iPhone Tilt Sensor ?

| Anyone know, or have any ideason on, how the iPhone tilt sensor works ? | (the gadget that knows when the case is vert. or horiz.)

If you lay it flat on the desk, how does it know which way you are looking at it?

Hi,

Real good point.

Maybe it doesn't ? Haven't played with one.

Bob

My guess is that it has a 2 or 3 axis accelerometer in it that can measure static acceleration (gravity).

Don't know about the tilt switch and don't intend to find out. The iPhone only handles 16 megabytes of JavaScript and the battery is soldered in so you have to send it back to Apple to get a new battery at cost ot $70. Apple can take their marketing scam and gadget and put it where the sun does not shine!

Well, considering the first IBM PC cost around $2k, I can see some folks would be interested in the I-phone as the "next small step."

If you buy one and don't like it you can likely sell it for about what you paid.

I don't know much about how long these new batteries last in service. Our cell phones have replacable batteries as does my wife's work laptop. But in practice these Li-Ion cells haven't given us any problem in 6 months usage. Soldering the cell in place might save a little space and space is at a premium in that gadget.

I didn't buy the first generation of the IBM PC but I did run through 2 Kaypro's with the CPM operating system. If you either have lots of money OR you can use new technology in your business (if only to take the edge off the trip home) then $500 plus a monthly fee isn't all that out of line.

You would have to have stripped an IBM PC to get it down to $2K. I bought a fairly stripped one (48K, monochrome monitor/card, color card, DOS) on the "first day order" and paid $2500 as an employee.

I don't see the iPhone as anything but the latest "Tickle me Elmo", for bigger kids. Blackberrys and other PDA/phones already perform all the "important" function of the iPhone, with no need to be tied to AT&T.

Likely more.

Your sample size is too small. We've had four cell phones, two have had to have new batteries within a year (one six months, the other replaced before the battery was completely dead). My XM My-FI radio has had a battery recall/replacement (fire hazard, evidently). Our laptops are doing well because the batteries are rarely used/cycled. My work laptops usually got about two to three years before I had severe battery degradation.

I wouldn't be happy with irreplaceable batteries in *any* of these devices. I'm glad I found someone to rebuild my cordless drill batteries (they're *EXPEN$IVE*), though they're NiCds.

What is so unique about a iPhone that a businessman would give a crap about? Blackberrys and Palms have been around since the year of the flood and aren't limited to one network provider.

Well, I haven't been "in business" for about 20 years (I quit when I was ahead) but there are a few contractors/developers who go to our church. Of course they have a lot more cars (and trucks) than by my standards they "need." The prices of marginal "do-dads" on a new vehicles are typically about $500. But I bet an "I-phone" gets you more in "bragging rights" at the Rotary Club than, say, "On-Star" or whatever.

So you agree that it has nothing to offer the businessman than it does a pimply-faced kid. Two years of $60+ a month, tied to a single provider (be they the best solution or not), seems excessive for some

Sport, that's ENUF.

I remember back in the 80s when the CEO of a small company we worked with got a DeLorian. It was THE topic of most meetings for weeks.

The "wow-factor" sells and it impresses folks.

For pimply-faced kids, sure.

A tad different. Were there a million DeLorians sold the first week?

Of course it sells, to pimply-faced kids.

|> Don't know about the tilt switch and don't intend to find out. The |> iPhone only handles 16 megabytes of JavaScript and the battery is |> soldered in so you have to send it back to Apple to get a new battery |> at cost ot $70. Apple can take their marketing scam and gadget and |> put it where the sun does not shine! | | Well, considering the first IBM PC cost around $2k, I can see some folks | would be interested in the I-phone as the "next small step." | | If you buy one and don't like it you can likely sell it for about what you | paid. | | I don't know much about how long these new batteries last in service. Our | cell phones have replacable batteries as does my wife's work laptop. But | in practice these Li-Ion cells haven't given us any problem in 6 months | usage. Soldering the cell in place might save a little space and space is | at a premium in that gadget. | | I didn't buy the first generation of the IBM PC but I did run through 2 | Kaypro's with the CPM operating system. If you either have lots of money | OR you can use new technology in your business (if only to take the edge off | the trip home) then $500 plus a monthly fee isn't all that out of line.

It's not the phone that bothers me. The soldered in battery is an annoyance but it would not stop me from buying one. What does stop me from buying one is a lack of a competitive field of communications providers.

It's bad enough when the service providers try to push a phone on you. But when the manufacturer pushes a provider on you, that's worse. At least I CAN buy unlocked phones from most manufacturers (at full price up front) and use them with any compatible service provider, even without plans in most cases. This arrangement between Apple and the worst service provider out there just stinks.

Most folks who buy any kind of cell phone are effectively locked into a particular service for a year. You don't really think "they" can make the phones for $20, do you?

Since the I-phone is truly unique, you have to take the good with the bad. With other services, you can usually get essentially the same features using the "free" (or very cheap) phones from different services.

Were I "in business" today, I would likely be seriously considering an I-phone for purchase, say, in September. I like to have others find the problems.

Perhaps, but the point was that the iPhone locks you into the WORST provider. There is a choice, the iPhone locks you out of a choice. It's also not $20.

Exactly. Now why do I want an iPhone again?

I wouldn't, particularly since AT&T doesn't even serve the state. If I needed such a phone for "business", it would likely be a Blackberry or maybe a Trio.