It's April 19, 2024, 02:34:07 PM
the iphone just got unlocked
nah there is a do it yourself version that you dont have to pay for... the version you see will be sold... hackers have done it with there own tools for free for anyone...check this out...http://modmyiphone.com/wiki/index.php/How_to_software_unlock_iPhone_iUnlockand there are more sites up as well explaining how to do it...one of the sites said it plans to have this set up in a nice GUI so its all automated... so im waiting for that route before i do anything since i have it running on the att network now... so i dont need it but it would be nice since t-mobile is cheaper and i get better service from them at work than i do with att.. but im not breaking my contract and doing this if this gets blocked... so i got to wait and see... but good news for people wanting and iphone and dont want to switch carriers and for other people outside of the united states trying to use it on their networksedit http://www.freeiphoneunlock.com/unlock/ shit alot has happen since i last read up on it... iphonesimfree and freeiphoneunlock are 2 different things tho... alot people think that iphonesimfree was a scam they were trying to sell it while freeiphoneunlock and all the other sites are just doing it for free
the sanyo phone is cool
Sanyo M1<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q_OsooZsfgA" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/Q_OsooZsfgA</a>http://www.finalsense.com/news/it/phone/sanyo_m1.htmSprint today announced the full-channel availability of the Sanyo M1, Sprint's first phone with 1GB of internal memory. Able to offer storage for up to 16 hours of music and other multimedia files including pictures, video clips and voice recording, the M1 also provides quick and easy access to Sprint-exclusive content, including:- Sprint Music Store, which allows users to browse and wirelessly download full-length songs directly to their phone- Sprint TV with more than 50 channels of television and on-demand video and audio including more than 20 channels offering live content- NFL Mobile, a Sprint-exclusive wireless application that brings fans access to same-day video highlights, customizable real-time statistics, scores, injury reports and other information updated every two seconds- Sprint Movies, the first "pay-per-view" service for mobile phones in the U.S. that streams full-length movies, including recent box-office hits and timeless favorites from Buena Vista VOD, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures- Sprint Power View, the industry's first made-for-mobile sports and entertainment video programming networkThe M1's advanced power management offers up to 18 hours of continuous music-playing time to support extended use of the multimedia capabilities. Additional key features include stereo Bluetooth wireless technology, a 2.0-megapixel camera with auto-focus, nine equalizer settings for fine-tuning the listening experience, and background music mode for listening to music while checking email, surfing the Web or sending text messages. The M1 also has external controls and large external LCD for optimal usability.The Sanyo M1 is available through all Sprint retail channels for a suggested retail price of $349.99 or $199.99 with a two-year subscriber agreement. Sanyo M1 Features* Sprint Music Store provides over-the-air downloads of high-quality full songs (MP3 and AAC / AAC+ digital files)* Sprint TV offers more than 50 channels including live television* 1.0 GB internal memory capacity (Stores up to 16 hours of music, or a combination of music, photos, videos, and voice recording)* Advanced power management enables up to 16 hours of music playing* 2.0-megapixel camera and camcorder with autofocus and flash* Background music mode allows music play while checking email, surfing the web or sending text messages* On Demand news, sports, weather and entertainment content* Enhanced gaming experience with 3D Graphics* Pre-loaded with Sprint's exclusive NFL Mobile application* Stream music to your phone with Music Choice, Sirius Music and others* External navigation control allows easy access to music features* External dual 15 mm stereo speakers for stereo music playback and speakerphone* Sprint PCS Ready Link for quick walkie-talkie-style communication* Bluetooth enabled* GPS enabled
iPhone for Japanese - Sharp 913SH TV PhoneSharp 913SHhttp://mobiltelefon.ru/i/other/may/23/softbank_sharp_912sh_2.jpg<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/3yRszl8XW5U" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/3yRszl8XW5U</a>iPhone for Japanese - Sharp 913SH TV Phonehttp://www.handcellphone.com/archives/iphone-for-japanese-sharp-913sh-tv-phoneDo you think Japanese craves for iPhone like we do? Absolutely not! The cell phone in the pictures is the newly released Mobile TV phone from Sharp, the Sharp 913SH, that comes loaded with gigantic WQVGA Mobile ASV LCD (picture quality is close to HQ TV’s). The Sharp 913SH slider phone also has built-in 2.0-MP digital camera, Mp3 and Video player, and digital TV player. Although the Sharp 913SH doesn’t has cool multitouch technology of iPhone, the 913SH tv phone has features and specifications that iPhone couldn’t offer.The Sharp 913SH TV Phone will be available in the market very soon.
I actually prefer memory cards over hard disc/flash memory.What happens when your phone crash? All the shit you got stored is gone...
