vB Easy Archive - What is your pick(s) as the iPhone "killer"?

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What is your pick(s) as the iPhone "killer"?
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Posted by: mobileobsession

There's a lot of discussion (and banter) on whether or not the iPhone is going to succeed in the market. There is also quite a bit of praise and critisism regarding iPhone's features.

I'm curious to see what other people's opinions are as to what other phones in the market would give the iPhone a run for it's money.

Off the top of my head I see the Nokia N95 as a serious contender with the Quadband GSM and HSDPA capabilities and WiFi on top of it all. Although it doesn't have a touch screen nor the 8GB capacity, the dual-slider looks promising, as does the large screen.

The LG KE850 - Prada Phone is probably not a contender in features, but it does make up for it in the looks and prestige area (not to mention the huge price tag). This is for people who have money to flaunt and don't want another "me too" iPhone. Most people in North America will dismiss it due to the lack of the GSM 850 band however.

Sony Ericsson "Sophia" - Not much word on this phone for Sony as of yet, but I have high hopes for the next incarnation of the Sony Cybershot (5 Megapixel?) Phone.

Although I have my doubts of any of this coming to light, I'm crossing my fingers that the Sophia will have the better walkman music player on it instead of the generic one, an updated or Symbian OS, Quadband GSM and HSDPA (instead of the usual euro/asia tri-band UTMS), and maybe the release of a 4GB or more M2 card, but I guess we will see.

Posted by: IcemanMN

If it doesn't have 320 x 480 pixels on a 3.5" screen, it doesn't even keep UP with the iPhone, let alone KILL it.

The only other phone on my short list is the eten X800 (glofiish).

http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/15/...but-the-qwerty/

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by IcemanMN

If it doesn't have 320 x 480 pixels on a 3.5" screen, it doesn't even keep UP with the iPhone, let alone KILL it.

The only other phone on my short list is the eten X800 (glofiish).

http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/15/...but-the-qwerty/

The iPhone's screen both size and resolution definitely raises the bar all around.

The glofish looks great feature wise, I'll have to give it a better look. No mention in the article about the interface. Is is a stylus or direct touch screen?

Posted by: DJ Rome

Depends on what you mean by keep up. If you mean doesn't have the same sized screen, then yes. A phone of the traditional form factor has a perfectly fine chance of doing well against the iPhone.

Posted by: huskyfan23

It's all subjective. Nothing else has a screen that size because nothing else is touchscreen-only.

I'd pick my HTC Herald over an iPhone, so IMO it's an iPhone killer.

Posted by: akelley

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobileobsession

... I'm curious to see what other people's opinions are as to what other phones in the market would give the iPhone a run for it's money....

THE HELIO OCEAN

Posted by: huskyfan23

But you need..... Helio! AHAHAHAHAHA! Sorry. Sorry.

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by akelley

THE HELIO OCEAN

The Ocean looks great. I love the dual qwerty/phone-pad slider mechanism. Too bad it's not a GSM phone... =/

Posted by: jgreer

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobileobsession

The Ocean looks great. I love the dual qwerty/phone-pad slider mechanism. Too bad it's not a GSM phone... =/

good thing it's not gsm. sprint's cdma evdo network is much faster than anything cingular ever offered me.

Posted by: akelley

Quote:

Originally Posted by huskyfan23

But you need..... Helio! AHAHAHAHAHA! Sorry. Sorry.

Actually I love Helio.

$65 a month gets me:

-unlimited surfing
-unlimited pic msgs
-unlimited sms texts
-unlimited mobile to mobile
-unlimited video msgs
-unlimited intant msgs via msn, yahoo, aim, etc
-unlimited gps
-unlimited buddy beacon
-unlimited nights n weekends
-unlimited myspace mobile
-500 daytimes

All on a 3G network (soon to be 4G thanks to Sprint).
I really couldnt ask for more.

Plus, I get The Ocean when it drops this month, with 200 mb internal and UNconstrained microSD size.

I know it sounds like I work for Helio but I do't.

I''m just really satisfied with my carrier (finally).

</rave>

Posted by: splunk

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgreer

good thing it's not gsm. sprint's cdma evdo network is much faster than anything cingular ever offered me.

Guess you're not in an HSDPA area...very fast. Plus with Cingular...if I'm off their home network, I still get my txtmsgs and data...try that on Helio when your are roaming on Verizon. I do think both carriers have their own advantages, as I have both, so don't call me a hater

Posted by: huskyfan23

Hey, if you've gotta be on Myspace 24/7 then I guess it's the right company for you

Posted by: HelloRobo

I would not be suprised at all if Verizon gets a version of the Prada Phone (with US bands) as their answer to the iPhone. LG is practically in bed with Verizon anyway (enV, Chocolate, Shine...).

Motorola is bringing the MING to the US (with EDGE!). They might just sell it unlocked, but I think it'd be a nice fit for T-Mobile. It'll be cheaper than the iPhone or Prada Phone, which fits well with T-Mobile's market segment. Although one wonders why Motorola isn't bring over the ROKR E6 instead...

Helio's Ocean is also an option for people who want the Google Maps capabilities and tight app integration of the iPhone, but want to trade multi-touch for a keypad and keyboard. It'll also be cheaper than the iPhone and Prada Phone.

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by HelloRobo

I would not be suprised at all if Verizon gets a version of the Prada Phone (with US bands) as their answer to the iPhone. LG is practically in bed with Verizon anyway (enV, Chocolate, Shine...).

Motorola is bringing the MING to the US (with EDGE!). They might just sell it unlocked, but I think it'd be a nice fit for T-Mobile. It'll be cheaper than the iPhone or Prada Phone, which fits well with T-Mobile's market segment. Although one wonders why Motorola isn't bring over the ROKR E6 instead...

Helio's Ocean is also an option for people who want the Google Maps capabilities and tight app integration of the iPhone, but want to trade multi-touch for a keypad and keyboard. It'll also be cheaper than the iPhone and Prada Phone.

I like the ROKR E6 (with the quadband/edge updates of course) over the MING. I don't really like the plastic flip of the MING. The RIZR Z6 looks promising too. They all have the newer Linux OS.

Posted by: LIVEFRMNYC

Quote:

Originally Posted by akelley

</rave>

I have also thought about seriously getting Helio especially with the Ocean coming out, But everyone I talk to about it tells me not to waste my time being the service is mediocre compared to the better knowns like Cing, Verizon etc:

Posted by: jgreer

Quote:

Originally Posted by splunk

...try that on Helio when your are roaming on Verizon...

ok. i'll be sure to let you know.

but as of now... my device hasnt roamed in the past 4 months.

so i'm pleased with sprint's service.

Posted by: jvanbrecht

Quote:

Originally Posted by HelloRobo

Motorola is bringing the MING to the US (with EDGE!).

MING the merciless....

Sorry, everytime I see that phone I have to yell ming the merciless.. if you don't get the reference.. your too young, and you need to google it

I would buy that phone just for the name..

Posted by: Blue Puma

Wirelessly posted (HTC TyTN Pro: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 6.12))

Kill it? It isn't even alive yet!

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgreer

good thing it's not gsm. sprint's cdma evdo network is much faster than anything cingular ever offered me.

CDMA in the US has it's perks, like the widespread voice and wireless data networks. The drawbacks, like phones being locked to the network and not being able to use unlocked phones is just too restricting for me.

Unless you are in Korea or Japan where the technology is about a generation or two ahead of the 3G World market, the unlocked phones you can get in the world GSM/3G market us usually far better than what you can buy in the North American CDMA market.

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by HelloRobo

Verizon is going to need to do something like that to help offset people whose 2 year contracts are going to be up and are comtemplating the iPhone. I have to admit they have a decent LG lineup with a better version of Chocolate then even the GSM one.

Posted by: AppleMac

The only iPhone killer will be the iPhone 2.0, when that is released, you will have a credible iPhone killer.

Posted by: jvanbrecht

Quote:

Originally Posted by nbrownfield

The only iPhone killer will be the iPhone 2.0, when that is released, you will have a credible iPhone killer.

There are already many products out there, or will be out shortly that will from a functionality match, or surpass the iphone. Why, apple made the mistake (whether intentional or not) of releasing information about the phone, providing competitors a chance to design and catch up. Yes, the iphone will have a very pretty interface, and that will be hard to beat, however from a functional perspective, good looks only go so far, there are currently hundreds of devices that can do what the apple phone will do, or better (I hate MS.. I am a unix person.. which is why I will cry after I say this... MS Mobile is not a half bad product from expandability, and usability, if you don't mind the random reboots and having to reset it every now and then).

