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[Phoenix]

I plan on buying one Friday morning, but I'm not getting there early. My days of lining up for things like this are over. I'm gong to stop by the closest ATT store Thursday night to get a feel for things and if they tell me to get there the next day at 6am then I'll go to the Apple store instead. If I remember correctly, last year the Apple stores all had more than enough stock to cover all the campers. Worse comes to worse I'll get the phone next week.

Pretty much my feel as well. I will be going to an Apple store as my first choice because I don't want to deal with AT&T's upsell bullshit. No I'm not giving you my name, number, address, or anything else. I don't want any more of your shit - just give me what I came for BITCH!!!!


Sorry.... had a flashback there.

 

[Phoenix]

From the Mossberg review:



UGH. I don't like that at all.

That sounds like a huge monstrous bug that slipped past the beta. No way in hell that's intentional.

 

[Juice]

No Exchange and personal calendar simultaneously?

So much for me EVER plugging my iPhone into work. No way am I okay with EVERY person in my company seeing EVERY appointment I make, personal or business.

--

"This is the upgrade to skip" is my new mantra. Just not enough to warrant spending ANY money on it, much less an increased monthly fee. I'll hold out a year and wait for the video chat, etc. etc.

 

[zenbot]

The Australian launch is a clusterfuck.

Three providers have been confirmed to be selling it on Friday. Only one of those providers has actually released solid plan details.

The provider that released plan details (Optus) was taking holding deposits for a few days after the iPhone 3G was announced, but before announcing plan details. They're opening stores a couple of hours early to sell phones to people that made a holding deposit, but as those deposits were taken by the corporation, not individual retailers, they don't know where the depositors are going to pick them up. What's probably going to happen is that a bunch of people are going to rock up to stores that are staffed but can't actually sell phones for a solid two hours; and then, after official opening, the stores are either going to have to hold on to some arbitrary number of phones, or they're going to sell all stock and screw depositors that happen to turn up later in the day.

Meanwhile, another provider (Vodafone) released plans just a few hours ago (two days before the thing goes on sale!), then for some reason pulled them an hour later. The plans pretty much had only the cost listed, no details on call, text, or bandwidth rates. ("So, what do I get for my $40 per month, exactly?" "Sorry, we can't tell you that.")

And in the final corner is the biggest telco in the country (Telstra), which has released some vague pricing details, but nothing specific.

None of the retailers appear to know how many phones they're receiving, or how many people are going to turn up to buy them. Two days from launch! What the fuck!

Frustrating!

 

[SuperPac]

That sounds like a huge monstrous bug that slipped past the beta. No way in hell that's intentional.

Well it's not mentioned in the other two reviews, so I guess we wait and see. But good friggin' god that sucks. Rains on my whole iPhone 2.0 parade. I guess then I'd JUST sync my Exchange email and not my biz contacts or calendars then, and just leave those two to iCal/MobileMe. Here I thought I was gonna be able to have everything in one place. Guess not! :'(

 

[xabre]

Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do with the G.P.S. According to Apple, the iPhone’s G.P.S. antenna is much too small to emulate the turn-by-turn navigation of a G.P.S. unit for a vehicle, for example.

Instead, all it can do at this point is track your position as you drive along, representing you as a blue dot sliding along the roads of the map. Even then, the metal of a car or the buildings of Manhattan are often enough to block the iPhone’s view of the sky, leaving it just as confused as you are.

Sounds like a deal breaker to me

 

[Juice]

Sounds like a deal breaker to me

Yeah, I could tell when they were demoing it just from the fact that they hadn't changed Maps a whole lot that they weren't interested in anything really mission critical from the GPS unit.

Now that TomTom has backed off their own claims they'll bring their client to the iPhone, I think it's unlikely to expect this model to get you anywhere by car.

 

[AlphaSnake]

Wait. Hold on. The iPhone's "GPS" is just a glorified virtual map, then?

 

[Crazymoogle]

UGH. I don't like that at all.

Weird that Mossberg says there is no dock at all though.

 

[SuperPac]

Weird that Mossberg says there is no dock at all though.

He says there's no dock included the box, which is true -- Apple is selling it separately this time (which he doesn't mention, but he's comparing it to the first iPhone's included accessories).

