No Jim. You don't want an iPhone. Say it out loud. Again.

Nothing compares to your blackberry. Especially for the business user. Risks. Walls of fire. And stuff.

No, no. You want to keep that blackberry. Wait for Apple to send you one to demo for a review.

This way, folks like me will have more of a chance to get one come the 29th. ;-)

Hmmm, let me think about that Walt.

Okay, so I don't need an iPhone ... I don't need an iPhone.

Nope, doesn't work for me -- good luck getting one :-)

for me, seeing that i could open word docs is what sent me into orbit.

I have also used a BlackBerry for years, and a Visor, and a Palm.

About 5 years ago, a colleague urged me to learn the Dvorak keyboard layout and now I use it on every computer I come in contact with.

Because Windows, OS X, and Linux have the keyboard layout built-in, it's really easy to set up.

Since the mention that the iPhone will be running OS X, I can't help but hope that one of the settings we'll be able to change is the keyboard layout. I mean, what's the benefit of a software keyboard if you can't change the layout. In the US most use Qwerty, but in Belgium they use Azerty, and in Germany it's Quertz.

Might you be able to find anything out in the next 6 days? I don't know if I can wait that long.

Ivan, I wish I could find out in the next six days, but I don't think that will happen.

"...for me, seeing that i could open word docs is what sent me into orbit."
Posted by John | June 23, 2007 12:30 AM
------------------------------------------------

I completely agree, but I noticed they said that we could receive and open Word docs (and .pdfs), but they didn't say if we could make changes on them and then send them out. Now I may be just missing the obvious or knitpicking, but is that just assumed? Or could they be saying that we could recieve Word docs via email and read them, but can we add to or change them? Or are they in a sense like images that we can see, but can't add our own text to?

If I remember correctly, in the guided tour, we saw him open the doc, but he didn't add to it and send it off, did he?

Someone please shed some light if you can.
Thanks, 'kito

Markito, I noticed the same thing in the video. Based on what I saw, I don't think you'll be able to edit the .doc files. I hope I'm wrong though.

Jim,
Thanks for the very quick reponse. That is my fear too, that the Word docs will just be "Read-only". Not ideal, especially for the strictly business user. But definitely way better than not being able to receive or open them at all.

Now, being that Google has Google Docs and being that Apple is working very closely with Google on apps for the phone, and that the folks at Apple are no dummies, I can only think that they will have some sort of Word doc-type app for writing and sending docs.

Perhaps a work around would be to copy the text from the Word doc you receive, then open Google Docs (on iPhone's Safari or an actual Google Docs app to be announced later), then paste it into there, add to it or make changes and then send it off. Awkward, unelegant and a bit of a pain, but may be an option.
Then again, they may surprise us and make it possible for us to just type directly on Word docs, but Apple is made up of marketing geniouses and every word in that guided tour was planned out intricately, so I think they would have said/shown it if you could do it.

I guess we'll see on June 29th!
~ 'kito

I was hoping not to have to resort to workarounds, but it is a 1.0 product. It's going to be interesting to see how things like Google Docs work on the iPhone.

The other thing that remains unclear about support for Word and Excel documents is whether you can load them onto the iPhone's storage area and access them from there. I'd hate to have to do all my viewing in email only.

I'd really like to be able to have a folder containing key Word docs and Excel spreadsheets on my iPhone's drive for immediate access. Being able to edit them and resave would be the best!

M

So many good questions -- I'm going to be a busy guy next Friday :-)

Will you be able to type in landscape mode?
I would think it would provide a bigger keyboard layout.

Thanks

I agree! I have wondered for soooo long if they are going to let the keyboard work in landscape mode. It seems like the iPhone's biggest criticism out there is that the keyboard is a big issue.
Well, a big part of that criticism would be shut down if Apple showed that the keyboard could be twice as wide as any other smartphone's keyboard by rotating the phone and making it widescreen.

Now some people might say that then you don't have much room on the screen to see the app that you are typing on, but who cares, you would be able to see enough and if you didn't like it, you could just rotate it back to portrait size.

It just seems so obvious, that that have to allow it to do that, but they certainly didn't demonstrate that in the 20-minute video tour or any other time. Please Apple, it just makes SO much sense! Seems like a simple firmware update to me.

'kito

" you can type on the iPhone using two thumbs."

You *can* but it will take practice (and relatively skinny thumbs).

"That is my fear too, that the Word docs will just be "Read-only"."

Your fears are justified - they are Read Only.

"whether you can load them onto the iPhone's storage area and access them from there."

That's what you do - you don't read them in email.

Touch-typing? Like a madman? On _any_ kind of tiny keyboard?

I'll admit I have little experience in thumb-typing, but that's almost unfathomable to me.

A video would be great, Jim (maybe get Chris Breen involved and make a formal Macworld iPhone v. BlackBerry text input deathmatch video podcast?). I'd be very interested in knowing what counts as "fast" text entry in that class of devices.

I believe Leopard's Open View technology is being used to display the contents of Word and Excel documents. That's Read-Only.

Read only. Edit. I'm trying to think of the last time that I ever even had to edit any type of document from email and do something with it. Oh wait... during business use. Again, not the target audience. I haven't mixed business with personal time/use since April 2004 - and life has been great!

Consumer. Read attachments. Look at pictures. Forward bandwidth sucking useless chain-letters and dooms-day hoaxes.

Need editing capabilities? Get something else or wait. All signs point to you wanting it for business use, and as we all know by now: it isn't going to happen. At least not in the first run. I'm not saying it wouldn't be useful. Just not promised as of yet. If you can't agree to those "terms of use" then don't buy it.

Maybe Apple did that on purpose? To keep those type of folks from buying one right off the bat, making it more available for people like me who don't care one way or the other about it. So that more people like me get it. More advertisement. More hype. So that when they do finally add that capability, there will be yet another wait-in-line-for-the-iPhone extravaganza. All the business class users will go through the same waiting period that we went through. ;-)

So all you wanting it to edit your Word documents, go on home. Forget about iPhone. Nuthin' to see here. If you must join at&t, they now offer the BlackBerry Curve. Exclusively I believe, too. It will be just like the iPhone experience, but more! You can also edit Word documents on it too. Or so I'm told.

Does the iPhone vibrate? If so, is it a weak hum like those horrible RAZRs, or a true shake that'll get my attention?

remember graffiti on the palm? apple should release a similar "game" which is keyboard based. it'll serve as a tutor to help increase speed and accuracy. plus, people posting scores will add to hype.

a second program i'd like to see is a WPM counter.

I think the document viewing function, without having seen any of the evidence you folks are commenting on, would be a version of the Quick Look thing they are putting in Leopard.