Rumors Flying About New iPhone Capabilities 289
Jumping on the completely unconfirmed rumor bandwagon, it seems that there have been photos leaked for the new iPhone, which include things like an auto-focus camera, video capture, and a compass. The photos were originally displayed (and then quickly removed) on a Chinese forum, and quickly spread to many other sites, including a complete human translation on the MacRumors forum. Looks like Apple security may have to break a few more pocket protectors to keep employees in line.
iNexpensive? (Score:5, Funny)
iM waiting for the rumored iNexpensive iPhone with the new lower iPrice and no long-term iContract.
Re:iNexpensive? (Score:5, Funny)
I think that's iMaginary.
Re:iNexpensive? (Score:5, Funny)
I think that's iMaginary.
Mod Parent Up +sqrt(-1)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I think that's iMaginary.
Mod Parent Up +sqrt(-1)
I swear I'm developing a complex from all these lame maths puns.
Re:iNexpensive? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:iNexpensive? (Score:5, Funny)
Mod Parent Up +sqrt(-1)
Score: i, Funny
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iWish you good iHealth and a long iLife.
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iWish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy iCal!!!!
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You're iNsane.
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I would be happy with a better ibattery.
I was just given an iphone that was sent to us as warranty exchange. Battery life on this thing is terrible, and from what I've read, this is standard. Now, I'm comparing to the curve I was using before... With the curve, I could count on the battery lasting 3-5 days of lite use. I REA
On this thing, I can BARELY go the weekend. I unplugged before I left the office Friday afternoon, Monday morning on the way in, I got the "Your battery is low" message.
And since it's
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Do many phones have USB on the phone side? From my experience, the iPhone cable plugs into any USB port and will charge from it. You're right on the phone side it is a special connector (ipod connector), but every phone I've owned has been like that.
BTW, the iphone cable is just a standard ipod cable. Even people who don't own ipods seem to have some of those around at this point lol.
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Re:iNexpensive? (Score:5, Informative)
The iPhone seems to be priced just about the same as most other smart phones and have the same contract requirements.
There are cheaper smart phones but none that offer as good of a browser. I am waiting for the Pre myself but the price will be about the same. Sprints contract is cheaper and I have had no problems with Sprint as a carrier. I don't like AT&T because of the cost, I am not fond of Verizon because of cost and they tend to cripple phones, and TMobile doesn't offer 3 g in my area yet.
You mean the G1? (Score:2, Insightful)
"things like an auto-focus camera, video capture, and a compass"
You mean they're gonna release a G1?
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Except the UI is going to NOT look like a 3 year old designed it.
Re:You mean the G1? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll give up the shiny UI for the ability to install any app I want and a hardware keyboard.
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The OS you are looking for is called Windows Mobile. Its been around a pretty long time and does not restrict anything you put on it.
As for hardware, I am using an HTC Touch Pro on Sprint. Sprint has the cheapest, fastest internet and pretty good coverage as well. The also don't seem to mind if you tether your phone to your laptop.
There is also several great communities of developers and users devoted to getting all you can out of windows mobile devices. Then have gotten to the point where you can down
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The OS you are looking for is called Windows Mobile. Its been around a pretty long time and does not restrict anything you put on it.
As long as you don't mind running Windows on your cell phone. A lot of us have issues with it, and not just bias.
Sprint has the cheapest, fastest internet and pretty good coverage as well.
Cheapest. Fastest. Best. Choose 2. Oh wait, you have.
Sprint also has like no decent (usable) coverage to speak of in my state. Unless you happen to live in a city. And this is a state where our biggest "city" is only about 200,000 people.
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However, Windows Mobile is frustratingly slow, disorganized and unreliable.
Press a softkey and you can get GUI feedback that the button was pressed without the OS or app actually taking that action. That's bad enough, but when button presses can take 1 or 2 seconds to execute because of all the bloated WM overhead, then you don't know if you need to press the button again or wait.
