iPhone 3G

The Vera household has been a bit hostile since my dear mother in law came for her yearly summer visit. I love my mother in law, god bless her, the problem is her daughter, that is, my wife.

Whenever her mother is here she goes batshit.

This time the ordeal started because MIL wanted to buy an iPhone 3G for her other daughter, who is already with AT&T in Puerto Rico.

The problem: nobody would sell her one at the upgrade price, she needed the account holder in person.

After a week of FAIL, and without asking me, All Mighty Alpha Nerd and Master of Technical Decisions in the Vera Household, they decided to upgrade Ivette's iPhone 8GB to an iPhone 3G 16GB, then the deactivated iPhone 8GB could go to her sisters. That's a $300 upgrade for a phone that commands more than that on eBay.

I was furious, because as All Mighty Alpha Nerd and Master of Technical Decisions in the Vera Household, I feel entitled to always have the newest toy. I could not tolerate using an iPhone 8GB when my wife had an iPhone 3G 16GB.

No god damn way.

Of course, I couldn't afford to pay for upgrading my own, at least not yet, so I resorted to bitching and moaning. And lecturing.

For example, they went out for a drive and called me in a panic because they got lost in South East DC.

While carrying an iPhone 3G, which has fucking GPS in it.

Yeah, you can feel the rage already. It takes two lousy clicks to find out where you are at:

1. Click on the maps button



2. Click on the location button

That's it, you are done. If in range of GPS, it tells you exactly where you are at. Otherwise it tries to use cell towers and known wifi hotspots to give you a circle of uncertainty. The smaller the circle, the better the prediction is. In my old iPhone I had the triangulation peg my location within a car length, which is pretty damn impressive when you take into account what happens to GPS if selective availability happens to be enabled for your area.

After a week of bitching, moaning, pleading, etc. I wore them down and they upgraded mine, so now I also have an iPhone 3G 16GB, and my old phone (sorry Brian) is going to be my MIL's.

Now comes the best part: what the fuck for?

From my desk I still can't get 3G (but the Kindle can see it just fine, thank you). And my wireless access point decided that it won't let me login so I can add the mac address of the new phones, so I am surfing on EDGE while sitting 6 feet away from a wireless access point connected to 16MB cable!

What's different about the new phone?

1. It's lighter.



2. The buttons are chromed.



3. It smudges twice as much as my old one, because the back is now glossy black.



4. Now I don't have a dock.



5. And the AC adapter is maybe 1/4th the size of the old one, so it is even easier to lose.



6. And except for 3G, and it having twice as much storage capacity, and GPS, the device has the exact same feature set as my old phone.



7. The bill is now magically $15 more per phone.



8. The camera doesn't have the weird color spot that the old phones have, at least as far as I can tell.



9. Maybe it is a placebo effect, but normal voice calls are a bit better.

That's about it.

In terms of aesthetics, I still think the original back cover looks classier than the new glossy back. I haven't seen the white phone in person, I imagine it will be the ultimate chick phone (sorry Brad).

Original iPhone warranties about to expire

TUAW was kind enough to remind suckers (the ones that waited in line for a day or long for the iPhone's first sale) that their warranties are about to expire:

Do you hear that ticking noise? It's your iPhone's warranty preparing to go "boom."

[From Original iPhone warranties about to expire - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)]

Applecare is nothing more than a warranty extension, but it is a necessary evil. Apple is very flexible about selling these to you, so as the article mentions, you have the whole year to purchase coverage.

The problem now is that with the iPhone 3G almost out, many people still waiting to buy the warranty are simply going to skip it since they are picking up a new phone in June. What they don't take into account is that they can probably recover the $60 by the increase in resale value, since Applecare warranties are transferrable.

How the iPhone puts a bomb under mobile networks | The Register

Amazingly good analysis of the new push notifications service for iPhone 2.0:

If you think everything that could have been written about the iPhone already has been written, prepare to be surprised. One vital aspect of Apple's strategy has been overlooked - with multi-billion consequences for complacent network operators.

Over at Telco 2.0, the blog of analysts STL Partners, we learn that networks who partner with Apple must install Apple gear at the data centre to support its services - specifically, the Push Notification service that wakes up the Jesus Phone. Forget the revenues from sales of extra server gear - the key point is that Apple now sits in the middle of the data stream, capturing the customer's data. The analyst outfit describes the iPhone as a potential "poison" for the networks.

