Carphone Warehouse staff have been accused of confusing customers in order to get them pay extra cash for insurance.
The BBC's Watchdog programme sent researchers to five Carphone stores and in three of them were told that if their iPhone was stolen they would have to shell out for another 18 month contract if they wanted to replace their phone.
In fact, if your phone is stolen during the contract you have to buy a new handset but your original contract continues. iPhones come with a compulsory 18 month contract with O2.
Carphone Warehouse said it did not believe the small sample was a fair reflection of its stores overall, but accepted there was some confusion among some staff.
CPW sent us the following statement: "Providing customers with expert and clear advice has always been core to The Carphone Warehouse's principles.
"Because of the unique nature of the iPhone and its replacement process there could, despite detailed training, be some element of confusion among an isolated number of sales consultants.
"We will of course be investigating any further cases we receive as a priority. In the meantime we have contacted all our sales consultants to reiterate the correct advice around iPhone replacement and insurance."
source: theregister.co.uk
Ojom Launches Its First iPhone Game
Verizon's Now Playing on Google's Team
Google: The Real iPhone Killer
Apple's iPhone a tougher sell in Europe?
Nov 29, 2007
Nov 26, 2007
Possible Canadian launch of the Apple iPhone through Rogers Wireless
They've really got to stop teasing us like this.
We see hints at a Canadian iPhone launch over and over again, only to have Rogers Wireless shatter our dreams with a non-committal non-confirmation of the rumors. And they're doing it again.
Navigating over to the Rogers eNewsletter preference page on their website, we're offered an option to keep updated about upcoming wireless technology. That sounds innocent enough until they mention the iPhone by name. Yes, it's a single word on a fairly lengthy page of preferences, but it does point toward a possible Canadian launch of the Apple iPhone through Rogers Wireless. After all, it's mentioned as part of the "upcoming wireless technology", alongside "video messaging" and "etc."
What do you think? Is this pseudo confirmation of a Canuck-ified iPhone? Or is it just Rogers trying to gauge our interest in an Apple phone?
Link
We see hints at a Canadian iPhone launch over and over again, only to have Rogers Wireless shatter our dreams with a non-committal non-confirmation of the rumors. And they're doing it again.
Navigating over to the Rogers eNewsletter preference page on their website, we're offered an option to keep updated about upcoming wireless technology. That sounds innocent enough until they mention the iPhone by name. Yes, it's a single word on a fairly lengthy page of preferences, but it does point toward a possible Canadian launch of the Apple iPhone through Rogers Wireless. After all, it's mentioned as part of the "upcoming wireless technology", alongside "video messaging" and "etc."
What do you think? Is this pseudo confirmation of a Canuck-ified iPhone? Or is it just Rogers trying to gauge our interest in an Apple phone?
Link
TIM To Distribute The iPhone In Italy?
While all eyes are turned on Nokia’s N81 launch it seems Italy is now gearing up for the introduction of Apple’s iPhone. Rumours abound that TIM is in talks with Apple for Italian distribution. Details have not been issued, but the mobile arm of Telecom Italia Group – which now counts almost 54 million mobile phone lines worldwide, 26 million in Italy alone – looks to join ranks with O2 in the UK, Orange in France and T-Mobile in Germany.
The reported agreement with these first three EU countries is that Apple will receive 10% of revenue from use of voice and data services, so no surprises if the Italian deal echoes these terms.
Here’s hoping that some affordable mobile web tariffs are also on the cards for Italian users. Offering flat rate options for customers would minimize enormously the confusion many consumers in Italy have over the cost of mobile web use. Along with Conad’s recent mobile offering announcement, the arrival of the iPhone could provide TIM with a similar opportunity to introduce user friendly billing options that increase customer trust.
Adding Italian distribution to the deals already signed in the UK, France and Germany will further bolster the iPhone’s current success. Analyst reports tracking US sales have recently revealed that the company is well ahead of the stated 1 million sales target by this quarter end.
Link
The reported agreement with these first three EU countries is that Apple will receive 10% of revenue from use of voice and data services, so no surprises if the Italian deal echoes these terms.
