iPhone 3G annouced: 8GB model is $199

[Greg King]

I don't know now many of you this interests but for those that it does, Steve Jobs announced earlier today that the newest iPhone (3G) will start out at just under 200 dollars... which is freaking awesome.

Another great development is the open application editor. Users can make programs that run on the iPhone and distribute them with Apple's help.

Oh, gaming looks promising as well. I am still a bit confused as to how the controls will be laid out but I am interested none the less.

What are your thoughts on the new iPhones? I was skeptical until I used one last winter for an hour or so. They are nice phones.

 

[Kougar]

I was skeptical until I saw one surfing the web, then I realized someone had actually done it and made a "useable" phone. I just missed out on the little tiny keypad craze, so onscreen typing wouldn't bother me in fact I'd probably prefer it.

My question would be, aren't iPhone users locked into AT&T 2-year subscriptions still? And AT&T doesn't offer unlimited everything plans with the iPhone iirc? Maybe if Apple actually offered unlocked iPhones...

Of course I don't see that happening, since AT&T pays Apple about $18 per month for every iPhone used on their network.

 

[b1lk1]

I am so violently opposed to anything apple that I would never be caught dead even holding one. Overpriced garbage. Besides that, there are far better alternatives out there that are not forcing you to use one service. They should have cost $200 to begin with and people that bought them deserved the price gouging.

 

[Greg King]

Having used one, I have to say that they are certainly stronger in many areas and present in areas that the rest of the market isn't even in yet.

I don't so much hate Apple as much as I just dislike many of the users. I recently took a new job as a software developer here in Indianapolis and to be competitive, we have to develop our goods to work on as many platforms as possible (I'm just IT, I don't do the development) so there are a fair share of Macs here. I don't hate them near as much as I used to and in fact, enjoy them to a certain extent.

 

[b1lk1]

[rant]

I agree. Although the main reason I dislike Apple themselves is the moronic commercials they run making fun of Vista. I have run Vista for some time now and would say that it is far better than it's release candidate and has definitely passed XP for me. THeir commercials and a good many of their users scream arrogance. My favorite story so far this year was the hacking contest that had the Apple PC being the easiest to hack. If virus writers actually cared to attack them, they'd be toast.

[/rant]

 

[Greg King]

[rant]

I agree. Although the main reason I dislike Apple themselves is the moronic commercials they run making fun of Vista. I have run Vista for some time now and would say that it is far better than it's release candidate and has definitely passed XP for me. THeir commercials and a good many of their users scream arrogance. My favorite story so far this year was the hacking contest that had the Apple PC being the easiest to hack. If virus writers actually cared to attack them, they'd be toast.

[/rant]

Yes, their commercials do smell of arrogance. I would like to see one Microsoft commercial with about 96 PC guys, all the same and 4 Mac guys. When the Mac guys asks why so many, the PC guy can comment on PC market share jibberish and then give his ass a swirlee.

 

[slugbug]

You do realize that excessive cell phone usage can fry your brain don't you
Not like some cell phone users would even notice

 

[b1lk1]

Just another form of natural selection if you ask me, LOL!!!!

 

[Kougar]

[rant]

I agree. Although the main reason I dislike Apple themselves is the moronic commercials they run making fun of Vista. I have run Vista for some time now and would say that it is far better than it's release candidate and has definitely passed XP for me. THeir commercials and a good many of their users scream arrogance. My favorite story so far this year was the hacking contest that had the Apple PC being the easiest to hack. If virus writers actually cared to attack them, they'd be toast.

[/rant]

Please, please don't get me ranting on Vista. If there is anything that can get me incensed it is dicussing Vista and the grief I deal with daily from it. This will be the second time I've gone from XP to Vista, then switched back because of problems galore, SP1 did absolutely nothing except hackjob the file transfer times closer to what XP had.

