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[Phoenix]

See that's a pretty reasonable price. Here in New Mexico where Verizon is king, I'm paying well over $100 for a 2 cell phone plan with a 50 text message limit per month. If I were to buy a smart phone from Verizon with unlimited internet access plan my bill would shoot up to at least $225 for both phones.

That's mainly the reason I was asking about Cingular. Coming from Portugal I'm not entirely familiar with the way some of these companies work so thanks for the answers.

Note to self: Don't switch to Verizon. Though really I wasn't planning to. If I were to consider CDMA for voice I would look at Sprint first for cheapness of service and because they have dirt cheap data plans as well. In fact, my current EVDO card is with Sprint because it was significantly cheap.

 

[Vic]

The 6G iPod will have all the OSX functionality I think. People don't realize how huge this is.

Yep, that's pretty much what I'm thinking as well. So we should except that the iPod main line will be running with OSX Mobile in a near future will be fraking awesome!!

 

[Slurpy]

I still cant get over the June release. Thats like.. half a year of waiting. And plenty of time for copy-cats to spring up. I think Apple really should have shown this off in a couple months, as to not make the wait as depressingly long as it is now.

Anyway, I need some Leopard love. The iphone interface and the way it moved looked slicker than any PC interface Ive seen (including OSX) which is sad. Also, wheres my iLife? Is it possible theyll just update them in the store without making a keynote about them? Or is it too much to hope for?

 

[White Man]

I still cant get over the June release. Thats like.. half a year of waiting. And plenty of time for copy-cats to spring up. I think Apple really should have shown this off in a couple months, as to not make the wait as depressingly long as it is now.

Steve basically said it was either they unveil it now, or the FCC unveils it since it takes months for certification and you can't rely on a shitty government agency to keep a secret.

 

[Phoenix]

The 6G iPod will have all the OSX functionality I think. People don't realize how huge this is.

This is really what Jobs has been waiting since well ... like 1985. This is Apple's best chance to get the true masses using their operating system, or at least dabbling with it. Far bigger than just using iTunes.

You get people using OSX with the iPhone and iPod 6G ... you have the safety net of the dual-booting with new Macs ... watch Mac sales become more and more mainstream. This is Apple's chance to get out of just catering to their core fanbase, fence-sitters, artists and get more and more of that Windows audience.

Well they said in the keynote that in 2006 over 50% of all their sales went to people who had never purchased a Mac before.

 

[antipode]

I mean yeah we could speculate all night long, or we could just go to cingular.com and take a look. I mean damn... what is GAF coming too?

As I understand it though, those "Smartphone" plans are only allowed for phones which Cingular clearly labels as a "Smartphone" on their website, such as the 3125. They are not allowed for more expensive phones - even if the manufacturer calls the phone a smartphone. Cingular uses the term "Smartphone" for cheaper phones, where it can make a reasonable assumption that a) they can get away with a smaller subsidy on the phone and b) the user is going to pull less data than someone shelling out for a more expensive phone.

I've heard that if you use those Smartphone plans on phones not labeled as "Smartphones", you run the risk of your service being disconnected or even being billed data rates for violating terms of use. You are supposed to use the $40 "PDA Connect" plan instead - which differs only in what phones are bundled with it.

I think Cingular will consider the iPhone a "PDA" and not a "Smartphone".

 

[Futureman]

Wow! This new iPhone is an really close concept of my dream mobile device. It's a nice beginning but it's missing a lot of things that would had me happy. I'll just save my money and buy "the" perfect model which is going to come out in the next 2 to 5 yrs

I agree with this. In 5 years or so, the iPhone will most likely be a MUST HAVE for me. At this point, it's close (so DAMN close) but not perfect.

 

[Phoenix]

As I understand it though, those "Smartphone" plans are only allowed for phones which Cingular clearly labels as a "Smartphone" on their website, such as the 3125. They are not allowed for more expensive phones - even if the manufacturer calls the phone a smartphone. Cingular uses the term "Smartphone" for cheaper phones, where it can make a reasonable assumption that a) they can get away with a smaller subsidy on the phone and b) the user is going to pull less data than someone shelling out for a more expensive phone.

