"Get ready. iPhone is coming June 29."

[rjlawrencejr]

I'm starting to think the same way too.

Seriously, you'll know you hit a Java page when you see a picture of a coffee mug and Sun's java logo. How many pages do you guys go to that use Java?

Now Javascript is everywhere and the iPhone supports that. But as far as I know, the only two times I've run into Java the past few years has been Facebook's photo upload manager and an NES emulator site that let you play NES games online using Java.

THANK YOU! I wrote the same thing in another thread.

I would suggest people download the Safari 3 beta and use it with plug-ins and Java (not javascript) turned off. I have been doing that today and all the sites I visit look and feel no different that with the plug-ins and Java turned on. I am assuming this will give me glimpse of what the iPhone's Safari experience will be.

 

[ISMPlus]

YAWN!!!! Zzzzz Zzzzz (-_-)

Just wake me up when some real hardware gets here:

- 10" Ultra Portable Macintosh MacBook Pro Mini or MacBook Mini
- Semi-Pro gaming mini tower... MacPro Mini ($2100) all-in-one?
- Video iPod w/Widescreen and touch screen UI, 120GB, BT, iLife Mobile
- iMac updates sometime soon?
- MacMini updates??? Can we have one maybe?
- Ummm how about .Mac updates?
- iLife 08 and iWork 08

Sweet!!!

This phone is not for business users so what is the real problem? It has no MS Office support or support for anything that the business world would use on a day to day basis that makes the Treo and Blackberry so wonderful... so what is the real problem?

I wonder if that's why they're holding the launching of iWork? Maybe it will be a replacement to the MS office apps, which is still nice! Oh man, I so hope I'm right! Maybe they're not adver. it since no one else does?

 

[Uptown710]

Does anyone know if current cingular members can get this phone?

 

[bravedeer]

No contract...

I don't believe you'll have to sign a contract and this news in my opinion points to this.

Why would you need to sign a 2 year contract for a non subsidized phone?

And the whole idea of getting one for 1K without signing a contract is the most ridiculous thing ever.

 

[lilnyc]

My point, and a lot of others points, are that the iPhone is expensive, and missing a lot of features.

The iPod only had to do one thing, play music.

The iPhone is three things, a phone, a music player, and an internet browser. If 50% of the content on the internet is unsupported by the internet browser, then you only get 50% of the internet.

I want my cell phone to make calls, I want my music and videos to sound and look good, and I want my internet to be the internet. Bug for bug all the internet.

P6

Pyramid,

I think your points are very valid. I don't get the "My mom isn't savvy eough to know about those things" responses to you, but she'd want an iPhone?

The Internet and honestly 3G are both very important to me. What's MOST important to me is being able to properly sync my contacts from Apple to apple, not a workaround from Windows Mobile to Apple, which leaves all fields wacky.

3G
My current ability to recieve data (e-mails, text messages, browse the web) while on a phone call using 3G is also very important. It's like having a DVR. Once you do, there's no turning back to a VCR. BUT the iPhone's wi-fi feature will allow syncronized data/calls. however, wi-fi connections are skakey outside of the home unless you subscribe to one (as I understand from an AT&T rep who said I'd have to subscribe to their wi-fi service at a hefty price).

No Flash? No Way!
I just returned the Nokia N800 Internet tablet believing that the iPhone would have the Internet with Flash. On the Nokia, I could watch YouTube and enjoy other Flash sites optimized up to version 7 of Flash. I'm getting really dow reading that it doesn't support Flash. Is this speculation or fact?

It would be very hard to resist, but given the info you provided, I may have to defer my gratification because my current HTC 8525 has features that matter to me. I think I may need to see what the feedback is and think a while. Then too I may not have the will power...we'll see. The more i think of it, the iPhone may be a $500+"beta" so to speak. But I may just be a "beta tester, lol.

Thanks for your breakdown of missing features, Pyramid. You're being treated like an aethiest in church by some, but I for one appreciate it.

Thanks,
Lillian

 

[macinfojunkie]

Um, don't you mean SQL Server? No such thing as MS SQL.