If you do press it again and WM was just lagging, then you get two presse
Re:You mean the G1? (Score:4, Informative)
Not always, like many other mobile features, this can and often is also disabled by the carrier. I've had HTC and moto smartphones (winMo) that flat out refuse to install apps OR require the app to have a certificate. At least with the iphone, if it's on the store, it will install and work.
the kind of people willing to "create your own customized firmware" for a winMo phone are the kind equally comfortable jailbreaking an iphone. The average joe is NOT comfortable with either of these and for them the issue of "restriction" is largely a non issue. The kind of apps that require a hacked handset are probably not what they're looking for anyway.
my only real gripe with the apple app model is the cost of entry for devs. I don't have mac and I'm not going to buy one just to write an app. At least on a winMo device, I was able to load up visual studio and write an app. Yes, VS costs money, but you can get cheap copies of VS all over the place. Cheaper than a mac anyway.
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Signing is only required for apps writing special registry keys or installing some drivers. You can easily change the security policy just by changing a registry key (nowhere near like jailbreak) and without losing warranty.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Security\Policies\Policies]
DWORD 00001005
if the value of that DWORD is 0 then unsigned CABs won't install. Set the value to 16, it is a safe value which gives the unsigned CABs the normal level access. If you really trust your software, set the value to 8 (Admin right
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Only on an Apple article would an ad hominem get +5 insightful.
Care to explain why the UI is better than all other phones, using evidence, reasoning, and objective examples, as opposed to ad hominems, vague subjective claims, or the "But You Just Have To Use It" claims that we typically get? Or will my honest question just be hidden by the mods so the reasonable questions don't even have to be answered?
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i can tell you sugar is sweet. if you ask me what sweet is, will you be equally adamant in accepting my answer, "but i cannot objectively explain that - you just have to taste it!" ? Is that too vaguely subjective for you? sometimes just experiencing it is the only way (or at least, the best way) to understand something. particularly an experience, such as usage of a UI.
So I see you adopted for the "vague subjective claims" option. I'm not sure what your argument is - things such as sweetness can be objecti
Re:You mean the G1? (Score:5, Informative)
UI design is largely a subjective field. However, there is a significant body of research that states that aesthetics do play a key role in usability. Other aspects such as typeface selection play a big role as well.
That said, we can do objective analyses such as counting the number of clicks or keypresses required to complete a certain task, or using a stopwatch to track the amount of time that it takes a novice user to figure out how to use the UI to perform a given task. Apple are notorious for performing formal UI testing and QA on all of their products. Most phone manufacturers are....not.
It's fairly easy to see how moving every aspect of the UI onto the touchscreen would approve Apple's rankings in these objective analyses. Virtually any function of the phone can be accessed with 2-3 "clicks." Apple have also gone through considerable lengths to avoid the use of any sort of "menus" for common tasks in their applications. There are no hidden options or features. Multitouch is also another big plus, and is extremely intuitive.
For starters, the included suite of applications is fairly comprehensive. You could be quite happy without ever visiting the app store. (I know this is subjective, although I do think it's important to mention that Apple *have* covered all the bases here -- things such as the built-in weather and stock quote apps are nice touches, considering that many users will check them frequently. It would reflect poorly upon the UI if users had to resort to the web-browser for the most common tasks)
The maps application is, in all honesty, probably the high point for the iPhone (and yes, it's almost *exactly* like Google Maps, which is widely regarded as a quality application with a good interface). The multitouch interface works particularly well for viewing maps by panning, zooming, etc. There are also a few 3rd-party applications for viewing subway/mass-transit maps in a similar fashion (I'm not sure if Google Transit has been integrated yet). This alone makes the iPhone an invaluable tool to many. I can say from experience that a simple map search (say for the nearest Pizza place) takes me under 30 seconds on an iPhone, as opposed to a little over a minute with a Blackberry.
Visual Voicemail is another feature that showcases the UI. Voicemail is indexed, retrieved, and managed via the UI, rather than by calling in. It boggles my mind why Apple were the first ones to think of this, given how obvious it is.
Most applications work in portrait and landscape mode. The iPhone automatically senses which way you're holding it, and adjusts itself automatically.
