iphone

Im sending my iPhone back to Apple for repair this weekend for the second time, after only a month and a half or so of total ownership. My first piece suffered the dead-zone problem along the bottom edge of the touchscreen, and now last night, my brand-new replacement phones earpiece speaker conked out for no apparent reason after only a few weeks of use. This in itself is notable—that the iPhone seems to be suffering from some isolated but pretty serious manufacturing defects in its infancy. I could rant and rave about this fairly cut-and-dry issue along with everyone else, but instead this surprising second failure (and the second switch back to my previous phone while I wait for a new iPhone from Apple Care, God bless em) got me thinking more broadly about why, when asked how I like the iPhone, I invariably reply Eh, its OK.

The race to hack the iPhone was taken up a notch today by the folks at the iPhone Dev Wiki (Google it, they still don't want links in to avoid crashing their servers), as one of the team's most dedicated members claims to have written, compiled and ran a "hello world" application—geek-speak for a test program that simply displays the text "hello world"—on the iPhone. Patrick Walton (or "Nightwatch"), who appears to either be a student or professor at the University of Chicago, is being credited with the break-through.

Once a video surfaces and others and/or others are able to confirm the process, we'll know for sure. Good work PPX traders, you called it: the proposition has been valued at POP$80 or above since the iPhone's release, and it's currently trading at POP$91 and climbing. —John Mahoney

PPX - IPHACK

No. It cant be. Someone out there actually returned an iPhone? Someone was dissatisfied with the uber-gadget? Well, not exactly. In a very entertaining read, Farhad Manjoo, a blogger at Salon.com, chronicles what amounts to a two-week love affair with his iPhone. He gushes over its functionality, design and overall beauty, and cites several examples of why its more than just good technological fun. In the end, though, it proves too expensive, and he returns it, heartbroken, within the two week window, hoping that the price comes down soon. If youre not the gadget-loving sort, his essay should give you some insight into the strange breed. And if you are, it will probably echo your own thoughts about Apples latest gem.—Gregory Mone

Jon Lech Johansen, a hacker who earned the name DVD Jon for unraveling
DVD encryption codes a few years ago, now says he has figured out how
to activate an iPhone without signing up for an AT&T service plan.
The bonus, he says, is that you can still use the device, but you dont
have to hand your personal details over to the carrier (which he refers
to as the NSA). The hitch, obviously, is that your iPhone wont
actually be a phone. Youll still be able to listen to music and access
the Internet via WiFi but why anyone would want to pay $500 for a
phone that doesnt make calls is beyond us. Johansen offers a link to
the software patch on his blog, "So sue me."

Note that while this may be a hack in the strict sense, it won't close our PPX proposition, IPHACK,
which specifies that the iPhone must be modded to run third-party
software in the first two months in order to close out at $100 per
share. But this does certainly take us one step closer. IPHACK stocks
are currently trading at POP$79.00. Get 'em while they're hot...
—Gregory Mone

Via newsfactor.com

Jon Lech Johansen, a hacker who earned the name DVD Jon for unraveling DVD encryption codes a few years ago, now says he has figured out how to activate an iPhone without signing up for an AT&T service plan. The bonus, he says, is that you can still use the device, but you dont have to hand your personal details over to the carrier (which he refers to as the NSA). The hitch, obviously, is that your iPhone wont actually be a phone. Youll still be able to listen to music and access the Internet via WiFi but why anyone would want to pay $500 for a phone that doesnt make calls is beyond us. Johansen offers a link to the software patch on his blog, "So sue me."

Note that while this may be a hack in the strict sense, it won't close our PPX proposition, IPHACK, which specifies that the iPhone must be modded to run third-party software in the first two months in order to close out at $100 per share. But this does certainly take us one step closer. IPHACK stocks are currently trading at POP$79.00. Get 'em while they're hot... —Gregory Mone

Via newsfactor.com

Though some of the lucky 525,000 to procure an iPhone have been concerned with getting the device activated, a brave few decided to crack it open instead. Several sites pulled the phone apart, but the gadget surgeons at ifixit.com offer a detailed photo diary of their dissection. Among the observations: The phone has 16 screws compared to the iPod Nano's 3. Which means it's approximately 5.3 times as cool.—Gregory Mone

(Image Credit: ifixit.com)

As the iPhone launch day fiasco unfolds, we thought we'd take a moment to share our own tale of getting our hands on a phone. As the world's largest consumer electronics magazine, you'd think we'd be able to get a review unit from Apple, yes? Well, no. Herr Jobs decided to seed just a handful of iPhones into the hands of high-profile journalists at daily newspapers including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.

We contacted Apple back in April to try to secure an iPhone for review, but got no response. So senior editor Mike Haney sent this email on June 11:

Okay, so you've all heard about the spate of crack addicts, homeless people, freelancers and other layabouts advertising on Craigslist that they'll stand in the iPhone line at the Apple store for $200. But this post marks a new low: linesitters for the line. "Will let you pee for cash"? Somebody just bomb us—we're done for. —Megan Miller

The first batch of iPhone reviews hit the web late last night, revealing Apple's press strategy for this one: They seeded review units to a handful of high-profile tech journalists two weeks ago with instructions to wait until yesterday to post  reviews. Oh, and to make them seem balanced but actually be glowing.

Okay, I made that last part up, but reading them all at once, one does notice a consistent refrain. I'll quote Uncle Walt's version: "Our verdict is that, despite some flaws and feature omissions, the
iPhone is, on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer."

I'm not going to go through and argue their points, since not being among Jobs's anointed few (and yes, that annoys me; hello! 7 million readers here!), I have not used the thing yet. But I will say I'm a little disappointed in this round of reviews. Not because I want Apple to fail—I'm as big a fanboy as anyone and love the idea of reinventing the phone—but because I'm sick of the free pass Apple gets because they're the cool kid on the block. The flaws these reviews list are not insignificant—most notably, that it's tied exclusively for five years to the crappiest network and missing basic features like a memory card slot—but the collective attitude is "No matter, Apple will fix these things soon enough." Really? Then why are we still cracking open iPods with screwdrivers to replace the batteries four years after the battery issue was first raised? Maybe even Pogue or Mossberg taking Apple to town about the shortcomings wouldn't convince Jobs to do anything about them, but it's frustrating to see the one company that probably could make the perfect phone fall short because we—and our journalists—will settle for less.—Mike Haney

Reviews:Wall Street JournalNYTimesMSNBCUSA Today