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iPhone Re-Reviewed by Gizmodo (Verdict: Don't Buy)

gizmodo.com — Apple's firmware wiped away the powerful apps that helped push the iPhone to greatness. With this, I'm going to have to move our recommendation from "Wait" to "Don't Buy". I'm done with this phone until the apps come back.

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  • mavantix, on 10/10/2007, -13/+203Indeed, the third party apps will keep me on v1.0.2 forever, so if they want my money for buying WiFi Tunes, they better start allowing 3rd party apps! How hard would it be to release an offical SDK and add an apps manager to iTunes anyway?
    • cbuddha42, on 10/10/2007, -4/+42Really, I know they think only their apps are perfect, but come on! open it up! Even if most 3rd party apps are crap, no one is going to blame you for that as long as they're not crap because of your crappy 3rd party support.
      • JonXP, on 10/10/2007, -4/+23Funny, the main cause of crashes on Windows, third party drivers, are still blamed on Microsoft.
        • EntropyMan, on 10/10/2007, -14/+2It's fair to blame MS for a poorly designed OS. If the OS could intelligently recover from and disable faulty drivers, people would rightly blame the driver writers.
          • rompom7, on 10/10/2007, -1/+9Ugh.. It does recover from and disable faulty drivers automatically...
          • EntropyMan, on 10/10/2007, -5/+1@rompom, if it did, then the machine wouldn't hang. If the machine is hanging due to faulty drivers, then the OS is clearly not recovering. Unless you think rebooting into safe mode is a form of intelligent recovery?

            Any how many of the people digging me down have any knowledge of modern kernel design and are just MS fanboys?
          • gungaroo22, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4Code an operating system. Tell me how easy this is to implement. Thanks.
    • edcrosay, on 10/10/2007, -2/+22I will only "upgrade" to 1.1.1 when the dev community finds a way to hack it. I don't use the third party apps that much, but I absolutely love summerboard and all the themes available.
      • ghindo, on 10/10/2007, -4/+8Anything is hackable, and is usually done within six months or so. Apple is fighting a losing battle.
    • Scruffydan, on 10/10/2007, -4/+39sounds like what sony does with the PSP. each new firmware upgrade breaks the all the cool stuff
      • sadilak, on 10/10/2007, -2/+13But you dont pay $399 for the PSP. It costs $169 and moreover, the third party support for the PSP is pretty good and of late.
        • sadilak, on 10/10/2007, -10/+9Submitted the earler comment by accident.
          What I meant to say is that now we realize the true intentions of Steve Jobs. He is just screwing us over and over. I thank Bill G for putting this 2 faced rat in his place. I wanted to get the IPhone, but am gonna wait for a good version of Open Moko or Zune 2.
          • kraniac, on 10/10/2007, -8/+1Sorry, I didn't mean to bury your comment! I didn't realize the sarcasm in mentioning the Zune until it was too late.
      • mabhatter, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7the PSP resets the entire system to "factory fresh." it doesn't brick it so you can't use it.
    • turpenine, on 10/10/2007, -4/+31I was going to buy one next week at the apple store, but now that they disabled all the cool things I could have done with it, I am not going to be picking one up and will be getting a free phone instead.
      • lharrod, on 10/10/2007, -14/+6You guys are all big babies, as if the iPhone without the 3rd party stuff is not worthy. My last phone didn't have any of the stuff on the iPhone. So what, I can't play Mario Bros. on it atm? It's still a sweet phone.
        • drouk1556, on 10/10/2007, -3/+10Your last phone must have been a terrible phone. Even the behemoth Windows Mobile platform is 3rd party application friendly.
        • crazybrit, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11How the ***** is Windows Mobile a "behemoth"?
      • zdiggler, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5you mean Cute phone.
    • superkendall, on 10/10/2007, -17/+14Actually releasing and supporting an SDK is a huge amount of work for a company - some of the SPI's are there to be sure but making them consumable for the public, and documenting them properly for outside use is a great deal of work!

      I still think something like that will come sometime after Leopard, but I can easily see why they would delay doing so until they had some resources free to work on making an SDK right.
      • lharrod, on 10/10/2007, -7/+8Finally, someone with intelligence and a clear view of what may lie ahead. Everyone else is crying like little brats because they can't hack or break or steal whatever they want. Welcome back to the real world, where you either buy a product or not.
        • avihappy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5STEAL? It's not like they didn't BUY the iPhone! Once you buy the thing, it's yours, not Apple's.
      • Yarnage, on 10/10/2007, -3/+9You guys are absolute morons. It's insanely easy to develop an SDK. You're basically exposing methods and objects that weren't normally available to you.

        All major cell phone makers do this with some exceptions (and even then, you can usually get one for a commercial app).

        Besides, Apple HAS to already have an SDK since they developed so many apps for the iPhone. If they don't... well that means they didn't make everything modular and it's heavily tied into or built into the OS, which is just stupid.
    • Ireland, on 10/10/2007, -6/+20We'll give them until Macworld, if they don't announce an SDK by then, then shame on them.
      • SuperJimmyJimbo, on 10/10/2007, -10/+4yeah...stick it to the man!
      • digitalarcanum, on 10/10/2007, -3/+7Shame on them? SHAME ON THEM?!?!? What the *****? are you some sort of pansy?!? Try to look at this from my point of view. You bought a 600 dollar phone. Developers worked hard and made their own system of working with the phone without Apple's help. As a result you have dozens upon dozens of third party applications. Apple releases a patch and ***** EVERYTHING up. You believed in this company, they ***** you in the ass to give Steve Jobs some more designer jeans, and all you're gonna say is shame on them?

        Let's not even get into 'if microsoft made this cell phone and ***** up this badly' argument, because I'm sure if I did, there would be crucified bodies at the end of it.
    • Ben174, on 10/10/2007, -22/+17What people don't seem to understand is, Apple didn't take any further measures to lock out third party apps. They simply released a new firmware. Since the installer app isn't compatible with the new firmware (yet), the repository doesn't work. We knew this would happen, and knew we'd simply just not update our iPhones until the installer plays catch up. I wouldn't expect it to be more than a couple days. Why does everybody seem so surprised?
      • dearreid, on 10/10/2007, -1/+17I don't think that's true... Ambrosia stated today that they've added signing and encryption to the firmware, making it much more difficult, if not impossible, to hack into.
      • mabhatter, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3people would assume any new software would be like the PSP or other systems that simply resets the system to "factory fresh". sure you might loose whatever hacks, but not make it so you can't use the device or have the device firmware fixed. That's malicious.
    • joestump, on 10/10/2007, -12/+19I'm sorry, but *none* of the 3rd party applications are really all that compelling. The NES emulator lacks tactile feedback, the IM apps are all buggy as hell, the RSS reader absolutely sucks donkey nuts, etc. The only remotely usable application I found was the one that dropped my location onto the Google app, which I only used to wow my friends. Also, they're all buggy as hell. That being said, I completely agree that Apple should open it up to third party developers, provide a proper SDK, documentation, etc.
      • diggumjonez, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11I'll come out and say that I'm amazingly impressed with the quality of these applications for a platform that is completely undocumented and actively hindering 3rd party development. So NES is not everything you hoped. Other games have progressed very well. The "remotely usable" app you refer to is the most annoying one in my opinion as I can't get the thumbtack out of google maps now.

        SDK, documentation, and support would make third party development succeed at lightspeed. suddenly the iPhone could go from beautiful but functionally difficult device to full blown PDA and handheld computer.
      • celeronxl, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2The new Apollo IM works quite well now, actually.
      • estvir, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Let's see you have to hack a product and have a quality app out the door so quickly.

