I have been using one for several months. It took a few days before I was familiar with it, but now I like it. Wrist issues? I guess it depends on the arrangement of your desk and keyboard tray. The new keyboard brings my palm and forearm more into alignment and more parallel to the floor the way ergonomists tell us it should be. When Chris refers to indentations for touch typists I wonder of he means the concavity of the keys. There are dimples on the F and J keys where you would place index fingers when touch typing. Now the new keys are flat and yes your finger can slip off them easier than the old ones that had a concave surface, it takes some practice. If the angle is too low for you, then prop it up with shims, it is not like you are going to level the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Arrogance of Apple. Yes, I think that there is some cause for concern. Maybe it will pass, maybe it is just one of Steve's tricks. Maybe next month he will come out with iPhone extreme. An update that lets you install Garage Band created ringtones or other non DRM files. And that he will go on to say that if you want 3rd party apps here is the Software Development Kit, download it for free at the Apple Developer web site. If you want to unlock the iPhone to use on non AT&T systems go ahead, but you are in violation of your user agreement and we are in no obligation to support you. Oh, and one more thing, if you bricked your iPhone there is an amnesty program; Bring it to an Apple Store or contact Customer Support before 31 December 2007 and will unbrick it no questions asked, but after this you are on your own.

Whatever, I gotta get back to work

I think Mr. breen is onto something, but I don't think you can fault Apple for the ringtones. Ringtones are seen as a big, new revenue stream by the record labels. Nevermind that most providers sell ringtones for much more than what will end up costing you $1.98 at the Apple Store; surely the iTMS content providers would be up in arms if Apple was cutting off that potential revenue stream by giving consumers a song AND a ringtone for 99 cents. I don't think the ringtone pricing is something Apple can avoid. Follow the money trail and you'll see where this came from.

I am thinking that Apple is looking at their customer demographic and has decided to go beyond techy/tinkerers as the main market for iPhone.

If they are targetting a market share for iPhone that is way beyond any existing smart phone's, then they have to go beyond the techy types who like to play around with the phone and install all sorts of software doodads.

Which means the iPhone has to be rock solid stable otherwise at the first sign of OS instability, all the poential non-techy customers will melt away.

There is no way in hell that iPhone will achieve true mass market ubiquity if Apple caters to the needs of the noisy but miniscule techy/tinkerer customers at the expense of the vastly more numerous, tech-averse majority.

You guys can threaten to dump your iPhones as much as you want. Jobs knows the numbers and there aren't enough of you. Besides, if you haven't gotten the message yet, the iPhone really isn't for you. Maybe the rumoured PDA/UMPC is really the one for you guys.

I am always mistified. If you don't like the iphone, buy one you do. If you don't like the keyboard buy one you do. No one is forcing you to do it. Once you buy it though as long as it works don't complain that it doesn't meet your expectations other than a review. This is the modern age.
If apple decides they want to giver away the Iphone 2 tomorrow thats there right.
Go away and do something worthwhile.

Quote

Guest wrote:
I am always mistified. If you don't like the iphone, buy one you do. If you don't like the keyboard buy one you do. No one is forcing you to do it. Once you buy it though as long as it works don't complain that it doesn't meet your expectations other than a review. This is the modern age.
If apple decides they want to giver away the Iphone 2 tomorrow thats there right.
Go away and do something worthwhile.

I don't think the keyboard, and maybe not even the iphone headphone jack, smack of arrogance. Design decisions that some disagree with, sure.

Bricking the iPhone without giving people a way to back out of the hacked status first, now that's a little hard to take, but it's not really apple's job to support hacking of its products. However, I think they could have recognized the spirit of the hacks and made this not such a destructive update in some way.

I think Mr. Breen's list of reasons is very weak at best. I can't believe he would even publish that.

For a good explanation of the ringtone thing, go read about it over at roughlydrafted.com. The only arrogance with ringtones apparently lies with the music industry. Apple seems to have done us a favor with ringtones by negotiating the cheapest price for them anywhere in the cell phone industry. Personally, I could care less about ringtones anyway because I dislike being subjected to everyone else's poor taste in music.

Like another responder, I rather like the new Apple keyboard--even as a touch typist. I tested the keyboard continuously for a good two hours while cranking out several pages of text and found that it worked very well--enough so that it would be at the top of my list if I wanted to buy an external keyboard.

