Loathing (but no fear) and the iphone

[Mike Stivala]

I"m a self professed Mac-geek through and through. If you doubt me hear this:

Back in the day...I owned a Newton.

Yes...that was me!

Anyway, it took all of my willpower to NOT stand in line to buy the 1st gen iphone when it was first released. Oh yeah - I wanted one, really bad. But over and over this mantra careened through my brain -

"Never buy anything first generation...remember the first gen imac you bought with USB 1!!!"

So, I held out and didn't buy it. Good news, I didn't pay $200 more than the product sold for a mere 2 months later. Bad news, I don't have an iphone! So, I had to sit by watching all those news reports about the "greatest phone ever". I had to hear friends rave about how great it was. I had to sit quietly by and watch, with envy, these same "friends" 'tap, tap' on their iphones with huge s-eating grins on their faces.

Hence - the loathing.

So I scoured the internet for rumors of iphone "v2". All the mac sites were reporting rumors of the new iphone that will be out in October 2007.

No problem - that's only a few months away - I can last that long.
So I decided to wait it out, figuring that iphone V2 was right around the corner. However - what came out in Oct was the ipod touch, not the new iphone.

More loathing.

SO, at this point it seems pointless to buy the first gen iphone. The next gen must be right around the corner, for real this time, right?

But when??? I can't seem to find any info. The only scrap I've heard (from a mac developer) is that iphone V2 will be out in January.

Anybody else hear this - or anything about the V2 iphone??


merry merry to all

[Ben Winter]

When you have the later, greater iPhone with all the improvements your friends wish they could add onto theirs, you'll be the one with the s-eating grin on your face. So hold out, it'll be worth it!

I'm not sure when the next "generation" is coming out, but trends suggest there will be some kind of improvement in the next couple months.

[Bill Davis]

Sorry, but I've got to TOTALLY disagree.

The whole point of the iPhone is that it's a DIFFERENT kind of telephony device. The phone part is just one piece of the system. And the REST of the system is what makes it more valuable to a lot of us.

While making phone calls and listening to music were quick and easy... I've got to say it was a couple of MONTHS of continuous use before I could begin to TRUELY INTEGRATE all the capabilities into my daily routine. learning to depend on the Maps features for traffic directions, coming to appreciate how visual voice mail worked with the same accounts reflected on other desktop units and a bunch of other stuff - while easy enough to understand in the first week or so - took me a while to integrate into my life.

Now they do so seamlessly - and it's caused pretty profound behavior changes in my day to day routine.

For example I NEVER hauled my laptop out for real time traffic info - I do it all the time with my iPhone at red lights - and check my email at the same time.

Sometimes it's not GETTING a device that makes the big changes in how you do things - is LIVING with a device.

So my advice is quit stalling. If you want an iPhone just get one. There will ALWAYS be new technology around the corner. It's a few hundred bucks. That's not cheap, but it's also not so much that if a new one comes out you can't pass it along to someone else and get the new model and KEEP ALL THE NEW HABITS YOU'VE DEVELOPED USING THE OLD ONE!

And it's those HABITS that I think make this particular bit of tech really shine.

My 2 cents anyway.


BTW, I have a Newton around here somewhere too. Probably sitting next to my original Mac 128 from 1984!

[Mike Peter Reed]

"never buy 1st generation" goes beyond add-ons and possible performance gains. I think it refers more generally to waiting for improvements in the entire manufacturing process which V2 will no doubt bring. The guts of the V2 would likely be more optimised allowing for more memory capacity, along with cheaper flash prices.

The iPhone might be able to replace my Nokia 6300 ... but it can't replace my usage habits with my iPod because the V1 iPhone does not have enough storage capacity for my needs.

I'll probably get a iPhone v5, just like I got iPod v5 because it wasn't worth holding out for good software from Archos or Creative anymore. And Windows has been a deal breaker for while for me.

[Matt Davis]

Originally Posted by Mike Stivala

The only scrap I've heard (from a mac developer) is that iphone V2 will be out in January.

I think that's version 1.2 of the iPhone OS (currently 1.1.2). It would ready the phone for 3rd party apps, sort out little things like sync between notes and Leopard's Mail Notes, add a few bits and bobs.

A 3G version of the phone is rumoured, but pundits don't rate the concept as the battery life would be awful. It's needed (in Europe at least) but it may take a while.

I'm missing voice dialing, intelligent copy/paste (like my P900), a movie camera function (not like my P900, hopefully), a view of all my mailboxes (my Blackberry could only do one box), sync via bluetooth, a PDF/eBook reader is absolutely essential, as is a sideways typing outliner and lots of other things, but we're at 1.x.

And I'll admit to this: I am ANOTHER ex-Newton user - I had a MessagePad 100 and still have the video that came with it (maybe early-adopter syndrome is genetic).

The iPhone is what the MessagePad should have been - or rather, it could become that PDA dream. Telephony is great but I need a camera connected to eMail, I need to do searches for stuff in a soup of notes-to-self, amuse myself with SouthPark videos, impress chance meets with my work, listen to podcasts in the car...

I've had a lot of phones/pdas, and I have a dear friend with a 'problem' (he buys every latest gadget then phones me and moans about them). We're agreed: the iPhone is still in Beta but it's really really good. It's not perfect, but it does great now and can only get better.

You can join in now, or you can join later. It depends on how much you hate PDAs and phones as they stand: P990, Nokia 9300i, N95, Aaaargh! iPhone 1 is flawed, but its available. There are more expensive phones (IIRC, I paid more for my original P800).

