Anybody else feel underwhelmed?

[Michael CM1]

Maybe it was a case of the Mondays, but all the stuff I saw yesterday kinda left me a little underwhelmed. Part of it was there was really nothing in that keynote that wasn't totally expected. In fact, I figured the iPhone would get storage doubled on it, but considering the added 3G and GPS to go with a price cut, it's not surprising.

The July release date for the new firmware kinda took me by surprise. I figured it was coming out sometime this week. I guess they needed more time to build a supercomputer that could handle the deluge of downloads when it'll be made available.

AT&T also pulled kind of a phone-companyish move when they bumped up the data charge. I figured it would be more expensive, but I'm probably going to be moving about 5 or 10 miles outside the 3G coverage area within the next year. I already love to rant about the fact that cell phone companies have an aversion to charging less than $40/month, now this. I mean are they going to charge a switching fee every time I go between EDGE and 3G?

The App Store is obviously gonna be good, but I sure did skip right past watching most of that on the video. Uber-nerds may be good at developing software, but they sure lack Jobs' skill for making me want to watch at 1 a.m.

So basically something seemed missing. Maybe it's because I thought I had an awesome deal on a $250 refurb 2 months ago that now makes me look like a doof for not waiting. I guess at least I'm not one of those people that looked all giddy with the same exact phone in their hands for $600.

 

[edesignuk]

The US seems to have been screwed over more than the UK for a change with this one.

Prices are greatly improved here (to the point you will be able to get the iPhone for FREE on certain contracts). There will be a PAYG option (which leaves it open for easy unlocking).

Shame the storage hasn't been boosted, but I expect that to come. 3G and GPS were far more important IMO. Storage is an easy bump in a few months time.

Overall I think it was a good day for wannabe UK iPhone owners.

 

[vendettabass]

I felt a little underwhelmed with the design to be honest. It's also too bad 32GB flash chips arn't as common as we all thought too. I still think we'll see a 32GB in time for xmas

 

[yoyo5280]

Phone is great. The camera however? TERRIBLE

I wished there was some more mac announcements however.

 

[vendettabass]

wouldn't have minded 3.2mp too

 

[edesignuk]

I completely agree and sympathise with those disappointed in the camera. It's a real lame duck. 2MP is beyond pathetic. I never use it though, so it's not something to put me off.

 

[sananda]

i am bit underwhelmed. i suppose i was expecting more storage and a better camera (even though i'm not really interested in mobile phone cameras).

but despite all the rumours pointing these levels of subsidies, overall i'm surprised at the low prices (particularly o2's).

 

[sjw]

Underwhelmed, quite. But I think it's because I followed the rumors much too closely. You read all these fantastic ideas and you can't help but get your hopes up and it's bound to lead to disappointment. I've vowed with the next iPhone to stay well away from the rumor mill.

 

[AdeFowler]

I'm underwhelmed, but I think it's because the iPhone didn't live up to the hype that we've seen over the last couple of months, and that's not Apple's fault. The phone itself is now a much better product than it was a year ago, and it's more affordable to many more people. To not update the camera however is unfathomable.

 

[Michael CM1]

Underwhelmed, quite. But I think it's because I followed the rumors much too closely. You read all these fantastic ideas and you can't help but get your hopes up and it's bound to lead to disappointment. I've vowed with the next iPhone to stay well away from the rumor mill.

I think you hit the nail on the head. I downplayed a lot of what was rumored (no, it WON'T cure cancer), but totally knowing what's coming is a buzzkill. One major negative was the plastic backing. I saw someone mention that it may have been done to make the phone cheaper, but it also makes it cheaper. Maybe it's not as big of a deal as I think because I have a plastic case on my phone now.

I would also love for Apple one day to somehow get a lot of its business out of China. That's probably a pipe dream since I think everything we have in the U.S. comes from China, but I'd really love to see such a great product produced in the U.S.

The lack of Blu-ray support for any Macs also continues to bug me. I get sitting on the fence while Sony and Toshiba fought it out, but I have seen standard-sized drives that can read both Blu-ray and HD DVD for under $200 that only work on PCs. I just want to see them available for Mac Pros just to know Apple isn't totally trying to kick us out for their whole "digital is better!" mantra.

 

[phalewhale]

Maybe it was a case of the Mondays, but all the stuff I saw yesterday kinda left me a little underwhelmed. Part of it was there was really nothing in that keynote that wasn't totally expected. In fact, I figured the iPhone would get storage doubled on it, but considering the added 3G and GPS to go with a price cut, it's not surprising.