What I see, linux and other unix phone devices come out, is better functionality and a more stable device over MS (which oddly enough, the iphone is, its bsd based).

This will basically be a race to see who can get their phones to market as fast as possible (probably at the cost of good quality control as well).

Posted by: AppleMac

Quote:

Originally Posted by jvanbrecht

Yes I cried after I heard you say that too. MS mobile not half bad. When you really think about it, the version of Mac OSX running on the iPhone is probably more advanced than Windows. =) But I think most people mind the random reboots and resets of MS Mobile. ALOT. I think the fact that the iphone is running BSD is huge. Bet there's a hack to get command line functionality asap after release, making this a very nice potential ADMIN tool.

I think some great phones are going to come out as a response to the iPhone, but after Peter Openheimer announced yesterday; Apple will be continuing to release updates and new software for the iPhone for free. Plus the iPhone has over 200 patents, so much of the design and interface will not be copyable. Should be interesting to see how other companies innovate to compete.

At any rate. Should be an exciting year for technology. Can't wait to get my iPhone synced with my iMac this june(hopefully). And later this year with the new leopard OS.

Posted by: IcemanMN

Quote:

Originally Posted by jvanbrecht

Why, apple made the mistake (whether intentional or not) of releasing information about the phone, providing competitors a chance to design and catch up.

Apple made no mistake when it released the specs. Apple's goal is 10 million iPhones by the end of next year. You don't achieve that without creating buzz. The iPhone is now the most talked-about portable electronic device since the iPod was first released. The "please sell me a phone as soon as it's released" waiting list at AT&T now has over a million names.

The other reason for announcing early is, just about everyone has a carrier contract. If people are going to switch to AT&T, they need plenty of lead time.

Also, those specs are incomplete. We don't know how much memory it will have, whether it can be used as a modem for your laptop, whether the keyboard will work in landscape mode or just portrait mode, which applications other than Safari will actually (be allowed to) run on this supposedly full version of OS X. Apple released enough specs to get us interested, but not enough to provide a complete picture for the competition.

Posted by: Geoneil

I'm glad someone mentioned the LG Prada phone as I think it will be serious competitor, it's also already out

I can also mention the Sony Ericsson out-for-ages W950 and M600 or their replacements (will have to look up the Sophia) as well as the Nokia N95 which are well ahead of the iPhone imho

Posted by: akelley

Quote:

Originally Posted by IcemanMN

... Apple's goal is 10 million iPhones by the end of next year...

that's quite a lofty goal don't you think? 1 out of every 30 americans with an iphone by end of next year?!

guess i'll be one of the 29 with an ocean.

Posted by: IcemanMN

Hey man, I am loving all the new phones coming out. Competition is good! And as good as the iPhone might be, I am not sure I really want to switch to AT&T.

Posted by: Geoneil

Well, I think they're are better phones than the iPhone already out and that Apple will have to do a little re-engineering to compel me to buy it...

...then again, we are talking about Apple here, whose name alone is a compeling factor for a lot of people, however, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson can have a similar effect over here, as can networks

Posted by: SockMonkey

I think on the Symbian side, the Nokia N95 owns the iPhone in features...hands down, and on the Windows Mobile side, the upcoming TyTn successor, the HTC Kaiser does the same...

Both have 3G (Kaiser is the only one of the two with US 3G however), Wifi, GPS, the ability to run tons of 3rd. party software...I think that kicks the iPhone to the curb easily.

BUT...iPhone "killer" is a subjective thing...to some, it's the elegance of the whole experience and the Apple design that means everything...no phone is perfect for everyone.

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by SockMonkey

I think on the Symbian side, the Nokia N95 owns the iPhone in features...hands down, and on the Windows Mobile side, the upcoming TyTn successor, the HTC Kaiser does the same...

Both have 3G (Kaiser is the only one of the two with US 3G however), Wifi, GPS, the ability to run tons of 3rd. party software...I think that kicks the iPhone to the curb easily.

BUT...iPhone "killer" is a subjective thing...to some, it's the elegance of the whole experience and the Apple design that means everything...no phone is perfect for everyone.

HTC WM Smartphones are top notch and I'm sure the Kaiser is no exception.

If you look at the iPod in the MP3 market however, there are are plenty of technologically superior MP3/Video players Like the Creative Zens, Sandisk Sansas and the Microsoft Zune, but the iPod brand in general trumps them all in terms of design, aesthetics and ease of use.

I'm crossing my fingers that this is NOT the case in the cellphone market and the iPhone will cause a positive ripple in terms of design innovation with handset manufacturers.

Still, change is difficult to come by. I would say that the iPhone in terms of unique user-friendly design is going to be a tough act to follow and many handset manudacturers are going to struggle to come up with competing designs.

Manufacturers like Motorola are going to have to do much more than bring out yet another incarnation of the RAZR (or Razr clone). They have to look at streamlining the user interface and getting it all into a sleek looking device.

Posted by: AppleMac

Quote:

Originally Posted by akelley

that's quite a lofty goal don't you think? 1 out of every 30 americans with an iphone by end of next year?!

guess i'll be one of the 29 with an ocean.

Apple will begin selling the phone in Canada by end of the year and in Europe early next year. That's most of North America and Europe in 2008. I think 10 million units, or a measly 1% market share is not outrageous and probably a little soft.

Posted by: Geoneil

I think it's a fairly high number considering what's already out in Europe, Blackberries are available over here, but I haven't seen that many of them. The iPhone, and the Ocean for that matter, strike me as more competitors to the Sidekick or the Prada, featurephones, rather than smartphones, and I've yet to see anyone in UK with a Sidekick. Over here, we stick to either proper smartphones (plenty Nokia N73s about and N95 just fly out of Phones 4 U) or low spec to midrange fashion phones (LG Shine for example)

Posted by: jvanbrecht

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobileobsession

If you look at the iPod in the MP3 market however, there are are plenty of technologically superior MP3/Video players Like the Creative Zens, Sandisk Sansas and the Microsoft Zune, but the iPod brand in general trumps them all in terms of design, aesthetics and ease of use.

Its hard to take what you say seriously when you include the zune in there

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobileobsession

Still, change is difficult to come by. I would say that the iPhone in terms of unique user-friendly design is going to be a tough act to follow and many handset manudacturers are going to struggle to come up with competing designs.

The bold statement above is key.. apple had a head start in the mp3 player market in function and design (yes creative labs had some offerings, bubt they were slow and clunky, and in some cases CD based).

Back to the point, Apple had a head start on the market, and became a household name very quickly. This is specific to the DAP market, they do not have that head start in the cell phone market.

They do not have the experiance that the other makers have, and in what apple took 3 years to develop in the iphone, HTC, nokia, samsung and every other big name cell phone maker can crank out in a few months.

I look forward to the competing products

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by jvanbrecht

Its hard to take what you say seriously when you include the zune in there

It is honestly one giant mistake.. it has the potential, but it is a giant screwup being locked down and disabling the freaking wifi except for a lame playlist swapping and some songs.. most of which disable the sharing function.

However, you forgot a couple, Samsung (well their oversees offerings.. I am still waiting on the BT A2DP version of the yp-t9), iRiver, almost every one of there devices is far superiour to the ipod, and they were around from the beginning with the ipod, but most in the asian market.

The bold statement above is key.. apple had a head start in the mp3 player market in function and design (yes creative labs had some offerings, bubt they were slow and clunky, and in some cases CD based).

Back to the point, Apple had a head start on the market, and became a household name very quickly. This is specific to the DAP market, they do not have that head start in the cell phone market.

They do not have the experiance that the other makers have, and in what apple took 3 years to develop in the iphone, HTC, nokia, samsung and every other big name cell phone maker can crank out in a few months.

I look forward to the competing products

I won't disagree that Zune was a flop, but it had awesome potential and aside from the size of it's HD it was technically superior to the iPod. I could be wrong, but I don't foresee any future version of the iPod to have WiFi, crippled or not, at least anytime soon. Apple seems too deeply entrenched in thier iTunes model too allow it's users to download directly to the device. Even the upcoming iPhone which can theoretically have that feature, doesn't.

As far as I see, in the DAP market only the Apple's iPod can get away crippled or non bleeding edge technology mostly because it is marketed on style and ease of use more than anything else.

I do have to agree that the cellphone market is a much tougher market to penetrate as most of the players out there are well established. I also look forward to see what other manufacturers will put out as their "answer" to the upstart iPhone.

