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apple are TOO obsessed with thinness

N

needthephone

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 4, 2006
813
0
sydney
The more I think about apples reason for not doing a 3G phone-basically the battery and chip set would mean the phone would need to be say 5 or so mm thicker the more I think they are starting to become obsessed about the wrong things. I mean how come every other phone maker produces useable 3g phones but apple can't because of it's unhealthy obsession with keeping things thin.

I think there are other reasons, surely as this reason is too bizarre to believe.

If the obsession with thinness is the real reason then I think they have lost the balance between good design and good sense.

I love apples design, its gorgeous but not to give us a 3G iphone because of this reason is madness.

I know they won't loose sleep over it but if this is the reason my respect for the company is waning
 
Alright, time to get over it!


Its been like 9 month since we first heard about the iPhone from Apple....by now either get over it, and buy an iPhone, or move on
 
needthephone said:
The more I think about apples reason for not doing a 3G phone-basically the battery and chip set would mean the phone would need to be say 5 or so mm thicker the more I think they are starting to become obsessed about the wrong things. I mean how come every other phone maker produces useable 3g phones but apple can't because of it's unhealthy obsession with keeping things thin.

I think there are other reasons, surely as this reason is too bizarre to believe.

If the obsession with thinness is the real reason then I think they have lost the balance between good design and good sense.

I love apples design, its gorgeous but not to give us a 3G iphone because of this reason is madness.

I know they won't loose sleep over it but if this is the reason my respect for the company is waning
Click to expand...

I would like the iPhone far less if it were 5mm thicker. The best feature of it is it does EVERYTHING in such a slim package.
 
needthephone said:
but not to give us a 3G iphone because of this reason is madness.
Click to expand...

9852861.jpg
 
Yes I agree its not the end of the world but apple is unlikely to launch a non 3g phone over here as us cynical aussies will not 'buy' it (in every sense of the word.)

My post was more a comment on apples admittedly great design which is danger of becoming a bit w&%$#ery

It won't sell in Australia and Asia because that thin package isn't 3g compatible, simple as that. 5mm I mean 5mm??????

Telstra and Optus had a terrible time trying to flog 2.5g phones as alternatives to 3g - it was embarresing to watch.

PS - I honestly don't think the thinness thing is the reason, I think there are other more technical or business issues they aren't letting on about. Like it would upset the non 3g US market if the rest of teh world were getting better phones. I have more respect for apple that I just don't buy the argument on the packaging .
 
needthephone said:
PS - I honestly don't think the thinness thing is the reason, I think there are other more technical or business issues they aren't letting on about. Like it would upset the non 3g US market if the rest of teh world were getting better phones. I have more respect for apple that I just don't buy the argument on the packaging .
Click to expand...

Of course packaging alone is not the reason. Most people have never designed a device. I have. Here's the way it goes:

Hey boss, here's a 3G version that lasts all day.
Nice, I like it. Any downsides?
Yes, it costs more to make and the users would have to pay double for data service.
Woof, take it out. We can't sell a million that way.
Yes sir, and oh btw, that means we can use a cheaper battery too.
I love it. Then we'll claim power's the reason for no 3G.
Okay and drop the price then?
Yes, no wait. People will pay anything. Keep the original price anyway!
Brilliant, sir!
 
I was thinking about this the other day, only in terms of battery life. I mean, 3G would be nice, but I am not sure it is all that practical (yet!) in the US. But I was thinking more in terms of 1-2 mm for either a better (longer lasting) battery, or a REPLACEABLE one- either of which I think a couple mm would be fine for. And where the heck is GPS?
 
Replaceable battery is the key. I have both regular and extra-duty batteries for some of my smartphones.

If out for just the night and need to be stylish, use the slim battery.

If out in the field away from power all day, use the thicker one (they usually have their own case back).

It's like that silly article comparing a 3G phone to the iPhone, and they for sure used the slimmest cheapest battery for the 3G phone. So by using a 1000mAh instead of the other (included with the phone!) high-capacity 1800mAh, they got about half the life.

Of course, their intention was to defend Apple, not to do any decent test.
 
I disagree with the OP. If it were 5 mm thicker and an ounce heavier I probably wouldn't want it - regardless of it's features. It's current size already stretches the limit of what I consider "pocket sized". I won't wear a Bat Belt.
 
needthephone said:
Yes I agree its not the end of the world but apple is unlikely to launch a non 3g phone over here as us cynical aussies will not 'buy' it (in every sense of the word.)
Click to expand...