SMS-messages on the iPhonehttp://www.mobile-review.com/articles/2007/iphone-sms-en.shtmlThe background of the iPhone review is quite thorny. After twiddling with the device even before its release date, I shaped up my personal opinion, and naturally shared it with the readers. At once an army of Apple fans shows up, claiming that when the phone arrives, it will be a whole new story with all features it didn’t have already inside. But there we no last-minute pickups. However, it wasn’t the end of the story. Once the sales kicked off, when the market received first feedback from real owners of the handset, it had the image of a shining and blinged-out yet foot-operated spaceship. Again, the major point of the fans was “let’s grab it, wait some and then, while we are asleep, the pumpkin will turn into in a mind-blowing spaceship”. Let’s face it, it will not. And you know why? Pumpkins and spaceships can’t possibly switch their roles, so a pumpkin will stay this way, and a spaceship will be a spaceship whatever happens. Don’t accuse me of hating pumpkins – they can serve for making a tasty and healthy porridge and many other wonderful things. Unless it is a spaceship. Apple fans have already blamed me for being loyal or bribed by Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Siemens, Samsung in some way – and it wasn’t just a one-off. It doesn’t even matter what I say about the iPhone – this “greatest” product of all time will stick to this title regardless. That’s why in a review of the “revolutionary” device, we will venture to step away from our routine (they have re-invented the cell phone, right?) and delve into each function in particular. So as to prevent anyone from calling our conclusions or the low-down on the iPhone we give in question. However, judging by my blog, the fans are not ready to embrace even the obvious flaws, countering anyone’s arguments with no-one-needs-this-anyway triads. For all cold-minded people, we are digging under the brilliant skin of the most revolutionary device on the planet. The device that happens to come with phone functions – so we are taking a plunge, and our first stop will be SMS-messages. SMS – a standard that dies off?As the fans of Apple believe, such standard as SMS, is now dying – that’s because the function of SMS-messaging in the iPhone is weedy, while its email options are “robust”. Nevertheless, it is more likely that the real reason is that they haven’t seen an in-depth review of the bundled mail client – otherwise they wouldn’t dare write this to me. But let’s take an once-over of the SMS standard and see whether it is really such a hopeless standard and why. Let me venture a loaded question: what is stored in any handset's phonebook? Apparently, phone numbers and contact names. Some have more, some – less. But are email addresses about? I bet the vast majority of the users don’t have them over there. It is not even about the habit – there are some fundamental differences. Short messages are delivered instantly, and the sender can get delivery report, which ensures that a text message has been received, so the time when the recipient reads it doesn’t make much difference. Can an email be delivered equally fast? Yes, if it is Push Mail. Does this prove convenient for your correspondence? Undoubtedly, no. What’s the problem with this, I hear you ask? How many SMS messages do you receive daily? Probably, several to dozens in some cases. And what about emails? A couple of dozens to hundreds, including spam. So, which message will be the top-priority to you, for it contains valuable information for sure? A short message – sent by a person you know, it is not classified as spam and requires an immediate answer (or needs to be answered some time later). This is a private message, whereas email always comprises loads of anonymous messages. Apple fans will come up with a solid counter – get a personal mail box and enjoy spam-free correspondence. Though, we would one go through all that trouble of multiplying his accounts, while a simpler solution is on the surface. How often do we check mail on the phone? At best – once in 30 or 60 minutes. Email requires no urgent replies – and many take this for granted – except for when your job has something to do with online support service or you got some special notification (by phone, for example) of an important letter. And how long does it take us to punch in a reply to an SMS? In most cases, we do it instantly, or, running to an extreme, we are so busy that can’t even answer it. Another fact of note is that the number of people owning a mobile phone outruns the number of people enjoying email services. Obviously, these consumers of the mobile service should be stamped “out-of-date”, given an iPhone apiece along with an email account. SMS setup. It is a very tangled process for sure – you need to compose a message and then it gets sent, no further settings required. As of today, the size limits are nearly gone, and I think, and many share this point of view, squeezing 1000 symbols even into a letter is quite a challenge, anyway, what would be the point? Short messages have a hundred percent delivery rate, can be personalized and have maximum priority for the users. There is no such issue as spam. Plus its straightforward setup (no setup at all, to be precise) and wider adoption – all this adds up to a successful technology. As far as outgoing messages are concerned, email has no edge over SMS. This is where we about to wrap it all up and stop discribing obvious things that 99% of the users clearly understand and vote for them with their own money. By the way, IM-clients only intensify SMS traffic, rather than negate it. “Why” would well be a separate article, so no word on this here. “Best” phone – “best” SMS clientSMS-messaging is the second most popular feature, following voice communications. That’s why many makers strive to offer extra options along with default capabilities – achieve, custom folders creation, search functions etc. While “inventing” the phone, Apple booted the experience of the rest of the world and got everything in the way the company believed to be more straightforward and unsophisticated. Although most users will find such implementation a bit odd. Let’s look into it. The “Messages” icon is in the top left, seemingly, it couldn’t grab any spot in the quick launch bar. In my opinion, if it were not for Apple’s desire to get users as heavy on data as possible, it could have been easily thrown in there instead of mail. Upon receiving a message you see a pop-up window with sender’s name and a couple of text lines. If you have the handset lying around on a table, your message will be read by just about everyone. When you have several new messages, the iPhone displays only their total number and phone numbers, if the letter can be squeezed into the field. So, in case you are bent on security and don’t want any third party to intrude into your correspondence, you will be better off with pop-ups disabled. This window always comes to the foreground when surfing the web or watching video – you can tap Ignore and check it later. While at the standby screen, the display springs into life for a second to notify you of an incoming message and then turns blank again, so if the phone is not in your hands, missing such event couldn’t be easier. The omission of a service LED, like on many other handsets, that allows you to keep track of these events, doesn’t help the matter either. For the sake of power saving, the iPhone momentarily turns off the display, and there are no screensavers available – meaning that you won’t enjoy screensavers with info on missed calls/messages like those found on other handsets. There is only one short sound notification for an incoming SMS-message, no customized tones enabled. And on top