iPhone Cool or Not?
13 June, 2007 — fmcleanThe release date of the iPhone in the US has been announced - June 29.
Photo from Apple
I have read a lot of articles complaining about the user interface but I think it looks pretty cool, and defiantly aimed at the young phone user market. The large icons on the screen would make it easy to navigate through the device but I haven’t seen any pics to show what sort of keyboard screen it has for text messaging. It has storage of 4GB or 8GB and also includes a 2 megapixel camera. It is a shame that it won’t be on the 3G network with its specs saying it is only 2.5G. Battery life is supposed to be about 5 hours with 16 hours standby and has Bluetooth and WiFi. As usual Apple have some neat ads and a gallery of images that can be viewed on their site. Looking at some of the images in their gallery you have to wonder if this will bite into their ipod market? Images show Album covers and songs playing on the iPhone. It looks like it will be about $600US. So if you want one device that plays music, takes photo’s and makes phone calls then this may be what you are after. Don’t know when it will be in Australia but I have no doubt it will soon be the new cool thing to have among teenagers.
Photo from Apple
13 June, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Ah, Apple, I loved you once and you broke my heart…like a flawed Dickensian character, you’ve grown from humble and honourable beginnings to a being of self-importance and disrespect…
The iPhone seems a bit too much like iCandy for me. For one thing, it’s crippled by DRM and they’re not allowing the development of third party applications for it either.
And in the US, they actually locked the phone to a specific network. Imagine buying a cool phone but then having to go with a nominated carrier! I doubt they’ll do the same here in Australia, but one never knows…
Plus, with all the features it has, one can only imagine that the limited battery life wouldn’t be sufficient to keep it ticking over long between charges.
Yay! Way to ruin everyone’s fun, James!
13 June, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Yeah Yeah but it is still so cute
We had the problem of a cool phone being locked to 3 network, it is a real pain. My daughter’s pre paid phone, so what do you do? When she wants a new one it will get binned. Not a good idea
14 June, 2007 at 6:18 pm
The iPhone keyboard is onscreen and text entry appears to be by touch. See: http://www.apple.com/iphone/phone/ and click on the “SMS” icon. I’ve seen a video of it somewhere too.
It’s due to be released in Australia end 2007 - mid 2008. I can’t find an official statement, but this post has some info.
I’m looking forward to it, I’m not too concerned about it being “locked” to a network. I seriously doubt that it would just be sold at the local Myer or Apple Store as iPods are sold. I haven’t found any other mobile phones for sale as standalone items ready for the SIM Card of any phone provider.
I currently use a Blackberry, and it has a Vodafone insignia on the casing as well as a Vodafone theme. While the theme can be changed, comparing the function on my phone to functions documented online for the same model - primarily spam / email filtering capabilities - it seems like the carrier has edited more than just the look and feel.
I could take my Blackberry to Optus or Telstra, but that won’t change the branding Vodafone have put on it.
With the iPhone, I’ve read that they’re not allowing branding on the actual device - so it seems you’ll just be locked into a carrier. Someone usually finds a way to subvert lock-ins and I’m sure we’d see this eventually.
I agree with the comment made on this site: “is this nothing more than garden-variety corporate maneuvering, the likes of which we have always had to contend with as customers?”