Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Video, iPhone
Activation Video reveals some interesting details and... an 80GB iPhone?
Oh Apple, you're so sly with the way you slip in the useful (and sometimes bizarre) details with your iPhone demo videos. In the activation video posted today, more intricacies of what and how the iPhone synchs have been revealed with a walk-through of how to get one's iPhone set up at home with iTunes. First, it appears as though Apple and AT&T have thought of just about everything:
The setup asks whether you already have an AT&T account and you'd just like to add your iPhone to it, or if you're creating a brand new account. Users can also activate two or more phones all from the comforts of their pajamas and iTunes.
The setup asks whether you already have an AT&T account and you'd just like to add your iPhone to it, or if you're creating a brand new account. Users can also activate two or more phones all from the comforts of their pajamas and iTunes.
Transferring one's mobile number also looks like it's a snap. The process "may take up to 6 hours," and apparently your current service will be disconnected simply by following through with this iTunes activation (at least that's what the description text says). Transferring a home number, however, is apparently another process entirely, and a link is offered to take you elsewhere for more information.
For those who can't live by 200 monthly SMS messages alone, the plan selection screen offers two upgrade options that might appeal only to the heaviest of texters. The next step up from 200 is a whopping 1500 total messages for $10, with unlimited costing $20.
For those who can't live by 200 monthly SMS messages alone, the plan selection screen offers two upgrade options that might appeal only to the heaviest of texters. The next step up from 200 is a whopping 1500 total messages for $10, with unlimited costing $20.
We've known for a while that Yahoo! Address Book would be an option for synching, and it appears that Apple has made it about as easy as possible to do this. It looks like all you'll have to do is click this button and enter your Yahoo! credentials to get up and running.
This 'Put new events in...' option is, in a way, a little disappointing to me, because I was hoping calendars would sync perfectly between iPhone and iCal. Looks like this won't be the case, though I can, in theory, kind of understand. I've tried categorizing events into separate calendars when entering them on other mobile phones, and it was admittedly a bit of a pain.
Now this last one is the bizarre detail that has both us and commenters puzzled: notice anything weird? How about that 74.40 GB capacity? The end of the video zooms in and out of the iTunes window, clearly showing the iPhone in the left sources list and a 7.2 GB capacity in the Summary tab, but this capacity rating at the bottom of the window has us scratching our heads. Are they performing some trickery here, using an 80GB 5G iPod to demonstrate some of this synching stuff? Or did they use a pre-production 80GB iPhone to hint that in just a few months, all the early adopters are going to experience iPhone envy all over again? Your guess is as good as ours here.
That's about everything we noticed from the video - but did we miss something? You know what to do.
This 'Put new events in...' option is, in a way, a little disappointing to me, because I was hoping calendars would sync perfectly between iPhone and iCal. Looks like this won't be the case, though I can, in theory, kind of understand. I've tried categorizing events into separate calendars when entering them on other mobile phones, and it was admittedly a bit of a pain.
Now this last one is the bizarre detail that has both us and commenters puzzled: notice anything weird? How about that 74.40 GB capacity? The end of the video zooms in and out of the iTunes window, clearly showing the iPhone in the left sources list and a 7.2 GB capacity in the Summary tab, but this capacity rating at the bottom of the window has us scratching our heads. Are they performing some trickery here, using an 80GB 5G iPod to demonstrate some of this synching stuff? Or did they use a pre-production 80GB iPhone to hint that in just a few months, all the early adopters are going to experience iPhone envy all over again? Your guess is as good as ours here.
That's about everything we noticed from the video - but did we miss something? You know what to do.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
artifex said 10:15AM on 6-26-2007
Awesome, David, I just asked if the activation process would work for current AT&T subscribers, and you paste that image showing that yes, it should. Thanks.
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geezer said 10:22AM on 6-26-2007
who knows, maybe we will see an 80GB touch-screen iPod without the Phone?
