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January 10, 2007 5:08 PM. In The Sydney Morning Herald-Blog Central-
Technology blogs-MashUp http://www.smh.com.au/blogcentral/index.html
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Bursting
the iPhone hype bubble
Now that everyone has had the chance to digest Apple's
iPhone announcement and its feature
list, the hype is dying down and the picture of exactly what the phone can
and can't do is
becoming clearer.
You've already read all of the gushing reports outlining the iPhone's
benefits - if not, a run-
down of the main features is in the above-linked news story - so here's a
list of iPhone features
that aren't so crash hot.
1. It doesn't support 3G phone networks, instead opting for a slower EDGE
(2.5G)
connection. This means online access won't be as fast as it could have
been.
2. It doesn't support Microsoft Word documents, so mobile professionals
will struggle to
collaborate with Microsoft-based smartphone users.
3. According to analyst Michael
Gartenberg, there won't be any third-party applications for
extending the phone's functionality, unlike with Windows Mobile-based
smartphones. All
programs for the iPhone will come out of Apple.
4. Battery life is untested. Apple claims 16 hours of audio playback and 5
hours of
talk/video/web browsing - this is relatively low in itself, and could be
even lower than Apple
claims.
5. The battery isn't user-replaceable, so like the iPod, if the battery
dies you'll need to send the
entire phone to Apple for repairs.
6. It won't sync wirelessly via WiFi or Bluetooth with a computer.
7. It's unclear at this stage whether or not the push-email feature (having
email messages
automatically forwarded to your phone like an SMS text) extends outside
Yahoo! mail.
8. No expandable memory, so you're stuck with the maximum 8GB capacity.
Don't get me wrong, the iPhone looks to be an extremely impressive device
and the
touchscreen allows for a highly versatile, application-dependent
user-interface. But it's
important to consider the imperfections in any product before committing to
a purchase.
Posted by Asher Moses
January 10, 2007 5:08 PM
Top 10 things to love about the Apple iPhone
From APC
mag 10th January 2007 Tim
Gaden Mac, Mobility, X-Factor
Excuse me, I'm
going to gush.
It was a landmark
Keynote.
It's a landmark
device; a really smart smart phone!
This Keynote did
more than remove the word "Computer" from Apple's company name. It
demonstrated that
the core values of Apple-- innovation, design and attention to the end-user
experience--which
have made the company's computers and music players into icons are now
set to do the
same for mobile phones.
I won't get my
hands on an iPhone until 2008, but already I'm in love. It is the smart smart
phone that people
have been waiting for, a fact underscored by the 200+ patents involved in
creating it.
I'm in love ten
ways:
1.Smart
Interaction. Finally no
more lost or fiddly stylus action! Apple's Multi-Touch
software makes
the stylus redundant. I rate this near the top of the features to love.
2. Smart design. Sure it looks nice. What Apple product doesn't?
But the real triumph is
Apple's
commitment to a design philosophy that it not just about looks. Thin (11.6 mm),
sparse and
elegant, designed so that the software and hardware work perfectly together.
3. Smart
heart. The iPhone runs
Mac OS X. It's hard to tell from the Keynote if it is a cut-
down version or
full-strength, but it promises the same intelligence, stability and elegance
that
I currently enjoy
on my MacBook Pro.
4. Smart
sensors. With three
built-in sensors, the iPhone knows more about what it is doing
than I do. A
proximity sensor, an accelerometer that automatically switches from landscape
to
portrait mode and
back and ambient light sensors make this more self-aware device on the
market
5. Smart
email. Rich HTML emails
and true Blackberry-like "push" email make my Nokia
E60 look like a
dinosaur. This looks like a phone that it will be fun to email on, rather than
a
phone that you
use to check your email is really, really have to.
6. Smart
browsing. I've enjoyed
using Opera mobile on my Nokia, but the full-strength
Safari included
in the new iPhone just blows it out of the water. It does really look like
"the
Internet in your
pocket" as Steve suggests.
7. Smart
headphones. Why are
music phones less successful than the iPod? One of the key
reasons has to be
that you have to use the manufacturer’s special headphones, which you
inevitably leave
at home/work/in the other backpack. Phone manufacturers love the special
headphones
because replacements are a source of high-profit incremental revenue. Users
usually hate
them. Apple’s solution is special headphones that take advantage of the phone
functionality but
still fit into a standard headphone slot. Typical Apple elegance.