Posted by: pr5owner

my TyTN slaughters the iphone for functionality. i can read QR CODE!!!!!!!!! and my tytn came with the reader! (although i think its free online somewhere)

google maps? yep got that
a2dp? yep
infrared to control TVs and dvd players, etc yep, (does the iphone have IR?)
wifi B/g? yep
BT 2.0? yep
3G? yep
2MP camera? yep
camera to OCR business cards to outlook? yep (world card mobile)
choice of BROWSER, PEI, Minimozilla, Opera, Netfront? Yep (i use opera because it kicks ***)
expandable memory? yep
removeable battery? yep
expandable battery? yep (you can do a double sized battery for like 10hrs of talk)
rediculous amounts of 3rd party software avalible? yep
GAMES? yep (i like snails)
no rediculous contract or start up price? yep
slide out blue backlit keyboard? yep
skype/VOIP? yep
ICQ/MSN/Yahoo/Etc or all of them in 1 program? yep
skinable to anything i choose? yep (wisbar advanced desktop can be used to make it look like anything)
TCPMP? yep i want to be able to play xvid, or flac, ogg, etc, not fracking AAC or itunes garbage
weather through my CHOICE in program? yep (i use SPB weather)
my CHOICE of photo viewer? Yep (resco photo viewer)
alterations of the OS to my choosing? Yep (registry editor, etc)
voice command, digit dial, voice browsing, etc? Yep
regular non propriatary USB? Yep, you have no idea how convinient it is to use just any old Mini USB A cable, these cables come with cameras, mp3 players, phones (motorola), etc
turn my phone into USB Mass Storage? yep
swap songs or play songs on any computer, or phone, or car stereo? yep
changeable faceplate? yep
video conferencing? yep
3d graphing calculator? yep (slaughters any TI calc via spacetime)
mappable buttons ? yep
wireless scanner? yep (herecast scanner can see hidden networks as well)
bluejack/snipe capable? yep (theres software out there for fun)
bit torrent client? yep (i HIGHLY doubt the iphone is capable of BT)
WOL capability? yep (Wakeitup is free, i can use it to turn on any computer in my house thru wifi)
voice recorder? yep, record to any format i want,
unit conversion? yep
periodic table? yep
push email and sync with outlook? yep
sync with my WORK environment? yep
choice of mapping software to go with GPS, yep i have pocket streets iguidance, tomtom, gps tuner,
star chart? yep (pocketstars)
stop watch? yep, Pocket Stopwatch by pocket one
ring tones without DRM? i have midi, wma, mp3, wav ring tones, i can freely transfer them to whatever i want, i can also make my own or crop midi files and throw them on, same goes for any format of audio
play music videos or any type of video for ring tone? yep i saw somewhere that you can play a video for an incomming call
VPN? yep, built in with certificate support
terminal services? RDP to windows machines? yep
Word Power point, excel? yep all built in
play guitar chords? yep, i dont play guitar but i have it
universal translator? yep i can ask a question and the pda will convert that sentence into a language of my choice (as long as i have the lang pak) this is thru Etaco UT
dictionary of my choice? yep lextionary, works good
looks? yep everyone asks me what kinda phone i have.

well if the iphone can beat mine then i will pay my hard earned dollars for it, right now i cant find anything that will beat mine in functionality and price.

Posted by: mobileobsession

^ In regards to the post above, aside from the higher screen resolution multi-touch, and the "style/coolness" factor, I have to agree, the TyTN whips the iPhone in terms of the afformentioned functionality.

I have no idea how easy or how well I'm going to be able to text on a touch screen as opposed to a full QWERTY pad, but I'd love to test out Apple's implementation of it.

I'm personally looking forward to the HTC Kaiser, the TyTN's sucessor.

Posted by: huskyfan23

I feel the same way about my Herald, and when the WM6 rom comes out I'll be even happier.

Posted by: pr5owner

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobileobsession

^ In regards to the post above, aside from the higher screen resolution multi-touch, and the "style/coolness" factor, I have to agree, the TyTN whips the iPhone in terms of the afformentioned functionality.

I have no idea how easy or how well I'm going to be able to text on a touch screen as opposed to a full QWERTY pad, but I'd love to test out Apple's implementation of it.

I'm personally looking forward to the HTC Kaiser, the TyTN's sucessor.

on my jamin i had SPB full screen KB with text prediction, it was ALOT harder to type, you need to reply 90% on your eyes and 10% on your ears to type. the spb keyboard makes a type writer click sound after you hit a key which is convinient, and its way harder with the sound muted.
where as on a keyboard its more 40% eyes, 40% feel 10% sound

its just hard to type fast and accurately without feel, its like trying to drive a car without feeling the road or anything, you have to look at everything, you dont even know how far down you pushed the gas. you have to look.

Posted by: ChivalricRonin

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobileobsession

I've heard lots of good things about HTC - can someone point me to the Kaiser's specs and a pic or two?

Posted by: pr5owner

http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=733

to the kaiser specs, biggest diffrence between TyTN and Kaiser is USB2.0, 2.8MP Camera, GPS, WM6 (you can get WM6 for TyTN though)

Posted by: mobileobsession

The screen of the Kaiser also angles out, which i think is pretty cool:

Posted by: jasonjkl

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/like-the...uice-261388.php

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonjkl

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/like-the...uice-261388.php

Gotta love the blatant clones coming out. It looks like Samsung who makes the processors for the iPhone has no qualms selling similar (or better) processors to the likes of Meizu.

It looks like Motorola released the Razr^2 (that's supposed to be a superscript 2) V8 and V9 and V9m(CDMA) as possibly their answer to the iPhone. Each although similar looking will have slightly different feature sets, operating systems, etc. I think the main highlight is the QVGA front AND back screens.

The V8 will be slightly thinner, quadband/EDGE, the newer JUIX OS and up to 2GB onboard memory with no memory slot unfortunately. I'd say it's a good fit got the T-Mobile network.

The V9 will have the same old (possible slightly updated) Synergy OS that most Motorola users know and love (or hate). It will have HSDPA so it's possibly slated for AT&T Cingular and it is touted to have some sort of noise cancelling technology for clearer calls.

The V9M will have the same feature set but with CDMA/EvDO and Synergy or possibly a proprietary OS if it lands on Verizon.

I'd love to see how either pans out.

Posted by: hoosha

I think the razr2 has already been done and won't cause a huge stir in the market. The MOTO Z8 on the other hand... wow! If Nokia is right and the iPhone at the very least opens more people's minds to the idea of paying higher prices for phones, then the Z8 might just be a device that has the I want it factor. the "kick" slide looks cool.

Quote:

Originally Posted by akelley

that's quite a lofty goal don't you think? 1 out of every 30 americans with an iphone by end of next year?!

1 in 30 does sound lofty. But what if you think of it as one out of 10 iPod owners? Of those with nanos and shuffles who don't need tons of memory, many will surely consider iPhone to replace the two devices they currently carry. Hmmm... I'm not saying they'll achieve it for sure; just a different perspective.

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoosha

I think the razr2 has already been done and won't cause a huge stir in the market. The MOTO Z8 on the other hand... wow! If Nokia is right and the iPhone at the very least opens more people's minds to the idea of paying higher prices for phones, then the Z8 might just be a device that has the I want it factor. the "kick" slide looks cool.

1 in 30 does sound lofty. But what if you think of it as one out of 10 iPod owners? Of those with nanos and shuffles who don't need tons of memory, many will surely consider iPhone to replace the two devices they currently carry. Hmmm... I'm not saying they'll achieve it for sure; just a different perspective.

I'm not sure I like the neon highlights of the Z8, but I love everything else about it. I believe Moto went with the Symbian OS because the could not get their Java/Linux platform to work with HSDPA. Although Moto's newer JUIX OS looks promising, especially compared to the extremely dated Synergy OS, I'm even more excited over the proven Symbian OS which will put the Z8 on par with some Nokia's N series smartphones. I'm not sure how well it will stand against the iPhone launch, but it is indeed something worth looking at.

Posted by: matrix2004

http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/sma...=FREE&cm_ite=NA

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by matrix2004

http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/sma...=FREE&cm_ite=NA

It would make sense the LG would port the Prada phone over to Verizon considering some of LG's better phones like the Chocolate have already been coverted to CDMA exclusively for Verizon.

The Prada is a sweet phone in it's own right and I would imagine some updates on the CDMA version such as 4-8 GB of onboard memory would be in order to rival the iPhone's offerings. I just hope Verizon doesn't mess too much with the already sleek user-interface of the Prada phone.

