posted by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
purplecthulhu at 06:58pm on 11/01/2007
purplecthulhu at 06:58pm on 11/01/2007The dust is settling, the Reality Distortion Field is wavering, and its time to .
It was a great demo, but as others are noticing, there are problems. To my mind, and in no particular order, these are:
- closed software architecture
- lack of 3G
- lack of expansion slots (ie. closed hardware architecture)
- locked to Cingular in the US
- battery life (maybe)
- getting the phone to work as a phone (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
daveon has raised doubts on this)
- not getting to Europe for 10 months
The key thing introduced on Tuesday wasn't the phone but was the UI. Apple cracked the UI of the MP3 player and now dominate that market. I think what they've cracked this time is the UI for a more generic handheld device. So what are they going to do with this.
Well, first is the phone, and that's what we saw this week.
Second will, probably, be the real widescreen iPod. Take the formfactor we already have for the phone, throw away the phone and connectivity aspects, make it a bit thicker to allow a hard drive to be fitted and maybe a bigger battery, and you have the perfect movie iPod. You don't need to open up the software or hardware environment on this since we're all happy with our proprietary iPods already. The fact that the phone can show great movies but only has a maximum of 8G memory rather points in the direction of this particular item.
Next will be the PDA, which will effectively be the widescreen iPod, but with wifi and bluetooth put back in, and possibly with a more open hardware and software environment. And at last we'll have a PDA that works seamlessly with MacOS. Bluetooth is important here since it will need to be able to connect to your (non-Apple) mobile phone for net access.
Its possible they might combine these two into the same device effectively making a non-phone iPhone, and that might make some sense. Larger screen tablet versions are also feasible, as has been suggested elsewhere.
Whether there'll be a 3G phone version in time for the European release is an interesting question, but the obvious final Rolls Royce device, which might be a bit too bloaty, will be the hard-drive phone. Adding 3G to that and you have quite an interesting appliance...
Each of these options gets around some of the problems with the current set up. I think I'd be quite partial to the hard-drive widescreen iPod and the PDA myself, especially if no 3G version materialises here.
It was a great demo, but as others are noticing, there are problems. To my mind, and in no particular order, these are:
- closed software architecture
- lack of 3G
- lack of expansion slots (ie. closed hardware architecture)
- locked to Cingular in the US
- battery life (maybe)
- getting the phone to work as a phone (
daveon has raised doubts on this)- not getting to Europe for 10 months
The key thing introduced on Tuesday wasn't the phone but was the UI. Apple cracked the UI of the MP3 player and now dominate that market. I think what they've cracked this time is the UI for a more generic handheld device. So what are they going to do with this.
Well, first is the phone, and that's what we saw this week.
Second will, probably, be the real widescreen iPod. Take the formfactor we already have for the phone, throw away the phone and connectivity aspects, make it a bit thicker to allow a hard drive to be fitted and maybe a bigger battery, and you have the perfect movie iPod. You don't need to open up the software or hardware environment on this since we're all happy with our proprietary iPods already. The fact that the phone can show great movies but only has a maximum of 8G memory rather points in the direction of this particular item.
Next will be the PDA, which will effectively be the widescreen iPod, but with wifi and bluetooth put back in, and possibly with a more open hardware and software environment. And at last we'll have a PDA that works seamlessly with MacOS. Bluetooth is important here since it will need to be able to connect to your (non-Apple) mobile phone for net access.
Its possible they might combine these two into the same device effectively making a non-phone iPhone, and that might make some sense. Larger screen tablet versions are also feasible, as has been suggested elsewhere.
Whether there'll be a 3G phone version in time for the European release is an interesting question, but the obvious final Rolls Royce device, which might be a bit too bloaty, will be the hard-drive phone. Adding 3G to that and you have quite an interesting appliance...
Each of these options gets around some of the problems with the current set up. I think I'd be quite partial to the hard-drive widescreen iPod and the PDA myself, especially if no 3G version materialises here.
geeky
(no subject)
I do not like using bluetooth (or wired, for that matter) headsets with mobile phones, so having a phone-as-PDA doesn't work for me - I can't keep putting the phone down to look up my calendar on it. A paper diary is just a Bad Idea for someone with many separate recurrent and independently-modifiable appointment events; I could do it if I wanted to carry around something at least A5 size, only ever wrote it in pencil (which gets smudged), and could be bothered spending a half hour every week writing in my schedule. I did experiment with printed-on-the-computer basic schedules but this, too, backfired. I don't always want to carry kitten for scheduling (although at the moment I am using Google Calendars after the death of the clunky PDA), either.
An mp3 player would also be nice as I tend to eat laptop battery listening to stuff on the train if I'm not careful (yay headphones, boo short-ish battery life).
I guess a hard drive PDA would be the thing that would best suit my needs.
(no subject)
(no subject)
If the interface works as well as is claimed, then it ought to work just the way I'd like handheld devices of its ilk to work -- I shall remain mildly skeptical until I've actually managed to have a play with one someday.
My curiosity lies with the claim that it 'runs OS X'. How much of OS X is in there, given that it's a mobile version for a nonstandard (ie not x86 from what I can see) architecture? Is it just the shiny quartz style UI elements or is there something vaguely useful underpinning the whole thing.
