[108]

so yeah, i have just been told that i have precisely six days to decide to cancel my cellular phone contract before it rolls over to a new three-year contract.

(they do NOT fuck AROUND in japan with phone contracts.)

if i cancel my phone this week, my cancellation fee will be $0.

if i cancel my phone next week, my cancellation fee with be $700.

so, yeah. i don't see any exceedingly compelling phones on my current carrier.

so why not switch carriers, and get an iPhone?

good idea!!

yesterday i was messing around with the iPhone at an electronics store and i was able to search, locate, and play my latest YouTube masterpiece ROCK AND ROLL HEART ATTACK with brain-blasting speed. lots of japanese people complain about the iPhone these days -- without owning one -- because it doesn't have a 1seg TV tuner.


like, who the fuck would pick the three japanese networks over free youtube? for god's sake, people.

anyway, my only real question about iPhone, and this may or may not seem immediately kinda ridiculous:

does it have a voice recorder function?

i've noticed that with the newest revision, the iPod Classics and Nanos all have a voice-recorder function. did they update the iPhone firmware to include this function as well?

i mean, the headphone jack already has microphone support, right? i mean, it'd . . . have to.

if i had to ask one more question, it'd be whether or not the japanese iPhone lets me download things from the US iTunes Store.

getting down to the wire here!
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[kerobaros]

Voice-recording: built-in? ..no. But there are applications you can install that will add it, some (i'm sure) for free. Yeah, that's a copout, I know.

But yes, quick research: there's a program called VoiceNotes that's free, and can interface with an (also free) program from the developers that runs on Windows or Mac that can copy off your recordings.

There's also Jott, also free (for the software itself), but slightly more complicated; saves your recordings on their server, and lets you do things like update Twitter and similar things by leaving voice notes. Not a bad idea, but other than the program, not free.

There's also Recorder ($0.99), and Voice Record ($1.99).. you get the idea. Yes, it exists.

tim, come to the iPhone side; it's beautiful over here. (although you'd probably get the white one, wouldn't you, you damn dirty hipster)

[ikuzobaba]

Looks like kerobaros already answered your first inquiry, however regarding the US/Japan iTunes store, it simply ties it to whatever account you currently have set up when you sync it with your computer. If you log in with your other account, it will reflect that change the next time it shakes hands with iTunes.

I am equally perplexed at the hate that the iPhone gets in Japan. Most seem to cite the poor signal, however since the recent firmware update I have gotten a consistently stronger signal than any of my au/docomo/other softbank model-wielding friends.

so yeah.
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[108]

[kerobaros]

[Mr.Stevenson]

Wait. So the iPhone isn't heavily lauded in Japan? I thought people in Japan usually bought the fuck out of any and all apple products just because.

Like, weren't there a number of phones, technologically speaking, superior to the iPhone in Japan, even before the iPhone was released in Japan?

With that said, I'd probably get an iPhone now as well--they're hella cheap now in the US, and providing that they're hella cheap Japan, then why not?

[108]

well, one of the things that "scares" people about the iPhone is the "high" monthly rate. the basic rate is like 7,000 yen.

that's 7,000 yen for absolutely fucking free internet, free calls to other customers of the same carrier, etc.

people were so "put off" by this that softbank, the carrier, began to offer a "budget" plan -- for 2,700 yen.

this plan does NOT include the free data transmission or free calls to other softbank customers.

in other words, in japan, where the cheapest rates available for data transmission (SMS or otherwise) tend to be 7 yen (~8 cents) per 128 bytes, they're selling pretty shiny apple phones to girls who have had surgery to cut their eyes open and collagen implants to keep the eyes open, so that they can have that phone, see the "youtube" button on the desktop, watch one beyonce video, and shriek at their 12,000 yen phone bill.

then they tell all their friends about how apple stiffed the fuck out of them and how they're never going to buy another iPhone again.
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[gooktime]

posting to say iPhone is great
and the default email signature is so obnoxious a man can't help but love it:

[Kappuru]

There is a free program called Jott that I use for iphone all the damn time. It records your voice, turns it INTO TEXT (fairly accurate!) and syncs it to a server. Brilliant.
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[Kappuru]

[Felix]

I will need a phone when I am in Japan in April, as my current one will a)most likely not work, b) the contract would be expiring soon after anyway, and c) was purchased as a stopgap. This information is relevant to me!

However, I still have an allergy to closed platforms.

[gooktime]

It's not necessarily closed, if you know what I mean, which is a good job because Apple are pretty horrible about what gets on the App store.

[Felix]

Further question: are there any useful apps that aren't, y'know, NES emulators?

[gooktime]

Define useful! Anything specific you're after?

The app store has a lot of.... useless stuff. NES emulators, flashlight nonsense. There are a lot of social networking apps, twitter, facebook et cetera, if that's your thing.

The unofficial third party apps are likely more interesting, as they aren't scrutinized by Apple before being released.

[falsedan]

[Internetics]

Wouldn't the iPhones in Japan be three years more advanced thatn the ones in america? What moonspeak-only cell phones-slash-web servers-slash-heart defibrilators-slash-PDAs-slash-HD cameras are available, and how could they not be as great as a "modern" iPhone?

I'm a spectator addressing a player. Answer me!
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"Is Father's Day nine months after Mother's Day, or is it the other way around?"

[Mr. Apol]

i haven't even used the app store on my iphone! its been hacked since 1.1.2 but i've got some dead pixels so i think i'm going DFU the phone and install the latest firmware, take it back and get a new one.

but yeah tim, get an iphone, they're fucking wonderful. i use mine more than my laptop! if you hack the thing (and you should) get this wonderful app called MXTube that lets you search ALL of youtube (not just the mobile and low quality vids) and save that shit to your phone so you can watch it at any time, internet connection or no.
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[Sushi K]

It's been rumored a 32gb ipone is near?
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[Internetics]

Is it pronouced "eye-fon" or "ii-fown"?

Apple is "ahp'puru". Very Klingon-like.
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"Is Father's Day nine months after Mother's Day, or is it the other way around?"

[gooktime]

thank you for mxtube apol you are a good man

[les meat]

iPhone:~ root# uptime
1:20am up 34 days 9:43, 1 user, load average: 0.47, 0.12, 0.03



lols get one

[Cossix]

[Toups]

what do you all of you iphone users use for IM?
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[Toups]

[Mr. Apol]

[Toups]

[Mr. Apol]

[Kappuru]

mr apol, the app store is pretty much exactly the same as installer.app but with a less cool interface (and a big tradeoff in apps, some are amazing, some make me wish installer worked on the new firmware)
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[stotelheim]

how are the jailbroken IM apps apol-tan do they run in the background and notify you on being IM'd
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go away extralife

[Mr. Apol]

[kerobaros]

I would like to point out (to Apol) that not everything that was released for jailbroken 1.1.x iPhones is available on 2.x iPhones. Not even close.

But, hey, psx4iphone got released today, which is exactly what you think it is. Someone send me a CD image of a PS1 game and I'll test it out.

[Mr. Apol]

[smartblue]

I don't know if you care, but emoji does not work on iPhones. This has seriously been one of the major reasons that Apple hasn't been able to get the iPhone off the ground over there.
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