Cingular Ties, Several More iPhone Models? And More Details...

[aristobrat]

You do realize EDGE speeds in practice are barely better than dial-up?

I bet they went with EDGE to keep down the monthly fee.

True broadband access over cellular would probably double the monthly fee ($60/month w/ a voice plan for Verizon EVDO).

My guess is they went with EDGE because nobody's made a small-enough 3G chipset that gets decent battery life for them to use. From what I've read, the only slim 3G smartphone out now (the BlackJack) has bad enough battery life that it ships with two batteries.

On Verizon, if you have a smartphone like the iPhone, unlimited EVDO should only be $40/month (unless you're using it as a modem).

 

[Diatribe]

WTF is this all about? I understand the Cingular contract but an actual locked phone?
What happens if I move to another country, I can't use my phone anymore?
This better not be true for Europe for example, where people move from country to country quite often.

 

[ART5000]

APPLE IS TAKING MEASURES TO AVOID THE UNLOCKING OF THE PHONE.
********

BY LAW CELL COMPANIES MUST UNLOCK THE PHONES WITHIN A PERIOD OF TIME, 30days.

 

[Le Big Mac]

I will pay full retail, or wait for a smarter man than me to unlock it.

The unlocking part is terrible. If I have to commit to a two-year contract, I understand. But the contract is for cingular/att to recover the subsidy. That's fine. But why also lock me into your system beyond that, or if I want to go overseas? Is it for true exclusivity? How many people are going to buy the phone from cingular, and then pay the ETF right away so they can use it on t-mobile (whose network probably doesn't support a lot of featues)? If I go overseas, though, I want to be able to pop in a SIM, even if I sacrifice features.

 

[ART5000]

you must know this

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/293875_unlock28.html


it is not illegal ANYMORE to unlock your mobile independently.

 

[benpatient]

wow. this sounds mucho crappy.

2 year contract for a phone that has a 1 year limited warranty? add 5 bucks a month to the price cause you now need insurance to justify the 500-600 dollars!

no using itunes songs for ring tones? Can you even sync up to a computer and get a ring tone mp3 that you made from your computer's itunes library? If not, that's like...a step backwards from the previous itunes phones (I have a SLVR).

no replacement battery?

and what the heck does "Gestures has a brief learning curve" mean? I thought it was "intuitive"?

bah.

where's my OS X.5?

 

[Buschmaster]

More models? Perhaps a cheaper model with no camera?

They could call it the Buschmaster version.

I can't switch until December this year, so hopefully I can either get this particular phone cheaper or I can get a similar version cheaper.

 

[orb]

no problems

cingular exclusive - Not a problem. Cingular was the company willing to open up and make the changes needed to support the iPhone, and I've got no problem at all becoming a customer to get those features.

locked - As per previous, not a huge issue. If that's the price we have to pay for the added functionality, so be it. We might prefer it to be otherwise, but if the alternative is an unlocked phone without things like visual voicemail, I'll pass.

ringtones - Please, for the love of Apple, set your phones to vibrate people. I hope apple disables all ringtones. Grrr!!!!!

 

[ART5000]

iphone is starting to be NOT COOL

if the battery F- ups then just send it in like an ipod. What? a cell is not an ipod, it's a crucial way of communicating when you're out and about. I could do without an ipod for some time but NOT my cell.

 

[Sedulous]

The more detail I hear about the iPhone, the less I am convinced it is something that I want. It seems like any sensible level of flexibility that you might want has been locked out. At that price point, the iPhone should at least be capable of some of the things others have pointed out in these forums.

 

[rtdunham]

sweet

i thought this was an interesting remark, from a poster on david pogue's blogscape re: the iPhone:

"Maybe the better question with regard to Cingular is: Do I have to use any carrier at all? The way I see it, even without a mobile carrier, this is a cool video iPod with WiFi internet capabilities. I’ll pay $600 for that."

 

[jkdsteve]

iphone is starting to be NOT COOL

if the battery F- ups then just send it in like an ipod. What? a cell is not an ipod, it's a crucial way of communicating when you're out and about. I could do without an ipod for some time but NOT my cell.

A cellphone without an easily user-replaceable battery sucks but I'm going to assume you'll be able to walk into a Cingular/AT&T store and get it replaced/approved service type thing.....still sucks but as I'd have to go to the store to buy a battery, might as well have someone fit it whilst there.

So far, both the iPhone and the iTV are looking to be far to restrictive for me

 

[jkdsteve]

i thought this was an interesting remark, from a poster on david pogue's blogscape re: the iPhone:

"Maybe the better question with regard to Cingular is: Do I have to use any carrier at all? The way I see it, even without a mobile carrier, this is a cool video iPod with WiFi internet capabilities. I’ll pay $600 for that."

Pretty smart comment..