Here’s hoping that some affordable mobile web tariffs are also on the cards for Italian users. Offering flat rate options for customers would minimize enormously the confusion many consumers in Italy have over the cost of mobile web use. Along with Conad’s recent mobile offering announcement, the arrival of the iPhone could provide TIM with a similar opportunity to introduce user friendly billing options that increase customer trust.
Adding Italian distribution to the deals already signed in the UK, France and Germany will further bolster the iPhone’s current success. Analyst reports tracking US sales have recently revealed that the company is well ahead of the stated 1 million sales target by this quarter end.
Link
Fring goes super connected, iPhone's legal woes and Sony's phantom PlayStation phone
Last week has been busier than usual on our beloved sister site Pocket Picks, though there has been little in the way of huge news – just a steady stream of interesting happenings in the world of mobile technology.
While not likely to shake the industry to its core, but interesting for fans nonetheless, the week kicked off with news that Nokia users will be the first to get their hands on Kylie Minogue's new album via the Nokia Music Store. Elsewhere, Nokia upgraded its Nseries suite to version 2.0, delighting users who've been waiting since the upgrade was delayed in September.
There were other software releases from the company in the form of fresh firmware for the N95 8GB and the N81, as well as an application called Sports Tracker which is bound to help in making hordes of us desk guardians feel lazy in the near future.
The company was also caught smooching with Fring, voting it 'application of the week' for a second time this year, cementing our suspicions that Nokia is mobile VoIP's biggest fan. Later, Fring let loose some details about new super connectivity widgets designed to tie Fring to social networking sites and Google maps, which will no doubt be popular when it's all up and running.
In other VoIP news, meanwhile, Yeigo updated its service with some new IM features, amongst a slew of other bits and pieces on the run up to its UK release.
The iPhone saw its share of turmoil this week, with all manner of legal wranglings over in the heart of the European continent: Germany. Essentially, it transpired that (as in France) locking the device to a single network is against the country's commercial laws. Sensing an opportunity, Vodafone leapt into the fold issuing a court injunction against T-Mobile and demanding that the device be sold unlocked.
This first prompted rumours about Vodafone looking to secure the rights to any 3G iPhone that is released in the future, which was swiftly followed with similar conjecture about O2's plans for a 3G version of the must-have handset.
Later in the week, T-Mobile went into damage limitation mode, agreeing to sell the iPhone unlocked for EUR 999 (£719 – ouch), which is more than double the EUR 399 (£287) price tag of the handset when on one of T-Mobile's contracts.
Bedsides that, it also came to light that iPhone users are a little on the slap-dash side of accurate when texting, which Pocket Picks explored on the second part of our serial review of the handset (that has now covered the camera, the iPod functions and its web browsing and YouTube features). More of these will follow in the coming weeks, together with some regular spots on iPhone apps which we started off last week with a look at HarperCollins Browse Inside.
Moving away from Apple's news magnet, there were some interesting rumours and culture snippets flying around. Rumour of the week has to go to Sony and Sony Ericsson, with fresh rumblings of a possible PlayStation branded phone. These were swiftly quashed by the obligatory Sony press statement.
In culture, ITV revealed its first made-for-mobile TV show, Vodafone launched a service called InsideOut that allows you to make calls to people in the Second Life virtual world, Japanese handset powerhouse DoCoMo announced a new earthquake detection and warning system for mobiles, while LG launched a photography competition for the chance to win a lovely Viewty handset.
See what we meant by busy? Of course, there are always many more great bits and pieces that we just can't fit into the Pocket Picks round-up so if you're a mobile tech enthusiast, you'll know where to head to (or better still, subscribe to the RSS feed and let it come to you).
That's it for now, then. Click 'Track It!' to catch next week's update.
Link
While not likely to shake the industry to its core, but interesting for fans nonetheless, the week kicked off with news that Nokia users will be the first to get their hands on Kylie Minogue's new album via the Nokia Music Store. Elsewhere, Nokia upgraded its Nseries suite to version 2.0, delighting users who've been waiting since the upgrade was delayed in September.
There were other software releases from the company in the form of fresh firmware for the N95 8GB and the N81, as well as an application called Sports Tracker which is bound to help in making hordes of us desk guardians feel lazy in the near future.