Posted by: JonnyBruha

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobileobsession

Although Moto's newer JUIX OS looks promising, especially compared to the extremely dated Synergy OS, I'm even more excited over the proven Symbian OS which will put the Z8 on par with some Nokia's N series smartphones. I'm not sure how well it will stand against the iPhone launch, but it is indeed something worth looking at.

The Z8 is running UIQ, not S60, so it is really nothing like Nokia's smartphones at all. It will, however, be very similar to some of SE's higher end smartphones.

For me, the N95 is the iPhone killer, if only for the camera and video functionality. The only other manufacturer addressing a device with 5 megapixels is SE for their upcoming device. 2 megapixels is just old news.

I really enjoyed reading everyone's comments in this thread, by the way.

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnyBruha

That's wierd, I thought UIQ was geared more for touch-screen phones, but I'm not complaining. I'd love to see how Moto performs with a solid and proven OS.

And yeah I like the comments on this thread too, I'm learning about lots of serious contenders for Apple's iPhone, some already out now.

Posted by: ElectricMofo

It appears that HTC are planing something big on june 5th. Sources suggest that HTC have developed a multi-touch user interface thats been in development for a while now. Im quite looking forward to it.

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElectricMofo

It appears that HTC are planing something big on june 5th. Sources suggest that HTC have developed a multi-touch user interface thats been in development for a while now. Im quite looking forward to it.

According to Engadget Mobile:

HTC is apparently poised to shock and awe (or attempt to, at least) invited guests on June 5 -- less than two weeks away -- with a "major announcement" of some sort. Very little is known at this point what the company plans on unveiling here, but this is the most glitz and mystique we can recall leading up to an HTC press event, so we guess it's gotta be good. The invitation (pictured) apparently says that the event will usher in "a new mobile experience that will change the way we use and control our phones." Considering that the iPhone is largely billed in the same way (with multi-touch) and the HTC event comes just days before its release, it seems Taiwan's finest might be looking to steal a little Apple thunder here.

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/...-htc-on-june-5/

I can't wait until June 5th...

Posted by: Hunniah

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobileobsession

Still, change is difficult to come by. I would say that the iPhone in terms of unique user-friendly design is going to be a tough act to follow and many handset manudacturers are going to struggle to come up with competing designs.

Manufacturers like Motorola are going to have to do much more than bring out yet another incarnation of the RAZR (or Razr clone). They have to look at streamlining the user interface and getting it all into a sleek looking device.

I dunno if I agree with that, yes Motorola has had many RAZR incarnations but the new V8 and V9 are really sexy looking phones, they are changing there whole User Interface and intoducing new JUIX UI, which I'm very excited for..

As for the killer for Iphone I dunno but I heard samsung is making a sorta simillar phone with touch screen etc, it's called ultrasmart F700... That is one sexy phone! but yeah I do agree that iphone does look very promising, I might even buy it IF it is in my range! Oh my so many phones so little money lol

Posted by: furple

Quote:

Originally Posted by pr5owner

my TyTN slaughters the iphone for functionality. i can read QR CODE!!!!!!!!! and my tytn came with the reader! (although i think its free online somewhere)

google maps? yep got that
a2dp? yep
infrared to control TVs and dvd players, etc yep, (does the iphone have IR?)
wifi B/g? yep
BT 2.0? yep
3G? yep
2MP camera? yep
camera to OCR business cards to outlook? yep (world card mobile)
choice of BROWSER, PEI, Minimozilla, Opera, Netfront? Yep (i use opera because it kicks ***)
expandable memory? yep
removeable battery? yep
expandable battery? yep (you can do a double sized battery for like 10hrs of talk)
rediculous amounts of 3rd party software avalible? yep
GAMES? yep (i like snails)
no rediculous contract or start up price? yep
slide out blue backlit keyboard? yep
skype/VOIP? yep
ICQ/MSN/Yahoo/Etc or all of them in 1 program? yep
skinable to anything i choose? yep (wisbar advanced desktop can be used to make it look like anything)
TCPMP? yep i want to be able to play xvid, or flac, ogg, etc, not fracking AAC or itunes garbage
weather through my CHOICE in program? yep (i use SPB weather)
my CHOICE of photo viewer? Yep (resco photo viewer)
alterations of the OS to my choosing? Yep (registry editor, etc)
voice command, digit dial, voice browsing, etc? Yep
regular non propriatary USB? Yep, you have no idea how convinient it is to use just any old Mini USB A cable, these cables come with cameras, mp3 players, phones (motorola), etc
turn my phone into USB Mass Storage? yep
swap songs or play songs on any computer, or phone, or car stereo? yep
changeable faceplate? yep
video conferencing? yep
3d graphing calculator? yep (slaughters any TI calc via spacetime)
mappable buttons ? yep
wireless scanner? yep (herecast scanner can see hidden networks as well)
bluejack/snipe capable? yep (theres software out there for fun)
bit torrent client? yep (i HIGHLY doubt the iphone is capable of BT)
WOL capability? yep (Wakeitup is free, i can use it to turn on any computer in my house thru wifi)
voice recorder? yep, record to any format i want,
unit conversion? yep
periodic table? yep
push email and sync with outlook? yep
sync with my WORK environment? yep
choice of mapping software to go with GPS, yep i have pocket streets iguidance, tomtom, gps tuner,
star chart? yep (pocketstars)
stop watch? yep, Pocket Stopwatch by pocket one
ring tones without DRM? i have midi, wma, mp3, wav ring tones, i can freely transfer them to whatever i want, i can also make my own or crop midi files and throw them on, same goes for any format of audio
play music videos or any type of video for ring tone? yep i saw somewhere that you can play a video for an incomming call
VPN? yep, built in with certificate support
terminal services? RDP to windows machines? yep
Word Power point, excel? yep all built in
play guitar chords? yep, i dont play guitar but i have it
universal translator? yep i can ask a question and the pda will convert that sentence into a language of my choice (as long as i have the lang pak) this is thru Etaco UT
dictionary of my choice? yep lextionary, works good
looks? yep everyone asks me what kinda phone i have.

well if the iphone can beat mine then i will pay my hard earned dollars for it, right now i cant find anything that will beat mine in functionality and price.

WOW!

you sir have convinced me to want a TyTN

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hunniah

I don't hate the RAZRs. In fact, the V3 is my very first unlocked, unbranded phone and it opened my eyes to world of unlocked phones.

The V8 will have the cooler, newer JUIX UI, but the more feature-rich V9 will have the older Synergy OS. I think Moto was having problems integrating their JUIX platform with HSDPA/3G and they needed to get thier new RAZR^2s out in the market as soon as possible to contend against the upcoming iphone monolith.

Personally, I would have liked to have seen the V9 with the Symbian UIQ OS like the RIZR Z8 is going to have, but OS issues aside, the upcoming RAZR^2s have killer specs. I personally want to see how effective the noise-cancelling technology is on the V9.

I'm not sure I like the lavender-ish tone of the V9 however, but knowing Motorola, they will undoubtedly release other case colors of the various RAZR^2s.

Posted by: JonnyBruha

You've made quite the list, and I also agree, it kinda made me want a WM device as well, with such specs.

Going down the same list with the N95...

Google Maps? Yes.
A2DP? Yes.
Infrared? Yes, but still awaiting updated 3rd party software to use it for anything interesting.
WLAN? Yes.
BT 2.0? Yes.
3G? No.

2MP camera? No, the N95 trumps with a 5mp with autofocus and oodles of settings for some pretty impressive photography in a mobile.
Video recording: Yes, 30fps at 640x480 resolution (the same as most digital cameras).
camera to OCR business cards to outlook? Yes, something similar, but I've never used it.
Choice of Browser, PIE, Minimozilla, Opera, Netfront? Yes, but not as expansive. The built in s60 browser rocks, Opera Mobile is also pretty good, and there's always Opera Mini.
Expandable Memory? Yes, but the verdict is still out on whether or not the N95 supports SDHC.
Removeable Battery? Yes.
Expandable Battery? No, I wish.

