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- inactive, on 04/03/2008, -13/+64What's even more sad to me is the wave of denial that Apple haters bring down on articles like this. It used to be that it was the Apple and Amiga users that had a massive inferiority complex. Now, I can't read an article on the web that has the slightest bit of praise for Apple, without the posters accusing all the writers of Apple bias.
So you're going to be hearing a bunch of people declaring that touch screens have been around like, forever, dude, and stuff about Jeff Han (as if the haters knew Jeff Han before the iPhone motivated them to do a bit of research), and blah, blah, Apple sucks, man, no 3G, GPS, ha, ha, and yet, those same people still can't explain why all of these touch screens are happening NOW, instead of before the iPhone. And why do almost all the imitations have screens that look a lot like the iPhone? Not just a little, LOTS OF THEM are practically identical. - photohunter, on 04/03/2008, -4/+41Agreed. I'd much rather companies try new ideas of their own rather than give us poor-man's-iPhones. There are plenty of good products they could be making. Small ones. Ones with keyboards. Ones that do things the iPhone doesn't. Instead, its just "look at me, I'm like an iPhone, but you can use it on Sprint!"
- mattnyc99, on 04/03/2008, -2/+22Yeah, that's a pretty sad quote: "The Instinct, which is neither mind-blowing nor truly new (versions have existed in Korea) was probably the most prominent phone of the show—a fact that points to a larger trend (and one that spells trouble for handset manufacturers): When it comes to hardware, it's all quiet on the Western front. Whether it's a continued iPhone fallout, a recession-triggered fear of taking risks, or merely hard times for a maturing industry, the handset side is positively listless."
- WikiEasy, on 04/03/2008, -1/+18I used to think the iphone was just some gimmicky trendy phone that teenagers use. But after having used two Treos and an O2 Atom PDA, I'm now convinced that nothing even comes close to the iPhone in terms of ease of use.
And to those that just scream "fanboy" without even trying one for yourselves, you are exactly the ignorant stereotype that resists change and holds the world back. Just because it's a trendy product, don't discount its effectiveness. - tehbishop, on 04/03/2008, -4/+19Once iPhones come out with 3G, can talk to Exchange servers and get a better speakerphone, the party is over and iPhone will have won. Until then, those weaknesses are enough in the mainstream business realm to keep them back -- but only for so long. Microsoft has had time as have the others to come up with a good OS and so far nothing else has matched it. Not an iPhone fan, but the writing is on the wall.
- jnorris441, on 04/03/2008, -0/+15Listles: taste the rainbow
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…………| ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; - SpaceRibs, on 04/03/2008, -2/+10I thought the tilt interface was probably the last way I would want to navigate through a page.
- smacksaw, on 04/03/2008, -1/+9I think it's par for the course, really. I have an enV and it's clunky. Korean phones are like Korean cars - it has all the parts there, but no soul. I was at a car show today looking at some of Hyundai's new "luxury" cars, and while they have the wood trim and leather and all that garbage, they didn't feel right. The brake pedal was much higher than the gas pedal. All of the little things add up. This author is exactly right. They can't understand why the iPhone is great, only it's features. It's as if they copied it by the spec sheet instead of actually using it for a month.
Anyway, we had to get new phones for our other service. The choice was the LG Shine, the Motorola RAZR2 or the Sony K850i. Considering LG doesn't understand anything, Motorola is a company whose founder can't use a computer...we replaces W810is with K850is.
While the Sony may have less features than the iPhone, in the end I just wanted something that had a good interface, and the Sony does. I would have rather had an iPhone, but I'm enjoying videocalling instead. When the video iPhone comes out and uses HDSPA, that's what will excite me, but again, as the article only alluded to: the real excitement is the stuff under the hood, like fast internet. And it's fast. That's fun. - wellyuk, on 04/03/2008, -0/+7"Now they're back to their blackberries just like me."
