All Things iPhone 380
With the iPhone release coming soon there is no shortage of stories being submitted. Here is an overview of all of its features and specifics on its technical workings. A list of applications is out and still growing. There are warnings however that some applications and peripherals won't be ready or compatible in time for the release. Finally with all the hype associated with the iPhone, we have a reminder of some previous Apple products that ended with a whimper instead of a roar.
I'm buying.. Friday. (Score:5, Informative)
I'm going to send one of our employees to get in line (for myself and three others) around noon, heh. Sure, I wish it had GPS and 3G, but since I'm coming from a BB8700, which doesn't have GPS (nor 3G), nor did my Treo before that, I'll live. And so far I'm encouraged by the reviews from Pogue and Mossberg (etc) discussed here [slashdot.org] yesterday. I've been closely watching engadget (etc), and believe the reviews to confirm that many of those sites (such as engadget) spreading negative rumors like "two thumb touchscreen typing was impossible to do, and our anonymous source gave up after a day or two" are really just sensational speculation for driving viewers to the site. It seems the screen takes some getting used to, but not nearly on the level that some "anonymous sources" have characterized. I'm also a bit disappointed in the family pricing.. it's not considerably cheaper for my own phone + my partner's on the same plan, versus individual plans. If they had made corporate/family pricing a little more attractive, I'd be inclined to buy some for our employees. The paltry 200 txt msgs standard to each plan is also annoying (so now I'll have to drop $10 or $20 per phone for extra). But even still, I'm firmly in the demographic that is willing to pay extra for the phone, the service, just for the UI (and non-crashyness) that Apple will bring to the table. This will hopefully have a very nice positive net effect-- I suspect most iPhone users will be very happy, and all other companies will now be pushed to improve their products or lose customers.
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There's a one-per-person limit for purchasing the iPhone on Friday. Unless you mean that you're going to show up later with three other people and cut in line, in which case can you video tape it so I can laugh at you getting punched in the face?
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Punched? I don't think so. More like some slapping and maybe even some hair pulling...
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Re:I'm buying.. Friday. (Score:5, Funny)
... I am in Australia. Hello from the future. Tomorrow is Friday but the iPhone wont be out until the end of next year in the land of the antipodeans.
Erm, I think I'm supposed to put a "you insensitive clod" in there someplace...
Don't believe the hype (Score:2, Interesting)
How can you know that the iPhone is wort
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Re:Don't believe the hype (Score:5, Insightful)
"except for the select few reviewers that have actually used an iPhone can know that the UI is better"
Anyone who had watched the apple tour video [apple.com] can tell you the UI is lightyears ahead of Blackberry, Treo, etc. Even the commercials make this apparent. And as I said, I'm willing to put some faith in certain reviewers (Pogue, etc), and they have all said positive things about the majority of the phone's features.
"How anyone could be sure that the iPhone doesn't crash as "often" as existing smart phones on the market is beyond me"
My Treo would endure around 3-5 crashes PER DAY. My blackberry doesn't crash, but has gotten considerable slower over time, and freezes occasionally (and this always seems to be at the exact wrong moment). I am not someone who grants corporations a lot of faith, but Apple is one of the few who has earned my faith. They're products aren't know for being cheap, but their UI and industrial design are both industry leading, and stability is an important factor to them. This is evidenced in the lack of third party apps-- that's what causes many other phones crash 10 times a day (instead of the normal once or twice if you're only using the native apps). Apple has earned enough credit with me that I'm willing to stake $500 on their product being solid. Apple doesn't have the best reputation for 1st gen devices, but I've had no issues with my Macbook Pro, so I'm willing to take that "gamble" again.. some aren't. Incidentally, the only other company that I can think of that I've decided to buy a product without even seeing it in person, was my Lotus, and that was for the same reasons. And I was very happy I made the purchase.
"How can you know that the iPhone is worth the money or even decent?"
I can't "KNOW" anything about the iPhone, really. What I do "KNOW" is that apple has, in the past, built many products I am very happy with, and has earned a reputation for quality. So yes, it's a gamble, but I believe the odds are handicapped in my favor. Incidentally, if you're tempted to call me an Apple zealot.. I'm making this post from an Opteron box running XP64 Corp. I tend to believe in the right tool for the right job-- in this case, I don't feel like the blackberry is the right tool for me, and even if the iPhone isn't [exactly] either, it's as close as anything will be for a while.
Re:Don't believe the hype (Score:4, Insightful)
That is called "advertising." [wikipedia.org] Anyone who have watched the trailers for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End can tell you that that is an awesome movie. Suckers queued in line for that product too.
