iPhone-alikes: miniOne, F700, LG Prada

[Maccus Aurelius]

Why oh why should anyone truly care about the mega pixel capacity of a cell phone's built in camera? If it's clear enough to show at least moderate detail with decent resolution I'm pretty much satisfied. After all, it's just a phone, not my digital camera replacement. All a cell phone's camera is good for is the same thing we use iSights and other webcams for. They're for small relatively lower quality pictures that are esentially disposable email stuffers. If I want to take hi-res shots of something I'll invest in a proper camera, not a cell phone.

The reason why multitouch matters is that it makes it possible for soft-press QWERTY keypads. Since other screens only allow for single point input at a time it wouldn't be possible to perform alternate key functions, such as shift to use a different symbol with the same key. Scoff if you will, but this is a step forward, and it seriously simplifies the hardware package, since it means no sliding/moving parts that eventually wear with use.

 

[AppleMan101]

I've found where they all copied the design from...
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...
.....
...
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The Acer n35....
http://www.fm-i.de/de/downloads/Acern35_400dpiRGB_Bildschirm.jpg

 

[jonharris200]

What! Has the iPhone rumour been confirmed then...?!

 

[gerlitzappel]

I did see the Prada phone when it came out then the iphone. I couldnt believe the iphones similarities to the prada LG....

Just posing a dumb question but what if the iphone isnt the final design....and it was just another mock up?

I would love to see the features enhanced by the time of release. With all of these look alikes being anounced, it would be awesome if Apple trumped them all in June!

 

[Maccus Aurelius]

I've found where they all copied the design from...
.
...
.....
...
.
The Acer n35....
http://www.fm-i.de/de/downloads/Acern35_400dpiRGB_Bildschirm.jpg

Lol and Acer copied that from the Dell Axim.

 

[jhedges3]

I’m planning on making my own iPhone thanks to this pdf.

Here is one being worked on:

 

[Poff]

That's just the mega-pixel myth talking. Throwing in more MP isn't going to improve the camera, you realize that, right? It's about the quality of the sensor, and the relation between sensor size and MP count. Cramming 5MP onto such a small sensor will only result in significantly larger photos with a similar quality of 2MP. In other words, take a picture with a 2MP camera, and increase the size to what a 5MP camera would produce. Bad image quality is all you're getting. Well, and a bigger picture, so you can see the noise better.

As with everything, it might be a good idea to look at tests and buy the product that actually produces good pictures. Some phone cameras have both, high resolution and good quality. Others have none. low resolution and bad quality. But a low resolution good quality cam will never look good if you want bigger than standard pictures on your wall.

 

[cbud]

This market is a lot more competitive than the mp3-market (as we can see), and I hope Apple will get rid of their habit of releasing products with sub-standard technologies. Yeah, the UI is great, but if I can get a phone with 3mpix camera, higher resolution screen and 3G for the same price, then I don't know if Apple will be the one I'm choosing. I guess the camera is the deal-breaker for me, as I'm eager to get rid of my Canon and use mobile only. And a 2mpix cam won't do much for me there.. :/ (not a 3mpix btw. But there are phones with 5mpix on the european market, and at least 8 on the Korean market)

Don't expect a lens the size of a pencil eraser to give you the quality photographs your cannon lens does, no matter how many mega pixels it has.

3G a deal breaker? Yeah 3G is faster, but how many cities actually have it right now? Also, how many cell phones come with Wi-Fi? Wi-Fi is the deal-maker for me.

Has anybody heard anything about the iPhone’s video recording ability? Does anybody think it would be possible for it to record in h.264?

 

[Poff]

After all, it's just a phone, not my digital camera replacement.

A handful of the new phones in korea and japan have cameras that surpass a lot of good digital cameras when it comes to image quality.

Don't expect a lens the size of a pencil eraser to give you the quality photographs your cannon lens does, no matter how many mega pixels it has.

3G a deal breaker? Yeah 3G is faster, but how many cities actually have it right now? Also, how many cell phones come with Wi-Fi? Wi-Fi is the deal-maker for me.

