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3G iPhone with GPS, Video Conferences, TV?

Killer App

I think a lot of people are overlooking something...

Apple won't just add 3G to the iPhone, and leave it at that. They will add features that really make use of 3G, so it isn't just a bullet point, or a faster version of the same thing-- it will enable new functions.

Mobile TV of a sort makes sense. This could simply be an iTunes store on the phone that can directly download TV shows, like the current phones can do with music. Add streaming, a no brainer, and on-demand TV downloads from iTunes *are* mobile TV.

I think we will also see more location integration, thanks to the GPS. The Google Maps will get smarter, but other features (weather) could as well.

I would also expect to see a front-mounted camera for live video conferencing. If the phone doesn't have this, it will be because of worries from AT&T. If it does have it, expect the phone to let you initiate this during a call, and also from within iChat (if it appears) or SMS. Hopefully it will have a smart way of detecting that it is talking with another iPhone or iChat A/V.

What other killer apps can Apple enable with 3G internet on the iPhone?
 
Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.50 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/4.0.10406/308; U; en))

These features sound incredible but not at the cost of zero battery life. Waiting for the true story...
 
sunfast said:
Does BBC iPlayer count as mobile tv?
Click to expand...

Yes it does, in that case, it is a free service offered by the BBC.
People tend to look past the obvious to suit their own needs/fantasies.....
The mobile tv mentioned here is a service offered by the carrier....it is NOT hardware (tv tuner) added to the iPhone, other carriers offer it, it's nothing new.
Do you really think that Apple would add a tv tuner to the iPhone, when the reasoning for not having 3G on the first gen was due to battery life........If battery life has now been improved to implement 3G do you really think they will add a handfull of other battery sucking devices to the iPhone??(although I do believe GPS will be added)
Seriously, look at the obvious not the extreme.
 
Features

njfuzzy said:
I would also expect to see a front-mounted camera for live video conferencing. If the phone doesn't have this, it will be because of worries from AT&T.
Click to expand...

AT&T will just have to wake up and smell the Java..... Skype is the next trend of international communications, and AT&T ought to be prepared to deal with that. The droves of new customers this would attract would generate far more income than that compromised from minutes bypassed for calls using Skype. This is a great opportunity here, and hopefully, Apple will jump on it.
 
Small White Car said:
I dunno, can you watch a live sporting event on it?

I think that's the single best definion of "mobile tv."

If the answer is "no" then it's not mobile tv, it's a video library.
Click to expand...

It has to be a sporting event to warrant calling it tv???
eh?
The BBC iplayer is TV...on a mobile device, live or recorded it's still TV....therefore it's mobile tv, care to tell me what it's called otherwise?
 
Shasterball said:
Well, wouldn't live TV be hard without 3G?
Click to expand...

Exactly!! Seems there are more and more people saying that 3G is not the top need. I just don't get that. It's like saying I like my slingbox more than having broadband internet.
 
sassenach74 said:
It has to be a sporting event to warrant calling it tv???
Click to expand...

Uh, no.

I guess what I meant to say is that it's CAPABLE of playing a live sporting event. It's just a good, quick shorthand for getting at the heart of the matter. If there's a service out there calling itself "mobile tv" but is technically incapable of providing a sporting event live, well then it's mis-named.

It doesn't litterally HAVE to be playing sports, I'm just saying that it has to be ABLE to do it.
 
From the BBCi player website:

BBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer is the easy-to-use service that lets you access television programmes via your PC. It offers seven-day catch-up television and now also incorporates radio 'listen again' and live streaming.

The TV programmes are free for UK licence fee payers, at high quality and with no advertising. Once you have downloaded a programme to your computer you have 30 days within which to start watching and seven days to finish watching it.

The BBC is looking at offering BBC iPlayer on a range of platforms including cable and mobile.

The part in bold, as we already know has been implemented for mobile (I have it on my ipod touch)
 
Small White Car said:
Uh, no.