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Matthew Sandoval said 10:24AM on 6-26-2007
the video also shows a 2-year contract during the activation process. i didn't see any other option. i thought the idea was that 2-years would not be required (based on the text being removed from the commercials). what happened?
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tallmojo said 10:38AM on 6-26-2007
Do you understand the early adopter backlash if they went from 8GB to 80GB in a few months?! I certainly hope Apple understands!
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Matt said 10:25AM on 6-26-2007
It looks like there will be no way to sync or use the features of the phone *without* an AT&T plan - this very tightly integrates the two. Disappointing for those of us with excellent GSM network but no AT&T service.
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Marco F. said 10:26AM on 6-26-2007
The 80gig iPhone is being prepared for the european launch :-)
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Gene Cowan said 10:32AM on 6-26-2007
Another interesting thing: the "Ringtones" tab seen during the keynote is now gone. No way to put custom ringtones on the device?
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Konstantino said 10:32AM on 6-26-2007
Here's something interesting: the iTunes interface looks a bit different (note the side bar's BLUE select bars as oppose to black).
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Seth Burnett said 10:35AM on 6-26-2007
One thing I noticed, during the Macworld keynote in January, Steve showed a slide of iTunes with the iPhone connected and it had a "Ringtones" tab. But now in the activation video that tab is gone. Kinda disappoints me. Though not enough to be there on Friday to get my iPhone.
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ciprian said 10:35AM on 6-26-2007
80GB is probably the disk capacity of the computer they sync their iphone to.
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Bala said 10:39AM on 6-26-2007
Does anyone know if those 200 SMS messages include International Text messages?
(I know I'm being overly optimistic in asking this question)
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sevenmatthew said 10:40AM on 6-26-2007
Hey guys, wow interesting, i wonder what carrier we are getting in the uk and the details??
Thanx
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Xof said 10:43AM on 6-26-2007
This is what happens when the designer in charge of making the video uses a previous existing template from the iPod 80Gb :D
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procrastinatr said 11:01AM on 6-26-2007
What's wrong, Chartier? Can't take a joke? For somebody who posts those great "tickle me" entries like procrastinatr and kernel panic screen savers, you sure to have a fragile sense of humor and quite the tin ear.
mike garpenfargle
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David McLeod said 11:01AM on 6-26-2007
It is just a mistake. Check out the video at 4:15 minutes in and you will see everything is as it should be.
Clearly someone messed up when doing the UI animation. (these are large screen comps that they most likely animated in Flash as an example).
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David McLeod said 11:04AM on 6-26-2007
Oh and as a side-note, you can see at 6:17 minutes in that the film 'Wedding Crashers' is featured. This is odd because none of New Line Cinemas feature films are available via the iTunes Store....perhaps that is a mistake as well or they are coming soon?
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Shon said 1:46PM on 6-26-2007
@ #11
extremely unlikely this will be international SMS. at&t has an additional bolt on for international.
I guess i was very wrong about activating in store. this is a pretty awesome surprise. That means we can all go to the store, flop our hard earned cash down, get our (hopefully unopened) iPhone and go home!
The iPhone plans are pretty good too. Im pleasantly surprised by the news! its a good news day!
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Cycomachead said 11:18AM on 6-26-2007
yup newer Blue interface (my guess is Leopard) and no ringtones tab.
Interesting about Wedding Crashers. Hmmm. I thought the status bar at the bottom looked weird watching it, but I wasn't sure. 80GB would make the phone considerably fatter, and I REALLY like the slimness . I think its a video mixup.
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Wolvereen said 11:25AM on 6-26-2007
I guarantee that the 80GB is a 5.5 gen ipod, NOT an iPhone. The 6G iPod and 2G iPhone will both use solid state drives. The biggest solid state (Samsung) is 64GB.
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pmd said 11:39AM on 6-26-2007
Has anyone heard from any source or wonder about Apple Care for the iPhone? Whether it will be avaialbe from the Apple Store and AT&T stores or will it only be the cellular provider's monthly insurance.
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