FWIW, I'll admit that I have an iPod Classic that holds 'everything' (first choice for air travel, hotel jail), but I set the iPhone to do the 'last 5' podcasts and cycle my movies, and haven't found 8 GB as limiting as I thought.

I've also trained myself to thumb-type on the iPhone, making it a one-hander rather than a two-hander. It's not the wordsmithing machine that was my Psion 5, but it's better than most other toys.

Finally, ownership over the last month has been fun. Battery life is not an issue once you realise that you can't spend all day checking email and listening to podcasts, then all evening googling TV trivia without toasting your battery life. One gadget is doing three major jobs. I can get 3 days if I use it like an enhanced phone, but end up charging it every night because I'm using it so much. I think that's the sign of a good gadget.

[Mike Stivala]

Originally Posted by Bill Davis

<snip> So my advice is quit stalling. If you want an iPhone just get one. There will ALWAYS be new technology around the corner.

Yep, you are probably the 100th person to tell me the same thing and I do agree. It's strange, I'm usually a not such a techno-crastinator. THere's just something about this first gen iphone that makes me want to wait. Maybe it's the possibility of 3G. But like others have said o that may or may not happen in V2 or even be practical at this point.

Maybe after Xmas!

mike

[Colin Sato]

I have an old MP100 and a Messagepad 2000 in clear view of my desk. Haven't touched it in years, but I still have it! I'm on the iPhone fence too, but will probably cave in the next day or two. I am hopeful that with the SDK out in Feb, we will see some new applications that allow cut and paste, e-mail templates, and (do I dare) Java. While I'm dreaming, a Bluetooth mini keyboard will enhance the ability to write documents or take notes.

[C.J. Daniel]

i would be all over the next gen iphone, if it wasn't on ATT network

[Jaron Berman]

Ive had one since the second month, and never looked back. I actually was surprised to find the rebate, and actually would have been totally fine without it... but hey, free money back? Why not!

It's been perfect for me, and allowed me to stop hauling my laptop on the road for email. Blackberry you say? Well, certain companies (cough..MTV..cough) won't set up blackberries unless you're staff (even on LONG gigs). That feature alone made it worth it to me, everything else has just added the the amazement. I use the maps almost daily, photo and video albums have gotten me work when the "hey do you have a reel or portfolio?" comes up.

A friend of my procrastinated and procrastinated and finally gave in about a week ago. Talking to him this morning his comment was "man, why did I wait so long? I could care less if a new one comes out, this does everything." And he's right. If there were something missing on this generation, I could see the "wait and see." But for me it's pretty complete for everything I need now. Should that change in the future, there will most likely be new software.

Just do it - you won't be sorry.

[Mike Stivala]

Originally Posted by C.J. Daniel

i would be all over the next gen iphone, if it wasn't on ATT network

I hear this from a lot of people and have to admit - I don't get it.
I've been an ATT wireless customer from back before it changed to Cingular and then eventually went back to ATT.

I'm mostly in NYC, NNJ and NE PA. I used to travel for gigs a lot - all over the country - esp LA).

I have never had a problem with ATTs service. My gal uses verizon and during the times we travel together - I have never seen a difference in service.

For the record I'm not exactly a cell phone "power user" - basic calling and texting is all I do.

The only complaint I have is that there are a few "blind spots" in coverage in Manhattan. An occasional annoyance - yes, but not nearly enough for me to ditch the service.
Just wondering what sort of problems others have had to hate ATT service so much?

[Chris Hurd]

You can find criticism of *all* the major telco's, not just ATT. In the case of the iPhone it's most likely not a matter of "hating" ATT so much as it is a strong desire not to switch from one's current provider.

At any rate, long-winded rants against [ insert any telco here ] are not what this site is about. If you're looking for reasons to hate [ insert any telco here ], please just Google it and go elsewhere.

As for myself, I'd consider the iPhone if it were offered through Sprint. Nothing against ATT but I have no desire to switch telcos.

[Jaron Berman]

When I was living in Brooklyn, I had a 3 month period where every single call I made/received dropped within 10 seconds. I had full bars, then the call would just mysteriously drop. Needless to say, I was pretty unhappy with AT&T. I called them daily, sometimes twice for the entire time, and my frustration was that no matter how many times I asked them to make a note that I was once again calling and nothing was fixed, nobody ever made a note on my account. Further complicating the matter was their policy of "known issues." A problem doesn't register according to their policy unless they send a technician to your door to check both your phone and your nearest tower IN PERSON. So the thousands of complaints and dropped calls every day? Don't count! Ever wonder how they brag of "fewest complaints, fewest dropped calls?" They just make it so hard to lodge a complaint that it doesn't count! So even though I personally logged every single dropped call, and called them every single day for 3 months, technically I had never dropped a call or lodged a complaint. They finally sent someone out to inspect my tower, only to find that I lived within 1 block of 3 different towers, all of which were functioning properly.

So I searched the web, and found hundreds of similar complaints, and a guy with a solution! It was the particular phone I had, and the 3G service. Even though AT&T and Samsung both denied that it was possible, I managed to find a simple key sequence that turned off the 3G service, and from that point till I got the iphone, never a dropped call.

Moral of the story - all cell phone networks have issues. However, the majority of problems people have relate to the devices themselves and how they "hand-off" between towers or technologies. The iphone was designed to work with the AT&T network, and since getting it I haven't had a single dropped call, even on the road from NYC to LA. Obviously, coverage varies from area to area, but if I have even a single bar, I find that the iphone sounds/works better than anything I've ever had. My 2c