iPhone
David Goldfarb
make sure the company's site works well on them. At games tonight
I got a look at it, and boy is it a sleek and slick little thing.
Up till now I looked at the price point and the minimum monthly
contract of $60 and just shook my head -- especially as I still have
a whole year to run on my initial two-year plan when I got a phone
last year. But after seeing and handling the iPhone I find myself
wistful about it.
(The one thing I do wonder about is whether there's ebook reader
software that'll run on it...that would be a definite dealbreaker
for me if not. Though if there isn't now, I imagine there will be soon.)
--
David Goldfarb |"Hey, mister! Are you about to drag our brother off
gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu | to a bleak nether realm of despair where the
gold...@csua.berkeley.edu | future is nothing but an endless sea of anguish
| and horrible misery?"
| "Yah."
|"We wanna go tooooo!" -- Animaniacs
Andrew Plotkin
> A friend of mine got an iPhone from his work, so that he could
> make sure the company's site works well on them. At games tonight
> I got a look at it, and boy is it a sleek and slick little thing.
> Up till now I looked at the price point and the minimum monthly
> contract of $60 and just shook my head -- especially as I still have
> a whole year to run on my initial two-year plan when I got a phone
> last year. But after seeing and handling the iPhone I find myself
> wistful about it.
Same here. But I waited three years to buy an iPod; I'll wait on this.
> (The one thing I do wonder about is whether there's ebook reader
> software that'll run on it...that would be a definite dealbreaker
> for me if not. Though if there isn't now, I imagine there will be soon.)
Nope. Apple is currently not allowing anybody else to write iPhone
software. (Except for web apps -- that is, web sites optimized for
iPhones -- which doesn't acount as "iPhone software" to anybody except
Apple's marketing department.)
This probably will change, but *not* soon. Maybe next year.
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
If the Bush administration hasn't thrown you in military prison without trial,
it's for one reason: they don't feel like it. Not because you're an American.
Andrew Plotkin
>
> Nope. Apple is currently not allowing anybody else to write iPhone
I realize that this brings up the question of "why", and the answer is
"Wouldn't you prefer a nice quiet argument about US executive
privilege instead?"
David Friedman
gold...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU (David Goldfarb) wrote:
> (The one thing I do wonder about is whether there's ebook reader
> software that'll run on it...that would be a definite dealbreaker
> for me if not. Though if there isn't now, I imagine there will be soon.)
My adult son has one, so at some point I'll get a look at it. The
problem for me is that what I want is a pda+web browser+phone, and what
the iPhone appears to be is an iPod+web browser+phone.
I have no use for an iPod and I do want to be able to not only read
books on my pocket computer but do at least light editing--mark things
in a manuscript that need to be changed, for instance. I can do that
fine on my Nokia 9300, and as best I can tell the iPhone isn't designed
to do that at all, although there might be some kludge to get around
that.
--
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/ http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/
Author of _Harald_, a fantasy without magic.
Published by Baen, in bookstores now
David Friedman
Andrew Plotkin <erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
> Here, David Goldfarb <gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu> wrote:
> > A friend of mine got an iPhone from his work, so that he could
> > make sure the company's site works well on them. At games tonight
> > I got a look at it, and boy is it a sleek and slick little thing.
> > Up till now I looked at the price point and the minimum monthly
> > contract of $60 and just shook my head -- especially as I still have
> > a whole year to run on my initial two-year plan when I got a phone
> > last year. But after seeing and handling the iPhone I find myself
> > wistful about it.
>
> Same here. But I waited three years to buy an iPod; I'll wait on this.
>
> > (The one thing I do wonder about is whether there's ebook reader
> > software that'll run on it...that would be a definite dealbreaker
> > for me if not. Though if there isn't now, I imagine there will be soon.)
>
> Nope. Apple is currently not allowing anybody else to write iPhone
> software. (Except for web apps -- that is, web sites optimized for
> iPhones -- which doesn't acount as "iPhone software" to anybody except
> Apple's marketing department.)
What about a "web site" that's stored on the phone, and so accessible by
the browser without any need to connect to the net?
David Harmon
Plotkin <erky...@eblong.com> wrote,
>Nope. Apple is currently not allowing anybody else to write iPhone
>software.
The hackers appear to be working energetically to remedy that.
David Goldfarb
David Friedman <dd...@daviddfriedman.nopsam.com> wrote:
>In article <f752u3$16nr$1...@agate.berkeley.edu>,
> gold...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU (David Goldfarb) wrote:
>
>> (The one thing I do wonder about is whether there's ebook reader
>> software that'll run on it...that would be a definite dealbreaker
>> for me if not. Though if there isn't now, I imagine there will be soon.)
>
>My adult son has one, so at some point I'll get a look at it. The
>problem for me is that what I want is a pda+web browser+phone, and what
>the iPhone appears to be is an iPod+web browser+phone.
The phone I mentioned I got last year was a Treo 700, which is a PDA
primarily with a web browser, music player, camera, and phone on
the side. It's pretty good as a PDA (comparable to other Palm devices
I've had and better than some), so-so on the other functions -- but I
do most of my web browsing from desktop computers at work or home, and
don't use the camera or phone much, so it meets my needs quite well.
Others' mileage may vary.
--
David Goldfarb | From the fortune cookie file:
gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu |
gold...@csua.berkeley.edu | "You will have gold pieces by the bushel."
