Hold on, the iPhone doesnt even have a VGA display? It's 480x320? What's that all about?
One BIG question: Does it have voice control? And in particular voice dialing? I haven't noticed that being advertised anywhere and it's not immediately obvious on the apple site so I would assume not unless someone tells me otherwise..? If it doesnt that's a MASSIVE oversight for the UK market which NEEDS correcting based on the new laws...
It definitely doesn't have voice dialling.
There's a feature I wont miss myself though but I know plenty of people who will. I wasn't aware of these new laws but I can pretty much guess what they entail from what you've said.
Basically, touch a phone while you're driving and it's 3 points and a £60 fine. For business users who are constantly on the go that's a feature they seriously cant live without...
I wouldn't text whilst driving, that's just plain idiotic, local laws or not. Why would you need a car with Bluetooth? I have a Bluetooth Ericsson headset that works well with my Nokia and answer or reject calls with a simple touch at ear level. I don't use the voice dialing, it doesn't work all the time and is more of a distraction than a help, especially when it dials the wrong person. I don't make calls whilst driving unless absolutely necessary, and then I usually pull over until the call is established.
I dont need a car with bluetooth, I just want a new car. Getting one with built in bluetooth just makes convincing myself it's a good idea a bit easier. It also means I can see who's calling (though my phone says it out loud anyway) on the dashboard display so I don't have to take my eyes too far off the road when answering a call (or not, as the case may be)
That's not the point anyway. You're seriously suggesting that for all businessmen to adopt the iPhone they also 'pull over until the call is established' (pretty sure you chose the wrong word there, but thats irrelevant too)? Seriously? In today's soceity? I've a feeling you're very much talking from the point of a designer and not from a target based salesman or account manager...
P.S. Surely if Apple implemented voice dialing it would always work flawlessly anyway? :D
By "establish the call" I meant looking up the contact number, dialing, waiting for an answer.
And if Apple implemented voice dialing I suppose it would be subject to all the issues that make it not work for me like background noise and me forgetting what I said when I recorded the snippet.
Ofcourse Apple isnt responsible for todays soceity. I didn't say that. Surprisingly enough you're twisting my words to try and fight a losing argument - if i were you I wouldn't bother because it makes you look like an idiot. The fact is that they need to adapt to todays soceity if they wish to design products for it. That would be like them coming out with the iMangle and then saying 'oh, wait, you guys have electric dryers now? woah!'
iPhone isn't for business anyway Mini, so it's a bit of a mute point, but it is sad to see features such as MMS and voice dailing missing ("features" that are so old now they're aren't considered features any more).
It's not for business now? Who is it for? The small segment of the market consisting of very rich people with lots of time on their hands to play with it?
While I agree with your statement of 'features so old they arent even features', ironically enough they (voice dialing at least) have now become much bigger features than they ever were before, in my opinion.
MMS? I've had phones with it for years, never used it. Voice dialing, again, over-rated. Reminds me of the big hoo-hah when Apple stopped putting floppy drives in their computers, the world didn't come to an end!
Losing argument? I don't think so. You guys seem to be missing one tiny, small, miniscule, seemingly insignificant point. While you sit there and spout absolute drivel, the iPhone is selling like hot cakes! What it is, is what it is, and what you say it is, well, it's camel droppings!
Well I don't use Voice Dialling but it doesn't mean I'm saying it's a good thing it wasn't included. I'd like the option to use it if I wanted.
The iPhone is an expensive cake that looks nice but the icing is around a half finished sponge that's missing the sugar and butter to complete it. Do you see?
Do I see? Seems I'm the only one with my eyes open! It does not matter what you few simple and single minded people think or how intelligent you think your arguments are, the fact of the matter is that once again, you have decided to get stuck into me and overlook the facts.
Millions of people think like ME not YOU and they act on it!
This is proven by the numbers of iPhones being sold. Apple won't release figures just yet, they always under promise and over deliver so as not to synthetically impact on the share price, but when figure estimates are released by the analysts you can stick 'em in your pipes and smoke 'em!
Yes the world is bigger than me [-Stash-] mate, I'm viewing the iPhone situation from the other side of the planet don't forget (not that you're not).
And giginger mate, you couldn't have chosen a more unsuitable metaphor with the cake missing the sugar and butter, I like it that way, I'm diabetic!
The thing is, Wanderer, that the iPhone has just been released into the US market, where 3G isnt a big deal (or that's the impression I get - maybe i'm wrong), and there are no laws (that i'm aware of) restricting the use of mobile phones when driving. I really fail to see how we're getting stuck into you and overlooking the facts when we're not in any way turning this into a personal argument (unlike you, dropping in the fact that you're diabetic) and we're looking straight at the facts which are that the hardware in the iPhone is below par and some of the features which are technically vital in the UK business use market are missing for no apparent reason.
Granted they will probably change the model for UK release (they better do, anyway) but as it stands (which is all anyone can base any current argument on) there are pretty serious flaws in the product.