The web browser faithfully renders pages according to standards (most phones don't). Once again, the multitouch interface makes it easy to scroll, pan, and zoom, while the orientation sensor allows you to hold the phone in either orientation.
Recognizing the trend that SMS is frequently used for continuous chats, conversations are grouped and threaded (a la GMail)
The music player preserves the essence of the iPod UI. This is familiar to many users, and has been studied and discussed ad nauseum elsewhere. Most people seem to like it.
Music purchased "over the air" is DRM-free, and may be synced back to your computer. I don't know of any other provider that allows this.
On the more mundane side of things, Apple clearly put a lot of effort into their predictive keyboard. Although this is once again subjective, many people (including those with big hands) find that it works much better than the average touchscreen keyboard.
Is that subjective enough for you?
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> 'all think usability is ornamentation when in reality it's the most important part of any device
Yeah, I'm still waiting for The Great Linux Desktop Takeover. After all, the only people that could possibly prefer anything over Linux are sheeple, right? And who cares about them?
Maury
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I didn't even know that there still are phones without video capture. Pretty much all phones here have one cam. Some have two (for video chat).
How much would you pay, If I'd send you one of these, from over here: http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=en&js=n&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.xonio.com%2Fbestenlisten%2FBestenliste-Handys--index%2Findex%2Fid%2F598%2F&sl=de&tl=en&history_state0= [google.com] (autotranslated)
Re:You mean the G1? (Score:5, Informative)
I own a G1, and since the 1.5 update, it -can- capture video.
Sure it can (Score:2)
Sure it can. I mean it's not gonna be the quality of a camcorder, but it's decent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0A2tMTEI7M [youtube.com]
And you can upload it directly to YouTube from your G1, which is handy.
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The 1.5 cupcake update added that exact ability. It's rolling out now.
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http://www.t3.com/news/android-cupcake-1-5-update-to-enable-video-capture-for-g1?=38641 [t3.com]
The hardware is capable, but the software is not yet willing. That will be changed, - see above.
Note that this is the EXACT same situation as the iPhone. You have been able to shoot video on the iPhone once jailbroken.
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But that freedom is not really intended for YOU, just for the carrier and handset manufacturer. Android TOS is getting tighter and tighter.
But in general I agree with your assessment of Apple's absurdly paranoid lock down of the phone and withholding features that the hardware is fully capable of simply because "Steve says NO".
I have come to believe that the Apple iPhone software development team is an extremely small group of people with the real talent concentrated in an even smaller subset. There is no
Chances are.. (Score:2, Insightful)
After all's said & done; it's just made the front page of
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Why the hell would Apple leak it when it can just as easily make the front page of Slashdot next week when they show off the new features at WWDC. More than likely this is mostly crap designed to drive up page hits for some goon's blog or third rate website. Apple has no real reason to release this information before they actually want to do so.
Hell, I could easily go grab some crap digital camera and take a picture with it that looks slightly better than a current generation iPhone and then watch as the tr
Re:Chances are.. (Score:5, Funny)
"Why the hell would Apple leak it when it can just as easily make the front page of Slashdot next week"
Because now they've made the front page twice. Or more, knowing Slashdot.
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Apple would never leak such utterly crappy shots.
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Given that it's in Chinese, how do we know this isn't one of the Dozen iPhone clones running around? Most look pretty dang close (The Chinese Cloners really need to hire a UI guy to get all their MP5 players sorted out).
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I prefer the German MP5 player [wikipedia.org].
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However, I do agree with your main point. I wouldn't be surprised if this was their way of marketing the new product. How much is it costing them? About $0?
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Now go back up the thread and read some of the utter tripe posted about page hits blah, blah, Apple wouldn't, blah, blah, Apple this, Apple that, integrity. Tosh.
If there's one thing I've learned in my half century on this planet: Corporations do nothing that's remotely altruistic.
