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May 18, 08 - 07:40 pm Comment from: Jim - TIV

lotsa news for a sunday...

Easy MDN
I bought an iPhone on the second day they were available (sorry I had plans on Friday so I had to wait until Saturday) IMO on a hand held device multi touch is overrated. Don't get me wrong I LOVE my iPhone.
However, the reason these 'iPhone killers' will fail is NOT because of a lack multi-touch. They will fail because the suck. If the iPhone had 'mono-touch' it would still kick the Sh!t out of anything currently offered from others.

May 18, 08 - 08:33 pm Comment from: Zune Tang®

Apple’s iPhone rivals can’t compete?

I fell off my chair when I realized this dope considers the I-Phone competition for anybody. That snore worthy I-Phone arrived with a resounding thud. Because it doesn't have a tactile keyboard. That brick should never have been released—it is perhaps Apple's single biggest embarrassment.

It's Apple who needs to play catch up. Big time. I don't see a keyboard on that thing and playing music and videos is for kids. Besides, Windows Mobile v3 had all the same features the current I-Phone has years ago. And one more thing: the ZunePhone is on its way. Think of it as Microsoft's surface technology in the palm of your hand. Cool.

Your potential. Our passion.™

I can't wait for the zune phone to arrive. It might be the end for Ballmer, because it will surely be a piece of shit.

And, @Grue: you are so wonderfully wrong!
LOL!

I disagree with MDN's take that one of the key differentiator's is the iPhone's multi-touch ability. I've had the iPhone from day one and while I appreciate the multi-touch, I don't think it sets the iPhone that much apart.

Having said that, I DO think that multi-touch may continue to blossom and be a real game changer in the future.

To me, the key differentiator is what Apple's differentiator has always been. Their ability to seamlessly integrate hardware and software that allows users to use multiple functions intuitively and without the need for manuals. THAT give's Apple an edge that's going to be hard to compete with.

Sprint overcharged our small company over $50,000.00. We caught them and asked for the over-payments to be refunded. they have refused. Read the full story on http://www.sprint-really-sucks.com

Zune-phone? Why would anyone brand a phone with the name of an utter failure?

@Zune Tang...looks like you have nothing to do even on weekends...how about a visit to an Apple Store to get a clue and maybe a date??

May 18, 08 - 09:48 pm Comment from: Escaport

I enjoy Zune Tang's tripe. He is fun for the most part.

That being said, I miss Sputnik.

Sputnik. Sputnik... Where are you Sputnik?

I miss "StockBoy" the most. Of course, he hasn't been able to show his face (metaphorically) around here since he adamantly advised everyone to short AAPL almost two years ago, saying it would surely head into the mid- to low 30's. His like is hard to come by, for such abject stupidity rarely collects in one skinsack.

Where are you, Mr. StockBoy? Still pushing the large fries?

May 18, 08 - 10:46 pm Comment from: jtc

people like Blue Dream apparently don't come here often enough to see the humor of ZuneTang and how sarcastic his posts are. I always look forward to what he has to say, it always cracks me up

May 18, 08 - 11:21 pm Comment from: Predrag

Another one to agree: multi-touch is essentially pinch and spread feature. The only place this is used is in zooming in and out. Anyone who has played with the iPhone for thirty seconds knows this is not the only (nor is it the most important) feature that sets iPhone apart from other phones. IPhone could lose multi-touch feature completely and still be light-years ahead of others.

As it has been said above, what sets it apart is the whole widget. Apple has patented many more features in addition to the so-much-hyped multi-touch. The incredible attention to detail for which Apple is famous (and unique in the tech world) is what continues to ensure that iPhone won't be challenged anytime soon.

it's not really a phone; it's a mac for everyone else!
they can't compete. period.
because those iPhoney things are not tiny macs at all.

Samsung is right on that ass, though. I hope the 3G iPhone packs a few punches because the Koreans are almost there in only a year just like I predicted.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/16/samsungs-sgh-i900-is-a-feature-laden-stunner/

I think multi-touch is a two button mouse.

It's great, it makes things much easier and you don't know how to do without it once you've tried it. However, strictly speaking, it's not the core reason the device is so nice to use. It's just a reason why it's a little nicer than it could've been.

What's in your Tang, Zune?

You fanbois really dont get it. Iphone is the one that needs to catch up. The LG VU plays flawles streaming media. that the Iphone has no rights to. The Vus screen is elegent, and extremely intuitive. And the clincher. The keypad.
Keep trying you might crack 6 million this year.
By the way check into the total smart phone sales. That will be hunbling reading for the nondelusional peeps in here. Iphone is just a blip on the radar.

May 19, 08 - 01:39 am Comment from: ichi

you "mulitouch is overrated" and "all it is is pinch and spread" don't have to like it or approve of it.

but do realize that you aren't pinching or spreading to flick through albums covers, emails, or scroll, et al.

notwithstanding the poor descriptions given or whether you like it, multitouch is light ahead or unitouch --and i'm not even sure then screens are sensing in the same way either -- no matter, as that "little frill" is patented: http://www.unwiredview.com/2007/01/16/apples-iphone-is-it-really-well-protected-by-patents/

so, while you're being blindly excited by this hardware, remember this little secret: it's the software stupid.