As for "bricked" phones after the latest iPhone update, I have no sympathy for those folks at all--they knew they were at risk and were also given ample warning by Apple prior to the update. The developers who wrote the software to alter iPhones demonstrated that they are short-sighted developers to begin with since they knew from the very beginning that updates would be coming yet they had no recovery plan. And how can anyone possibly say that improving or adding features to a product via a no-cost update is arrogant? It's actually quite the opposite.

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Sir Harry Flashman wrote:
Arrogance of Apple. Yes, I think that there is some cause for concern. Maybe it will pass, maybe it is just one of Steve's tricks.

I really don't understand this. Everyone really expects Apple to develop and test for a slew of unauthorized hardware hacks? Don't ALL of these hacks warn you about possibly bricking your phone? It's not as though Apple intentionally bricked the phones, they're just improving the hardware/software/UI experience that we all go to Apple for. If you overclock your processor, they can't be held responsible, if you send new firmware to a Linksys router and it breaks down, try calling Linksys for help. Hell, try calling them even if you don't, good luck. Apple is a graet company covering their own.

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Guest wrote:
I really don't understand this. Everyone really expects Apple to develop and test for a slew of unauthorized hardware hacks? Don't ALL of these hacks warn you about possibly bricking your phone? It's not as though Apple intentionally bricked the phones, they're just improving the hardware/software/UI experience that we all go to Apple for. If you overclock your processor, they can't be held responsible, if you send new firmware to a Linksys router and it breaks down, try calling Linksys for help. Hell, try calling them even if you don't, good luck. Apple is a graet company covering their own.

I don't feel sorry for those that hacked their iPhone. I've used many phones and pda/phones over the years and I never understood why an unlocked phone is so great.
You need a phone plan and what's most important is that your phone service works where you are, if X cellphone company's service doesn't work where you need it doesn't matter if it's cheaper or they have month-to-month contracts. Apple designers are paid to design, and it's the design that is a big part of the appeal and marketing success. So what if 1-5% can't use their old headphones. I'd rather that Apple keep on the path rather than compromise to keep a few people from having to spend a few bucks.

"Death is certain, life is not" - Alonzo/Training Day

The whole thrust of the article reads like one big excuse to gripe about the iPhone firmware update. While some of the issues he brings up are valid (e.g., the headphone jack design and other questionable instances where Apple opted for form over function), it's very clear that Breen was bringing up those other issues more as window dressing for his real gripe -- the iPhone.

His complaints about the iPhone firmware update are no different than any number of other articles that have already been written on the subject. But, I guess he felt he needed to set himself apart from the pack by bundling the iPhone controversy with other minor grips to conjure up the thesis that Apple is now on the "wrong path."

The way I see it, the issue with the iPhone update is a whole lot of whining by a small but vocal group of users. It's a lot of "inside the beltway" issues that don't affect the vast majority of iPhone users, though much of the tech press is making it sound like an avalanche of hundreds of thousands of iPhones are headed for local landfills because of Apple and AT&T's arrogance and greed. I would guess that it's a very tiny minority of iPhone owners that will be negatively impacted by this firmware update, no matter how the tech press tries to spin the issue.

Apple is responding like any other consumer electronics company would when users tinker with a product outside of its intended use -- you're now on your own.

And it's not like iPhone owners weren't given ample warning about this. I think it's all pretty simple -- if you want to use 3rd party apps or use the iPhone on a different network, don't install an update that won't play nice with those mods. If you want firmware updates and warranty support, use the iPhone the way it was intended.

It's certain a LOT better than the horrific white/clear keyboard that came with our white Intel iMac. My wife fried that keyboard when she spilled coffee on it, and I couldn't be happier to be rid of it. The new aluminum Apple keyboard is a huge improvement over the previous one, so I don't see how Breen can cite that as a sign of Apple going on the wrong path. Sure, it's different from other keyboards, but that doesn't mean that the generic alternatives out there are better.

I don't know how Breen claims not to be able to find the home row, when the new aluminum keyboard uses the same notches on the J and F keys that most other keyboards use.

