Who bought an iPhone?

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

Okay so no built in audio, no video, limited bluetooth, cannot download iTunees directly, cannot dock and provide audio...and all wondering if there's a third party or software upgrade to allow for it among other wanted features not found in this model.

This is the reason why I'll wait for the second-generation iPhone that will undoubtedly come with most of the above mentioned features and at a cost much lower than what is currently available.

And you know what? The 2nd-generation iPhone will probably be smaller, lighter, cheaper and more powerful. Those who bought the iPhone just paid for the R&D plus helped financed the next generation iPhone for those who were willing to wait.

Okay it's a luxury item and for those who have an extra $600 bucks laying around this is your justification...

What would I do with an extra $600? Smart people make their money work for them by investing it. Throw it in your investment portfolio and buy shares of Apple instead of an Apple product. Make yourself rich not Apple.

Generous people can donate $600 and feel really good about it plus take the charity write-off and get most of it back in their taxes then really feel good about making their money work.

$600 is a principal payment on a car loan or even a credit card balance.

$600 can go a lot farther than a splurge on an expensive albeit limited cell phone. And that's basically what it is.

I'll wait for the next model.

[pzarquon]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

And the 3rd generation will be even better and cheaper, and the 4th generation even better and cheaper than that, and the 5th generation...

I have a good friend who has wanted badly to buy an iPod for two years now. And continues to wait, because the next one is always "just around the corner." I'm sure she's right, and she'll get the perfect deal eventually, but... so far she's been an iPod-less iPod lover since 2005. Same thing happens with computers, and cars... at some point, you gotta jump.

Some folks are early adopters. Some wait and see. Everyone can rationalize their reasons. I for one am happy using my iPhone today, rather than wondering if and when I'll get one later.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

Do any of the Hawai`i newspapers carry Berkeley Breathed's Sunday-only comic, "Opus?" Today's fits this thread (I don't know how long this link will be active.)

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

And some are happy waiting knowing other's have paved the way for a better product down the road.

Your friend obviously doesn't have a need or a great want for an iPod so that's why she can wait.

I agree that all future generations will be better in all areas, but for most it comes down to wants or needs and for the most part, those who need it can't get the features they want.

Those who want it could care less because there isn't a need for those functions that are noticably missing from this current model.

When I shop for a product, the first question I ask is, "Do I need this or do I actually just want it". If it's a need, then it's a no-brainer and it's purchased. If it's a want, then I ask myself what could $600 do otherwise?

Typically most items I buy now qualify as "Needs" and those items I buy as "Wants" simply make me feel foolish and guilty that I didn't spend my money wisely.

When I considered the Treo 700WX I thought the price was a bit high but I needed integration with Windows Outlook as well as be able to edit and send MS Office documents. Having a PDA (Palm 7x) and a Cell Phone (Razr) that didn't integrate with each other made for one bulky day carrying around two items. The integrated Windows Media Player was a bonus that I rarely use but the integration with Outlook has made this an invaluable tool especially since I can directly reach my contacts via email or by phone without having to switch between tools.

As mentioned before regarding the integration of a camera in a phone. At first I thought it was a silly idea, but have since found the option a valuable tool in evidence gathering.

I used to carry around a cheap disposable camera in all of my cars. If I got involved in an accident where the fault was questionable, I'd start snapping pictures of the damage to either car. When my boy hit a parked AUDI with his Geo Prizm, I told him to start taking pictures with his cell phone and document the damage. Instead of waiting for him to come home, he sent the images directly to my email and I was able to view the damage within minutes half way across the Big Island.

Cameras on cell phones have proved to be invaluable and I'm glad that guy who jury-rigged his cell phone with a camera so his family could see his newborn baby at the hospital was inspired to do so.

[pzarquon]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

Anyway. For those genuinely curious about the iPhone, I thought you might be interested in the image quality of the 2 megapixel camera built into it.

As you know, I love to post photos from my phone, which was previously a Treo 700p. It had a common, and unimpressive, VGA sensor. While the iPhone will similarly not make you the next Ansel Adams, I have to admit, so far I'm impressed.



As you can imagine, the shutter is slow and low light means plenty of noise. But compared to my Treo, it's like night and day. (Just go back a bit in my Flickr archives for comparisons.) The iPhone doesn't try to do too much, but for what Apple chose for it to do, it seems to do each task well. A really nice touch? The iPhone can tell if I'm holding it in portrait or landscape mode, and saves/uploads accordingly. In a way, it almost doubles the possibilities I had with mobile photo taking. I'm happy.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

Anyway. For those genuinely curious about the iPhone, I thought you might be interested in the image quality of the 2 megapixel camera built into it.

As you know, I love to post photos from my phone, which was previously a Treo 700p. It had a common, and unimpressive, VGA sensor. While the iPhone will similarly not make you the next Ansel Adams, I have to admit, so far I'm impressed.



As you can imagine, the shutter is slow and low light means plenty of noise. But compared to my Treo, it's like night and day. (Just go back a bit in my Flickr archives for comparisons.) The iPhone doesn't try to do too much, but for what Apple chose for it to do, it seems to do each task well. A really nice touch? The iPhone can tell if I'm holding it in portrait or landscape mode, and saves/uploads accordingly. In a way, it almost doubles the possibilities I had with mobile photo taking. I'm happy.

That's pretty good resolution for 2-Megapixels. And so is the cropping.

I have a feeling I too will own an iPhone one day but for now I'm still getting used to my Treo and it's confusing interfaces. Treo's are definately not user freindly, at least the 700WX that is.

