking the jack." You can also blow into the jack nintendo cartridge style. That is a low-fi version of some people's solutions which is using compressed air. Last but not least, Popular Mechanics suggests taking one of the ends off a qtip, dipping it in rubbing alcohol and then cleaning out the jack that way.

THIS IS THE MOST ANNOYING FUCKING PROBLEM EVER.

why, steve jobs, why?

This bullshit keeps happening to me, too. Sometimes the opposite happens as well: headphones are in but iPhone thinks they are not!

I'm about to fuck this headphone jack like it's never been jack-fucked before!

[isoS]

I tried my damnedest to stay with Sprint (I actually like the look of the LG Lotus), but their family data plan is just as expensive as AT&T's iPhone plan, so why would I settle for their lineup of imitators and other clunky hardware when I could have what I really want for the same subscription price? I argued with a Sprint sales rep for about 20 minutes about this, then told her this is why they're losing a million subscribers a year and hung up. Seriously, if you're getting your ass kicked to the point of near-extinction by AT&T and Verizon, why not offer something they don't, namely cheaper plans (they claim to do this, but the price break is only at the high end of the plan chart, where you're an asshole for needing that much service and paying that much anyway). All I wanted was two lines, both with data and maybe 200 shared text messages for under $100 a month... Not possible. $130 is the cheapest family (2-line) plan, which is how much it costs to have 2 iPhones on one plan. Granted, you get some more minutes and texts with Sprint, but I don't need 'em -- I'd rather get less and pay less.

iPhone here I come... Excited about the phone, but annoyed at the prospect of AT&T.

Oh and I'm waiting until MacWorld, just in case they come with the 32GB and drop the price on the 16. (Or blow us away with some new shit no one's thought of -- EV-DO netbook tablet phone for Sprint?! Oh wait, that's just my dreams.)

[biloon]

This bullshit keeps happening to me, too. Sometimes the opposite happens as well: headphones are in but iPhone thinks they are not!

I'm about to fuck this headphone jack like it's never been jack-fucked before!

i brought my iphone to the genius bar at the apple store today to complain about my headphone issues.... and they GAVE ME A NEW ONE!!! hooooorayyyyy. merry christmas.

[isoS]

Two different case-makers are now listing an iPhone nano model -- one more and it's a legit rumor!

I'm not sure I want an iPhone nano, but I sure am curious what it would be. If anything, I'd think Apple would go the other way and offer a more expensive, higher-end "iPhone Pro" with physical keyboard, bigger screen and more capacity (as Gizmodo recently fantasized (http://gizmodo.com/5119445/the-dream-iphone-pro?skyline=true&s=x)). I just don't see how the iPhone could get smaller and still have the features that make it great (usable QWERTY touchscreen, 3rd party apps/games, mobile web browsing).

[Jouster]

As an iPhone owner, I agree - it doesn't need to and shouldn't be smaller. Oh, and iPhones? Yay.

[yumitree]

$99 refurb iphones from at&t; walmart iphone discount price? $2 off retail. (http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/where-to-find-a-99-iphone/?partner=rss&emc=rss)

[scottbox]

I recently replaced my old 8gb iPhone with a 16gb G3, sold my old one for $300 on eBay. The old ones are valuable because they can be unlocked. Of course, the new data plan is a little more expensive, but it's nice that I spent a grand total of $50 on a new iPhone.

[isoS]

The 3G has been unlocked now as well. iPhone Dev Team is releasing the code with GUI this week I think. This might be noteworthy in other countries, but here the only other GSM network is T-Mob. Which is like, why bother? They don't even have full 3G yet.

[sparkiepop]

From <a href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/01/02/find-the-hidden-menu-in-google-mobile-for-iphone/">downloadsquad</a>:

Google's iPhone app, Google Mobile, was already pretty handy with the addition of voice search, but it turns out that it's got more features than anybody realized. The Google Mobile team just blogged about an easter egg, a hidden menu in the app that enables some extra goodies. To find it, go to the settings tab in Google Mobile, and keep trying to scroll down below the "About" option at the bottom. Eventually, a menu called Bells and Whistles will appear.

So, what are these bells and whistles? Some of them are actually sounds: you can replace the default sounds with chicken or monkey noises. You can also change the color of the Google Mobile theme and see a live waveform when you talk. This is all kind of fun, but not that useful. Oh, but wait: the reason you really want to find this easter egg is the "open links in app" option. Some commentators argue that it should have been there in the first place, and I'm inclined to agree with them.
(http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/01/02/find-the-hidden-menu-in-google-mobile-for-iphone/)

[nathansmart]

what does the open links in app option do? I was hoping it would open the apps in the window (like gmail or chat) as opposed to opening up safari and going the web route.

[sparkiepop]

It opens websites in the Google Mobile application as opposed to Safari.

[nathansmart]

well, it didn't - so this year is off to a bad, bad start

[Mindyjoy]

Worked for me and now my Google menu is pink, as it should be. Thanks Sparkie! &hearts;