Apple introduces iPhone

Engadget ^ | Jan 9, 2007 | Chris Ziegler

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Capping literally years of speculation on perhaps the most intensely followed unconfirmed product in Apple's history -- and that's saying a lot -- the iPhone has been announced today in collaboration with Cingular. Yeah, we said it: "iPhone," the name the entire free world had all but unanimously christened it from the time it'd been nothing more than a twinkle in Stevie J's eye (comments, Cisco?). Sweet, glorious specs of the 11.6 millimeter device (that's frickin' thin, by the way) include a 3.5-inch wide touchscreen display with multi-touch support, 2 megapixel cam, 8 GB of storage, Bluetooth with EDR, WiFi, and quadband GSM radio with EDGE -- and amazingly, it somehow runs OS X.

[af_vet_rr]

I was thinking the same thing. Apple did have an advantage with the popularity of iTunes, but Sony had the resources to challenge Apple with their own music library. Certainly other companies could have designed a button-free interface.

Not only do they have their own music library, they have the financial resources and they have Sony Ericsson which has been making phones for many years.

[Golden Eagle]

super-high-resolution display

What are the specs on that, do you know? For reference the resolution on my Treo is 320 x 320 with 65k colors.

[Aquinasfan]

Not only do they have their own music library, they have the financial resources and they have Sony Ericsson which has been making phones for many years.

So at the highest level of the company you need a visionary and a risk-taker. Otherwise you get decision by committee, and mediocrity.

[kawaii]

I kind of want a bigger phone, something that actually feels like it bridges the space between ear and mouth...

[kawaii]

Why does everyone get so down on Cingular?

[kawaii]

I have a 650 also (I get annoyed though that sites like google try to baby down the web sites i can surf. Really annoyed it can't go to paypal.com)

I really want to see a vindigo for the iPhone and a way to open/edit office files. Though I forsee these falling into place.

I'm wondering with the wifi and full fledged OS whether the iPhone might be able to switch to voice over ip over wi fi when in range of wi fi networks... that'd be really cool.

i really want to see more GB and a 3MP camera before I'm totally sold on it. Though as a programmer the ability to write dashboard widgets that work on my phone would kick but.

[Golden Eagle]

I get annoyed though that sites like google try to baby down the web sites

Try changing your proxy and/or use an alternative browser, it's helped me get to a full fledged Google on my 650. Or use the optional MobileTS app to remote control a desktop.

iPhone might be able to switch to voice over ip over wi fi when in range of wi fi networks... that'd be really cool.

Cool to you and me but probably not Cingular, that will probably have to come from 3rd party, and be a completely different phone app.

Though as a programmer the ability to write dashboard widgets that work on my phone would kick but.

Again it would but that may not be available either. Just because it's an OSX core doesn't mean it will run Aqua, just as phones based on Linux don't run KDE or Gnome.

[Swordmaker]

What are the specs on that, do you know? For reference the resolution on my Treo is 320 x 320 with 65k colors.

320 X 480 at 160 Pixels per inch...

[Swordmaker]

Again it would but that may not be available either. Just because it's an OSX core doesn't mean it will run Aqua, just as phones based on Linux don't run KDE or Gnome.

It has widgets...

[Golden Eagle]

320 X 480

Very impressive, thanks.

[Golden Eagle]

It has widgets...

Thanks, compatible with existing ones or under a new interface spec? Sounds promising nontheless, hopefully Apple will be able to build a thriving 3rd party development environment like Palm and Mobile PC have, that's where the neat toys always come from.

[HAL9000]

Just because it's an OSX core doesn't mean it will run Aqua, just as phones based on Linux don't run KDE or Gnome.

The iPhone's UI theme seems to be different from Aqua. It is speculated that Aqua will be replaced in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

The iPhone does appear to use Apple's Quartz compositing engine with sub-pixel addressing for a crisper display (at 320x480 @ 160 ppi as Swordmaker noted above).

It probably uses Apple's patent-pending resolution independence method.

[kawaii]

It looks to me like the widgets are running within Dashboard (though with obviously more abilities than today's dashboard has).

[kawaii]

When Apple released DashCode beta they mentioned that Leopard will have enhanced capabilities for widgets.