Baaaaa! - inactive, on 04/03/2008, -3/+10That's the whole point, my friend. Why are the cell phone companies obsessed with touch screens all of a sudden and why do all the touch screens have buttons arranged exactly like the iPhone, with four favorites at the bottom? Come on, man, don't give that crap about 3G and GPS. What do you expect them to do? They want you to buy their phone instead of the iPhone, so the obvious thing is to offer a few things the iPhone doesn't have, but it's still copying.
- deadbaby, on 04/03/2008, -0/+7Apple completely blind sided the handset industry. It takes years, and considerable engineering talent, to develop something like the iPhone. Realistically Apple may have a 5+ year head start on some of these companies. They had a small window, before the price cut, before 3rd party apps, before 3G, to catch up but they blew it. The next problem they have to face is the impending flood of third party iPhone apps which will only be compatible with iPhones. So even if they produce a great hardware & software they will never be able to offer iPhone application compatibility or garner any interest from developers to support their platforms.
- ericdano, on 04/03/2008, -1/+8And? Isn't that more accurate than the stupid Instinct way? That looks totally stupid.
- raynevandunem, on 04/03/2008, -0/+7I think that among these phones - which, I agree, look alot like the iPhone - something should show up that can one-up Apple in terms of the user interface, as the iPhone's UI (candybars, gradients and all) has evidently become the current trend, if not a total, de facto standard for future smartphones.
The companies shouldn't just take what Apple has brought by simple face value; instead, they should
* look at where Apple has failed or fallen short with the iPhone
* pair the iPhone-like UIs with features and design qualities that aren't available with the iPhone
* find the least expensive paths toward trumping the iPhone's limitations
* capitalize and promote their mobiles on those features and design qualities that set them apart from the iPhone while still possessing most of iPhone's features.
More could, and needs to, be done. Otherwise, the mobile device industry could lag and stagnate in mediocrity, and will not address the demand for better hardware, better battery life, a better OS or more usable software applications. Apple's implementation shouldn't and doesn't have to be the be-all, end-all solution for mobile device form factors. - SirCrumpet, on 04/03/2008, -0/+7*cough* http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/29/nokias-iphone-n ... *cough*
- wellyuk, on 04/03/2008, -1/+8Yeah.. the touch screen, the ability to run Apache web server, php, ruby, python, perl, the ability to choose your own carrier (I use mine on Rogers Wireless, up here in Canada), connect to it using SSH, connect to IRC, connect to other machines using VNC, make beats using the BeatPhone drum machine, play NES games, play Playstation games on it (albeit limited games and not incredibly fast), view RSS feeds... to name a few abilities. Yeah... the touch screen and stuff.
- daEXpress, on 04/03/2008, -3/+9iPhone, FTW!
- themonkman, on 04/03/2008, -0/+6I agree that the big draw to the iPhone is it's simplicity in its UI. It's far better than Windows Mobile 6, and light years better than Palm. I'll be waiting for iPhone's Exchange support to come out before I get one, but I'm looking forward to having it as a smart phone. I don't need all the office applications; I have a laptop for that. I want a smartphone that can keep me in touch and on top of things. Full web, email, contacts, calendar, and Cisco compatible VPN if I need it. There is already remote desktop apps like RDM+ for the iPhone, so I can fix something on my servers from the road if I need to.
- wellyuk, on 04/03/2008, -1/+6No custom apps? I assume you've been in hiding for the past few months? The 2.0 firmware will apparently support Exchange Server (http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1246). But aside from that, it's doubtful the iPhone will take the business smartphone market because as you rightfully say, Apple has never been that corporate friendly. Who knows though, it remains to be seen, but take a look around the internet and you'll find custom applications for the iphone NOW (through the unofficial app installer) and custom applications around June time through the iTunes application store. Thought I'd bring you up to date as you've obviously not been on the internet for a while.
