Perhaps they will offer a software update later on to add support.

They did say they would be adding features via software updates.

If it turns out to be a hot product, Adobe will probably make concessions to get flash onto the iPhone.

I just tested two Windows Mobile phones. I wish I had had the 8525 aka TyTN (we also had one of those for testing, but someone else kept it to test instead) for a better comparison, but the two I tested, the Treo 750 and the Samsung Blackjack (i607 I think that is), while certainly usable, seemed kinda clunky. Those are the two variations: the Treo is the PocketPC OS and the Blackjack is the Smartphone version. The both synced nicely with our email, once I was able to work out all the necessary features. On the Smartphone OS, for example, some of the settings were only settable by having the thing connected to a PC and changing them in the ActiveSync desktop software. Couldn't change them on the phone. Not exactly intuitive, and not as useful when we want to have these be exclusively OTA sync and not desktop sync. (With any luck, we'd only have to set that once, but it's still a PITA.)

Just one example. I had a number of things I still didn't get used to, like every time I went back to the Outlook app to look at new mail I had to change folders back to the Inbox if the last folder I looked at was something different. Why shouldn't it know I want to see the new messages? On the Treo, it suffered from instances where I simply couldn't select the thing I needed without dragging out the stylus. That seemed really stupid. Maybe some of this is addressed in Windows Mobile 6 vs 5. I didn't really have time to dig around for updates and stuff. The Blackjack is decent enough for the purpose we're looking for (email pushed to a handheld, with replies synced back OTA to their outboxes, and replacing their cell phone), but it doesn't seem too close to an ideal interface.

I just got the Nokia E61i, which has a Qwerty keyboard and Wifi.

It does things okay but some things are really annoying.

1. From main menu, you can select a Wifi connection. But the browser and the mail program will prompt you each time to pick a Wifi connection.

Your choices are, "Always Ask" or "User-Defined." So I can user-define my home network but if I go out and find a public hotspot (there are a lot of Wifi networks, most of them locked but a lot open), I will have to change the settings again from user-defined to always ask.

And that means going through a lot of menus.

That is despite selecting the Wifi connection from the main OS shell.

2. Mail program won't use SSL connections for outgoing mail. At first I couldn't figure it out because I was using the exact same settings as in my PowerBook. But there were no error messages of any kind, the outgoing messages would just sit in a queue (only set up a couple of POP accounts, including a Gmail account).

So I turned off SSL and it just worked.


3. Browsing is cumbersome. You just scroll around and there is no pointer, it just highlights links on a page and you hold up, down, left or right to scroll around. It's usable but compared to those commercials of scrolling around smoothly, zooming in and out of certain pics. or sections, the Nokia just feels like using Lynx, a text based HTML browser.


4. Some inconsistency in how apps. use connections. For instance, the workaround I described for setting connections for mail and browsing work. But Google Maps Mobile for E61 doesn't have a workaround when you're trying to use a "hidden WLAN," or a Wifi network which is not broadcasting SSID for security reasons.

Only way it works is to broadcast the SSID.



Of course commercials and online demos don't tell you everything but iPhone sure looks less aggravating. Of course, the pricing and contract requirements put me off and I will wait to see what they do in the future.

based on some leaked details it sounds somewhat aggravating.

Not being able to type with both thumbs? Being required to scroll through the address book?

The demo showed typing with both thumbs.

It also showed navigating to a letter (like an old rolodex, where you would move the pointer to the letter of the name you want to access) and then scrolling through just the names starting with the specified letter. One can also set up favorite contacts for commonly called contacts. They didn't show searching for a name, but it's hard to say that that option doesn't exist for sure or if they just didn't demo it. Doesn't look like it's in this release, but I'm not drawing firm conclusions before playing with one or reading detailed reviews from someone who has played with one to verify.

One thing I haven't heard any mention of is voice-activated calling. I have the Samsung something-or-other currently, and its voice dialing is quite nice (no programming required). It would be cool if the iPhone could do what this phone does for voice dialing.

Looking back at what the first gen iPod could do, vs what iPods can do now, I'd say that the iPhone has a lot of attractive features for a first gen, and, of course, several more that we'd all like to see in future versions. Judging from the response, I believe Apple struck an good balance between going ahead with a release after developing a sufficient repertoire of included features, vs. waiting to release at the cost of adding more bells and whistles. It makes sense to go ahead and get the thing into users' hands now, to see what they like and what they don't -- and more important, what else they can think of to add or change. Developers can't think of everything, and neither can market research participants. There's no way a first gen product like this can be all things to all people; it just has to pave a good path, sufficiently excite and delight its early adopter users, and continue to evolve based on feedback from both early and other potential adopters.