Has anybody heard anything about the iPhone’s video recording ability? Does anybody think it would be possible for it to record in h.264?

We have 3G "everywhere" here. But I understand it's not so popular in the US. As I said above, some mobile cams do get very good pictures indeed. For someone who's not so picky, there are even mobile phones sold in Europe and the US that take perfectly good pictures.

 

[Clive At Five]

I have the worst phone in the history of phones. The Nokia 3100 (it was free with the family plan, okay?).

Anyway, when I select "menu," I am brought to a screen that looks very similar to that of the iPhone's. The only difference (aside from different "applications") is that I use the keypad to navigate.

It looks sort of like this (but cheaper):

How different is that from the iPhone?

Not much.

I agree with those who say that the home screens of the LG Prada and the iPhone are the natural progression of cell phone UIs.

I also agree with those who say that the multi-touch, advanced applications, and syncability are going to set the iPhone apart from the rest.

I additionally agree, however, with those who see Apple's partnership with Cingular potentially damaging. Ignorant fools, like those who would buy a Zune, will buy the LG or Samsung. It's a shame that Apple is forcing us to pick sides on the cell phone carrier wars.

-Clive

 

[Gosh]

My year 2000 Palm m100 has a touch interface if I use my little finger - doesn't make it a freaking iPhone!

Eventually most phones and MP3 players will resemble a - screen!

The sophistication will be the functionality the OS and it's human interface! After how may years has anyone really caught the ipod?

 

[cbud]

iPhones have sync compatibility with iTunes, although by the time it ships in June, Apple would need to release a Windows version of Apple Mail, iCal and Address Book. Apple's legendary ease of use and simplicity will guarantee it's superiority against these competitors.

Could we be seeing a brand new iPhone management app from Apple?

This is a good point. How is iTunes going to sync with all the different e-mail, calendar, and address programs found on a PC and still work seamlessly?


Finally a phone that will sync my iCal categories!

 

[Stella]

ROTFL.

Some of the initial posts are a hoot!

"Apple didn't rip off other manufacturers"...
( which I agree with, due to development time )

But if another phone immediately ( give or take a few months ) comes AFTER iPhone, then Company X has ripped off the iPhone, or is an iPhone clone - never that the iPhone is a clone of another!! I'm pointing out the double standards going on...

Just to give some open minded perspectiveness:

""If it's almost as good as an iPhone, and you can keep your existing carrier then why not buy the clone?""

Is there another phone on the market with 4-8 gigs of storage - No, with multi touch screen patented tech - No, running anything close to OS X with Widgets - No, with true iTunes - No, with this kind of advanced web browser - No, with this kind of photo archiving and displaying - No, that plays movies and TV shows...in Widescreen - No, that lets you choose which order to listen to your VM - No, with multiple text messaging sessions - No, that is an Apple - NO.

- there are phones with:
* 4gig of memory! YES
* OSX like Widgets!! YES ( Yahoo mobile client for Symbian )
* Advanced Web browsers - YES
* Plays movies and TV in wide screen - YES ( including DivX etc )
* Photo displaying - YES
* As nice GUI - No! ( ofc not!, yet )

You could look at it the other way -

Does iPhone have :
- open platform development for 3rd party developers ? No
- GPS? - No
- Expandable memory / removable memory ? No
- Subsidized by carriers - thus cheaper - No!
- 3G support? No!
- non-exclusivity - No
- *user replaceable* batteries - indications are NO (iPod battery is not designed to be user replaceable as a comparison)
- built in radio - No
- Blackberry messaging compatible - No ( customers use this too )
- Video recording camera - No? ( some one confirm )
- Good quality built in ( > 2MP ) camera with flash? No
- VOIP - No
- Speed dial - No ? ( someone confirm )


Oh, and don't tell me that any features that iPhone lacks is an indication that other phones have unnecessary functionality leading to bloat!!!!

 

[cbud]

We have 3G "everywhere" here. But I understand it's not so popular in the US. As I said above, some mobile cams do get very good pictures indeed. For someone who's not so picky, there are even mobile phones sold in Europe and the US that take perfectly good pictures.

When will Europe get the iPhone? It will probably have 3G by then.

