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Just how INNOVATIVE is Apples iPhone?

U

uNext

macrumors 6502
Original poster
I personally think the phone is amazing. Apple from what i see have done yet again the impossible by bringing ease of use to a cell phone (I PERSONALLY FEEL LIKE PHONES WHERE EASY TO USE BUT THEN AGAIN I AM NOT YOUR AVERGAE END USER"

So when i saw the UI i noticed that it resembled my treo 680 UI with added
color and mac like touches. Look at the pictures i have found and notice the how similar the Interface is? I have a treo 680 & a lifedrive and from what i can see so far, Macs UI is the evolution of the palms GUI.

Palm Treo 680 UI
5352.jpg


iPhones UI
apple-iphone-29.jpg


Notice the tab buttons at the bottom? Now they say Years of re-search
palms lifedrive have had that type of interface since 2004-2005. It was just recently introduced to the treo 680.

And also the form factor on the iPhone some what resembles the LIFEDRIVE
but once again with apple design touches. Is like apple was playing close attention to palm and ivolved their product from their designs.

Once again i may be wrong and i know apple fanatics will quickly discredit this but the evidence is there.

iPhone
apple-iphone-36.jpg


Lifedrive
lifedrive_popis.gif


Remove the buttons on the bottom of the lifedrive-leave 1 button and slim the trim and what do you have?

Hey i give apple alot of credit for their amazing products just my observation. Of course their both extremely diffrent products, but
i can see where apple took their design Que from.
 
Have you seen the number pads on all the cell phones!!!??? They all look the same!!!! OMG!!! 😱

Yeah, there's similarities. The device itself looks like an HTC for pete's sake, but it doesn't matter. Palm's Lifedrive is bulky compared to this, uses a hard drive with half the capacity of the high end iPhone. No innovative touch interface, not NEARLY the power of the iPhone, and the UI doesn't hold a candle....I'll take the iPhone. I think the idea of Apple copying Palm might be going to far...a good idea isn't exclusive to one company...unless they patent it 😉
 
MovieCutter said:
Have you seen the number pads on all the cell phones!!!??? They all look the same!!!! OMG!!! 😱

Yeah, there's similarities. The device itself looks like an HTC for pete's sake, but it doesn't matter. Palm's Lifedrive is bulky compared to this, uses a hard drive with half the capacity of the high end iPhone. No innovative touch interface, not NEARLY the power of the iPhone, and the UI doesn't hold a candle....I'll take the iPhone. I think the idea of Apple copying Palm might be going to far...a good idea isn't exclusive to one company...unless they patent it 😉
Click to expand...

Why do you think apple wont copy palm?

i mean the interface is old-it appears that all they did is expand the UI with the palms interface as the main focus. You can not deny that. You see the tabs? how many years of research? by who apple or palm? Is like all they did is added mac touch ups here and there added color-made it look like is a mobile osx and bam INNOVATIVE or breakthrough TITLE. Thats not innovative if you have another phones UI resembling yours.

Without a ptanet nothing is exclusive i am aware of that, but come on for steve jobs to say many years of research when its obvious their stepping stone started with palms gui.
 
uNext said:
Why do you think apple wont copy palm?

i mean the interface is old-it appears that all they did is expand the UI with the palms interface as the main focus. You can not deny that. You see the tabs? how many years of research? by who apple or palm?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't focus too much on the tabs...as the first time I saw them on a computer they were in Microsoft Excel...Are Palms suited better for their application in a mobile device, yes...and are Apple's slightly more refined, yes. But a UI is an entire experience from beginning to end, not just tabs. I'm not staying the iPhone is perfect or that Steve didn't look at others to see what he thought they were missing or messing up on...just saying tabs have been around a long time.
 
uNext said:
Without a ptanet nothing is exclusive i am aware of that, but come on for steve jobs to say many years of research when its obvious their stepping stone started with palms gui.
Click to expand...

And Palm's gui started with Apple's gui. It's not obvious at all that Apple's stepping stones started with Palm. Besides, if memory serves, Apple paved the way for Palm with the Newton...so which came first the chicken or the egg? I see generic UI designs in the iPhone. I saw the design of Palm in other devices years ago. Apple took a generic idea and made it useful with the Apple touch.
 
I would guess pretty innovative. I can't imagine needing expanded memory at 8gb. I would like to load programs but really can't imagine what I would add. I have had pocket pc's and several phones and did not do much with either beyond basic data management and calls. I would love to have the photo capability of the iPhone and can see Apple adding software as we go.
 