Large Software Library? Yes.
Games? Yes. There's one pool game that's frighteningly good.
No ridiculous start-up price with a contract? Kinda, the N95 is expensive, but I can still use it with whichever GSM carrier I choose.
Full QWERTY keyboard? No, but I do own the SU-8W, so that kinda breaks even.
Skype/VOIP? Yes, with support for several other services as well.
ICQ/MSN/Yahoo/Etc or all of them in 1 program? Yes.
Skinable to Anything I Choose? Yes, but probably not nearly as much as WM.
TCPMP? No, but the built-in player supports tons of formats, including DRM.
Weather through my CHOICE in program? Yes. (I like M/Weather for the price)
My CHOICE of photo viewer? Yes, but the built-in one is still the best, IMO.
Alterations of the OS to my choosing? Yes, but no real knowledge base on what to do with it, unfortunately.
Voice command, digit dial, voice browsing, etc? Yes, yes, and yes/kinda. The voice commands are speaker independent and the browsing is limited to applications set by the user.
Regular non propriatary USB? Yes, which is newer to the s60 world.
Turn my phone into USB Mass Storage? Yes.
Swap songs or play songs on any computer, or phone, or car stereo? Yes.
Changeable faceplate? Yes and no. The back housing can be changed, if necessary.
Video conferencing? Maybe? If you mean video calls, no. If you mean using you phone's camera for a webcam, yes.
3d graphing calculator? Yes.
Mappable buttons? Yes/Kinda, that's what the Multimedia key is for, though WM is known to be able to map anything.
Wireless scanner? Yes.
Bluejack/snipe capable? Yes, but that's just Java, so does it still count? (of course it does if the iPhone is closed to 3rd party software)
Bit torrent client? Yes, though downloading the actual torrent isn't possible on the built-in web browser. The file needs to be transferred and added to the client. Lame.
WOL capability? Not that I know of, though I don't see why not if we're both using WLAN.
Voice recorder? Yes, also in any format.
Unit conversion? Yes
Periodic table? No. But does my phone also get points off if it doesn't fly? That's a total niche category.
Push email and sync with outlook? Yes.
Sync with my WORK environment? Yes, I suppose?
Choice of mapping software to go with GPS? Again, yes and no. It exists, but only certain applications work with the N95's internal GPS receiver.
Star chart? No, but again, niche?
Stop watch? Yes.
Ringtones/Audio files without DRM? Yes.
Play music videos or any type of video for ring tone? Yes, but not ANY video. Conversion is necessary I believe.
VPN? Not that I know of.
Terminal services? RDP to windows machines? Again, not that I know of.
Word Power point, excel? Yes, built in, but only viewers. The edit is an upgrade, and there's other software out there as an alternative.
Play guitar chords? Yes. I don't have it because I don't play guitar.
Universal translator? No, and that's really frickin' cool if the user needs it.
Dictionary of my choice? Yes, there's a couple out there.
Looks? Absolutely. NO ONE in the south knows what an N95 is, lol.

Personally, there are a couple reasons I do NOT like WM. First is the touchscreen. This disables you from ever doing tasks without two hands, particularly texting. Second is how minimalistic the phone functionality is made. On s60, the phone features are always dominant to any software, versus WM which seems to regard the phone function as just another application, rendering it slow to respond.

I do admit, this post really impressed me as far as WM goes, but just not my cup of tea, I guess.

Posted by: ataq

nokia 5150

Posted by: huskyfan23

Get a keyboard-equipped WM device and you're set. They also don't require you to pay for GPS

And not all of them are touchscreen, but touchscreen is so damn useful. The N95 should have included it

Posted by: JonnyBruha

Oh, right, I forgot to add that part. Even with the QWERTY keyboard built in, two hands are still necessary to operate the device, which is the same huge fault the iPhone has.

And who's paying for GPS? The tracking works just fine for me, for now.

Posted by: huskyfan23

True. But there are the WM phones that have keypads, just like Nokia's N models.

Is there any 3rd party software that works with the N95's GPS receiver yet? If not, I'm sorry, but the GPS is mostly useless. I use it for directions and I don't pay for it. N95 owners need to. That's ridiculous. It's all about money to Nokia. You pay ~$700 for a phone and have to pay to use one of the major features. Very sad.

Posted by: JonnyBruha

Oh, absolutely. WM devices like the Dash and the Blackjack caught my attention for one huge reason: no touchscreen. With the one-handed QWERTY, you can still type out a message on the fly. I also like the S710 for having a traditional keypad. But touchscreen alone? No thanks.

I haven't checked into it myself, but I believe there was an update to one of the freeware java apps that allowed the internal GPS to be used. Tomtom is in the works to include support for the N95 in their new version, but their software is just as expensive. Have you ever used the GPS on the N95? Based on what you've said, I don't think you have. The only aspect of the GPS that requires you to pay for it is the navigation, meaning the voice prompts for when the route changes. Otherwise, everything else is free, including the maps. I can still track my position, plan a route, have the GPS follow me along that route (tracking), simulate the route, search for POI's near my location, and anything else you'd like a standalone GPS to do.

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnyBruha

Oh, absolutely. WM devices like the Dash and the Blackjack caught my attention for one huge reason: no touchscreen. With the one-handed QWERTY, you can still type out a message on the fly. I also like the S710 for having a traditional keypad. But touchscreen alone? No thanks.

I haven't checked into it myself, but I believe there was an update to one of the freeware java apps that allowed the internal GPS to be used. Tomtom is in the works to include support for the N95 in their new version, but their software is just as expensive. Have you ever used the GPS on the N95? Based on what you've said, I don't think you have. The only aspect of the GPS that requires you to pay for it is the navigation, meaning the voice prompts for when the route changes. Otherwise, everything else is free, including the maps. I can still track my position, plan a route, have the GPS follow me along that route (tracking), simulate the route, search for POI's near my location, and anything else you'd like a standalone GPS to do.

I was always a bit iffy about the lack of a touchscreen on PDA type devices, which is why I was more impressed with the Palm, Symbian UIQ and WM type devices than the Blackberry type devices, but I always thought of the full qwerty keypad as the saving grace.

I always wondered how the N95 would stand up as a smartphone in terms of navigation and input with neither a touchscreen nor a full qwerty. I mean T9 is OK for simple texts but isn't it a bit of a challenge to do stuff like web browsing without a touchscreen or a full qwerty without the use of an external device?

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by furple

WOW!

you sir have convinced me to want a TyTN

The TyTN undoubtedly has sweet specs, but I'm waiting to see what HTC has up their sleeve in their June 5th announcement before putting any money down on an HTC. I'm excited to see what they are going to unveil...

Posted by: JonnyBruha

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobileobsession

T9 is more than enough for web browsing, but navigation can be tricky. It reverts to the tap method for entering addresses, which can be a bit of a pain, but it's optimal since I only have one free hand to use it while driving. Web browsing isn't an issue because the built in web browser starts you with the full http://www. before you type the address, and all those short pieces of internet language are already built into the predictive text dictionary, like .com, .edu, .gov, etc.
I believe the only possible text entry method that would be faster is the predictive+qwerty combo on WM devices with a Blackberry style keyboard. Even then, pressing those tiny buttons isn't a pleasant experience if your using your index finger instead of your thumb (like on a phone mount in the car).

I'm not excited in the least about touchscreen coming to s60. They're going to have to reinvent the wheel for that technology to spark my interest.

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnyBruha

Thanks for the feedback. I probably won't be web browsing in the car one-handed while driving, but if anyone can accomplish that without mishap, it would be pretty hardcore.

Posted by: RVAS

Personally i think the Samsung F700 is a more attractive phone the the iPhone. Its to bad its only been announced because we all know how long it can take for a phone to make it to the market. 240x440 touch screen and a slider key board. check it out

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_f700-1849.php
http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=2064

Posted by: shtekler

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobileobsession

thanks for the info hop some one will bit apple before 29 june and made apple it the apple for not comming out sooner,

Posted by: pr5owner

@JonnyBruha

the reason why theres voice command for some gps programs, just talk, dont type and smash into a another car or pedestrian

Posted by: jaysins

@johny
The n95 can do VPN through 3rd party applications though I haven't used it myself I've seen two vendors for it. What program do you use for aim, google talks etc in one? I'm currently using eqo but having a lot of trouble with it on cingular network. Something to do with the way cingular wap settings.

Posted by: mx2

http://www.applematters.com/index.p...s-apple-iphone/
This is my vote!

Posted by: JonnyBruha

Quote:

Originally Posted by pr5owner

@JonnyBruha

the reason why theres voice command for some gps programs, just talk, dont type and smash into a another car or pedestrian

Still no accidents on my record due to N95 related mishaps, but I'll let you know if it distracts me long enough to cause one in the future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaysins

@johny
The n95 can do VPN through 3rd party applications though I haven't used it myself I've seen two vendors for it. What program do you use for aim, google talks etc in one? I'm currently using eqo but having a lot of trouble with it on cingular network. Something to do with the way cingular wap settings.