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Oh, come on! Go back and read and re-read that sentence and ask yourself how ridiculous it sounds.
These are the same commercials that show someone clicking a button, and getting directions to a seafood restaurant nearby. Except we know that the phone doesn't have GPS. How does it know this? Oh, yes, you need to show Google Maps where you are. That bit was c
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Irony called. He wants to see you in his office IMMEDIATELY.
Re:Don't believe the hype (Score:4, Insightful)
Monday: "I wonder what restaurants can be found around my work place, where I go every day..."
Tuesday: "I wonder what restaurants can be found around my work place, where I go every day..."
It sounds rather kludgy from my point of view. Revolutionary would be if it already had all the info, gathered based on my location, and I just hit a button: "food" and it gives a couple of arrows I can follow to get to different kinds of food, based on my preferences. Or "Kill time: 30 min", and it gives a few small galleries, cafés, and nice parks (depending on weather). That's a feature worth talking about.
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In other words, you said very succinctly what I have been trying to express to my friends and family. For some people, this (the iPhone) is a fairly-to-very attractive gadget. We will get one the 29th or soon after.
My situation is:
Contract with AllTel expires in early July. The phone is a basic Motorola with a tiny screen.
I have a 1GB iPod Shuffle, which has no screen, of course.
I have an excellent, older 4MP Canon SureShot. Takes great photos, but is pretty big in comparison to an iPhon
Re:I'm buying.. Friday. (Score:4, Interesting)
As something of an Apple fanboi myself, I'm actually going to wait awhile, maybe a really long while, for the simple reason that the data rate with EDGE absolutely sucks and Cingular's signal coverage is pitiful. I love the UI, I've been drooling over this thing since I first heard about it, but I'm not about to drop $500 on a phone I can't actually use productively in the real world. It's almost painful to watch this unfold; I so wish Apple had gone with Sprint or Verizon or almost anybody except Cingular (well, okay, T-Mobile would have been worse). And with a 5-year exclusivity no less!?! Egads, wtf is the Jobster smoking?
Re:I'm buying.. Friday. (Score:4, Informative)
Keep in mind that Apple did approach Verizon first; Verizon turned it down.
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I've seen a Verizon executive quoted saying that Apple wanted their share of the monthly revenues which Verizon denied.
So one may speculate whether AT&T/Cingular have been more "co-operative" in their negotiations with Apple or not...
Walter.
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Good luck, "one per person".
You're surprised? They're happy to jack you higher than normal plans for the privilege of getting it in the first place, why would they stop if you're already showing you'll happily take that?
What service? Cingula
You ain't just whistlin' dixie... (Score:5, Insightful)
We know the features, we know the controversy, we know EVERYTHING.
Just let the damn thing come. This is more than gratuitous splurge on a product. It's downright unnecessary.
I'm looking forward to this thing as much as the next guy, but come on, enough with the iPhone articles. It's getting redundant.
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Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted! Reason: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
what was i thinking (Score:2)
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then iphone's new tagline would be "we achieved what SETI@home couldnt"
tagged "beatenhorse" (Score:2)
Just let the damn thing come.
Agreed. If I had thought of it, I would have made an anti-"29th" t-shirt. Something along the lines of "June 29th, I'll be living my life while you stand in line."
I'll be interested in one- in about 6 months when I know what the teething issues are and version 1.1 is quietly slipped into production.
All I want to know about the iPhone.... (Score:4, Funny)
let's find out here [willitblend.com]
I cant WAIT for them to destroy an iPhone.
Re:All I want to know about the iPhone.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, and because mentioning blending iPods in a blender WILL get you -10,000,000 Overrated (to dodge metamoderation!) here on Slashdot, they HAVE also blended Windows CDs. They make a really cool sparkly powder (over-expensive glitter?), though I still think microwaving CDs is way cooler.
Enough is Enough (Score:4, Insightful)
Shlashdot's free pub (Score:2, Insightful)
Someone remembering all the pre-noise about PS3 and the reality after Nintendo kicked it's ass?
products did not end with a whimper (Score:5, Informative)
The Newton is still being used by some, and is more powerful than some PDAs on the market right now.
The original iMac...they sold millions of units and brought Apple back from the dead.
The cube was just overpriced, but it was well designed, and it's a collector's item now.
Re:products did not end with a whimper (Score:5, Interesting)
And now it seems they were possibly right... So even if it was a flop, it's not clear that that wasn't exactly what Apple wanted.
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While the above statement is true, it in no way invalidates the fact that the newton was a flop.