MovieCutter said:
And Palm's gui started with Apple's gui. It's not obvious at all that Apple's stepping stones started with Palm. Besides, if memory serves, Apple paved the way for Palm with the Newton...so which came first the chicken or the egg? I see generic UI designs in the iPhone. I saw the design of Palm in other devices years ago. Apple took a generic idea and made it useful with the Apple touch.
Click to expand...

Indeed. When I was doing some PalmOS programming, I was surprised how much of the application was defined almost exactly like a System 6 application. It's not as if there are a lot of ways to do it but between Mac OS and Windows, they definitely went the Mac OS way.

With Newton, Apple have a lot of technology and usability studies. Combining this with their trackpad ideas, the multi-touch interface looks amazing. Hopefully, it works as well.

phungy said:
Engagdet claims iPhone is not a smartphone.
Click to expand...

Did they use it for any length of time? No. Seems odd that the Treo 600 and 650 were smartphones and the various Compaq iPaq models, too, but they didn't have 3g data access, either. The definition of a smartphone is open to interpretation and all we have are opinions until someone creates an international standard for one.

I'd just like to know if you can create appointments on the phone and transfer them back to the computer and various other things like that. A lot of things probably need to be finished before June 2007.
 
Has anybody deciphered some of the stuff that Steve showed? Could this be the real reason for resolution independent interface. How much of a stretch is it to take the touch portion and pop it on a true video iPod.

I think you'll start to see hints of Leopard on this thing. I'm also starting to think that there isn't going to be any radical shift in the interface, just some major changes that show up in a subtle way to support devices like this.

The phone is pretty cool, but most of the internet stuff was done over a Wi-Fi network, which means a hotspot or wireless router within reach. He also said they would be doing 3G in the future as well as other things. More models? Its a little steep at $499.

We'll have another 6 months to talk about it! LOL
 
really the only thing we do know is that the rumors are true. As far as we know Steve could have used it with several software features missing (software is easier to add/fix than hardware).

If I was to guess, they spent the most time working/tweeking on the way to implement a user interface and the various hardware features.
Essentially the core of the hardware and software foundation for the phone.

But, here at MacRumors, we can only speculate untill it is finalized and released to the public.
 
personally i think the only thing innovative about iPhone is that its all touch.
but that could have glitches... beware
 
I don't think it is very innovative. It's a phone, it's used to make calls and send sms. That's it. All the other stuff are just funny little extras, they sure are fun to play with for the first week you have it, but I don't see anything useful in having internet & email & photos & everything on my mobile device. Almost all of that I can have with a free phone I get with the contract too. In fact I have it (except email & internet), and do not use it because I do not need it.

Imo the iphone is just something to show off.

Well maybe I'm retarded because I just use a phone to make calls & send sms, but I'm simply not interested in the other stuff, because I can't see it being useful in my life, they are just toys.
 
chaosbunny said:
I don't think it is very innovative. It's a phone, it's used to make calls and send sms. That's it. All the other stuff are just funny little extras, they sure are fun to play with for the first week you have it, but I don't see anything useful in having internet & email & photos & everything on my mobile device. Almost all of that I can have with a free phone I get with the contract too. In fact I have it (except email & internet), and do not use it because I do not need it.

Imo the iphone is just something to show off.

Well maybe I'm retarded because I just use a phone to make calls & send sms, but I'm simply not interested in the other stuff, because I can't see it being useful in my life, they are just toys.
Click to expand...

Then this phone is not for you - simple really!

It will not be the phone for everyone, but it will be perfect for many.

I personally would use the iPod, Internet and Mail features every day.

I'm not to bothered about the camera.

Ian
 
I think this is the obvious example of "it ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it". The iPhone doesn't do anything radical that other phones can't (just as the iPod didn't have a radically different feature set that no other music player had), but it makes many functions that users of other phones struggle with, simple and usable.

Visual Voicemail - excellent!
The manner of switching between and merging calls - really nice and simple.
Automatic orientation switching.
CoverFlow for browsing a big music library.
Fingure gestures for scrolling/zooming, instead of having to poke tiny on-screen buttons with a stylus - far, far easier.

The devil's in the details.
 
chaosbunny said:
I don't think it is very innovative. It's a phone, it's used to make calls and send sms. That's it. All the other stuff are just funny little extras, they sure are fun to play with for the first week you have it, but I don't see anything useful in having internet & email & photos & everything on my mobile device. Almost all of that I can have with a free phone I get with the contract too. In fact I have it (except email & internet), and do not use it because I do not need it.

Imo the iphone is just something to show off.

Well maybe I'm retarded because I just use a phone to make calls & send sms, but I'm simply not interested in the other stuff, because I can't see it being useful in my life, they are just toys.
Click to expand...