I'm currently using IM+ from Shape Services without any problems. I've tried Agile, JonnyChat, and I was a small part of the beta test for Wireless Village (using the built-in application), but IM+ seems to be the best thus far. I don't do much for instant messaging though.

Posted by: jorGeorge

well since im with verizon im really counting on either the razr2 v9m (counting on whether or not vzw hacks it up with their horrendous ui) and the lg prada which has already been confirmed to come out in august (also hoping vzw doesnt f up its nice interface). it has also been said that the razr2 v9m may be the first razr2 to be in the states, giving verizon an enormous advantage to their competition. Both the v9m and prada will be very expensive and thats really the main deterent for me. But I would also count on verizon to release some sort of major update during the holiday season. Lets hope so because that iphone relally makes me drool

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by jorGeorge

well since im with verizon im really counting on either the razr2 v9m (counting on whether or not vzw hacks it up with their horrendous ui) and the lg prada which has already been confirmed to come out in august (also hoping vzw doesnt f up its nice interface). it has also been said that the razr2 v9m may be the first razr2 to be in the states, giving verizon an enormous advantage to their competition. Both the v9m and prada will be very expensive and thats really the main deterent for me. But I would also count on verizon to release some sort of major update during the holiday season. Lets hope so because that iphone relally makes me drool

Verizon is getting a CDMA version of the Prada phone. Although I'd rather have an HSDPA - GSM850/1900 compatible version, the fact that any compatible version is coming the States is cool.

Posted by: elfguy

The real iPHone competition from HTC is the HTC Touch:

http://mobilitynow.org/2007/06/05/h...-more-touching/

Posted by: pr5owner

large buttons are for the blind, and the dumb, j/k

the elf looks like cheap garbage, 64/128MB ? that sucks

Posted by: pr5owner

Quote:

Originally Posted by mx2

http://www.applematters.com/index.p...s-apple-iphone/
This is my vote!

copying the iphone is a mistake IMO, even though meizu products kick *** (i have an M6) the form factor of the iphone is too minimalistic and non functional, looks dont mean jack when you actaully need to USE it.

non replaceable battery? this is a CELL PHONE FFS!!! if you need to make an emergency call WTF you gonna do with a dead non replaceable battery?

Posted by: shtekler

Quote:

Originally Posted by pr5owner

large buttons are for the blind, and the dumb, j/k

the elf looks like cheap garbage, 64/128MB ? that sucks

blind, and the dumb that was not nice

Posted by: JonnyBruha

Quote:

Originally Posted by jorGeorge

Though I'm not part of the iPhone's support, I can tell you right now the V9m doesn't stand up against the iPhone. It may sell like hotcakes if it goes the way of the original RAZR (and has a price point of $100 or less), but I'm not reading anything on its spec sheet that it can do that the iPhone can't. Using Verizon's network, it may be a bit faster in the web browsing department, but it doesn't have WLAN, has a much smaller screen, and has another really disappointing battery.

Posted by: jorGeorge

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnyBruha

oh i definetly agree with you that the razr 2 doesn't stand a chance spec wise...but killing the iphone sale wise, it could do serious damage...and plus the razr 2 will come out on many US carriers, not just one like the original razr...and plus the razr 2 will be expensive, but not as much as the iphone

Posted by: Silent Witness

Some older articles about iPhone vs the competition.

iPhone vs other smartphones

iPhone vs Prada

iPhone vs N95

The only phone I'm willing to fork over $600 for is a Nokia N95. It fits most of of my practical needs and is a suitable subsitute for other devices when I travel overseas. I'm trading in elegant UI simplicity & sleek design for practical versatility this time around. Screw the rat race to get an iPhone on launch day, the novelty will wear just like the Wii has for me. I'm not crazy about the LED flash for night pix, but I believe the N95 will still be ranked as the best phone of 2007 in those yearly buyer's guide once the smoke clears.

N95 review

Posted by: pr5owner

the iphone is not a competition to any smart phone, its competition to PPCphones (windows mobile professional, NOT standard)

Posted by: THT

Lots of LG Prada reviews are now being published:

MobileBurn.com
GSMArena.com
PhoneArena.com

Generally, all these reviews seem to say that the Prada has some UI problems, but due to its high fashion statement, they recommend it. I guess this goes without saying for any Prada product. I thought the reviewers were very forgiving. From these reviews, the iPhone will lay waste to the Prada.

For the HTC Touch, there's a few out there too:

The Mobile Gadgeteer from Zdnet Blogs
Tracy and Matt from the UK

The video review from Zdnet is quite humorous, quite humorous. The TouchFLO UI is mostly a launcher right now, with some apps taking advantage of a finger swipe gesture for scrolling, but they've got a long way to go. Maybe 5 years to go.

I must say that the reviewers are very forgiving, and some are downright rooting for a non-Apple iPhone device to show up and overtake the iPhone. Apple lives and dies by its marketing sword, but I'm imagining it has a pretty high bar to jump over in terms of reviewer tone. It's flaws will be savaged.

Posted by: t-bone-t

The guys at CNet haven't been very forgiving:"
No, it's not an iPhone killer, it's not even the best Windows Mobile handset out there. There's no 3G or HSDPA connectivity and HTC only put in 64MB of RAM, so don't expect it to run smoothly all the time."

Posted by: pr5owner

why are people comparing phones that are $200-300 dollars to the iphone when they should be comparing phones that are 800-1000 dollars (the iphone is close to 1000 without that new contract rebate) these phones you get all unlocked and unbranded.
the iphone should be compared to the N95, HTC Kaiser, I-Mate Ultimate 6150, E-TEN Glofiish X800, Gigabyte g-Smart q60.

all the phones listed have at least 3g/hsdpa and cpu's that are blazing fast.

comparing an iphone to a bottom of the line HTC (HTC elf) is just stupid, thats like comparing a mac mini to some $50 000 8x core gaming rig

Posted by: ahfunaki

I think the HTC Touch looks awesome...

I hope someone can hack that interface so I can put it on my Hermes...

Posted by: pr5owner

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahfunaki

I think the HTC Touch looks awesome...

I hope someone can hack that interface so I can put it on my Hermes...

theres the MS one thats called ZenZui, go google a youtube video, they display a hermes using the interface

but i cant find a better interface than BluOrb Mobile OS (wisbar adv desktop theme for WM5)

blueorb slaughters any apple interface to date

Posted by: pr5owner

here is my BluOrb skin, i got rid of IE and replaced it with Opera

here is my iphone skin, iphone kinda sux for eye candy but its functional

i can switch between any skin i want on the fly.

Posted by: huskyfan23

Quote:

Originally Posted by pr5owner

why are people comparing phones that are $200-300 dollars to the iphone when they should be comparing phones that are 800-1000 dollars (the iphone is close to 1000 without that new contract rebate) these phones you get all unlocked and unbranded.
the iphone should be compared to the N95, HTC Kaiser, I-Mate Ultimate 6150, E-TEN Glofiish X800, Gigabyte g-Smart q60.

all the phones listed have at least 3g/hsdpa and cpu's that are blazing fast.

comparing an iphone to a bottom of the line HTC (HTC elf) is just stupid, thats like comparing a mac mini to some $50 000 8x core gaming rig

OK fine. Kaiser > iPhone

Posted by: jerrythegreat

Why are people comparing N95 to iPhone? Yeah N95 has 3G, GPS, Office documents, but it's more expensive than iPhone, and GPS navigation doesn't work without extra monthly fees. And why on earth can you do with editing office documents on that tiny freaking screen? iPhone has widescreen video, ipod, and Web browser that actually works, auto portrait/landscape mode, Google maps. And if Apple opens up third party apps, which I know it's coming, there's unlimited amount of amazing apps.

Posted by: LIVEFRMNYC

Quote:

Originally Posted by tawong

Why are people comparing N95 to iPhone? Yeah N95 has 3G, GPS, Office documents, but it's more expensive than iPhone, and GPS navigation doesn't work without extra monthly fees. And why on earth can you do with editing office documents on that tiny freaking screen? iPhone has widescreen video, ipod, and Web browser that actually works, auto portrait/landscape mode, Google maps. And if Apple opens up third party apps, which I know it's coming, there's unlimited amount of amazing apps.

Not to mention the N95 is a huge bulky transformer like device. Wonders if it changes to Optimus Prime?

