931 replies to this topic

[Nathan]

These rationalizations people will make for their iPhones are very amusing. Right, talking on the phone is so last year. It doesn't need to actually, like, work as a phone. Funny.

I thought that was mostly an AT&T problem. Does the Verizon phone work better? Or does it go beyond the network to some problem of the phone itself?

as Orik said, it is a combination. and the Verizon phone reportedly does work considerably better in NYC.

I'm not making that up about people not talking on the phone..if you crunch the numbers on text messaging you find out that Gen Y doesn't talk on the phone at all. And plenty of Gen X'ers are primarily texters now too.

(texting really is faster than calling most of the time. obviously there are situations where it's dumb. it's also much less rude than calling.)

hmmm i haven't crunched numbers but i live in a college town. all the kids are constantly talking on their phones.

they're texting from class all day long. but see here:

http://moconews.net/...ing-in-the-u.s/

[Nathan]

These rationalizations people will make for their iPhones are very amusing. Right, talking on the phone is so last year. It doesn't need to actually, like, work as a phone. Funny.

I thought that was mostly an AT&T problem. Does the Verizon phone work better? Or does it go beyond the network to some problem of the phone itself?

as Orik said, it is a combination. and the Verizon phone reportedly does work considerably better in NYC.

I'm not making that up about people not talking on the phone..if you crunch the numbers on text messaging you find out that Gen Y doesn't talk on the phone at all. And plenty of Gen X'ers are primarily texters now too.

(texting really is faster than calling most of the time. obviously there are situations where it's dumb. it's also much less rude than calling.)

hmmm i haven't crunched numbers but i live in a college town. all the kids are constantly talking on their phones.

they're texting from class all day long. but see here:

http://moconews.net/...ing-in-the-u.s/

whoops, that stat was a year old...see what happened in 2011:

http://news.cnet.com...ing-to-talking/

[Nathan]

hmmm i haven't crunched numbers but i live in a college town. all the kids are constantly talking on their phones.

I looked up my monthly usage - 120, 60, 54, 84... (and of course this includes telemarketing). I'd really be much better off with no voice plan.

In the hour or so of observing 10003 street and cafe life every day I only see very occasional voice use, it's almost all text.

ride the bus in the 'hood, sometime. the cell phone chatter never stops. also, your lirr railroad riders never fucking stop tawking. i want to hold a protest sit in for quiet cars on the lirr

http://moconews.net/...ing-in-the-u.s/

African-Americans actually talk twice as much on the phone as Caucasian-Americans.

[Nathan]

These rationalizations people will make for their iPhones are very amusing. Right, talking on the phone is so last year. It doesn't need to actually, like, work as a phone.

SethG, what you are observing is the fact that the iPhone is first and foremost a computer.

It's a computer that happens to have one additional nifty feature - it can communicate (and thereby make phone calls) over cellular networks. For the most part, that "cellular" capability is delivered by one additional chip and an antenna hidden in the casing. The iPhone is all about having a computer in your pocket and then, since that computer can also make phone calls, you don't need to lug around a separate phone device. Nor do you need to lug around a music player or a GPS or a watch or an alarm clock or a subway map or a street map or a Zagats guide or a newspaper or a book or a ... And soon, you won't need to lug around credit cards or money or house keys or car keys or ...

Just make sure you don't lose the thing !

If you want to really get ahead of the curve, it's best to think of the iPhone as a miniature Mac with 3.5" screen.

I already use my phone to buy coffee and start my car.

[g.johnson]

I'll buy a phone as soon as I buy a car, then.

[cstuart]

Shit Siri Says

[mongo_jones]

These rationalizations people will make for their iPhones are very amusing. Right, talking on the phone is so last year. It doesn't need to actually, like, work as a phone. Funny.

I thought that was mostly an AT&T problem. Does the Verizon phone work better? Or does it go beyond the network to some problem of the phone itself?

as Orik said, it is a combination. and the Verizon phone reportedly does work considerably better in NYC.

I'm not making that up about people not talking on the phone..if you crunch the numbers on text messaging you find out that Gen Y doesn't talk on the phone at all. And plenty of Gen X'ers are primarily texters now too.