My next le
Repurchase apps? (Score:2, Informative)
The new software also supposedly makes you re-buy apps that you've already purchased, just so they can allow multiple accounts on one phone (have people really asked for this?).
http://www.pcworld.com/article/165834/apple_thwarts_app_piracy_ahead_of_iphone_30_release.html [pcworld.com]
Re:Repurchase apps? (Score:5, Informative)
Read the article you quote. Which says that Apple will require people to rebuy in order to REDOWNLOAD, and only if you're downloading from a phone. It does not require a re-purchase just for the new phone.
This requirement, btw, is because otherwise people will be able to purchase on one account, pass that account around and every person would be able to download to their phone.
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You have to repurchase if you want to download them over 3g. If you sync with itunes, you can re-download them all you want.
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The new software also supposedly makes you re-buy apps that you've already purchased, just so they can allow multiple accounts on one phone (have people really asked for this?).
Average people did not ask for this. It was the nerds on the internet on tech sites that made the most noise. You can thank the nerd for making everyone's life more complicated from now on. Way to go guys. Thanks for ruining it for everyone.
glass houses (Score:2)
Humans? (Score:2, Funny)
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"... including a complete human translation on the MacRumors forum" What are you saying about the Chinese?
Didn't you see the last few episodes from BSG? They are obviously descended from the Sharon units. /SARC
Seriously, though I think the submitter just a thoughtless idiot rather than being intentionally racist.
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Seriously, though I think the submitter just a thoughtless idiot rather than being intentionally racist.
He was being neither. "Human translation" is just saying that the translation that was posted to the MacRumors forum wasn't a machine translation from a site like Babelfish. Sheesh.
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I think the submitter meant that they had an actual human do the translation, as opposed to babelfish. Wasn't what I jumped to first, either.
Creating unsubstatiated rumors (Score:3, Funny)
I also heard somewhere that the new iPhone will come with a free puppy. It will also water my lawn, clean my house, and walk the puppy for me.
Can I join a PR agency now?
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No because you did not mention how the WM based phones kill puppies and will pee on your lawn creating brown spots.
My goal is obvious! (Score:2)
iPhone OS 3.0 != iPhone 3G 2009 (Score:5, Informative)
It is Mr Gadget who got it wrong (Score:2, Insightful)
New casing? New UI? (Score:4, Informative)
Will it look like an ancient Palm, with a black-and-white screen, a writing area, and only a dozen apps on the homescreen?
SLASHDOT, FFS, GET SOME NEW ICONS!
And WTF is up with the MacBook icon on this iPhone story? [slashdot.org] I guess I need to change my request to "new and accurate icons."
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SLASHDOT, FFS, GET SOME NEW ICONS!
(QD slaps sootman)
Get a grip, man! It's tradition. Without tradition we are nothing! Do you undertsand!? NOTHING!! ARGH!!!!!
(QD slaps self)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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You're not up to date on your rumours... (Score:2, Informative)
dashboard looks like it is in a western car (Score:3, Insightful)
Do cars shipped to China have trip, km and other english words on the dash instead of the equivalent Chinese? The reasons for the fuzzy photos don't wash as the photographer brandished the phone in public in a car. Seems to me better photos could have been taken easily.
Let me be the first to ask: (Score:2)
Will it finally have buttons? ^^
(On the back, side, top or bottom does not count. Non-tactile does not count too.)
Qualifications (Score:2)
(On the back, side, top or bottom does not count. Non-tactile does not count too.
What are you, a lawyer? It's like the subtext at the bottom of a contest that disqualifies anyone who could actually enter... you are basically asking "Does it have buttons* * = all possible buttons excluded from answer".
The real answer of course, is it has infinite buttons since on-screen buttons are perfectly usable. The answer you might possible accept is one, since there's a button on the front, which means you are s
So the next iPhone will be... (Score:2)
which include things like an auto-focus camera, video capture, and a compass
an android phone? Sounds like the G1 spec sheet.
We miss you, Moltz! (Score:2)
The rumor I heard flying is that the new iPhone can, in fact, fly. It's a full levitation device and can allow a 250 pound man to hover. The TV ads will feature Criss Angel.
I read it on Crazy Apple Rumors so I know it must be true. It transforms into a bisexual ninja sexbot that serves pudding and other snacks on demand. It will telepathically extract that hot new tune stuck in your head to use as a ring tone.