The July release date for the new firmware kinda took me by surprise. I figured it was coming out sometime this week. I guess they needed more time to build a supercomputer that could handle the deluge of downloads when it'll be made available.

AT&T also pulled kind of a phone-companyish move when they bumped up the data charge. I figured it would be more expensive, but I'm probably going to be moving about 5 or 10 miles outside the 3G coverage area within the next year. I already love to rant about the fact that cell phone companies have an aversion to charging less than $40/month, now this. I mean are they going to charge a switching fee every time I go between EDGE and 3G?

The App Store is obviously gonna be good, but I sure did skip right past watching most of that on the video. Uber-nerds may be good at developing software, but they sure lack Jobs' skill for making me want to watch at 1 a.m.

So basically something seemed missing. Maybe it's because I thought I had an awesome deal on a $250 refurb 2 months ago that now makes me look like a doof for not waiting. I guess at least I'm not one of those people that looked all giddy with the same exact phone in their hands for $600.

A little... as others have said - the camera is pathetic but I use a nice little compact anyway - GPS inclusion is good though.
Also, Steve Jobs looked really thin yesterday.

 

[wako]

yeah, a lot of people feel underwhelmed. So much so that Apple stock dropped nearly 5 dollars yesterday

 

[k2director]

I think you people who are "underwhelmed" need to get your heads examined.

Everything great about the original iPhone plus...

* 3G
* Hardware GPS with software assist
* Huge and enthusiastic developer community
* State-of-the-art App store
* Broad and deep Enterprise functionality (not that anyone here would appreciate that, but it's a huge addition to the iPhone arsenal, and certainly wasn't cheap or easy for Apple to put together)

....all starting at $199 for 8 gigs!

Really, what were you expecting after a year? What would have been more likely to meet your expectations, much less surpass them??

Snap out of it...

 

[moveteam]

I think you people who are "underwhelmed" need to get your heads examined.

Everything great about the original iPhone plus...

* 3G
* Hardware GPS with software assist
* Huge and enthusiastic developer community
* State-of-the-art App store
* Broad and deep Enterprise functionality (not that anyone here would appreciate that, but it's a huge addition to the iPhone arsenal, and certainly wasn't cheap or easy for Apple to put together)

....all starting at $199 for 8 gigs!

Really, what were you expecting after a year? What would have been more likely to meet your expectations, much less surpass them??

Snap out of it...

Excactly, I just don't get these comments: "Ehmm.. the original iPhone was fantastic, but the 3G one is awful, only HSPDA and GPS are new." Yucks.

You deserve an apple:

 

[kamiboy]

When they started things off by showing stuff we had already seen months ago in another keynote I knew they had nothing big to show. My heart sank when they brought up the third guy to show off some app nobody cares about, and this keynote marks the first time I have skipped over a part of a Apple keynote video.

When Phil showed up to talk about me.com I was begging him again and again, don't demonstrate, don't demonstrate. Then I saw the video marker and saw there was too little time left to show off anything remotely interesting.

It seems Apple is just not big enough to be able to successfully focus on two major projects at once. Jobs seems infatuated with the iPhone for now and the Mac side of things has been falling by the way side as a result of that.

 

[phalewhale]

When they started things off by showing stuff we had already seen months ago in another keynote I knew they had nothing big to show. My heart sank when they brought up the third guy to show off some app nobody cares about, and this keynote marks the first time I have skipped over a part of a Apple keynote video.

When Phil showed up to talk about me.com I was begging him again and again, don't demonstrate, don't demonstrate. Then I saw the video marker and saw there was too little time left to show off anything remotely interesting.

It seems Apple is just not big enough to be able to successfully focus on two major projects at once. Jobs seems infatuated with the iPhone for now and the Mac side of things has been falling by the way side as a result of that.

I actually thought the demo of me.com was quite good. I really like the tagline "exchange for the rest of us". The service looks really good and a big improvement on the current .mac

 

[brn2ski00]

Phone is great. The camera however? TERRIBLE

I wished there was some more mac announcements however.

Agreed.

 

[earnjam]

and it's more affordable to many more people.

It's really not. It is up front...$200 less.

But add $10/month more to the data plan and you're looking at an additional $240 over 2 years (which you have to do b/c AT&T is making you sign a new contract).

In the end it will cost you $40 more total.

 

[earnjam]

It seems Apple is just not big enough to be able to successfully focus on two major projects at once. Jobs seems infatuated with the iPhone for now and the Mac side of things has been falling by the way side as a result of that.