        Give it time, in a few months you'll regret saying that and apps like Apollo IM are already showing great improvement.
      • Lawr, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1umm, WRONG.
      • tsunamisteve, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2If nothing else, be impressed by the sheer brilliance of Installer.app in bringing EXTREMELY easy updating to a complete community of apps.

        (holding on to 1.0.2)
    • S1ngular1ty1, on 10/10/2007, -1/+29Why is everyone updating their firmware? You don't have to.
    • diggingaround, on 10/10/2007, -6/+16"LEAVE APPLE ALONE! (NOW)" ...... coming soon on YouTube near you.
      • Inferny, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4They should revive Microsoft Bob to do that one. Or maybe Kevin Rose.
        "Leave Apple alone, they're only a company locking you in tightly to their products so you don't have any free choice!"
    • insomniac8400, on 10/10/2007, -2/+11They want you to buy a newton, than a few months later the newton phone, than a few months later the newton phone with a new hat.
  • lobasuu, on 10/10/2007, -56/+10Everyone, PLEASE digg this up! Last time when we cried out, Apple actually took notice and gave us 100$ store credit.
    Maybe, if we moan enough, they will come to their senses and allow all those friggin awsome 3rd-party-apps!
    • dweeb79, on 10/10/2007, -13/+52In all fairness I have a feeling Steve Jobs planned on offering a $100 credit from the get go. The reason why is because he looks like a good guy for giving a $100 back, however in reality he gets $100 more dollars from people because its almost impossible to find anything cheap in the Apple store.

      People who love Apple are just like women who keep going back to their boyfriends/husbands who beat them. Apple just takes and takes while never really giving anything to their consumers.
      • HayString, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4lol, you compared apple to women beaters
        • AdHaR, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3And that is a correct comparison in the context he put up.
    • gumbright, on 10/10/2007, -6/+28Really, get a grip. It wasn't digg that did it. Clicking the little 'digg' button accomplishes as much as praying to a diety.
      It was people calling/writing/emailing Apple that did it. And Jobs probably already had it as a contingency when they dropped the price.
      • bobblender, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0apple thread, bring up atheism. microsoft thread, bring up apple. atheism thread, bring up zune
    • IllBeBack, on 10/10/2007, -2/+65If you believe that Digg can do anything beyond temporarily bringing down weak web servers, you're delusional.
    • bekind, on 10/10/2007, -11/+30I'm guessing 96% of iPhone owners have no idea what 3rd party applications are or why they would want them or how they would install them. iPhone is an amazing phone without 3rd party apps.
      • Spuy767, on 10/10/2007, -3/+13Sadly, I would bet that you will be buried. Digg users fail to realize that readers of Digg, Engadget, Gizmodo, and Etc. are not anything close to a cross section of society, and that most people who bought the iPhone probably haven't done a thing to it and like it just fine.
      • 13thKid, on 10/10/2007, -3/+6i'm with you, bekind. "But more importantly, Apple wiped away the powerful programs that helped push the iPhone to greatness." really? i think the opening day sales alone can attest to the fact that the iPhone pushed itself to greatness by revolutionizing the feild portable electronics. 3rd party apps are great, but wonder how many people decided against buying an iPhone because it didn't support 3rd party apps, compared the number of iPhones sold.
        • senatorpjt, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I decided to buy an iPhone after I saw it had been made to run 3rd party apps in a satisfactory way. I'm just glad I picked it up a couple days before 1.1.1 came out. I won't be upgrading it, until either the 1.1.1 firmware is cracked, or people stop developing apps for 1.0.2.
    • skyscape, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2If iPhone screwes bad with public, its going to look bad on Leopard OSx. Because now people have learned that Closed System reeeeeeaaaallly sucks. Closed System has always received praises from fanboys, but now that it hit the masses, the masses are coming to a conclusion dont buy. Today they are saying dont buy iphone, tomorrow they will say dont buy mac.
  • jeremy151, on 10/10/2007, -31/+70Really, this move by Apple is ricockulous. Take a clue from the mistakes of Sony, IBM, or *****, Apple vs. PC in the late 80's / early 90's. People want freedom of choice in their products.
    • kermatron, on 10/10/2007, -3/+59thumbs up for showing me the word ricockulous.
      • avatarpalin, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Oxford and Britannia have bee informed... oh yes



    • TotalHalibut, on 10/10/2007, -12/+3Now there's a froidian slip if I ever heard one.
      • homerang, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5sp.^
        • mbthompson, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Indeed! Sigumund Freud (hence Freudian), not FROID! Froid just makes me want to shout "Froin Leben!"
    • thetanman, on 10/10/2007, -3/+18Another thumbs up for teaching me "ricockulous."
      • IEatHamburgers, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4What, none of you have ever watched Diggnation?
      • lharrod, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7Adam Corolla was using this term for years on "Love Line" before Digg was even an idea.
        • mbthompson, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Including the phrase "You're gay."
      • potifar, on 10/10/2007, -5/+4thetanman; -1, Redundant
    • jbella, on 10/10/2007, -8/+5And by "people" you mean geeks like you that form a very vocal minority.

      The other day my dad said to me "I heard the iPhone has been cracked."
      I said, "Yup. Looks like it. Do you know what that means?"
      "No. What does that mean?"
      "It means you can switch to t-mobile if you wanted to."
      "Why would I want to switch to t-mobile?"

      Most people dont give a rats ass about freedom of choice in their products. Most people are looking for a phone that provides them with a great user experience.
      • senatorpjt, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Maybe if you said "It lets you add programs on the phone" it would seem more useful.
    • Meatetarian, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2Dugg for being the first I've seen online using that word. I use it daily. lessthanthree.
    • prezzy, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1He's just hiding the fact he doesn't know how to spell ridiculous http://www.r-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s.com/
  • mjoshi, on 10/10/2007, -32/+242Why would someone buy crap from iTunes when you've DRM free alternative from Amazon at cheaper price ?
    • stukdog, on 10/10/2007, -7/+67I don't buy crap from anyone. I make my own.
      • estvir, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Gentlemen, here is a real man, you can all learn much from stukdog.
    • bekind, on 10/10/2007, -28/+8Because itunes makes it very easy to buy and download (iTunes Wifi store). That's worth the extra ten cents to me.
      • eviltandem, on 10/10/2007, -4/+22It also makes it very easy to ensure you can never leave the apple platform. Unless you do as Apple tells you with that iPhone you will not be able to use any of that content.

        I'm sorry, but paying actual money for DRM'd content is for people who can't see but 5 seconds in front of their face... Someday something will change... and you'll have to buy it all over again.
        • MacParrot, on 10/10/2007, -3/+9Burn it from your own CDs, buy DRM-free content from EMI, take the ones that ARE DRMed and re-import. All methods of moving your content from any Apple device and putting it on something else...next.
          • amfantasy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7I'm not hacking around apple's bs, just give my drm-free songs.
        • JoeDiggsIt, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I'm being completely honest when I say I've never once had a problem with DRM. I'm not for it but I'm just saying.
      • AmazingAndrex, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Except DRM-free iTunes songs aren't just $0.10 more, it can range from $0.30 to $0.40, which is a big load of bullsh**.
        • mbthompson, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1As opposed to a load of crap.*