I'll take one without the phone but with an 80GB HDD please....8GB is practically useless in iPod/Video terms

 

[calculus]

i thought this was an interesting remark, from a poster on david pogue's blogscape re: the iPhone:

"Maybe the better question with regard to Cingular is: Do I have to use any carrier at all? The way I see it, even without a mobile carrier, this is a cool video iPod with WiFi internet capabilities. I’ll pay $600 for that."

I guess that the $600 is subsidised by the network so there's no chance...

 

[willybNL]

- Apple is taking additional efforts to prevent the unlocking of the phones

Can't wait till it is in Europe... Here, it's illigal to have simlock for longer than 1 year.

 

[brightlights]

Really hope that O2/Telefonica get the EU rights to this.

In the UK it should be more heavily subsidised as well (as all phones are at the moment).

 

[oneof52]

Under no conditions will I resign my contract. I will pay full retail, or wait for a smarter man than me to unlock it. Apple has some serious flaws with this overly closed system. Great product, classic steve BS.

We don't have Cingular in our area, so I'm hoping for some solution.

 

[awhitaker]

"'all models' of the iPhone, including several other devices in the works"
I'll take a more simple, smaller, less expensive model. Thanks.

That's what I was hoping for. A $200 Nano that is also a phone. I don't surf the internet on my phone much and if I did, I would have to pay an extra $40 a month for the media package on Cingular. If they reduced that monthly service price then maybe I would consider it. But that's a lot of money to surf the internet. I'll do it at home on my laptop or at work. If I did get the iphone, I would probably only surf the internet using the wifi to save money. The only place I couldn't use it would be on the road, which kind of sucks. I just want an ipod and a phone in one package so I can stop carrying two pieces of equipment in my pocket. $600 for the phone and $40 a month for internet access is way too much for what I use a cell phone for.

 

[carlgo]

The more detail I hear about the iPhone, the less I am convinced it is something that I want. It seems like any sensible level of flexibility that you might want has been locked out. At that price point, the iPhone should at least be capable of some of the things others have pointed out in these forums.

These forums are tech orientated, of course, but don't disregard the political factor.

The following is not to creat a political arguement, but there is political precedent that I think applies.

Republicans have been supportive of the way the wireless providers have done business for years, but this is likely to change as the Dems have taken over Congress and probably will take the White House in a couple of years. Even if the GOP makes a sudden come-back, it will likely be less conservative.

In the future, I think, those providers will be forced to be more consumer-friendly and open up our phone options.

The providers may fight every regulation down to the the last GOP deregulator, or they may try to gain favor and head off the inevitable by playing more nice pre-emptively. This would speed up changes.

That, combined with the usual model proliferation from Apple Inc will result in changes to the iPhone that are hard to predict, but are likely to result in more features to please more people.

 

[atlendor]

There's one thing that bugs me here: A 1 year warranty and a 2 year contract??? Perhaps Apple needs to up this to 2 years.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

the 1 year warranty is general the industry standard even with a 2 year contract. Something I recommend to any one who owns a cell phone is always get insurance on it. It a life saver for when you need it and it worth the 3-5 bucks a month you pays for it.

 

[AndyR]

Can't set iTunes songs as ring tones Come on Apple thats stupid, I've been doing that with MP3's exported from iTunes for yonks now. If were limited to thats crappy bing bong style ringtones you won't be getting my money.

 

[killr_b]

…snip…

Other details include:

- 2 year contract required, applies for existing customers as well
- Apple is taking additional efforts to prevent the unlocking of the phones
- Apple and Cingular will share tech support responsibilities
- Cingular hinted at possible iPhone specific data plans
- Likely a 1 year warranty

Deal Breaker. Period. One year warranty on a two year agreement.

…snip…

- iTunes songs can not be set as ringtones
- As reported, battery is not user replaceable
- Gestures / Scrolling interface has brief learning curve
- Screen appears resistant to smudges
- No Voice over IP support
- No wireless iTunes downloads/purchases

Also a deal breaker. Why download songs or even put them on the thing?

Taking additional measures to prevent phone unlocking? Sounds like it's time for my stock to be set free.

 

[210]

Different Models?

There might be different models? In that case, would there be a possibility that in the UK 02, say, would have exclusive rights over this present model, but other carriers (Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile, etc.) can have the other models? I really hope so, otherwise I'm screwed.

 

[killr_b]

I think that this phone is so expensive to produce, that steve had to sign such contracts.
cingular, google, yahoo, no ringtones and so on. The price is freedom.
It's too early for that kind of technologie and truely 5 years ahead of everything else.
An unlocked version that can do all you want would perhaps cost 1000$ and who would buy this? nobody.

But I'm looking forward to my 100gig multitouch true video iPod.

Dave

I would buy it RIGHT NOW if it was unlocked and $2000.
I don't like notebooks. I think they are worthless next to my MacPro and have always preferred to spend double on a desktop than to have two half powered computers. If I could edit MS Word files on it, it would be perfect. $2000. No questions.