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A look at the Apple ‘Skankphone’, built before the original iPhone release

thenextweb.com

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Re: A look at the Apple ‘Skankphone’, built before the original iPhone release

#41

Post by ceejayoz »

vacri wrote: post #33
rmc wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wasn't just the iPhone. Remember the Slashdot review of the iPod? "No wireless, less space than a Nomad. Lame."

A lot of the ipods were overpriced and underfeatured. They were shiny, but didn't always work as well as competitors. I once bought a video ipod - that was a mistake. And no radio? Crazy.

Apple has a long history of ditching features that power users demand and call omission "crazy", then seeing the industry ditch those same features a few years later.

Floppy drives. CD drives. Ethernet ports. Flash support.

Re: A look at the Apple ‘Skankphone’, built before the original iPhone release

#43

Post by bane »

userbinator wrote: post #3

That phone interface has a very 80s retro-look to it, and I could imagine it appearing as a "futuristic smartphone" device in a movie from that decade. I honestly don't think it looks all that bad. (Then again, I like artistically simple yet functional UIs and think gradients are far too overused now...)

I kept thinking it was an attempt to emulate LCARS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCARS

Re: A look at the Apple ‘Skankphone’, built before the original iPhone release

#44

Post by qzc4 »

bane wrote: post #42

I'm pretty interested in that "Terminal" button on one of the screenshots. Having a *nux terminal available on my Android phone has proven to be pretty useful from time to time.

I think I'd almost be willing to use this interface if I got a terminal. Fortunately I have the option of jailbreaking.

Re: A look at the Apple ‘Skankphone’, built before the original iPhone release

#45

Post by untog »

rmc wrote: post #31
Htsthbjig wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has nothing to do with Apple. It has to do with a successful product. I saw how the iPhone was received at the time. In my environment of Nokia enthusiastics in Europe it was received with extreme skepticism. Everybody said: "A phone where your fingers cloud the screen never will take off". "The battery lasts so little for a phone". "No way I am using a phone with the battery soldered". "I can't type while in the…

It wasn't just the iPhone. Remember the Slashdot review of the iPod? "No wireless, less space than a Nomad. Lame."

I think we all remember that review, because it gets brought out any time someone criticises an Apple product at launch.

In any case, I feel like it's a little unfair to judge in hindsight like that. It had no PC compatibility, nor USB connectivity. To anyone other than a Mac user it was a dud. At the time.

Re: A look at the Apple ‘Skankphone’, built before the original iPhone release

#46

Post by henderson101 »

Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #24
derefr wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When was that brief period in the 2000s where ska got really popular and "skanking" re-entered the public consciousness as a dance style? Because I could imagine that inside Apple people thought of the "silhouettes dancing with iPods" ads as "skankPod" ads. That would make "Skankphone" a pretty obvious nickname for a phone project.

The term had been current for a while: Rockafeller Skank by Fatboy Slim was 1998.

I always though that was an ironic title, seeing as Skank and Skanky have always had a pretty strongly negative connotation in the southern UK dialects. Fatboy being a Brighton resident at the time, and pretty trendy, I assumed it was along the same lines.

Re: A look at the Apple ‘Skankphone’, built before the original iPhone release

#47

Post by herge »

bane wrote: post #42

I'm pretty interested in that "Terminal" button on one of the screenshots. Having a *nux terminal available on my Android phone has proven to be pretty useful from time to time.

You must be that one guy who enjoyed using an OpenMoko.

Re: A look at the Apple ‘Skankphone’, built before the original iPhone release

#49

Post by Synaesthesia »

vacri wrote: post #33
rmc wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wasn't just the iPhone. Remember the Slashdot review of the iPod? "No wireless, less space than a Nomad. Lame."

A lot of the ipods were overpriced and underfeatured. They were shiny, but didn't always work as well as competitors. I once bought a video ipod - that was a mistake. And no radio? Crazy.

The point is it was still a huge success.

Re: A look at the Apple ‘Skankphone’, built before the original iPhone release

#50

Post by freehunter »

Synaesthesia wrote: post #49
vacri wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of the ipods were overpriced and underfeatured. They were shiny, but didn't always work as well as competitors. I once bought a video ipod - that was a mistake. And no radio? Crazy.

The point is it was still a huge success.

A huge success eventually. It kind of limped along until Apple had thrown enough money at it to make it stick (as well as making it PC compatible).

"Things really took off when Apple introduced the fourth generation(4G) iPod in July 2004. For the first time, the iPod could sync to PCs using USB instead of FireWire, a port that most PCs did not have. "

http://lowendmac.com/roundtable/11rr/011-ipod-anniversary.ht...

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