I was using Vista before the Release Candidates even came out, and I also tested both RC1 and RC2. My problems were few and it worked surprisingly well for a Pentium 4 Northwood and 9600XT graphics card based system with 1GB of RAM. In fact it worked just as smoothly as it does on an E6300 with an 7950GT, as I later found out... I was expecting a noticeable difference, but that only happened when I upgraded to 2GB, then 4GB of RAM. I can actually tell when I am using 2GB verses 4GB of RAM on my Q6600 PC when I use Vista 32bit... I cannot with XP. Long story short, I was happy with Vista up until I moved completely to it, and the real problems began to show themselves with the OS. Forget driver issues, forget the performance penalty Vista incurs, if the OS could simply work I could be happy enough with it.

 

[Greg King]

Long story short, I was happy with Vista up until I moved completely to it, and the real problems began to show themselves with the OS. Forget driver issues, forget the performance penalty Vista incurs, if the OS could simply work I could be happy enough with it.

Thats the same here. In my case, Vista was mostly problem free but there were small issues, and the occasional large problem, that has forced me to migrate back to three times now, twice on my desktop and once on my notebook. I still use Vista predominately on my notebook but I am 100% XP on my desktop.

Once I made the switch to Vista completely, without an install of XP to fall back on, I realized how much I needed/liked/wanted XP. Vista isn't terrible but it's certainly not perfect (not that I'm insinuating that XP is but its far closer in my mind).

While we are talking OS, I have been using OS X (BLASPHEMY!) lately at work and I'm not minding it either. If Apple would sell their OS software open for all to install on an x86 platform, now is a prime opportunity to gain A LOT of ground on Microsoft. If MS can get their shit together for "Windows 7", they might regain the trust of the industry but where they are at now, Apple could capitalize greatly simply by opening up (and supporting) their software for all the PC users out there.

 

[Kougar]

I have used OS X and didn't actually mind it once I figured out the keyboard shortcuts are mostly identical anyway despite the different keyboard! After that getting used to how the menu bar works, and I quickly got comfortable with the interface. Although I'd have to be quick to quell the urge to shoot anyone that claims all a person needs is a single button mouse with OS X!

OS X has it's share of problems just as any other OS does, but it seemed fair enough. Since I'm an avid gamer though it doesn't hold any interest to me, especailly considering as you said that OS X is limited to Apple's "proprietary hardware" based systems only.

I understand no OS is perfect, especially since everyone has their own needs and wants for the same OS. But Vista... it doesn't even work for me, and most of the problems are not just my own. I don't need to perpetuate the random BS propagated around the net from Vista haters, I have experienced plenty of Vista's problems first hand and will be the first to claim it is a draconian OS full of DRM that XP didn't have.

 

[Greg King]

Getting back on track, do any of you plan on even entertaining the idea of getting a new 3G iPhone?

 

[b1lk1]

No chance at all here. I still don't even use the features of my current cheapo phone.

 

[Greg King]

I tell you what, having spent an evening with the original iPhone, the thing that I enjoy the most is the full page on screen internet browsing. I hated going online with my Treo and HTC Flip phones. The touch zoom feature is nice as well. I am personally interested for the price alone. We will have to see what the plans will cost as well as what other phones will adopt the features originated by Apple.

One thing I will not use it for is an MP3 player. I don't want to kill my battery when I need the thing for business. My Zune 8GB works just fine for that.

All that said, my cheap standard phone now only serves as an alarm clock and it does that quite well so I am right there with you when you say that you don't even use your current phone to it's full potential

 

[Matt Serrano]

I'm about 80% certain I'm going to pick one up. I think Apple listened to a lot of complaints from the first product and really stepped up, but the capacity is the biggest drawback. With the first iPhone, you could buy a new one when a higher capacity was released and simply change SIM cards (leaving the old one for eBay or a handmedown). Now that the phone is subsidized, you're stuck with what you have for two years, which is already not enough for my portable media collection.

Now, love it or hate it, the iPhone has had a huge impact on the mobile phone market. Other competitors stepped up, and we're finally starting to see some real alternatives that don't seem to suck. The Samsung Instinct, BlackBerry Bold and Thunder, Sony Ericsson Xperia, and HTC Diamond, among others, come to mind. At its initial release, the only real comparison we had was the N-95 from Nokia, which was (and still is) too expensive for most people.

b1lk1, I would encourage you to really use one before you completely right the phone, or Apple off. It's one thing to say you dislike something after using it, but doing so because you just hate the company seems like blind hate. The commercials are merely marketing, and they admittedly are annoying, but they are effective and easy for most consumers to relate to.

