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The iPod has been one of the greatest cultural phenomenon of recent times - indeed we even talk about this generation being 'the iPod generation'. Now, after two years of speculation and rumor, Steve Jobs (Apple's boss) has just announced the iPhone - a stunning smartphone-come-iPod, running OSX, which seems to have exceeded everyone's expectations. On news of the announcement Wall St investors dumped shares in rival smart phone companies RIM (makers of the Blackberry) and Treo.

Will this new gadget simply consolidate Apple's dominance in the download market or will it fuel a further revolution in the design of useable palmtop communication devices?





Officer Dibble

You beat me to this post by 8 minutes Mr Dibble!

Heard it won't be out till March 08, and my current contract runs out in April 08. I may get it cos it looks a nifty piece of kit. Broadband speed wireless, 3.5" screen, up to 8gig!

Lets see what SonyEricsson & Nokia do in between. I've got the SonyEricsson W850i at the moment and like that I don't miss calls any more while listening to music on the train (like I used to with my Nano.) The W850i is a little bulky though.

My one doubt though is battery power in the iPhone. The battery has to power a 3.5" screen after all, as well as fit into a 11.6mm case.

I've been an Apple fetishist for 20 years but this just blows me away. To fully appreciate the breathtaking genius of these guys you need to watch Steve Jobs's demonstration of the iPhone here:

http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/j47d52oo/event/

Everyone's just going to have to try and copy this. Everybody benefits. This just pisses over Bill Gates and the speech he made at the CES on Monday.

I've got the Sony Ericsson 990i smart phone. It's a nifty piece of kit with all the current smart phone features, but the interface has evolved to be so messy and impenetrable that you find yourself scratching your head even if you just want to make a simple call. Apple are masters of design, ergonomics, and interfaces. They are light years ahead of even Sony Ericsson in these areas. I too look forward to getting an iPhone, as it looks the coolest, most usable, bit of kit in the electronic gadget arena.

I?m sure Apple will have got the battery problem sorted to a reasonable degree and that battery life will continue to improve (albeit slowly) over the coming months and years. But what about the durability of the screen and it?s resistance to scratches? Again, I?m sure Apple will not have overlooked this - because there has been criticism of earlier iPod screens in this respect.


Officer Dibble

It`ll cost ?250 and yet it`ll still be owned by thousands of benefit scrounging chavs who couldn`t keep a job if they were glued to it

[quote]I?m sure Apple will have got the battery problem sorted to a reasonable degree and that battery life will continue to improve (albeit slowly) over the coming months and years.[/quote]

You may be right, and I hope so. The iPod's battery lives have doubled over the last generation with the new Nano's capable of up to 24 hours continuous playback.

[quote]But what about the durability of the screen and it?s resistance to scratches?[/quote]

It never seems to affect me. Even phones of 12 months old never have any scratches on the screens. My other half is a different matter indeed. Putting this beauty in a handbag full of keys, lipsticks, mirrors and spare change will kill the screen within a day. Then we have a touch screen 'being continuously touched' with long fingernails. Females should be banned from purchasing the iPhone!

Cheaper version out already in the US.


Mart

I like the look of the 850i; however a well-meaning friend, through personal experience, informs me that the electronics of Sony-Ericsson 'phones can be suspect with keypad issues all too common at some point.

I want to upgrade- kill off the two birds of mp3/phone with the one stone of 850i.

Opinions- old wive's tale or actual problem?

Had 2 SonyEricsson phones in the past and a few mates have had them also.

The main problem were the phones that used the 'mini-joystick' to navigate through menu's etc. It usually failed within 6 months if you used the menu's regularly, while if you just called & answered calls without texting/gaming/surfing wap pages etc then it lasted longer. These 'mini-joysticks' are found on the k800i (which is a tiny joystick you move around with your thumb)

The w850i has more of a 'joy-pad' which is much easier to use and not as fiddly, or as prone to damage. Had this phone for 6 weeks and all well so far.

Make sure you get the 1gig sd card with your phone (orange and carphone warehouse supply them with the phone for free) I've got 8 albums which were ripped to mp3 at 192kps, and the sound is clear and distortion free. The supplied earphones block out outside noise great and it's even hard to hear people talking to you even when you've stopped the music. The equaliser isn't up to the iPods but it has 3 base settings which is enough for pop/rock/indie.

The only faults I have is when you get a call while listening to music. The phone automatically pauses the music when receiving a call and then starts music playback again when you hang up so you don't have to fiddle with your phone. You can answer the call with a button on your earphone cable or abutton on your phone. The call comes in through the earphones great and you talk back into your phone as normal. The problem is I'd have expected the phones ringtone to come in through the earphones too but it just plays through the phones speaker as normal. You still know you have a call because the musics paused but I once got a call between tracks and thought 'the next song is taking a long time!', until I realised I may have a call. This of course was just unlucky timing but I'd have thought sony could have easily worked your ringtone into the earphones.

The second fault is disconnecting a call. Usually with slide phones you slide up to answer, and slide down to disconnect. With the w850i you can answer without sliding up (good) but sliding down to disconnect doesn't work. You have to press a button to disconnect a call. It took me a day to get used to it and I sometimes forget when I'm drunk! Luckily the people I've spoke to have disconnected on the other end anyway, but if they hadn't I'd have been connected to them as long as they took to hang up.

All in all the camera is good, the menu lay out is easy, the joy-pad is more robust than the old joy-sticks and the music playback & radio is excellent (I'd even say the w850's playback was better than my iPod Nano, but that maybe because the Nano's songs' bitrates are 128kbps compared to 192kbs on the phone.)

I like slim phones but I'm happy with this phone so far (until the iPhone comes out!) I'd say it's the best walkman phone out there.

iPhone = 'mugger-magnet'