If you order one now, the man, the legend, the *god*, Phil Schiller himself will deliver it to your
New Shiny ! (Score:2, Insightful)
The iPhone version 3 is finally getting all the stuff that other cellphones have had for 10 years ? And people will still blindly pay through the nose for these "exclusive features" ?
Not sure about the compass though, I'd have preferred a pair of nail clippers, a corkscrew / bottle opener, and a pair of scissors ... wait, we're talking about a Swiss Army Knife right ?
We can only hope that the iPhone version 4 will at least upgrade the camera to 1.3 megapix.
*ducks*
Awesome new features (Score:5, Insightful)
You know what would be awesome new features?
The ability to run whatever software I want, and the ability to operate on whatever phone network I want.
New Features (remeber the iPod?) (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I'm confused (Score:5, Informative)
...it had a GPS (thus making a compas possible).
A GPS and a compass are two different things, with slightly different and complimentary features. A GPS tells you where you are. A compass tells you which direction is north. Together they can tell you to turn around and go the other way even if you're not moving. Together they can tell you the building in front of you is the library and the one to your left is the brothel.
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Re:I'm confused (Score:4, Funny)
If we can put a man on the moon (or could, at one time), I say that now is the time to have brothel libraries (and librarians, of course). We do not do this because it is hard... um, ok, actually, we do do this because it is hard.
Re:I'm confused (Score:5, Funny)
We do not do this because it is hard... um, ok, actually, we do do this because it is hard.
That's what she said.
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Don't know about where you live, but my city makes it pretty easy to distinguish between the two when I'm standing in front of them... Of course, there is probably an app for that...
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The compass is mostly useless, for those of us that can orient a map (but not everyone was a Boy Scout). Apple doesn't ever have a single-feature addition, as if a compass screen was all you got. No, think Google StreetView integration and maps that automatically rotate.
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The compass is mostly useless, for those of us that can orient a map (but not everyone was a Boy Scout). Apple doesn't ever have a single-feature addition, as if a compass screen was all you got.
The rumor is about a hardware compass being added, not a compass application. I assume the functionality would be integrated into the maps and available for other applications.
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Any GPS will also give you a heading based on your movement, which can be used to create a compass like display.
The fact is most consumer GPS units do exactly this.
The doesn't mean Apple added an electronic compas to the device, it just means they are displaying something on a compass dial.
If you're willing to pay for it, I'll whip you out a quick compass app that will work great as long as you are moving at a reasonable speed so GPS inaccuracy/jitter doesn't throw it off too much. It'll work on your 3G ph
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A GPS and a magnetic compass are two different things.
A number of non-magnetic direction-finding devices can also be called a compass, and one of those happens to be a GPS (with a bit of software). Of course, different types of compass have different limitations.
For example, a magnetic compass can be thrown off by local magnetic fields, etc.; but it can find direction even when you stand still (and, I suppose, you don't have to know if your frame of reference is moving to read it correctly).
You can avoid b
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A number of non-magnetic direction-finding devices can also be called a compass...
True.
...and one of those happens to be a GPS (with a bit of software).
Well, a GPS device moving at a sufficient speed, with the right software, which is aligned by the user in the direction of travel, could qualify as a compass. The problem is the iPhone often does not meet these criteria. The iPhone is often not moving or not moving quickly enough to make up for the inaccuracy of the GPS system. Further, it is not always aligned with the direction of travel.
It has been rumored for some time, this deficiency will be solved by adding a magnetometer chip, specifically As
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Re:I'm confused (Score:5, Informative)
If you have a GPS, then you also have a compass, because any GPS can compute North
Umm, what?!?!?! That statement makes absolutely no sense.
It knows *where* north is, but unless you're moving, it has no way of relaying that information to you, because it can't know the direction it's facing (which is what a compass does.)
We all know what the difference is between a GPS and a compass
Evidently you don't.
Re:I'm confused (Score:5, Informative)
If you have a GPS, then you also have a compass, because any GPS can compute North.
