Tracking down the 200 or so field technicians testing the iPhone in public is probably as hard as tracking down Will Smith in Enemy of the State. Those guys even had satellite technology on their side. I don’t know how Engadget does it nor will I even ask, but leave it them, they’ve managed to track down a trusted inside source plus get him to talk.
Here is the report:
- The keyboard was simply described as “disappointing”. Keyboarding with two thumbs often registers multiple key presses (two or three at a time) resulting in a lot of mistakes. The best way to type is with a single finger (as shown in most of Apple’s demos), but two thumbs is supposedly very difficult. After trying it for a number of days our source gave up using their thumbs.
- The text auto-correction only works well for simple words, but doesn’t work for proper names. We can only assume this bit will get better with time as Apple fills out its predictive text dictionary.
- “It won’t replace a BlackBerry. It’s not good for text input. It’s just not a business product.”
- The touchscreen was said to, in general, require somewhat hard presses to register input, and needs some getting used to.
- In addition to its dock, the iPhone comes packaged with a polishing cloth (the thing’s supposedly a fingerprint magnet, no surprise) and the usual smallish power adapter.
- The Bluetooth headset will debut in the $120 range, and will come with its own dock for charging both the phone and the headset. The headset will feature a miniature magnetic charging interface á la MagSafe.
Click over for more juicy iPhone details!
- The Bluetooth headset has a hidden LED and is supposedly a very small and elegant device. Sound quality is said to be “typical”. There is no clip; like many headsets you’re expected to just let it hang out of your ear, as previously shown.
- The browser “worked well” but page load speeds on EDGE were just as slow as expected. It sounds like 3G users will have a tough run with this.
- Users must scroll through the address book (or use the alphabet-drag on the side) — one cannot bring up the keyboard and type in a name, as many of us are used to.
- Shocker: YouTube over EDGE didn’t work well at all, and will basically necessitate use of WiFi.
New details about the iPhone [via Engadget]
Oh this is totally true because you know Engadget is 100% correct on everything. Some people are just idiots.
[quote comment="4268"]Oh this is totally true because you know Engadget is 100% correct on everything. Some people are just idiots.[/quote]
Well, I’m not saying Engadget is 100% accurate all the time, every time. But they do get more scoops most sites don’t get.
I think blasting Engadget makes no sense; they’re reporting what they know at the time. Do they make mistakes, yes; but from my experience they always admit when they’ve misreported or jumped the gun on a story.
That said, none of what is stated here is new. You would expect the smudges (all regular iPod’s have this issue and why you would purchase a case to limit this type of damage) and poor performance over Edge as that story has been reported on for quite a while.
this is so much bullshit
ever since the iphone was announced everybody has been in aww at the amazing new features and simplistic approach to the user interface
on the flip side everybody who knows the price tag is out of their range or cingular is just not an option desides to look for a few trivial flaws
for example, the keyboard, if one person out of the 200 said they were having trouble with the keyboard they engadget jumps all over it and sayis it sucks
i will be getting an iphone
you all are suckers
enjoy your plastic screened cheap phones
[quote comment="4274"]this is so much bullshit
ever since the iphone was announced everybody has been in aww at the amazing new features and simplistic approach to the user interface
on the flip side everybody who knows the price tag is out of their range or cingular is just not an option desides to look for a few trivial flaws
for example, the keyboard, if one person out of the 200 said they were having trouble with the keyboard they engadget jumps all over it and sayis it sucks
i will be getting an iphone
you all are suckers
enjoy your plastic screened cheap phones[/quote]
Shouldn’t take it personal – not to defend Engadget, these are not “their” words but the words of 1-tester.
I don’t care what anyone says, I’m getting one and so will the staff.
I agree…
some of those criticisms might be right, but i don’t believe one second that we will have to “press” the screen, that just does not make sense, and all demos have shown that this does not appear to be the case.
I’m all for the rumor stuff, but this is complete BS…ya, i’m real sure engadget got one of the 200 iPhone testers (sworn to secrecy and all that) to “talk” to them to tell them how bad the phone’s keyboard and internet is. This is far different than the leaks apple sometimes has for a new OS or whatever, where details of a build get out…this is a tester coming out to say how bad the phone is…this just smacks of being fake and meant to rile people up.
That being said, the iphone’s keyboard might actually suck, but engadget didnt talk to a tester to confirm so.
[quote comment="4281"]some of those criticisms might be right, but i don’t believe one second that we will have to “press” the screen, that just does not make sense, and all demos have shown that this does not appear to be the case.[/quote]
Well, actually if the iPhone’s glass touch screen is anything like the HTC Touch, then you do! Unfortunately for the Touch, you DO need to press firmly on the screen in order to get a response. Lets hope that’s not the case with the iPhone!
There’s an open letter addressed to Ryan Block over at InvestorVillage that Dan just sent to me. It’s an interesting read so I’ll post the letter here…thanks Dan!
Re: Some fun facts about Ryan Block [Via InvestorVillage]
I don’t know this sounds fishy to me. The iPhone uses a Capacitive touch screen. Touching the screen “hard” should make no difference. Theoretically, you could probably even just skim your finger across the surfaceand it should register the same. With capacitive touch screen proximity to another capacitive object is the key factor, not pressure. The HTC uses a resistive touch screen. This kind of touch screen has a metalic conductive material on the surface of the screen. Pushing on the screen causes resistance in the conductive material, and pushing down harder does make a difference. Most windows mobile devices use resistance touch screens because WM makes use of a stylus which is typically not possible with a capacitive touch screen.
Anyway.. sounds fishy, and considering the source I wouldn’t put much stock in it.
What a piece of trash and waste of time.
The only thing to make is to wait for the 29 june and to test it by themselves: -)
iphonestory
[quote comment="4290"]I don’t know this sounds fishy to me. The iPhone uses a Capacitive touch screen. Touching the screen “hard” should make no difference. Theoretically, you could probably even just skim your finger across the surfaceand it should register the same. With capacitive touch screen proximity to another capacitive object is the key factor, not pressure. The HTC uses a resistive touch screen. This kind of touch screen has a metalic conductive material on the surface of the screen. Pushing on the screen causes resistance in the conductive material, and pushing down harder does make a difference. Most windows mobile devices use resistance touch screens because WM makes use of a stylus which is typically not possible with a capacitive touch screen.
Anyway.. sounds fishy, and considering the source I wouldn’t put much stock in it.[/quote]
You make a great point! How do I know? Well, the LG Prada phone also uses a capacitive screen. My memory serves me right (actual hands on at CeBIT) the screen was fairly sensitive. Even though the iPhone’s screen derives from Fingerworks and LG Prada from Synaptics, they are pretty much the same technology.
Refer to this article for more details….Onyx Concept Phone gives birth to twins: iPhone and LG KE850
Read the USA Today article.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/gear/2007-06-22-touch-screen-phones_N.htm
“Press hard” is woefully out of line. While its arguable it was just misperception on this “secret source’s” part, I highly doubt it. LAME.