Two New iPhone 3GS Ads: 'Voice Control' and 'Copy and Paste'

[johnnyjibbs]

Not only is the copy and paste bit misleading but I think the whole copy and paste implementation is poor anyway, considering the amount of time they've had to perfect it.

I mean, sometimes you have to hold and wait, other times you have to double tap and hold or even just double tap. And waiting for the menu to come up adds a millisecond of delay to anything you're doing as the iPhone loads the appropiate resources.

Some aspects of the copy and paste work well, but for a feature that isn't used THAT often, it rears its head too often accidently.

Plus, in my opinion, the whole implementation is a little clumsy and non-Apple-like.

AND... - including a map like that at the end of the copy and paste ad is unforgiveable.

 

[QCassidy352]

Those of you complaining that they're advertising "standard" features are missing the point. What they're demonstrating is that they've addressed many of the standard complaints about the iphone. These ads are for people who were impressed with the iphone but held off because of its lack of features that could be found on other phones.

 

[BeyondtheTech]

If Apple is coming in late to the game with Voice Control and text-to-speech, they really should use better voices.

My favorite is Acapela (no affiliation): http://www.acapela-group.com/text-to-speech-interactive-demo.html The US and UK voices are just awesome to listen to.

 

[DamnDJ]

I'm looking forward to seeing Apple's next ad, "You can call people"

 

[joro]

I'm looking forward to seeing Apple's next ad, "You can call people"

It’s actually already in production!

 

[mixel]

Just because other handsets had stuff first doesn't mean Apple shouldn't be happy to have the features too. Its partly down to implementation. An iphone with copy/paste > some other random phone with copy/paste. If they isolate and remove all of people's peeves with the iphone (added video, slowly improving camera, MMS, etc!) then it'll get a lot more buyers.

They need to keep average Joe posted on this stuff, how would he know about copy/paste addition.. I have friends *with iphones 3Gs* who didn’t even know about the 3.0 update!

I don't see how Apple are claiming they're doing anything revolutionary here. They're just advertising useful features. This is good, surely!

 

[coolwater]

It’s actually already in production!

No kidding.

 

[chimerical]

Not revolutionary, but better implementation

With "voice control", I can see a lot of non-iPhone users saying "I've had that feature on my phone for years".

I think it's more about implementation. The Razr V3xx was the first phone I encountered that had a true variety of voice commands (as opposed to phones like the Razr V3 with just voice name dialing), but it required several commands to drill down through a menu.

(not verbatim)
"Dial"
"Dial by name"
"[contact name]"

Whereas, on the iPhone, it's just, "Call [contact name]". And then there are other voice commands like, "play more songs like this". So it's not that it's revolutionary or new, but it is smarter and easier to use.

 

[Eminemdrdre00]

The copy & paste ad is pathetic. Engadget said it best.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/01/video-iphone-copy-and-paste-is-a-pretty-incredible-thing-sur/

 

[bretm]

They need to keep average Joe posted on this stuff, how would he know about copy/paste addition.. I have friends *with iphones 3Gs* who didn’t even know about the 3.0 update!!

Maybe because it came standard on their phone? I don't understand your comment at all.

 

[coolwater]

I like the parody version better.

 

[DMann]

You're right, the ad shows copying a map that is a Google search result. There doesn't seem to be any way to copy from Maps.

the end of the "copy-paste" clip is kind of a fake. "you can copy a map" ???
thats a simple "image" of a google-map shown there ...
or did i miss sth, is there really a "copy" function hidden somewhere in the maps app? (don't even try to fiddle with maps.google.com inside mobile safari ...)

Copying a map is easy - simply touch and hold, and then choose copy:

Then paste and send:

 

[kas23]

Since the majority of iPhone users are hardly technologically savvy (minus the people here, we represent such a tiny population), this is actually a good add. The vast majority of cellphone users have never used a smartphone (or probably don't even know what one is). They'll see this add, eat it up, believe Apple invented c/p, and go out and buy one. Remember, Apple is catering to the lowest common denominator here.

 

[DMann]

You're right, the ad shows copying a map that is a Google search result. There doesn't seem to be any way to copy from Maps.

Google Maps included:

 

[Darkroom]

i think Engadget's post about the issue sums up apple's lameness quite nicely.

 

[windywoo]

Just because other handsets had stuff first doesn't mean Apple shouldn't be happy to have the features too. Its partly down to implementation. An iphone with copy/paste > some other random phone with copy/paste. If they isolate and remove all of people's peeves with the iphone (added video, slowly improving camera, MMS, etc!) then it'll get a lot more buyers.

They need to keep average Joe posted on this stuff, how would he know about copy/paste addition.. I have friends *with iphones 3Gs* who didn’t even know about the 3.0 update!

I don't see how Apple are claiming they're doing anything revolutionary here. They're just advertising useful features. This is good, surely!

Any time another phone manufacturer does something that is on the iPhone, this forum cries copy cat. If its the other way round...

 

[mixel]

Maybe because it came standard on their phone? I don't understand your comment at all.

Umm.. friends with 3Gs as in multiple people owning their own 3G, not 3GS.. Understandable, I can see that misunderstanding cropping up a lot on the web.

Any time another phone manufacturer does something that is on the iPhone, this forum cries copy cat. If its the other way round...

Parts of the forum do, I don't.. Not everyone's that lumpable in a fanboy camp. I just think people pick holes in things excessively sometimes. Apple do some pretty weird and dumb seeming things, but advertising new features seems sensible to me. Most of the time "borrowing" features is down to common sense. Someone has to come up with the idea first, yes.. But once they have its often silly not to follow suit (app store model, big touch screens, copy & paste) All tech is built on this, the iphone wouldn't exist if it wasn't for that principle, nor would most things.

 

[macUser2007]

...I don't see how Apple are claiming they're doing anything revolutionary here. They're just advertising useful features. This is good, surely!

Yeah, it is good, but if Apple thought they were so useful, why didn't we get them 2 years ago, when these same features were already old tech?

For the record, I just dumped an HTC (WM6.1) for a 3G S. In the HTC I had MS Voice Command, for about 2 years, and it recognized my commands considerably better, than my iPhone does. The MS product also had BT capability, it was usable pretty much system-wide, and could read your emails and sms aloud....

I don't use the voice feature on my iPhone (partially because it doesn't work that well for me,) and I am not all broken up about it, but just want to put this in perspective.

I guess, when the iPhone finally gets Flash, maybe a couple of years after everyone else has had it, Apple will do an infomercial about it.

 

[samray]

i sold my IPhone 3G because i wanted to Buy 3G S and yes i think 3gs is worth buying.