 

[Crazymoogle]

He says there's no dock included the box, which is true -- Apple is selling it separately this time (which he doesn't mention, but he's comparing it to the first iPhone's included accessories).

Ah, so on Apple's page, "dock connector to USB cable" should not be confused with "3G Dock"?

 

[SuperPac]

Ah, so on Apple's page, "dock connector to USB cable" should not be confused with "3G Dock"?

Yeah. That's just a cable. That cable does connect to either a real dock or the "30-pin dock connector" that's on the bottom of the iPhone itself (check the bottom view on Apple's specs page and you'll see it). It's misleadingly named, but when they came up with that term I believe all iPods came with a dock anyway. It was only later that they started not included those in the box with the device and just gave you the cable instead.

 

[Robobandit]

The Exchange thing just has to be a bug... even apple couldn't be that stupid.

 

[Nick]

I am *so* excited to get my 3G iPhone. I'm pumped. I'm getting a 16 gig whitey. I hope they still have some after I get off work on Friday. :-(

 

[Corwood Rep]

They made a special dock for the first iPhone with a slot for the bluetooth headset. They gonna be doing that for the 3G one?

 

[Illuminati]

So much for me EVER plugging my iPhone into work. No way am I okay with EVERY person in my company seeing EVERY appointment I make, personal or business.

You should be able to set calendar appointments private, well at least you can in exchange so no one can see them. Hopefully Apple's calendar app does that as well.

 

[Crazymoogle]

Yeah. That's just a cable. That cable does connect to either a real dock or the "30-pin dock connector" that's on the bottom of the iPhone itself (check the bottom view on Apple's specs page and you'll see it). It's misleadingly named, but when they came up with that term I believe all iPods came with a dock anyway. It was only later that they started not included those in the box with the device and just gave you the cable instead.

Wow. A page right out of Sony-Ericsson's book. :lol Hopefully the pins are not quite as exposed to utter disaster. Is there any sort of standard wired nav plug for playing music while it's in the pocket? (As in, the SE phones have a cable with very basic next track/previous/pause/play functionality that you then plug 3.5mm headphones into)?

I see something on the apple site that claims the functionality but then provides no pictures of what magic bean accomplishes such a feat. Not to mention it doesn't say if you can throw out the garbage earbuds.

 

[SuperPac]

Wow. A page right out of Sony-Ericsson's book. :lol Hopefully the pins are not quite as exposed to utter disaster. Is there any sort of standard wired nav plug for playing music while it's in the pocket? (As in, the SE phones have a cable with very basic next track/previous/pause/play functionality that you then plug 3.5mm headphones into)?

I believe you're looking for something like this. I believe the button/microphone works exactly like that on the Apple iPhone headphones--one click to pause, two to skip to the next track. Then for phone calls, one click to answer, two to send it to voicemail.

I see something on the apple site that claims the functionality but then provides no pictures of what magic bean accomplishes such a feat. Not to mention it doesn't say if you can throw out the garbage earbuds.

There are a few third-party headphones that have the same button/mic on them as the regular Apple headphones. You can do any of those or the accessory I linked to above, probably. I haven't seen anything like a small remote for the iPhone though.

 

[Crazymoogle]

I believe you're looking for something like this. I believe the button/microphone works exactly like that on the Apple iPhone headphones--one click to pause, two to skip to the next track. Then for phone calls, one click to answer, two to send it to voicemail.

That's...super awkward...but maybe it would work. Talk about oversimplification though. I currently use this.

I guess I could give a stereo bluetooth set a try if anybody recommends it, but I thought those were battery hogs and possibly not the best for music playback?

Thanks for the link though. Are the apple ones permanently attached to the earbuds?

 

[Nick]

I believe you're looking for something like this. I believe the button/microphone works exactly like that on the Apple iPhone headphones--one click to pause, two to skip to the next track. Then for phone calls, one click to answer, two to send it to voicemail.

This makes your Shure headphones like 10 feet long. I really wish they didn't do that. BTW, hi, Kung Fu Jedi. I love your new name.

 

[VOOK]

The Australian launch is a clusterfuck.

Three providers have been confirmed to be selling it on Friday. Only one of those providers has actually released solid plan details.

