So apparently last night Kevin Rose, of Digg and Diggnation fame, apparently confirmed information he knew about the iPhone on his eponymous vidcast. According to Kevin, who, to his credit, accurately predicted one of Apple's most secretive and hyped launches of 2005, the
iPod nano, the
iPhone will feature the following:
- January launch on "all" providers, both CDMA and GSM
- Extremely small form factor
- Two battery design (with single charger) -- one for playing music, the other for phone functions
- Flash memory: 4GB for $249, 8GB for $449
- "Slide-out keyboard"
- Possibly touchscreen
There's obviously a lot there to process -- some new rumor, some old rumor, and some which does and does not jibe with what we've heard. According to a trusted source of Engadget's, whose iPhone information has gone heretofore unpublished, it's pretty safe to say it won't have a QWERTY keyboard (although it may be a slider), touchscreen is out, and it's only going to be GSM with 3G at launch, going with a singular carrier in the US (guess which). So that covers basically all of the rumors we've already heard anyway. We can confirm we've also heard about this dual battery design which powers the flash music player and phone portions separately, but that's about all we've got that crosses over with Rose's information. Either way, we don't want to bark up the wrong tree with this one because insider and rumored information is so often totally inaccurate, even if only because radical design changes are known to be made, especially by Steve "loose cannon" Jobs. Guess we'll have to settle in for our usual wait until January.
[Thanks to Andrew and everyone who sent this in]
posted December 3rd 2006 2:12PM
Liquids- I didn't intend to undermine your intelligence.
I'm saying, this consolidation is great for the future, but right now.. I'm just skeptical.
And some things aren't meant to be put together in my opinion. That's all I'm saying. Please, refrain from intentionally taking it the wrong way.
Chris
wow i bet my IPAQ 6515 will pwn it with 8 gigs of memory!!! battery lasts 14hrs when using my bluetooth headphones, video lasts about 3hrs, with the extended battery it lasts 24hrs music , 7hrs video (full brightness)... oh one more thing did i mention it has A GPS, Phone, Live TV, Camera... i got this last year... lol apple is a little late on this.
Personally, I love the idea of Motorola's "Dumb" Phone.
http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/28/low-cost-motofone-hits-india/
Simple, no frills phone; and yet still looks good. I don't need a camera on my phone, that's what my D50 is for. I don't need iTunes on my phone, that's what my PC and iPod are for.
I've had a RAZR V3c (Verizon) for almost a year now, and know what? I've found that I rarely use any of that junk. It's not that I don't know how; I've tried eveything out and have even dabbled in hacking it. It's just that practically, I don't need any of those fancy things. Device consolidating is cool, but I'd rather pay $50-$100 for a "dumb" phone than $200-$300+ for something with stuff I don't need.
Amen! The only reason I'm looking forward to the iPhone is for ease of use...not music, not photos, not anything! Just a phone that will be flexible enough to interface w/my macbook and program features I want. (God, I miss my Startac :-))
lol robert your ipaq 6515 has a pretty bad form factor tho and its running an outdated os and if you flashed it with the new wm5, then its deff bugging out because that things not fast enough to run wm5 smoothly unless you overclock it which would totally kill the battery...
well, i work for radioshack and we carry cingular... and judging by the precedent that any contract cingular phone can be bought outright and then one can just put their pre-paid SIM card in it... i'd be shocked if this wasnt compatible w/ pre-paid... you gotta remember that with GSM it doesnt matter what phone the SIM card is in... that will automatically make that physical "phone" the account "phone"
If this is it, no smartphone with QWERTY + then my e61 will be upgraded with the e61i when released unless Jobs exceeds it!
I guess I just don't get it. Just because you can combine these things doesn't mean you should. I mean, my debit card doesn't also function as the key to my house. I always thought cell phones that played MP3s were really just a novelty. If you're serious about having an MP3 player you'd probably get a device that's sole function is an MP3 player. And besides, if you drop one of these phones, you've broken your MP3 player and your cell phone as opposed to just one. Plus the price is ridiculous, you can get an 8GB Nano for about $240, and if you look around a little you frequently see ads for free cell phones if you sign up for a plan. Is everyone losing their minds over this just because it's from Apple? I mean, there are how many other devices with exactly the same functions that no one really pays attention to?
Production ramp up for the ICs hasn't even started. I wonder how are they going to be ready by January.
There is no way this phone is going to be available at cingular stores. Its going to be an Apple selling phone. Apple will sell and promote it. Only , Hopefully.