Widgets right now are strait html, javascript, css, and optional objective c.

[Golden Eagle]

Thanks, all sounds good.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

How do you define "high-end" if not by price? If you're saying that the top-end phones are the smallest

Oh, I define "high-end" by price. It just seems to me that you're equating "low-end" with small size, which is a mistake. People clearly prefer small phones - features are the deciding factor in the price, not size. PDAs with phone features are necessarily not as small, though they are getting smaller - note the Blackberry Pearl.

More recently, the trend has been toward bigger screens and more usable buttons. I was at a Sprint store and an Office Depot yesterday, and all the high-end phones were Palm- or Windows Mobile-based, or Blackberries, none of them small. The smaller phones are the ones the companies are literally giving away.

Again, you're mistaking small with cheap. Blackberries and other devices running Windows CE or PalmOS are usually considered to be PDAs, not primarily phones. I have a Blackberry issued by my company, and it's primary uses for me are email, messaging, and scheduling, not phone use. Apple, meanwhile, tells you what they consider to be the primary goal of the iPhone in it's name.

I don't know where you're getting your notions of what Apple wanted. If all you want is something to make phone calls and the occasional SMS message, the iPhone isn't for you and wasn't designed for you.

I'm not at all convinced that Apple shares your views on who the iPhone is for - it seems clear to many analysts and also to laymen like me that Apple wants to leverage iTunes and it's dominance in legit music downloads to make serious inroads into the cellular phone market along with the music/ringtone accessories market. The size of their new offering is going to hamper the business they do with phone buyers.

If you want to watch a movie or browse the Web, I can't imagine that you'll spend a lot of time griping that the screen is too big.

LOL - once again, I'm not griping, just pointing out the size of this thing and it's possible impact on phone sales. I'm also a fan of Apple's recent products, though I don't drink the Kool-Aid.

If I do want to watch a movie or browse the Web, I might note that the screen is too small for easy Web browsing or movie viewing and reach for the Macbook I also took with me. Like I said, the iPhone looks big to be comfortable as a phone, and such devices are often too small to be comfortable as tablets or video devices.

Anyway, just my thoughts. I plan to buy an iPhone unless Apple introduces a similar iPod with WiFi and Bluetooth but without phone features.

[Star Traveler]

You said -- "As soon as we find out availability, I'm buying two of these."

It's available in June (waaah...). I wanted it sooner.

So, while we're waiting -- "I'll buy two and up you one..."

:-)

Regards,
Star Traveler

[Star Traveler]

You said -- "How cool is that?"

Yep, it's unbelievable. I mean, who else has thought of that? And if they did, where is it? On what product?

I wonder, sometimes, why it takes "Apple" to come up with all these "innovations". Are they the only company who is able to do these things? Are all those other cel phone manufacturers just total idiots, or what?

Regards,
Star Traveler

[Star Traveler]

You said -- "... but this thing is just too big."

Now, that's hilarious. You know..., if they wanted to, they could make something so small that you would have to use the head of a pin to punch in numbers and use a magnifying glass to read what it said. It would be pretty small. I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to make it as small as a ring.

BUT, here the ridiculousness of that statement. Getting stuff so small that it's no longer suited for *human consumption* is stupid. You have to see it, You have to be able to "handle" it. You have to have some kind of "interaction" with the product. That *requires* -- some *size* to make it happen.

"Big" is necessary for "functionality" for human beings. If you are a computer, on the other hand, and only interact through electrical signals, then you don't have to concerned and can make it as small as you want.

So, no, it's not too big. People are that big, which requires it to match up with "people".

Did I really have to explain that to someone -- apparently so...

Regards,
Star Traveler

[Star Traveler]

You said -- "I think they will need a 20-30 gb version of this baby too. But the price right now at $600 for 8 gb seems too high for me."

To get those storage sizes, they would have to go for the mini-hard drives and that would make the size a factor. It couldn't be as small as what they have with the iPhone. Another problem would be the power requirements. They would have to beef up the battery, too. So, all in all, it would be clunkier if they did that.

With what they have now, it's flash memory. And soon enough (maybe another year or so), they'll be up to 20 GB of flash memory. You'll have to wait until then.

Regards,
Star Traveler