          *see stukdog above for more info
      • zybch, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Um bekind, you do realize that if you use Amazon's own downloader it not only downloads the songs for you but even imports them into itunes.
    • superkendall, on 10/10/2007, -14/+7The iTunes Plus music is also DRM free - and while it's a little more, it's easier to buy some music when someone has just told you the name of an artist or a song you might want.
      • zybch, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Its a LOT more, and pretty much the same quality as amazon's standard tracks but with extra crap including personally identifyable info so you can be tracked if you ever make a copy of any tracks and it gets out on the net.
    • cleverboy, on 10/10/2007, -3/+27It's funny. The music industry is playing chess, and some people seem so pleased with themselves to be pawns.
      • mbthompson, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Now THAT was profound. Excellent, and dugg.
      • geoken, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I think of it more like voting. If the music industry produces a solution that pleases me, I'll vote with my wallet.
    • jbella, on 10/10/2007, -5/+14Because iTunes is easier.
      I asked some of my friends, who have bought a lot of stuff from iTunes, if they were excited about being able to buy DRM free music from iTunes. I was surprised to find that they really didn't care about DRM. The realization that I came to is that for 99% of the music buying public, Apple's DRM scheme is totally invisible. They can play their music on all their computers, and on all their ipods. They can make mix cds, and use the songs in their home movies. For them DRM free music is close to meaningless.
      • bacon_skoda, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5very meaningless as long as ipods rule the world.
        why would people need DRM-free? to put on their zune? their RCA Lyras? come on people.
      • meik, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1Well, DRM sucks, I downloaded a song from itunes on my other computer and moved it to my macbook. My macbook won't transfer the song onto my ipod because its not, "authorized to play on this computer." I was so pissed. From that point on, I never bought anything from itunes, with the exception of itunes plus.
        • HolyChimp, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4iTunes -> Store -> Authorize Computer.

          Problem Solved. You can authorize up to 5. Make sure you De-authorize if you ever wipe it though.
        • jonahan52, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Or double click on the song and it will ask your password for the iTunes store type it in and you're all set. Yep that was hard.
    • mabhatter, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1because the labels didn't start selling to Amazon except to punish Apple iTunes for being successful.
      • geoken, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Who cares why they did it. If their internal power struggles benifit me everything else is irrelevant.
    • darkism, on 10/10/2007, -3/+7"Why would someone buy crap from iTunes when you've DRM free alternative from BitTorrent/Usenet/IRC at no price?"

      Fixed.
      • reddikilowatt, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1For the same reason your employer might be interested in sending your job overseas.
  • MikeyisaFag, on 10/10/2007, -30/+17Don't get me wrong, I love the iPhone and want third party apps as much as anyone else, I also understand this dilemma has upset quite a few of us, but to completely disregard the rest of the awesome features and go back on your own statement is kinda childish. Third party apps will come, I'm sure of it, but whining and pouting isn't going to get them to us faster.
    • acarr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12"but whining and pouting isn't going to get them to us faster."
      Actually it probably will. Don't underestimate the power of public opinion.
    • eviltandem, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6They aren't "disregarding" the rest of the features. They are saying that without the 3rd party tools it's a sub-par several hundred dollar pda phone. You seem to think "swishes menus around" is a feature lots of people need on a phone. They don't. They want ebooks and a whole slew of things that apple won't ever be able to create by themselves.

      That huge list of X's on that list can easily be done by almost every other pda phone on the market. I have a sprint pda phone I bought 3 years ago that can do everything on that list. They switched it to "do not buy" because it's a poor pda phone.
    • geoken, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1How is giving logical reasons for disliking a product 'whining' or 'pouting'? It seems nowdays that any time someone make a negative comment about something, someone who supports that thing will label the comment as 'whining', 'crying', 'pouting', etc.

      If you read the article they offered a pretty reasonable explanation for their change of heart. I'll paraphrase in case you missed it. Basically, their initial "wait" recomendation was based on the phones potential once apps started arriving. Apart from wiping out those apps, Apple's recent actions have sent a loud and clear message as to how tolerant they will be of third party apps. Where Giz initially assumed Apple would allow these third party apps to exist, albeit unsupported, they now realized that it won't be that easy.
  • robalesi, on 10/10/2007, -16/+179Apple... We love you... We want to keep loving you. Please don't shoot yourself in the foot. Don't you understand your biggest resource is your rabid fanbase? Why alienate us by making it feel like we've leased a car and still have to follow a set of archaic rules. I understand the need to fight unlocking, but why on earth would you cripple 3rd party apps? What exactly are you afraid of?
    • eviltandem, on 10/10/2007, -3/+33heheh... methinks what apple fears most is market share...
    • theprez, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6VoIP.
      • mrraven200, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Yep iphone or even better ipod touch + voip equal just as good as cell for me for literally thousands less
    • potifar, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7In the EU, it's illegal for handset providers to intentionally "fight unlocking". The customer is free to choose whichever service provider he pleases. Is it legal to tie your customers down like this in the US?
      • avihappy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Well, by the looks of things, I guess so.
    • diggingaround, on 10/10/2007, -8/+1robalesi.... your post reminds me on YouTube video "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE! - CHRIS CROCKER" :)))
    • Ansible, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I haven't loved apple since they killed power computing and the other clone makers in the 90s. Apple feels most comfortable in a noncompetitive environment, after all its competitors have been comfortably eliminated. Yep, a nice comfortable noncompetitive environment they totally own and control.
  • Pingspike, on 10/10/2007, -23/+13Hypocrites.
    Why are they whining about something that didn't shock them and they fully expected to happen?
    It'll get re-hacked, damn, just be patient. Whiny bitches.
    • Exec, on 10/10/2007, -2/+12The point is, we should not be force to hack it. Apple should offer a dev kit to bring the iphone to its full potential. I for one will not update my Iphone to the new firmware. The "privilege" of giving my money to Apple while on the go (itunes Wi-fi store) is just not worth it when compared to the myriad of applications available thru third party software.
    • zeeky, on 10/10/2007, -4/+3what the hell??? sure, we expected it to happen, but you see, apple is being mean to their users. which is really dumb... there is no motivation for apple to lock up the iphone again other than pure cocky pride in thier own stable apps. steve has to realize he didn't invent web 2.0, and that the reason all the apps on the iphone were made was because ajax wouldn't suffice. youtube.com is so web 2.0 yet it doesnt work in safari, so they made a NATIVE app. google maps doesnt work ***** in safari so they made another NATIVE app. so we don't get to make native apps, too? i want a NES emulator or some cool games!!! javascript could NEVER do that, so we made native apps.

      ***** steve jobs. i've been a loyal customer for 5 years, but this lock-down ***** is pissing me off.

      wheeeee
      • lharrod, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Apple is not being mean to its users. They ruffling the feathers of some hardcore nerds (i.e. YOU) that only make up a small portion of their target audience. Just because you like hacking and tinkering with your ***** doesn't mean we all do. Grow up.
  • camknows, on 10/10/2007, -7/+126George Michael: Can you afford to skip work?
    Michael: I think the president of a “Don’t Buy” company can afford to take a day off.
    George Michael: We’re up from “Sell”? It’s happening, isn’t it?
    Michael: It’s really happening.
    • BillyK, on 10/10/2007, -5/+44Funniest. Show. Evar.
    • m0d0, on 10/10/2007, -2/+26AGREED!
    • Spuy767, on 10/10/2007, -3/+39So sad that it was taken off the air because middle america wasn't smart enough to get the jokes.
      • bunker6, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14And now we are graced with such shows as "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" and more shows that involve people trying to sing.
      • MSea85, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4it's not middle america, it's the southeast with the crappy education. get your insults right at least.
        • lharrod, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4No, he's right, it's Middle America, meaning middle-class America, not geographically in the middle.
        • agaudet, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2I'm middle to lower class and I still get the show, Just because your middle class does not mean you cannot think.
          There are fat lazy stupid people all over.
    • LeonardNimrod, on 10/10/2007, -0/+27A show too smart for the typical sitcom audience.
    • roflsd, on 10/10/2007, -4/+7Uh... I don't watch TV. What show is this from?
    • stanleypoodle, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6How could Arrested Development have been canceled if 112 people have dug such an oblique reference in under 11 hours? Fox, you screwed up royally.
  • mrfreeziexp, on 10/10/2007, -12/+21Forgive me for being ignorant, but what are some good 3rd party apps that would keep you from updating? I didn't know anything worthwhile had been released for the iPhone.
    • soumenb, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Check this: http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:www.modmyiphon ...
      The original page is not opening.
    • bpapa, on 10/10/2007, -15/+3There aren't any, they are all stupid things that will be rendered useless anyway. There are a million cool things to do out the box already. Why risk the brick?
    • zeeky, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6tap tap revolution
      nes emulator
      custom sound/interface themes
      web server
      ..........
      • rudy23, on 10/13/2007, -1/+6web server is the most rediculous app on an iphone i have heard of all day. yeah you can do it but seriously wtf???? dont you wanna get laid or something
    • ericdigg, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9The point is no one can build a perfect product and everyone's usage pattern is different. Allowing others to extend and customize is what makes a great product shine.
    • phinn, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3The apps currently out are awesome. The IM client, NES emulator, file browser, AppTap installer, the awesome theme manager, etc.