8. Smart
voicemail. Steve says,
"Wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to listen to five
[voicemails] to
get to the sixth?" Oh, yes, it would. The new visual voicemail on the
iPhone
lets me choose
which messages to listen to. No more waiting until the phone lets me hear the
one I'm
interested in.
9. Smart
speaker. I'm not sure
what quality the built-in speaker in the iPhone will deliver,
but I bet my
freelancing income for the next six months that it is better than the speaker
included in any
other four mobile phones I've used before. Even if I leave my standard
headphones at
home, I'm not stuck anymore.
10. Smart
integration. In a
perverse way I've grown to love the nightmare of syncing my
phones and
hand-helds with my Mac through third-party conduits and software. Everyone
loves a
challenge. The iPhone will bring all that to an end with seamless integration
of
contacts and all
the info I need.
Smart... [Dear Editor, do I really have to stop at
ten?]
Top 10 things to hate about the Apple iPhone
From APC mag 10th January 2007 Dan Warne Gadgets, Mac, Mobility
I agree with him
completely, except for the fact that some of his points are on my list of
things to hate
about it.
Don't get me
wrong. I want an iPhone as badly as the next guy, but in the midst of the
gushing
hype-stream out
there, I'd like to provide a little balance and point out that the iPhone's far
from perfect.
Don't believe me?
Read the following top 10 flaws and then tell me if I'm wrong.
1. Slow
mobile data: EDGE is
2.5G, so the top speed you can get from it is about 100Kbit/s.
Also, the only
Australian phone network that supports it is Telstra - everyone else will only
be
able to use
slower-than-dialup GPRS. The iPhone would be way cooler with 1.8Mbit/s
HSDPA. (See our
analysis of why
Apple probably used EDGE in preference to 3G in our
previous iPhone
report).
2.
Battery life sucks:
Five hours of talk/browsing/email or 16 hours of audio playback? Look,
we're not saying
the iPhone isn't an amazing device, but you're going to want a charger on
your desk at
work, one in your car, one on your bedside table...
3.
Built-in battery: It
must be the only mobile phone on the market that doesn't have an
easily
user-replaceable battery. We know from the iPod that batteries age pretty
quickly, but
who wants to send
their phone back to Apple for servicing when it needs a new battery? I
don't want to
have to go back to my dowdy old Nokia while Apple swaps the battery. That's a
major flaw.
4. Touch
screen: Have you
ever stood at a touch-screen terminal in a shop punching away at
the screen,
trying to get it to register your touch? Despite what Apple disparagingly
called
"small
plastic keyboards" on other mobiles, they're way more likely to work
reliably than a
touch-screen. No
doubt Jobs has licensed the world's best touch-screen technology, but it's
still likely to
be the weakest point of the phone.
5. Heavy
data usage: There's
a reason why networks love ‘push email' phones like the
Blackberry: it's
because a tremendous amount of compression and optimisation can be done at
the carrier-side
before the data is sent over the air. An ultra-heavy user of a Blackberry might
only use 20MB in
a month - regular users will use just a few megs. On the other hand, the
iPhone uses
old-world ‘polling' email methods - POP3 or IMAP, where the phone will check
every X minutes
for new email and download full emails. The phone might have enough CPU
power to rescale
that 7MB JPEG, but it still has to download a 7MB JPEG. Either the service
fees that go with
the phone are going to be huge, or carriers are going to take a bath on data
pricing and risk
network congestion.
6. Only a
two megapixel camera: OK, camera phones are never going to beat a digital SLR,
but Sony Ericsson
has had a 3.2 Megapixel cameraphone out for months now. Unless S-E tied
up exclusive
supply on that part, it's tough to see why Apple wouldn't have gone for it.
7.
Proprietary tie-ins: Look, I'm not saying that the rest of the mobile industry isn't
rife with
proprietary
tie-ins. Every carrier installs their crap onto mobiles, they disable useful
manufacturer
features so that you're forced to use their less-useful and more expensive
services. But
shouldn't we hold Apple to a higher standard? The iPhone can do push
email
according to
Jobs, but only for people who have a Yahoo webmail account. Bad luck if you
prefer Gmail or
some other mail provider.
8. No
video iChat: Er,
hello? Apple has an incredible base of customers out there with
integrated
webcams - doubtlessly more than any other PC or software maker - so what a
missed
opportunity!
