What's so special about the iPhone?

[waytaminit]

Hi,

Thank you for all the replies to this thread.
http://forums.mobileburn.com/showthread.php?t=22195

Update:

My uncle was about to buy his N95 last week when he got a call from his AT&T guy. They talked for a while then after that he's now having second thoughts about the N95.

So Im asking this question - what is so special about the iPhone?

What makes people camp out outside of the Apple/AT&T store just so they can buy one?

How come there is so much hype about the iPhone and not that much about the N95, Blackberry, Moto-Q, Treo and other smatrphones?

[Jose_R.A.M]

For me, half of what's special is that it's new.

Apple's never made a phone before so it's a new step for them. Will it work? Will it fail? How good will everything Jobs has touted be recognised by its owners?

The N95 and other smartphones - they've gotten hype on their substance alone. They have an established platform usergroups; we've seen their predecessors(from personal use or reading reviews) and know fairly well how they should be.

Very very few of the public has ever seen it live let alone use an iPhone. It's all very much a mystery. Plus, Jobs has a habit of making anything look good...some illusionary effect that some old technology is somehow new in his apple device.

Now, it's like Paris Hilton in that it's famous for being famous, I.E. it's got a self circulating hype. "Ooh, the iPhone? I don't know what it is, but I hear it's amazing!"

For my iPodian friends, they love the iPhone because it's the next iPod. Brand it iPod/Apple and they'll want it. They don't care that they won't have buttons to text with. Ah, they'll learn. Especially the girls with the long nails...

[oneclick]

The only thing, for me, that makes it stand out - is that mutlitouch screen. The other features - the other phones have them better.

[TheZodiac]

Basically, if you have seen all the commercials, and the keynote by Steve jobs - you pretty much already KNOW how to use it.

It's as simple as that. Even for the non-techy. They build by what they know.

[carcomptoy]

I think it's all simply because it's made by Apple. Seriously...I have absolutely no doubt that if Steve Jobs were to make his own religion, aptly named iChurch, he'd have thousands or even millions of martyrs lined up on the spot.

[problematic]

That's right. "Because it's made by Apple".

[difenbaker]

mmmm... the fact that its made by Apple definitely makes it "cool" already. Their almost cult-like following in the US gives them all the advantage in terms of popularity and advertising. Heck if Apple made an iDVD player - it would probably sell like crazy.

There's so much buzz about the phone, about people wanting it, that most would probably buy one - even if theyre not really sure why they want one. Just wait till celebrities like paris hilton and lindsay lohan parade around with one - and people might see it as "the phone to end all phones"

But I'd agree, the thing that makes it special, is its simplicity. Symbian is pretty much user-friendly as it is now... but the iPhone's OS is virtually 'idiot-proof'. An 8yr old can probably use one, and would know more about it in just a few minutes, than a middle aged yuppie in a days time. :D

cheers!

[waytaminit]

Update on this thread.

After testing his friends iPhone, my uncle bought his N95 instead.

He didnt buy the iPhone because of several reasons:

- He didnt like the sound. It sounds great on headphones but on the outside it only has one speaker which sounded like its mono.
- There's no file system. He likes being able to use a file explorer app which shows the files, photos, and folders. There none of that in the iPhone.
- Just to attach a photo to one email - takes a long time and a lot of presses.
- It's locked to one sim card. This means that he would have to get another sim even if he's already on AT&T.

- The roaming charges of AT&T are very expensive. No sense having a quadband device which will work around the world, if it's locked only to one network.
- The camera is underfeatured. No video, no zoom, no exposure control, no autofocus, no flash, no shooting modes, and worse of all - no MMS.
- There's no voice recording of voice dialling.
- The screen is too dark to be seen when your outside in daylight.
- The bluetooth is extremely disabled - almost useless, if not for the headset.
- The call, text, alarm ringtones cannot be changed with an mp3.
- There's no indication that the caps lock is on or off.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

[Jose_R.A.M]

Update on this thread.

After testing his friends iPhone, my uncle bought his N95 instead.

He didnt buy the iPhone because of several reasons:

Thanks for updating! He made the right decision in picking the phone that suits him best.