Really? In the last few months we've gotten the Macbook Air, iMac processor/graphics updates, and multitouch on the macbooks. During the same time they added another size to the iPhone and then announced a new one yesterday. Looks fairly even to me.

Sure we'd like some other things, but it isn't like their ignoring Macs.

People on here never cease to amaze me.

 

[chrisparr]

I think you people who are "underwhelmed" need to get your heads examined.

Everything great about the original iPhone plus...

* 3G
* Hardware GPS with software assist
* Huge and enthusiastic developer community
* State-of-the-art App store
* Broad and deep Enterprise functionality (not that anyone here would appreciate that, but it's a huge addition to the iPhone arsenal, and certainly wasn't cheap or easy for Apple to put together)

....all starting at $199 for 8 gigs!

Really, what were you expecting after a year? What would have been more likely to meet your expectations, much less surpass them??

Snap out of it...

I wasn't going to comment until I saw this post.

If I get my head examined, I think the report will be 'no problems there'. Let's face it, the OS is the only good thing about the iPhone (and that's debatable: Flash, MMS...).

As a phone, the spec is pretty pathetic. Yes the new one has GPS, but that's nothing new nowadays, and 3G is old hat. How about that high spec camera! I know there's the developer community, but that's nothing new for a mobile OS.

I was going to buy the new iPhone, and still may, but there are other phones that look a lot better. I'm going to wait now until the new Samsung is available with Android and compare (hey look at that, I can be objective). The spec of the Samsung is much closer to the mark.

Last week when all we really knew was 3G, I would say there was a 80% chance I'd buy the iPhone. Now it's more like a 30% chance.

Apple said they have listened to the feedback about the first iPhone and addressed issues. All I can say is they need to get their hearing checked. In my mind, the 3G iPhone is all about getting a slice of the business market, and Apple hasn't looked much beyond that.

 

[MacsAttack]

I completely agree and sympathise with those disappointed in the camera. It's a real lame duck. 2MP is beyond pathetic. I never use it though, so it's not something to put me off.

Apple could put a far better camera in there. Problem is - it would not make any difference. The hardware inside only supports 2MP.

You want a ground up redesign of the iPhone - you don't get a price drop.

 

[yoyo5280]

Also, Steve Jobs looked really thin yesterday.

He has lost a scary amount of weight since the MBA announcement. Thats bad.

 

[moveteam]

Apple could put a far better camera in there. Problem is - it would not make any difference. The hardware inside only supports 2MP.

You want a ground up redesign of the iPhone - you don't get a price drop.

That's not correct, but the 2MP is actually very descent compared to N95. If you really want a good camera, buy it.

More megapixels don't neccesary mean better quailty.

 

[edesignuk]

Apple could put a far better camera in there. Problem is - it would not make any difference. The hardware inside only supports 2MP.

That doesn't make any sense. The hardware has a 2MP sensor, if they replace it with something better, then it's better and that's that. I'm certain there are at least 3.2MP units they could have put in place of what they have without much trouble, but the chose not to.

 

[wolfpackfan]

I have to say, looking at what was announced yesterday, I am very underwhelmed. I currently have an iPhone that is not in service (AT&T contract canceled). My plan was to buy the iPhone 3G next January and let my daughter have my current iPhone, which I would reactivate then also. But I am having real second thoughts. I'm even having second thoughts about reactivating my current iPhone (which I'm using as basically as a Touch right now). They have had the iPhone out for a year and if all they've been able to come up with are the software changes they announced yesterday, that's pretty pathetic. There are some major missing elements on the iPhone that most other smartphones come with as standard features - such as video camera, cut and paste, notes sync, MMS, etc. Just go to any of the cell phone company websites and look at the features of the other smartphones and compare feature by feature and the iPhone falls way short. But everyone goes crazy over it because of the "cool" factor, which is so superficial. My current everyday phone is a Motorola Q, which I only paid $99 for and it has many features that haven't even been thought about for the iPhone.

As far as the 3G, the two things I saw that did stand out are the price and GPS. I would not trade up and pay the extra data fees for 3G speed when Edge and WiFI are fine for my uses. So I'm basically not sure what I'm going to do in January when my Sprint contract expires. I do know I'm keeping my options open and looking at all of the other options like the Diamond Touch, Treo 800W and the new Samsung phone. Or I may switch to AT&T and reactivate my current iPhone. But I doubt I'll be buying the iPhone 3G even at $199.