I've heard that if you use those Smartphone plans on phones not labeled as "Smartphones", you run the risk of your service being disconnected or even being billed data rates for violating terms of use. You are supposed to use the $40 "PDA Connect" plan instead - which differs only in what phones are bundled with it.

I think Cingular will consider the iPhone a "PDA" and not a "Smartphone".

If they do, they are simply raping their customers as I'm using the $19.99 unlimited with an E61 and Cingular didn't say jack then or when it was attached to my Treo 650. My phone is connecting to the data network almost constantly to sync itself and from applications that I have written which are pulling down content from around the web or pushing content to various servers around the web. When my bill arrives from Cingular, I have no less than 20 pages of "data connect" stuff at 0.00 cost next to each and its been that way for several years now.

 

[Mejilan]

Awesome, but I'll have to wait for a similarly tech'ed up REGULAR iPod with 80+ GBs of storage before I consider dropping my 5G.

 

[White Man]

As I understand it though, those "Smartphone" plans are only allowed for phones which Cingular clearly labels as a "Smartphone" on their website, such as the 3125. They are not allowed for more expensive phones - even if the manufacturer calls the phone a smartphone. Cingular uses the term "Smartphone" for cheaper phones, where it can make a reasonable assumption that a) they can get away with a smaller subsidy on the phone and b) the user is going to pull less data than someone shelling out for a more expensive phone.

I've heard that if you use those Smartphone plans on phones not labeled as "Smartphones", you run the risk of your service being disconnected or even being billed data rates for violating terms of use. You are supposed to use the $40 "PDA Connect" plan instead - which differs only in what phones are bundled with it.

I think Cingular will consider the iPhone a "PDA" and not a "Smartphone".

I really doubt Apple would've agreed to partner with them if Cingular was going to institute high monthly fees.

 

[Futureman]

Is the $20 you pay for EDGE? So if I got the cheapest voice plan from Cingluar at $40 (that is the cheapest, right?), I'd be paying $60 a month for voice/EDGE?

 

[antipode]

If they do, they are simply raping their customers as I'm using the $19.99 unlimited with an E61 and Cingular didn't say jack then or when it was attached to my Treo 650. My phone is connecting to the data network almost constantly to sync itself and from applications that I have written which are pulling down content from around the web or pushing content to various servers around the web. When my bill arrives from Cingular, I have no less than 20 pages of "data connect" stuff at 0.00 cost next to each and its been that way for several years now.

Yeah, that's the world of cellular service billing. You can probably do lots of things without paying for them, for example transfer data to a laptop without paying for "Laptop Connect". But Cingular has billed people hundreds of dollars retroactively for using data plans in ways not prescribed by your contract. It's hard to say what will alert them.

 

[xsarien]

I really *wouldn't* put it past Cingular to force any would-be data users onto the more expensive PDA Connect plan. They're a cell phone company, slimy is just what they do.

I hope they'll come to their senses that they'll probably, ultimately get more data users if they let the damned thing onto the Smartphone data plan instead.

 

[thirty]

enough about the amazing iPhone and on to apple tv.

anyone else feel that the $299 apple tv is crap compared to a $399 xbox 360? i mean, the 360 can do pretty much everything the apple tv can but can also play games, displays in 1080i/p, gives your the ability to download hdtv movies and other content via the surprisingly awesome live marketplace.

 

[White Man]

anyone else feel that the $299 apple tv is crap compared to a $399 xbox 360? i mean, the 360 can do pretty much everything the apple tv can but can also play games, displays in 1080i/p, gives your the ability to download hdtv movies and other content via the surprisingly awesome live marketplace.

I partially agree with you, but I am sure there are many people out there (like me) that have invested quite a bit of money into iTunes television shows, which are DRMed and completely unplayable on 360.

I'm probably skipping an Apple TV. I watch most of my stuff on monitors and I only use my TV for games. Just the way I roll.

 

[xsarien]

enough about the amazing iPhone and on to apple tv.

anyone else feel that the $299 apple tv is crap compared to a $399 xbox 360? i mean, the 360 can do pretty much everything the apple tv can but can also play games, displays in 1080i/p, gives your the ability to download hdtv movies and other content via the surprisingly awesome live marketplace.

