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iPhone 5c

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Re: iPhone 5c

#171

Post by aespinoza »

nicholassmith wrote: post #167
aespinoza wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you. Like I mentioned in another comment below, it is not that these phones are not going to be successful. They will be. For sure. And I understand Apple is a business. My biggest problem with the latest form Cupertino is that I have not been able to find inspiration from their products. When I am looking for inspiration, Apple is simply not there anymore for me. It might for other people. I guess the f…

Out of curiosity what would you say Googles innovative product was recently? In my opinion they're like Apple, they iterate well on existing concepts.

Google Glass for starters. Self Driving Cars as a good second. Then we also have the ChromeCast and ChromeOS.

And Apple didn't use to iterate over existing concepts. They were actually innovative. The iPhone for one. It created a pocket sized computer that can also make calls. Some people might think that There were others doing that before, but they weren't. Every other "Smartphone" before the iPhone was a Super Phone.

But I do acknowledge that there is no real innovation out of thin air. All innovations stand on the shoulders of others. This is all a matter of distance. How much distance is there between a Palm Treo and the iPhone? That is where innovations hits.

The new iPhone 5S has a very small distance compared to the Galaxy 4 for example. Apple is a company that has been really good at releasing innovations that are far from current technologies. Lately that gap is very very small.

Re: iPhone 5c

#172

Post by cheald »

krschultz wrote: post #26
rodedwards wrote: post #2

That is a category killer cheap phone right there. EDIT: What makes it a category killer is the brand/price point combination.

Then what do you think about $199 for a smart phone that is in every way as capable? http://www.google.com/nexus/4/

Speaking as a very happy N4 owner, it's not "in every way as capable". Specifically, the lack of reliable LTE (yes, I'm running a hybrid radio) and the camera isn't as good as the iPhone cameras tend to be.

It's a fantastic device, but the new iPhone is a fair bit stronger. I'm curious to see what the N5 has in store, though.

Re: iPhone 5c

#173

Post by cheald »

iwasakabukiman wrote: post #70
krschultz wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then what do you think about $199 for a smart phone that is in every way as capable? http://www.google.com/nexus/4/

The normal selling price was $299 and that was for an 8 GB device. $349 for a 16GB device (which is what Apple is selling). Google presumably only dropped the price to clear out the inventory before the new Nexus phone is announced.

That's $349 fully paid for versus on-contract. The N4 is less expensive than any other comparable phone on the market by a wide margin.

Re: iPhone 5c

#174

Post by nicholassmith »

aespinoza wrote: post #171
nicholassmith wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity what would you say Googles innovative product was recently? In my opinion they're like Apple, they iterate well on existing concepts.

Google Glass for starters. Self Driving Cars as a good second. Then we also have the ChromeCast and ChromeOS. And Apple didn't use to iterate over existing concepts. They were actually innovative. The iPhone for one. It created a pocket sized computer that can also make calls. Some people might think that There were others doing that before, but they weren't. Every other "Smartphone" before the iPhone was a Super Pho…

Google Glass is a follow on from previous work, and self driving cars have been a DARPA challenge for at least 8 years. They're not massively innovative except in the context of being refined to a honed product.

The iPhone was innovative because it packaged existing concepts in a way that was inntuitive to use, previous smartphones (and I had many) were often the opposite of that. Apple still doesn't radically enter a product category on that regular a basis, I imagine next year or after we may see them do it again.

Re: iPhone 5c

#175

Post by crystaln »

Lots of people complaining about the lack of innovation. What exactly were you expecting?

A fingerprint sensor, which will almost certainly replace passwords on every application once the API is exposed seems pretty innovative.

A chip dedicated to tracking movement for health / fitbit apps seems innovative.

A dual flash and other camera improvements is solid.

Smartphones are maturing. We might expect a holographic displays, non-touch 3d manipulation, tactile feedback, amorphous shapes, projectors, etc. in future versions. However the technology and battery life are not there yet.

Apple is somewhat behind in OS usability - particularly around notifications and inter-app communication.

Everyone wants to be wowed, and is bitching and moaning about the lack of innovation - yet has no ideas or suggestions for what Apple could do.

Personally I don't want much more out of my iPhone other than solidifying the hardware and interface improvements.

