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Iphone 4.0 official video

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Re: Iphone 4.0 official video

#111
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, now that they aren't using the already existing technology UMTS, but they have been preventing Skype video calling for years (iirc). When they do video calls, why didn't they just enable skype and instantly have a much bigger userbase and also that would potentially include videocalls between all platforms skype runs on. Edit: Well, ok. The former iphones had no second camera.

And they _have_ enabled Skype, and even demoed it running in the background when introducing iPhone OS 4. So I'm guessing that they will allow video camera support for Skype as well, although you can never know with Apple.

ahh, ok, didn't see that, apologies! Good news, then! :)

Re: Iphone 4.0 official video

#112

Is it just me, or is Jonathan Ive the only Apple exec able to convincingly recreate Job's reality distortion field? Every time one of these videos comes out, a bunch of guys are paraded out, each one trying to imp Job's style, vocabulary, and delivery, but each one coming across as some guy trying to copy someone else, rather than exude their own sense of style and originality. To be even less charitable and more cyn…

In Ive's case, the British accent helps. Hearing him talk about his design decisions is captivating in the same way as David Attenborough narrating nature.

Yes, Ive's accent, and his ability to speak in specifics about his designs adds invaluable authenticity to what he says and how he says it.

I'm not sure why the others don't seem to have as much of the latter, unless it's because they only managed the team that built the OS or the A4 or whatnot, instead of actually coding or designing it themselves.

Of course, Jobs doesn't actually do that either, but has always managed to talk as if he did.

Re: Iphone 4.0 official video

#113
Apple's competitive advantage has always been hardware-software integration, and user experience. In all of apple's products, I've always notice they try to widen the moat with their hardware and design capabilities (ie: reengineering of the MBP batteries, unibody chassis, multi-touch screens on phone/tablet, a4 chip, etc).

And if you look at Apple's iPhone Design page, it is devoted to mainly hardware upgrades and the marketing focuses on user-experience benefits of such upgrades. And these improvements just so happen to be in areas that aren't easily replicable by competitors like Google (because their expertise is in software).

Re: Iphone 4.0 official video

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't you try to make your new product seem as "incredible" as possible?

Because cynics would realize you are exaggerating and perhaps think less of your product for it – maybe your product can’t stand on its own, so you have to exaggerate to make up for that. Apple is betting that most of its ad watchers are not this type of cynic.

Like that "what is iPad" commercial that says "all the world's websites". They made the best tablet going, so why do they still feel the need to cross the line between touting and lying?

Re: Iphone 4.0 official video

#115
post #41

I just walked into our office lunch room where a bunch of non-technical / non-gadget people were talking about the video conferencing capabilities of the new iphone . . . I think that feature is going to be a monster commercial success that every other phone immediately copies. Will probably be the only point that we hear about on the local news / etc rather than Steve's consolidated 8-points . . .

Agreed. It will probably be what pushes various grandparents of my children into getting iphones (given that my partner and I have them). The reduced friction of it vs getting out the laptop, starting up skype or iChat, etc., is a huge win. The friction of wifi is a bummer but exists for our current video solutions too.

Re: Iphone 4.0 official video

#116
Exceptional marketing and advertising strategy as usual. They talk in the advert like they invented video calls. Even my old phone has both front and back cameras. Now that the resolution and technology has caught up with wifi and whatnot, it definitely looks more usable now though, no lag at all and full quality video in the advert.

I wonder about the contract terms of this device, otherwise for $200 it is affordable, and I will be upgrading.

Re: Iphone 4.0 official video

#118
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many phones have 300+ DPI IPS screens?

How many phones have a display with better than 800:1 contrast ratio[1]? All the resolution in the world doesn't matter if you can't actually see it. The Nexus One, in comparison, has a 100,000:1 contrast ratio[2]. 1. http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_One

And yet, the Nexus One is the one that has visibility issues outdoors.

Re: Iphone 4.0 official video

#120

> Chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic, the glass is ultradurable. ... though the battery is still non-removable, so the ultradurability of the glass is really a moot point.

I'd take a non-removable battery any day of the week, over one that I can pop out any time. I've never opened the battery door on my Nexus, except to turn the thing off from a gnarly overheating freeze. Every time I dropped my HTC Magic, the battery cover would come off, the phone would fly in one direction, and the battery would fly in the other. What does that mean? The phone turns off! The iPhone 3G was the most d…

Isn't flying apart a pretty good way to dissipate some of the kinetic energy that might otherwise go into components breaking?
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