of that, the vibration doesn’t last long either. So having the iPhone in outerwear, you might well overlook both signals. In case you are in the middle of some music track, the sound alert and the melody tend to overlap, as the sound gets muffled only for a fleeting moment. But what deeply puzzled me, was the absence of the message icon from the status bar – you have no way of finding out that you have a new message from applications, for this you will have to go all the way back to the main menu. For instance, having missed the incoming message signal, you continue browsing web-pages or listening to music as if it never arrived. If you think that the status line will present you with the icon mimicking an envelope to let you know of a new message, you are mistaken. Over at Apple they believe that the user doesn’t necessarily have to be notified of these events and should rather go on utilizing more important functions of the handset. It is a samey feature, but its omission occasionally does confuse people. Which makes it all the more pleasant to see the message number counter upon the SMS-icon in the main menu – what a surprise. The menu for messages is no bells and whistles on the face of it – it is a vertically-arranged list, displaying contact name (if available in the phonebook), and a couple of text lines taken from the last message. And it doesn’t matter whether you sent or received a message, you see the lines of the last message. It is not particularly conventional and has much to do with Threads – a feature that sets the iPhone apart from other offerings available on the market. What these threads are all about? The phone groups up messages sent/received by the phone number, so while in the thread mode, all messages are displayed in separate boxes which can be viewed in the form of a vertically arranged list. That’s exactly where we run into the first problem that the thread mode brings about – you can’t delete some specific messages, save them or move onto the SIM-card, or into some folder. All you can do is wipe the message box, leaving no messages, essential or not, inside. Being unable to pick some particular message also means you can’t forward it to somebody else. At first the threads look nifty on the screen, and among all other things, they are quite speedy. But as your message base increases in weight, opening long threads (50 messages plus) becomes a tad more sluggish process, especially if a new message arrives when you are using some other function of the handset. Since there are no caps for a thread size, it will be getting slower with every new entry. On the other hand, keeping all these messages doesn’t make much sense, as the vast majority of them aren’t crucial, and the thread mode doesn’t empower you with search options. Scrolling through meters of threads is a real challenge – grabbing a pen and writing information down is much easier. Especially keeping in mind that the phone can’t copy text either.The iPhone has no delivery report option. Many find it useful, though, for it guarantees that the recipient has had the message delivered and will read it. But you never know with the iPhone. This handset can only handle sent/received times, but that’s about it. Furthermore, the developers think it is a good idea to merge messages close in terms of sending time under one headline, so this parameters is no longer specified for separate messages. You end up looking at a small thread which starts at xx:xx, and there is no way to figure out when particular messages were received. The handset doesn’t have a knack for reading vCard, name cards sent over SMS, which are shown as a complete mess of symbols. However, the iPhone locates phone numbers in text and offers you to add them into an already existing contact, or create a new entry, or dial that number/send a message. Another “marvelous” touch here is the necessity to be within the coverage area to write a message to somebody. Don’t get me wrong, you can punch in a message and exit the section, and nothing will happen to the text when you get pack. However you won’t be able to compose message to several people – if you happen to get out of the coverage area while a message is being sent, you won’t be allowed to type another message until the handset does away with the first one. At any given moment you can handle only one message, which is another drawback of the threads. You simply can’t send a message later if something doesn’t work out, so should you have constant problems with sending some particular message, you are stuck, until, well, an Armageddon comes about, or you will lose the text you have typed.This is just like a store when the seller hands goods personally, but in the case of the iPhone you won’t be offered to pick the options you need and pay for all the goods with one cheque, quite the contrary, you will have to pay for every option separately. You waste time and nerves – that’s how it is done here. There is another ideological bomb brought about by the threads, and it is already ticking. If for sending messages some of your friends use special forms available on carriers’ sites, all these messages will end up in one thread, regardless of the contents, and you will have no other options but delete all of them. For example, Beeline has the 684 service for these purposes, and you simply won’t be able to find out whose messages there are – should we ask everyone to sign all messages? No SMS templates are available; on top of that you can’t save or read SMS messages you have on the SIM card. The SMS interface has one more remarkable feature to it, which is truly amazing when it comes to ergonomics. The handset memorizes the last window you deltwith, and when you unlock the phone, it brings it up. Now, imagine you have just received a message and naturally would like to look into it. You unlock the phone, but find yourself in some other menu far from messages. Nothing to worry about. You push the Back button and tap SMS thumbnail. What does the iPhone show you now? That’s right, the place where you left the messages menu last time. For instance a thread with some other contact involved. Now you get back to the general list, pick the thread with the new message and finally you can read it and even compose a reply. Some four extra presses for such a straightforward process as reading an SMS-message. I shall note, though, that if you actually manage to unlock the handset in a couple of seconds, you will get right into the menu you need. The handset doesn’t let you send a message to a couple of contacts at a time, which makes me wonder about the developers’ thoughts. One message – one recipient. Now it is clear why there are no templates, who would need them anyway? Make up unique messages, develop your imagination! For instance, such routine message as “Gonna be late by XX minutes” should be typed in every time you are being late. What’s up with you, don’t keep people waiting, get changed, and tweak your life to meet the standards of this product.Anticipating the objections of Apple fans that the concept of the threads is here thanks to Apple alone, I shall note that SMS Thread is an integral part of the Palm Treo, so if anybody utilizes it, this device must be the source. If somebody wants to embrace threaded message view in Nokia phones, it is easy to do for 15 bucks – this app comes with a full set of standard features and imposes no limitations. This means, there are none at all. Since threads are more of a nice visual touch, rather than a real tool increasing overall usability, not many will fall for it. Now, take a look at the table above and the total number of “yes” and “no”. Two features are draws, in other 15, Apple’s offspring is far behind, for it simply doesn’t pack them. Every user has own priorities, but on the whole, there