Robert: IPAQ 6515 etc
Dude, "joe consumer" will lap up this new iphone product.. look at the ipod range, its not the best in features, but people love it. They marketing and hype etc. Pocket PCs have been around for years, offering video playback, GPS, MP3 etc etc.. but people still go out and buy the crap onthe shelves. You gotta sell to the common deliminator.... IF Microsoft made a PPC with a simple interface, flashy design lines and had a great marketing campain we'll be carrying our PocketPC driven PMPs.
"if this is the same source then it is reliable"
If this is the same source, then he is fired. Believe me, Steve Jobs will react. This is possibly the biggest leak since Jobs comeback and the control freak in him will want to punch somebody.
We have yet to see how mainstream media spins this, but it is reasonable to assume that Kevin Rose is accurate and Jobs of course knows and will react based on this.
Another voice in the why-bother camp. I used to buy phones for features, until I realized that phone cams are all lousy, and I never used anything else. So my last two phones have been the free ones I got for renewing my plan.
Oh, and I had to get a new phone because my old ones died. Dead. Of course, I still have my first-gen 5GB iPod around, and it still works fine. I think I've killed five phones since then.
Sure, combining products saves some space in my pockets... but that's why I carry a backpack.
Here's the reason to get the iPhone despite it's similar features to other phones: IT'S APPLE.
There's a reason Apple has dominated the mp3 player market--because their hardware is the best. The same will (hopefully) be said about the iPhone.
That said, these rumors are absurd. Slide out keyboard but it's not a QWERTY? Then don't you mean slide out keypad? There is a difference, you know. We need to stop this crap until there's some concrete evidence. All this conflicting info makes my head hurt.
As for the convergence issue--IMHO, the first company to create a handheld, pocket-sized device that is a camera, PDA, phone, IM/web client, mp3/4 player, GPS, and game player will have designed the first real pocket-sized PC. They'll have also created their meal ticket for years to come, assuming it's well designed and supported. Convergence is the future and could be the present if only people had more vision.
And personally? I'm DONE with contracts--I'll happily pay an extra $100-$150 to avoid the hassle of monthly cell phone bills. I've been prepaid for 9 months now and it ROCKS. Sure, minutes cost more on pre-paid, but I ultimately spend less than I used to when I had a contract. I was conteplating buying a $400 Sidekick 3 (to slip my current T-mobile sim card into) but I may wait until January just to see what the iPhone looks like...FOR REAL.
Honestly, I doubt this will be a Cingular exclusive, or even be available at Cingular or other carrier stores (T-Mobile?).
It's more likely that Apple will do their own thing as usual and sell it exclusively at apple stores and on their website, and it will be unlocked.
Apple doesn't need to rely on other companies like a wireless carrier to sell it's stuff. They would never get locked in some weird exclusive contract or anything.
That's why Apple is so succesful, because they do things their way, not like everybody else.
Just look how they deal with the music industry...
Watch the video again, he said it WILL be available on all networks at launch not just cingular. And check this out: http://www.mobilewhack.com/handset/apple_iphone.html
second video, about 24 seconds in zoom in on the product case, could that be it?
When Kevin Rose mentioned details of the the Apple phone, Alex inferred that the screen could be 16x9. The screen is not 16x9, its 3x4.
Also, unfortunately for my data needs, the keyboard is not a querty.
Why don't they just call it the Nokia N80......
Has anyone even confirmed that it's going to be called the "iphone".
It seems like comwave already has trademarked the iphone name with one of their products:
http://www.comwave.net/US/iPhone/whatisiphone.htm
Anyone know anything about this?
@ Bartman007
It looks like a blackberry?!?! don't you find... anyways rumours are going around that it's going to be a little wider than the nano.. so if those are true.. than that can't be it
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54597207@N00/
Oh well Kevin. At least you go the 2 and 4 GB right... But not much else.
well no one is never gonna believe that dude again :)
I've got my comments about the Iphone on my site http://www.sirus20x6.com/phpnuke/index.php I go over somethings about how much this thing will cost you monthly for internet, and some drawbacks.
No 2nd thoughts that the APPLE iphone is gonna b a fashion statement like its predecessor ipod.
Loaded with amazing features, the lack of 3G and Memory slot is a big disappointment. Also the question arises if MAC OS platform could really b a competitor to the Symbian 9.1(S60 3rd generation) or the Windows mobile which hv tons of ready to use software available on the net.
My call would b going to a traditional Nokia (S60 3rd generation) & judge the iphone after its trial in the market. As for the time being i wud prefer the iphone for my not very tech savvy, fashion conscious gal friend.
i agree to u 'kernalpanx' the iphone is close to the N80(look and feature wise).. but given a choice among the two i think the N80 turns out to b a winner since N80 has 3G+Memory slot.
On the other hand the i phone seems to hv an extra edge bcoz of itz touch screen,qwerty key board and few unexplored features which we wud better know after its launch
He REALLY couldn't have been more wrong.