      And even more important is that they would get a LOT better if Apple would take their heads out of their asses and allow 3rd party apps to be enabled per default. Then you would see awesome stuff come out, including commercial products.
    • trouble916, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7If you're not just trolling, here's a couple of apps I use:
      1. VNotes voice recorder - I am a stand-up comedian and have always recorded funny snippets as they come to me.
      2. Apollo IM - Obviously IM should have been included by Apple, but even if they did it would likely be .mac only. I need AIM, Yahoo, and Jabber (Google)
      3. MobileToDoList - Again, something Apple should have included... ideally syncing with several sources, but at least with 3rd party apps I can put all my honey-do's in there.

      Agreed many of the apps are just gimmicks or games or demonstrations right now... but I think my uses are pretty reasonable and appropriate for a smart phone. Other things like the flickr uploader are also very valid uses for the phone.
    • lharrod, on 10/10/2007, -8/+2I agree. No worthwhile has been released for the iPhone, nothing worth all this moaning and groaning and people swearing to never buy Apple products again. Everyone needs to get a life. Get out of your mom's basement, go outside, and get some fresh air.
    • aerogant, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1It depends on what you need and want to do, to some people it's worth it and to others it's only a matter of time before something comes out and makes it worth it... For me there are a lot of useful apps already for it, like for example, some one released a pedometer, some one came out with an app that will help you split bills when you and your friends go out to eat together, there is a tool if you want to sync to multiple computers and not wipe out your music, there are a number of games you can play if you are waiting for something (games are a huge thing that apple never seems to get). I mean there are more and more apps that keep showing up adding value to the iphone, I can only imagine them getting better with time. I was seriously thinking of getting the tool chain and start playing with it myself. For me when I bought the phone I was skeptical and thought I may have wasted my money, but after playing with the apps it doesn't seem so bad anymore, but that is me.
    • Hamletlere, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2My favorite third party app is Books, an eBook reader. As I have about 150 eBooks (now converted to HTML format), this allows my iPhone to replace my old Palm PDA. I also enjoy the Lights Off game, the Apollo IM client, a terminal application (and associated OpenSSH client and server program), and Sudoku.

      I have absolutely no plans to upgrade to 1.1.1 unless 3rd party apps are allowed onto it.
  • Vazelos, on 10/10/2007, -6/+48The fact of the matter is that Apple acted like a true, short-term, money-hungry multinational with the iPhone. I don't mind the money-hungry, it is expected but I do mind the short-term. End of.
    • h3smith, on 10/10/2007, -13/+8jesus you idiots, they are a multionational company

      THEIR OBJECTIVE IS TO MAKE MONEY

      If they determined this was the way to make the most money, pissing off a few people that care enough to "hack" their phone then they will. If the money was in letting them hack the phone, they would do that.

      Simple.
      • Vazelos, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Read my comment again
      • phaseblue, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Yeah, and their public image is to do it without being as monopolistic as their competitor.
      • eviltandem, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Just like they did with those slick apple computers :P

        Say what you want, but apple is not exactly notorious for it's open arms approach to 3rd party developers. I really think this goes to show that the whole Ipod phenominon was simply a mistake on their part. They accidentally stumbled on a huge market. Not to fear, their arrogance and shunning of 3rd party developers will ensure this never becomes the standard in the long run.
    • zeeky, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2please explain to me, how does breaking all 3rd party apps make them any money at all???
      • Vazelos, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4They changed the mobile phone market when providers agreed to share calls profits with them, what says they won't ask 3rd pary aps developers for money to allow them to have apps for the iPhone?
  • soumenb, on 10/10/2007, -5/+20I sincerely hope Apple will understand its mistake. Now I understand the deal between Apple and AT&T, and that Apple could not sit still while the phone was being unlocked. But (semi) bricking it with an update? That is unacceptable. I am going to keep mine with 1.0.2 till the great guys at the dev team come out with their solution. Anyway I do not see much value addition to 1.1.1 that would compel anyone to let go of the third party apps. I would request all fans of the third party apps to keep their phone at 1.0.2. At least that might send a message to Apple.
    • sagefool1975, on 10/10/2007, -6/+3What mistake is that? I hope you mean not officially supporting third party apps. Because expecting Apple to not release firmware updates is pretty stupid and given the way that third party support has been hacked into it, it's not surprising that a firmware update would (semi) brick the phone.

      For the car reference: it's like you bought a car and stuck on a body kit and the manufacturer updates the cars design to be better and gives you a new one and you are upset your body kit no longer fits and can't be bothered to wait till someone makes an adapter that gets it on there. I wish I had that problem buying cars. ;)
      • JTMON, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2"For the car reference: it's like you bought a car and stuck on a body kit and the manufacturer updates the cars design to be better and gives you a new one and you are upset your body kit no longer fits and can't be bothered to wait till someone makes an adapter that gets it on there. I wish I had that problem buying cars. ;)"

        No, Fool, it's more like they update your car with new code for the onboard computer and that makes the entire car stop working including crap that has NOTHING to do with it like the normal apps that come pre-installed on it..they no longer work because it's stuck in activation limbo..yeah, next time the dealer does something to your engine and your trunk stops opening then you'll get it.
        • reddikilowatt, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Or you want to put an aftermarket stereo in your GM car, but find out that it is a kludge of an experience where you have to keep the stock stereo installed because the car won't run without it.
      • JTMON, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1"For the car reference: it's like you bought a car and stuck on a body kit and the manufacturer updates the cars design to be better and gives you a new one and you are upset your body kit no longer fits and can't be bothered to wait till someone makes an adapter that gets it on there. I wish I had that problem buying cars. ;)"

        No, Fool, it's more like they update your car with new code for the onboard computer and that makes the entire car stop working including crap that has NOTHING to do with it like the normal apps that come pre-installed on it..they no longer work because it's stuck in activation limbo..yeah, next time the dealer does something to your engine and your trunk stops opening then you'll get it.
      • JTMON, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1"For the car reference: it's like you bought a car and stuck on a body kit and the manufacturer updates the cars design to be better and gives you a new one and you are upset your body kit no longer fits and can't be bothered to wait till someone makes an adapter that gets it on there. I wish I had that problem buying cars. ;)"

        No, Fool, it's more like they update your car with new code for the onboard computer and that makes the entire car stop working including crap that has NOTHING to do with it like the normal apps that come pre-installed on it..they no longer work because it's stuck in activation limbo..yeah, next time the dealer does something to your engine and your trunk stops opening then you'll get it.
      • JTMON, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1"For the car reference: it's like you bought a car and stuck on a body kit and the manufacturer updates the cars design to be better and gives you a new one and you are upset your body kit no longer fits and can't be bothered to wait till someone makes an adapter that gets it on there. I wish I had that problem buying cars. ;)"

        No, Fool, it's more like they update your car with new code for the onboard computer and that makes the entire car stop working including crap that has NOTHING to do with it like the normal apps that come pre-installed on it..they no longer work because it's stuck in activation limbo..yeah, next time the dealer does something to your engine and your trunk stops opening then you'll get it.
      • avihappy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2They make update to Mac OS X don't they? I have not had all my non apple apps erased have I? Why not the same with iPhones?
    • zeeky, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7you know, they dont have to officially support 3rd party apps in order to please us. they just have to stop breaking them on purpose... is there any reason why they want to keep it locked down?
      • BadAsh71, on 10/10/2007, -7/+2If by "breaking them on purpose" you mean actively seeking to fix Security Vulnerabilities in their software then yes, they did do this on purpose and with every right to do so. Remember, all those 3rd Party Applications and SIIM Hacks were made possible due to a Security Vulnerability in the iPhone's System Software.