will always be an option of utmost importance. Of course, if you actually use SMS, and don’t think you are a Homo iPhonus, specially designed for this product. Real-life situationsSince the fans of the iPhone can’t put all the pieces and specifications listed above together, and fully realize how these flaws might affect them in their daily routines, we have prepared a couple of real-life situations you can easily come across. Gathering friends. You are about to roller-skate a little, storm into a club, or hang out somewhere. But you need to let some people know the place where you are meeting and the time. With a Nokia’s phone, all you need to do is compose a message, pick a group of contacts, or specify phone numbers and you are all set – the message has been delivered to all of them. With the iPhone you will need to punch in the same message for every contact you want to see there again and again. Sharing information. You receive an SMS-message, whose contents seem to be very valuable, like a pub address or something. And you have to forward this information to your friends. With the iPhone, you simply dial their numbers and say: “Hey! I can’t forward this message to you because I have a really awesome handset that doesn’t support this feature, so please take a pen and write it down”. If you friend is taking a shower or having a nice work-out, he won’t be able to help you. Call another contact and, for example, you will hear: “Stop bothering me, send me an SMS” – fair enough. Most phones available on the market allow their owners to forward messages in any form and to any address. Message delivery. You have lost your sleep, waiting for your better half to already land in some foreign country, or get out of the subway – you really need her right now. Any iPhone user sends a message and waits when it gets replied. Any user of some other handset sends an SMS and receives a report when the recipient gets back into the coverage area. Which is convenient. New Year. You always need to send that “Happy New Year!!!” message to a lot of people, so you make up a template and employ your phone’s bulk mailing feature. With the iPhone you waste your entire evening punching in only one word – “HNY” – otherwise you might wind up with both your fingers and nerves severely hurt. And you will try to avoid replying to all incoming messages – you don’t have a proper template, while calling is not an option in these circumstances. That’s how you get the image of a man of few words, who normally ignores all these occasions, and speaks words of congratulation through clenched teeth. Brief conclusionYou should overhype the lack of MMS support though – this standard can be easily replaced by regular email. As I see, for many manufacturers MMS is a mere act of paying homage to the decisions they made in the pas t- the market has almost no demand for this service. Wrapping it all up, I can say the following on the iPhone’s messaging options – it is an unlimited storage for messages, which turns out to be worthless for the want of the most essential features like sorting, search and general message management. All information you deem worthy should be literally written down – like on that foot-operated spaceship. Today any handset offers more than the iPhone on the messaging front. As far as smartphones are concerned (which the iPhone has nothing to do with in the first place) S60 tears the Apple’s product to pieces without breaking a sweat. If we were to give this phone a one-word characteristic, it would be “beautiful”. For it doesn’t have any other merits. You can meditate, watching over dialogues or pop-up windows, but the usability is in question here, no matter how you look at it. P.S. If you can give us some constructive criticism on this article – you are more than welcome, but please save us from the likes of “I don’t use SMS, so nobody needs this feature for sure”. Also, I can’t take such arguments as “they will chunk this/that in some time in future”. This product is on sale today, at this very moment. Eldar Murtazin (eldar@mobile-review.com) Translated by Oleg Kononosov (oleg.kononosov@mobile-review.com)Published — 24 August 2007
iPhone as a phone – probing the main functionhttp://www.mobile-review.com/articles/2007/iphone-as-phone-en.shtmlAttention. If you are an Apple fan, stop right here, don’t read any further. Take care about your nerves. You are not a fan, that’s for sure?! Don’t tell us nobody warned you after you read this. This article has been written for normal people, rather than those coming from Homo iPhonus species. To that group we relegate the consumers who alter themselves, as well as their physical parameters, so as to make use of the iPhone.Well, let’s recall the things we were pondering over in the previous installment of our “iPhone exposed” article – SMS-messaging. As you might remember, the iPhone turned out to be a complete bust, lagging behind the today’s phones in almost every single way, and the fans came up with two reasons for that. Firstly, SMS messaging is dying as a standard. This one was pretty much far-fetched, and we did everything necessary to prove this statement wrong in the article. However the other factor is not what you usually hear – it appears that in the US, which is the market this phone is made for, nobody uses SMS, probably 1-2 percent of “obsolescent” consumers at best. The rest are completely into IM-clients or employ e-mail, which is a contemporary thing miles ahead in terms of ease of use. The fact that the iPhone is currently propped up by PR activities positioning it as a tool of SMS messaging is completely overlooked by these people. By “PR activities” here we mean an avalanche of reports suggesting that some individuals managed to type so many messages with the iPhone that their bills were over a hundred pages long. So, one might actually come to a conclusion that this phone was made with SMS-messaging in mind. But as we already know, this is not the case. In order not to waste time on all this nonsense, we will broaden these people’s knowledge base by quoting some data on SMS – during the Q1 2007, three largest US carriers had nearly 60 billion messages sent; to be more precise: Verizon – 22,75 bln. messages, T-Mobile – 16 bln., AT&T – 14,23 bln. Together, these three occupy almost 61 percent of the market. Overlooking other carriers and bearing in mind that the US population makes 302.2 million, penetration level of mobile communications around 80 percent, it is easy to find out how many SMS are sent by the average user in the US. 219,14 messages a quarter. Still think SMS is being ditched in the US or about to pass off? Following the canons of trenched warfare, Apple fans have already prepared a fallback to their fortified positions. Occasionally they mumble that it is merely a “fancy toy” that can’t be judged on its technical merits. Personally, I have no quarrel with this definition, for it is a precise way to describe what this device actually is. Wrapping it all up, all these claims of the iPhone fans on SMS-messages give an interesting picture. I’m curious about what their song will be when the phone arrives in Europe. Ah, right, I almost forgot – it will turn into a spaceship. I suppose there is nothing more to talk about. What is typical of fans, they always shift gears, so their moans have already traveled from the field of solid facts to philosophy. But enough of this gas, moving straight to the substance. Data sourceThis time around we are going to cover the main function of every phone – calls. In this installment we are focusing both hardware and software idiosyncrasies of the iPhone. In case some Homo iPhonus type of user hasn’t jumped off in the preface, I shall underscore the fact that the ability to make and receive call is THE centerpiece of any mobile