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It's what? More powerful? The thing came out with a 20MHz ARM processor. My four year old PDA has a 200+MHz ARM processor. It came with a 4MB ROM, same PDA I have came with 64MB ROM. It came with 640KB RAM, this one came with 64MB RAM.
Remind me again, "more powerful"?
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Apple people will say anything rather than admit that Apple fucks up on occasion.
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There is a big difference between tech specs and actual power/utility. Sure, it's low-end hardware, but that low-end hardware does handwriting recognition and some natural language parsing -- software features that no PDA since has done anywh
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You've not seen Windows Mobile 6, then. That thing seems to handle around 95%+ of my handwriting with ease, almost as much as the handwriting recognition in XP Tablet. (But I've gotta be crazy to say something like that in a story that already has Apple fanboys practically orgasmic.)
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If my company produced an obvious failure and I was obligated to ship it anyway, I'd probably avoid spending time on it as well. That means nothing.
The Newton was a laughingstock even as it was still being sold.
The Cube had cosmetic issues regarding crazing of it's clear plastic housing. While it's generally excepted that Apple gets a pass for such quality problems, that's certainly evidence that it
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Staples selling a glorified calculator for $9.99 as a "PDA" with 32kb of RAM neither makes it a PDA by any common sense definition, nor I wager would any number of laypeople confuse it with a Palm Pilot, iPaq, etc.
Echo of products past (Score:2, Insightful)
The more hype I see and hear about the iPhone, the more it reminds me of the hype surrounding the Segway.
Re:Echo of products past (Score:4, Insightful)
Except, you know, people actually want the iPhone and cell phones are useful. Who actually wanted a Segway and thought it would be good for more than looking like a sidewalk surfing idiot.
Too bad (Score:5, Funny)
This was pretty poor timing by Apple.
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Five, Four, Three... (Score:2)
Dan East
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Redundancy? (Score:4, Funny)
But will it talk to my car? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:But will it talk to my car? (Score:5, Informative)
(Not bashing the product, I really have high hopes for it.)
What the iPhone Doesn't Have:
- Songs as Ringtones
- Games
- Any flash support
- Instant Messaging
- Picture messages (MMS)
- Video recording
- Voice recognition or voice dialing
- Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Streaming (A2DP)
- One-size-fits-all headset jack (May have to buy an adapter for certain headphones)
Stuff we already knew it didn't have:
- 3G (EV-DO/HSDPA)
- GPS
- A real keyboard
- Removable battery
- Expandable Storage
- Direct iTunes Music Store Access (Over Wi-Fi or EDGE)
Source:
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/apple/what-the-iphone-
Re:But will it talk to my car? (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm sure the battery will be replaceable for anyone with five minutes, just like the iPod is now. It would be strange to expect any differently of a small Apple device. 3G isn't a practical expectation or a useful feature given that this is a GSM device. If you want a 3G phone, wait for a later version, to be launched around the time AT&T has a useful 3G network to take advantage of it.
It is not Jesus. It is not sex. It's just a handheld electronic device. But damn, if people don't try to find any little thing to put on a 'con' list. Some of this stuff just doesn't make sense--what is their reasonable base of comparison? Why not add "it doesn't run Windows" to the list? It's like someone put this whole thing together without even stopping to consider that there might be alternatives to some of these "essential" features.
Re:But will it talk to my car? (Score:5, Insightful)
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sorry? my windows mobile phone has got a standard 3.5mm jack and i use my sennheiser headphones with it.
because it is a "friggin" phone and it should be able to communicate with other phones, not only with computers. gsm phones can do messaging for lot
Re:But will it talk to my car? (Score:5, Insightful)
None of the other phones come with a real keyboard either.
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So it might not make you get ride of your car, but it might make someone else.
Anyway, it is supposed to support bluetooth headsets, or so I heard.
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Why some of us are excited about iPhone (Score:5, Insightful)
The bar is being raised right now for the cellphone industry, and being raised well.
This is the industry that has bent us over for so long, with unusable features, overpriced gadgets that don't deliver on what they promised, and ease of use of a manual lawn-mower.
No, iPhone is not the cure for cancer, but it is making the cell manufacturers and networks change the way they do their business.
After months of being out on the market, the "Chocolate" cellphone will get capability to have songs transfered from the computer. This is not a win for Apple, but a win for the consumer, who without Apple was at the mercy of PHBs and middle management making decisions about how their cellphones should work.
This happened at least one time before... Remember what happened to Exploder once FireFox came out? Oh, well crap, yeah, here's your IE 7 all of a sudden, sorry you had to endure 7 years of exploder 6, no tabs, millions of infections and popups, but we really thought that's what the consumers wanted.