Re: iPhone 5c

#176

Post by rz2k »

mikeash wrote: post #168
rz2k wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn't very clear, but that was my point, that the marketing angle seems to be that it is an option for more budget-conscious first-time smartphone buyers. And yet, there are negligible actual savings compared to the 5s, since the major part of switching to smartphone is the cost of a two-year service agreement. The marketing angle is not cynical on the scale of, say, BlueHippo[1][2], or pay day loans, but it is di…

Are they playing this up any more than they played up the "$100" 4S last year, or the "$100" 4 the year before, or the "$100" 3GS before that? Maybe they are and I missed it. I will admit that I zoned out on much of the "marketing" parts of the 5C presentation. I will agree with the general premise that smartphone pricing in the US is fairly deceptive, with huge emphasis given to the up-front price of ~$200, and almo…

I think you're right, and that I just haven't been paying attention. I've seen headlines talking about a cheaper iPhone coming, and was surprised that the opaque costs are essentially the same.

The industry seems ripe for disruption from someone, whether it's someone like T-Mobile or Apple/Google/Facebook buying itself a network and advertising in terms of the annual cost of ownership, perhaps even bundling the service with the device, like Amazon's Whispernet on a larger scale.

Re: iPhone 5c

#177

Post by nvarsj »

corresation wrote: post #53
nvarsj wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having owned a Nexus 4, it is really no comparison to the build quality of an iphone 4/5. It has amazing innards and the best mobile OS, but the case is cheap and fragile.

While this is somewhat subjective, you cannot be talking about the Nexus 4. There is nothing cheap about its case. And this is somewhat bizarre when we're talking about a device that you've never touched (the iPhone 5c), which we already know is made of the much reviled plastic.

I think it's a safe assumption that the 5C/S will be at least as solid as their predecessors.

I owned an N4 for a year. I replaced the back and front glass on it. I have two kids, and my iPhones have suffered no end of abuse - with very little damage. The Nexus on the other hand - I barely knocked it against a table and the back shattered. I dropped it a few inches onto my work desk, and the front shattered. Taking it apart, I could see firsthand how flimsy and thin the case and glass are, especially the back. This is well documented on the web.

Granted it's my own little anecdote. I still think it's a great device otherwise - Android flies on it, and I far prefer Android to iOS. I doubt I'll buy another iPhone again no matter how nice the hardware is.

Re: iPhone 5c

#178

Post by mikeash »

rz2k wrote: post #176
mikeash wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are they playing this up any more than they played up the "$100" 4S last year, or the "$100" 4 the year before, or the "$100" 3GS before that? Maybe they are and I missed it. I will admit that I zoned out on much of the "marketing" parts of the 5C presentation. I will agree with the general premise that smartphone pricing in the US is fairly deceptive, with huge emphasis given to the up-front price of ~$200, and almo…

I think you're right, and that I just haven't been paying attention. I've seen headlines talking about a cheaper iPhone coming, and was surprised that the opaque costs are essentially the same. The industry seems ripe for disruption from someone, whether it's someone like T-Mobile or Apple/Google/Facebook buying itself a network and advertising in terms of the annual cost of ownership, perhaps even bundling the servi…

T-Mobile seems to be trying. They're fairly heavily advertising cheap bring-your-own-phone plans, particularly targeted at getting people to switch their smartphones from other carriers. People do care about their monthly cost, they just don't seem to weight it properly. Targeting people who already have a phone seems like a good move in that respect, because a lot of people wouldn't spend $400 up front to save $30/month, but they're often happy to save $30/month by switching carriers even though it means they don't get a phone upgrade.

The biggest problem for me with what T-Mobile is doing is simply that their network coverage is not that great. Seems like it's kind of inherent when it comes to attempting to disrupt the industry: the smaller players will necessarily be those with the worst networks, and the large players with good networks have no incentive to make any changes.

Re: iPhone 5c

#179

Post by anko »

aespinoza wrote: post #171
nicholassmith wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity what would you say Googles innovative product was recently? In my opinion they're like Apple, they iterate well on existing concepts.

Google Glass for starters. Self Driving Cars as a good second. Then we also have the ChromeCast and ChromeOS. And Apple didn't use to iterate over existing concepts. They were actually innovative. The iPhone for one. It created a pocket sized computer that can also make calls. Some people might think that There were others doing that before, but they weren't. Every other "Smartphone" before the iPhone was a Super Pho…

google glass and self driving cars are really them just monetising r&d. They aren't suitable for real world use.

Apple doesn't talk about their r&d until it's a real project. It's really hard to compare the two.

Re: iPhone 5c

#180

Post by patrickg »

JTon wrote: post #155
patrickg wrote: post #119

iPhone 5c + 5s require 'nano sim'. What will be next? I still remember using a full size sim card (the left one here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/GSM_SIM_... )

Ha! I've never seen a full size sim card before.

... then you've probably never used this phone :) http://www.oebl.de/D-Netz/Geraete/Siemens/P1/P1.JPG

(IIRC this was the phone with the full size sim card)

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