phone. Nevertheless, after the story with “dying” SMS messaging, the next thesis probably should go something like this: “there is no point in calling with this device”. A crowd going crazy is an amusing sight, dare I say.Phone interface, phonebookThe iPhone developers have put the calling features above all else and given them the top priority – the Phone thumbnail sits on the immediate left in the navi-bar. However, the ergonomics of this solution are hampered, in the first place, by the lack of hardware buttons. Let’s have a look at what a typical call with the iPhone takes. Calling with iPhone. After pressing the button below the display or the power key, unlocking the device, moving fingers across the display, tapping the Phone icon, we get straight into… The place you end up in actually depends on your luck – the Phone application comes with 5 tabs – Favorites, Recent Calls, Contacts, Keyboard, Voice mail. This handset memorizes the last tab you were in and then upon re-entering the application calls up this tab. For other applications this approach can do some good, but in a mobile phone that has dumped all hardware keys, such a solution is more than just odd. The keypad is what all phones have in common, and normally we tend to call more often than do something else with our handsets. Probably, the fact that LG and Samsung have finally awoken to this has made for pick/hang up buttons in the Prada and the Armani. These Korean makers have not forgotten what the handset is all about – calls. Anyway, in the iPhone that Phone application is three clicks away, and then you will usually need another tap to enable the keypad or some other apps, like the phonebook or favorites. Calling with Nokia N95. Before I start, I must say that everything I describe below may well go for just about any handset available on the market, regardless of form-factor – the number of interactions you need to make will remain the same. Pushing the slider open automatically unlocks the keypad. Then you can you dial any number, meaning that the phone application is always on tap. With candy-bars it gets a tad more complicated – you need to press two keys or hold down some particular button to unlock the keypad. But again, it is so much easier.Calling up most features found in the phone takes two presses - one for unlocking, one for tapping and holding one of the numeric keys that together form a quick launch menu. “1” brings up voice mailThe phonebook is accessed in two actions from the locked-down standby screen. Let’s list all these figures in the table below. Function Nokia N95 Apple iPhoneUnlocking 1 action (1 second) 1 gesture and a key press, 2 actions (4 seconds)Keypad access 1 action (1 second) 3-4 actions (5 seconds)Phonebook access 1 action, 1 key press (2 seconds) 3-4 (5 seconds)Speed dial 1 action, 1 key press (2 seconds) 3-4 (5 seconds)Call log 1 action, 1 key press (2 seconds) 3-4 (5 seconds)Voice mail 1 action, 1 key press (2 seconds) 3-4 (5 seconds)As you see, the ergonomics of the iPhone leave much to be desired. Put it this way – with any handset worth more than 30 USD you will spend less time accessing the core features than with the iPhone. That may not seem like much – some seconds, what can they do? But these fleeting moments make minutes of your time, wasted because somebody doesn’t have a clue how to make user-friendly interfaces. We intentionally left out the fact that many, while taking the Nokia N95 out of pocket, slide it open and even before looking at the display start typing or pushing the keys. In other words, they don’t bother themselves with inspecting the phone’s screen. Also, don’t close your eyes to the fact that the ability to dial by touch is provided by any handset with a mechanical keypad. We actually picked the Nokia N95 on purpose – some feature phones are even better performers, so we met the iPhone halfway to keep the gap tiny. As you can see from the table, the iPhone is only two times slower in most respects. And the last experiment was pretty much straightforward. We handed our iPhone to random people, showed where the Phone application was and offered them to practice in dialing phone numbers. When they mastered this operation, we asked them to type 333-33-33 on the Nokia N95 and do exactly the same thing on the iPhone. The dispersion in the results we witnessed was quite remarkable. It took them about 5 seconds (best time – 4 seconds) to dial with the N95 and nearly 10 seconds with the iPhone (best time – 9 seconds). Basically, you can just leave the Phone application, set on the tab you need, sitting idle on the screen and lock the display. Then, after removing the display lock you will find yourself right in this app, which saves about a second of your time. Why the vast majority of the iPhone owners won’t do so? It is simple – the handset’s status bar has no icons notifying you of new mail or SMS – to figure this out you have to be in the main menu, which is the thing everybody does all the time. This is a quite tricky question that definitely deserves a close-up. If you happened to dial a number but didn’t actually make a call, this number will remain there, which turns out to be useless in most cases, so you are down to delete it first to dial a new phone number. To avoid being accused of bias once again, I can say with all due confidence that in terms of interface the iPhone has a number of advantages over other handsets. Of all the functions wired to the iPhone’s the main menu, one launches faster than on most today’s phones. Others can perform it just as fast or slower (because of phone lock or missing shortcuts). You will never guess which one! No, wrong! It is Calculator!!! Honestly speaking, I haven’t the foggiest what the developers were thinking when they were designing the iPhone’s ergonomics. Call logThe layout of the call log differs from that applied by other makers in very fundamental ways, but still has some things in common. We won’t create a “perfect phone” here and put it up against the iPhone, so we will add the Sony Ericsson K850i to the comparison on top of the Nokia N95. Personally, I love the way the call log is laid out and works in Sony Ericsson’s A100/A200 platform, but it is a matter of taste. By default, the iPhone switches to the tab featuring all calls, which can comprise up to 100 entries. All calls to the same number coming one after another get merged, and the bracketed figure on the right shows how many calls there were. In this view mode you see call time (if there is a couple of them – all time marks). Another thing of note is that the merged calls don’t make one entry, but are regarded as separate entries. Also there is a list for all missed calls – the main log shows these entries in red. Without further ado, here is a table, which can shed some light on what features are different on the iPhone. Feature iPhone Nokia N95 (S60 3hd Edition FP1) Sony Ericsson K850i (A100/A200/A250i)Main list (all calls) Yes No YesStand-alone lists for missed, incoming and outgoing calls Only for missed Yes, three lists Yes, three lists Call time Yes Yes YesCall duration No No NoNumber of entries 100 No limits 90, 30 entries per listCall type in the main list (incoming, outgoing) No, only missed - YesBlack and white lists (blocks calls from certain phone numbers) No Yes YesCall filter, answering machine No Yes, third-partly app required NoThe only problem, yet a crucial one, that puts me off is that the handset just doesn’t know that 8-903-3333333 and +7-093-3333333 are in fact two ways of dialing one number. Depending on how you type a number, the iPhone may not recognize it, which is somewhat frustrating. All other makers learned this lesson ten years ago and now realize that any number should be identified with its prefix left out. The lack of stand-alone lists isn’t