iPhone 3G Hands On, Notes, and Questions

[Paladin]

As I outlined in a previous post, I don't know the email address people use on their phones or if they have them set up. If people get an email message they can't just "call back" either. Its unpopular, I've never once used mobile email.

In your Contacts list, you can add email addresses, so you'll never have to memorize them. When they get an email from you, they can select your name and choose to call you back. This functionality is available in all smartphones.

If mobile email is so unpopular, then why does RIM have the highest share of the Smartphone market?

I'm currently a BlackBerry user, and I curse when people send me text messages. It costs $0.15, rather I want to receive it or not.

Fact is, SMS is far more popular than email and voice calls.

I think you might need some statistics before you call that a fact. Voice calls are still the most popular form of mobile communication. I'm judging this, of course, by the number of bad drivers (phone to ear, one hand on wheel) and bionic listeners (Bluetooth headset users) that I see every day that are actually using their phones to talk to people.

 

[danny_w]

In your Contacts list, you can add email addresses, so you'll never have to memorize them. When they get an email from you, they can select your name and choose to call you back. This functionality is available in all smartphones.

If mobile email is so unpopular, then why does RIM have the highest share of the Smartphone market?

I'm currently a BlackBerry user, and I curse when people send me text messages. It costs $0.15, rather I want to receive it or not.



I think you might need some statistics before you call that a fact. Voice calls are still the most popular form of mobile communication. I'm judging this, of course, by the number of bad drivers (phone to ear, one hand on wheel) and bionic listeners (Bluetooth headset users) that I see every day that are actually using their phones to talk to people.

I think it is very age group dependent. It seems that many teens these days spend far more time on IM than using voice calling or email; I know my son (now 21) hates email and phones (voice anyway) and says that most of his friends do too; they would much rather text each other where they can have multiple 'instant' conversations going on at the same time.

 

[emir]

I think you might need some statistics before you call that a fact. Voice calls are still the most popular form of mobile communication. I'm judging this, of course, by the number of bad drivers (phone to ear, one hand on wheel) and bionic listeners (Bluetooth headset users) that I see every day that are actually using their phones to talk to people.

Actually there are statistics. I am assuming you are in the United States and since there aren't that much wi-fi everywhere in Europe and SMS is cheaper than EDGE we prefer SMS and it is really popular.

 

[Paladin]

I think it is very age group dependent. It seems that many teens these days spend far more time on IM than using voice calling or email; I know my son (now 21) hates email and phones (voice anyway) and says that most of his friends do too; they would much rather text each other where they can have multiple 'instant' conversations going on at the same time.

It definitely depends on the age group. Teenagers love text messages, and, unfortunately, their job interview skills suffer greatly from this obsession. I own some restaurant franchises, and it is amazing how many 16-25 year olds can't look you in the eye or speak in a complete sentence. A whole generation is becoming unhirable because they can't communicate. If we had positions for speed texting on a Sidekick, then I'd have an endless stream of qualified applicants. Unfortunately, that skill doesn't really translate to the real world.

 

[egor]

In your Contacts list, you can add email addresses, so you'll never have to memorize them. When they get an email from you, they can select your name and choose to call you back. This functionality is available in all smartphones.

If mobile email is so unpopular, then why does RIM have the highest share of the Smartphone market?

Yes, smartphones, unfortunately I know very few people with smartphones. I don't have a smartphone, I have a Razr. I'll be getting a Samsung Soul next, not a smartphone. In fact, I'd go so far to say that Smartphones will be something many won't want for a long time, they're not very feminine, are they?

I forgot to add earlier, when I get texts I am alerted to this. I couldn't possibly turn email alerts on if I had it connected to my regular email inbox because I get alot of spam... and alot of emails that are just newletters that I do want but not neccesarily woken up for.

I'm currently a BlackBerry user, and I curse when people send me text messages. It costs $0.15, rather I want to receive it or not.

You pay to receive texts?!? This is new to me, where I live (UK) I've never heard of this.

I think you might need some statistics before you call that a fact. Voice calls are still the most popular form of mobile communication. I'm judging this, of course, by the number of bad drivers (phone to ear, one hand on wheel) and bionic listeners (Bluetooth headset users) that I see every day that are actually using their phones to talk to people.