Do I think that will reduce sales? Ofcourse not. That'd be retarded. And besides, however many iPhones have been sold so far is probably a minute percent of the total market. They were bound to sell out on the first day of sales but what's really important is the prolonged market penetration. I don't doubt for a second that when they get released into the UK that exactly the same thing will happen, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's a flawless product.
I didn't say it was flawless, I said you were being picky. For a 1.0 product it's hit the market square in the nose, much more impact than any other phone out there, even the much lauded Motorola Razr (big deal, it's thin). You guys have different expectations from technology, you don't seem to appreciate style, simplicity, elegance and the it-just-works feeling we get from Apple products not to mention the innovation thrill seing the big guys (Nokia etc.) being beaten at their own game. To compensate for that you seem to get a kick out of nit-picking minor issues which are really not a huge issue in the big scheme of things.
I remember myself thinking Apple had shot themselves in the foot when they left out floppy drives in their new models years ago. My knee-jerk reaction was "oh no, what are they thinking, how can you have a computer without a floppy drive?" The tech department at work set out a proclamation not to update any Macs until they can source suitable external floppies.
It was a storm in a tea cup. I asked them when was the last time they used a floppy disk? What document these days (even those days) fits on floppy disk? I personally had not used a floppy for years. Never missed the floppy since nor the added cost to hardware and design.
Get out of the closed box and look at the product for what it is. An exciting phone that's a joy to use with many more positives about it than negatives and those too will be addressed if the market requires it. Anything the iPhone is missing is due to external factors and hard choices having to be made based on aspects out of Apple's control. Give it a little more time, it will get voice dialing if the people say they want it, it will get MMS if it's that big a deal, it will certainly get GPS when whatever the issues keeping it out of the feature set are solved. It will allow your songs to be used as ring-tones if they can get the music owners to agree to it. (Ring tones, now that's a deal breaker isn't it?)
The biggest impact it will have is to force the other manufacturers to take a long hard look at the shitty interface they have been imposing on consumers. Make it better or give up market share!
Comments
Posted: Thursday, 5 July 2007 at 9:28AM
And if Apple implemented voice dialing I suppose it would be subject to all the issues that make it not work for me like background noise and me forgetting what I said when I recorded the snippet.
Now Apple is responsible for today's society?
Posted: Thursday, 5 July 2007 at 3:21PM
Voice dialing, again, over-rated. Reminds me of the big hoo-hah when Apple stopped putting floppy drives in their computers, the world didn't come to an end!
Losing argument? I don't think so.
You guys seem to be missing one tiny, small, miniscule, seemingly insignificant point.
While you sit there and spout absolute drivel, the iPhone is selling like hot cakes!
What it is, is what it is, and what you say it is, well, it's camel droppings!
Posted: Thursday, 5 July 2007 at 8:29PM
This is the best counter argument/come back I've EVER seen
The iPhone is an expensive cake that looks nice but the icing is around a half finished sponge that's missing the sugar and butter to complete it. Do you see?
It does not matter what you few simple and single minded people think or how intelligent you think your arguments are, the fact of the matter is that once again, you have decided to get stuck into me and overlook the facts.
Millions of people think like ME not YOU and they act on it!
This is proven by the numbers of iPhones being sold. Apple won't release figures just yet, they always under promise and over deliver so as not to synthetically impact on the share price, but when figure estimates are released by the analysts you can stick 'em in your pipes and smoke 'em!
Yes the world is bigger than me [-Stash-] mate, I'm viewing the iPhone situation from the other side of the planet don't forget (not that you're not).
And giginger mate, you couldn't have chosen a more unsuitable metaphor with the cake missing the sugar and butter, I like it that way, I'm diabetic!
Posted: Friday, 6 July 2007 at 8:03AM
I remember myself thinking Apple had shot themselves in the foot when they left out floppy drives in their new models years ago. My knee-jerk reaction was "oh no, what are they thinking, how can you have a computer without a floppy drive?" The tech department at work set out a proclamation not to update any Macs until they can source suitable external floppies.
It was a storm in a tea cup. I asked them when was the last time they used a floppy disk? What document these days (even those days) fits on floppy disk? I personally had not used a floppy for years. Never missed the floppy since nor the added cost to hardware and design.
Get out of the closed box and look at the product for what it is. An exciting phone that's a joy to use with many more positives about it than negatives and those too will be addressed if the market requires it. Anything the iPhone is missing is due to external factors and hard choices having to be made based on aspects out of Apple's control. Give it a little more time, it will get voice dialing if the people say they want it, it will get MMS if it's that big a deal, it will certainly get GPS when whatever the issues keeping it out of the feature set are solved. It will allow your songs to be used as ring-tones if they can get the music owners to agree to it. (Ring tones, now that's a deal breaker isn't it?)
The biggest impact it will have is to force the other manufacturers to take a long hard look at the shitty interface they have been imposing on consumers. Make it better or give up market share!
Posted: Friday, 6 July 2007 at 8:49AM
David Pogue sums it up, warts and all!