particularly justified and sometimes can cause a lot of trouble. Nevertheless, this spartan layout can be mastered, so you won’t be missing the times when you had all three logs at your disposal badly. Since the iPhone has been made with regular people in mind, don’t even try digging for something that goes beyond the core functionality. Don’t forget the inability to install own applications or improve the default feature pack (third-party applications will be our next big focus, but for now we are talking about enhancing the stock features). For instance, getting a personal answering machine with some IVR-cues like on S60 platform will be impossible on the iPhone in the foreseeable future. A fine example of such application for the Nokia N95 is IVCM. On balance, the call log is pretty much competent, yet nothing to shout about. FavoritesWith the firmware version 1.0.1 the number of Favorite entries has jumped up to 50. You can select entries right from this section or the phonebook. While in the phonebook, if there are more than 6 numbers specified for a contact, a part of them will be unavailable to you, since there is no way to scroll down. This seems to be more like a software error rather than some fundamental flaw – so it gets rectified in the near-term for sure. Favorites menu is a poor replacement for speed dial feature, and boosting its capacity up to 50 entries is pretty unwise, for it is not all another type of phonebook – they would be better off with contact groups viewable in separate lists. In view of Apple’s awful lack of experience in creating handsets, it is now clear why the ergonomics suffer so badly. For instance, I suppose it would be lovely to see a speed dial menu for the on-screen numeric keys, so upon tapping them we would see pop-up name for quick dialing. Even when thrown into Favorites, these numbers should be accessible from the numeric keypad. There is a ton of ideas flying around – you just need some experience on this front to grab them and implement. PhonebookFinally, we have come to another feature typical of all handsets – Apple spent a tremendous amount of time perfecting it, so the anomalies here are thin on the ground. Upon calling up the phonebook you see a vertically arranged list of entries, where you can turn on sorting by First/Last name, picking one of these options sets the respective name parts in bold. There is no real search in the iPhone, however the index list on the immediate right makes for painless jumps between initials. It is pretty accurate, so after switching to the right part of the list all you have to do is scroll all the way down to the name you need. In “non-revolutionary” phones you can dial the general number right from the main list, however with the iPhone you will need to enter the edit mode first by tapping a contact and only then pick the desired number and dial it up. Another extra interaction with the phone. Truth be told, this holds true even for entries with a lone phone number inside. Regrettably, it is not the place in the phone they have striven to make ergonomically friendlyThe process of synchronization with Outlook runs smoothly - the iPhone easily picks up all your contacts. When composing a new contact on the handset itself you can add new fields, but, let’s take a closer look. Any contact can be bound up with any image, which will be displayed upon an inbound or outbound call, taking up a large portion of the screen. Actually it is the first time I come across field descriptions put right into the blanks, so once you start punching in data they disappear. If you happen to edit these fields, you better be sure what is what. And this is not an easy task when dealing with names of Chinese or Vietnamese partners. For any contact you can submit an unlimited number of phone numbers and specify unique types for them (by default – mobile, home, work, main, home fax, work fax, pager, other). Plus you can create your own mark, which is pretty convenient. Similar marks will be available for all other fields as well. Out of 20 ringtones enabled on the iPhone you can pick a personal tune for a contact, and since 19 of them are barely audible even in quite friendly environments, being able to choose from one tune feels humiliating.Email addresses, as well as address type. Web links. Postal addresses. Among the extra fields are birthday, memorable event, nickname, job, department, prefix, suffix. To find out more about the phonebook-related differences between the iPhone and other contemporary handsets, let’s get the N95 involved again, as the most typical representative of S60. Feature Apple iPhone Nokia N95Number of entries Unlimited UnlimitedNumber of extra fields Fixed by field types Fixed by field types (field type available for editing)Search by First/Last Name No YesInitial search Yes YesVoice tags No voice dialing Created automatically for any languageContact groups No YesInteractions with contact groups (copy, select etc) No YesAbility to create an archive in phone’s memory or memory card No, only on PC YesAbility to send contacts to other devices No Yes – via SMS, mail or Bluetooth (vCard)Ability to retrieve contacts to other devices No Yes – via SMS, mail or Bluetooth (vCard)SyncML No YesMS Exchange No YesContact duplication No YesCopying contacts to/from SIM-card No YesThe ease-of-use delivered by the iPhone hinges on how many contacts you have and what initials prevail in your phonebook. While you can jump to any particular letter in no time, finding a contact among 50-60 entries will take some time. Undoubtedly, paging through the list with the iPhone’s touchdisplay looks tremendous, but it is nowhere near that in terms of the amount of time of waste on it. If you keep your contact list small, the gap won’t hurt you much, but as your phonebook gains in weight, it becomes a real pain. As I see it, the top limit set by the iPhone developers where the handset still remains effective makes about 250 entries. Past this mark it gets sluggish and lags behind other phones usability-wise. Contacts stored on your SIM-card can’t be displayed no matter how hard you struggle with the phone. Apparently this is an anachronism; just like those now-arriving cards with more memory onboard and capable of storing more fields per entry. The iPhone’s phonebook is very controversial – a slew of fields but no extra abilities like contact groups. Data synchronization is enabled only for computers, which feels like a thing from the past (if it’s a network-focused device, why there is no SyncML?). The concept utilized by the iPhone has materialized in a mobile terminal tied down to a computer – without the latter this phone can’t do a thing, whereas other makers offer solutions that are independent in most operations. Let’s revise the most typical usage scenarios that users may come across. iPhone usage scenariosMeeting. You are meeting your colleague, friend, or somebody else and during the conversation you suddenly realize that you need one of his contacts. With the iPhone it is this simple – you ask him to dictate all contact details and start punching them in your phone. If you had some other handset, it would be somewhat less complicated – they send you a contact wirelessly, you save it in the phonebook, period. On top of that, you won’t be able to beam an entry from the iPhone either. Work group. You are working on some project and obviously you want to stay on top of the things, and your main communication means are calls and email. You are really busy with meetings, but calls from your work group have top-priority and you must answer them all. The iPhone provides you with no tools to do that – no groups or an ability to prioritize contacts. And in its turn S60 platform has it all – first, contact groups, then a couple of third-party applications you can prioritize