And if Breen does not like the aluminum Apple keyboard, then what does he prefer as an alternative? The fact is that most of the OEM keyboards out there nowadays SUCK! The new Apple keyboard at least is built solidly, has acceptable tactile feedback (unlike the previous white/clear keyboard, which had horrible feel on the keys) and puts the wrists into a good ergonomic position because of its low profile.

If he prefers a solid buckling spring design like the IBM Model M keyboard (or the Matias Tactile Pro for Macs), I'm with him on that. But, those types of keyboards are rare, hardly ever included with OEM sales, and cost upwards of $150. Not exactly an apples to apples comparison.

Ringtones cost non-iphone users anywhere from $3 to $5 each and you don't get a free copy of the song or select the segment you want to use as your tone. So I don't get how selling a iPhone user a ringtone for $2 is arrogant? If Apple was truly arrogant, they would sell ringtones the way the rest of the world does and pocket the change. Also don't agree with the keyboard issue or the headphone jack design.

These comments would be dead on but for the fact that it's even worse.

Apple seems to see its customers and certainly 3rd-party vendors as nothing more than chattel. Apple does not casre about AT&T. Apple cares about the revenue it gets from AT&T, revenue that doesn't happen when you unlock your iPhone.

And Apple WILL lose its cool and people WILL say so by buying from someone else, because Apple is doing nothing to engender loyalty.

Quote

Guest wrote:
Apple is responding like any other consumer electronics company would when users tinker with a product outside of its intended use -- you're now on your own.

Quote

Anonymous wrote:
It's certain a LOT better than the horrific white/clear keyboard that came with our white Intel iMac. My wife fried that keyboard when she spilled coffee on it, and I couldn't be happier to be rid of it.

I do not think you can fault Apple for the bricked iPhones either. I usually disagree with Leander, but he sums up the argument here nicely:

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2007/10/cultofmac_1003?currentPage=1

Mr. Breen, Mr. Landau, and Mr. Griffiths or the people like them are not the only customers Apple has. They have just got their heads too high up...

You exploit a security hole modify system files and then overwrite the firmware of the modem and you are surprised when the phone does not work after an update that has bold letter warnings in it??????

The operative word here is HACKED! These were not well written or well conceived updates to the phone but HACKS!!! Come on! The people who trashed the firmware on the modem can't be bothered to put it back the way it was? That is all it would take to fix these phones. But that would assume that the hackers backed up the existing firmware modified it and re-applied a version that worked for all providers. They did not! They disabled the portion of the code that locked the phone to ATT and don't know how to re-enable it. THIS IS THE HACKERS FAULT AND USERS SHOULD BE GRATEFUL IF APPLE FIXES THEIR PHONES FOR FREE.

Probably the most arrogant thing that Apple has done of late is to retire AppleWorks. For those thousands of us that run our businesses on AppleWorks, this is a terrible slap in the face. There is no other program anywhere that will do certain things that AppleWorks does with ease. Try imbedding a spreadsheet in a word processor and then mailmerge into the spreadsheet and have it calculate! As far as I know, NOTHING else will do that.
They have offered absolutely no viable alternative to the Database portion of AppleWorks. That is the height of arrogance.

Honda states in their warranty statement that if I modify my car's engine I will probably void my warranty. But I went ahead and put in a hot camshaft. Yesterday I blew my engine and today Honda said they're not honoring the warranty. Bad Honda! Bad Honda!

That's how ridiculous these bricked hacked iPhone owners sound.

Maybe this car analogy is closer to the truth:

You put a hot camshaft in your Honda.

You take your Honda to the local dealer for its yearly servicing. The mechanic sees that you've put the hot camshaft in your car and promptly rips the engine out of it and slashes your tires.

Bad Honda! Bad Honda!

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Anonymous wrote:
Honda states in their warranty statement that if I modify my car's engine I will probably void my warranty. But I went ahead and put in a hot camshaft. Yesterday I blew my engine and today Honda said they're not honoring the warranty. Bad Honda! Bad Honda!

That's how ridiculous these bricked hacked iPhone owners sound.

Just a couple of little things:
1. Apple's new keyboard sucks, even the laptop-like "USB Pro" keyboards were pretty crummy with their stupid sheet of rubber "dome switches" (but were admittedly better than both the current model and the even spongier models that shipped with the original iMac). Apple hasn't made a decent keyboard since the ADB days, and the reason is that they haven't been using actual keyswitches. I can't fault them for that too much, considering that everybody else in the computer industry (Why did you abandon crushed springs, IBM, WHY!?) also abandoned actual switches after scissor-action laptop keyboards caught on and ruined the keyboard market.

