As it turns out, apparently you can't use your iTunes music as ringtones.


http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/ipo...hone-hands-on/

Just one of the many things they messed up. Not being able to sync over WiFi is the other.

I'm sure this was a concession to Cingular as they make a truckload of money off ringtones.

I'm sure there'll be an unbranded version out somewhere (prolly not in the US). But I can't believe that Apple signed deals with major carriers from all the GSM countries.

I believe that there will be folks hacking the crippled OSX...

Just wait for the dust to settle and the 2nd generation version.

My needs for a phone:

1. Dial number
2. Have conversation
3. Hang up

What are your needs exactly?

As for financial constraints, aside from the high brow, everyone makes $250K a year and travels only 1st class FT crowd, the vast majority of iPhone purchases will be made on credit cards by people who will pay obscene interest rates to own a toy they don't need.

This forum is neither the time or place to be discussing how someone plans to pay for the device. Whether or not someone plans to pay for it on a high interest CC is of no relevance to this thread.

My needs are being able to remotely access my contacts and appointments, send and receive email, manage servers using SSH, doing some basic web browsing.

I'd say that 90% of my time on the phone is for email and text messaging, with the remaining 10% in real conversations.

Like the previous poster said, everyone has different needs on their phone.

Watching the video, a few observations...

1. Using iTunes to have to synchronize EVERYTHING. I'm sure there will be 3rd-party apps down the road that will allow you to not use iTunes, but that won't be for a while (maybe until 2G comes out).
2. I wonder if you can use the touch-screen keyboard in a landscape mode (and hopefully have slightly bigger "keys"). I guess it doesn't because, the way you would probably hold the phone, you're prone to hit the Sleep/Wake button.
3. The UI and screen is very cool.

Like ediddy, I only use my phone for the most basic of functions (calls, a few photos, a few text messages), so the iPhone isn't all that appealing to me. However, I think the iPhone is pretty revolutionary, and I'm excited to see how Nokia, Samsung, SE, etc. will respond.

A lot of people only use their computers for surfing the web, email and document writing. But when you make it easy to, say, edit movies, manage digital photos, or manage music libraries digitally, those same people embrace this capability and add it to their needs.

Their computers may have always been able to do all those things, but it required the user to learn how to use the applications to perform those tasks.

Sometimes you can be successful bringing the mountain to Mohamed if you're careful in your design and execution.

Good design enables the user to have a comfortable point of entry and then a gentle slope progressing to greater capability.

This is the model Apple has used in design of all of their products. I think we're seeing it here, too, with the iPhone.

The result is that my 63 year-old mother who is baffled by her blackberry (why she got it in the first place we'll never know) could be texting on an iPhone in no time without the constant visits to the store to have her hand held as she learns (and learns again) the basic functions of the device. At the same time, my fiance can still SSH into his home lab on the very same unit that my mother is able to use and understand. Creating a product that my mother can pick up and -use- fully and without help that still is useful and appeals to my geek is a pretty good feat, imo.

They're getting sued.

How well will that touch screen hold up in a pocket, which may have other things in it from time to time (e.g. keys, coins, papers)?

They don't need to. They never said they'd be selling it everywhere. One for UK, one or two for the Continent, and one for the only GSM provider in Japan. Done. Maybe when the exclusivity deal is up they'll start selling them unlocked...
A crude protection scheme: drop the OS on regular ROM (not flashable). That, plus the famed lack of a system registry (to alter phone settings) will limit what hackers can do.

The plot thickens.

When I was borrowing a HTC Universal for a month, doing all of that wasn't a big deal (never needed to use 3G). Managing a number of websites, almost constantly in a VNC session, running conference calls, and listening to streaming radio simultaneously - hardly things that "people who only check emails and their calender" do. Never froze or crashed, though it did slow down a bit...when I was using BitTorrent to grab a Linux distro. Can your P990 handle that?
Why? You'd have to wait for Apple to clear applications for use, like Skype and whatever you use for SIP, not to mention all the messenging programs you seem to fond of.
LOL!

10 hours on 3G would be a dream with the current battery. As it stands, they rate it up to 5 hours "in active use". Even trusting Apple that it really would function for 5 hours...3G would eat the battery for desert.

Or because Apple fans think that it works well just because it says 'Apple' on it...
I mean, if it's from Apple, it must be better than the competition, right?
Who would admit they made a mistake when buying a $600 Apple phone instead of a $400 'other brand' phone that works better?
I predict that most iPhone owners will say that they are very happy with their phone since they wouldn't want to admit that they were fooled by the Apple hype.