calls, or use black/white list the system comes with, which is not as convenient, though. Bulk e-mailing from the iPhone’s phonebook is impossible. Dialing by touch. You are driving a car and can’t possibly get your eyes off the road. But with the iPhone you always need to peek at the display to do something, while other with handsets you can dial a number by touch. Another great way to go is a wired headset and voice dialing. Or its Bluetooth-powered counterpart also with voice dialing feature. For a touchscreen-based handset voice dialing is not an amenity but a must-have ability, otherwise you won’t have any chance to use it while driving. Enterprise contact list. There is a number of contacts that should be in every employee’s phonebook and are constantly updated on a remote server. You, or your network administrator, who can do it remotely, get the latest version of this set of contacts onto your mobile devices, so you don’t have to enter them manually. The iPhone doesn’t even know how this works. Duplicating contacts (for colleagues or family). For these contacts most fields, saving for phone numbers, won’t differ much throughout the group. With the Nokia N95 you just can duplicate a contact and then edit it in any way you like, but with the iPhone you are down to submit the same data over and over again. We could come up with a whole lot of other usage scenarios, but in order not to enrage Apple fans even further we will stop right here. Please, if you know some situations when the iPhone is a complete bust or proves to be superior – send them to us. Best scenarios will be published in the next installment of this article. Sound enhancement systems. Back in 2000 Nokia rolled out the Nokia 6250, which was the first handset ever to employ background noise estimation system and automatic earpiece tuning so as to suit the environment you were in. A year before, Nokia’s engineers came up with the Nokia 8210, where the voice quality was superb – actually all calls were so clear that you would think that the other end of the conversation hung up, so it was essential add some noise to avoid confusion during pauses and keep conversations real. It may well be that it was in 2000 when it all started for the modern sound enhancement technologies found in today’s handsets. Samsung’s Voice Clarity technology that debuted several years ago, and could be enabled/disable by user – it was some kind of equalizer that improved sound quality in calls made in poorly covered areas. In 2007 on top of this one, the company has been embedding Whisper Mode, boosting microphone and earpiece sensitivities, which actually saves the day when having a conversation in call-unfriendly environments (parties for example). Nokia also calls its technology “Voice Clarity”, but as a rule it can’t be turned off and always kicks in as soon as you pick up. Similar approach is exercised by Motorola and its CrystalSound. It would be way too naive to expect the iPhone to come packaged with sound enhancement systems, which are the fruits of years and years of elaboration. And indeed, the Apple’s offspring sports none of the above. Quality-wise it matches the Nokia 8210, which is by no means a letdown – it delivers decent sound. And that would be great, if only it wasn’t so quiet. The earpiece’s volume falls flat in many kinds of environment, from noisy streets to parties, which is a crucial drawback. However, headsets come to the rescue – with their help the sound gets rich and loud again. Nevertheless, if you employ the standard headset, you won’t be able to enjoy your tunes, for it doesn’t have what it takes to offer you a decent sonic experience. And a set of earphones has no microphone to make calls, which leads you to the problem of choice. Perhaps, it is a good idea to gear up with a pair headphones and a standard headset and then keep swapping them as you go. What about other no-so-obvious aspects all other manufacturers have been learning all these years? Probably, constant signal strength is one of them, and sound quality that doesn’t depend on battery level. Take any Nokia-branded model – its earpiece’s sound quality hinges on carrier, weather and so on. But if nothing extraordinary happens, it won’t depend on current battery level, be it 100% or 10%. The user will always get the same quality throughout his calls. Since for the iPhone the issue of power consumption is a sore point, that’s where they gave up on “guaranteed call quality”. When you have around 20% left (first low-battery warning), the handset starts doing odd things during calls – it drops frames, and while in areas with poor signal strength you may actually lose network connection. It takes a lot of experience under your belt to provide decent and, more importantly, stable call quality; unfortunately Apple’s developers have no place to get it from. Another queer aspect is the battery bar – it is designed in a way that, when reaching 20%, it leaves you only with 7-14 minutes of talk time. Naturally, it depends on network coverage and other factors, but in most cases that’s what you get. On the other hand, other manufacturers squeeze more talk time into their offerings, since they regard this function as the most vital constituent of the handset. It may sound like a matter of taste, but in fact this mediocre battery life turns out to be a serious letdown. When we were under DDoS-attack, my fully-charged iPhone lasted 5.5 hours – during this time span I received 62 calls, with total call duration a little bit over 4 hours. It was a good field test, which indicated that in terms of its talk time figures the iPhone is inferior to the competition. For example, the Nokia N95, on the same day, gave me extra sixty minutes worth of calls. Note for Homo iPhonus. Sound enhancement systems are of no real use, nobody needs them. You are so right. Your brain can handle these functions with greater efficiency, cleaning out background noises all the time. Keep practicing! Way to go!Calls, vibro, etcHad any maker launched a handset with disabled personal ringtones, it would have been poked really hard. At the same time, the iPhone hasn’t seen feedback from really enraged users – some enthusiast have already come up with hacks that allow cracking this limitation, and Apple has rolled out its 99-cent iTunes-based ringtone service, which is quite amusing. Life is all about dealing with difficulties, and it is good to know that the company intentionally creates obstacles, so that Homo iPhonus could overcome them and feel the taste of life in struggle. Call alert volume (who needs it anyway? How could you not understand such obvious things!!!) is nowhere to be found due to the iPhone’s design. The loudspeakers sit on the bottom end, meaning that when carried in one’s pocket, the sound will be muffled, so you won’t hear a thing. Nevertheless, while the iPhone is on a table, the loudspeaker is pointed at you, which results in a pretty decent sounding. But the bad thing about it is that the volume level it produces proves to be subpar in the vast majority of cases. You will keep missing calls in car, in the street (unless you’re wearing headphones), and other places – any iPhone owner simply has to go about his business with a pair of earphones on, otherwise missed calls will become a real disaster. The vibration alert is average strength-wise, nothing special about it. Judging the iPhone on its volume level alone, it ends up at the bottom of all charts. Furthermore, this volume cap is brought about by the phone’s hardware, so there is no way to get around it. The handsfree mode has been implemented just for the sake of it – there is nothing more but a name to it, so it is not even worth mentioning. Short summaryWhile in the messaging department we made sure that the iPhone has almost nothing to it, the