Iphone 4

[x68000]

love or hate Apple, this really is one serious piece of tech.

iControlpad please!!!

 

[OrR]

also got a gyroscope - no one saw that coming.

Um... What's special about a fucking gyroscope? :huh: Seriously, get some perspective...
And the resolution update was bloody necessary. 480*320 was already outdated when the first iPhone came out in 2007. It's the thing that bugs me most about my Palm Pre as well.

I'm actually amazed they're offering it for 3GS prices, the AT&T subsidization must be immense. If you take the 3GS and move to an A4, some state of the art new display with crazy pixel density, and gyroscopes (those are a lot more expensive than accelerometers) then it seems like it'd add up to one big BOM price hike.

Seriously? Cost for most of the components has come down in the last year. Adding a combined accellerometer/gyroscope chip instead of the old accellerometer-only one is maybe going to cost a couple bucks per device. High res screens have also become very common lately and thus probably rather cheap. Also, what I've seen from the American phone contract system is rather insane and hides the real cost of a device very well.

The iPhone finally has hardware that is more or less up to standard, except for the missing keyboard (and gaming controls ) but the outdated and restrictive software make me not even consider getting one. It's a completely useless device to me.

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

I wonder if the battery life will be better than the 3GS?

 

[lulzfish]

I wonder if the battery life will be better than the 3GS?

40% better

how do I even know that
magic

See it's already changing everything, again. Now a radio wave sends me Apple updates through fucking space, so even I know everything about products I cannot stand to think about.

It used to be I had to be awake but the iPhone 4 can project smugness to unconscious people, so I will have dreams of Coolface Steve asking me if I have a problem with the new iPhone.

Edit: I actually did have a dream last night, but it was about somebody stealing from a minivan and then I had to babysit some kid but he started bleeding everywhere.

 

[x68000]

The iPhone 4 is so smug, it occassionally farts then enjoys the smell

 

[MDave]

Does this mean the iControlPad is going to need to be slightly redesigned to fit this new phone?

 

[borgqueenx]

Battery will be better, but not on all fronts.
we only got 1 hour more wifi browsing for example.
and same standby time.

But i know for sure that i want this device, and fast.

 

[quote]

Angular velocity. An accelerometer spinning about its center of gravity only detects a very small amount of acceleration due to centripetal force, that's difficult to measure on these low precision MEMS accelerometers.

Basically, the accelerometers are good at sensing you thrusting linearly while the gyroscope is good at sensing you rotate. The Wii upgraded its controller to the WiiMotionPlus as well, also adding gyroscopes.

I get the sensitivity part, but the compass can already sense you rotate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSVJisakrGs
I guess the best way to see the difference would be to use a proper demo app or something. I havn't used WiiMotionPlus yet, so I'll give that a go.

Does this mean the iControlPad is going to need to be slightly redesigned to fit this new phone?

No, the pad uses 'clips' to hold the device. Craig/whoever will just have to design some new clips for the iPhone. Craig, if you're reading this, can we have some iControlpad updates?

 

[craigix]

Does this mean the iControlPad is going to need to be slightly redesigned to fit this new phone?

Nope, it's designed to hold almost any phone.

 

[Exophase]

Seriously? Cost for most of the components has come down in the last year. Adding a combined accellerometer/gyroscope chip instead of the old accellerometer-only one is maybe going to cost a couple bucks per device. High res screens have also become very common lately and thus probably rather cheap. Also, what I've seen from the American phone contract system is rather insane and hides the real cost of a device very well.

What combined acceleration + gyroscope chip are you referring to? Even triaxial gyros are a recent development, only really being introduced last fall. Around that time an Invensense dual axis gyro cost over $20. Some others have released triaxial gyroscopes since (like ST), but only this year. Of course I don't know what special exclusive products and deals Apple gets.

What high res screens are you talking about? You mean 800x480? Because to 960x640 seems like a totally different size class, that's nearly 2x the number of pixels in the same area. It's not like a move from 320x240 to 800x480 but it's still pretty significant.

Yes, I don't doubt the subsidy costs being a huge percentage, that is what I was saying...

 

[Exophase]

I get the sensitivity part, but the compass can already sense you rotate.

A magnetometer determines your angle from magnetic north. That's it. Spin around that axis and see how well it senses it.

 

[borgqueenx]

I get the sensitivity part, but the compass can already sense you rotate.

A magnetometer determines your angle from magnetic north. That's it. Spin around that axis and see how well it senses it.

are you gonna get one exophase or are you neutral or apple disliker?

 

[OrR]

What combined acceleration + gyroscope chip are you referring to? Even triaxial gyros are a recent development, only really being introduced last fall. Around that time an Invensense dual axis gyro cost over $20. Some others have released triaxial gyroscopes since (like ST), but only this year. Of course I don't know what special exclusive products and deals Apple gets.

Really? :huh: Last time I looked at this stuff was when I got my NDSMotion a few years ago and I figured there had been some progress since then...

 

[lulzfish]

I get the sensitivity part, but the compass can already sense you rotate.

A magnetometer determines your angle from magnetic north. That's it. Spin around that axis and see how well it senses it.

Yes, if the accelerometer can sense gravity and the magnetometer can sense north, then you have something like a two-axis gyro... as long as you don't bring it near a magnet or start moving it around.

I wonder if there will be a system for using it as a USB or Bluetooth game controller for a computer that doesn't suck.

 

[OrR]

A compass doesn't work well for fast movements and is very easily disturbed. At least that's my experience from Android devices. Supplementing it with a gyro is thus a pretty useful idea.

 

[borgqueenx]

A compass doesn't work well for fast movements and is very easily disturbed. At least that's my experience from Android devices. Supplementing it with a gyro is thus a pretty useful idea.

yep also the case on the iphone. in a car the compass is not usable. but the accelerometer is worthless as well.

 

[lulzfish]

A compass doesn't work well for fast movements and is very easily disturbed. At least that's my experience from Android devices. Supplementing it with a gyro is thus a pretty useful idea.

I wonder how precise the gyro is... Can it maintain an accurate angular position over a long time, or does it only do velocity with good accuracy?

 

[OrR]

From my experience with the NDSMotion, the angular velocity it measures is not precise enough to keep track of an absolute angle for a long time, especially if there are sharp movements. However, in combination with the compass and some intelligent software, it might be good enough in most situations. Add the GPS and accelleometer and you probably have a very good idea about where you are and where you are facing most of the time.

 

[Nova]

I just found out I can upgrade to the new iPhone early for £220. Mazuma Mobile will give me £245 for my old one.

The downsides? I will have to add an extra 24 months to my contract, meaning it'll last a total of 3 years. Also, I will no longer get unlimited data, but 750MB, which still feels fairly reasonable to me.

Opinions?

 

[quote]

I just found out I can upgrade to the new iPhone early for £220. Mazuma Mobile will give me £245 for my old one.

The downsides? I will have to add an extra 24 months to my contract, meaning it'll last a total of 3 years. Also, I will no longer get unlimited data, but 750MB, which still feels fairly reasonable to me.

Opinions?

Is there any way of telling how many mb you use a month?
And yeah I'd say go for the upgrade. The new iPhone looks awesome. I want one.