Apple iPhone
Well, the much rumoured widescreen iPod, touch screen interface, etc., happens to be the new revolutionary Apple cellphone, iPhone. It runs Mac OSX and is basically the internet in your pocket! A combined widescreen iPod, mobile phone and internet communicator, is just 11.6mm wide, and with a touch screen (no keypad)! An incredible device!
To be honest, even from years ago, I didn’t think too much of an Apple cellphone. I thought, besides putting iChat on there, what else can they do? No way would they ever be able to beat some of the cellphone makers in Japan. Even today, before MacWorld kicked off, I still wasn’t excited about an Apple phone. But now, after seeing/reading about what it can do, I’m totally gobsmacked!! Apple has reinvented the phone, period! I so frikkin’ want one!!
All this bolds well for a new, wide-screen, multi-touch iPod! It has to be just around the corner!
Back to the iPhone, thank god the back of the unit is not using the same glossy-chrome found on the iPod. But sadly, it’s used for the outer front bezel. I just so hate that chrome surface! It scratches once you breathe on it, for crying out loud! Sometimes, I really wonder why Jonathan Ive continues to use that material even till this day (since 2001’s original iPod). Another thing I don’t like, the cam hole on the back of the phone - it’s just a black circle. That’s exactly the same as the IR hole at the front of the MacBook Pro. Why does it have to be a circle? Why not rectangular (for MacBook) or square (for iPhone) with slightly rounded corners? Circle just looks like… well… a hole. Anyway, that’s just me being anal, as usual.
Specs
- GSM Quad-Band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
- Play movies and music (is an iPod, don’t forget)
- 11.6mm thin
- 3.5-inch screen with 320×480 at 160ppi resolution
- Multi-touch screen
- Revolutionary user-interface
- Proximity sensor, accelerometer, and ambient light sensors
- Conference call (up to 3 participants)
- 2 megapix camera
- Safari: first fully useable HTML browser on a phone
- Runs Mac OSX
- Widget support
- WiFi 802.11b/g + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0
- Battery Life: 16 hours audio, 5 hour talk/video/browse time
- 4GB ($499) or 8GB ($599)
- Release date: June 2007 in US, Q4 2007 in Europe, 2008 in Asia
Me too Me too Me too… ^o^ I’m excited to hear that Cingular, or should I say AT&T Wireless may be the first to offer it in the U.S.
It’s a nice design and some of the interface is cool, but the specs are mediocre. And the lack of tactile functionality for the phone is a minus. It’s not even 3G. And it costs 500 bucks. Personally, it would be more interesting to me if they took out the phone part and beefed it up as a PDA/ipod parts. This things can’t even compare to our Japanese phones in terms of capability.
I think what’s more important about this phone is how some of the design elements in the interface and usability will affect other products for Apple going forward.
Also a 2 Megapixel Camera! Gimme a break.
Edd, we need to talk about, you know wat …;-)
Roy,
I think you’re kinda missing the point (or maybe it’s me?). It’s not about having a resolution of 1680×1050 pix in that 3.5″ screen, or a 25 megapixel camera, One-Seg, mega GPS, etc., etc. The claimed “revolution” I believe is more about the user interaction. I think its 3G…
Dan,
Actually NO, I don’t want to talk about “you know what”… hahahahahaha!
Actually, it’s not 3G yet. It’s quad GSM. Anyway, I watched the keynote just now. I’m liking it more although I don’t necessarily think all those things are revolutionary. When steve demoed how he got a call while listened to music and then sending a photo by email. Well, I can already do all that on my phone. But I do like the device more now.
Edd: oky…;-(
No 3rd party app makes it quite useless though (http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/12/0430200)… even if they fix the other issues (eg. no 3G or better, no GPS, etc). :’(
I like the interactive iphone ads they’ve done in Japan with Catchyoo. Apple are always very innovative even with ads.
http://japansugoi.com/wordpress/sugoi-interactive-advertising-from-catchyoo-in-japan/