People that think laptop-derived keyboards are suitable replacements for REAL keyboards remind me of those idiots that think you can play an FPS, RTS or something on a console with a gamepad. Yeah, you can, but you can also eschew shoes and walk everywhere with your bare feet. Not my idea of a good time.

The best keyboard Apple ever made was the Apple Extended Keyboard II (I'm currently using one thanks to an iMate ADB adapter), which had real keys that really travelled just enough thanks to real switches under each key. If you want a comparable keyboard that's new, your best option is the Matias Tactile Pro.

http://matias.ca/tactilepro2/

2. While ClarisWo, er... AppleWorks is definitely dead, its database functionality lives on in FileMaker, which is still as awesome as ever. If you need mail merge functionality, I've heard that there's accessories for Mac OS M$ Word that can do that (I'm not 100% sure on this, but I vaguely recall it), and if you can deal with Word, you can deal with the rest of OffiÑže, so you can embed ExÑžel spreadsheets into word files if need be. Also, FileMaker is quite happy sending stuff back and forth between its own format and that of various spreadsheets like ExÑžel.

Finally, I'd say that Apple isn't so much arrogant as that it's marketing stupid products. Why get an iPod instead of playing music on your cellphone? None of the people dumb enough to buy one need an answer. Why get an AppleTV when a game console (or, gasp, a couple of extension cables/wireless AV transmitters/a used computer) has more features, is better at everything the AppleTV does, and costs less? Anyone dumb enough to buy one probably didn't think of the question. Why get dozens of fully functional xServes and spend extra resources making your software clusterable instead of buying an actual SMP machine that's built with lots of CPU sockets and using normal multithreading apps? IT admins probably just like throwing money around. Why use wireless keyboards and mice if you can't even make out the screen when you're far enough away to need longer cables? Because its COOL, duh.

Anyone that buys such transparently gimmicky products is ASKING to be stepped on, and since it seems to have increased Apple's business (or at least their "hipness" in the public image, since I vaguely recall that Apple's marketshare isn't even up to the 3% of the "bad years"), that means people LIKE being stepped on.

Maybe Jobs' years at Next, watching his and Apple's finest products get rejected by the marketplace over and over again taught him a lesson: The market is stupid, and will gravitate toward products that share their stupidity.


Eric,

Mmm, still not quite there with the Honda analogy.

According to some sources, the new update does nothing to patch the fact that iPhone apps run with root privileges. So a "safety recall" does not come into the picture at all.

What it is is this:
1. I buy a Honda.

2. Thinking that it's MY Honda, I go ahead and pimp it to my heart's content at someone else's garage. I add bucket seats, new coffee cup-holders, exhaust, etc. Including new tyres that let me run on terrain not officially supported by the car.

3. Honda calls me and says, if you like, we can add this cool new feature button where you can buy petrol direct from our pumps (more money into Mr Honda's pockets!). We've also got some cosmetic touch-ups here and there. Oh, and your factory-installed hi-fi system that you've been complaining about, that would run louder too.

4. Great, I think, and I bring in the car for servicing.

5. Whereupon Mr Honda sees my mods and promptly cuts off the starter wires before handing me back my keys.

6. Mr Honda walks away saying, "Enjoy your ride now, punk."

Your a fucking idiot!

Quote

Guest wrote:
I am always mistified. If you don't like the iphone, buy one you do. If you don't like the keyboard buy one you do. No one is forcing you to do it. Once you buy it though as long as it works don't complain that it doesn't meet your expectations other than a review. This is the modern age.
If apple decides they want to giver away the Iphone 2 tomorrow thats there right.
Go away and do something worthwhile.

Quote

mactoid wrote:

Quote

Guest wrote:
I really don't understand this. Everyone really expects Apple to develop and test for a slew of unauthorized hardware hacks? Don't ALL of these hacks warn you about possibly bricking your phone? It's not as though Apple intentionally bricked the phones, they're just improving the hardware/software/UI experience that we all go to Apple for. If you overclock your processor, they can't be held responsible, if you send new firmware to a Linksys router and it breaks down, try calling Linksys for help. Hell, try calling them even if you don't, good luck. Apple is a graet company covering their own.