If that truly is the case I guess you'll be waiting until middle of next year for the iPhone2.

Many people said the same of the European iPhone too. We'll see when it goes on sale on Nov. 9th.
 
why everyone so obsessed with 3g, i have used 3g before it didnt run any faster than my edge , so what is the point. i get you guys need it overseas...but this getting redundant.....and quite annoying, everyone is sounding like a bunch of 2 year olds....and you guys wonder why apple takes there time to release updates....whaa whaa blah blah
 
KittyToy said:
why everyone so obsessed with 3g, i have used 3g before it didnt run any faster than my edge , so what is the point. i get you guys need it overseas...but this getting redundant.....and quite annoying, everyone is sounding like a bunch of 2 year olds....and you guys wonder why apple takes there time to release updates....whaa whaa blah blah
Click to expand...

Well for me the reason I want 3g is because the edge coverage in the UK is terrible where as the 3G coverage is great.
 
DylanG said:
I disagree with the OP. If it were 5 mm thicker and an ounce heavier I probably wouldn't want it - regardless of it's features. It's current size already stretches the limit of what I consider "pocket sized". I won't wear a Bat Belt.
Click to expand...

I agree...I love the iPhone but for me it's right on line of being ok vs too big. I don't mind the weight, actually I like that it feels substantial.

I have yet to pick up the iPod Touch...that is a little thinner right? Maybe the next iPhone will be as thin or thinner than that! :)
 
I love apples design, its gorgeous but not to give us a 3G iphone because of this reason is madness.
Click to expand...

Yes. It is madness because you are an engineer and have looked at all the product parts AND KNOW that apple could have pulled off a 3g, 8hour iphone battery phone.

Sure.

It was madness and not battery and cost economics.

Thanks for the wonderful insight.
 
emotion said:
Not for O2 it isn't. Not by a long shot. Check the O2 site.
Click to expand...

O2 only got the contract because none of the other networks are interested in a non 3G device and because O2 had terrible 3G coverage they weren't bothered.

O2 EDGE coverage by the end of the year - 30%
Vodafone 3G coverage by the end of the year - 80%

I would put my money on it that O2 will not get the 3G iPhone.
 
joeconvert said:
Wow. Useful.

I give a bit of thickness on my macbook for the damn thing not to need space shuttle grade thermal insulation on the underside.
Click to expand...

I don't know if you know this or not (forgive me if you do - I'm not trying to insult you), but for $15 - $30 (US) you can get a chill pad (usb powered fan) to place under your MB. I have used one with all of my laptops, and they work great! It seems that all laptops have this problem. You would think that the designers (especially at Apple) would know this and build something like that in. But what do I know, I'm not a designer! :p
 
I'm sure the reason it doesn't have 3G isn't because they wanted to make the damn thing 5mm thinner.

3G didn't make sense for the battery life at the time.. thus they gave us the sandwich of EDGE and WiFi...

As someone said earlier, I love the slim design.
 
gormond said:
O2 only got the contract because none of the other networks are interested in a non 3G device and because O2 had terrible 3G coverage they weren't bothered.

O2 EDGE coverage by the end of the year - 30%
Vodafone 3G coverage by the end of the year - 80%
Click to expand...

Yeah. You know that, I know that but there's a lot of people on here that don't. Doesn't harm to reiterate as it's an important fact.

I would put my money on it that O2 will not get the 3G iPhone.
Click to expand...

There's a lot of political maneuvering and a lot of high level discussions to go before the 3G iPhone is a reality.

Until then there's the flawed but (almost) here version.
 
needthephone said:
I love apples design, its gorgeous but not to give us a 3G iphone because of this reason is madness.
Click to expand...

Why are Aussies OBSESSED with 3G? Telstra has done a good job of brain washing you. If you used an iPhone you would see that it does not require 3G to work and it works wonderfully on Edge.

The iPhone does not have a face front camera.. so it will never do video calls and you can stream video just fine to the phone (just look a YouTube). So why do you need a 3G phone to be happy?
 
gormond said:
O2 only got the contract because none of the other networks are interested in a non 3G device..
Click to expand...

With the exception of 3, who don't have their own 2G network, this is nonsense.

If it were true, why would Orange and T-Mobile be carrying it in other countries? Everyone knows Vodafone were lobbying to get it in the UK, and Arun Sarin's been saying he's confident they'll get to sell it in one of their territories.

You're just spinning their Xmas '07 tune for them - "well we never wanted it anyway, so ner.." :)
 
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