        To be honest, I'm laughing my a$$ off right now because my dumb s#it ex-boss bought an iPhone to use as an iPod because it had a Camera on it and the iPod Touch doesn't... so now he has an expensive paper-weight. This is great :-)

        Sorry, just had to poke fun at my old boss there :-)
    • sostoudt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2u now i dont use macs but i understood why ppl because apple seems to care about its customers with the mac geniuses and such, well that was until the iphone and they bent them over and ***** them in ass. revolutionized the phone yeah right. its not a revolution if no body can customize it with third party apps
  • FreakyD, on 10/10/2007, -17/+7It DOES blend

    http://www.willitblend.com/videos.aspx?type=unsafe ...
    • TypeEE, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5The blending site is so last year. Move on.
  • jthomp, on 10/10/2007, -33/+31Ridiculous. Buried. 3rd Party Apps will return soon, just watch.
    • method77, on 10/10/2007, -2/+25that's not the point
    • phaseblue, on 10/10/2007, -2/+14The point is the ridiculous back and forth this is leading to
    • demodawid, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5As a PSP homebrew user (and lover) I perfectly understand What this feels like for iPhone users. Sony has been blocking homebrew with every firmware update since the beginning... but it's been cracked over and over and over again. All it takes is an enthusiastic and active community and some talented coders willing to please this community. The iPhone has this, so I'm sure it will get as far as the PSP's homebrew community has gone. Wait and see.
    • sostoudt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2yea u say that now but if everybody was like u and nobody bitched than the corporations would definitely ***** us over
  • signal15, on 10/10/2007, -6/+14I'm giving it a couple of weeks to get the unlock and 3rd party apps working again on the new firmware. If there's nothing by then I'm going to Ebay my iPhone and go back to my Pearl.
  • JohnnyKdiggs, on 10/10/2007, -17/+48Apple has finally done what it has set out to do all these years, become the new Microsoft.
    • ericdigg, on 10/10/2007, -13/+1and it will never be.
      • geekee, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Apple is much worse than MS in terms of closed systems.
    • Ravatar, on 10/10/2007, -0/+16Last I checked, Microsoft doesn't break my 3rd party apps every 3 months. (it's usually every 5 years)
    • sostoudt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5there worse aleast i can load whatever the ***** i want on to a pc
  • Motobike_man, on 10/10/2007, -21/+14You can't violate your user agreement and expect Apple to continue to provide you new features and bug fixes.
    http://digg.com/apple/Who_broke_up_with_who_now
  • kethraal, on 10/10/2007, -36/+111***** APPLE.

    I mean really... not maintaining compatibility with unofficial third party application, coded against a reverse-engineered, private, internal API for which they made no promise of support, and deliberately tried to prevent the use of.

    ***** them. I gonna buy a Verizon RAZR instead.
    • Nougat, on 10/10/2007, -9/+19Don't bury him just because he forgot the /sarcasm tag.
    • AvidPreatorian, on 10/10/2007, -14/+7HAHA have fun with the razor. even without third party apps (which i miss), this phone is far more than anything else out there. and i know phones. go get that razor, my baby sister has one that's pink, what's your color?
      • rudy23, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3go fix your sarcasm detector first.
      • tnoy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2The iPhone has support for MMS, 3G, GPS, an SDK, sending multiple SMS messages, a ***** of applications that do almost anything you want, live TV, and some other things? You don't know phones if you don't even know about a two year old HTC phone.

        Oh wait, the iPhone has the Apple logo on the back and coverflow, that obviously makes it superior.
    • br0ken1128, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13I have an iphone and it's certainly not the best thing thing on the block .. aside from the pretty interface it's really functionally lame .. it lacks some fundamental features that are absurd .. mms? instant messaging? .. my motorola v360 that's a few years old now has those features and does it pretty well in fact.. I can also go to my v360 and mark multiple items for deletion at once.. those are no brainer functions that the iphone should have left the gate with .. what's new and revolutionary about this thing? .. only a couple of things..

      1. Visual voicemail .. my iphone is unlocked, I don't find myself missing this feature at all
      2. Youtube.. nice, but not practical unless you're on wifi really.. edge is just slow
      3. A full HTML browser.. nifty but with flash missing I find myself rarely using it.. besides.. it's slow
      4. Touch screen .. novel .. but that wears off after a bit ..

      There's nothing jaw dropping about it .. I find myself using my v360 more and more now .. the new car scent wore off my iphone and now I'm just not too fond of it ..
    • jonfelder, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4You're going to go to Verizon because apple locks out 3rd party apps? Are you kidding? Verizon disables features, such as blue tooth file transfer, that the phone has natively. If you want it, you have to hack the phone. Also, Verizon uses brew instead of java, so that you have to go through Verizon to install anything. That's right, no gmail, google maps, opera browser, etc...

      Verizon is much worse than AT&T for this particular point.
    • rendereduseless, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2dude dont buy a razr, if your between a razr and an iphone and you choose a razr, you have problems, i dont care how bad the iphone is the razr will always be worse
      • Angostura, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4But at least I send SMSs from my Mac via bluetooth on my Razr and play bloody Tetris if I want to without Motorola saying 'No Tetris for you'.
        • avihappy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1If a freaking RAZR has more expandability than a smart phone. Then that "smart phone" is POS. And this is from a guy that really likes Apple.
    • geekee, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5The point of the article is that they don't support 3rd party apps, which is why the iPhone isn't worth buying.
    • qpdb, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1you're not going to buy a razr
  • damonic, on 10/10/2007, -16/+11If you like your hacked product, don't update it. Personally, I knew they would stop the hacks so I never installed anything. I like my iPhone the way Apple intended. And I believe that Dashboard-like applications for the iPhone will be launched at MacWorld or WWDC.
    • FredFredrickson, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Applications you have to pay for...
      • subliminalurge, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1So?
        • damonic, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Exactly! At least it wont brick my iPhone when I put them on...
    • AceTracer, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You believe, huh? Even if they did, Macworld is 4 months away, WWDC 8 months away. I'm not waiting that long.
  • bpapa, on 10/10/2007, -12/+4Wow, I always thought it was stupid when Penny Arcade took away the "game of the year" award from WOW because they were being whiny and not getting their way. This definitely takes the cake though. He's taking away the recommendation from something that Apple never even said it would be doing. Nice. Enjoy your future smartphone, I'm sure you'll be happy to have your NES emulator on a 2 inch screen instead of the billion cool things that the iPhone does.
    • jim1977, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Why are people so gay for this phone? Jesus, I'd be pissed if a company barred me from using apps on my own phone just because they wanted to make a buck.

      And then people come along and make gay little arguments that it's the way God Steve Jobs wants it, so it must be.