Just a hunch, but I bet Apple TV isn't as much of a pain in the ass as getting non Marketplace stuff to playback.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

you guys love to talk about this phone but has anyone touched on the change of the company name to Apple inc?

Are the Beatles people cool with that? They sued Apple before because of the name Apple.

 

[Sallokin]

I really doubt Apple would've agreed to partner with them if Cingular was going to institute high monthly fees.

Weren't people saying that Cingular is pretty much the only company Apple could have partnered with in the US anyway? Maybe they just don't have a choice.

 

[thirty]

Just a hunch, but I bet Apple TV isn't as much of a pain in the ass as getting non Marketplace stuff to playback.

i've never had an issue with getting anything from the marketplace to play. i've downloaded nearly everything that was free and have had 100% playback.

 

[xsarien]

i've never had an issue with getting anything from the marketplace to play. i've downloaded nearly everything that was free and have had 100% playback.

Well, good for you!

 

[thirty]

Weren't people saying that Cingular is pretty much the only company Apple could have partnered with in the US anyway? Maybe they just don't have a choice.

they could have gone with t-mobile but cingular probably had more money to spend.

 

[Phoenix]

enough about the amazing iPhone and on to apple tv.

anyone else feel that the $299 apple tv is crap compared to a $399 xbox 360? i mean, the 360 can do pretty much everything the apple tv can but can also play games, displays in 1080i/p, gives your the ability to download hdtv movies and other content via the surprisingly awesome live marketplace.

I've got a 360 but not a Windows box in the house. I've got several OSX boxes and several Linux servers so the 360 is almost useless to me (I do use connect 360 from time to time). What I will be doing with the Apple TV (which I have ordered) is to pair it with the base station and some USB drives. I've got a Moto PVR with firewire which a MacMini currently grabs content from - but I wanted to push that content to Raided storage and stream it from the storage point to all the devices I've got all over the house. The Apple Tv pretty much gives me a fairly configurable set top box and jukebox. Now my wife can dump her entire iTunes lib to Raid storage and simply play it... anywhere. I can bring in content into the hosue such as downloads - movies and the like and let the iTV simply sync with the mac. I can schedule downloads from various sources such as torrents and have them go right to the iTV.

So for me, the two aren't in the same ballpark because any content I bring to the 360 is trapped on the 360, especially anything that comes from the Marketplace.

 

[Phoenix]

they could have gone with t-mobile but cingular probably had more money to spend.

TMobile is too small a player here in the US for them to seriously have gone with. Apple tends to be more risk averse than that, which is also why they went with Intel when AMD was actually (at the time) pushing out better tech.

 

[Sallokin]

they could have gone with t-mobile but cingular probably had more money to spend.

I thought T-mobile had an inferior coverage area.

 

[thirty]

I thought T-mobile had an inferior coverage area.

not at all, i've had t-mobile for years and they've got great coverage including edge coverage.

 

[White Man]

you guys love to talk about this phone but has anyone touched on the change of the company name to Apple inc?

Are the Beatles people cool with that? They sued Apple before because of the name Apple.

I'm not sure the Beatles people will EVER be cool with Apple.

Weren't people saying that Cingular is pretty much the only company Apple could have partnered with in the US anyway? Maybe they just don't have a choice.

I'm sure their entry into the cell marketplace was marked by many negotiations and compromises and proposed compromises. While we all know that Apple ain't afraid of selling their products at premium pricing, I think they'd take a stand on making sure that service pricing wasn't out of control. iTunes is cheap. .mac is cheap. And I'd think they'd make sure service is cheap for this phone.

But in true cell phone fashion, I am sure there will be multiple service plans. I think any study would show that 40-60 is the cell phone plan sweet spot, and I'm sure Apple knows it wants to be in there.

All conjecture, of course, I believe Apple wouldn't put this much effort into making a near mass market-appealing phone and then let Cingular go rape rape on the service fees.

 

[xsarien]

they could have gone with t-mobile but cingular probably had more money to spend.