- Underbyte, on 04/03/2008, -1/+6Because sprint did the EXACT same thing when the razr came out. Sure, the blade was cool and sexy, but it wasnt innovative. It was a clone. And a buggy one at that.
This is par for the course with sprint. - BrendanSheehan, on 04/03/2008, -0/+5The user-interface on the iPhone is rock solid, and would not only be very very hard to copy [successfully], but it's built on top of OS X which has been in development for years. They didn't just make a phone, but they spent years [about 4] honing the OS X software to work "so perfectly" for finger input. I'm using my iPhone for nearly 5 months now, and the UI feels so fresh - still.
- luchid, on 04/03/2008, -0/+4Pinch-zoom is one of the best features. I can tell you've never even used an iPhone just because of that part of your comment. Pinching to zoom is so much more practical than having to press a key to get to the menu, then press another one several times until you get to the zoom option, the press OK, then press the up and down arrows until you get to the desired zoom level. Don't even get me started if you want to zoom back out. Painful browsing experience.
- troydoogle7, on 04/03/2008, -3/+7Phones were touch screen before iphone was announced. Just iphone did things way better.
He wasn't on a high horse just telling the truth. ps by an iphone from o2 and you could use it on tmobile within minutes of walking out of the shop. Just ask your nearest techie to unlock it for you - luchid, on 04/03/2008, -0/+4So all you have to say against the iPhone is the speaker volume, lack of voice dialiang (which never works, specially in noisy environments), and wireless syncing?
- coolbru, on 04/03/2008, -0/+4It's like Apple brought out the iPhone, and all the other phone manufacturers stood around with their mouths open going "*****". Then they try to catch up, and what are they all doing? More of the same old tired Symbian crap (why does it all look like turbo pascal?) on progressively smaller and less usable keyboards with terrible desktop integration. There has effectively been no innovation in mobile phones for the last 5 years or so - it's all just been more of the same - bigger screens, bigger memory, more megapixels, but nothing really changing, especially battery life.
Blackberry's days are numbered too. - rkho, on 04/03/2008, -1/+5Retard who listens to immature crap, hilarious.
http://digg.com/users/bsl4doc - frieddonuts, on 04/03/2008, -2/+5I am SO sick of the plain black, screen dominated design. Please, just make it white or something.
- super_spyder, on 04/03/2008, -0/+3I actually type significantly faster, and more accurately on my iPhone touch keyboard than I ever did on my Samsung i730 "real" keyboard.
- tobias1482, on 04/03/2008, -0/+3WTF? Are you serious? Did you read it or understand what the article was doing? It's a comparative review!
To review similar yet slightly different products you choose a baseline to compare it against. In this case, they chose the iPhone as the baseline because they were comparing usability and product interactivity across several different lines. You do the same thing with cars when comparing performance and handling. - fakekevinrose, on 04/03/2008, -3/+6My friends were truly blown away because of the amount of freedom that the iphone allows for its end user. the wisp like touch screen, the ability for you to choose your own carrie.... ummm the touch screen and stuff.
- kratsnitram, on 04/03/2008, -0/+3And it's still ten times better than any of the similarly priced, unlocked phones i've bought in the past in Singapore.
I can deal with the ringer. I know no one who uses voice dialing. I do agree that it would be nice to get my calendar updated wirelessly, but I'm patient there.
I'd rather wait on yearly updates than buy a new crappy phone every six months. - luchid, on 04/03/2008, -0/+3Yet still has a crappy OS, gimmicky functions, and shoddy software.
- wellyuk, on 04/04/2008, -0/+2You put "jailbroken" in quotes as if it's a difficult thing to do. It's a one button fix with any number of applications out there.
Even if it has to be jailbroken, I don't see many other smartphones with the same capabilities as the iphone - what other smartphone can run apache, php, ruby, mysql and a psx emulator? - swook, on 04/03/2008, -0/+2"What else did you expect from a huge company taking three years to develop a single phone?"