      Woah.
    • dracflamloc, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6So... they change from "WAIT" to "DO NOT BUY". Sounds like a pretty logical thing to happen. They waited... they did not receive what they were waiting for. How does that compare with taking away "Game of the year". Gizmodo didn't say the iPhone was the "Phone of the year".
  • jamima69z, on 10/10/2007, -6/+39boneheaded choices like this are the reason apple is a niche market in the pc world,and everyone uses windows. not that windows is any better,but they don't have such an anal need to lock out third party stuff.

    apparently tho,it would'nt have made much difference in the end.
    • BadAsh71, on 10/10/2007, -14/+1Excuse me but you do realize this is a Phone and not a Desktop Computer right? Not sure I understand the comparison of Apple's iPhone with Microsoft's Windows Operating System... nor do you.
      • jamima69z, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10your reply is so incredibly stupid that i'm not sure how to respond to it.
      • geekee, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Windows runs on smartphones that support 3rd party apps.
        • avihappy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I can't believe I am agreeing with geekee but,
          It gets updates that don't break the apps (well they do erase the phone, but the apps can be put back on and will still work). So none of that "oh you can't expect them to code around it" BS.
    • sostoudt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2someone feels embarrased now
  • Revolution101, on 10/10/2007, -5/+16alrighty i guess i'm popping my SIM card back into my Samsung D900 until this is figured out. ***** this.

    My phone wasn't unlocked, just custom apps.
    • Exec, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10No need to worry. Just don't update your iphone and your apps will work just fine.
  • Zafwon, on 10/10/2007, -8/+3That’s brave of you to wait for a whole week!
  • superkendall, on 10/10/2007, -19/+24So then will they change the review back when the unlocker is re-worked to allow those very same apps back on the phone? Anyone who had all the apps could simply not update until support was added back on. And despite the claims that they "were the apps that made the iPhone great", they ignore the very real applications that already come with the iPhone as the real reason so many people bought the phone, and they still work just fine.

    I've changed my rating of Gizmodo to : Don't Read.
    • sagefool1975, on 10/10/2007, -7/+11> I've changed my rating of Gizmodo to : Don't Read.

      Exactly.
    • geekee, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4If you RTFA, you'll see they changed their rating from wait and see, to don't bother because 3rd party apps look like they will never be supported at this point.
    • sostoudt, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1some ppl are continent to live on bread and water while others want more, the people who are content with meat and cheese sell alot of hamburgers and french fries
  • monkeyrun, on 10/10/2007, -10/+29Seriously, what do you expect.

    Anyone who "hacked" their iPhone should know well enough to not upgrade their firmware.
    • zeeky, on 10/10/2007, -8/+3we all expected that, but it doesn't change the fact that apple is taking bad care of their customers.
    • BadAsh71, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10Exactly

      I remember when the iPhone came out... for weeks after the initial release I was getting hounded by the Executive Assistant in the IT Department... she would always ask "your a programmer, do you think you could hack an iPhone for the CEO of the company"... finally I told her "no, I enjoy my job and I don't want to get blamed for bricking the CEO's expensive phone".

      I think I made the right decision :-)
    • thailand1972, on 10/10/2007, -2/+11.1.1 has a load of security updates. Don't upgrade and your phone is open to security holes with email and Safari. This is why Apple is making a mess of this: you don't upgrade, your phone remains unsecure with the internet, you do upgrade, your phone converts into an iBrick.
      • superkendall, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Realistically, who is going to be writing exploits for Safari, especially now that 99% of the users will have these holes already patched?? Come on, the risk of going for a few weeks without an iPhone security update is zero.
        • thailand1972, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0A few weeks? Anyone with an unlocked phone is basically never going to upgrade, ever unless they want a broken phone. It's your guess that only 1% of iPhones are unlocked. I would guess much higher. No doubt more and more exploits will be found since this is new technology. Give it a year and your 1.0.2 is going to look so open with all those publicly announced vulnerabilities.
    • mabhatter, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3people expect to loose hacks.. not brick the system. The units still boot and show an error message so they are not "irreparably broken" like Apple claims. They just need some bits reset back to the factory settings. Apple won't make a tool for their shops to do this out of spite.
  • InuX, on 10/10/2007, -19/+23What are you people complaining about? You knew the risk of running homebrew now deal with it. Seriously no one is to blame but yourself. Digg me down, but in the end you know im right.
    • jamima69z, on 10/10/2007, -8/+1"Digg me down, but in the end you know im right."

      hahahaha,might as well type "i know i'm wrong,so i'll add this bit at the end to cover my stupid ass a little tiny bit."
      • omarciddo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Nope, he hit the nail quite on the head there.
    • 3adkied, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6It's not really complaining (the article, not the digg comments). Gizmodo is simply saying that as an open platform to do with what you want, the iPhone was good, but as the closed device Apple insists on keeping it, it isn't worth it. That sounds like a very fair assessment to me. The original 'wait' recommendation was to see if something exactly like this would happen. Actually, I'm going to follow this recommendation. I would love an iPhone on the carrier of my choice, and maybe a few custom apps. If Apple is going to go out of the way to fight this, though, I'd rather not.
      Yes, we all knew the risk of running homebrew. This was the risk, and some people chose to accept it. Now that our fears have come to pass, it is no longer a 'risk' it is a 'fact'. I don't see anything wrong with people discussing this and deciding that it no longer makes the phone worth buying for them.
    • SouthsideIrish, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Apple may have been stupid for signing a contract with a devil, but you can bet there are one old devil and three new devils complaining big time. ATT, Tmobile, O2 and whatever other carrier is crying bigtime.
    • superkendall, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1This is so true. People want the fun and adventure of Homebrew, but fully supported by the vendor. You have to pick one world you want to be in to make things easy, otherwise you have to expect some bumps.
      • senatorpjt, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I don't care if it's supported by the vendor. But, they're intentionally destroying people's property to punish those that have already done it, and encrypting the new firmware to prevent people from doing it again.
  • captaincoconut, on 10/10/2007, -12/+7I think we can all agree that people who purchased an iPhone are stupid.
  • firstkipchak, on 10/10/2007, -8/+3anyone else hopeing the mini one (iphone clone)
    will be fully unlocked?
    • rudy23, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1congratulations on making the most dumbass comment of the day
  • lukifer, on 10/10/2007, -11/+11I still love my (1.0.1) iPhone, but this is positively shameful of Apple. Notice how they turned a blind eye until the carrier was unlocked.

    I can tell you this: my next touchscreen UNIX-phone *will* be an open one, be it from Apple, Google or just some Chinese knockoff. If they don't give up this battle, they are going to lose the smartphone war.
    • monkeyrun, on 10/10/2007, -5/+5Yes because as we all know you are the chosen one who decides who wins.
      • tnoy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5The "winner" is the one who gets his money.
      • avihappy, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1With that logic, everyone would be bending over for the big corps, because "they don't chose, the company chooses" and won't protest because "it won't help at all, so what's the point?".
    • potifar, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2http://www.openmoko.com/
  • Spamcan, on 10/10/2007, -3/+7I'll update as soon as they include flash, ad blocking and the ability to download in Safari, plus a version of Youtube that works consistently and returns search results that closer resemble the same search from the full site. Downloadable games wouldn't hurt ether, why should iPhone/iPod Touch owners be screwed out of a feature on the lower end iPods? I don't use iTMS and a few bug fixes isn't enough to give up blackjack and minesweeper.
  • davidhildreth, on 10/10/2007, -15/+8I still love my iphone, sorry it doesn't make your bed and solve world hunger too though.
    • bjs3171, on 10/10/2007, -4/+5dude, it's a 400 dollar phone. after the recent price drop. no "phone" should be 400 dollars.
    • davidhildreth, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3dude, it's worth it. im sure you're happy with your razor and that's cool but $400 isn't ridiculous or uncommon for a phone or pda or umpc or whatever.
    • superkendall, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2Thank goodness then the iPhone is much more than just a phone.
  • Nougat, on 10/10/2007, -4/+26So why then, when everyone knew before the launch that 3rd party apps and non-AT&T carriers were going to be excluded from the iPhone by Apple, did NOBODY say, "Don't buy this, because Apple's product is too restrictive"? Why did EVERYBODY say, "Well, someone will hack it and then you'll be able to do everything you want, so run out and buy one right away"?