Yes you are perfectly correct, I think I did mean Microsoft SQL Server. At least I'm sure I did not mean "Oracle" anyway!

I was just using the short form name that most of the DBAs I work with use (Sequel*).

 

[r4m3n]

I don't believe you'll have to sign a contract and this news in my opinion points to this.

Why would you need to sign a 2 year contract for a non subsidized phone?

And the whole idea of getting one for 1K without signing a contract is the most ridiculous thing ever.

I hope that's true too. I'm still locked under contract with T-mobile for another 8 months and I really want this phone. My phone can barely even last a day on a full charge! Fortunately, my mom's contract has expired so if desperate measures call, i can probably do a swaparoo on that account...


Anyway, I really think come launch night, you can walk into a apple store, grab the iphone, pay, and leave.

I figure, it takes on average about 20-30 minutes to sign up for a new cell plan and with people anticipating long lines for the iPhone, there's no way they can sign up even a hundred new accounts per store in the 4 hours the store is open on Friday night...If anything, activation (if really necessary) is done at home?

 

[pyramid6]

I'm not asking to be a jerk, but rather as an actual question... but can you point me to a phone to does have flash, java, 3G, significant 3rd party support, im'ing, expandable storage and a 'normal keyboard'?

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/

Granted Flash and Java aren't full blown. I didn't say 'normal' keyboard, I said one that provided feedback. As in you press a button and you feel the button being pressed.

Mainly I see where people are coming from. My only two beefs are Flash and the development env.
P6

Edit: I plan on buying the iPhone. I just think it needs some missing features before it can replace all the other phones on the market.

 

[strangelogic]

Love the whole e-Bay twist to this thread. willing to bet transferring these is gonna be a BEAR of a task at first.. I don't think this is going to be PS3 or Wii, I think they will be available enough that folks won't be paying a premium. (especially considering how horrible the internet will be without flash )

 

[Digital Skunk]

Does anyone know if current cingular members can get this phone?

Yeah... but I heard that you have to signup for another contract with Cingular and pay a cancelation fee or have two contracts.

Don't forget that there is no insurance for it either so don't loose it, drop it, get it stolen, break it, or actually use it as a phone... just leave it in your pocket and pull it out to show off.

 

[lilnyc]

Yeah... but I heard that you have to signup for another contract with Cingular and pay a cancelation fee or have two contracts.

Don't forget that there is no insurance for it either so don't loose it, drop it, get it stolen, break it, or actually use it as a phone... just leave it in your pocket and pull it out to show off.

I pulled out my 8525 to look up something on the Internet for someone at a BBQ last weekend. People were actually in awe of that and stood around as I browsed the web. Imagine an iPhone.

You know people are gonna ask, "May I hold it?"

 

[smj]

Does anyone know if current cingular members can get this phone?

I have been told you can. Seriously, why would Apple or AT&T say "Sorry, we don't want your $600 that everyone else is going to pay."

 

[dante@sisna.com]

Yes you can

Does anyone know if current cingular members can get this phone?

I am a current cingular customer and I called my local store yesterday and asked this question. They said, "Of course, you can always buy the iPhone."

 

[Hattig]

I don't care about Java within Safari, as a client-side technology on the internet it has failed apart from a few specialised applications where it is ideal (console emulators embedded into a website, complex streaming porn applications, and other things that Flash, nevermind AJAX, can't do). Of course on the server side it is absolutely massive, and in the mobile applications arena it is pretty large too - you don't often get a modern phone without a J2ME virtual machine installed for games and applications.

Flash however should be supported - in a "Click Here To Play" manner. I don't want my previous mobile phone bandwidth being eaten up by a dozen adverts per page! As for Flash video, I think that using H.264 is better for the iPhone as it will have hardware for that which will save power.

However if Apple want to sell games via iTunes to the iPhone, then they don't want people being able to play the hundreds of good Flash and Java games that are available online for free. Granted the Java games will probably require a full J2SE environment or more, but that ain't hard. I ran a full J2SE 1.1 environment on a 40MHz ARM set top box back in 1998 (it was made by Acorn, I don't think it ever got turned into a product), and Java has come a long way since, and the iPhone's CPU is probably at least 10x as fast before Java specific extensions (ARM Jazelle). As a sandboxed application environment, Java would be ideal for the iPhone and bypass all that crap that Steve Jobs said about needing to take care with apps. I'm sure that Mac OS X could be programmed to least prioritise the Java VM too.