I was referring to leaked comments on engadget stating that the double thumb typing was not quite the best in the world.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/23/n...ut-the-iphone/

take anonymous quotes for what they are worth - about the same as an ad video ime

Engadget also reported an insider saying the iPhone would be delayed to October.

Caused AAPL to plummet that day.

Then they had to apologize.

But it was a Very Reliable Source (tm)!

I've always wished that, as a stockholder with a good chunk of my portfolio in AAPL (thanks to options and ESPP), one could sue the rumor factories for damages. The stock could and usually does recover, and, of course, risk is part of investing, but there is a quantifiable negative effect to this sort of irresponsible reporting, if only temporary.

Anyway, with any Apple product that draws this much attention pre-release, it's always best to wait until users actually have it in their hands to draw firm conclusions. Fortunately for Apple, most users are immensely pleased with finished product most of the time. (Granted, the population here may at times have a different take, since they're not exactly "most users"...) But compared to most other companies churning out similar products, Apple has an enviable track record of delivering a product that leads to satisfaction roughly equal to the preceding hype.

There's A LOT of hype preceding this one, so who knows what's going to happen. It's bound to be a good show though.

My office happens to be above and across the street from a major AT&T store, so I've got prime seats from which to view the action. btw... no campers in front of the store yet.

Just thinking - will future releases be software or hardware? I.e. if I buy now, am I likely to find that in a year there will be a substantially improved model from a hardware standpoint or will the significant improvements be downloadable software upgrades?

I have to admit that it looks interesting enough to me to buy if it were unlocked. But with ATT only it is probably a non-starter for me. I cant see using them for service.

Well yeah, I think it's safe to say there would be future releases. That's technology.

I haven't worked at Apple for 6 months, but even so, I can't speculate more than the above, even if I were to know more than I do, which I don't.

So your best way to determine when updates will happen and in what form and how extensive would be to look at past releases of hardware and software and see the trends. Obviously, this is a new product, but it's the same company, which, btw, prides itself on innovation and also is famous for holding its cards extremely close.

Uh, lets not forget that it was a confirmed Apple memo that they reported on. APPLE is the one that should apologize. Of course, the memo itself leaked, but how someone was able to send that memo from within Apple was never revealed.

Same here.

I'd easily pay upwards of $800 for a phone like this, but there is no way in hell I'll sign a 2 year contract with ATT.

Apple is taking a huge gamble by tying in with an operator like this, I hope they know what they are doing. Nobody else in the industry has really done this.

Fingers crossed someone hacks the iphone and makes it usable on other networks.

I think they had to partner with somebody.

You can't move the kind of volumes they're probably shooting for without a carrier distribution channel in this country.

Look at all the expensive Nokias people import. Lot of them have WCDMA 2100, which can't be used in the US. Now if a carrier really wanted those high-end Nokias, they probably would have worked to support US networks more.

But because people have to get these from eBay or smaller web sites, their sales are limited. Also the high price makes it a smaller market.

And Apple obviously has to come out with a GSM product. They could have supported CDMA as well if they struck a deal with Verizon. But apparently one of the sticking points was that Verizon only wanted people to buy music through their network. No sideloading, which is buy on computer and then sync with the phone. AT&T gave up on not forcing people to buy downloads only through their network.

Plus I'm sure the other part of the deal was how much AT&T was willing to share vs. the other carriers.

To get as big a distribution, the choice was either AT&T or Verizon -- forget about selling unlocked because that's a niche and most iPod users who might buy the iPhone want and one-stop solution.

Now would Verizon have made it more attractive? There is certainly detractors to Verizon as well. So they were going to antagonize people either way they went.

Selling unlocked would have been an interesting thing for them to try, I think. They might even have been able to pull it off to a moderate success. But. Having a carrier partner sure gives them a whole lot more distribution. It also gets them where more people are looking for a cell phone, instead of trying to draw them into Apple stores where they haven't sold such a thing until now. I'm guessing it's distribution that most drove them to partnering with the carrier.

Also it's possible some of the features won't work without whatever is happening on the AT&T backend. It's been brought up before that visual voicemail could be done on some other phones, but that the carriers don't bother to support it. That may be the only thing, or there could be others.