Which phone is this?

The HTC Athena. I'm not sure I'd describe it as a phone though, given it weighs 350g - it's more PDAish than phoneish.

Thanks. Even a bit more than a PDA as it is about twice the weight of my TyTN. In looking around the Vox looks interesting as well. Although I dont think the Athena looks right for me it looks like the choices of form factors is getting interesting again. I just wish Nokia would lose Symbian.

Why? (I'm biased towards them, but other than Exchange syncing which has never affected me I've not seen anything WM or Palm does significantly better.)

Im in a world of Exchange. ;) We use it for mail, appointments etc. I lose almost all PDA function (including mail) without it.

You know.... I'm still completely amazed (although I see it less in this thread than in other forums) that people are so enamoured with this phone when it has one fundamental flaw...

You can't dial or answer with one hand.

I can see myself now, rolling through ORD with my luggage behind me, picking up the phone to make a call... and I can't without stopping, letting go of my luggage, and standing there to dial. Or being on the bus to the Hertz lot and letting go of the handrail to answer a call just as the driver hits the brake and I end up in the lap of an attractive young lady (on the other hand... :) )

Yes you can - on this phone and any other phone that is touchscreen-only.

Uhhh.... look at the demos and the interface... the "Multi-gesture" interface. It takes two fingers to unlock the phone for use... it uses a pinching motion on the slider bar. If you dial from the address book, you use a similar pinching motion. Try holding your phone in one hand and perform a pinching motion on the screen then sliding the pinched fingers across the screen... can't be done. Almost all of the phone's operation takes a two finger gesture (hence the multi-gesture interface's name).

Or hell... dial by feel. No little bump on the '5' key in an on-screen touchpad. Voice Dial? Not in there.

Just the fact that it doesn't have a GPS chip in it for those cool mapping functions and that it doesn't even support a high speed network (My Cingular CU-500 gets me DSL speeds when I tether my laptop to it) for the internet makes it less than useful for me. Gimme a blackjack. it's got all of the capabilities of the iPhone in a smaller, faster, and more technologically advanced package.

Oh... I forgot... it's not an Apple, therefore not cool.

(please don't get me wrong.... I'm a PC to Mac convert... PC for work, 3 PC servers and 1 BSD server at home, 3 Macs and 2 iPods at home, and my next computer that I pay for will also be a Mac)

D.

Key word is "Demo". You only know what they chose to highlight in the press conference - namely things designed to catch your attention as different. Obviously they have more mundane functionality in the phone too, but why would they waste time on this in a marketing hype event?

You dont put a model on the catwalk and have him/her demonstrate that they too perform the same bodily functions that you do when you wake up in the morning (if you know what I mean). No, instead, you put him/her up there to show what she has that is unique and different. Doesnt mean they doesnt have other things that arent the same as you too. Of course they do.

Every touchscreen smartphone I have had, contained at least one method of unlocking by hardware, usually a multi-function option on the power button. This phone is not likely to be any different.

And for all you know, it might even also have an option to unlock with a voice command. Would you bet against that?

The pinch motion is only used to make things bigger or smaller on the screen.

To unlock the screen, one uses a slide of one finger across a specific section of the screen. This can be done with one hand.

Dialing does not employ a pinching motion either. it's simply tapping on the screen with one finger, which could also probably be a one-handed operation.

You make a very good point about showing off the flashier aspects.... but note... there's NO hardware button on the phone... at least in the demo units and even Mr. Jobs noted there was no hardware button. Not that I think there's not going to be a hardware power button... I can't believe that even Apple would dispense with that on a business phone.

As for a voice command to unlock... why yes... I would bet against that as Cingular won't allow a phone to be sold by them to have voice command. Why? Because they want to sell their $4.95 a month voice command service that requires you to actually call a number to have it dial by voice command.

D.

Interesting... that's different from both the keynote address, the physical demos that were given at Macworld and elsewhere after the keynote, and on the demo at Apple's website. Although they do have the opportunity to change it before it ships.

Add HSDPA, a GPS chip, and more memory.... I'll buy one in a heartbeat. Hell... forget the more memory and I still might buy it, although I'll still have to carry my iPod.

D.

It's funny - after slamming this product right off I decided it was worth taking a second look, and on reflection I must say it does have many appealing features, no doubt even better for those who already have Apple products.

In particular I now would not mind having an integrated Palm-type calendar/address book as I have become pretty disenchanted with Palm build quality.

However, I would still have 3 qualms:

(1) No phone touchpad. We all know how these screens break and fail - then you are without a working phone. I have never had a keyboard failure on any of my phones - Motorola, Samsung, Oki, etc. Not to mention that touch dialing will be difficult if not impossible.

(2) Cingular.

(3) Price.

The latter 2 are sure to be addressed at some point. :)

This makes no sense to me as a touchscreen-phone specifc issue.

If the screen breaks on any phone, what good is it to you? How are you going to find the phone number in your contacts to dial. Or do you know them all by heart?

Unless you are going to be out in the desert when the screen breaks (presuming you have a signal at all) and need to dial 9-1-1 this keybaord supposed issue is really irrelevant.

I have never had a phone screen break (all my phones have had sturdy keypads and I tend not to drop them). I have personally seen and read about numerous screen failures for palms and other touchscreen devices.

Yes, you are right that you will face the same problem if your non-touchscreen breaks. The difference is that most of us didn't pay $500+ for our current phones (my last 2 were $29 - not crap but both nicely outfitted with HS internet access and bluetooth) so if they break we can get a cheap replacement on ebay, craigslist or simply by signing another contract. If your Iphone screenbreaks you can certainly get a replacement but you will likely pay full price as the warranty is usually gone after 90 days. And - as I suggested - I will bet that these screens fail often given that you will do everything on them. As for losing your contacts, I keep a few backups from my Palm, and I presume the iphone will come with similar software.