The company was also caught smooching with Fring, voting it 'application of the week' for a second time this year, cementing our suspicions that Nokia is mobile VoIP's biggest fan. Later, Fring let loose some details about new super connectivity widgets designed to tie Fring to social networking sites and Google maps, which will no doubt be popular when it's all up and running.
In other VoIP news, meanwhile, Yeigo updated its service with some new IM features, amongst a slew of other bits and pieces on the run up to its UK release.
The iPhone saw its share of turmoil this week, with all manner of legal wranglings over in the heart of the European continent: Germany. Essentially, it transpired that (as in France) locking the device to a single network is against the country's commercial laws. Sensing an opportunity, Vodafone leapt into the fold issuing a court injunction against T-Mobile and demanding that the device be sold unlocked.
This first prompted rumours about Vodafone looking to secure the rights to any 3G iPhone that is released in the future, which was swiftly followed with similar conjecture about O2's plans for a 3G version of the must-have handset.
Later in the week, T-Mobile went into damage limitation mode, agreeing to sell the iPhone unlocked for EUR 999 (£719 – ouch), which is more than double the EUR 399 (£287) price tag of the handset when on one of T-Mobile's contracts.
Bedsides that, it also came to light that iPhone users are a little on the slap-dash side of accurate when texting, which Pocket Picks explored on the second part of our serial review of the handset (that has now covered the camera, the iPod functions and its web browsing and YouTube features). More of these will follow in the coming weeks, together with some regular spots on iPhone apps which we started off last week with a look at HarperCollins Browse Inside.
Moving away from Apple's news magnet, there were some interesting rumours and culture snippets flying around. Rumour of the week has to go to Sony and Sony Ericsson, with fresh rumblings of a possible PlayStation branded phone. These were swiftly quashed by the obligatory Sony press statement.
In culture, ITV revealed its first made-for-mobile TV show, Vodafone launched a service called InsideOut that allows you to make calls to people in the Second Life virtual world, Japanese handset powerhouse DoCoMo announced a new earthquake detection and warning system for mobiles, while LG launched a photography competition for the chance to win a lovely Viewty handset.
See what we meant by busy? Of course, there are always many more great bits and pieces that we just can't fit into the Pocket Picks round-up so if you're a mobile tech enthusiast, you'll know where to head to (or better still, subscribe to the RSS feed and let it come to you).
That's it for now, then. Click 'Track It!' to catch next week's update.
Link
Tutorial: Hack your iPhone/iTouch
Before you all start thinking I’m going crazy and say mean things like “He’s Nuts!” and “Hasn’t this been posted before?”, let me explain; please. I recently (and foolishly) upgraded to 1.1.2 on my iPod touch because I wanted to see the non-existent new features it brought.
Yes, it gave me the much desired calendar “Add” button and yes, it gave me the useless battery indicator in iTunes, but I already had the Calendar button and had no need for the battery indicator, so I set on my mission to downgrade back to 1.1.1.
I read on some sites that the process was hard to do, with having to download an extra application or input a secret button sequence into the iPod. However this was not the case. After getting my copy of 1.1.1 from Apple’s site, all that was left was to Option + Click on the update button in iTunes, and navigate to the downloaded zip file. This process leaves all personal data and music on the iPhone or iPod Touch, but allows you to downgrade easily and safely.
After the downgrade was complete (which is exactly the same process as an upgrade) I set about re-hacking my shiny little Touch. The hacking process on the older firmware is ridiculously easy. Simply point Safari to jailbreakme.com and click install. This will JailBreak your iPod or iPhone, install the Installer.app and also patch the TIFF exploit, so you get the same security as in 1.1.2.
After the installation completed I set about looking for the iPhone apps. I installed the BSD Subsystem and Community Sources from Installer.app and then added http://repo.us.to to the sources manually. This then allowed me to install the iPhone apps from the list of packages.
There are also literally hundreds of community developed apps including games, chat apps, and the AnySim unlock app for the iPhone to allow it to be used on any network. That’s it, happy hacking! (Please Note: Hacking of devices is at your own risk. The above tutorial is simply for educational purposes only).
Link
Yes, it gave me the much desired calendar “Add” button and yes, it gave me the useless battery indicator in iTunes, but I already had the Calendar button and had no need for the battery indicator, so I set on my mission to downgrade back to 1.1.1.