David Friedman
gold...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU (David Goldfarb) wrote:
> In article <ddfr-884F15.1...@news.isp.giganews.com>,
> David Friedman <dd...@daviddfriedman.nopsam.com> wrote:
> >In article <f752u3$16nr$1...@agate.berkeley.edu>,
> > gold...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU (David Goldfarb) wrote:
> >
> >> (The one thing I do wonder about is whether there's ebook reader
> >> software that'll run on it...that would be a definite dealbreaker
> >> for me if not. Though if there isn't now, I imagine there will be soon.)
> >
> >My adult son has one, so at some point I'll get a look at it. The
> >problem for me is that what I want is a pda+web browser+phone, and what
> >the iPhone appears to be is an iPod+web browser+phone.
>
> The phone I mentioned I got last year was a Treo 700, which is a PDA
> primarily with a web browser, music player, camera, and phone on
> the side. It's pretty good as a PDA (comparable to other Palm devices
> I've had and better than some), so-so on the other functions -- but I
> do most of my web browsing from desktop computers at work or home, and
> don't use the camera or phone much, so it meets my needs quite well.
> Others' mileage may vary.
My Nokia 9300 does pretty well too, aside from being on EDGE and so a
slow browser. But I would like something with a substantially larger
screen and at least as good a keyboard as the Psion Revo had--and would
be willing to accept increasing length and height accordingly, with
perhaps some reduction in thickness.
There's a thought for sf--CAD and CAM good enough, and designs flexible
enough, so that each customer would design his own individual product,
within some general design created by the producer.
Wim Lewis
David Friedman <dd...@daviddfriedman.nopsam.com> wrote:
>In article <f75feh$3d2$1...@reader2.panix.com>,
>> Nope. Apple is currently not allowing anybody else to write iPhone
>> software. (Except for web apps -- that is, web sites optimized for
>> iPhones -- which doesn't acount as "iPhone software" to anybody except
>> Apple's marketing department.)
>
>What about a "web site" that's stored on the phone, and so accessible by
>the browser without any need to connect to the net?
AIUI, right now there's no way to do that. Given that Google Gears works
with the non-iPhone version of Safari, it could easily be made to work
on the iPhone (that is, Apple could easily make it work on the iPhone
if they wanted to). But the "no local apps" restriction is not a technical
limitation; it's a designed-in restriction because Apple and AT&T believe
it is in their best interests to sell a device with a fixed, limited feature
set.
--
Wim Lewis <wi...@hhhh.org>, Seattle, WA, USA. PGP keyID 27F772C1
John Dallman
dd...@daviddfriedman.nopsam.com (David Friedman) wrote:
> My Nokia 9300 does pretty well too, aside from being on EDGE and so a
> slow browser. But I would like something with a substantially larger
> screen and at least as good a keyboard as the Psion Revo had--and
> would be willing to accept increasing length and height accordingly,
> with perhaps some reduction in thickness.
It appears that not enough of us want PDAs with built-in keyboards to
justify the design, manufacturing and distribution overheads of more
models. I have a Dell PDA with Windows Mobile 2005, and found that the
on-screen QWERTY worked smoothly enough with the stylus that I settle
for that, rather than learning a gesture language, or carrying around
the bluetooth keyboard I bought with it.
At least part of the problem with programmable phones is that network
operators are scared of them, fearing they'll mess up the network. This
might have something to do with the somewhat dodgy way that mobile
networks seem to be pasted together.
> There's a thought for sf--CAD and CAM good enough, and designs
> flexible enough, so that each customer would design his own
> individual product, within some general design created by the
> producer.
Modular design is claimed to handle this by its proponents, but it
doesn't cope well with incremental upgrades to technology, and copes
very badly indeed with technology as a fashion item. And the fashion
aspect of phones is more important to the business than the minority who
want data services and text editing. Fashion-driven customers seem more
willing to spend money.
You'll have to change manufacturing processes fairly radically before
fabrication of customer-designed parts becomes commonplace. Look up
"stereolithography" for the nearest thing at present, but that only
works with a few kinds of plastics and has no way to built electronics.
--
John Dallman, j...@cix.co.uk, HTML mail is treated as probable spam.
Beth Friedman
<dd...@daviddfriedman.nopsam.com> wrote:
>My adult son has [an iPhone], so at some point I'll get a look at it. The
>problem for me is that what I want is a pda+web browser+phone, and what
>the iPhone appears to be is an iPod+web browser+phone.
I just acquired a Treo 680, which seems to fit your bill. It's a PDA
that uses the Palm OS, works fine as a phone, and has Web access,
though I haven't figured out yet how much I'll be paying for that.
I'm also in the process of setting up a PDA-specific e-mail address,
so I can get e-mail sent to the PDA.
So far I'm still in the "Look at my cool new toy!" stage, though it's
definitely going to be sufficiently useful on the business side of
things to justify it being bought with OPM.
David Friedman
Beth Friedman <b...@visi.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 12 Jul 2007 10:48:51 -0700, David Friedman
> <dd...@daviddfriedman.nopsam.com> wrote:
>
> >My adult son has [an iPhone], so at some point I'll get a look at it. The
> >problem for me is that what I want is a pda+web browser+phone, and what
> >the iPhone appears to be is an iPod+web browser+phone.
>
> I just acquired a Treo 680, which seems to fit your bill. It's a PDA
> that uses the Palm OS, works fine as a phone, and has Web access,
> though I haven't figured out yet how much I'll be paying for that.
It doesn't have any obvious advantages over my Nokia 9300--smaller
keypad, somewhat smaller screen. On the whole I prefer the clamshell
design, partly because I got used to it with Psions.