T-Mobile's network is physically smaller, and they can't match the raw subscriber numbers of Cingular.

 

[SnakeXs]

I hope they unlock it somehow. I'm tied up with Tmo, and I've had no issues with them anywho, but I'd love to get this sweet, sweet thang. Blast.

And, the new Airport Extreme is looking snazzy. How good was the "old" one?

 

[thirty]

I hope they unlock it somehow. I'm tied up with Tmo, and I've had no issues with them anywho, but I'd love to get this sweet, sweet thang. Blast.

And, the new Airport Extreme is looking snazzy. How good was the "old" one?

i don't know if this has been changed in the past couple years but you've always been able to switch sim cards between cingular and t-mo phones (except the sidekick). let's hope it's no different with the iPhone. t-mo has a killer "minutes and mail" plan for their blackberries which blow away anything cingular offers for their voice/data/text packages.

 

[Nick]

Some things I want improved with the iPhone:

- 3G: This is obvious. For such a perfect compact multimedia device, having EDGE compensate for glorious 3G is unacceptable.
- FM Radio: Come on. This should be standard in every portable phone these days.
- Better Battery: 5 hours isn't bad... it just isn't good
- Wi-Fi Calling: This is a cool feature I hope they can impliment to cut down on the costs of calls.

 

[Karma Kramer]

I am so pumped to buy this thing. It will be the first cell phone I own.

I hate cell-phones and I have been waiting for a product like this... thank you Apple!

 

[emomoonbase]

Is the $20 you pay for EDGE? So if I got the cheapest voice plan from Cingluar at $40 (that is the cheapest, right?), I'd be paying $60 a month for voice/EDGE?

You're buying a $600 phone, but you want the cheapest little 450min/month plan they have?

 

[White Man]

Some things I want improved with the iPhone:

- 3G: This is obvious. For such a perfect compact multimedia device, having EDGE compensate for glorious 3G is unacceptable.
- FM Radio: Come on. This should be standard in every portable phone these days.
- Better Battery: 5 hours isn't bad... it just isn't good
- Wi-Fi Calling: This is a cool feature I hope they can impliment to cut down on the costs of calls.

Depending on how accessible, wifi calling should certainly be possible, unless Apple's Cingular masters do something about it.

Why do people want FM radio so much in iPods, and now this? Radio hasn't been worthwhile in at least a decade. Not FM radio, at least. It would be a nice feature for the sake of completion, but it's not something I'd want resources wasted on.

Battery life is one of the main reasons I am antsy on the device. Sometimes Apple gives good, solid estimates on battery life, sometimes they don't, and they certainly seemed evasive with their chosen numbers this time.

3G doesn't mean much to me. I'm sure it would if I already had been spoiled by it

 

[xsarien]

You're buying a $600 phone, but you want the cheapest little 450min/month plan they have?

Cingular's got rollover minutes, and believe me they stack up VERY quickly.

 

[Battersea Power Station]

WiFi calling is already "there", if you can use Google Chat cleanly. But I know what you mean. It's certainly something Apple (and Google) should've pushed as a "seamlessly integrated" feature and not something you have to tell your buddies to do along with you.

Unfortunately, I think we can forget WiFi Talk of any sort being marketed while Apple has such a seemingly close working relationship with Cingular.

 

[White Man]

WiFi calling is already "there", if you can use Google Chat cleanly. But I know what you mean. It's certainly something Apple (and Google) should've pushed as a "seamlessly integrated" feature and not something you have to tell your buddies to do along with you.

Unfortunately, I think we can forget WiFi Talk of any sort being marketed while Apple has such a seemingly close working relationship with Cingular.

Yeah, I think the iPhone has the potential to be great, but I have a feeling we may have to learn to deal with a level of feature "fog of war" that hasn't been dealt with before, all due to corporate collusion between folks that want to make sure they have the best end of the deal.

 

[Nick]

Depending on how accessible, wifi calling should certainly be possible, unless Apple's Cingular masters do something about it.

Why do people want FM radio so much in iPods, and now this? Radio hasn't been worthwhile in at least a decade. Not FM radio, at least. It would be a nice feature for the sake of completion, but it's not something I'd want resources wasted on.