Posted by: MasonDoctorJT

Quote:

Originally Posted by tawong

Why are people comparing N95 to iPhone? Yeah N95 has 3G, GPS, Office documents, but it's more expensive than iPhone, and GPS navigation doesn't work without extra monthly fees. And why on earth can you do with editing office documents on that tiny freaking screen? iPhone has widescreen video, ipod, and Web browser that actually works, auto portrait/landscape mode, Google maps. And if Apple opens up third party apps, which I know it's coming, there's unlimited amount of amazing apps.

The N95 is $700 unlocked. The iPhone is $600 locked to cingular. How much do you think it will be unlocked? So I would say pricewise, it's a good comparison.

Posted by: JonnyBruha

Quote:

Originally Posted by tawong

Well let's go right down the list. The iPhone doesn't have GPS at all, and you only need to pay for the navigation. I've been using the N95 as a replacement GPS without paying for the navigation without any problems. The screen is the largest for a phone it its class, next only to the monster screens on Windows Mobile devices. You can watch videos in widescreen on the N95 just like the iPhone. The browser in s60 is based off Apple's Safari, and it's still the best mobile browser to date (it browser full html websites all the same). The N95 has a music player that sounds better than any iPod I've owned. GoogleMaps is available on ANY java enabled phone, so I don't see how that's an advantage? And 3rd party applications have been available on s60 since day 1. The verdict is still out on whether or not 3rd party apps will be allowed to grace the iPhone. I won't even bother bringing the camera into the equation because that's just not fair.

Coming from someone who hasn't used an N95, much less an iPhone, I'd make sure you know what you're talking about before you start bringing down a phone for its "weaker features".

I can't wait to see the iPhone come out to see what it's going to do to the market. I'm already tired of ignorant iPhone followers who refuse to believe it's possible that another phone on the market can do things the iPhone can't, and it isn't even out yet

Posted by: DaveGee

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnyBruha

Coming from someone who hasn't used an N95, much less an iPhone, I'd make sure you know what you're talking about before you start bringing down a phone for its "weaker features"

Why when just doing this is **so** much fun...

Dave

Posted by: jerrythegreat

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnyBruha

Yeah, I don't have N95 so what? I'm not going out to buy N95 just to COMPARE with iphone. My point is...not a lot of people are excited about N95. Yeah, it's cool with GPS, big screen but is it as slick as iPhone? NOT. Yeah, I can do Google maps on my Ericsson w810i but it's clunky. Any PDA phone can do it but iPhone has stand alone Google maps app, it's written specifically for iPhone so it's faster than N95. And why would you use N95 as navigation if you can't navigate without extra fee? I don't even know how you're using it.
I can see a lot of people are trashing iPhone, actually it's good so I don't have to hassle long lines. But once you see this in your hand you'll all forget about N95.

Posted by: JonnyBruha

Take a walk on over to the s60 forum to see how excited people are about the N95. You'll see at least 10 threads pop up each day about it. The only thing I keep seeing around the Apple forum is bits of rumors from Engadget that people love to tear to pieces in between flaming each other about it.

As I said, if you're not familiar with how the GPS works, it doesn't look like you're in a position to argue about it. The only added functionality you gain from paying for the navigation is that the application talks to you as you drive. I can still have the GPS track my locaton against the map with routes planned and diaplyed on the map. I can still search for POI's and plan routes to them. As I said, the only functionality that's missing is a voice telling me where to go.

I'm not going to argue with you that the iPhone interface is absolutely gorgeous. The multi-touch system is going to be a lot of fun and, if people can get over the pricepoint for the device, it's going to be huge success. The point is that the only real quality the iPhone has over many other devices is how gorgeous that interface is. When it comes to business functions, expandability, and the concept of convergence, there are plenty of devices already on the market that are much more capable. Granted, gettings things done won't look nearly as good as it will on the iPhone, but it can still get done, and in some instances, get done much better.

Posted by: jerrythegreat

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnyBruha

Take a walk on over to the s60 forum to see how excited people are about the N95. You'll see at least 10 threads pop up each day about it. The only thing I keep seeing around the Apple forum is bits of rumors from Engadget that people love to tear to pieces in between flaming each other about it.

As I said, if you're not familiar with how the GPS works, it doesn't look like you're in a position to argue about it. The only added functionality you gain from paying for the navigation is that the application talks to you as you drive. I can still have the GPS track my locaton against the map with routes planned and diaplyed on the map. I can still search for POI's and plan routes to them. As I said, the only functionality that's missing is a voice telling me where to go.

I'm not going to argue with you that the iPhone interface is absolutely gorgeous. The multi-touch system is going to be a lot of fun and, if people can get over the pricepoint for the device, it's going to be huge success. The point is that the only real quality the iPhone has over many other devices is how gorgeous that interface is. When it comes to business functions, expandability, and the concept of convergence, there are plenty of devices already on the market that are much more capable. Granted, gettings things done won't look nearly as good as it will on the iPhone, but it can still get done, and in some instances, get done much better.

Yes, I do have GPS, in fact it's in my car. haha. Ok, so it does let you plan route and added fees is only for Voice navigation. You got me there... but isn't it what is called half as$? It wants to have GPS navigation but what's with extra fee just for voice? I'm probably not going to argue with you about N95 vs iPhone but hey it's me. It like telling people to switch from Windows to Mac but whatever. In the end I'll have the iPhone you'll have the knock off iPhone.

Posted by: JonnyBruha

If anything, the iPhone is a knockoff of the N95. The N95 was announced last summer and saw the light of day this past April, both of which were prior to the announcement and release of the iPhone. Either way, I don't think either company was trying to steal design ideas when they were coming up with a prototype.

Why would I call it half-a$$? For other GPS software, you'll end up spending more money for the program by itself. For my purposes, I have everything I need without having to pay any extra money. The N95 may've cost $100 more than an iPhone, but add the cost of your GPS unit to the cost of an iPhone for a more realistic price. I'll say it again: the iPhone does NOT have GPS. The iPhone has GoogleMaps, designed for the iPhone or not, which is still available on every java-enabled phone on the market. It functions the same way, and the only way you'll be able to find where the nearest sushi restaurant is after watching a clip from Dead Man's Chest (like in their cute TV spot) is to enter your current location in manually.

Did you want to talk about the camera next?

Posted by: jerrythegreat

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnyBruha

Did you want to talk about the camera next?

I was curious what the fuss was about N95 and read a review on cnet. If the word "sluggish" and "cheap" doesn't describe N95, I won't even care if it has 10 Megapixel camera.

Posted by: LIVEFRMNYC

And where's the qwerty on the N95?
Doesn't support US 3G Networks.
Not to mention the terrible battery on the N95.
N95 auto-closes applications when they are not in use for a small period of time.
Cheesy material. Squeaky buttons. Little too thick. Camera way too slow for snap-shots.
and is reported to be pretty sluggish.

So much for an Iphone killer.

Posted by: JonnyBruha

And where are the iPhone reviews? The phone isn't out yet!

I'll go down your list too.
The iPhone doesn't support US 3G networks either.
At the very least, I can still buy an extended battery if I need one for my N95. In either situation, the N95's battery is reported to last about the same as the iPhones, directly from Apple's site.
Applications do not automatically close if they're not used. Any s60 user will tell you that. I will credit the argument and say that applications do close when the device runs out of RAM, but this has been much improved since previous s60 devices.
Materials depend on which version the user has. There have been reports about both solid and flimsy construction. I'm sure if you get enough Apple fanboys together, they'll disect variations in the first batches of iPhones to find the same differences.
The N95 is the fastest s60 to date. It's speed is comparable to the lighting UI on many s50 devices.

Again, for both of you, please don't base your opinions off reviews. I'm doing nothing but reading from the iPhone's spec sheet. I'm not making assumptions on a device I haven't used.

Posted by: ninelife777

I got the chance to play with N95 while I was at NYC Nokia store. I ended up didn't picking one up because of the domestic US version doesn't include Asian language support. N95 is pretty nice nice but it's not that great. as we have heard people complaining about the short battery life, the GPS being slow, and the cheapo plastic feel.

It's not fair to compare N95 with iPhone since, to me, N95 topped out on all the things one can do with form factor for a smart phone, but iPhone redefine what a smart phone should be. N95 is the king of the hill, but the iPhone (+ iphone like form factors and features) is what we will be measuring against a few years from now.

The only true iPhone killer is the next version iPhone.

Posted by: RufusRyker

"The iPhone doesn't have GPS at all."

My car has a nice large-screen GPS. I really don't need some miniature version to carry around with me -- with a subscription service to boot.