[From How the iPhone puts a bomb under mobile networks | The Register]

I like how they call it the "Jesus" phone.

For three months before and after the launch of the first iPhone, one of the earliest and most convenient excuses to dismiss it out of the business arena was the whole idea that you couldn't push content into it. Who gives a shit how neat this is, it can't talk to Exchange for crying out loud!

Now it can basically replace a Crackberry. Where's your God now?

Subsidizing it by $200 helps too.

The Mac Crying Game: iPhone 3G version

There is grand tradition amongst us Mac fanboys that we celebrate twice per year: the whining right after either Mac World Expo San Francisco, or the World Wide Developers Conference.

I like to call it "The Mac Crying Game."

This week's installment is very special, because the iPhone 3G is out. It is even more special because it seems like Fake Steve Jobs celebrates this holiday too.

The most common complaints so far:

1. OMFG! Why am I limited to AT&T? That's such bullshit!



2. $200? Do we look like we are made out of money????? (this is $200 cheaper than the previous model)



3. What? $10 extra for the broadband part of my wireless plan? That's such bullshit! (ahem, I did this actually)



4. Only black or white? I want one in pink! WTF Apple??????



5. Only 8 GB of solid state memory for $200? WTF?



6. Plastic body? Helooooo? What's wrong with this picture?



7. Why Apple doesn't make a clamshell? Duh! Who wants a phone so big????



8. What? I can't buy one to unlock it so I can run bash on mine? This is such bullshit man, BULLSHIT!



9. Why is the camera still 2MP, where's the flash? where's the zoom? My $200 Sony cybershot has face AND smile recognition!!!



10. Why is 3G still slower than my WiFi??????



11. Why is AT&T not subsidizing the handsets?



12. What the fuck do I need GPS for?



13. What do you mean I have to pay for the apps? I already paid $200 for the god damn phone!

And so it goes.

Even if I complained earlier that on the long run, the $200 cheaper iPhone 3G costs more than my current iPhone, I would still love to have one. On the first day it sells, there, I said it.

You think the whining is ridiculous? Wait until the week that it starts selling, it is going to be full-out insane. Batshit loco insane.

Oh, and this is the weak crying game season, just wait until MWSF 2009.

iPhone: Now with 3G, A-GPS, half as expensive

In less than one hour, Apple managed to cut the resale value of my two first generation iPhones to less than $100 each. Ouch.

The new iPhone has 3G, real GPS in addition to its cell-based locator, and costs just $200. Sonsofbitches!

Do I want one? I have had my iPhone since December, I find it to be pretty much perfect, and the one thing I wanted to see was GPS. GPS is here, so yeah, I want one. I imagine I should be able to offload mine for $100, even if to be used as an iPod Touch.

The Other New iPhone?

Remember last year, when a little-known company named Uniea announced new iPod nano cases—with correct physical dimensions—before the new iPod nano was ever shown? As we mentioned shortly afterwards, readers were quick to slam Uniea and its mock-ups, but the cases proved perfect fits when the new nano was released. Now, there are all sorts of friend-of-a-friend stories swirling around about the second-generation iPhone, and perhaps not surprisingly, they contradict one another.

[From The Other New iPhone? | iLounge Backstage]

We are now in the minor Apple rumors season, which is the month before WWDC (Major Apple rumor season is the 5-6 weeks before MWSF). The current focus of the rumors is the second generation of the iPhone. We already have plenty of noise making the rounds about the subsidized phones, so now the focus is in specific leaks about changes to the design of the device. It is still a little too early for leaked photos, that's not going to happen until about a day or so before WWDC starts.

WIth the leaked templates we'll have 3D mockups in about a week (the 3D mockups are another tradition since there are always plenty of talented Mac-using artists with the skill and imagination to put together some fantastic what-ifs).

Five minutes after the iPhone presentation in WWDC, the Mac Crying Game starts yet once again.

AT&T wins 12MHz spectrum, US iPhone to get nationwide WiFi?

The US Federal Communications Commission has approved the purchase by AT&T of 12MHz of wireless spectrum that covers 60 per cent of the US.

