iPhone unleashed, Treo and Blackberry cry in fear.

This is kind of dumb. If you don't want a smartphone with all the bells and whistles, then don't buy one. Thats like complaining about the gas mileage or guadiness of a Hummer as if its the only vehicle available to buy. Most phone carriers have stripped down plain jane phones available with service plans to those who want them.

It claims 5 hours of use. Again, I haven't been keeping up on the latest phones to come out. But so far thats among the best I've seen. Also, is there some sort of discrepency between stated battery life and actual battery life? Every phone I've owned so far, on a fairly newer battery, seems to have been on spec for what the manual listed.

Are you referring to a paper map? Because if so then you severely underestimate the usefulness of interactive computer maps. Think address/business finder and driving directions.

+GPS looks nice
-Doesn't support full fledged websurfing like iPhone, likewise no wifi
-Doesn't work with my carrier
-+Cost half of what the iPhone does for about half the features, meh

Thats not a bad train of thought. I wanted a 680 so badly when they came out. However, aside from it being bulkier, it doesn't appear to be a phone.

 

I really see this as just a waste of money.

As far as I'm concerned, it's nothing but a Glorified N-Gage.

 

having had touch/large-srceen phone befores, let me tell you this:

its a pain in the ass to take care of the phone.

Unlike a DS, a PSP, or even a PDA, a phone is at ALL times with a person. So the chance of it falling, breaking, scratching, etc sky-rise!

imagine yourself inside a night-club, dancing , screwing around, being drunk or what have you, only to find your precious i-phone falling out of your pocket in a puddle of vomit or whatever, or even the damn thing getting grease from your skin on its sexy screen (hey that rhymes).

Personally, I m after the Sony Ericsson P990i.

 

Well lugging a laptop around (even a ultraportable) just for googlemaps is overkill: get one of thoe TomTom GPS, or a nokia 770 which I think can access GM.

About the helio, dunno I never tried it but I've heard only good things of it.

And barc0de, if you want the P990i then start saving cuz it costs more than a grand, and I think is even more in the land of benny hill...

 

I used to have a Sony Clie (or whatever the hell the palm-esque thing that sony made was) for the place that I worked at. I carried it everywhere and had no problems. One guy that I worked with had bought some sort of hard shell case for it, but I was pretty content with just using the built in suede flip-cover. Since this an Apple, I'm sure the market will be bombarded with case protectors before this thing even makes it to market.

The p990 is a nice phone. I have a t637 right now (different class I know). Even after unlocking it and upgrading the firmware, I can't escape the little "sony quirks and bugs" in the interface. I'm not unhappy with it, but for that reason I probably won't be buying anymore SE phones.

This makes me think, I wonder if the iPhone is going to be locked/branded?

I know. Thats why I lug it around for quick email access, quick internet lookups, access to my school account, bus schedules, directions, the occasional quick game or dvd, and basic PIM. It's bulky, but way cheaper than a TomTom, nokia, or tablet PC, which do way less (I use an IBM T30). I'll have to sacrifice some of that stuff with the iPhone, but well worth IMO for its size.

Unless I'm mistaken, looks like unlocked ones go for around $500-$600 USD.

 

The problem is that all of the hardware companies are pushing their research and manufacturing departments into doing all the "bells and whistles" while letting the vanilla phones rot. A result of this is that the quality of cell-phone voice service has stayed the same, and in some cases actually gotten worse, over the years.

 

I have a phone that can do email, web browsing, play MP3s, take pictures, record video and yet I still get my calls dropped and have poor reception if you accidentally have your finger over the antenna.

