Filed under: iPhone
Zaprudering the iPhone Commercials: Maps
Wow. The things you can learn from Apple commercials. Notice anything about that map icon? It looked mighty familiar to me and as TUAW reader Brian noted in our comments, that's a wee stylized image of 1 Infinite Loop, Apple Headquarters--or at least...kind of. The arrow looks more like it's on North de Anza Boulevard than Infinite Loop itself, but it's close enough for me. Here are a bunch of other things I've noticed about iPhone maps.
- We got a great look at the keyboard interface, when doing the Maps search. The QWERTY keyboard includes a shift button, a delete button, an option to switch to a numeric view, and a search button (which I assume is the same as "return").
- It looks like the interaction order is: Search, select a pin, press the (>) button on the link, and then view the location information.
- Pacific Catch is a real restaurant. I called it up and spoke briefly to a hostess named Fancy (like the adjective). "We've been getting calls all morning from all over the country. People want to know if we're a real business. We are."
Gallery: Zaprudering iPhone Maps
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
sageimac said 9:57PM on 6-04-2007
Did ya think they were going to show 1 Microsoft Way in Redmond near 520?
Reply
x said 10:02PM on 6-04-2007
please don't use the word "zaprudering" again
Reply
Joe said 10:01PM on 6-04-2007
This photo leave little room for doubt:
http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/iphonejune1.png
Reply
Daniel said 10:06PM on 6-04-2007
I think the top left is actually signal - think of the five bars (AT&T was only recently still Cingular).
I think the icon to the right of the "AT&T" is a WiFi indicator. Just a guess, but it looks like the WiFi icon in the menu bar of OS X.
Reply
andrew harrison said 10:08PM on 6-04-2007
@Joe: Little room for doubting what?
@Erica: on http://www.tuaw.com/gallery/zaprudering-iphone-maps/262715/ I'd say that the top line's left most icon that you've said is "volume" is likely signal strength of the mobile [cell] tower, ie: AT&T signal strength, and the Airport-style icon to the right of that is the WiFi signal strength.
Reply
devon said 10:37PM on 6-04-2007
may i comment on the bottom of the last photo "Directions to Here"
do we have any word yet on whether the phone will take advantage of GPS to give itself a starting point for directions or will we simply have to enter a start and finish point every time?
Reply
David Wilson said 10:36PM on 6-04-2007
Am I left to believe there is some sort of GPS-like functionality in the iPhone. How would it have known that the nearest seafood places. And what do you think would have happened had the user click the "Directions to Here" button instead of the phone number.
I am already an AT&T/Cingular customer with an unlimited data plan, so I will be one of the first in line at the Apple Store, Tysons Corner, to buy an iPhone on the 29th.
Reply
Erica Sadun said 10:47PM on 6-04-2007
I'm pretty sure the iPhone knows who you are and your address as part of the customization/initialization. I'm not sure GPS is part of it.
Reply
brian said 10:55PM on 6-04-2007
No GPS in the iPhone, AFAIK. It has never been announced, and I think it would have had to have been mentioned in the FCC filings.** I'm sure there's a preference to be set, but what good does that do when you're, you know, *mobile*? My guess is that it does geolocation based on information from cell towers.
** sorry for that hard-to-parse sentence.
Reply
Reyner said 12:33AM on 6-05-2007
Pretty sure you've got the icons at the top confused on http://www.tuaw.com/gallery/zaprudering-iphone-maps/262715/
The "bars" mean cell signal strength everywhere; Cingular built a whole ad campaign around it. As for the other icon, it looks like a current airport strength icon, so that probably is wifi signal. It wouldn't be too much of a surprise to me if there is no volume icon there, as it shows the current level when you change it (this was demonstrated during the first call at the keynote).
And there is definitely NOT a GPS: it wasn't in the FCC papers.
Reply
Marcelo S. Sandoval said 1:35AM on 6-05-2007
The calendar widget displays the current date (based on the date on the phone in the opening shot)! I assume it will refresh on a daily basis to show the current date every day.
Reply
Ron said 2:37AM on 6-05-2007
PLEASE! Do not go to Pacific Catch! I eat there all the time and it is already too popular. I'll never be able to get a table! (It's actually one of the best fish restaurants around. They have another location in Corte Madera, Marin and will be opening a third just outside Golden Gate Park later this year. Apparently an Apple marketing person eats there too! (That's what I was told...)
Reply
Jacob said 3:24AM on 6-05-2007
@Reyner
There's plenty of phones on the FCC website with GPS functionality without it being mentioned in their filings, at least not explicitly. This has no bearing on whether there's GPS or not.
Reply
Pete said 3:32AM on 6-05-2007
What the hell does zaprudering mean?
Reply
will said 8:34AM on 6-05-2007
All cell phones have some sort of gps technology... While it is not gps by namesake it is a location device done by triangulating the position via cell phone towers. This is how emergency services gets a hold of you via cell phones. This functionality is a requirement of all new cell phones, so it is possible that apple just decided to utilize it.
Reply
Michael Rose said 8:05AM on 6-05-2007
#14: Pete, 'zaprudering' is a neologism derived from the Zapruder film, the amateur 8mm film that is the only known visual record of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Abraham Zapruder's film was purchased by Dick Stolley of LIFE Magazine (my former employer) and still frames were published in LIFE. The complete film was not seen for years after the assassination, lending fuel to conspiracy theorists who dispute the official theory of Lee Harvey Oswald as the sole shooter.
Erica's using 'zaprudering' to indicate painstaking analysis of the ads, assuming there's some sort of conspiracy to keep the truth from us. It's funny but, IMHO, a little bit edgy. :-)
Reply
kingshaun1 said 8:31AM on 6-05-2007
Everyone is forgetting that apple asked the FCC to withhold certain information on the phone, so do we really know whether GPS is one of those piece of information being withheld
Reply
jorgy said 8:45AM on 6-05-2007
The biggest questions is are those George's hands? I know he had a set back hand modeling, but I think he is making a comeback.
Reply
Ross said 8:59AM on 6-05-2007
Where's the "Contacts" button?
Reply
Will Clarke said 9:49AM on 6-05-2007
Zaprudering is an awesome word and if you've got a problem with it, I'll gladly Oswald you.
Reply