The provider that released plan details (Optus) was taking holding deposits for a few days after the iPhone 3G was announced, but before announcing plan details. They're opening stores a couple of hours early to sell phones to people that made a holding deposit, but as those deposits were taken by the corporation, not individual retailers, they don't know where the depositors are going to pick them up. What's probably going to happen is that a bunch of people are going to rock up to stores that are staffed but can't actually sell phones for a solid two hours; and then, after official opening, the stores are either going to have to hold on to some arbitrary number of phones, or they're going to sell all stock and screw depositors that happen to turn up later in the day.

Meanwhile, another provider (Vodafone) released plans just a few hours ago (two days before the thing goes on sale!), then for some reason pulled them an hour later. The plans pretty much had only the cost listed, no details on call, text, or bandwidth rates. ("So, what do I get for my $40 per month, exactly?" "Sorry, we can't tell you that.")

And in the final corner is the biggest telco in the country (Telstra), which has released some vague pricing details, but nothing specific.

None of the retailers appear to know how many phones they're receiving, or how many people are going to turn up to buy them. Two days from launch! What the fuck!

Frustrating!

Tell me about it, I've got my name down at about 5 stores but I don't have the time to go to them all, I have to work.

 

[SuperPac]

That's...super awkward...but maybe it would work. Talk about oversimplification though. I currently use this.

I do not think they make anything like that for the iPhone. Most of the headphones I've seen integrate it almost exactly as Apple has.

I guess I could give a stereo bluetooth set a try if anybody recommends it, but I thought those were battery hogs and possibly not the best for music playback?

The iPhone doesn't support stereo bluetooth, and I don't think it does music over bluetooth period. So you're outta luck there.

Thanks for the link though. Are the apple ones permanently attached to the earbuds?

Yep. It's not really a "remote" like what you're thinking, though. It's a small piece of plastic on the headphone cord (I think on the cord going to the right ear--I don't have mine handy) that doubles as a mic and can be clicked to perform common music and phone functions.

You can see it in this photo.

 

[Crazymoogle]

You can see it in this photo.

Oh, yeah, I sorta see it. Well if it does do rudimentary call handling and pause/play, that might work. No volume control though?

 

[SuperPac]

Oh, yeah, I sorta see it. Well if it does do rudimentary call handling and pause/play, that might work. No volume control though?

Nope.

BTW, hi, Kung Fu Jedi. I love your new name.

But I'm not... hey, if KFJ was actually getting a 3G or Whitta wasn't banned I wouldn't be the only one posting up a flurry in this thread.

That sounds like a huge monstrous bug that slipped past the beta. No way in hell that's intentional.

Update on the "only Exchange OR personal, not both" thing, from a sidebar in USA Today's review: "I've been using iPhone with USA TODAY's Microsoft Exchange servers for 'push' e-mail, contacts and calendar events. And you can receive and accept meeting invitations from co-workers. But to use Exchange and keep a separate personal calendar or contact list on the iPhone, you will need to use Apple's new $100-a-year MobileMe service."

I have MobileMe so...bullet dodged (in my case, but sucks for everyone else).

 

[dskillzhtown]

Yeah, I could tell when they were demoing it just from the fact that they hadn't changed Maps a whole lot that they weren't interested in anything really mission critical from the GPS unit.

Now that TomTom has backed off their own claims they'll bring their client to the iPhone, I think it's unlikely to expect this model to get you anywhere by car.

Damn, that is wack. When I demoed the Instinct, the turn by turn directions, complete with voice was sweet. I was hoping something similiar for the iPhone.

 

[Gowans]

I don't believe you can do either of these things. The modem thing was rumored but I've never seen confirmation.

Aww Boo!!!!


Man this thread is huge.

Can super iPhone nerds put together a thread for everythign you need to know for 3G launch, app previews etc... or point me a great link with some run down.

I need to get my head sorted for first thing fri.

 

[dallow_bg]

Damn, that is wack. When I demoed the Instinct, the turn by turn directions, complete with voice was sweet. I was hoping something similiar for the iPhone.

Same. That really sucks.

 

[krypt0nian]

Well that confirms it...sticking with my current iPhone. Its just not enough to upgrade with the gimped GPS. =(

The AppStore is MINE though!

 

[dallow_bg]

Yeah, pretty happy now with my $250 refurb from AT&T.
I'll only upgrade if I can get a non-contract one for $300 or less.