May 19, 08 - 01:40 am Comment from: ichi

light "years"

May 19, 08 - 08:13 am Comment from: Cubert

The multi-touch aspect of the iPhone (and everything else Apple is coming up with) is only the beginning. They are being smart by introducing the gestures a few at a time so people aren't overwhelmed. The surface has only been scratched.

May 19, 08 - 09:40 am Comment from: ElderNorm

Just a thought. Do not Short the multi-touch effect.

For the moment its used to zoom in and out:

now on the MacBookAir its used to rotate

multitouch can be used for numerous features, especially if the software can handle the effort (and we know it can. )

Just a thought.

en

Multi touch is very important because it allows the device to make simultaneous key inputs like "Shift+ Key" to capitalize or "L+B+C" for special attack in mortal Kombat...

May 19, 08 - 09:49 am Comment from: Spark

@R -- Yeah, that Samsung phone throws in everything but the kitchen sink, but the weak link, of course, is Windows Mobile.

iPhone as built such a comprehensive package that is more than a conglomeration of features. OS X, accelerometers, screen, robust applications, multitouch, and impeccable quality. The total is exponentially greater than the sum of the parts.

May 19, 08 - 09:51 am Comment from: shen

" Again, it's not touch that's the issue; it's Multi-Touch that's helps set iPhone apart "

lets be fair, lets wait until they can get uni-touch right, then we can point out that they still have the multi-touch bar to hop over......

May 19, 08 - 10:10 am Comment from: Cubert

@ElderNorm,
We are on the same page here.

May 19, 08 - 10:26 am Comment from: twilightmoon

Mobile Safari would not be usable without multi touch, it's the ability to easily zoom in and out of defined points in a web page which makes the small screen work so flawlessly for web browsing.

There are likely many other aspects to multi touch which would not work with "unitouch" screens. A very common example is how you can touch on the alternate symbol button in the bottom corner and drag your finger to a punctuation mark and let go and it flips back to letters after typing out a period or comma, etc. This is so natural that it makes typing on the touch keypad a breeze and I cannot imagine an iPhone without this. I do not think such a "click and drag" feature would be possible without a multi touch screen.

Multi Touch is a very big part of what makes the iPhone tower over other imitators. But it certainly is not the only thing.

If iPhone is THAT great (5 years ahead of other vendors per Steve Jobs), then how come there are only 100k sold phones in Germany in 6 months?

one aspect of multi-touch that people seem to be missing: applications on the iPhone. let's not forget that third-party applications are coming soon, and may bring new uses for multi-touch with them. we've already seen demos of new uses for the iPhone's accelerometer.

what about a simple puzzle game where two fingers are used to rotate pieces? what about a two-finger swipe in an application that acts as a "modifer key"? or two fingers to select a range of text? Apple's laid the groundwork for some interesting methods of input that don't require slapping more buttons on the device.

the iPhone has been about paving the way for the future all along. journalists and bloggers alike have largely failed to grasp this.

@Windowzfan: you're right, that is odd considering how quick Germans are to embrace and adopt technologies coming out of non-German countries.

/sarcasm

"...Because it doesn't have a tactile keyboard..."

Everyone bitched about no keyboard when the iphone was first released. Now every phone maker is scrambling to create virtual keyboards for their phones!!

When apple got rid of the floppy drive, everyone bitched and complained.

Why does the competition rip off the very thing they complain about?

The iPhone is overpriced in Germany now (399 Euro!) Apple should take advantage of the crappy dollar and lower the price. And 3G is much more important in Germany since there is actually widespread coverage.

I think everything will change once the SDK and 3G phone come online, though.

Does Germany tax the iPhone as a radio receiving device?

Don't get me wrong; multi-touch is cool, and handy, and advances UI state of the art. But it's not what makes the iPhone, at least not currently.

Think about it - how much time do you really spend pinch-zooming? (which if I'm not mistaken is the one and only current iPhone multi-touch gesture).

What puts the iPhone's touch interface at a level of sophistication way above all others is the support for gestures -- most of them decidedly uni-touch -- like flick-scrolling, swipe-delete, and so on.

May 19, 08 - 05:04 pm Comment from: Spark

@Windozfan,
As I've said before... it's not surprising that a 2G cell phone sold poorly in Germany that has advanced way beyond that. What IS surprising is that regardless of an antiquated cell protocol Apple has has been able to still sell 100,000 iPhones to Germans willing to take second-best cell service. I think this bodes well for a 3G iPhone. No worries here.

the samsung instinct isn't going to have windows mobile. it's samsung's own UI. and i hope for iphone's sake they come up with a faster connection than 3g because the instinct will have rev-a which is way faster than 3g. plus streaming video, live navigation gps,on demand tv, streaming radio just to start, etc.