Simply put, the cellphone manufacturers and the providers are almost done nailing every feature down onto the phone except for having good reception and not getting your calls dropped. They are almost there :thumbsup: cross your fingers that they get it next time around

 

I'm afraid this doesn't have anything to do with cell phone manufacturers, but rather the service providers. While part of me wants to empathize with call quality, the other part of me doesn't really care. My cell sounds identical to a land line, I can't imagine it being any different or me having any need for it to be different. One of the phones we just got at work has some sort of fancy schmancy "vocal spatializer" built into it. It basically simulates the sound of the person talking as if it were there full voice. It sounds weird and annoying and was the first thing I had to figure out how to disable. In terms of dropped calls, I don't know what to say. When I was with sprint many years ago, I never once had a dropped call and I lived out in amish country. Now that I've switched to cingular, I've had maybe 3-4 dropped calls in a year, not that annoying. What does annoy me is when you dial and it can't connect. That happens a little more frequently, but I just hang up, and hit resend... not that bad.

I'd be happier if the call quality stayed the same, and they simply stopped raping us with absurd prices/service charges/taxes/whatnot.

Your phone still has an antenna

 

Did I ever say I had a phone with all the "bells and whistles"? No, I'm afraid I didn't so you took my comment out of context. In fact I have just a regular phone that's pretty much nothing but a phone. It even has just a standard telephone ring tone just so you know. So, while you go and trample my opinion around (while taking it out of context), let me defend myself.

First, and foremost, I couldn't care less if you or anyone else wanted one of these bricks (by comparison to my "phone phone", this thing is a giant brick that weighs a thousand pounds...), and I was just agreeing with mairsil that I prefer "just a phone". Obviously there are others that do like/"need" these things seeing as they are still on the market and more power to them! As long as phone companies continue to produce quality phones ("phone phones" that is), then I'm ok... which brings me to my next point.

Recently, I have been unimpressed with the lack of selection of "phone phones". It seems if you want a good, quality phone that doesn't break in a month or two, you have to buy some walrus of a phone with a camera, MP3 player, etc... it's pretty annoying. I consider myself lucky with the phone I have now, and even it has given me problems. That's one of my biggest complaints, as it seems phone companies are putting more focus in phones with all the "bells and whistles" and letting regular phones just fall to the wayside.

I realize, however, there are many (MANY) a person who loves these types of things, the phone that can do everything, "even walk the dog!" And there are also people who LOVE sharing the fact that they have one with everyone around them. And that is probably the single most annoying thing about these types of phones, is the jackasses that can't get enough of rubbing it into everyone's face that their phone can cook dinner AND do the dishes, when we really don't give a damn in the first place! I'm not implying you are one of these types of people, however, so don't get all riled up about my last remarks :110: It's just usually the people that have them are really haughty about it, and I hate that.

 

P990i is 580 Euro in europe. very affordable for what it is

also, all phones have an antenna. It's built-in usually, or it's within a 'hole' and its of golden finish.

 

1) The only method of input is touchscreen? UGH
2) JUST GPRS/EDGE? What kind of crap is that?

Apple is supposed to be HIGH END! Where the hell is UMTS/HSPDA?

-hl718

 

Really? well I say go for it, unless you're a mac guy:nod:

 

i m waiting for next week. I might get it for free as well as a free PSP (no strings attached of course)

 

Care to share your methods? :nod:

 

women

 

Ah, going the gigolo route. I understand :thumbsup:

 

not really. gigolo sleep with women they dont want to. it's a double benefit to do hot women and get treated like a king for being a right dick to them ;p

it's like what usually happens with girls and guys. guys buy girls presents for whatever reason. I believe in the opposite

To be honest, i think being a fun guy counts more than being a nice guy. That way you can get away with being with more than one woman, and they dont mind either ;p

 

WTF is going on over there? is mary poppins on the loose or something? how is that you're getting all that stuff for free and the steadster got a K800 (almost a N80) for free too?

Man when I was in spain everything non-european was like, at least twice as much as in the states...

 

I didn't sleep with anyone for my phone! Just came free with a £19/month contract...

 

Form over function. No number buttons. A big glossy touchscreen that will be covered in fingerprints and scratches. A high power drain will likely mean low talk time. Massive cost will make you scared of using it in the subway.

Nice idea for a gadget, but not as a phone. I bet they will sell a ton of them.