- He didnt like the sound. It sounds great on headphones but on the outside it only has one speaker which sounded like its mono.

First ever iPod though with it's own speakers :p BTW, how was the sound through the headphones? Was 'great' the iPod standard of 'great'?

- There's no file system. He likes being able to use a file explorer app which shows the files, photos, and folders. There none of that in the iPhone.

Hmm...didn't know that. Maybe a future app will address that?

- Even if you put a very very very thin screen protector sticker on the screen - it renders the touchscreen useless.

PC World's stress tests suggests that you don't need to put a screen protector for the iPhone as the glass is very durable.

http://www.pcworld.com/video/id,545-page,1-bid,0/video.html

Not sure how it would really equate to real life situations, but I guess anything that would scratch the iPhone screen would easily wreck the screen protector.

- The camera is underfeatured. No video, no zoom, no exposure control, no autofocus, no flash, no shooting modes, and worse of all - no MMS.

I guess it's just there to say it's got a camera.

The audience Apple's trying to get at wouldn't want autofocus/extra pixels/quality pics otherwise they wouldn't have bought iPods.


- The bluetooth is extremely disabled - almost useless, if not for the headset.

That's simply inexcusable. They could have atleast somehow worked a way around using a BT gps receiver with google maps to have real GPS.

- You cannot assign even one mp3 to be its ringing tone. You also cannot change the text message alert tone and email alert tone. You cannot set an mp3 to be it's alarm tone too.

You can't change the sms/email alert tones?


Thanks for the replies everyone. The iPhone, my uncle says, is really not that 'advanced' as steve jobs say it is.

Bar the multitouch, it's not advanced. But Steve jobs is unparalleled in MARKETING. His ads and subsequent word of mouth will get people into the iHype so much, that they don't care if it isn't the most advanced...they just have to have it.

Interviews of people wanting/waiting for the iPhone believed it was the most feature packed phone on the market. Why? Because they remember Jobs going on about how it's three devices in one: A cell phone, an iPod and full internet. Most don't know what's out there, only what they're told, and with iPhone - you must have been in a cave if you haven't heard about it.

From personal experience, mates who ask me about what phone to get have no idea of what else is out there, only models that have been popularly discussed. e.g. RAZR:rolleyes:

For all the things missing in the iPhone, I was going to say perhaps they would put those in the next one. After all, it's going to make it easier to top it and say "look, now it's got a 5mp camera" instead of going "we've got the same 5mp camera". However, there's still no voice recording or FM radio that's been missing from all ther iPods.

[waytaminit]

And when you send an email - there's a signature that's included with your email, it says; "this was sent from my iPhone". It's funny at first - then after a few times, it gets a little lame. It's like you're boasting to whoever you're sending an email to, that you got an iPhone. It's not humble at all.

(It's a good thing the signature can be turned off). :)

One of the things that really bothered him was the screen - when in daylight. He couldn't see it. Is that CSTN? I know his eyes are not as good as it used to be (because he's 40+) - but the only time he sees the screen is its indoors or when its shaded. I think that the touchscreen is tinted???

[gansan]

And when you send an email - there's a signature that's included with your email, it says; "this was sent from my iPhone". It's funny at first - then after a few times, it gets a little lame. It's like you're boasting to whoever you're sending an email to, that you got an iPhone. It's not humble at all.

(It's a good thing the signature can be turned off). :)


Isn't that signature basically just like the default Blackberry one? As in: "Sent via Blackberry from Cingular Wireless" or "Sent from my Blackberry Wireless Handheld". I've gotten lots of emails that say that at the end. It seems petty to single Apple out for doing it too.

At any rate, you're actually supposed to edit it to say what you want to say.

[waytaminit]

Isn't that signature basically just like the default Blackberry one? As in: "Sent via Blackberry from Cingular Wireless" or "Sent from my Blackberry Wireless Handheld". I've gotten lots of emails that say that at the end. It seems petty to single Apple out for doing it too.

At any rate, you're actually supposed to edit it to say what you want to say.

He didnt have a blackberry. At any rate, instead of editing it, he just turns it off. :)