I agree, some cell phones take great pictures and hopefully the iPhone will too. I just think people rely way too much on mega-pixels for measuring camera quality when the lens is the most important thing.

 

[MrCrowbar]

""If it's almost as good as an iPhone, and you can keep your existing carrier then why not buy the clone?""

Is there another phone on the market with 4-8 gigs of storage - No, with multi touch screen patented tech - No, running anything close to OS X with Widgets - No, with true iTunes - No, with this kind of advanced web browser - No, with this kind of photo archiving and displaying - No, that plays movies and TV shows...in Widescreen - No, that lets you choose which order to listen to your VM - No, with multiple text messaging sessions - No, that is an Apple - NO.

Thank You! My thoughts exactly. People tend to look at the hardware specs and, and that's it. Macs may be more expensive than PCs with similar specs (except when the Mac gets updated, then it's cheaper than comparable PCs but does not get updated every few weeks) but you get lots of free stuff you would have to pay for with windows: iLife, an imaging tool (disk utility), tons of developer tools free of charge (how expensive is a Visual Studio License?) etc.

The iPhone is not done yet, who knows, we might get some cool stuff that Steve did not tell us about yet.

PD: the iPod sucks big time when you compare it to other players on a hardware level. But it's so nice how it just works, syncs with iTunes, gets all the music, pictures and contacts I have on my computer automatically. And yea, there are so many accessories for it out there. Did I mention it looks pretty? My black nano is pretty beat up already, the sharp edges got dents and you see the bare metal because I just put it in my jeans pocket or in my wallet without a "protective case" around it. The screen is still unscratched the cickwheel is tho...

 

[Poff]

When will Europe get the iPhone? It will probably have 3G by then.

I agree, some cell phones take great pictures and hopefully the iPhone will too. I just think people rely way too much on mega-pixels for measuring camera quality when the lens is the most important thing.

aswell as the image processor. 2mpix will work fine for your 5x4inch photos, but if you want them 16x12inch 2mpix will be very grainy.

 

[cbud]

ROTFL.

Some of the initial posts are a hoot!

"Apple didn't rip off other manufacturers"...
( which I agree with, due to development time )

But if another phone immediately ( give or take a few months ) comes AFTER iPhone, then Company X has ripped off the iPhone!!!

- there are phones with 4gig of memory! YES
- there are phones with OSX like Widgets!! YES ( Yahoo mobile client for Symbian )
- Advanced Web browsers - YES
- Plays movies and TV in wide screen - YES
- Photo displaying - YES
-

"Is there another phone on the market with 4-8 gigs of storage - No, with multi touch screen patented tech - No, running anything close to OS X with Widgets - No, with true iTunes - No, with this kind of advanced web browser - No, with this kind of photo archiving and displaying - No, that plays movies and TV shows...in Widescreen - No, that lets you choose which order to listen to your VM - No, with multiple text messaging sessions - No, that is an Apple - NO."

You could look at it the other way -
Does iPhone have :
- open platform development for 3rd party developers ? No
- GPS? - No
- Expandable memory / removable memory ? No
- Subsidized by carriers - thus cheaper - No!



Does iPhone have non-exclusivity - No
Does iPhone have

It is not that they necessarily rip off Apple, its that they try to hitch a ride on Apple's publicity.

I have owned many cell phones. They have had large memory, played movies, did e-mail, linked to a GPS, recorded video...but they all were not very good at it.

I say let every company make a touch screen phone, but I know only Apple will make it actually work.

 

[Maccus Aurelius]

A handful of the new phones in korea and japan have cameras that surpass a lot of good digital cameras when it comes to image quality.

No cell phone is going to beat my Rebel SLR. Not by a long shot. I imagine image quality will increase, but given the nature of the device it's attached to it's really not a big deal.

With regards to removable memory, this really ISN'T a plus if one feels they must add more memory to their already expensive phone. Having a lack of memory expansion when one already has 4-8GB on hand as standard is really a non-issue.

 

[Stella]

It is not that they necessarily rip off Apple, its that they try to hitch a ride on Apple's publicity.

