iPhone apps

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A.B.Normal

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TRS 80
Apple IIc
Apple IIe
HP9845b

The HP 9845b was in Grade 11 CompSci ,the earlier ones were in the my earlier Schools Comp/Math Class ,but I'd manage to get in before school started :wink:
 
Huge

Huge

Member
fury said:
Apple IIgs FTW

I'm still hopping along with an EDGE iPhone that has no service. (couldn't afford it, what a surprise i'm such a fuckup :p)

was jailbroken on 1.1.4 with a few apps from the installer there, but nothing that really held my interst. 2.0 upgraded without a scratch, fucking coolest upgrade they've ever done.

Copy+paste will come in good time... needs to be done right, not just a feAture slapped in there by some one-off developer (cough...windows mobile.../cough)

There've been a number of promising proof of concept videos, so apple has got plenty of possibilities, they just need to think about each and every thing before they put it into the product; that's what makes them unique, and good
Click to expand...

*pats back* tsk tsk ;)
 
JJR512

JJR512

New Member
Having owned a Palm Treo 700wx (Windows Mobile 5) and used several other Windows Mobile 5 and 6 phones, I am at a complete loss to understand the comment about copy+paste being a tacked-on feature. It always worked fine for me, and seemed fairly intuitive. Select some text with the stylus (there was probably a way to use the arrow pad, but I used the stylus a lot). Tap and hold the stylus on the selected text and a context-sensitive menu would pop up, where you would select "Copy". Put the cursor somewhere else, tap-hold to bring up the context menu, and select "Paste". Or, instead of tap-holding, you could also open the application's menu, open the Edit sub-menu, and select Copy or Paste from there.)

Let's look at some of the things I've just talked about to see how those concepts work on the iPhone. Stylus? No. Tap & hold? No. Context-sensitive menus? No. And, of course, the main point: Copy+Paste? No.

It's almost like the iPhone OS was designed by someone who's been locked in a dungeon for the past 13+ years and has never heard of right-clicking or context-sensitive menus. Maybe the iPhone OS designers just didn't get the memo that Apple is now embracing (pseudo-)multi-button mice and all that, or they'd be familiar with this whole concept.

I own a iPhone 3G 8GB. I've had it for almost a week. I never had or used an original iPhone, so I can't say how much of an improvement it is (or isn't). In general, it's pretty nice; I like it a lot. Having gotten to know my MacBook Pro laptop over the last few months (my first Mac ever) and gotten a feel for OS X, I think Apple has done a very good job of making it feel pretty much just like a Mac, much in the same way that Windows Mobile is a natural for people familiar with desktop Windows.

The applications I have gotten for my iPhone so far include: AIM, Mobile News (from AP), Units (a unit & currency converter), Epocrates Rx (a drug reference, including dosages, contraindications, interactions), Google, Cellfire (a local coupon/discount finder), PhoneSaber (turns your iPhone into a Star Wars lightsaber), magic8ball (shouldn't have to explain that one), HaHaHa (lets you put Joker graffiti over pictures...it's a Batman thing), Facebook (iPhone interface for the social networking app, I'm just starting to get into it...a little bit...maybe), BubbleWrap, Moonlight Mahjong Lite, PegJump, Morocco (an Othello clone), and Labyrinth LE (may soon pay for the full version to get more mazes).

I would like to get PacMan but I'm not paying $9.99 for one game like this (a lot of reviewers have made the same comment). I'm also waiting for a decent Solitaire game. The ones currently available are only so-so, in my opinion. I really liked the collection offered by Astraware for Palm OS and Windows Mobile. Astraware has already released one software title for iPhone, so I'm going to wait and see if they come out with more. But I'm an impatient kind of guy.
 
F

fury

Administrator
Staff member
You still have tap-holding for secondary functions on the iPhone. It brings up context menus in some things like Safari, when you tap-hold on an image. You also get to move things around on the home screen by holding on an icon to put it into editing mode. Tap-holding on text already brings up a magnifying glass by which you can move the cursor, so one of the theories of cutting/pasting expands on this by suggesting that you bring up the magnifying glass and tap on the other location of the text with a second finger to perform the cut or copy.

Thinking of the cut/paste process on Windows Mobile, there's actually quite a few steps you have to take to do something really simple. (and you really need the stylus to really do it) In my experience it was as hard to explain to someone else how to do it as it is to explain to someone how to use a mouse who'd never seen a computer before. That kind of lengthy process is against the design philosophy of a phone anyone can figure out without a manual. They actually do think that hard about every feature that goes in.