 

[F.D.]

Simple a MUST!!!
..For you. Congradulations on being the first one to take a thread into "omg iphone suxorz!1!" realm.
No one who wants one cares what you think. And if you don't want one, no one is making you get one. Your post, aside from general whining, is only remoretly related to the topic at hand.

The phone will get slammed by nerds who know wtf java and flash are. My mother, grand mother, brother, heck my entire family outside of me will love this thing and never probably notice until they try and load a complicated flash game... Which no one but my brother is likely to do.

All those that hate the iPhone and are just here to deconstructively trash it, please just walk away and pretend it doesn't exist. You'll be quite surprised to find out that life is actually just as it was before the iPhone was announced, and that the lack of Java support will actually have no ill effects on your social life!
Contrary wise, sitting here and trashing a product you have no intention of buying could have dramatic effects on your social and dating life. If you have one.

And who made YOU the spokesman for everyone here?

 

[Stella]

I'm not asking to be a jerk, but rather as an actual question... but can you point me to a phone to does have flash, java, 3G, significant 3rd party support, im'ing, expandable storage and a 'normal keyboard'?

Your joking right?

Where have you been living? Under a rock? Mars?

Most high end phones. Once again I use Nokia E-Series as an example, especially the E90**. I'm sure there are other manufacturers too.

**I'm not too sure about the Flash support in Feature Pack 1, but has all the rest, S60v3 definitely supports all but Flash embedded in a browser.

 

[cloudnine]

My roommate actually has an iTunes gift card he cant use because he does not want to sign up. Some people dont have accounts.

Why would he not want to sign up? That's retarded.

 

[cloudnine]

Your joking right?

Where have you been living? Under a rock? Mars?

Most high end phones. Once again I use Nokia E-Series as an example, especially the E90**. I'm sure there are other manufacturers too.

**I'm not too sure about the Flash support in Feature Pack 1, but has all the rest, S60v3 definitely supports all but Flash embedded in a browser.

Wow... no need to be a dick, dick.

 

[Philsy]

Why would he not want to sign up? That's retarded.

Perhaps he prefers to have hi-fi quality from CDs....

 

[mixel]

I'm hoping the iphone gets more features too.. Maybe there'll be an iphone Pro which WILL let you install stuff, as it is needed by the smart phone audience..

The media side wouldnt be quite so important on that device. I dont think they're seriously that worried about reliablility once other software is installed.. I have PalmOS devices full of installed software and it's fine.. What they probably ARE worried about is someone making file sharing apps for it, making it a wireless itunes piratey device.. Which wouldn't please the studios much.

Also they will try and sell us games later, so if it was an open platform and the inevitable happened and it had full working MAME, ZSNES, Fusion, Doom through to Quake 3, and other stuff, they'd potentially lose game sales.. They'd also lose game sales to all the lines you can call to download games - which are big industry now. It's a shame though because it would be a really fun emulation & gaming device.

Also this stuff about the 'real' internet is annoying me slightly.. The browser I have installed on my 2 yr old PalmOS UX50 also viewed the "real" internet, with Jscript, full pages, zoom.. I can download flash files with it and watch them too.. Soo.. In terms of features (other than interface and multitouch) iPhone is a huge step backwards..

Reviews are going to dock points off for the lack of flash, for sure. I wish they wouldn't hype it with lies, basically.. It's not (seemingly) a smart phone, it doesnt let you view an anymore "real" version of the internet than many other devices. It "running osX!" is irrelevent if there's no 3rd party software. It could be running amigaDOS if it's a totally closed platform - it doesnt matter. I've never had a phone crash for no reason, so I've no reason to think unix underpinnings are going to make a phone act any more reliably.