Lack of 3G doesn't worry me - I never liked 3G in the first place and it has somewhat failed to take off. It supports some vaguely-sensible-speed connectivity in the form of EDGE so I don't think any more is really required - plus, if you want fast internet, wander towards the nearest wifi hotspot :)
The inclusion of some kind of micro-SD or whatever slot seems irritating, what with slim-form-factor flash cards coming out in 32Gb models in the near future. 8Gb is a lot though, and for a phone-type device I'd suspect it would be adequate for now. You can always transfer things off it and onto it now and then to make room. I find my 2Gb nano has plenty of storage for me, and you're not going to want to watch too much video on a little palm-size screen.
I'm not sure on the hard drive phone front - flash RAM is only getting cheaper and smaller as time goes on. I suspect we'll just see the capacity creeping upwards in the style of the iPod nanos in the coming years and months.
Locking to a single network is rather irritating, though I suspect there was little choice in the current telecoms market.
Overall, for me, it looks like I've always wished pocket-portable toys like this would look. I hope it feels that way too.
(no subject)
Does anyone in the UK run EDGE? I'm not sure, but I don't think they do, so UK users might be restricted to GSM data rates - ie. crap. I don't want to have to download google maps in the rain at that speed, so I do think 3G is important.
8Gig doesn't hold many movies, and certainly doesn't hold my whole music store, which was the magic of the iPod, so I do think the memory size is and will be an issue. It may be that flash on 30Gig scales will come along soon, but then you need a card slot for at least the 1st generation iPhones. That will be when the 2 year lock in kicks US users. It may be that Apple wants to change the way people use iPods, having them more as peripherals to a machine that stores most of the music and video, but that's not the model they're working with at the moment, at least at the high end. And if I'm taveling I want the iPod holding all my music. I don't want that on my laptop. And that goes even more for films.
As for screen size, I think it will do fine. Its not far off the PSP and I see people watching movies on that all the time.
(no subject)
1. I suspect the lack of 3G is due to the fact that it's being launched in the US, where 3G is practically non-existant. Many of Nokia's newest 3G smartphones come in a US version with the 3G capabilities removed. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple did the same - perhaps this is why the European version won't be appearing until end 2007.
2. 8Gb will hold a fair few movies - remember you can compress the movie to a much smaller size when running on a tiny screen. I suspect you squash your average movie down to about 150-200Mb and get decent quality (5G iPod owners may be able to correct me on this one). So assuming 200Mb a movie that's up to 40 in one phone.
3. My biggest worries: Scratching/smudging the touchscreen (this is something you're going to be putting up against your face, remember!) and I find it hard to believe that entering text will be pleasant or efficient using the touchscreen.
4. The N95 will be out in the UK by the time I get back, and I wants it....
(no subject)
2. Maybe - but its still not going to hold my whole music library, and I'd want to ask a 5G owner how big the films on that are. Remember that 5G films can be shown on TV at normal NTSC/PAL resolutions, so its not as good a compression as you might think. Actually this is another thing the iPhone doesn't seem to do - play video to a TV - and this is somehting that I at least would like.
3. Agreed. Fingers are mucky and sweaty ears even more so, as demonstrated by my HTC universal every time I put it to my ear.
4. Maybe I should look at what the N95 can do...
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
I'll find them and post them again too. But not just now.
There's a bunch of reasons why GSM/EDGE is hard and WCDMA (3G) is mind stunningly insanely buggeringly hard. You can't just "take out" the 3G. It has to do with other factors.
Lots of people have underestimated this and I think Apple have too.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
Sorry I didn't get to chat much the other night - a case of too many people, too little time!
The iPhone. If they released it NOW without the phone functionality, I would think about getting it - but, it could be improved as you say, as a minimum with improved battery life and storage.
I currently have a T-Mobile Sidekick, which has PDA & Phone & Web & IM functionality - and I would like that in an Apple Format, with iPod functionality (Not really fussed about the camera!). The Sidekick syncs through a webportal, which in the US, using a 3rd Party app, you can have syncing with Outlook etc. (But not in the UK - boohiss)
What I want from Apple is that it syncs with my .Mac account for email (primarily), but with other mail accounts as well, and I want that it syncs with my Address Book, and iCal. This way - if I lose my iPhone (or it gets nicked), I don't lose all my data.
And I want iChat on it too - not neccessarily videochat.
And I want Bluetooth so it can sync via Bluetooth or via the Web.
And I want fast web browsing perhaps with the option that it can connect via WiFi networks when in range? (in conjunction with BTOpenzone perhaps?)
I did have a mini-Nirvana when I had a motorola v3, and it was syncing my address book, ical, and I had mail set up too, but the GPRS web browsing and screen size sucked. But on the plus side, the phone was so small, it wasn't an issue putting it and iPod in my handbag.
In reality - I want one calendar to have to update, and be able to access it from my phone/pda, from work via web, and even share it with friends (a la iCal publish).
I want one contacts list with everyone on it, and all their details - from home address, phone, email, website, and instant messenger id.
I wonder who the users were that they did their user requirements capture with /projectmanager
(no subject)
I'd prefer skype to iChat since its more platform independent, but the closed software platform probably won't allow that, which is something the telcos will like since they're terrified of VoIP.
The right solution to high speed mobile browsing anywhere is 3G now and WiMax in the future. WiFi is OK when you can get it, but coverage is too patchy and, often, too expensive. That's why the current lack of 3G is a big downer for me. There are some rumours that the EU version might have 3G by the time it comes out. We'll see.
Fully agreed on calendar and contacts list. I think I'm more or less managing this using .mac, iSync and, for my phone, Missing Sync, but there are occasions where things get missed out for reasons I've never worked out (this is cross syncing between 3 Macs and a mobile, so some confusion is understandable).
Good to meet you last Tuesday!