 

[Kougar]

Getting back on track, do any of you plan on even entertaining the idea of getting a new 3G iPhone?

Nope. I would only use the phone's full features if I had an unlimited data plan, and I am not interested in paying $100 for month for one after I already find or buy an unlocked $200+ 3G phone.

I am happy enough with my Motorolla RAZR, it gets the job done and is convenient to use, and without the data package it's very cheap per month to stick with. Not to mention the thought of paying $18 per month for 24 months directly to Apple through my phone bill rubs me the wrong way.

 

[Merlin]

I wouldnt get one, I would have to change to AT&T service...and I hate them. They would not come out and repair the landline that I had three years ago, so I went cell phone with Metro PCS...Now I'm with Sprint/Nextell because I get a 20% discount off on Phones and service.

Merlin

 

[Matt Serrano]

Nope. I would only use the phone's full features if I had an unlimited data plan, and I am not interested in paying $100 for month for one after I already find or buy an unlocked $200+ 3G phone.

I am happy enough with my Motorolla RAZR, it gets the job done and is convenient to use, and without the data package it's very cheap per month to stick with. Not to mention the thought of paying $18 per month for 24 months directly to Apple through my phone bill rubs me the wrong way.

Unlimited data for the 3G iPhone would cost $30 per month ($20 for the original iPhone).

I wouldnt get one, I would have to change to AT&T service...and I hate them. They would not come out and repair the landline that I had three years ago, so I went cell phone with Metro PCS...Now I'm with Sprint/Nextell because I get a 20% discount off on Phones and service.

Merlin

Just to play devil's advocate (since I'm not by any means a fan of AT&T), many people believe the quality of service to have gone up after the Cingular acquisition and AT&T rebrand. And the landline service and cellular service are often considered two separate companies under the same name. I'm not sure if the different divisions are closer knit than say Verizon, but things could have changed since then in your area.

But regardless, I'll agree: carrier > cell phone.

 

[Greg King]

Just to play devil's advocate (since I'm not by any means a fan of AT&T, many people believe the quality of service to have gone up after the Cingular acquisition and AT&T rebrand. And the landline service and cellular service are often considered two separate companies under the same name. I'm not sure if the different divisions are closer knit than say Verizon, but things could have changed since then in your area.

But regardless, I'll agree: carrier > cell phone.

I found that when the two companies first merged their networks together, I had a hell of a time with dropped calls. This has since been improved and I haven't had an issue recently where the signal would go all FUBAR out of the blue. Reception has always been top notch.

 

[Kougar]

Unlimited data for the 3G iPhone would cost $30 per month ($20 for the original iPhone).

My cell is part of a family plan, ~$40 is about what my phone individually costs per month and I have more minutes than I can ever use due to rollover now.

I wouldnt get one, I would have to change to AT&T service...and I hate them. They would not come out and repair the landline that I had three years ago, so I went cell phone with Metro PCS...Now I'm with Sprint/Nextell because I get a 20% discount off on Phones and service.

Merlin

We had the exact same problem with AT&T. When we moved here they were just finishing stringing a new telephone line and left it laying across the ground in the back alleyway. It sat there for more than a year with excuses that they only install them on the poles on a rotating basis or as budget constraints allow (etc etc), before they eventually got around to stringing the as we discovered was "temporary line" with a permanent one on the actual poles. The problems with our service did not stop (All I will say is they were numerous, line noise the largest problem by far), and while they DID come out to try and fix it it took months before they sent a tech with enough sense to fix the problems with the junction boxes their other service techs had created due to an improperly wired box. Even with that mess, this does not explain how our home telephone number got automatically forwarded in their system to United Way...

For about a month between December 2006 and January 2007 if you called our house United Way would pick up. They screwed our number up with some 800 number, and couldn't explain how it occured in the first place since it was an issue in their software systems.

Regardless if you pay for cell service or landline AT&T has the same customer service, and their CS is the most inept out of Dell, Time Warner, and anyone else that has a history of service issues.