I totally do not miss the stylus required for lesser devices. Resistive touchscreens on small devices are the bane of my existence. Having to pull out the little pen to use the device was akin to carrying a separate antenna that you had to screw into a cell phone every time you wanted to use it. It just really doesn't make sense to have to use one for everything.

The capacitive touchscreen on the iPhone makes the stylus obsolete, as necessary a tool as it was before. It will be useful still for writing things down (if that ever makes its way onto the phone), but as far as just using the phone, you can do it all with the slightest touch, making your finger, no matter how big or small, all you need.

There are plenty of other features that it seems to be missing, but again, this is a new platform, having only been out for a year, and they really don't want to botch anything they put into it. Doing so would create two different headaches, one for the people & developers trying to use and build around the initial feature, and then again when it's changed to what it really should be.

MMS, for example: they might be trying to integrate that seamlessly into the SMS app, like an instant messenger conversation that can have text and pictures in the same chat. If it was just shoved into the iPhone as a separate app and done half-assed, people would be swapping back and forth between SMS and MMS apps unnecessarily, and have another icon to fill up the home screen, and another app in the iPhone to learn. Such a minute detail, but it does make that big of a difference to their design team.
 
JJR512

JJR512

New Member
fury said:
Thinking of the cut/paste process on Windows Mobile, there's actually quite a few steps you have to take to do something really simple. (and you really need the stylus to really do it) In my experience it was as hard to explain to someone else how to do it as it is to explain to someone how to use a mouse who'd never seen a computer before. That kind of lengthy process is against the design philosophy of a phone anyone can figure out without a manual. They actually do think that hard about every feature that goes in.
Click to expand...
1. Select some text; 2. Open context-sensitive menu; 3. Select "Copy"; 4. Put cursor somewhere else; 5. Open context-sensitive menu; 6. Select "Paste". Now is this the description for doing it on Windows Desktop, OS X desktop, or Windows Mobile? Yes! They're all the same. Whether you use a mouse or a stylus in Step 1, whether you right-click or tap-hold in Step 2, etc. etc. etc., it's the exact same series of steps. I don't see Windows mobile being any more difficult than the desktop OSs. But I will add this: When you first start a new phone with Windows Mobile, a little tutorial runs that clearly and concisely explains the major concepts. Does that happen with iPhone? Or OS X? (Or regular Windows--by default?) No.

Does the fact that Microsoft feels the need to include a brief tutorial indicate that Windows Mobile must be so complicated to use that you need to be taught how? Some will say yes, others will say no. I feel that a PDA phone, no matter how much they try to make it like the desktop, is sufficiently different to warrant including a brief tutorial. There are some things on the iPhone I would have liked a tutorial to explain.

The capacitive touchscreen on the iPhone makes the stylus obsolete, as necessary a tool as it was before. It will be useful still for writing things down (if that ever makes its way onto the phone), but as far as just using the phone, you can do it all with the slightest touch, making your finger, no matter how big or small, all you need.
Click to expand...
You could use a Windows Mobile phone with touch as well. Unless you needed the accuracy of the stylus, you could use your finger. You would only need the accuracy of the stylus for finer things like text selection, such as if you need to copy or paste...ahem. So apparently the iPhone has a different concept for fine selection.
 
JJR512

JJR512

New Member
I do not want to do anything that's going to void the warranty, make getting service on it difficult, or in any way risk turning my money spent into money wasted.
 
Professur

Professur

Well-Known Member
Then you wouldn't have bought an Iphone in the first place. Just using the damn thing is almost enough to void the warranty.
 
Luis G

Luis G

<i><b>Problemator</b></i>
Staff member
I don't get why people spends so much on the iphone when the nokia n95 (released almost a year before) is a cheaper and better product.
 
BlurOfSerenity

BlurOfSerenity

New Member
it probably is on some relatively harmless what-are-the-consumers-buying level, at least.

i love my sidekick lx... hell, i love the whole sidekick thing in general. they don't have cool programs, but i haven't so far been like, "you know what i REALLY need? digital bubble wrap!" or something like that. and it has a real keyboard that you can feel and type really really fast on. and don't necessarily have to look at it because it's tactile!

i might get an iphone someday if they could copy and paste and do a few other things i'd like them to do. but at this time, in some ways it would be a downgrade. and i'd have to leave my beautiful tmobile :(
 
pc_builder

pc_builder

New Member
anonymous usage statistics does not a spyware make. and you can always opt out.

So far, my iTunes hasn't stolen my credit card numbers, loaded any viruses on my computer, or given me any pop-up windows. or anything else spyware might do. :D
 
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