You say that like it's a bad thing. I wish more companies spent that long getting good product out, as opposed to shoving more crap down the pipe every three weeks. - migitalwarfare, on 04/04/2008, -0/+2i'll preface this with letting you know that i see zero reason for myself buying an iphone, and even i can tell you that their zoom function is a hell of a lot more useful than haptic. you want confirmation that your touch registered? how bout speeding up the software so it reacts in real time? i think it's about time people stop trying to nit-pick the iphone and concede that it's just a better phone than most offerings.
- BossKey, on 04/03/2008, -0/+2Of course, the problem with your "how to beat Apple" list is that Apple is doing the exact same thing.
Remember the iPod mini? It was the best-selling iPod. What did Apple do? Dump it for the iPod nano. This means that Apple is sensible (and ruthless) enough to do what many companies are afraid of doing: Out-innovate and cannibalize their own products...recognizing that if they don't do this, the alternative is that some other company will do it to them instead. - brownrecluse888, on 04/03/2008, -4/+6uhh....yeah....please save that comment when in two years apple owns the smart phone market just like they do the mp3 player market...the same people said the same things about the Ipod when it first came out....
- wellyuk, on 04/04/2008, -0/+2Sooooo.. how about naming those things that Apple continues to promise but doesn't deliver? I won't digg you down yet.
- wphj, on 04/03/2008, -0/+2Ask the next 10 people you see if they've heard of the iPhone, and then if they've heard of the Sony Xperia.
That's what I thought. - SteveMax, on 04/03/2008, -2/+4Four favourite buttons at the bottom was always the standard, even before there was "full-touchscreen". Look at older Palms for an example of a device with a large touchscreen and four (hardware) favourite buttons at the bottom.
Besides, with the width current phones use, more than three or four columns of buttons would be too much for people with big fingers (not a problem for stylus or hardware keyboards, of course). That's not "copying" anyone, it's just "using what works best". - migitalwarfare, on 04/04/2008, -0/+2no way dude, it's totally awesome to let the subway choose what you should be reading
- omjeremy, on 04/03/2008, -0/+2WHAT THE ***** ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
- coolbru, on 04/03/2008, -0/+2It struck me as ironic that on this page I got three ads for O2, pushing various different phones: SE 890i ("Personalise your phone"), Samsung G600 ("5MP camera", "now available in pink"). Doesn't this just underline the dull, stagnant nature of the market? No wonder Apple had no problem walking away with it.
- CamperBob, on 04/03/2008, -1/+3What's wrong with the speakerphone? I use it all the time.
- robdiggity, on 04/03/2008, -0/+2I'm sorry, but what they have done is actually smart, and good business. They have gone down-market with an experience similar to the iPhone. This is described in Christensen's & Raynor's book The Innovator's Solution as "less-for-less" or "low-end" disruptive innovation. You essentially re-aim the bulk of a popular product or service at the low margin market. There is a ton of money to be made here.
Before you knock the approach, consider Wal-Mart, Hyundai, even Honda got solid market footholds this way. - Tenoq, on 04/03/2008, -1/+3They couldn't live without, eh? There is a reason they call 'em crackberries. :p
- wellyuk, on 04/04/2008, -0/+11. Coming in version 2 of the firmware and confirmed.
2. It blatantly has a keyboard.
3. Yeah, that sucks.
4. As good as confirmed by the A T & T Mobility CEO (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/04/02/atandt-mobilit ...
5. Also sucks. Version 2 of the firmware maybe? I hope so. - luchid, on 04/03/2008, -3/+4Haptic feedback? Is that the gimmicky feature that makes some worthless vibration? Music and apps = iTunes and Installer.
- hansolo007, on 04/03/2008, -0/+1***** Cricket? SPAM
- inactive, on 04/03/2008, -13/+14What? A Gizmodo opinion that is pro-Apple? Stop the presses!
The last thing Apple wants is for the children of Gizmodo to come out favorably to them. -
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