Apple toughens iPhone screen, boosts battery life

Apple has upped its claim for the iPhone's battery life, now saying the touchscreen smart phone will offer an eight-hour talk time. It's also decided to ship the machine with a glass front in a bid to beat the scratches spotted by so many early iPod Nano buyers. Apple iPhone Apple's iPhone: will it fall on its glass? Both …

[Anonymous Coward]

It won't scratch, but...

But will it break if it falls on it's glass?

The one thing that I love most about Motorola phones is durability. Motorola has years of experience building commercial radios for business, police, fire, and military uses - they know how to build something tough. Apple does not have the depth of experience.

I can see the first lawsuit for unlawful penetration due to an iPhone breaking in a hip pocket of some tight jeans on an amply built female...

[Webster Phreaky]

Taking Bets ....

Taking Bets ... on just how much of a LIE this extended battery life is.

Apple and Stevie Gods, err Jobs are NOTORIOUS LIARS. Look juts recently at the OFFICIAL spokesman rebuke that there is NO SUN FILE SYSTEM in 10.5! A day later, THAT LIE is contradicted. Stevie LIED to all the developers about an OPEN access to APPLICATION dev fo the iPhone, instead he bitch slapped them with lame Safari scripting.

And lets NOT FORGET 6 years of lying about batter playtime and longevity on ANY version or model of iPud. (I bought a iPud Mini some years ago - out of the box it played for less than 3 hours and the battery croaked in 14 months ... Just out of warranty!)

Here is the model everyone should live by with Apple Stevie Gods ... if he says it, it's a lie. If he promises it, don't hold your breath. If he quotes a delivery date, it'll be 3 to 6 months late. If he says it's economical, mortgage the house and sell your children, cause it's Mac over-priced. And, any announcement of fixing a rumored problem just before the product is on the shelf is BULLSHIT!

View THATon your MacBook Pro with ONLY 1/4 Million Colors when it was advertised as a Million.

[Anonymous Coward]

It will scratch

Its only been field tested for a couple of weeks and already the prototypes are scratched to the point of embarrassment. 'Optical quality glass' - so what, better than the crappy polycarb they usually use, but its going to scratched real quick since its destined for handbags, pockets, tabletops and the occasional fall.

Classic piece of Apple style over function flawed from the outset that's going to end up in a neoprene wallet rendering it both ugly and irksome.

Don't believe the battery life for a minute - Apple could turn over a mint just selling batteries with that level of performance to a real phone manufacturers - or NASA for that matter.

[Donald Massyn]

Divide by two

My experience with Apple product battery life is immediately divide by two for real world usage. I have an iPod nano with a claimed 14 hour battery life that has never in it life made it past 8.

[Pascal Monett]

One question

Is the glass bullet-proof ? That would be innovative !

And to the first poster : an amply-buttocked female will have the necessary circumference to allow the iPhone to be protected. It's the anorexic ones in skin-tight jeans that will break them just by walking.

[Robin]

re: Taking Bets ....

I think somebody needs a cup of tea and a sit down.

[Vernon Lloyd]

Well.....

Remember even though there have been plenty of lies.....

How many iPod's have been sold.........?

I suspect the iphone will do very well, even though I personally think it is a waste of money to be frank does not look very nice. I need a phone to:

Answer/Make calls

Send/Receive texts

I have my computer or the works computer to do the rest, and my 4mp digi camera is better than any phone for taking pictures. (Even though my N73 has a damn good try - contract phone b4 any thinks i being hypocritical)

Why would i want one which can play videos.......the more complicated the device the more prone it is to go wrong. Todays mobile phone are not as reliable as the old ones (my Nokia 5110 still works to this day)

[Stephen Gazard]

batteries, sigh.

Batteries are something people complain about on Ipods etc. where they rely on them. Apple's website explains what happens to batteries very well. It's the most non-technical and easy to read description about what happens to batteries; they all go to battery heaven at some point, especially if you use them heavily.

see http://www.apple.com/batteries/

the stated lifetime of any item will of course be on minimal volume etc to get good values), so if you listen at full volume, and play games on it at the same time, it's not hard to expect it to die in 14 months. Laptop batteries for the same reason are not given a warranty of more than a year, and most people understand that. I've had a laptop for 5 years, and had to replace the batteries once given careful use of the batteries (i.e. not plugged into the laptop while using the mains where possible). it's good use of something that make it last, not an abuse of something.

No, I'm not an apple fanboy. Yes I have an Ipod, and have use it quite loud when rollerblading since traffic noise makes it hard to hear anything. Note I only have it so I can just hear it (to keep a rhythm while blading); I'm not advocating blotting out background noise when walking/whatever with an MP3 player -- that's just stupid. Enough pedestrians here in blighty seem to want to be killed by a bus/car/whatever while using their MP3 player (can we get some stats on that?). Wherever possible, I use the minimum volume I need to not sap the battery, and at the moment it works just fine after almost a year of careful use.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sapphire Crystal

If they're using a sapphire crystal they should be fine, mind you that won't be cheap.

[Hywel Thomas]

Previous comments

So what are people suggesting instead of the glass ? Diamond ? How is it less scratch-proof then every other phone out there ?

Apple has no experience making things that go in people's pockets and don't break (much). Dude, they invented the friggin' iPod. Have you heard of it ?

And Webster. Do you have any funds you need transferring ?

[Alex]

Webster blah blah

Like much of Webster's serial trolling on this website, his comments are so wide of the mark it's funny.

Dude, the product isn't out yet. Quit imposing your Apple hate on others and run home to mummy for some clearly-needed TLC.

Weirdo.

[heystoopid]

Sadly

Sadly , how soon we forget how poorly Apple chose to treat the early devotee's of the first generation Ipod's when they failed to live up to the company's original claims and the initially excessive cost of the replacement Lithium Batteries worth little more than about $20 or so wholesale , until independent sources using similar if not identical batteries forced a massive price reduction !

But as with all first generation Apple gear the intrepid vision from the master of ceremonies , rarely if ever meets that which is supplied initially!

One possible but expensive solution does exist , and is routinely used in high end watches and all supermarket laser scanners and another cheaper but very tough anti scratch coating is used in certain brands of armored DVD+/-R's .

Like all first generation Apple equipment, it is basically "Buyer Beware"

[Todd Harrison]

Stephen!

"Yes I have an Ipod, and have use it quite loud when rollerblading since traffic noise makes it hard to hear anything."

AHA! So you're the guy I almost ran over last week when he crossed without looking and could not hear my horn. Be carefull, someone else might not mind another dent in their front fender.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sratching....

"Apple has no experience making things that go in people's pockets and don't break (much). Dude, they invented the friggin' iPod. Have you heard of it ?"

Yeah my daughters on her fourth now...better things to do with my own money. Difference is you can still use an ipod when its in its protective condom and its not so much of a problem that they need to go back every couple of months.

"If they're using a sapphire crystal they should be fine"

As long as it doesn't come into contact with keys, coins, cigarette lighters, the ground etc

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple source for new Battery

Apple's best friend in the world is the VC company Sequoia Capital, one of Steve Jobs best friends is is Michel Moritz, the so called Prince of Wales of this VC giant, and old Chaiman of Google. Michel is also chairman of A123Systems a company with the hottest Lithium Ions cells developed using a new Nanophosphate™ technology. Extensively developed by A123systems for automotive applicatiosn, the cells are also good for consumer applications.

User reports have been very good on the new cells.

The cell charge very fast too, 400% faster than conventional Lithiums and as fast as a HI-cap with a slight edurance hit.

http://www.sequoiacap.com/company/a123systems/