I have owned many cell phones. They have had large memory, played movies, did e-mail, linked to a GPS, recorded video...but they all were not very good at it.

I say let every company make a touch screen phone, but I know only Apple will make it actually work.

Your first sentence - yes, true - that is definitely more the truth than what others have said.

Second - Thats a bit subjective, since my phone does all of those well - except its lacking GPS. So - thats down to personal experience.

Apple definitely know how to make a good UI. No doubts about that!!

 

[alansky]

Imagine what would happen if BMW designed a new sports car and Saturn responded by building an exact duplicate (superficially, at least). They'd be ridiculed by the automotive press! But in the electronics industry, anything goes. The prevalence of shameless copycatting is truly shocking!

 

[Nemesis]

Ditto for me in Switzerland...it's a done deal...and it's gonna be for millions more, despite its fairly high price...the iPhone is just 1000 years ahead of any other phone.

People simply don't realise that iPhone is not the phone.
It's something else. It's an iPod, a portable video player, a computer, a communication device, a Star Trek tricorder, wireless device that connects with the mainframe (your supercomputer at home) and does all great things for you.

Other guys are just producing cheap plastic phones, which are painful to use anyway. Nothing else.

 

[xenotaku]

Im not buying an iPhone until the battery is replaceable. Spending 500-600 on a phone that will loose its charge in a year or so is a joke.

 

[Georgie]

Why oh why should anyone truly care about the mega pixel capacity of a cell phone's built in camera? If it's clear enough to show at least moderate detail with decent resolution I'm pretty much satisfied. After all, it's just a phone, not my digital camera replacement.

I agree. I just happen to think that 3 megapixels is around the sweet spot for every day, social, good-enough-quality use. Yes, I'd rather a relatively high-quality 2 megapixel image than a poor quality 5 megapixel image, but ideally I'd like a high quality 3 megapixel image. That'd be just about right (for now anyway, until I have that and decide I want more).

I don't expect my camera phone images to look like a Nikon D40, sheesh, no not even an SD800, but it's not unreasonable to expect quality to improve with time (or rather as new products are developed). The images produced by my Moto E815 look terrible, just awful. I think I remember reading that the cameras on NASA's Mars rovers have 1 megapixel sensors, and they take fantastic images because the sensor is so high quality (though NASA is also probably stitching together the images into larger frames here on Earth). That's an extreme example, but Fuji has come up with neat technology, which they've put in their new Finepix cameras, that significantly reduces noise without significantly increasing the sensor size. The Fuji Finepix F30 produces a pretty nice photo at ISO 800 (w/o flash), and ISO 1600 is even usable in a pinch. It seems like that technology makes good sense for a camera phone.

 

[bloodycape]

That Meizu lookalike is hilarious. I don't think China has had an original industrial thought in 50 years.

It may look funny but its 3G capability, removable battery and a solid 3rd party support isn't.

with this kind of advanced web browser - No, that plays movies and TV shows...in Widescreen, No, with multiple text messaging sessions

Actually the iphone isn't true wide-screen from what I have read. I know there are some HTC device that offer this similar wide screen resolution of the iphone so that would be a yes. I could do multiple text message sessions on my Treo 650 that came out a few years back and it is one of the rare things Palm actually did right. And since Palm introduced the 750 also has the feature(only device that has it from factory). Then some smart developers/hackers copied that feature so it can work on an WM phone, so it is sorta no longer a Palm exclusive. So that another yes. I dunno know about you but Opera mobile is fairly advance browser and can do a lot things. But, then again it is yet to be seen how real advance Safari for the iPhone can be.

 

[cbud]

Your first sentence - yes, true - that is definitely more the truth than what others have said.

Second - Thats a bit subjective, since my phone does all of those well - except its lacking GPS. So - thats down to personal experience.

Apple definitely know how to make a good UI. No doubts about that!!

I agree, it does them 'well', but not great. My Nokia 6682 does many things well and I am merely satisfied. If your phone does all of those things to your satisfaction then fine. I guess I expect more from my phone.

I don't want to be satisfied, I want to be amazed, I want to get goose bumps when I use it.