I really have to agree with this sentiment. There were at least 3 different approachs to unlocking the iPhone that I was aware of (including one that required soldering gun, for heavens sakes!!) and to expect Apple to look out for each and every one of them in their software updates is ridiculous. Apple could, and probably should, offer a way to "un-brick" the phones, but I wouldn't expect it to be free. In the immortal words of "Super-Chicken" (my favorite cartoon from the '70s), the iPhone hackers "knew the job was dangerous when they took it"!

Quote

Partsmutt wrote:
Along with the updates, Apple included intentional bricking of the phone.
.

A lot of interesting thoughts.

Has anyone else noticed that the once-friendly, knowledgable, abundant, and helpful Apple Store employees have developed a kind of arrogance as well? The honeymoon is over. Perhaps they're being jerked around by the company they work for just like its customers. It's clear that the appropriate information is not being shared between Apple and AT&T - the Apple people don't know anything about phone plans and the AT&T know nothing about iPod functionality. Apple was for a time the golden standard in customer service, but they're slipping.

Quote

Guest wrote:
Just a couple of little things:
1. Apple's new keyboard sucks, even the laptop-like "USB Pro" keyboards were pretty crummy with their stupid sheet of rubber "dome switches" (but were admittedly better than both the current model and the even spongier models that shipped with the original iMac). Apple hasn't made a decent keyboard since the ADB days, and the reason is that they haven't been using actual keyswitches. I can't fault them for that too much, considering that everybody else in the computer industry (Why did you abandon crushed springs, IBM, WHY!?) also abandoned actual switches after scissor-action laptop keyboards caught on and ruined the keyboard market.

People that think laptop-derived keyboards are suitable replacements for REAL keyboards remind me of those idiots that think you can play an FPS, RTS or something on a console with a gamepad. Yeah, you can, but you can also eschew shoes and walk everywhere with your bare feet. Not my idea of a good time.

The best keyboard Apple ever made was the Apple Extended Keyboard II (I'm currently using one thanks to an iMate ADB adapter), which had real keys that really travelled just enough thanks to real switches under each key. If you want a comparable keyboard that's new, your best option is the Matias Tactile Pro.

Quote

Guest wrote:
Ringtones cost non-iphone users anywhere from $3 to $5 each and you don't get a free copy of the song or select the segment you want to use as your tone. So I don't get how selling a iPhone user a ringtone for $2 is arrogant? If Apple was truly arrogant, they would sell ringtones the way the rest of the world does and pocket the change. Also don't agree with the keyboard issue or the headphone jack design.

All,

I'm not aware of the method for hacking the iPhone.
I assume it is a firmware modification.

If that is the case, then Apple must be "bricking"
the phones on purpose.
Any firmware update should be done as it is for your
computer BIOS or almost any normal firmware update.
You read the current firmware from the flash part,
and do a checksum to see if the firmward is valid.
If they get an invalid checksum, then you ask the user
if they want to either "reflash to the original firmware"
or "upgrade and possible ruin their phone."

Simple...

So...Explain to me how this isn't Apple "bricking" phones.

If this is a SIM modification, then you do something
similar with the SIM. You check the SIM integrity
before an upgrade. The phone's firmware probably does
something of this sort when you start the phone anyway.

They have to do something of this sort to verify the
upgrade once it has been done anyway. I don't know of
any other way to verify the proper flashing of the
firmware.

Quote

Anonymous wrote:


That's not true. I put ringtones that I make by cutting up mp3s on all of my phones and make them for friends too, Samsung phones, Motorolo phones, well, really only those two manufacturers. It doesn't cost us anything.

Quote

gslusher wrote:

Quote

Anonymous wrote:


That's not true. I put ringtones that I make by cutting up mp3s on all of my phones and make them for friends too, Samsung phones, Motorolo phones, well, really only those two manufacturers. It doesn't cost us anything.

Alas, it depends upon WHICH phone and WHICH provider you have. Some providers have disabled that function and some phones don't have it. My Verizon Samsung phone does not allow loading ringtones except by purchasing them through the phone. (Verizon charges me for the minutes spent searching--a slow process, buying and downloading, as well.)