AT&T bought the spectrum from Aloha Spectrum Holdings. The spectrum, in the highly coveted 700MHz band, covers 196 million of the 303 million US residents and includes 72 of the top 100 media markets in the country. Aloha acquired the spectrum in earlier FCC auctions and from other auction winners. This portion of the 700MHz spectrum is not part of the FCC auction now in progress.

[From AT&T wins 12MHz spectrum, US iPhone to get nationwide WiFi? - Business - Macworld UK]

I am ready to do the "who's your daddy?" dance but I want to wait to see how the hell this is going to work with existing iPhones.

Cue-in the haters: "OMFG? WHAT ABOUT 3G???? THIS IS BULLSHIT!!!"

Apple iPhone now available with 16GB, iPod Touch with 32GB

Apple has now released revised capacity for both the iPod Touch and the iPhone. The iPhone is now available in 8GB and 16GB, while the iPod Touch is available in 16GB and 32GB. The smaller capacity devices carry the same retail price as before, the new capacity devices are $100 more.

Somehow this will piss people off.

iTWire - Apple cannot afford to keep single carrier policy

iTWire seems to be under the impression that Apple can't possibly make money by selling $400 phones tied to a single carrier, a carrier that over the life of the first 2-year contract will end up kicking back to Apple another couple hundred dollars or so in shared revenue. They go on to whine about why Vodafone (which they claim is the biggest carrier outside of China) was not used, which contradicts their own thesis that Apple went straight to the big players.

Either they did, or they didn't.

I honestly don't understand what the fuck is the deal with all of this whining about the iPhone from the business press. I own two and the damn things are nearly perfect. The problems that they have are very small, and they are workable. Why would I give a shit about the vendor lock-in if I have been an AT&T customer for over 5 years? I have had the same two numbers from AT&T Wireless to Cingular Blue, then Cingular Orange, then back to the new AT&T. Big fucking deal!

"But what if I don't want AT&T?"

Tough shit. This is not Burger King, you can't have it your way. Nobody forces you to buy an iPhone, there are thousands of cell phones out there, why all this god damn obsession with just one of many in the $400 price range? It's just a stupid phone! A very nice phone, but it is still just a phone!

They go on to whine about the international launch and how they could have sold so many more units and how come so many units did not get activated, etc. Who gives a shit? Unless you are an Apple stock holder, or you own stock in a company that competes with them, why obsess so much with it? It is a non-event.

"But why did they have to pick AT&T first?"

This has been explained over and over. Apple wanted complete control over the phone, which meant that the carrier had to share the risk of developing new systems just for one phone. It is obvious that AT&T was the one that made the cut.

Was that worth it? I don't know, but visual voicemail is excellent. I have hard hearing, and I detest voicemail. People leave me stupid voice mails with garbled phone numbers that end up being a complete waste of time for both of us. We do business together? That means that you have my email address, send me a stupid email, and we can talk on the phone as much as you want me to.

Here's a hasty comparison between my iPhone (1.1.3) and my previous cell phone, a Nokia 6030:

Feature	iPhone (1.1.3)	Nokia 6030
Can use by feel	NO	YES
Gigantic touch screen	YES	NO
WiFi	YES	NO
Surfing the net while not on WiFi doesn't suck ass	YES	NO
No need to carry iPod	YES	NO
No need to carry digital camera	YES (but the camera in the phone is horrible)	NO
Device itself is fast	YES!	NO
Easy to enter contacts	YES	NO
Easy to enter notes	YES	NO
Google Maps	YES	NO
Google Maps triangulation	YES	NO
Visual Voice Mail	YES	NO
Threaded SMS conversations	YES	NO
Can change face plates	NO	YES
Bluetooth	YES	NO
Great variety of third party wired headsets	NO (due to the plug and mike button)	YES
No need to ever remind the wife/SO to remember to pick up the stupid cell phone on the way out	YES	NO

Please notice that this comparison is completely unscientific and very biased. I had to put up with that Nokia piece of shit for almost two years.

I still don't see why people are still freaking out about the impact of the iPhone on Apple's bottom line. They made a killing, to the point that the iPod already made the transition to the iPhone's touch screen style. A year or so from now there won't be any iPod classics left, and all but the shuffle will be fully touch screen.