Texting isn't as conspicuous. I did base my assertion on wikipedia: "It is said that by 2004, SMS was the favorite method of business communication over emails, voice mail or even voice calls." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_Messaging_Service). Now I had assumed there would be a reference to that fact on the page so there isn't. I've googled and there are no statistics either way. But my hunch, from the way contracts tend to be structured (far more texts than minutes), that texts are more popular. I personally prefer talking, but I get far more texts.

 

[danny_w]

It definitely depends on the age group. Teenagers love text messages, and, unfortunately, their job interview skills suffer greatly from this obsession. I own some restaurant franchises, and it is amazing how many 16-25 year olds can't look you in the eye or speak in a complete sentence. A whole generation is becoming unhirable because they can't communicate. If we had positions for speed texting on a Sidekick, then I'd have an endless stream of qualified applicants. Unfortunately, that skill doesn't really translate to the real world.

I know my son is very much the exception, but he is a stickler for communicating in complete, clear sentences, and gets very upset with his friends when they do not follow suit. He is the 'grammar police' to everyone he knows. And he doesn't even own a cell phone, and doesn't want one either (he lost or washed both of the ones that I gave him).

 

[elistan]

Without the phone unlocked by AT&T, it reverts to the out-of-box state, in which nothing works.

The guy at the Apple store said I could sell my old phone on ebay.

Now lets do the math - I spent $599 for the phone, less the $100 Steve Jobs rebate, and now I am going to sell an old non-working phone against a subsidized $199 phone (that is clearly better), and other unlocked phones? I think your old locked iPhone will be worth $25-50, maybe.

markcc, here's how it will happen. You go into an AT&T store, leaving your old iPhone behind. You purchase a 3G iPhone, and they activate it using your existing phone number. In their system they know the ID of the SIM in your old iPhone, and since only one SIM can be linked to a particular phone number, they essentially remove that SIMs access to their network, and correlate you phone number with the SIM in the 3G iPhone you purchased.

At that point, your old first-gen iPhone basically acts as if you just purchased from an Apple store. Give it to a friend off yours, and they'll be able to connect it to iTunes and activate - either as a new phone, or a replacement of their existing phone if they're already an AT&T customer.

(That's what happened to me when I got my iPhone last year - I was already an AT&T customer, so I simply transferred my phone number to the iPhone. At which point my old phone (some Nokia thing) would no longer connect to the AT&T network (except for 911 calls, by law.)

The old iPhone itself does not get disabled - its SIM card simply will not allow it to log on to the AT&T network. (Whether it will function as an iPod and WiFi device at that point, I have no idea. You can try it yourself by popping out the SIM card and seeing what happens.)

 

[egor]

It definitely depends on the age group. Teenagers love text messages, and, unfortunately, their job interview skills suffer greatly from this obsession. I own some restaurant franchises, and it is amazing how many 16-25 year olds can't look you in the eye or speak in a complete sentence. A whole generation is becoming unhirable because they can't communicate. If we had positions for speed texting on a Sidekick, then I'd have an endless stream of qualified applicants. Unfortunately, that skill doesn't really translate to the real world.

I don't think this is anything new. Its inherent to being young and lacking confidence. Also, education is going downhill in many places (no evidence, just my opinion).

Another thing I forgot to add, if I get an email on my phone then I am charged for the data received (same rate as browsing, etc.). It just makes zero sense to me, even when I'm on contract I'll still get charged (I'd rather have lots of minutes than free data).

 

[Paladin]

You pay to receive texts?!? This is new to me, where I live (UK) I've never heard of this.

Believe it. Every major U.S. cell carrier charges for incoming texts.

Also, education is going downhill in many places (no evidence, just my opinion).

No argument here. Most public schools in the U.S. offer little more than political correctness training and a place to play organized sports.

Another thing I forgot to add, if I get an email on my phone then I am charged for the data received (same rate as browsing, etc.). It just makes zero sense to me, even when I'm on contract I'll still get charged (I'd rather have lots of minutes than free data).

AT&T forces you to have a data plan with the iPhone, so there's no way to really get around paying for data. At least it's "unlimited," and you don't have to worry about being charged for going over an allowance. Unless of course they put a cap on "unlimited," which some have. I, for one, don't mind this because I want the data for mobile browsing and email. I'd probably do more now, but my BlackBerry 8303 has a terrible browser.

It looks like we are in opposite worlds on this one.

 

[markcc]

I appreciate your comments

I appreciate you comments, but the Apple store sales guy specifically said that AT&T was deactivating the phone. I used the word BRICK with him and he agreed that I would have absolutely no functionality after the upgrade.

