Who bought an iPhone?

[Paul Ogata]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

Picked one up on opening day and it is indeed awesome! I had been using an old-school Treo 600, so it was time to upgrade.

The only problem I have is that I wanted to port my Hawaii number to the new iPhone, but was told by iTunes upon activation that it was ineligible for porting. But after I activated under a 323 area-code, I called and found out there was a convoluted way to make it happen. So I'm waiting for AT&T to mail me a new SIM card so that I can then port the number.

But it is a headache I'll gladly put up with for the next couple of days.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

Got this off Techspot.com on how someone hacked the iPhone's iPod and wifi capabilities without having to register iTunes with the Death Star.

Interesting if you own an iPod. Another tidbit for Apple were these two lawsuits

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

Some might be interested in this blog that discusses the iPhone and DRM.

I've had a completely different take on it. When you cross and iPod with a wireless device, it seems a natural that you'd set up a subscription music service. Access anything in the tunes store on demand for a extra $x a month. Phones have traditionally been rather high on DRM. This really locks down the music and offers artists "pay per play" type of payment. Much to my surprise, the music companies seem to have been pushing Apple in this direction (subscription based), but Apple doesn't want to play.

On another note, it could also spell bad things for broadcast radio stations since it would seem a "live" podcast would be possible. Any station anywhere in the world can be heard when you are in range of WiFi or AT&T. It may even allow customization so that you can select your own deejay talk, a news stream and music from different sources to make your own personal podcast.

It's entirely possible that the iPhone will signal new life to DRM - and bad things for consumers.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

I don't think this one as been posted here yet, but another iPhone video

[MonkeyMan]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

OK, add me to the list of people who drank the Kool Aid. I went into Apple Store, picked up the phone, clicked on one web site and I was sold. I begged them to sell me one. No dice. None to be had.

Hit Craigslist. Connected on the second ad that I responded to. Paid a little bit over what they sold for in the store, but I considered it a reasonable finder's fee for the convenience of the purchase. The guy I bought from stood in line at AT&T from 8 a.m. on June 29 to get his two phones. And he had one available, Apple did not.

Boo hoo. Woo hoo! I got a phone!

Took it home, plugged it in, registered and validated with Apple in about 3 minutes. Got email from Apple a minute later saying thanks...

And here it is 3 hours later and AT&T hasn't activated the phone yet. Ignoble beginning of the story.

[mel]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

It's entirely possible that the iPhone will signal new life to DRM - and bad things for consumers.

I thought the thing would work like an iPod, where if you synch it with iTunes you can just download the tracks you already have on your computer to your iPhone, including those MP3 and AAC ones that you rip from your own CDs.

Plus Apple is trying to go the non-DRM route by selling certain songs in a non DRM format.

On another note, some of this iPhone technology is bound to trickle down to iPods that may be released later this year.... and a newer, cheaper iPhone may be coming in a few months:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL - news) plans to launch a cheaper version of the iPhone in the fourth quarter that could be based on the ultra-slim iPod Nano music player, according to a JP Morgan report.

Kevin Chang, a JP Morgan analyst based in Taiwan, cited people in the supply channel he did not name and an application with the U.S Patent and Trademark office for his report dated July 8.

Apple filed a patent application document dated July 5 that refers to a multifunctional handheld device with a circular touch pad control, similar to the Nano's scroll wheel.

Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris declined comment.

Nano like iPhone may sell for around $300. This is only an early, speculative report.

I looked at one of these at the Apple Store tonight. The OSX interface seems be an "At Ease" like front end to the OS... an old Mac Performa user might remember Apple's "At Ease" front end. Of course the iPhone implementation of OSX is beautiful and simple.

[MonkeyMan]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

Gecko Geek, you better buy one of these mofos before your Geek License gets REVOKED!

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

I don't think this one as been posted here yet, but another iPhone video

I like The Soup's iPhone video better.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

Gecko Geek, you better buy one of these mofos before your Geek License gets REVOKED!

There are many different kinds of geeks. I tend more to the "econo geek" side - using my knowledge to get by on the cheap.

Not to be confused with the faux-geek, the "gadgeteer" who has more money then brains. Always has the latest and greatest but may not be knowable about what they have.

There is another type of geek that does have the latest and is knowledgeable. Haven't thought up a name for them. Maybe econogeek with money.

Then there's the political sides....

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

I like The Soup's iPhone video better.

That was really well done.

[adrian]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

here's the pictures I took on July 4th of the iPhone. It just shows the somewhat working flip orientation thingy and the iPod interface.

[pzarquon]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

MonkeyMan, I imagine your iPhone is activated now? Mine took three days, since I bought it on day one and was part of the surge that nearly brought down AT&T's system. I was also transferring my number, which complicates things.

Pretty much everything I like about the iPhone comes from Apple's engineers and designers. Pretty much everything that annoys me about it comes from AT&T.

I love David Pogue's videos for the iPhone. His pre-launch review was hilarious, but his musical even more entertaining. Hard to believe he works for the Gray Lady.

I doubt there'll be a Nano iPhone. Or if there is, how compelling it'd be. The iPhone as it is, form factor wise, hits the tightest balance of screen size versus UI. Something the size of the Nano? I can't help imagining a tiny rotary dial on the thing, like those classic telephones.

Over a week into iPhone life, and I don't miss my Treo at all. I finally disconnected the Treo dock from my computer. The next step will be to pack it away!

[scrivener]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

Much to my surprise, the music companies seem to have been pushing Apple in this direction (subscription based), but Apple doesn't want to play.

It's entirely possible that the iPhone will signal new life to DRM - and bad things for consumers.

I hadn't even considered this, but now that I think about it, I think I'm confused. I bought a Samsung BlackJack last November. Cingular had some kind of agreement with eMusic.com (a few extra bucks per month, as you say, bought you something). I'm already an eMusic.com subscriber, so I didn't pay much attention to it, especially since at the time, I had a 40GB iPod and didn't need the phone for listening.

eMusic.com sells DRM-free MP3 downloads. With AT&T holding hands with Apple now, what happens to AT&T's relationship with eMusic.com?

MonkeyMan, I imagine your iPhone is activated now? Mine took three days, since I bought it on day one and was part of the surge that nearly brought down AT&T's system. I was also transferring my number, which complicates things.

Ryan, did you switch over all your services, including whoever you were paying for your EVDO service?

[MonkeyMan]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

Yeah, in my case I was already a Cingular customer and was switching my phone number to the new phone. I also had to add the data plan to my existing account.

It took them 9 1/2 hours to activate the phone. Once it started working, I hit my Airport hub with it (Graphite 802.11b) and hit one web page. Thrilled! Then it couldn't find any more pages.

Camera only came up with a black screen.

Restarted many times trying to get it to cooperate. Nothing.

Just got back from the Genius Bar and I'm drunk with Apple Goodness. They looked at it, fiddled a while, then reached under the counter and gave me a new one. Programmed it up with my old number and my old sim chip and away I went.

Camera works now, but it still doesn't like my Airport. I might fiddle with the Airport DNS settings and stuff.

But I'm not complaining! I like it!

(By the way Ala Moana has phones in stock this evening! Hurry on down!)

[tutusue]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

[...]Just got back from the Genius Bar and I'm drunk with Apple Goodness.[...]

Bwahahahaha! Funny line. True, tho'! I love the Genius Bar.