This is untrue. A GPS can tell you what your coordinates are but not which way your device is facing relative to north. If you're moving it assumes the GPS is facing the direction of travel, which is not always the case. When you aren't moving it gets quickly confused.
Hence, because he thought the iPhone had a GPS, he didn't understand why they were "adding" a compass.
The iPhone does have GPS. They're rumored to be adding an internal compass so the iPhone will also know what direction it is facing and can use that to accurately point out objects and give better directions. Most commercial GPS units include a compass as well these days.
We all know what the difference is between a GPS and a compass.
Apparently some of us are confused about the relative capabilities though.
GPS attitude (Score:3, Informative)
If you have a GPS, then you also have a compass, because any GPS can compute North.
This is untrue. A GPS can tell you what your coordinates are but not which way your device is facing relative to north. If you're moving it assumes the GPS is facing the direction of travel, which is not always the case. When you aren't moving it gets quickly confused.
No, actually it is true. You just need multiple antennas in a known orientation.
Sources:
We all know what the difference is between a GPS and a compass.
Apparently some of us are confused about the relative capabilities though.
In context of the iPhone, no, calculating attitude from the GPS data isn't possible due to its size. But calculating attitude using GPS is quite possible and has already been done.
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No, actually it is true. You just need multiple antennas in a known orientation.
The claim was that any GPS can compute north, which we know is untrue.
Re:I'm confused (Score:5, Insightful)
More proof /. needs a (-1, wrong) mod.
Re:I'm confused (Score:5, Informative)
Nope (Score:3, Informative)
The iPhone camera is fixed focus and can't shoot video (at least not out of the box). And there is no compass. A compass is handy for turn-by-turn navigation and other neat-o things like street view on the G1 making use of the built-in compass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PRfVKzuUJ4 [youtube.com]
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I thought the iPhone already had an autofocus camera in it,
No, it has a fixed focus camera.
and that it had a GPS (thus making a compas possible).
GPS can only act as a compass while you're moving. a magnetic compass can do that job while you're standing still.
The two together can potentially be teh aw3som3, since knowing your GPS location can allow you to compute the magnetic correction automatically for your location, giving you a true compass heading, not just a magnetic one.
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Re:Whatever comes out... (Score:4, Funny)
People bring their Sybians with them in public? Can they only recieve phone calls when sitting down?
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Re:Whatever comes out... (Score:5, Insightful)
... it will be less than capable of the respective Nokia N-device but as always the Apple marketing and fanboyz
There have always been products competing with both the iPod and iPhone that have a longer and more impressive bullet list of features. The problem being, the average person doesn't enjoy using them and half those features are so poorly implemented they are just painful to use. Many geeks are happy to work around poorly designed interfaces for the sake of overall functionality.
Is Apple becoming the Microsoft of the mobile world?!
The problem with Microsoft is that they use a very large market share in one market to destroy competition and innovation in other markets, thus slowing progress. Apple doesn't have dominance in any markets, so their locked down products drive innovation by providing real competition. When Apple has a monopoly o near monopoly and ties to other markets, then "ll lump them in with Microsoft.
I don't know... but I'm telling you something guys: this is 2009 and we have Symbian & Android which together reach some 60% of the mobile smartphone market...
Yup, that's very cool and I have high hopes for Android, which have not really panned out yet. I still wonder if Android would exist or if it would have the level of functionality it does if Apple were not providing such strong competition.
So let's not pull are eyes out with our own hands and choose iPhone NOT.
For many people the iPhone is still the best offering. Since we're not dealing with a significantly broken market for smartphones, people should pick what works best for them, be it iPhone or an Android or some other phone. This drives developers to work hard and try to make better products. I don't see the point of picking a product that is not as well suited to my tasks based upon the underlying OS. All that does is provide incentive for developers of that OS to not work harder to meet my needs and not compete as strongly. (Note: I don't own any kind of smartphone, iPhone or other.)
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Is Apple becoming the Microsoft of the mobile world?!