phone features are doing better – it rings, which is a good thing already. The ergonomics of the phonebook, dialing display and, basically, everything that has something to do with calls have been carried over from the past century. Any iPhone user spends twice as much time on dialing a number – if you call at least 15 times a day, it will make 6 to 9 hours a year. Of course it may not seem much at a glance, but in the end it all leads to tremendous amounts of wasted time. The sound quality is pretty moderate in view of no sound enhancement systems. The absence of voice dialing capabilities on a handset (it is also a touchscreen-centric device, mind it) hyped this much looks odd, the say the least. Had Nokia released a phone lacking voice dialing, it would have been trampled at once. The iPhone doesn’t have any profiles or call settings either. Moreover, the handset produces such mediocre volume level, that you have to wear headphones all the time – three meters away from the phone and you already can’t hear it ring. On the bright side, Apple has finally done away with disabled ringtones. But they still need to add a coffee grinder to the phone, so that all i-stronauts can have a cup of coffee whenever they want. Remember, this phone is turning into a spaceship soon, just keep this in mind. Also, the iPhone doesn’t stand a chance in the enterprise segment – it simply doesn’t have the goods this type of users demand. No remote synchronization, no advanced features in the phonebook, no support for enterprise data bases. It is a pity that in terms of its phone part, the “revolutionary” iPhone belongs to the 20th century. It is not particularly good at making calls, doesn’t offer its user great usability, or some all-round new abilities. Being a weak solution, both in software and hardware departments, it comes with a host of gizmos, you know, those cute-looking ones. I think Homo iPhonus need only these visual touches. But then again, there is no point in shouting about this phone’s overwhelming advantages over other models available on the market. Once you take an iPhone in hands, you are bound to spend a lot of time with it – that’s the company’s ultimate goal, which was reached by omitting ergonomically friendly interface. For the time being, the thing Apple really needs is walking ads, rather than a solid user base. P.S. In the next installment we will focus on the iPhone’s “stellar” email, which is the third most popular application in this handset. And while the iPhone is still the talk of the town, Apple has made a handful of noticeable moves. First, they have rolled out recovered iPhones for the US market with a 100-dollar price cut – it seems that over the two months since the release date, Apple has accumulated a large stock of returned devices. Then, to boost the sales they have dumped the 4 Gb version, and have taken 200 USD off the 8 Gb version’s price tag. And last but not least – even before the European release of the iPhone, Apple’s sales haven’t lived up to expectations, and yet the market “surprisingly” finds out a relatively painless method of unlocking the phone. This will allow the company to prop the iPhone sales in this quarter. Eldar Murtazin (eldar@mobile-review.com) Translated by Oleg Kononosov (oleg.kononosov@mobile-review.com)Published — 15 September 2007 Have something to add?! Write us... eldar@mobile-review.com
honestly i didnt read much of what he wrote... way to much to read... but what i did read i already knew... he just tried to make it out worst than what it is... me as an owner and user it serves and exceeds my needs... i honestly think he is just a hater... does he use anything positive on these stories? i didnt see any? ... i mean you can be like well you cant sent messages to multiple parties at one time but it does have the best music player ever to be seen... or it doesnt have expandable memory but it does have 8gigs which im yet to see on any other phone or expandable memory card? you know what i mean... just written in hater mode... but its all good... not going to go throw a fit and toss my phone out the window because some dude post some bias info...oh and did i mention i love my iphone?
i honestly think he is just a hater... does he use anything positive on these stories? i didnt see any? ... i mean you can be like well you cant sent messages to multiple parties at one time but it does have the best mus
but it does have the best music player ever to be seen... or it doesnt have expandable memory but it does have 8gigs which im yet to see on any other phone or expandable memory card?
you know what i mean... just written in hater mode... but its all good...not going to go throw a fit and toss my phone out the window because some dude post some bias info...
the whole standard 8 gig of flash memory works perfect for me.. but i see how others can use it... but i really dont like the whole "memory card" thing they always change what kinda cards are to be used and what size and what size is supported and so forth... and usually the cards increase in memory but usually seems too late... like if i needed a certain card for my phone it usually wont reach the 8 gigs til like a year or so later...anyway just my observation of the situation... and the iphone doesnt have any "Hard Disk" but it uses flash memory.
Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson team up on memory card standardhttp://handhelds.engadget.com/2007/09/14/nokia-samsung-and-sony-ericsson-team-up-on-memory-card-standar/2009 may be the year when we finally see a unified memory format, that is, if Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson have their way. The "Universal Flash Storage specification" would see memory cards travel between cellular devices, digital cameras and other memory hungry devices without the need for adapters -- and it'll likely save us some coin, too. Some big name memory manufacturers are purportedly onboard, with names like Micron Technology Inc., Spansion LLC, STMicroelectronics NV, and Texas Instruments Inc., being bandied about. We look forward to that magical day, when our stacks of memory cards can be reduced to a stack of one type of card, ahhh... progress.
QuoteI actually prefer memory cards over hard disc/flash memory.What happens when your phone crash? All the shit you got stored is gone...part of the reason i love the whole apple experience... syncs perfectly ... all contacts, photos, media (music, movies...etc.), settings, web bookmarks, mail accounts etc.
Nokia's N94i to run Windows Mobile OS, not Symbian? Er, No.http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/14/nokias-n94i-to-run-windows-mobile-not-symbian/Believe everything you see? Good, then this is an unannounced Nokia N94i running the Windows Mobile (not Symbian) operating system. We have no way of knowing for sure, but that looks like an engineering prototype Chinese knockoff of something which has gone up for auction somewhere on this great blue planet. According to the listed specs, we're looking at a touchscreen (with stylus) multimedia device synonymous with the N-Series packing a 2 megapixel camera, speakerphone, Bluetooth 2.0 and MicroSD expansion. It's also listed as a dual-sim device with quad-band GSM support. Of course, Microsoft has been slowly making in-roads into Nokia handsets for several months with Nokia's purchase of Intellisync and the recent announcement to integrate Windows Live services into some Nokia handsets. Still, WinMo on Nokia... are we dreaming, or is that "WinXP.jpg" an indicator of something more foolish?You will find images of N94i here;http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/14/nokias-n94i-to-run-windows-mobile-not-symbian/Can´t find any images to post,if you can find any post them here.
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