Jackson Free Press

With Apple's stock shooting up nearly 10% during his keynote address at Macworld San Francisco this morning, Steve Jobs introduce the iPhone, an iPod/mobile phone hybrid that runs Mac OS X. The phone, which will be available exclusively from Cingular in June 2007, will cost $499 for a 4GB model and $599 for an 8GB model. Jobs -- in all of his "SteveNote" reality-distorting glory -- put the introduction of the iPhone on par with two other events in Apple history: the introduction of the Mac and the introduction of the iPod.

The phone itself is feature-heavy, although not a "3G" phone for data. Using GSM and Edge for high speed networking over a mobile connection, the phone also features built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 reception, enabling users to surf the Internet on wireless Internet networks as well as over the Cingular network. The fact that it runs Mac OS X means it can support "desktop" caliber applications, Jobs said, including Safari and Mac OS X desktop widgets for accessing weather, stock and other information.

The iPhone doesn't offer a small keyboard, but rather a touchscreen using Apple's Multi-Touch technology, which responds to gestures on the screen for scolling, zooming and typing. Jobs didn't show much e-mail functionality, put he did type on the screen for a messaging session with Apple VP Phil Schiller.

The iPhone features a gorgeous 3.5-inch high-resolution display with slick graphics and animation. Jobs demoed the ability to send e-mail messages during a phone call, to pause and mute music for incoming calls and to browse full web pages, zooming in on interesting parts. It supports HTML e-mail, POP and IMAP accounts and Visual Voicemail, something Apple developed in conjunction with Cingular.

The high price and six-month wait may make it a more difficult decision for some users than it would have been otherwise, but there's no doubt that it raises the bar on smartphones and Apple may indeed make Steve's target of gaining 1% of the mobile market, or about 10 million phones sold in the first year.

Previous Comments

ID

109759

Comment

Why only 4 & 8 Gigs. Even though that's disapointing, I think my PC loving self has just gone to the other side on this one. I'm ready for one.

Author

herman

Date

2007-01-09T16:38:17-06:00

ID

109760

Comment

It's pretty tasty looking. Looks like exactly the right solution to the problem of the "next generation" mobile phone at exactly a slightly-too-high price. :-)

Author

Todd Stauffer

Date

2007-01-09T16:47:18-06:00

ID

109761

Comment

He calls a damn phone "tasty." Welcome to a view inside the world of loving a geek. ;-D

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2007-01-09T17:10:08-06:00

ID

109762

Comment

It itis indeed. iCan't irent imany iNetflix idownloads from the ivideostore with 4 igigs ithough.

Author

herman

Date

2007-01-09T18:06:40-06:00

ID

109763

Comment

I. Want. One. Now!

Author

kate

Date

2007-01-09T19:16:09-06:00

ID

109764

Comment

Wow. It's amazing how well thought out it is. And June is fine for saving pennies! I'd love one. :D

Author

Ironghost

Date

2007-01-09T20:40:49-06:00

ID

109765

Comment

I agree with iTodd, it is a tasty phone. I have been a Mac geek since I got my first one at 12 y/o. Cingular may have a new subscriber this June.

Author

Will Jemison

Date

2007-01-09T22:41:56-06:00

ID

109766

Comment

just got done watching the video and damn that phone is cool looks like it's time to start saving up :)

Author

William Patrick Butler

Date

2007-01-09T23:55:43-06:00

ID

109767

Comment

I'm afraid I wont be getting one though unless you can sync it with outlook. Which is what I do with my pocket pc Cingular phone now. I need an outlook or outlook compatable PC based manager for email, my calendar and address book. I won't be going Mac just for the phone. I just need to see the PC sync applications for the iphone and how they work.

Author

herman

Date

2007-01-10T11:40:52-06:00

ID

109768

Comment

It itis indeed. iCan't irent imany iNetflix idownloads from the ivideostore with 4 igigs ithough. Well, it is a phone, after all. Even taking a few TV shows/movies is kinda impressive. An hour of downloaded TV (or, whatever, 45 minutes or something) takes up about 500MB in iTunes. So, yeah, you could get only a few shows or movies on the iPhone. 8GB would be better, I guess. It's also interesting that the Apple TV has a 40GB drive in it to store HD-quality files. I wonder how many shows *that* equates to. Probably not many. (Of course, there's a USB2 port on it, as well, for the inevitable stackable external hard disk.)

Author

Todd Stauffer

Date

2007-01-10T11:52:54-06:00

ID

109769

Comment

Yeah, I can see having a gigterrabyte portable hardrive that you plug & play firewire/USB2 into a TV, record onto with the rest of your library. Unplugging it, taking it to a friends to watch 1 of 1,000+ movies, plug into their TV, scrolling thru the menu of movies, click play. A gigterrabyte of storage online would be ok also, go over to a friends house, log on to their TV and stream a movie from my online database. 40, nor 400GB would not do. I need constant access to a 1,000+ movie library that are 9 GB+ for each title, high quality. And be able to back that up. Until I can store every season of every HBO Series and access it at any time, a TV, Tivo, iTV or whatever is only to store the Heroes episode I missed last night until I can watch it. Having a 200+ GB hardrive storage and a dual layer HD disc burner in the TV or a plug & play removeable/tradeout-able harddrive would be ok.