The problem with Microsoft is that they use a very large market share in one market to destroy competition and innovation in other markets, thus slowing progress. Apple doesn't have dominance in any markets, so their locked down products drive innovation by providing real competition. When Apple has a monopoly o near monopoly and ties to other markets, then "ll lump them in with Microsoft.
Short answer to the question is, yes, Apple is becoming the Microsoft of the mobile world. Name me a portable music player other than an iPod that anyone you know owns.
Lump them in.
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Short answer to the question is, yes, Apple is becoming the Microsoft of the mobile world.
MS's market share for desktop OS's is about 98%. Apple's share of the portable, digital music player market is about 70% if you don't include phones that play music, in which case their market share is fairly negligible. Not counting phones I know people who own Toshiba, Sansa, and Creative brand players.
The EU recently looked into the iPod with an eye towards antitrust abuse. They seem t have concluded that within the EU at least, consumers consider media playing cell phones as alternatives to the iPod whe
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Mmmm... Apple's dominance includes not only portable music devices (iPods)
I don't think this will stand up legally due to the numbers you cite not including music playing cell phones, which make up a significant portion of the market. This, of course, depends upon how the market is distinguished.
...but the actual distribution of music (iTunes)
First, the ITunes store and the iTunes application are in different markets and it is important to distinguish that you're referring to the former not the latter. Second, while Apple may well have dominance in said market, it is a problematic market, since it is already compromised by th
Re:Whatever comes out... (Score:4, Insightful)
You are, as is usual here, missing the point about Apple products.
They frequently don't have the raw capabilities of their competition, but they are reasonably stylish and very easy to use. You and I may be able to efficiently handle complicated interfaces, but most people have a great deal of difficulty with them. They will learn what they have to, and no more. The average smart phone is used only for a very few things.
The iPhone is easy to use. It's easy to figure out how to do things. There are darn few glitches or gotchas. There's a fairly thick manual, which nobody has to read. This is important, since nobody but us actually reads the manuals. It's easy to extend the functionality, now that the App Store is there. It has never been easier to make a telephone generate its own fart sounds, or do a variety of other things, some of which are actually useful. I find this attractive, since I've long since tired of learning complicated things that aren't actually important to what I want to do. (For example, why would I want to learn Microsoft Word's more arcane features when vim and LaTeX already do what I want?)
If this makes no sense to you, or if you think Apple's popularity is due to nothing but marketing and fanbois, please do not do any interface design for end users.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
It has never been easier to make a telephone generate its own fart sounds...
Well, here you go! These are the "killer appz" that make the Apple fanboyz go mad. This is 90-95% of all available progies for iPhone.
...or do a variety of other things, some of which are actually useful.
Fair enough. I admit there is this 5% of some really cool applications for iPhone. But my initial post (which I find ridiculous that had been moded as "flamebait", this was NOT my intention) wanted to stress a point.
Both Symbian and Android can do what iPhone does and even more. And developers can leverage the WHOLE underlying technology. So the iPhone Store story is only a s
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
> Both Symbian and Android can do what iPhone does and even more.
And vice versa. The intersection is not the universal set.
> And developers can leverage the WHOLE underlying technology.
You don't know the same developers I do then.
> So the iPhone Store story is only a stupid buzz.
And 37 million installed base. It's the platform, stupid.
> I'm afraid of what will happen if Apple somehow prevails and becomes the Microsoft of the mobile OS market.
Why? Their stranglehold on the music player market se
Re: (Score:2)
racist much?
Re: (Score:2)
Race, nationality, ethnicity...what's the difference? Chinese == Chinese.
Would be sad if warranty was voided (Score:2)
It's sad that I have to void the warranty to make this device (that is running a kernel invented and intended for the Open-Source world, BTW) what it should be.
Jailbreaking doesn't void the warranty since it is completely reversible. If you need to send it in for work just un-jailbreak. If the hardware is so broken you can't unjailbreak it, they can't tell it was jailbroken...
I don't think it's sad at all, I think it's exciting to live in a time where so many devices that would otherwise be half usable c
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Do you know of any cameras that don't have autofocus?
The iPhone 1G and 3G phones don't. They have a fixed focus camera, which is not the same thing.