(texting really is faster than calling most of the time. obviously there are situations where it's dumb. it's also much less rude than calling.)

hmmm i haven't crunched numbers but i live in a college town. all the kids are constantly talking on their phones.

they're texting from class all day long. but see here:

http://moconews.net/...ing-in-the-u.s/

whoops, that stat was a year old...see what happened in 2011:

http://news.cnet.com...ing-to-talking/

i'm not saying that college kids don't text a lot. i'm saying that the ones i see all the time also seem to talk on their phones a lot.

[SethG]

The stats being cited may be partially driven by the fact that the iphone is a shitty phone.

Anyway, I wasn't contending that people don't text a lot. I was contending that the iPhone is considerd cool and because of this people are willing to forgive its failings and rationalize away its less desirable features. Surely this point is not controversial?

[splinky]

who wouldn't choose beauty over function and quality? i mean, like it's beauty, right.

[Stone]

It's worked for Jaguar and Scarlett Johansen.

[FoodDabbler]

I'll buy a phone as soon as I buy a car, then.

I'm sure it's possible to jailbreak an iPhone and get it to start the iToilet you
need in order to iShit. You can probably also use it as an iRedCornCob.

[Chambolle]

If you want to really get ahead of the curve, it's best to think of the iPhone as a miniature Mac with 3.5" screen.

My point is that the actual guts and technology will become close to indistinguishable. This has never been the case. It is still not the case. And Apple is the player who is effectively positioned to achieve it in the near term. Yes, it is amazing.

For those who don't want to take Chambo's word for it, maybe you will be more convinced by listening to the people who were actually involved in buiding the technology.

From a long but interesting Bloomberg Businessweek article about the intense individuals involved in innovating iMac, iPhone and iPod:

During that ascent, Forstall accumulated enemies, particularly during the long, arduous process of creating the iPhone. Around 2005, Jobs faced a crucial decision. Should he give the task of developing the device's software to the team that built the iPod, which wanted to build a Linux-based system? Or should he entrust the project to the engineers who had revitalized the software foundation of the Macintosh? In other words, should he shrink the Mac, which would be an epic feat of engineering, or enlarge the iPod? Jobs preferred the former option, since he would then have a mobile operating system he could customize for the many gizmos then on Apple's drawing board. Rather than pick an approach right away, however, Jobs pitted the teams against each other in a bake-off.

Forstall led the Mac-centric approach. He commanded a team of fewer than 15 engineers who went to work stripping down Apple's OS X operating system to see if it would work on a device with considerably less power and battery life than a regular computer. Leading the other group was Fadell, who helped create the iPod. Another boy wonder, Fadell in 2005 had become one of Apple's youngest-ever senior vice-presidents at 36. The competition, according to former Apple employees, turned explosive, with Fadell and Forstall arguing over talent, resources, attention, and credit. (Fadell declined to comment for this story.) (After publication, Fadell submitted a response. His comment can be found at the end of this story.)

Forstall's team managed to get their shrunken Mac system to work, and Jobs went with that software approach.

http://finance.yahoo...-businessweek-2

"I inherited the competitive iPhone OS project from Jon Rubenstein and Steve Sakoman when they left Apple. I quickly shuttered the project after assessing that a modified Mac OS was the right platform to build the iPhone upon. It was clear that to create the best smartphone product possible, we needed to leverage the decades of technology, tools and resources invested in Mac OS while avoiding the unnecessary competition of dueling projects."

http://finance.yahoo...-businessweek-3

[LML]

For those who don't want to take Chambo's word for it,...

It's not that people don't want to take his word for it -- rather, he is belabouring a point that was common knowledge in the first place.

[Chambolle]

Well, if His herculean labors have now made it common knowledge for all, He is pleased. Very pleased. He will henceforth consider tomorrow, Sunday, His day of rest.

It's not that people don't want to take his word for it -- rather, he is belabouring a point that was common knowledge in the first place.

One pedantic point - please pay particular attention to the appropriate capitalization of those personal pronouns. Thanks.

[g.johnson]

Why am I not surprised that Chambolle doesn't know that Linux is a computer operating system?