Author

herman

Date

2007-01-10T12:31:30-06:00

ID

109770

Comment

Herman, as long as you access your email via IMAP, you should naturally stay synched... I utilize over 9 different email accounts (though not lately) including GMAIL via IMAP and allow the master computer to remove archived mail after X days. So, you should be able to stay synched when it comes to emails... As for a larger HD, on this baby... The batt life is 5 hours talk/wifi/video. That's two movies if you're lucky. Assuming those movies will be converted to an iPod-friendly format (generally smaller in size), you have plenty of space. Unfortunately, for someone like me (with gigs and gigs of music), I'll have to select my tunes wisely via Smart Playlists on steroids. My plan: find a way to use WiFi and my personal network and servers to stream video and music directly to the device rather than cluttering the iPhone with random music and videos.

Author

kaust

Date

2007-01-10T13:11:43-06:00

ID

109771

Comment

Hey man, I need a minimum or 50 Gigs for music myself. I don't bother watching movies on anything 2 inches. My main synching is outlook calendar (birthdays, meetings, etc...) and my address book. I have some 200 entries in my phone with complete details, directions to houses, birthdays, etc... I don't want to have to retype that ever again. It's nice to have an outlook style manager for calendar and addresses (mainly) , more then email, where I can update its info on my PC, and then plug in my phone and its all updated there. As long as iphone provides a way to sync to some calendar and address book. I don't want to have to go online to an email account to find & dial a number or email.

Author

herman

Date

2007-01-10T15:31:51-06:00

ID

109772

Comment

This doesn't have a damn thing to do with the topic- it is just a question for I-Todd- and I can't find any other way to contact you or anyone else on this site... Question- don't you do Mac consulting/troubleshooting on the side? If so, would you mind sending me an e-mail with the particulars? Price? Housecalls? At the time we converted to OSX, I started using XP on my work computer, and got away from the Mac thing. My wife depends on me to be her IT guy, and I'm still hopelessly mired in Mac OS 9.1. Haven't upgraded the brain yet. So every time we install something on her system, what should take 10 minutes ends up taking a whole weekend. She just purchased Photoshop CS (haven't received it yet), and we were looking for someone to install it, and to also tidy up her system- she can't get certain fonts to work correctly (Suitcase problems), and has quite a few other problems that I am positive were caused by me mucking things up... It is way too much for me to deal with- but would probably take someone who knows what they are doing 2-3 hours to figure out... Do you still do this stuff? If so, please contact me!

Author

Rico

Date

2007-01-26T10:32:47-06:00

ID

109773

Comment

Rico, are you installing OSX-compatible software? Sounds like you may be running classic applications which can be a major system hog.

Author

kaust

Date

2007-01-26T13:15:43-06:00

ID

109774

Comment

Well, yes- we are still using a version of Quark that only runs in 9. That is at least part of the reason we are going with Adobe CS- I think she is going to start using the page layout program that comes with it (InDesign?). She is seriously sick of working in Classic or booting into 9 or whatever it is she has to do...

Author

Rico

Date

2007-01-26T13:42:24-06:00

ID

109775

Comment

That's most likely your problem with slow installs (Classic). Once I went OSX, I dropped ALL OS9 applications and have never used Classic (due to its system resource issues). If this is a consistent problem experienced outside of installs, try viewing your System Resources to find the core of the problem. Chances are, you have an application, spyware, or virus that is hogging resources. (Applications>Utilities>Process Viewer). Suggestions 1) If you have less than a gig of RAM, up it to AT LEAST a gig. This is especially true of Adobe users or others that use a computer for more than email and basic Internet. Max it out with quality RAM and OSX will generally zing. 2) Go completely native and nix Classic. If you can't find a native version of the specific software, there are plenty of open source alternatives... Support democracy and an open market! 3) Backup all important files (email, designs, bookmarks, etc) and wipe the entire system before going completely native. If she's organized, this should be a relatively easy task with a few DVDs or an external drive. This will remove any corrupt fonts and system issues you might be facing. I actually do this about twice a year -- probably a throwback from dealing with Windows machines... 3a) If you don't want to reformat and execute a clean install, try checking and repairing your Disk Permissions (Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility). You may have a permissions conflict and this might resolve it. 4) If an Intel Mac, try to go completely Universal with all applications. Upgrade/update to the Universal binaries which are readily available for most apps (minus Adobe until CS3). 5) If you are having problems with specific apps, try reinstalling (true for Classic or native). 6) DO NOT USE APPLICATIONS BY NORTON or similar programs that "keep your HD 'running great'"-- EVER! These apps are notorious for corrupting an OS (especially a Mac environment). OSX does a damn good job of maintaining itself generally. Additional comments: a) remove all Microsoft products and go Open Office. Not only will Bill Gates hate you, you'll run a more secure and up-to-date office suite. At the very least, ditch IEMac and use Safari or the latest Firefox. b) make sure all fonts are compatible and from a reliable source. Font conflicts can be a nightmare on any OS. c) Back it up and, er, wipe it clean... Start with a fresh install of your favorite apps and OS without conflicts. Again, this is generally the easiest way to resolve a problem and restore your Mac's stamina, youth and vigor. ;-)

Author

kaust

Date

2007-01-26T14:35:47-06:00

ID

109776

Comment

Great advice on all counts, Knol. I have absolutely nothing else to add because you've covered all the bases! Cheers, TH, a fellow Mac user.

Author

Tom Head

Date

2007-01-26T14:40:32-06:00