    Why would respected reviewers first tout a product that didn't do everything they wanted it to BEFORE launch, then say "don't buy it" when the product didn't do everything they wanted it to do AFTER launch?
  • JohnnyKdiggs, on 10/10/2007, -6/+50Think Different -- old
    Think The Way We Want You To -- new
  • nsomneia, on 10/10/2007, -5/+6seriously, it takes a re-review to come to the conclusion of don't buy.. . i love apple and all, but the iphone is a bit much, wait till version 3.5 atleast .. .
  • BlueStarr, on 10/10/2007, -12/+2I'm torn....I agree with Giz but at the same time I feel like I'm betraying my beloved Apple. I've been a users since 95 and I'll never use any other system as long as Apple keeps doing what it's doing.....but hopefully they'll stop doing this kind of crap.
    • potifar, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2You're not betraying them, they're betraying you.
  • deadbaby, on 10/10/2007, -4/+10I don't plan to upgrade to 1.1 until third party apps work again but even without third party app support it's still the best phone I've ever used.
    • bjs3171, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2but is a normal phone worth 400 dollars?
    • trouble916, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7Yes. Oh, and it's not a normal phone. In fact, I thought it was worth $600 when I bought it.
  • JohnnyKdiggs, on 10/10/2007, -2/+14http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1033/681472733_b789 ...
    • JeremyTTU, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Damns, you's didn't even gets the YouTube App when you's got shackled!

      *Talk like Dethklok(Toki) day?*
  • evilpettingzoo, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3I'm still happy with my iphone, but damn I miss summerboard and customize. Why wont apple work with them to make the software a part of the iphone, they were really great.
  • BadAsh71, on 10/10/2007, -19/+35Okay, so answer me this... you bought an AT&T Phone knowing that you have no intention of ever switching to AT&T then you get some hack which you don't fully understand but somehow it makes your phone work with your own service provider instead of AT&T and now with a simple software update from the manufacture of your phone you can no longer circumvent the extremely expensive licensing agreement between Apple and AT&T to use the phone on another network and you are pissed why?!?

    Or, you bought an AT&T Phone produced by Apple, you found some hacks for it to turn it into a "personal massager" and now after the manufacture of the Phone you bought released an update to the Phone which patches Security vulnerabilities in its operating system... oh yeah, those same vulnerabilities that allowed you to install that wicked cool 3rd party app to turn your phone into a TV Remote and with the Security Vulnerabilities now patched all the hacks you ran on the system no longer work and so you are mad.... am I understanding you correctly?

    If Apple or Microsoft modified their Desktop PC Operating System so that it wouldn't allow you to run 3rd Party Applications that would be bad, but, if Apple or Microsoft plugged a hole in a known Security Vulnerability in their software that allowed "hacks" that could be used for good but could also be used for very bad things, we would all praise them and then dream up a million reports showing which vendor resolves such vulnerabilities quicker and then Digg those articles here.

    I know everyone here on Digg is well familiar with Gizmodo and all the other sites/blogs that have been posting about "hacks" for the iPhone. If you actually RTFA half of those sites/blogs you would probably notice that they have all been reporting how all these 3rd Party Applications are only able to be installed due to vulnerabilities in the iPhone software. If you did actually RTFA before "hacking" your friggn' phone something would have had to have gone off in your head and said "security vulnerability + hack = no good".

    If and when Apple wants to provide an official SDK and/or Software Installation Application for the iPhone then it is safe to install that "iPhone Vibrator" application.... but be careful not to shock yourself. But until that time, don't sit back and think that Apple should just look the other way and not fix Security Vulnerabilities in their software out of fear that some of their customers will have to find other ways to pleasure themselves.

    Come on, grow up and get a clue.
    • InuX, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7Spoiled by open source that's the problem.
    • hotdamn, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9Smart people like you are the reason I have not killed myself yet.
      I'd digg you up twice if I could.
    • zeeky, on 10/10/2007, -5/+4you're confusing security vulnerabilities with useful applications. actually, i think you're aware of that very distinction but prefer to think apple knows best, when they so clearly don't.
      • BadAsh71, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4me thinks you might be a little confused there. No matter how "useful" a 3rd Party Application is, if you have to make use of a Security Vulnerability in an Operating System to install that "useful" application then you have to assume the responsibility for your actions with the full understanding that when and if that very Security Vulnerability that was used by the "hack" you found that allowed you to install that "useful" application is fixed then that "useful" application you installed may or may not work anymore.

        Sorry for the run-on sentence there but hopefully you get the point. I'm not arguing whether or not some truly "useful" applications are now not able to run on the iPhone, I am just pointing out the fact that those "useful" applications were installed via a hack made around a Security Vulnerability.... in the Windows world we call those pesky things "Viruses" and "Spyware"... luckily Microsoft does patch those up from time to time... Apple did the same thing so deal with it until the next "vulnerability" is found re-enabling your "hacks" and "useful" applications :-)
    • insomniac8400, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2There is no such thing as an AT&T phone, legally any gsm phone is allowed to be unlocked.
    • jamesburton1, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Finally, someone who talks sense.
  • bjs3171, on 10/10/2007, -13/+4it's funny. OSX is basically just a GUI for a unix system, correct? the whole point of unix is that it's open source, and therefore 3rd party friendly. And the iphone uses it's own version of OSX, yet 3rd party apps are forbidden. how does this make sense?
    • BadAsh71, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12Wrong, UNIX is NOT Open Source. In fact, UNIX is/was so expensive that people like Linus Torvalds and other members of the GNU Project started pulling together "Unix-like" software to develop "Linux" which is indeed FREE but NOT true UNIX.
  • colincornaby, on 10/10/2007, -7/+11Honestly, I don't mind 1.1.1 because all the 3rd party apps where unstable pieces of crap anyway. Now, I fully support the idea of bringing 3rd party apps on the iPhone, but c'mon, why should I care about running a 3rd party AIM client on my phone when none of them work without glitching out and crashing? Improve the 3rd party software, and then I might care about losing 3rd party applications.
    • BadAsh71, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7Definitely true... I have heard of a lot of 3rd Party Apps for the iPhone but when talking to people that actually tried them everybody mentioned that they were all pretty buggy or their functionality was lackluster. I think a lot of people rushed "iPhone Apps" to market just to try to be the first to do so... braggn' rights.

      Hopefully Apple will give us an SDK and an "official" way for installing 3rd Party Applications on the iPhone soon.
    • cave, on 10/10/2007, -3/+5How can you be so dense, the apps are glitchy because there's no official SDK to begin with. The hackers are doing the best they can.
      • phinn, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Quite right, this guy is an idiot. The ENTIRE reason why most of the apps aren't finished is 1) they are brand new, only out for a month or so 2) there is no official SDK to make them work perfectly.

