How the iPhone UI has changed since January
With just a day to go before the WWDC and nineteen before the Second Coming, the thick fog of Apple-OCD is smothering the land. So I’m surprised it took this long for an Apple-juice-addled obsessive to compile a list of (fairly minor) UI changes made in the iPhone between its January debut and the even-slicker-than-usual ads rolled out last week.
Hit the jump for the full list of 16 ways the iPhone has grown up, which range from the useful—message previews in the mail screen—to the mundane—the home icons are in a different order. No hair in funny places, though.
Excellent article on The Economist on Apple, the iPhone, and Innovation
This week’s Economist has a special report on Apple, Inc. and innovation. ‘The fourth lesson from Apple is to “fail wisely”. The Macintosh was born from the wreckage of the Lisa, an earlier product that flopped; the iPhone is a response to the failure of Apple’s original music phone, produced in conjunction with Motorola. Both times, Apple learned from its mistakes and tried again.
Its recent computers have been based on technology developed at NeXT, a company Mr Jobs set up in the 1980s that appeared to have failed and was then acquired by Apple. The wider lesson is not to stigmatize failure but to tolerate it and learn from it: Europe’s inability to create a rival to Silicon Valley owes much to its tougher bankruptcy laws.’ There is also an article on the business of the iPhone and the future of the company.
3 Million iPhones at launch?
Businessweek claims two sources told them Apple will have 3 million iPhones ready for the launch on June 29. This is an absurdly high number. For comparison, Nintendo’s Wii had 1 Million units. The PS3? 400,000. Xbox 360? Around 300,000. So Apple’s going to have about twice as much as all of them put together? Amazing. And probably unlikely.
iPhone release date confirmed by Apple
Not much else to say here, other than that Apple has made it official that the iPhone will be released on June 29. That’s a Friday. This means, depending on your affiliations, that you can either breathe a sigh of relief that after the 29th you’ll optimally stop hearing annoying iPhone rumors, or you can stop speculating and focus on raising that $600 to feed your addiction.
iPhone Second Generation in September?
As speculation about the first launch of the iPhone reaches fever pitch, it’s time for new speculation about the second version. According to reports in two Taiwanese newspapers Tuesday, the Commercial Times and the Economic Daily News, manufacturing powerhouse Quanta Computer has landed the contract to build a second-generation iPhone for Apple starting in September. The first version isn’t out yet, as anyone with a pulse is probably aware, but the next version requires a “different outer design,” according to numerous translations of the reports.
iPhone 3rd party applications confirmed
From the D Conference Q&A:
Question: We’d love to write apps. Will it open up?
Steve Jobs: This is a very important tradeoff between security and openness. We want both. We’ve got good ideas, and sometime later this year, we can open it up to 3rd party apps…
iPhone Data Plan at $30
Today, much of the tech press is interested in speculating on the iPhone’s data plan. Here’s something new to add to the conversation.
Last week, when a Cingular business sales rep told me that the date for release was June 11th, she also told me that the data plan would be $30 bucks. I have less reason to believe the date, but the pricing seems like something she knew as a fact. $30. Such an exact number.
Third Party Applications from Google?
The Seattle Times got a sit down with Glenn Lurie, AT&T’s man on the ground for the iPhone. While he didn’t give much up in the way of the phone’s finer details, he did have one takeaway that left us interested. When asked about the mass skepticism over the iPhone’s price, he replied “… There are other things — you have the widgets, some of the Google applications that are coming — there are just so many things here that the price will not be an issue.” Now, we don’t want to get all weird here and read tea leaves, but he did say Google applications (as in plural), so we think it’s safe to say Google has more planned than just Gmaps for the iPhone. We wouldn’t be surprised to see a Google news reader, Gmail, or even Gcal apps on there, but given the fact that Apple already has its own agenda for mail, calendaring and the like, it might stand to reason the iPhone won’t be locking its users out of 3rd party add-on apps after all.
What about the Prada phone?
Prada’s phone is as close to the iPhone as you’ll get. Everything is done with a tap of your finger. No buttons, essentially, to work with. Once you get beyond the looks, though, you’ll face up to a major cell decision: do you REALLY like that? In my case, it’s starting to feel like a no. There’s something to the tactile feel of a standard cell. Even with a flat panel like RAZR you still get a feel for the numbers you’re dialing. Not so here. You need to double check everything. Odds are you’ve made at least one mistake. And getting to a keyboard after you’ve dialed (as in punching in your voice mail password) is a task. Makes you wonder if touch screen really will totally overtake sliders, clamshells and candybars.
For now, iPhone is scheduled to come out in less than a month. I need to see myself it the feeling with iPhone is the same.
iPhone rumor June 20th release date
Indeed, another iPhone rumor. Supposedly according to a CNBC “On the Money” report, an AT&T store told them Apple’s cellphone would launch on June 20th. Which is hilarious because if you call 10 different cellphone stores you’re bound to get ten different answers regarding the launches of upcoming products — especially the hottest phones. Why? Mostly just because those clerks read the rumors online just like you. Surely enough, the AP apparently called a bunch of AT&T stores and got launch dates franging from June 11 to June 22, but nothing certain from Apple or AT&T corporate.
Meizu MiniOne specs: Not bad at all
If you thought the only thing going for the Meizu MiniOne was the fact that it looks like an iPhone, well, you’d be wrong. The recently released specs show that it’s actually got a lot of stuff going for it besides its software design.
The MiniOne will have a 533Mhz Samsung processor, 128MB of DDR SDRAM, TFT touchscreen, 720×480 resolution, 3-megapixel back camera, 0.3-megapixel front camera, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, DMB TV Tuner, GPS, video output, AVI/MPEG4/WMV support, and a 4GB to 16GB size. The best part? It’s only going to be about $260 for the 4GB version and $450 for the 16GB version! A best seller already!
FCC grants approval to Apple iPhone
It reveals nothing of interest (unless you consider documents that read like high school physics lab reports to be “of interest”), but sure enough, Apple’s iPhone has completed that rite of passage that all handsets must traverse on their way to adulthood: FCC approval. As expected, the iPhone filing reveals just about as little as it possibly (legally) can, offering up a rendering of the ID label location — the best visual in the whole filing, by the way — and an endless array of RF plots for GSM / EDGE on the 850 and 1900MHz bands, Bluetooth, and WiFi radiation.