I agree, except
[sidebar] I don't even have a cell phone. I used one for a few years but found it to be a rip-off--and scoff all you want--but I don't want to be bathed in low-level microwaves all day. We are electro-magentic creatures after all.

Regarding the phone itself: the package is innovative, but the content is same old stuff--music, messages, calls. I think "revolution" was thrown around quite a bit by the hype-meisters. No. The printing press or gun powder this phone/mp3 is not.

Applicable cliché: All that glitters is not gold.
Summary: Expensive distraction.

Alternative: Give me a tree, a smile or a breath of fresh air any day.
 
freebooter said:
I agree, except
[sidebar] I don't even have a cell phone. I used one for a few years but found it to be a rip-off--and scoff all you want--but I don't want to be bathed in low-level microwaves all day. We are electro-magentic creatures after all.

Regarding the phone itself: the package is innovative, but the content is same old stuff--music, messages, calls. I think "revolution" was thrown around quite a bit by the hype-meisters. No. The printing press or gun powder this phone/mp3 is not.

Applicable cliché: All that glitters is not gold.
Summary: Expensive distraction.

Alternative: Give me a tree, a smile or a breath of fresh air any day.
Click to expand...

Given pretty much everyone else on the planet has a cellphone, the number of cell towers, laptops with BluTooth and Wifi, microwave links between office blocks etc, I think it's a bit late to worry about being irradiated. You may as well have a phone. Just walking down the street you're being bathed in EM signals. Or move to a cave somewhere far away from civilisation. 🙂
 
freebooter said:
...--but I don't want to be bathed in low-level microwaves all day. We are electro-magentic creatures after all.

...
Click to expand...
You do understand that cell phones receive a much higher dose of microwave radiation than they transmit? That radiation and the radiation from the Sun, the interstellar background, commercial radio, TV, and cordless phones, wireless networks, and other sources too numerous to list here will still be there whether you use a cellphone or not. If you want to pretend you are Grizzly Adams, that is certainly your privilege and your right. But, please be intellectually honest about your motives.
 
My life in my pocket means everything-business & personal and anything in between.

Not just music and photos & videos. I mean if apple is going to claim the title
of saying re-inventing, make it to where both pros and cosumers both interact with the phone completely just like the ipod.

It appealed to anybody and everybody-this iphone is just appealing to
a certain demographic assuming around the age of 15-21.

Not saying i wont be getting one or i dont think is attractve-i just dont think apple is what they claim to be sometimes.

Re-Inventing? whatever happend to evolution? Apple feels like they dont evolve from nothing they strictly invent and thats not the case.

Have you seen the number pads on all the cell phones!!!??? They all look the same!!!! OMG!!!mOVIECUTTER
Click to expand...

You dont see those comapnys claiming -RE-INVENTING.
 
calculus said:
I really don't see that at all.
Click to expand...

I dont see the iPhone being used by collegue students that need certain
abilitys on a phone. The iPhone as it stands is a multi media phone far from
benefical use (business-school etc)

Thats what i mean. I mean how far can pictures, music and videos get you in life? I know it was created for a certain market but my point goes back to their false claim.

Most collegue students will still 2 devices to complete tasks. Not your all in one yet
 
MisterMe said:
You do understand that cell phones receive a much higher dose of microwave radiation than they transmit? That radiation and the radiation from the Sun, the interstellar background, commercial radio, TV, and cordless phones, wireless networks, and other sources too numerous to list here will still be there whether you use a cellphone or not. If you want to pretend you are Grizzly Adams, that is certainly your privilege and your right. But, please be intellectually honest about your motives.
Click to expand...

Are you a doctor?

I've seen research studies where the test subjects are capable of telling when a cell phone call has been received based on the level of physical discomfort they feel. Intellectual honesty? Since when is scientific pursuit founded in the idea of uncovering the truth? There is huge money behind all these wireless technologies, I won't be surprised that some research results just... disappear.

I have no problems with using wireless networking and cell phones, but when I first adopted wifi networking in my own home I personally experienced some discomfort and migraines which can't be otherwise explained. Whether it is all in the mind or not, I do not know, but at least I am not like some who stand behind their so called science and act like know-it-alls.
 
uNext said:
all they did is added mac touch ups here and there added color-made it look like is a mobile osx
Click to expand...

I was about to take you seriously, but this rather ruined it.

The reason it looks like OS X, is because it is OS X. That web browser uses web kit. Those swish UI effects use the core libraries. This is a full on operating system.

Just because they've put a GUI on top more suitable for a mobile device, it still has the power under the hood.
 
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