Perhaps you think the iPhone has been covered to death. Well, too bad there, slick, because we’ve got four months left before the device comes out: four months left to pick over every inane detail (What? No self-portrait mirror? How could you, Steve?); four months left to debate the merits of Cingular; four months left for me to cry myself to sleep every night.
While we may not relish the idea of combing through patents, rumor reports, and what little Apple has told us, that doesn’t mean we won’t do it. But like in panning for gold, it’s usually a good idea to avoid territory others have covered. Thus we’ll point you to this extremely well-produced video from Action TV, detailing a few features that you may have missed during Steve Jobs’s keynote.
Some of this isn’t surprising: the functionality of the calendar app, for example—hey, it works like a calendar app. Other features address issues I hadn’t even thought about, like the ability to jump straight to a letter when scrolling through songs (good move, Apple). And, of course, now everybody is writhing over ringtones: The video and a picture from Engadget show a “Ringtones” tab in iTunes 7. Is this a sign that Apple will be selling ringtones via iTunes?
Let me be frank: I have never in my life purchased a ringtone. Despite that, it’s an extremely lucrative medium for the service providers. Right now, even my Motorola E815 lets me turn my own MP3s into ringtones (with some finagling); if the iPhone doesn’t allow this functionality, I’m going to be a little put out. Though I’m guessing that while I’m busy yelling “sell out!,” people will be buying ringtones from iTunes by the droves. The way I see it, if you’re already paying $0.99 to buy a song from iTunes, why shouldn’t you be allowed to use that as a ringtone? Hm?
"What? No self-portrait mirror?"
Why yes there is, in fact. It's very subtle and oh-so Apple: the Apple logo on the backside of the device is shiny. One may even say mirror-like. I would.
Not the best photo (nor is it mine) to illustrate this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laughingsquid/353229632/
very interesting video especially the ringtones feature in iTunes. No wonder Steve was being coy about whether we could use songs as ringtones and no wonder the release of news from Apple recently has dried up. They must be working their socks off getting the iPhone through the FCC and Leopard and iTunes compatible with Vista
Could be a Ringtone"configuration" page, where you select the songs (and perhaps, the portion of the song) you want as ringtones....
One way to turn your iTunes into riingtones for any phone is to download software from Xingtone.com. Using that 'ware, you clip 20 seconds off your favorite tune. Then you upload it to Xingtone. They text message your phone with the custom ringtone attached.
No one is addressing the REAL biggest problem with this phone! You cannot add third party applications! I think anyone that pays $500 for a phone with a closed architecture is crazy. If your needs are that simplistic, just get a Razr....