I read on some sites that the process was hard to do, with having to download an extra application or input a secret button sequence into the iPod. However this was not the case. After getting my copy of 1.1.1 from Apple’s site, all that was left was to Option + Click on the update button in iTunes, and navigate to the downloaded zip file. This process leaves all personal data and music on the iPhone or iPod Touch, but allows you to downgrade easily and safely.
After the downgrade was complete (which is exactly the same process as an upgrade) I set about re-hacking my shiny little Touch. The hacking process on the older firmware is ridiculously easy. Simply point Safari to jailbreakme.com and click install. This will JailBreak your iPod or iPhone, install the Installer.app and also patch the TIFF exploit, so you get the same security as in 1.1.2.
After the installation completed I set about looking for the iPhone apps. I installed the BSD Subsystem and Community Sources from Installer.app and then added http://repo.us.to to the sources manually. This then allowed me to install the iPhone apps from the list of packages.
There are also literally hundreds of community developed apps including games, chat apps, and the AnySim unlock app for the iPhone to allow it to be used on any network. That’s it, happy hacking! (Please Note: Hacking of devices is at your own risk. The above tutorial is simply for educational purposes only).
Link
I'm Mr iPhone
A few years ago he was scratching a living designing toilets.
Now he's the brains behind the iPhone - the hottest gadget on the market today and the must have gift this Christmas.
Meet Jonathan Ive, the creative genius from Chingford, Essex, behind Apple's revolutionary new mobile phone which has already sold in its hundreds of thousands and has seen fans queuing for hours to get hold of one.
Nicknamed the Armani of Apple, ultra-secretive Jonathan, 40, is now paid over £3million a year as the computer giant's vice-president of industrial design.
He is the man credited with saving Apple's computer business in 1998 with his first iconic design - the all-in-one TV-shaped iMac.
He also designed the sleek PowerBook laptop - as used by Carrie Bradshaw in Sex And The City - and he's the brains behind the world-conquering iPod.
Jonathan once confessed he was "terrified at being crap". And when complimented about the new iPhone, he said modestly: "It's not too shabby, is it?" He now lives with his writer wife Heather and twin baby boys in a mansion in San Francisco. And although he hangs out with pals including U2 singer Bono, and his last "toy" was a £210,000 Aston Martin, he misses simple pleasures like having a curry in East London's Brick Lane.
He grew up in a semi with his silversmith father Michael and mother Pamela. He says: "As a kid, I took apart whatever I could get my hands on. This developed into an interest in how they were made. By the age of 13 I was pretty certain I wanted to draw and make stuff too."
Jonathan's first job was with London firm Tangerine - as part of a team designing toilets.
He was poached by Apple boss Steve Jobs after the firm was chosen by then-struggling Apple to come up with ideas for the computer market.
Former colleague Peter Phillips recalls: "It was a fantastic break."
Link
Now he's the brains behind the iPhone - the hottest gadget on the market today and the must have gift this Christmas.
Meet Jonathan Ive, the creative genius from Chingford, Essex, behind Apple's revolutionary new mobile phone which has already sold in its hundreds of thousands and has seen fans queuing for hours to get hold of one.
Nicknamed the Armani of Apple, ultra-secretive Jonathan, 40, is now paid over £3million a year as the computer giant's vice-president of industrial design.
He is the man credited with saving Apple's computer business in 1998 with his first iconic design - the all-in-one TV-shaped iMac.
He also designed the sleek PowerBook laptop - as used by Carrie Bradshaw in Sex And The City - and he's the brains behind the world-conquering iPod.
Jonathan once confessed he was "terrified at being crap". And when complimented about the new iPhone, he said modestly: "It's not too shabby, is it?" He now lives with his writer wife Heather and twin baby boys in a mansion in San Francisco. And although he hangs out with pals including U2 singer Bono, and his last "toy" was a £210,000 Aston Martin, he misses simple pleasures like having a curry in East London's Brick Lane.
He grew up in a semi with his silversmith father Michael and mother Pamela. He says: "As a kid, I took apart whatever I could get my hands on. This developed into an interest in how they were made. By the age of 13 I was pretty certain I wanted to draw and make stuff too."