Like I said, the bar is being raised, and it's good to see Nokia, Motorolla and especially the carriers bend over and take it where the sun don't shine from Apple.
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You're right, but you know what, David Pogue, and Walt Mossberg did, and they say it does live up to the hype. And since I very much agree with their assesments in general, I'll believe them on this one as well.
The price is not the problem. I'd rather spend 500 bucks and get a phone that's worth 500 bucks, than spend 250 bucks on a phone that drives me nuts with its user interface.
Everything has its price. The polished turds th
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I don't understand the iphone hype, other than the pretty screen and possibly sexy interface.
I have had my treo 650P for a while, and it does what I need. Phone, PDA, MP3, Internet, Word, Excel, PDF, Camera. And I just found a program that allows for stereo bluetooth. The rocker works for navigation and I can thumb type pretty darn well.
You are excited that phones can sync music? Dump MP3s on a SD card and you are ready to go on a Treo. No DRMd itunes requred, and you can pack a few different SD cards
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and you get the added benefit of being able to take off the battery cover and stick the stylus in the reset slot in the dark by memory because you've become so familiar w
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But you've got to realize that some of us are fucking tired about thinking about SD cards, busses, interconnects, formats, ratios and standards.
I've got a wife and 2 young kids, I don't wanna be dumping MP3s on SD cards. Or heaven forbid try to tell them how to do it. I just want to plug it in and synch it.
Sometimes it's just nice to touch
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What you won't see ANYWHERE on the iPhone is confusing drop-down menus, deeply rooted sub-menus, and the hierarchal, linear constraints
Re:Why some of us are excited about iPhone (Score:5, Insightful)
Every new phone I have gotten has been harder and harder to use. Apple knows how to make a simple user interface. I want that in a phone. And even if I never buy and Apple, because they are in the market others will be forced to think about the user interface. That is a huge win for me.
Re:Why some of us are excited about iPhone (Score:4, Interesting)
You know what happens when a person buys an Apple computer? They start using iPhoto to organize their digital photos. They start using the iMovie and iDVD to make movies. All of a sudden they do all the things they were supposed to be able to do on their PCs. I know this because my sister and about a half a dozen other people who switched are doing it.
So all of a sudden now, they see their computers as appliances that are actually useful and easy to use too.
Same will happen with the iPhone.
I'm sure that my shitty Motorlla has an address book function in it somewhere. And it charges via a USB port. But you know what, I can't for the life of me figure out if I can move my contacts onto it. Hell I don't even know where the address book on it is! But I only have 2 college degrees, so maybe I don't meet Motorolla's requirements for a cellphone license.
iPerbole: (Score:3, Interesting)
What about the jPhone? (Score:3, Funny)
SSH (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:SSH (Score:4, Informative)
Is rtsp the real web? (Score:2)
And my question is, does the iPhone support any audio standards in its browser? Will anybody but youtube be able to make audio applications? It looks suspiciously like the answer may be 'no'
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iPad (Score:2)
the in between? (Score:2)
The new interface (multi-touch) intrigues me. Maybe it works well, maybe it completely sucks. Maybe they just need a bigger screen to make it really work well
Limited SMS vs. "unlimited" network access? (Score:2)
I have been wondering this since the pricing announcement, but I haven't seen it addressed anywhere.
-b
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iPhone Pessimist (Score:2)
I wish I could do this. (Score:4, Funny)
2. Buy iPhone at 6PM.
3. Smash it on the pavement in front of everyone.
4. Post video on website and make a bazillion dollars.
AT&T Math? Misleading advertising? (Score:3, Interesting)
You have the freedom to message any way to any one - text, picture, video and IM - without worrying what each message costs. That means every message counts the same. You can send and receive ANY combination of messages. Want to send all picture messages? No problem. All IMs? Go ahead and chat away - send and receive messages for less than pennies per day!
Added to the fact that the links throughout their rates site keep casually dumping you back to voice-plan information as you navigate between sections and such, they're really pissing me off by making information as hard as possible to find AND read. Anything that doesn't read like it came from a lawyer may as well be an outright lie it's so misleading.
I can't wait to get charged for incoming messages every weekend while roaming in Canada.. at least with WiFi I can finally dodge data-rate raping (otherwise 50kb/$1, perhaps $1-2 per page view these days! YouTube? I'm scared it'll unlock and I'll bump the icon in my pocket..)
When AT&T coughs up their next north america plan, I damned well better be able to switch to it. If I can't, that'd be a deal-breaker.