"I've been using the N95 as a replacement GPS without paying for the navigation without any problems."

Wonderful. I'd hate to be driving next to you while you try to figure out where to turn. But knock yourself out -- you've saved $120!

"The screen is the largest for a phone it its class, next only to the monster screens on Windows Mobile devices."

But it's smaller than the iPhone screen with only half the pixels, which you neglected to mention.

"You can watch videos in widescreen on the N95 just like the iPhone." Yes, with half the detail. And you can't just turn the phone to change the orientation.

"The browser in s60 is based off Apple's Safari, and it's still the best mobile browser to date (it browser full html websites all the same)." But mobile browsers suck. And the s60 browser is not Safari. Not even close. Safari is Safari. And the iPhone has it.

"The N95 has a music player that sounds better than any iPod I've owned." I might be wrong, but I think Apple knows a thing or two about music players -- the kind people actually enjoy using.

"I won't even bother bringing the camera into the equation because that's just not fair." Yes, the worst 5MP camera in existence not made for child. What's the point in all those pixels if the image itself is poor? Some other things you forgot to mention. The N95 doesn't have multi-touch, or push email, querty input, integrated voice mail system. But it does have poor batter life, mediocre build quality, and a laughably sluggish system. Push a button -- and count to three. But hey -- as long as you like it, that's what important!

Posted by: ninelife777

I think the iPhone Killer thread has turned into N95 vs iPhone.

There's one thing people need to remember:

It's the OS stupid.

MacOS X Full no matter what you said > Symbian S60. There's no way around it.

As Steve Jobs saids in D5. iPhone runs on the REAL OSX - not some mobile OS lite. How can you compare a desktop class OS with Symbian S60?

iPhone has a clear upper hand here. Mach Kernel FTW. :P

Posted by: brian43ny

Looking at the commercials the interface is purely amazing. No stupid D pad. No clicking endlessly to get to some app. What other phone can come close to that?

Posted by: JonnyBruha

Quote:

Originally Posted by RufusRyker

"The iPhone doesn't have GPS at all."

My car has a nice large-screen GPS. I really don't need some miniature version to carry around with me -- with a subscription service to boot.

"I've been using the N95 as a replacement GPS without paying for the navigation without any problems."

Wonderful. I'd hate to be driving next to you while you try to figure out where to turn. But knock yourself out -- you've saved $120!

"The screen is the largest for a phone it its class, next only to the monster screens on Windows Mobile devices."

But it's smaller than the iPhone screen with only half the pixels, which you neglected to mention.

"You can watch videos in widescreen on the N95 just like the iPhone." Yes, with half the detail. And you can't just turn the phone to change the orientation.

"The browser in s60 is based off Apple's Safari, and it's still the best mobile browser to date (it browser full html websites all the same)." But mobile browsers suck. And the s60 browser is not Safari. Not even close. Safari is Safari. And the iPhone has it.

"The N95 has a music player that sounds better than any iPod I've owned." I might be wrong, but I think Apple knows a thing or two about music players -- the kind people actually enjoy using.

"I won't even bother bringing the camera into the equation because that's just not fair." Yes, the worst 5MP camera in existence not made for child. What's the point in all those pixels if the image itself is poor? Some other things you forgot to mention. The N95 doesn't have multi-touch, or push email, querty input, integrated voice mail system. But it does have poor batter life, mediocre build quality, and a laughably sluggish system. Push a button -- and count to three. But hey -- as long as you like it, that's what important!

If you're going to resort to using standalone devices as a replacement for features on either the N95 or the iPhone, then there's no point to arguing about it. My car doesn't have a huge GPS screen built in, but I'm sure I also paid a lot less for mine than you did. Unlike most drivers on the road, I am competent enough to multitask checking the GPS while driving. Even if I did fork over the extra cash for the voice navigation, it'd still be cheaper than the unit built into your car.

You're absolutely right, the screen is larger and has a higher resolution. It's not double the N95's, as you said, but it's still greater. The catch is that the iPhone's resolution isn't quite good enough to watch anything on an HD TV through a TV-Out connection, but still a little higher than the resolution of a non-HD TV. So, yes, watching videos on the iPhone will look better and bigger on the device itself, but there won't be too big of a difference when watching it on a regular TV. I assume the iPhone will have a solution for TV-out, like a video iPod (and included in the box if we're still staying true to the comparison with the N95)?

How awesome is it going to be if you're ever NOT standing up and want to watch a video or view your iPhone in the correct orientation when gravity is working against you? I web browse from my couch and bed all the time, I'd hate to keep viewing web pages sideways if I'm not using the phone in an upright position. Hopefully they'll have a setting to fix that.

I don't quite see the difference between browser and mobile browser if they're all accessing the same html website? I will definitely say the web browsing experience on the iPhone looks incredible, and I'll also say that, IMO, it's better than that on the N95. I don't think it's quite fair to throw the N95's browser away entirely though, since it's still better than any of the other competition.

Just because Apple sells the most iPods doesn't mean it's the best MP3 player on the market. Apple's always sold people using the interface of their technology and marketed it flawlessly, regardless of the actual quality of the product itself.

What images have you seen from an N95 that you would call poor? Even if it's the worst camera in the world, it still boasts plenty more features than the 2mp camera on the iPhone. No autofocus, no high quality video, maybe some other shooting modes than just automatic (we'll see), and a much smaller resolution picture. I can point you to several camera comparison reviews on several high end cameraphones, all of which have at least a 3.2mp camera, and each of them will say the N95 has at least "very good" quality.

Some things the N95 has that the iPhone doesn't, smaller form factor, dual slide, 3RD PARTY APPLICATIONS, removable battery, available unlocked for about the same price, GPS (as we've said), push email (sure does), and buttons that provide feedback. Text input on the N95, despite T9 being "older", is still alwas going to be faster and more accurate than not only QWERTY keyboard enabled phones, but especially a phone with a simulated QWERTY in a touch interface. Typing a text message with one hand without looking is going to be awfully difficult if you can't tell whether or not you hit the key you were looking for, if at all.

No, the N95 doesn't have multi-touch or visual voicemail or QWERTY input (unless you're using the SU-8W). There's nothing out there that can touch the iPhone's interface (not even HTC's new bag of tricks). But what the N95 does have, more important than any other hardware advantage, is the ability to do more with expandable software. We'll see if Jobs loosens up a bit and something opens up for the iPhone at WWDC.

Posted by: JonnyBruha

Quote:

Originally Posted by ninelife777

MacOS X Full no matter what you said > Symbian S60. There's no way around it.

Even that's only half true. It's not like you can format your iPhone and reintall Mac OSX right onto the phone. It's still running a stripped down version of OSX, which requires OSX applications to be converted to work on the iPhone. That definitely is the closest any mobile operating system has come to being a FULL OS, but it's not quite the same.

Posted by: ninelife777

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnyBruha

Stripped down,to me, means water down... My guess is iPhone will use the most current and up to date MacOS X Kernel (read: state-of-the-art technology, Tiger). Of course, you are not going to run Photoshop on your iPhone but knowing how powerful MacOS X is makes the geek inside of my sings....

Posted by: JonnyBruha

As someone else mentioned before, if there's a way to get a command line open like Terminal in the iPhone, the possibilities will be endless, if there isn't any form of internal security in place to stop such operations.

Posted by: LIVEFRMNYC

Quote:

Originally Posted by ninelife777

Wonders how Danasoft will read the Iphone.

Posted by: mobileobsession

Quote:

Originally Posted by tawong

I was curious what the fuss was about N95 and read a review on cnet. If the word "sluggish" and "cheap" doesn't describe N95, I won't even care if it has 10 Megapixel camera.

I was actually at the S60 Event in the Nokia Flagship store in Chicago tonight. Most of the Nokia and S60 people had N95s with updated firmware, which for the most part has taken care of the sluggish camera. I'd say the camera experience on the N95 is a lot more palatable now. I was comparing my camera speed in my K800i with one of the S60 reps and the K800i is only a bit faster. Not sure when the new FW will be released but I'm sure all the N95'rs will want to have it.

Posted by: pr5owner

just to clarify,

the iphone doesnt run any type of standard resolution, its a 3:2 resolutio (WTF)
most other phones are 4:3, and widescreen is either 16:10 or 16:9.

also the n95 has nothing on new PPC phones, and the iphone has nothing on any new phone. the iphone isnt running full OSX, that is totally f*cking rediculous. OSX cant even run properly on a mac mini without freezing and dieing