 

[Phoenix]

Wait. Hold on. The iPhone's "GPS" is just a glorified virtual map, then?

No that's not what its saying at all. It underlies why GPS on a phone doesn't work well as I said about 200 posts ago. A cellphone makes a poor GPS receiver because the surface area dedicated to the signal receiver is SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than that of a real GPS unit. Its also one of the reasons that Apple has specifically gone out of their way to discourage people from writing GPS applications for mission critical uses such as fleet management and navigation. While it WILL get a signal, that signal can reasonably easily be blocked by obstacles. It doesn't have 18 points of reception like a general GPS, its got (probably) 1-4 meaning its good when its facing the sky, but it will lose lock often and cannot be relied upon as a dedicated GPS can. That's just the nature of the beast.

Will it work for that function - more than likely yes, but is it reliable enough for a vehicle moving through a city at 60mph - in some circumstances yes, but in many others absolutely not.

ALL of the devices suffer from the same limitation as they are almost all using the same GPS chipset and ant. array. Apple is just being more upfront about the limitation than most.

 

[Phoenix]

They made a special dock for the first iPhone with a slot for the bluetooth headset. They gonna be doing that for the 3G one?

I believe that came with the actual bluetooth headset. Don't believe that came with the phone itself.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

My main concerns about 3G and GPS have proven to be accurate judging from the early reviews. Both 3G and GPS are huge battery hogs, and the new iPhone suffers because of it, despite an upgraded battery. Since the iPhone was released last year, people have complained about these features not being in the device, now they're there, and we'll have the same people complaining about battery life.

 

[DarkJC]

My main concerns about 3G and GPS have proven to be accurate judging from the early reviews. Both 3G and GPS are huge battery hogs, and the new iPhone suffers because of it, despite an upgraded battery. Since the iPhone was released last year, people have complained about these features not being in the device, now they're there, and we'll have the same people complaining about battery life.

I noticed that if you turn the 3G feature off, the talk time doubles. I don't know much about cell technology, whats the advantage of using 3G voice over standard voice? Better audio quality?

 

[Worm_Buffet]

I noticed that if you turn the 3G feature off, the talk time doubles. I don't know much about cell technology, whats the advantage of using 3G voice over standard voice? Better audio quality?

You can post on NeoGAF while you talk.

 

[Phoenix]

I noticed that if you turn the 3G feature off, the talk time doubles. I don't know much about cell technology, whats the advantage of using 3G voice over standard voice? Better audio quality?

3G allows a phone to walk and chew gum at the same time (talk and do internet stuff).

 

[DarkJC]

Ah, thanks. Not sure if that ability is worth 5 less hours of talk per charge, however..

 

[SonnyBoy]

My main concerns about 3G and GPS have proven to be accurate judging from the early reviews. Both 3G and GPS are huge battery hogs, and the new iPhone suffers because of it, despite an upgraded battery. Since the iPhone was released last year, people have complained about these features not being in the device, now they're there, and we'll have the same people complaining about battery life.

IMHO I don't believe they should complain because you have the OPTION to turn off the 3G. That's huge in my book. I love when we are given options. If you want the improve batt life, turn it off... If you need the speed, turn it on. Awesome.

My Sprint PocketPC didn't give me that option and it annihilated the batt life, especially as the batt got older.

 

[dskillzhtown]

No that's not what its saying at all. It underlies why GPS on a phone doesn't work well as I said about 200 posts ago. A cellphone makes a poor GPS receiver because the surface area dedicated to the signal receiver is SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than that of a real GPS unit. Its also one of the reasons that Apple has specifically gone out of their way to discourage people from writing GPS applications for mission critical uses such as fleet management and navigation. While it WILL get a signal, that signal can reasonably easily be blocked by obstacles. It doesn't have 18 points of reception like a general GPS, its got (probably) 1-4 meaning its good when its facing the sky, but it will lose lock often and cannot be relied upon as a dedicated GPS can. That's just the nature of the beast.

Will it work for that function - more than likely yes, but is it reliable enough for a vehicle moving through a city at 60mph - in some circumstances yes, but in many others absolutely not.

ALL of the devices suffer from the same limitation as they are almost all using the same GPS chipset and ant. array. Apple is just being more upfront about the limitation than most.