And yes, I use all the skype like tricks whenever possible... too bad I can't do wifi+skype on the iphone. But it's their misleading advertising I want to bring up rather than starting a skype/whatever thread.
Oh well, hopefully only another few years of this bullshit until we're able to get all this for free wherever an internet connection is available. I suppose we've all been thinking that for a while..
Oh well. I'll give it a shot on friday and if the new shinyness isn't truly worth the massive massive additional cost, I will be returning this phone.
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the iMac craze (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:the iMac craze (Score:5, Insightful)
The ROKR? That's all you got? Come on, any moron can see that that is a Motorola phone with a weak attempt to paint an Apple logo on the side. It probably had more to do with the Apple/Motorola fall out and tying up any loose business ends before they cut ties with each other.
When is the last time you've seen an iMac? That question alone should get the author fired. Well, I'm typing on a 20" Intel iMac as we speak. It is my first iMac, because I never saw the allure of a transparent bowling ball on my desktop, nor a white platic lamp. Also, it is only as of recently that computers have slowed down enough for me to be comfortable with an all-in-one. I'm still cruising with a 1999 G4 and have never upgraded anything (other than a cpu speed bump up to 800 from 350). Why pay for the "upgradability" if my recent past shows I don't upgrade?
The author could have at least said the clam-shell iBooks were a flop, based on the logic of poor sales. Didn't only 13 year old girls buy those things?
I don't recall the Newton being a flop either. I recall lawyers and doctors loving the thing, and Apple not being able to make enough of them. Just because average Joe consumer doesn't buy something (too expensive for them) doesn't make it a flop. There are some circles (albeit small) that still laud the capabilities of that thing. A better FLOP example would be those eBook school computer thingies they were trying to push on everyone (foget what they are called, you know..the ones with the mono green screens in an era of cheap and easy 32-bit color?)
The Cube can be classified as a flop, only because it was poorly designed and overheated. Sales figures were based more in its propensity to incinerate its self moreso than the high price tag. The high price tag is bunk because people where buying $3000 Powerbooks left and right (myself included).
Eworld was bundled with Performas. No surpise that it faded out, because dial-up one-stop Internet points like AOL and Prodigy were also dying out at the same time. Apple didn't see the point in continuing an outdated Internet access model.
Here's an Apple flop for you..their QuickTake digital cameras. Those things were expensive and not suitable for the target market of creative professionals.
Re:Will it (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Will it (Score:4, Insightful)
As an Apple fan, even I am finding the level of coverage of this thing to be ridiculous. There are no less than 5 headlines about the iPhone on that page alone. The #*$(# thing isn't even out yet! For this much hype, you'd think it came with 3 5-star hookers and a brick of cocaine straight from colombia.
Re:Will it (Score:5, Funny)
And even if it did, there would be anti-fanbois that complain that it lacked the necessary rolled c-note to snort the coke and that the Treo 576Whatever843 comes with 5 hookers and certificates guaranteeing them to be disease-free. And the Crackberry has crack instead, and a server that sends you more over a proprietary protocol without the need to go to a dealer to get refills.
I do agree that the post rate for iPhone stories is getting absurd, though. Only 2 more days and the wait will be over... the wait for everyone to stop posting their random idiotic speculation about how good/bad/shiny it's going to be!
Can I get an "Amen"?
Re:Will it (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Will it (Score:5, Funny)
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Wife (Graham Chapman in drag): All right.
Man (to Waitress): Morning!
Waitress (Terry Jones, in drag as a bit of a rat-bag): Morning!
Man: Well, what've you got?
Waitress: Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and iPhone; egg bacon and iPhone; egg bacon sausage and iPhone; iPhone bacon sausage and iPhone; iPhone egg iPhone iPhone bacon and iPhone; iPhone sausage iPhone iPhone bacon iPhone tomato and iPhone;
Vikings (starting to chant): iPhone iPhone iPhone iP
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The iPhone touch screen uses capacitance rather than resistance. It's the same technique that Apple uses on it's laptop touch pads, which can sense whether you've got one or two fingers on them.
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goatse much?
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As far as insurance, it could be insured by something like safeware.com I think.
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As far as higher phone plan rates; what do you mean? The rate plans are basically the same as other phone rate plans - the only thing that makes it somewhat higher I guess is th
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Wow, even Microsoft wont dare pull that stunt.
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That mysterious "activation fee" has been kicking around first cell phone bills for at least 14 years now.
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Re:All this news, but... (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.apple.com/iphone/easysetup/rateplans.h
What a waste of mod points!
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Clearly you weren't reading Slashdot yesterday!
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06
Service prices have been announced (Score:2)
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