Jonathan's first job was with London firm Tangerine - as part of a team designing toilets.
He was poached by Apple boss Steve Jobs after the firm was chosen by then-struggling Apple to come up with ideas for the computer market.
Former colleague Peter Phillips recalls: "It was a fantastic break."
Link
Survey Says iPhone Too Expensive For UK
The iPhone is a design and marketing phenomenon and rarely have we see a device polarise opinions as thoroughly as Apple's so-called 'Jesus Phone'. But are the nays outweighing the yays...?
According to UK analyst group GfK NOP that certainly seems the case. It polled 500 Brits and discovered that 46 per cent of respondents have simply dismissed the handset based on price, while a further 26 per cent admitted an interest but only if ownership costs reduced significantly. Even more bleak for Cupertino were figures which reveal just two per cent are considering buying the iPhone this Christmas. An additional eight per cent even confessed to a vitriolic hatred.
"This is a highly competitive market and the mobile phone manufacturers have very strong brand loyalty," said GfK NOP spokesman Richard Jameson. "Apple needs more than cutting-edge design to penetrate this market and will have to work much harder in the UK than it did in the US."
On the upside 78 per cent of respondents said for them the iPhone defines the ultimate music phone, while - despite its lack of 3G - 65 per cent believe it to be the primary device for email and web browsing.
So what is to be made of all this? For a start I'd have to say it seems to fit in perfectly with our office microclimate. Three of us own iPhones (Riyad, myself and Tim - editor at our former sister title Bit-tech) and we were the three most sceptical and dismissive of the handset initially. By sharp contrast, Benny - our resident Apple fanboy - initially lusted after the device (even defending his desires against our ridicule) but, ironically, has now decided to sit it out and wait for v2.0. Then take former staffer and regular freelancer Jalal, I wouldn't dare leave my handset beside him for fear of him stamping on it.
The most obvious problem for Apple is the change of culture. In Europe we are not used to paying for our phones - even at the high end - and we certainly don't expect to be tied to one specific network (handsets may have short term exclusives but even they tend to expire after a few months).
The second, perhaps less discussed but equally important, issue is that of marketing. Apple usually gets it spot on, but despite its stylish UK campaign I have to say I think it has dropped the ball this time. Why? Because why would someone be willing to pay the same £269 asking price for an iPod touch - essentially a stripped out iPhone - while complaining that the more complete device is a rip-off? Sure, there is an 18 month contract with the iPhone, but don't a lot of us have monthly contracts already? O2 is even letting customers break theirs to switch. Furthermore, isn't £45pm for 600 minutes, 500 texts, unlimited data surfing and free WiFi hotspot access actually a pretty good deal?
You see Apple is selling the touch as an iPhone without all the baggage, when it should be selling the iPhone as the fully featured version of the touch that removes your need to purchase additional devices. After all, iPhone owners can sell both their current mobile phone and their MP3 player. Take this approach and it is like getting a free iPod touch but one that has more features and means you have one less device to carry around. What's not to like?
Still, the problem in all this is I'm on the side of the iPhone because it is such a wonderful expression of design technology. Against this are others looking at spec lists and - at least in my opinion - misconstrued financial barriers.
So perhaps the only consensus we can reach is this: the iPhone is going to force every other mobile phone manufacturer to up their game and for that alone we should be thankful...
Link
According to UK analyst group GfK NOP that certainly seems the case. It polled 500 Brits and discovered that 46 per cent of respondents have simply dismissed the handset based on price, while a further 26 per cent admitted an interest but only if ownership costs reduced significantly. Even more bleak for Cupertino were figures which reveal just two per cent are considering buying the iPhone this Christmas. An additional eight per cent even confessed to a vitriolic hatred.
"This is a highly competitive market and the mobile phone manufacturers have very strong brand loyalty," said GfK NOP spokesman Richard Jameson. "Apple needs more than cutting-edge design to penetrate this market and will have to work much harder in the UK than it did in the US."
On the upside 78 per cent of respondents said for them the iPhone defines the ultimate music phone, while - despite its lack of 3G - 65 per cent believe it to be the primary device for email and web browsing.
