WEBVTT - How the iPhone Works

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With

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<v Speaker 1>tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hi there,

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<v Speaker 1>welcome to the podcast. My name is Chris Poulett. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>an editor here at how Stuff Works. And with me

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<v Speaker 1>today is Jonathan Strickland. I'm a writer that he thank you. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I was gonna mention that, I'm sure you were along

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<v Speaker 1>with along with mentioning that I should mention that there's

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<v Speaker 1>been a new product from Apple or you know, brand

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<v Speaker 1>new generation of the product maybe right. Oh, that's right.

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<v Speaker 1>It's the thing that's been in the news that you

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<v Speaker 1>can't avoid no matter what. Oh yeah, that yeah, well, yes,

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<v Speaker 1>it's the three G I phone. It's the it's the

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<v Speaker 1>second generation of iPhone. It's called three G. What's up

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<v Speaker 1>with that? Well, the three G isn't about generation. It's

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<v Speaker 1>about the three G phone network. It's the third generation

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<v Speaker 1>phone network, which is much faster than the edge network

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<v Speaker 1>that most phones are using in the United States. UM

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<v Speaker 1>and the iPhone one point out if you will, right,

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<v Speaker 1>that was that that ran on a second generation UH

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<v Speaker 1>network as well, so the new one can run on

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<v Speaker 1>three G. Which sounds great, except that, UM, there's one

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<v Speaker 1>kind of small drawback for the for people in the US, UH,

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<v Speaker 1>the three G network isn't very big. It actually only

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<v Speaker 1>covers some pretty major metropolitan areas and anyone else you're

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<v Speaker 1>still stuck using the older networks because they're just there's

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<v Speaker 1>no infrastructure there. Right. But the phone also has other things.

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<v Speaker 1>It's got GPS, which the old iPhone did not have,

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<v Speaker 1>So now you've got a GPS system. UM. It can't

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<v Speaker 1>run in the background because it drains battery life, so

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<v Speaker 1>it only runs in short burst. But you still got it.

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<v Speaker 1>So no turn by turn instructions or anything, but you

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<v Speaker 1>you at least know where you are now. That's true.

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<v Speaker 1>That's true. That's very useful. UM. The iPhone. Also, the

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<v Speaker 1>new iPhone also has UH the advantage of having iPhone

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<v Speaker 1>two point oh software installed right at the store at

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<v Speaker 1>the point of sale, which they used to update the

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<v Speaker 1>original iPhone users. They send it out to them over

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<v Speaker 1>the network. UM, so they have been gradually updating to that,

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<v Speaker 1>and that gives them a new UH slate of software

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<v Speaker 1>applications designed by third party developers, so that that gives

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<v Speaker 1>them a whole lot of options that they didn't have

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<v Speaker 1>in the original iPhone, and it's a huge deal because

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<v Speaker 1>Apple tends to be very much in house, so to

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<v Speaker 1>open up this sort of thing to other developers is

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<v Speaker 1>pretty big. Although we also have to mention these applications

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<v Speaker 1>can't run in the background on the iPhone that's still

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<v Speaker 1>locked away. So let's say you have an instant messaging

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<v Speaker 1>program application on your new iPhone. If you were to

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<v Speaker 1>go and use something else, you wouldn't continue to get

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<v Speaker 1>updates from your instant messenger until you went back to

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<v Speaker 1>that program directly brought it back to the front of

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<v Speaker 1>your of the operating system essentially, and then it would update.

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<v Speaker 1>So there's some you know, little drawbacks there, but that's

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<v Speaker 1>not the big big story about the whole update issue,

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<v Speaker 1>is it. No? No, I'm sure I'm sure that that

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<v Speaker 1>You also mean the mobile me because you know you've

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<v Speaker 1>got pushed the email, now, you've got the ability to

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<v Speaker 1>back up with the calendar. I mean, you know you've

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<v Speaker 1>got that in the new software and the faster network.

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<v Speaker 1>What could possibly go wrong? Right? Yeah? I mean, if

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<v Speaker 1>you're going to have all these updates happen at the

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<v Speaker 1>same time, there's that's got to be a smooth sale

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<v Speaker 1>all the way down, right, Well, and unless you're a

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<v Speaker 1>customer of the original iPhone waiting for your software download

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<v Speaker 1>or it uh you know, bricks your phone, or you know,

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<v Speaker 1>you're waiting in a very very very very long line

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<v Speaker 1>to get your three G I phone at the Apple store,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's taking a long time to upgrade or actually

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<v Speaker 1>activate your phone because you had to activate in the

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<v Speaker 1>store instead of the way they did it with the

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<v Speaker 1>first one, right, Apple kind of wanted to make sure

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<v Speaker 1>people weren't going to just purchase phones and sell them

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<v Speaker 1>on eBay or jail break their phones neatly. Uh didn't

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<v Speaker 1>work so well that there's been reports that the three

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<v Speaker 1>G I phone has already been jailbroken. But that meant

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<v Speaker 1>that if something went wrong, it went wrong for a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of people, and that's exactly what happened. UM services

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<v Speaker 1>were down for days. The mobile Meat service was down

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<v Speaker 1>for at least five days from what I read UM

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<v Speaker 1>you know activations. There were people still waiting in long

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<v Speaker 1>lines Monday morning after the Friday release the iPhone at

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<v Speaker 1>the Apple stores nationwide. So for those of you who

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<v Speaker 1>don't have an iPhone and didn't try to up upgrade

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<v Speaker 1>your your software. Just imagine having a cell phone and

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<v Speaker 1>being told there's this new update that will make your

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<v Speaker 1>cell phone much more powerful and and have a lot

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<v Speaker 1>more functionality. And then you start the update, and then

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<v Speaker 1>it it fails, and now you can't use your phone

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<v Speaker 1>at all because the old software has gone, the new

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<v Speaker 1>software is not there, and now you just have a

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<v Speaker 1>paper weight until they fix whatever the them is. That's

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<v Speaker 1>kind of what happened. A lot of people think Apple

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<v Speaker 1>should apologize, but I'm not sure certain that they will.

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<v Speaker 1>Know I have I'm firmly of the belief that Apple

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<v Speaker 1>fanboys will take whatever Apple dishes out. Well, that is,

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<v Speaker 1>that is very probable, since they have such a sexy

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<v Speaker 1>product on their hands. Yes, well, whoa hold on there.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, the funny thing about doing technology podcasts is

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<v Speaker 1>that things change very rapidly. And only a few hours

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<v Speaker 1>after we recorded this podcast, Apple issued an apology for

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<v Speaker 1>their mobile me service outage, proving us completely and utterly wrong. However,

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<v Speaker 1>the Apple fans did respond with thank you sir. May

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<v Speaker 1>I have another and now back to your regularly scheduled

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<v Speaker 1>podcast already in progress. If you'd like to learn more,

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<v Speaker 1>we have an article called how the iPhone works, and

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<v Speaker 1>that's available today at how stuff works dot com. Thanks

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<v Speaker 1>for listening. For more on this and thousands of other topics,

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<v Speaker 1>ho stof works dot com. Well us know what you think.

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<v Speaker 1>Send an email to podcast at how stuff works dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

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