It does look like a lovely thing though, I'm not against the device at all - not bashing the device for what it is. It does look like the best mobile phone i've seen.. But not in the ways they're telling me it is.

Fortunately some bright people will come up with unofficial ways to get stuff on the iphone, so there could be interesting times ahead for it at least.

 

[Evangelion]

without Java and Flash it is not a web browser...

Yes it is.

 

[Evangelion]

Go into Safari security preferences and turn off plug-ins and Java, then browse for a while. Many things seem ok, you can get by, but lots of things are missing, it gets annoying after a while. See how long you can stand it before you turn them back on.

I occasionally browse the web with a text-based browser. I quite often browse the web with my cell-phone that has no trace of Flash or Java.

What things am I usually missing when I browse with a browser that does not support Flash? Ads mostly. And while Firefox does work with Flash, I'm using flashblocker to block it out, and I don't seem to be missing out on anything important. The times when I need to enable Flash are few and far between.

So I have tolerated flash-free web for a long time, and I couldn't be happier. Most of the stuff Flash offers is crap anyway.

 

[ogun7]

I'm hoping the iphone gets more features too.. Maybe there'll be an iphone Pro which WILL let you install stuff, as it is needed by the smart phone audience..

They'll never completely open it up in order to protect iTunes DRM

The media side wouldnt be quite so important on that device. I dont think they're seriously that worried about reliablility once other software is installed.. I have PalmOS devices full of installed software and it's fine.. What they probably ARE worried about is someone making file sharing apps for it, making it a wireless itunes piratey device.. Which wouldn't please the studios much.

Aye, there's the rub. You see what most people (and developers) don't seem to understand. If the iPhone as a platform was completely open, iTunes DRM wouldn't stand a chance, and that would piss off Junior Bronfman and the rest of the media cartel. That would kill Apple's relationship with content producers and destroy their new business model.

Reviews are going to dock points off for the lack of flash, for sure. I wish they wouldn't hype it with lies, basically.. It's not (seemingly) a smart phone, it doesnt let you view an anymore "real" version of the internet than many other devices. It "running osX!" is irrelevent if there's no 3rd party software. It could be running amigaDOS if it's a totally closed platform - it doesnt matter. I've never had a phone crash for no reason, so I've no reason to think unix underpinnings are going to make a phone act any more reliably.

I'm sorry to break it to you, buddy, but phones & PDA's do crash. I'm on my 5th generation Palm, a TX and I barely use the thing because of crashes, mysterious battery drainage and syncing problems. And please don't get me started on my 3rd RAZR, a V3i with iTunes. I think Apple does a pretty good job (especially compared to the competition) of making reliable software and devices. They have so much hanging on the iPhone, that stability has to be there. Anyone remember the Newton?

It does look like a lovely thing though, I'm not against the device at all - not bashing the device for what it is. It does look like the best mobile phone i've seen.. But not in the ways they're telling me it is.

Fortunately some bright people will come up with unofficial ways to get stuff on the iphone, so there could be interesting times ahead for it at least.

I agree and agree. We as Mac users have some of the most brilliant, creative and ingenious developers for our platform. That's why I'm getting an iPhone regardless of the hype.

 

[loudestnoise]

I occasionally browse the web with a text-based browser. I quite often browse the web with my cell-phone that has no trace of Flash or Java.

What things am I usually missing when I browse with a browser that does not support Flash? Ads mostly. And while Firefox does work with Flash, I'm using flashblocker to block it out, and I don't seem to be missing out on anything important. The times when I need to enable Flash are few and far between.

So I have tolerated flash-free web for a long time, and I couldn't be happier. Most of the stuff Flash offers is crap anyway.

I too, am not that upset about the lack of Flash support. My first thought was, "Oh too bad I can't use YouTube." but as we have seen from the TV + YouTube integration, hopefully they will have another kind of solution that will still allow iPhone to view YouTube content. As other video sites see how this can enhance their user base, they too will probably offer content that is accessible by iPhone.

 

[1984]

I know you can sync the iPhone with your Mac but can you actually transfer and store files on the iPhone? I need access to PDFs but so far it's sounding like they can only be viewed from websites or emails not actually stored.