 

[Type121]

I appreciate you comments, but the Apple store sales guy specifically said that AT&T was deactivating the phone. I used the word BRICK with him and he agreed that I would have absolutely no functionality after the upgrade.

I most strongly doubt that this will be the case. More importantly, none of the store employees have any detailed information of this kind yet. There are still lots of pre-sale decisions to be made at the corporate level. I guarantee you that they are not including store personnel in those decisions. The store people will get their training a few days to a few hours before the devices go on sale. These guys only have access to the same press releases and published info that we have. Even the mid-level folks in corporate are still in the dark about the details.

 

[danny_w]

AT&T forces you to have a data plan with the iPhone, so there's no way to really get around paying for data. At least it's "unlimited," and you don't have to worry about being charged for going over an allowance. Unless of course they put a cap on "unlimited," which some have. I, for one, don't mind this because I want the data for mobile browsing and email. I'd probably do more now, but my BlackBerry 8303 has a terrible browser.

This is not true for the current iPhone, but who knows about the 3G version. Many people have reported that they have cancelled the data plan and called AT&T to block data traffic. As a matter of fact I am about to do that myself. I never really need data anyplace where there isn't wifi available, and visual voicemail is no biggie since I get so very few.

 

[markcc]

Do you work for apple?

Do you work for Apple? The guy I talked to did. He was not speculating, he was telling me how it is. If he was speculating he did not use any language to that effect an when I got angered over the bricking of a machine I own, he showed none of the flexibility you would expect in a speculative discussion.

It looks like the decisions are made and are being disseminated as fact. To think that Apple and AT&T would have a lot of loose ends on such a large decision like this would indicate that the two companies each have bad managers, I dont think so. Is there a possibility or probability that this decision might be a trial balloon? I would think it might be. When they get feedback from the customers, they may change this decision.

 

[Type121]

Do you work for Apple? The guy I talked to did. He was not speculating, he was telling me how it is. If he was speculating he did not use any language to that effect an when I got angered over the bricking of a machine I own, he showed none of the flexibility you would expect in a speculative discussion.

Believe me or not, I'm telling you that this guy is not correct and not in a position to know the information he claims to have regardless of whether he works in an Apple Store or not.

Store employees are not given this kind of info this far out. They are not given the opportunity to 'break' major policy decisions. The only good info that is out there right now comes from the press releases and the leaked AT&T memo.

 

[BuffaloTF]

Yes, smartphones, unfortunately I know very few people with smartphones. I don't have a smartphone, I have a Razr. I'll be getting a Samsung Soul next, not a smartphone. In fact, I'd go so far to say that Smartphones will be something many won't want for a long time, they're not very feminine, are they?

you don't need a smartphone to email people. You can send an email thru any/all text message functions. If you use someone's phone # as their email address, it will be delivered to them in the form of a text. If they reply to you, it'll be delivered back to your iPhone's email account. An SMS is a character-limited email, that the phone company takes from you, adds the @xxx.whatever, and ships to the person you selected. So if you add the persons email address as that Phone#@xxx.whatever yourself, you just did the ONLY thing that they do for you, and they charge you for it to boot... an MMS is simply one that supports images and video, with a larger character limit.

 

[egor]

you don't need a smartphone to email people. You can send an email thru any/all text message functions. If you use someone's phone # as their email address, it will be delivered to them in the form of a text. If they reply to you, it'll be delivered back to your iPhone's email account. An SMS is a character-limited email, that the phone company takes from you, adds the @xxx.whatever, and ships to the person you selected. So if you add the persons email address as that Phone#@xxx.whatever yourself, you just did the ONLY thing that they do for you, and they charge you for it to boot... an MMS is simply one that supports images and video, with a larger character limit.

I was responding to a post that pointed out you can easily phone back on an email on smartphones, my response was highlighting that not that many have a smartphone.

I've just tried what you suggested too (to myself). I used mynumber@orange.co.uk and got a reply in my inbox saying it couldn't be delivered, etc. So, this either means it never works or that I used the wrong domain. If I used the wrong domain inspite knowing my carrier then how likely am I to get the domain right for other people (when might not know the carrier)?

AT&T forces you to have a data plan with the iPhone, so there's no way to really get around paying for data. At least it's "unlimited," and you don't have to worry about being charged for going over an allowance. Unless of course they put a cap on "unlimited," which some have. I, for one, don't mind this because I want the data for mobile browsing and email. I'd probably do more now, but my BlackBerry 8303 has a terrible browser.