So what is to be made of all this? For a start I'd have to say it seems to fit in perfectly with our office microclimate. Three of us own iPhones (Riyad, myself and Tim - editor at our former sister title Bit-tech) and we were the three most sceptical and dismissive of the handset initially. By sharp contrast, Benny - our resident Apple fanboy - initially lusted after the device (even defending his desires against our ridicule) but, ironically, has now decided to sit it out and wait for v2.0. Then take former staffer and regular freelancer Jalal, I wouldn't dare leave my handset beside him for fear of him stamping on it.
The most obvious problem for Apple is the change of culture. In Europe we are not used to paying for our phones - even at the high end - and we certainly don't expect to be tied to one specific network (handsets may have short term exclusives but even they tend to expire after a few months).
The second, perhaps less discussed but equally important, issue is that of marketing. Apple usually gets it spot on, but despite its stylish UK campaign I have to say I think it has dropped the ball this time. Why? Because why would someone be willing to pay the same £269 asking price for an iPod touch - essentially a stripped out iPhone - while complaining that the more complete device is a rip-off? Sure, there is an 18 month contract with the iPhone, but don't a lot of us have monthly contracts already? O2 is even letting customers break theirs to switch. Furthermore, isn't £45pm for 600 minutes, 500 texts, unlimited data surfing and free WiFi hotspot access actually a pretty good deal?
You see Apple is selling the touch as an iPhone without all the baggage, when it should be selling the iPhone as the fully featured version of the touch that removes your need to purchase additional devices. After all, iPhone owners can sell both their current mobile phone and their MP3 player. Take this approach and it is like getting a free iPod touch but one that has more features and means you have one less device to carry around. What's not to like?
Still, the problem in all this is I'm on the side of the iPhone because it is such a wonderful expression of design technology. Against this are others looking at spec lists and - at least in my opinion - misconstrued financial barriers.
So perhaps the only consensus we can reach is this: the iPhone is going to force every other mobile phone manufacturer to up their game and for that alone we should be thankful...
Link
May the iPhone be with you
I feel like I’ve joined some kind of cult. Buying a Mac is cultish enough, but getting an iPhone is like being inducted into the Jedi elite. Short of Yoda handing me the MacSabre from a pillow held by Obi Wan Jobs and giving me a set of flowing beige robes, this is as close as it gets.
Getting the US-bought iPhone to work on our cellular network (or any, other than AT&T’s, with which Apple is partnered) is a mission that only the most committed MacJedi would undertake.
Thankfully, I was a padawan learner to arguably the greatest Mac fan in the country, Brett Haggard, a larger-than-life tech journo who lives and breathes Apple. To unlock the phone took two hours of digging around in the innards of the iPhone’s operating system using a quirkily named application, Independence, which has a process called Jailbreak that displays a picture of Alcatraz as it sets the phone free.
There is no denying that it is a superb iPod and the kind of stand- out device that draws its own crowd — not dissimilar to my first all- white iPod five years ago. People stopped me, not quite in the streets, but everywhere they could, to ask for a glimpse of it.
It is a thing of wonder. The touchscreen makes using it so easy, the home key that takes you back to the default screen is inspired simplicity, the superb display shows off video brilliantly. The flip-sideways display when you rotate the screen for songs or video is great, as is scrolling through albums using their actual covers in Cover Flow.
There are many things it does well, and, sadly, many it does badly. The way it does some things is truly horrible. In this way, it is not dissimilar to the many other phones I review.
Its biggest failing is not Apple’s fault: it struggles to latch onto the Vodacom network, though I am told it works fine on MTN. Though it cleverly displays SMSs as a chat sequence, they aren’t editable (so you can’t save an address) nor can you forward them. Texting, using Apple’s virtual keypad, is the biggest challenge, and though it cleverly adjusts for typos it’s irksome and slow.
But, I keep asking myself, am I missing something?
Does the iPhone represent some new form of interface that I’m resisting? How did the first people to use the graphical user interface that Apple pioneered (we now know it as the icon-based Windows interface) feel?
How did the first people who used SMS feel?
The thing about the ease of using this touchscreen interface is that it’s still version 1.0. Compare that with other Apple 1.0 devices: the Macintosh, the iMac, the iBook, the iPod. Sure, there are just as many bad examples of such 1.0s gone wrong (Lisa, the Cube, Newton).
