Apple Is Flailing Badly At The Edges • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple Is Flailing Badly At The Edges

#31

Post by martythemaniak » Wed, Aug 20, 2008, 1:35 AM UTC

axod wrote: post #28

kschrader wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, a keyboard that can compete? How about a Blackberry, Treo, or anything else with a physical keyboard?

Sorry, I really can't deal with a physical keyboard that requires a toothpick to use. I've tried those, and it's just slow and laborious compared with the iPhone for me.

No, I don't think you've ever used a phone with a decent keypad. I used type on suretype keypads about as fast as I could handwrite, and even faster on full qwerty models.

As far as typing goes, my iPhone is just comical. It is not even responsive enough to register all keypresses, let alone get them correctly.

Re: Apple Is Flailing Badly At The Edges

#32

Post by martythemaniak » Wed, Aug 20, 2008, 1:51 AM UTC

randallsquared wrote: post #30

martythemaniak wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, its more of a statement to the power of Apple's marketing and trends. The BB Bold vs. iPhone 3G is pretty telling - the Bold was announced a month before the 3G iphone, but is only to be released a few weeks from now. Meanwhile, Apple went ahead and released their product with piss poor battery life and according to many users, unstable software, often unresponsive UI etc. When the Bold comes out it won't have th…

For people who aren't already using a BlackBerry, the Bold just doesn't even seem like a competitor. I'll be a first-time smartphone buyer shortly, and it's difficult to see why I'd want to buy a handheld computer with such a tiny screen. I'm far more likely to want to browse the web and watch video on my smartphone than type a novel, so a separate keyboard is pretty unimportant, but the screen is one of the most vis…

In many ways the Bold isn't a competitor to the iPhone. You want one for the same reason I bought one - a large screen for multimedia and web.

Now, if depended on your smartphone to get stuff done, you'd be scratching your head over the iPhone. It may have eye candy, but what about the features, reliability or stability that you'd actually need? I don't think the HN crowd appreciates how many people out there can do 80% of their job with just a BlackBerry. I didn't understand what the big deal around the BB is until I actually used it in such a scenario for a bit, and I know using the iPhone like that would be a no-go.

Re: Apple Is Flailing Badly At The Edges

#33

Post by orib » Wed, Aug 20, 2008, 1:56 AM UTC

randallsquared wrote: post #30

martythemaniak wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, its more of a statement to the power of Apple's marketing and trends. The BB Bold vs. iPhone 3G is pretty telling - the Bold was announced a month before the 3G iphone, but is only to be released a few weeks from now. Meanwhile, Apple went ahead and released their product with piss poor battery life and according to many users, unstable software, often unresponsive UI etc. When the Bold comes out it won't have th…

For people who aren't already using a BlackBerry, the Bold just doesn't even seem like a competitor. I'll be a first-time smartphone buyer shortly, and it's difficult to see why I'd want to buy a handheld computer with such a tiny screen. I'm far more likely to want to browse the web and watch video on my smartphone than type a novel, so a separate keyboard is pretty unimportant, but the screen is one of the most vis…

Bigger screen, but the same resolution as the Bold. The text on the Bold is so much sharper than anything else -- I can read it at the smallest font setting at arms length, no problem. Besides, the keyboard isn't just for typing novels. I type Lots of emails from it too.

Really, the bold and the iphone are competing in different markets though.

Re: Apple Is Flailing Badly At The Edges

#34

Post by rainface » Wed, Aug 20, 2008, 4:42 AM UTC

I have owned a number of Apple products; workstations, laptops, iPods etc. I had one super bad incident with Apple which they will never live down. (After 6 months of phone calls, and visits to their 'geniuses'. It ended with them giving me a brand new $2000 workstation in exchange for my $1300 brick.) But that was it. If you are having problems with everything you by from them, you're doing it wrong.

Re: Apple Is Flailing Badly At The Edges

#35

Post by axod » Wed, Aug 20, 2008, 2:39 PM UTC

martythemaniak wrote: post #31

axod wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I really can't deal with a physical keyboard that requires a toothpick to use. I've tried those, and it's just slow and laborious compared with the iPhone for me.

No, I don't think you've ever used a phone with a decent keypad. I used type on suretype keypads about as fast as I could handwrite, and even faster on full qwerty models. As far as typing goes, my iPhone is just comical. It is not even responsive enough to register all keypresses, let alone get them correctly.

I've used a ton of smartphone keyboards. I guess it comes down to personal preference. The keyboard I can type on fastest and with least effort is the iPhone. Yes occasionaly it pauses for a second when the keyboard first comes up, but then it's responsive and registers everything you type.