It looks like we are in opposite worlds on this one.

Well the iPhone in the UK is always sold with an unlimited data plan too, but I don't think many people have unlimited data on their phones to make emailing to their phone email a great idea.

But with regards to "opposite worlds", I think thats a problem with Apple's attitude. The iPhone is only just 3G inspite just about any phone over here being released being 3G, it sounds like the lack of 3G in the original product was very US centric. And the lack of MMS may also be US-centric, if you're charged to receive texts I can see how it might not be popular there, but it is here. It just seems like one audience is being catered over another to me.

 

[macfreak52]

Speculation?

Man...its funny to see how off topic we can get.

Okay, so I have a question. Is it a fact that we will have to activate in store, or is it just speculation. Everyone here appears we will have to, and even the yahoo article about the new Iphone says you will. I am confused! To make it more confusing, I stopped by the AT&T store today and spoke to an employee there. She said (informed or not, I don't know) that you will not have to activate in store. She seemed pretty sure or she is a really good liar. So what do you think?

 

[Type121]

\Okay, so I have a question. Is it a fact that we will have to activate in store, or is it just speculation. Everyone here appears we will have to, and even the yahoo article about the new Iphone says you will. I am confused! To make it more confusing, I stopped by the AT&T store today and spoke to an employee there. She said (informed or not, I don't know) that you will not have to activate in store. She seemed pretty sure or she is a really good liar. So what do you think?

She's wrong. Here's the relevant section of AT&Ts memo to employees:

New Activation Process and BRE:
The iPhone 3G will be activated at point of sale when the device is purchased, in store. The BRE period will change from 14 days to 30 days and will require the device to be returned to place of purchase before service is cancelled.

From here.

 

[macfreak52]

New Article

Btw, just checked Engadget...and there is a good article on there that clears up some of the confusion...http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/12/iphone-3g-everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-but-were-afraid-t/

 

[scho52386]

I am not a fan of the new look, but 3g!!!! It is what we wanted all along!

 

[compuguy1088]

This is a perfectly valid point. That's why we have man-bags... oh, sorry, that was meant to be internal monologue.

Not man-bags.....European Carryalls!!!

 

[compuguy1088]

Look at what they did Monday:
1). They put a plastic backplate on a phone that originally had an aluminum backplate that was the epitome of style, elegance and durability. Mass marketing strategy #1 (don't believe the pure BS you hear about aluminum interfering with the 3G signal)!

Though if your saying that #1 is a myth, then why does the 1st generation iPhone have a plastic bottom for the Wifi/Cell antennae?

 

[Paladin]

This is not true for the current iPhone, but who knows about the 3G version. Many people have reported that they have cancelled the data plan and called AT&T to block data traffic. As a matter of fact I am about to do that myself. I never really need data anyplace where there isn't wifi available, and visual voicemail is no biggie since I get so very few.

I stand corrected. You can definitely call and cancel the data plan.

Wi-Fi, while available in many places, is not available in my car. Living in Houston, I spend a lot more time in my car than I'd like to, and I need data during those hours. The bottom line for me is that the iPhone 3G is perfect for my particular needs. Better yet, if they release a 128 GB version with Video Conferencing, MMS, and an 8MP Camera on July 12th, then I won't have the slightest bit of remorse. I don't need any of those things in a phone.

 

[danny_w]

I stand corrected. You can definitely call and cancel the data plan.

Wi-Fi, while available in many places, is not available in my car. Living in Houston, I spend a lot more time in my car than I'd like to, and I need data during those hours. The bottom line for me is that the iPhone 3G is perfect for my particular needs. Better yet, if they release a 128 GB version with Video Conferencing, MMS, and an 8MP Camera on July 12th, then I won't have the slightest bit of remorse. I don't need any of those things in a phone.

Very good point about being in your car in Houston. I'm well aware that some people have a real need for data via the phone network, and that is perfectly fine, but many of us don't; to us it would be a nice convenience but not worth the price of admission.

 

[dflem713]

it would be really nice if at&t would get their act together and produce some serious details:
-the text message situation
-the activation situation
also since the iPhone is now being treated like everything else in being subsidized, do you have to be eligible for an upgrade in order to get the discounted price or if you extend your contract 2 years then you're good to go? the anticipation is being worsened by at&t dragging their feet...