For surfing or reading e-mail the interface is superb.
This is going to sound really geeky, but I use the iPhone as much as an eBook as a phone. Often I don’t get enough time to read all the articles I need to at the office. So, having set up a mailbox on my domain, I send myself stories that I later read on my phone. I have been using a progression of smartphones and BlackBerries, and Palms before that, as e-readers. I know, it’s sad. Now I read the things I otherwise wouldn’t have time for. It started as a way to read in bed without a beside light and has evolved from there.
And it leaves fewer piles of newspapers lying around my already newspaper-cluttered house.
It just so damn easy to read an e-mail by flicking it up – that is, flicking your finger, quite naturally, as you might turn a page. The text and images are crisper and scrolling is smoother on a screen designed to show off video.
I feel like I am betraying the iPhone’s soul by using it for such a simple task; by keeping it stuck in the text-based black and white world of, well, text. It’s designed for the new world of video, with its built-in YouTube viewer and predisposition to dazzle you as a hand held video player through its iPod software.
Don’t tell the MacJedi Council.
Link
Getting the US-bought iPhone to work on our cellular network (or any, other than AT&T’s, with which Apple is partnered) is a mission that only the most committed MacJedi would undertake.
Thankfully, I was a padawan learner to arguably the greatest Mac fan in the country, Brett Haggard, a larger-than-life tech journo who lives and breathes Apple. To unlock the phone took two hours of digging around in the innards of the iPhone’s operating system using a quirkily named application, Independence, which has a process called Jailbreak that displays a picture of Alcatraz as it sets the phone free.
There is no denying that it is a superb iPod and the kind of stand- out device that draws its own crowd — not dissimilar to my first all- white iPod five years ago. People stopped me, not quite in the streets, but everywhere they could, to ask for a glimpse of it.
It is a thing of wonder. The touchscreen makes using it so easy, the home key that takes you back to the default screen is inspired simplicity, the superb display shows off video brilliantly. The flip-sideways display when you rotate the screen for songs or video is great, as is scrolling through albums using their actual covers in Cover Flow.
There are many things it does well, and, sadly, many it does badly. The way it does some things is truly horrible. In this way, it is not dissimilar to the many other phones I review.
Its biggest failing is not Apple’s fault: it struggles to latch onto the Vodacom network, though I am told it works fine on MTN. Though it cleverly displays SMSs as a chat sequence, they aren’t editable (so you can’t save an address) nor can you forward them. Texting, using Apple’s virtual keypad, is the biggest challenge, and though it cleverly adjusts for typos it’s irksome and slow.
But, I keep asking myself, am I missing something?
Does the iPhone represent some new form of interface that I’m resisting? How did the first people to use the graphical user interface that Apple pioneered (we now know it as the icon-based Windows interface) feel?
How did the first people who used SMS feel?
The thing about the ease of using this touchscreen interface is that it’s still version 1.0. Compare that with other Apple 1.0 devices: the Macintosh, the iMac, the iBook, the iPod. Sure, there are just as many bad examples of such 1.0s gone wrong (Lisa, the Cube, Newton).
For surfing or reading e-mail the interface is superb.
This is going to sound really geeky, but I use the iPhone as much as an eBook as a phone. Often I don’t get enough time to read all the articles I need to at the office. So, having set up a mailbox on my domain, I send myself stories that I later read on my phone. I have been using a progression of smartphones and BlackBerries, and Palms before that, as e-readers. I know, it’s sad. Now I read the things I otherwise wouldn’t have time for. It started as a way to read in bed without a beside light and has evolved from there.
And it leaves fewer piles of newspapers lying around my already newspaper-cluttered house.
It just so damn easy to read an e-mail by flicking it up – that is, flicking your finger, quite naturally, as you might turn a page. The text and images are crisper and scrolling is smoother on a screen designed to show off video.
I feel like I am betraying the iPhone’s soul by using it for such a simple task; by keeping it stuck in the text-based black and white world of, well, text. It’s designed for the new world of video, with its built-in YouTube viewer and predisposition to dazzle you as a hand held video player through its iPod software.
Don’t tell the MacJedi Council.
Link
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