        The fact is, most apps work great anyway.
      • colincornaby, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2As a programmer, I completely understand how the lack of an SDK affects development. I would love it if Apple would ship an SDK so we could build better 3rd party apps. However, as a user, if an application does not work, I don't see any reason to continue using it.
    • zeeky, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5you're right, 90% of those apps aren't up to par with apple's professional design. but there were a few that were completely up to par: tap tap revolution, tinyproxy, lights off, fivedice, and Chat. thats not to say those were the best apps, im just saying those are what apple would be proud of had they developed them.
  • nightstrm, on 10/10/2007, -18/+13Gizmodo sucks.
  • kingtaj, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6If anyone with more enthusiasm than me decides to start a "Bring Back 3rd Party Apps!" petition, I will be the first one to enthusiastically sign up.
    • BadAsh71, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Don't worry.... the 1.1.1 update fixed a Security Vulnerability which was being used by all 3rd Party Applications to install/run on the iPhone.... hackers found that vulnerability, they will find another... but remember, just like this one, Apple has every right to fix such Security Vulnerabilities whenever they want.
  • eh270, on 10/10/2007, -17/+16Wow, Gizmodo is like a giant baby. Re-reviewing it because their 3rd party apps no longer work? Grow up, really. Their review should be of the iPhone itself, not of its ability to let you play NES games.
    • Berkana, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3That's the way people reviewed Vista: third party drivers that work in XP but not in Vista means Vista sucks. Ditto for the iPhone.
    • sostoudt, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1if it was then it would be that it sucked and then youd be bitching they said the iphone sucks
  • jindra, on 10/10/2007, -10/+6Wow, any product that doesn't support community contribution to it isn't worth buying for me. I'm not paying for a java based bejeweled, I dont care what you say. Apple almost had me....almost, but this just made me realize how un-american apple is. You have no freedom of choice with this device, you are told what you can and can't have even down to your provider. Free market my ass America, you're finished.
    • phinn, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4Well said. The iPhone is the first and lasts Apple product I will probably buy at this point. The 3rd party apps support was a big selling point for me because I wanted stuff like an AIM and IRC client, stuff I've had on my RAZR for years and knew that Apple would not provide out of the box.
      • rudy23, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2did apple promise 3rd party support? then why are you complaining
    • sostoudt, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1in Russia car drives you
      in America the iphone dials you
  • whiteyMcBrown, on 10/10/2007, -6/+6I don't know what's up with all the surprise.. Apple said, even before they released the phone, that they would not allow 3rd party apps on the iPhone and that any app development would have to be purely web-based and accessible from Safari. Apple has to protect AT&T's interests because they want other providers to carry their phone and be assured that people won't circumvent service by using VOIP apps. Steve Jobs' position and statement about not allowing hackers was understandable.. he made it at the European launch, standing next to new service providers. They've said, time and again, that they were trying to keep the phone closed so they could provide, what Apple perceives, as the optimal experience. I agree that you should be able to do whatever you want when you buy a product. That said, when you introduce service into the mix, you have to understand service vendors wanting to lock things down. It's clear that the actions here are mostly to appease AT&T.. hacked iPhones still have to be bought and Apple stands to make money, either way.
    • sostoudt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2becuase all the fanboys think of apple as there buddy that is always there for them, the dont realise apple is just a corporation that wants money and could care less if your happy after they have your money.
  • sunroom, on 10/10/2007, -4/+4Apps that are worth more to me than 1.1
    VNotes - convenient voice recording... never crashed or went buggy on me. and you can email the sound files.
    weDict - Dictionary software that accepts whatever dictionary you install. It's pretty convenient having merriam-webster, a thesauraus, and the encyclopedia brittanica in your pocket
    SummerBoard and Customize - make your iPhone look less boring than the standard interface.
    SwapTunes - Allows you to sync music from two different sources. Much needed for me since I have equally big music collections on my laptop and desktop.
    Games! - My favorites are Mines and iBlackjack (I still can't get into the NES emulator ---not meant for a touchscreen)

    Other lesser considerations, but still things I use almost daily
    RSS - quick access RSS in one place.
    Chat
    • corsa, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1Not to counteract you and say you are wrong, because in your situation, you are not. But in my situation I find the following true:

      > VNotes - convenient voice recording... never crashed or went buggy on me. and you can email the sound files.
      I don't need this functionality, I rarely need to take notes and can tap one out in the "notes" app if needed

      > weDict - Dictionary software that accepts whatever dictionary you install. It's pretty convenient having merriam-webster, a thesauraus, and the encyclopedia brittanica in your pocket

      I rarely need a dictionary, but if I do, I can just go to dictionary.com since I am always online, either wirelessly or via Edge. It is slower of course, but since I rarely need it, it works for me.

      > SummerBoard and Customize - make your iPhone look less boring than the standard interface.

      I'm fine with the standard display, but I tend to leave things pretty much standard on my computer too, with the exception of changing my desktop picture

      > SwapTunes - Allows you to sync music from two different sources. Much needed for me since I have equally big music collections on my laptop and desktop.

      I keep my "master" library in iTunes on my iMac, and just occasionally transfer a subset of stuff I'm listening to over to my Powerbook. When I'm tired of it, I delete it off my Powerbook and put different stuff on it. My laptop harddrive is too full to hold much music anyway.

      > Games! - My favorites are Mines and iBlackjack (I still can't get into the NES emulator ---not meant for a touchscreen)

      I honestly have never played games on my phone, with the exception of a Java poker game on an old phone of mine, so I don't mind the lack of games.

      > Other lesser considerations, but still things I use almost daily
      > RSS - quick access RSS in one place.

      I used NetNewsWire on my Macs, all synced up to NewsGator, so I can just use the NewsGator iPhone interface to read my RSS feeds on my iPhone, and everything is always in sync. It works great for me.

      > Chat

      This I totally agree with you on. If the iPhone had native chat, I would use that all the time.


      So, in my situation, an un-modded iPhone v1.1.1 works great for me, with the exception of chat.
      • rebotfc, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1"So, in my situation, an un-modded iPhone v1.1.1 works great for me, with the exception of chat."

        So it doesnt work great for you then ...
  • dalittle, on 10/10/2007, -6/+10This seems to be deeply ingrained in the Apple Corp. They fail to understand that if you let third parties develop on the device it will be come more popular (it is like getting free Developers). In not courting Developers, they are shooting themselves in the foot yet again. The reason their OS failed against Microsoft in the 80s is exactly the same reason they are going to get schooled here by someone. The ipod is popular because you can play any type of mp3 you want. No lock in. They need to catch a clue.
  • ScottAG, on 10/10/2007, -10/+13Whatever! Way to grab some headlines, Gizmodo. Your credibility just hit the gutter with me.

    I'm a savvy iPhone user and I removed all my third party apps because I need the iPhone is a PHONE (with an iPod and browswer thrown in for gooood measure)!
    • rebotfc, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1So the third party apps were stopping your phone working like a phone ??? lolz.
  • volcomjerk, on 10/10/2007, -21/+27My review of Gizmodo: Childish
    • dimplemonkey, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1On the mark! I mean, can't you guys wait a few more days for another hack to be released? Sheesh! What a bunch of babies!
    • sostoudt, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1my review of volcomjerk fanboy
  • Ben174, on 10/10/2007, -12/+21What people don't seem to understand is, Apple didn't take any further measures to lock out third party apps. They simply released a new firmware. Since the installer app isn't compatible with the new firmware (yet), the repository doesn't work. We knew this would happen, and knew we'd simply just not update our iPhones until the installer plays catch up. I wouldn't expect it to be more than a couple days. Why does everybody seem so surprised?
    • mingistech, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10As explained by our friend Lucas Newman who worked to develop the first third-party native game for the iPhone (”Lights Out!”) and put together an informal SDK for the device, finding the encryption key is harder now. “It used to be plaintext in the RAM disk,” said Newman. “But they changed it, and no one knows how to get at it quite yet.”

      So yes... Apple DID take further measures to lock out 3rd party apps.
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