All I know is that it worked perfectly on the Instinct. I was in downtown Houston with plenty of skyscrapers, went all the way to the north houston surburbs, and the west side with no problems. The technical reasons you listed are probably valid, but in my experience, a true GPS can work on a cell phone. It worked all over the city. I am hoping that Tom Tom's app does see the light of day. A turn by turn GPS should not only be limited to the Instinct.

 

[GodfatherX]

so as i posted about a week ago, i recently got an iphone [sorry to break up the 3g talk] but i unlocked it and jailbroke it [im on tmobile]

just curious if there are any must have programs for this thing, and are there any recommendations for a new user?

also im not liking iTunes so far, isnt there a way to simply right click something in ur library and sync it to the iphone like you can with windows mdia player and drm mp3 players..am i missing some short cut or something?

 

[Resident Guru]

also im not liking iTunes so far, isnt there a way to simply right click something in ur library and sync it to the iphone like you can with windows mdia player and drm mp3 players..am i missing some short cut or something?

That's a negative. It's really just iTunes or bust.

 

[Xater]

BTW does anyone now what happened to the NeoGAF app? I thought it was pretty awesome...

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

also im not liking iTunes so far, isnt there a way to simply right click something in ur library and sync it to the iphone like you can with windows mdia player and drm mp3 players..am i missing some short cut or something?

Newer versions of the iPhone firmware allow you to drag and drop music/movies directly on to the phone if that helps.

IMHO I don't believe they should complain because you have the OPTION to turn off the 3G. That's huge in my book. I love when we are given options. If you want the improve batt life, turn it off... If you need the speed, turn it on. Awesome.

My Sprint PocketPC didn't give me that option and it annihilated the batt life, especially as the batt got older.

Good point. That does help. But when you have access to a 3G network, you'll want to use it I'd think. Also, it remains to be seen if the GPS can be turned off as well, and it's a hit on the battery too. Firmware upgrades may help in this as well.

 

[LCfiner]

...
also im not liking iTunes so far, isnt there a way to simply right click something in ur library and sync it to the iphone like you can with windows mdia player and drm mp3 players..am i missing some short cut or something?

make lots of playlists. playlists for artists, albums, most recently added, whatever. then sync only those. (I too wish i could just sync an artist or an album, but I got used to making playlists)

the smart playlists is where the real power lies.

 

[Enzom21]

so as i posted about a week ago, i recently got an iphone [sorry to break up the 3g talk] but i unlocked it and jailbroke it [im on tmobile]

just curious if there are any must have programs for this thing, and are there any recommendations for a new user?

also im not liking iTunes so far, isnt there a way to simply right click something in ur library and sync it to the iphone like you can with windows mdia player and drm mp3 players..am i missing some short cut or something?

You can use this http://www.mgtek.com/dopisp/ to sync with WMP but it isn't free.

 

[h1nch]

Regarding the gimped GPS, my buddy as a Samsung Blackjack which has GPS capability with a little add-on antenna device which you just throw up on the dashboard of your car. If Apple released a standalone antenna that can talk to the iphone, you could just mount that somewhere on the dash, or inside the sunroof or something. I would think that would allow the iphone to work as a true turn-by-turn GPS navigation system.

 

[Robobandit]

and we all know how much apple likes accessories to go with their products.

I could see a GPS antenna accessory being made at some point.

 

[SuperPac]

Re-live last year's launch fun by looking at previous pages of this thread! WOO! The fun starts on page 30.

So many memories. Of waiting in line for nothing (in my case anyway).

 

[DaCocoBrova]

I'll ask again...

If I get a new iPhone, will I no longer be able to use my original iPhone w/ the same account?

 

[bluemax]

Are people really lining up for these? I'm thinking I'll drive by the AT&T store Thursday night to make sure there isn't a line and then just come back at maybe 7:30am at the earliest. The store is less than 2 miles from my apartment and I don't think I live in an area where there will be overwhelming demand (everyone will be in Santa Monica instead).

 

[Enzom21]

I'll ask again...

If I get a new iPhone, will I no longer be able to use my original iPhone w/ the same account?

Do you mean swapping SIM cards between the two? If that is what you are asking, I believe the answer is no.

Edit: Okay I just tried someones else's SIM in my phone and it works... I remember reading that the SIM cards were locked to each phone. So the new should work.