I guess what I meant to say is that it's CAPABLE of playing a live sporting event. It's just a good, quick shorthand for getting at the heart of the matter. If there's a service out there calling itself "mobile tv" but is technically incapable of providing a sporting event live, well then it's mis-named.

It doesn't litterally HAVE to be playing sports, I'm just saying that it has to be ABLE to do it.
Click to expand...

He asked if it can be called MOBILE tv, not LIVE tv, for the former....yes it can.
 
bigmc6000 said:
What? MMS doesn't cost a sent more than a text message since you have to have unlimited data when you get the iPhone anyway. I've got unlimited text's and the unlimited data so, to me, MMS is FREE...

And when my friends send me pictures going to that viewmymessage.com crap is so freakin annoying and doesn't work 3/4 of the time. It's embarrassing when your friends with free phones have basic functionality that you don't even know if you'll EVER get.
Click to expand...

Except they aren't free...nothing is free... you pay what, $20 bucks a month for unlimited SMS, correct? So no, they aren't free, you just pay a proportionately smaller amount per message depending on how many you send. Either way, its an additional charge on top of the unlimited data included in the phone plan, so technically it is cheaper to just email them. Besides, you can email other people's cell phones and have them receive them as MMS. While it would be a great feature to have built in, it's not really as dire a need as some people make it out to be.


Ok, off topic rant over.... I would think that the mobile TV thing would be market specific, seeing as it's much more prevalent in Europe than here in the US. ATT, Verizon, and Sprint all offer some sort of mobile TV and it really hasn't caught on. I think it's something you'll see released as a program in the App store in whatever iTunes store applies to that country/market. GPS and 3G at this point are the safest bets for the new iPhone, but you never know.
 
I really hope

Zukum said:
I wonder if 3G is fast enough to support iChat. That would be amazing indeed, and save allot of minutes!
Click to expand...

**
hope they have the ichat function! I will buy it in a heart beat if they do...I wonder if that will work with skype? I'm assuming skype will have 3rd party app:D
 
sassenach74 said:
He asked if it can be called MOBILE tv, not LIVE tv
Click to expand...

Well that's my point, I think "mobile TV" implies "live TV" and that things that aren't live shouldn't be called "mobile TV."

I'm just talking about my opinion here. The "TV" part of the name really implies that watching something live is possible. If it can't do that it should have a different name.

"TV Show Library" would be acceptable for non-live TV...it can have TV in the name, but if it's not live then it has to have something in the title that makes this clear. "Mobile TV" doesn't make that clear, thus the assumption is that it is live.
 
Mobile TV is already here

At least in the US, ATT (and verison) already have a sudo Mobile TV.

If the iPhone has 3G then it should be able to support the Cingular Video service (which i think they just call CV now). Plus there is the HBO mobile too.

so really my guess would be is that it will support CV.
 
You can bet your arse that if video calling is implemented it's usage won't fall under your unlimited iPhone data plan, but rather you'll be billed separately for a video call.
 
DVB-H is on top of DVB-T, it's lite version of DVB-T, it's that similar that DVB-T receivers detects DVB-H channels.
 
edesignuk said:
You can bet your arse that if video calling is implemented it's usage won't fall under your unlimited iPhone data plan, but rather you'll be billed separately for a video call.
Click to expand...

Right, but hopefullly there would be an "unlimited TV" fee, just like there's an "unlimited text message" extra fee now.

So although you have to pay more to get it, once you do you don't have to watch you're usage ammount.
 
edesignuk said:
DVB-H (the preferred method for mobile TV broadcasting in EU) is not something than runs on top of a 3G data connection. It's it's own technology on it's own frequency.

DVB-H.

Having one feature does not equal the other.
Click to expand...

Beat me to the explanation lol...

To add to that AT&T currently uses MediaFLO for the AT&T Mobility program in the United States.

More information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaFLO
 
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