Battery life is one of the main reasons I am antsy on the device. Sometimes Apple gives good, solid estimates on battery life, sometimes they don't, and they certainly seemed evasive with their chosen numbers this time.

3G doesn't mean much to me. I'm sure it would if I already had been spoiled by it

I listen to FM Radio in the morning for radio talk shows. I don't actually listen to music on the radio. It's a necessary feature and every phone should have it. I would assume it's fairly cheap to incorporate.

I've been spoiled on 3G before, and gimping us of such a fantastic feature seems lame, coming from Apple. They are known for having the best of the best in their computers, but this phone is lacking in some very blatant areas.

Still... I'll buy one. I mean, what the hell.

 

[xsarien]

I listen to FM Radio in the morning for radio talk shows. I don't actually listen to music on the radio. It's a necessary feature and every phone should have it. I would assume it's fairly cheap to incorporate.

I've been spoiled on 3G before, and gimping us of such a fantastic feature seems lame, coming from Apple. They are known for having the best of the best in their computers, but this phone is lacking in some very blatant areas.

I can only assume that incorporating 3G would, among many things, have driven the cost up even more. Also, Cingular's 3G network isn't that substantial right now, certainly not at Sprint or Verizon levels of coverage. I can also understand the argument that incorporating it would be a bit of a waste given the limited areas that it could be used.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

Cingular would be the one who would want most of these features disabled... these are exciting times, when hackers and software devs start messing with this phone :lol

I'm not even sure if Apple would need Cingular in a few years anyway not if this sells as people think it will... meh

 

[xsarien]

Cingular would be the one who would want most of these features disabled...

Spend nearly a decade on Verizon and then try telling me that with a straight face.

 

[Hitokage]

Spend nearly a decade on Verizon and then try telling me that with a straight face.

Why can't they both want to?

 

[Smiles and Cries]

Spend nearly a decade on Verizon and then try telling me that with a straight face.

I can't

 

[xsarien]

Why can't they both want to?

OK, seriously? Except for one or two phones in their portfolio, Verizon rather unceremoniously strips out the built-in operating system and overlays their own, which would completely destroy the point of the iPhone; they'd likely provide a laundry list of features to disable just because it may interfere with their internal e-commerce.

Not to mention that they kill OBEX in nearly all of their handsets, which just leads to even more headaches.

 

[Borys]

http://wideo.gazeta.pl/wideo/0,0,3839636.html

Some video of keynote.

 

[jamesinclair]

You're buying a $600 phone, but you want the cheapest little 450min/month plan they have?

Hey guys.

Rollover
Used 0 of 3,616

 

[Pochacco]

http://wideo.gazeta.pl/wideo/0,0,3839636.html

Some video of keynote.

The whole keynote is also @ http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/keynote/
I just watched it. Great stuff.
Can't wait for the next-gen iPod (i.e. phone-less one)

I didn't really care for a widescreen, touchscreen iPod before...
...but after seeing the sweet MultiTouch technology, I want it!

 

[Souldriver]

I just noticed they don't show the burning Zune-icon in the keynote video.

 

[Ghost]

Gotta say, apple pwned me, i didnt think they'd be able to come up with anything this advanced in such a relatively short space of time. Some of the stuff, like visual voicemail is going to totally change the way things are done.

A 2mp camera is pretty much the only thing bothering me, for me 3mp is the sweet spot for useful digital shots (ie, the still look crap quality wise but you can at least make out whats going on) when you have no optical zoom.

Im guessing as well that theres no video calls, though Ive never used the feature once on my current phone so im not too bothered. Also no radio (which i do use a lot), but thats no shock.



I might get one at £300, i normally spend about £100 on my phones but id see this as an MP3 player replacement too, plus a much better mobile browser than any other phone, so maybe.

 

[Cold-Steel]

Anyone know of an unofficial FAQ for the iPhone?

I'm specifically interested in what Canadian carrier will most likely carry the iPhone since obviously Cingular is in on the action in the States.

 

[flsh]

Are there any directy downloads of the keynote?
Apple's servers are too slow