[DaFerret]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

• No copy and paste. Browsing the web is a joy. E-mail is sweet. SMS is slick and iChat like. But one of the tradeoffs of the dead simple navigation and text entry setup is that I can't "select" anything. I can't copy a phone number and paste it into the phone (though switching back and forth is quick enough). My Treo, by comparison, was a copy-paste machine... I did it all the time. And the Treo could "recognize" a phone number in any application and make it a "link" to dial immediately. I don't know how copy and paste would be added, but I'm hoping the phone number link thing is added in a future release.

This actually surprises me Pz. I saw the demo where the Jobs-clone (Mr. iPhone?), demo'd being able to click (err.. touch) on a phone number in an email and it would dial automatically. The iPhone doesn't recognize telephone numbers (and email addresses?) in webpages? I know the google maps demo also showed the phone number listings in the results were clickable (err... touchable?) and dialed automatically.

I was a fool to wait at an AT&T store. I waited at the Waipahu one where there were about 40ish people in line. Ran out at around 30 or so. Then I compounded my mistake and ordered from them so I've got around 5 more days to get my iPhone.

But that's a good thing. I wanted to have the box and check out reviews and such for a few days before deciding if I wanted to go through the activation. If I got my grubby paws on it on Friday, I don't think I'd have the willpower to keep it boxed.

[mel]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

Anyway. For those genuinely curious about the iPhone, I thought you might be interested in the image quality of the 2 megapixel camera built into it.

As you know, I love to post photos from my phone, which was previously a Treo 700p.

This is one are where all of us who follow your photos at Flickr and other sites will benefit. Those pictures look just as good as the ones I post from my 2 megapixel Sony cameras. So YOU having an iPhone is a definite plus for us in the picture viewing universe.

[melorama]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

I just got back from the Ala Moana Apple Store, and they are completely sold out of iPhones. Last night when I went there at around 7PM, they only had 8 4GB models in stock. Yet Apple's online "iPhone availability" checker says that Ala Moana still had em in stock...grrr.

This is both good and bad, because I went there to buy me an 8-gigger, but i really don't need an iPhone (especially since 10 months ago I wasted money on that overrated piece of garbage known as the LG Chocolate phone...and even worse, I still have 11 months left on my Verizon contract)...But I really do "want" one!

I justify buying one of these ridiculous monstrosities because I'm a Macintosh "Power User". Just having the ability to bidirectionally sync my calendars and address book with my Mac is well worth the price of the iPhone, in my opinion. BitPIM is such a pain in the ass, and I'll be glad to never have to use that POS hack ever again.

The thing *is* really slow as far as internet browsing is concerned, though. I'm not sure if the demo units at Ala Moana were connected to the EDGE network or if it was through WiFi, but in any case, the performance was really disappointing.

[Vanguard]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

I just got back from the Ala Moana Apple Store, and they are completely sold out of iPhones. Last night when I went there at around 7PM, they only had 8 4GB models in stock. Yet Apple's online "iPhone availability" checker says that Ala Moana still had em in stock...grrr.

One thing I learned during the next generation gaming console rush of last year; those availability thingies are typically only updated once every 24 hours.

I hope you get the iPhone you want soon

[pzarquon]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

This actually surprises me Pz.

Not surprisingly, I misspoke! Phone numbers in e-mail (at least in a Gmail message I just tested) do become hyperlinks that get passed to the phone. I also see phone numbers on web pages become links, and holding down my finger on them pops up a bubble with the number in it, but so far I haven't gotten it to dial. I may have to go way overboard and read the manual...

Still no cut and paste, though, since there's no highlighting or a clipboard for that matter.

I just got back from the Ala Moana Apple Store, and they are completely sold out of iPhones.

Bummer about them being sold out. I guessed that stock would last through the 4th. Yes, the availability indicator is only updated overnight, and it applies only to Apple Stores. Any reports on Kahala? How about neighborhood AT&T stores? From what I've read, AT&T stores got only small batches -- maybe 20-30 iPhones per store -- so I'm guessing they're sold out too. But I wonder if you could find an out-of-the-way retail outlet that has a handful waiting to be bought.

[LocalMotion]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

Okay so no built in audio, no video, limited bluetooth, cannot download iTunees directly, cannot dock and provide audio...and all wondering if there's a third party or software upgrade to allow for it among other wanted features not found in this model.

What would I do with an extra $600? Smart people make their money work for them by investing it. Throw it in your investment portfolio and buy shares of Apple instead of an Apple product. Make yourself rich not Apple.

what do you mean by no built in audio, no video? any videos you have in iTunes can be put on your iPhone... maybe you meant you can't record audio/video?

The dock that came with the iphone has a line out connector on the back so you can hook up any speakers that have a standard plug. i just tried it right now, it works even without the usb cable connected.

Also as for investment... i own 200 shares of AAPL, and just sold 5 shares days before to buy my iphone, i think of it as a reinvestment

[LocalMotion]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

Not surprisingly, I misspoke! Phone numbers in e-mail (at least in a Gmail message I just tested) do become hyperlinks that get passed to the phone. I also see phone numbers on web pages become links, and holding down my finger on them pops up a bubble with the number in it, but so far I haven't gotten it to dial. I may have to go way overboard and read the manual...

i just tried it and just tapped on the number and it paused a second, but then went to call the number...

[tutusue]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

I have to stop reading this thread. Now I really, really want an iPhone! Good thing I changed carriers when I did!

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Who bought an iPhone?

what do you mean by no built in audio, no video? any videos you have in iTunes can be put on your iPhone... maybe you meant you can't record audio/video?

The dock that came with the iphone has a line out connector on the back so you can hook up any speakers that have a standard plug. i just tried it right now, it works even without the usb cable connected.

Also as for investment... i own 200 shares of AAPL, and just sold 5 shares days before to buy my iphone, i think of it as a reinvestment

That's what I meant. But didn't someone here say the carport couldn't send audio out?

As for shares of Apple, that's how I would have done it.