9. Apple
chooses your mobile network: Apple has announced that its exclusive sales partner
in the US will be
the mobile network Cingular. Presumably, that's because even though
iPhone is going
to be an obvious hit, there are many political battles Apple faces in breaking
into the telco
world: powerful alliances and rebate schemes between handset makers and
networks, the
networks' fears that Apple might at some point introduce iTunes purchasing
over-the-air,
stealing away one of their valuable revenue streams and more. The end result?
In
each country, the
phone will probably be locked to one carrier. (Interestingly, though, in
Australia,
carriers are legally obliged to unlock phones free of charge at the customer's
request - though
that doesn't cancel other contractual obligations such as ongoing plan fees.)
10. Only
8GB storage: Ok, ok,
sure, it's the biggest storage capacity of any phone on the
market, probably,
but 8GB is still pretty limited. Considering how good the video
playback
capabilities of
the iPhone are, it's unfortunate that you won't actually be able to fit that
much
video on the
device.
An
addendum: Do I want
one of these? You bet! Is it one of the most technologically
advanced phones
on the market? Absolutely. Do we live in a perfect world? Of course not. Do
I wish Apple had
reconsidered a few aspects of the iPhone to make it even better? Yep.
UPDATE: Jared at the DKS Weblog points out that the iPhone is also incapable of
any
syncing via WiFi
or Bluetooth, despite having support for both. What gives? Read his post.
Related articles:
Top 10 things to love about the iPhone
Australia
won't see iPhone 'till 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_smartphones
http://jonkenpon.com/2007/01/09/iphones-japanese-competitors
http://jeansnow.net/2007/01/17/docomo-takes-on-the-iphone
|
Apple unveils new iPhone |
|
depeche_girl |
Nothing new in
Japan....
My phone here in Japan can do a maximum of 4
megapixels...
Internet and
e-mailing on standard phones in Japan has been the norm.
Most phones in
Japan can double as a portable music player.
I don't think this
will overtake Japan's mobile phone industry.
|
2008?! |
|
kszo |
Japan got 1 year
to try to make some competition! hope they can do something nice as the
iPhone, Japans
phones works ok, but they are ugly, big and the interface sucks. Plus, they do
a
model with a great thing and next model it
doesn't has it, that's bad.
|
He, the point is the interface |
|
mareo |
Like the Ipod.
Everyone can offer more, but only a few can do it user friendly. How many
buttons
have a regular
ketai? Anyway is a expensive smart phone, few of us can pŕy for th
|
don't see it selling in Japan, doubtful
in US |
|
mikeylikesit |
This product has
been hyped for a long time, but I don't think consumers will embrace it. Yes,
people will
embrace products like this, where they can combine phone, music player,
internet,
camera, etc., but
Apple's model pushes a person to use iTunes, and the e-mail is through Yahoo,
and the
wireless/phone is through Cingular. Granted, Apple couldn't invent e-mail and
phone
services of their
own just for this gadget, but consumers will be very hesitant to buy into an
expensive product
that forces them to switch e-mail service, switch phone service, etc., just to
have an iPod-like
phone.
And since most
Japanese phones already have these capabilities, I hardly expect this to take
off
in Japan, especially
if it won't be out until 2008 in Asia. By then, the Japanese phones will be
able
to recharge on
solar power, heat one's Cup Noodle, project feature films onto a big screen,
offer
x-ray vision, and
allow the user to leap over tall buildings. No way people will go back to
something archaic
like an iPhone.
I'm sure some
MacHeads will flock to this iPhone, but it doesn't seem all that revolutionary—
marginally so in
the US, and not at all in Japan and parts of Europe. Unless its ease of use is
truly
exceptional, the
iPhone will be a tough sell.
|
Apple unveils new iPhone |
|
timekiller |
It's a quantum
leap!
|
iamrich.. |
|
samrinoma |
...from what I saw
on CNN today, it looks like the screen may be touch sensitive.
I'm not sure. These may be handy due to size,
but other than that, my G'z One does me fine for
all the services
Jobs stated his new iPhone will have and more! And considering that I got mine
on points, so zero
yen, I'm more than happy with the bulky 2.5cm thickness. The fact that I can
drop it and not
worry, and that it's waterproof, has a navi system, a compass, can store upto
1000
tunes on the
phones memory system, as well as on AU's music system via the net to save
memory on my
phone, and that I can install a 2GB memory card, means I won't be in any rush
any time soon to
buy the new iPhone!
|
i want one |
|
johnshiomi |
i guess i am just
an electronics geek but i just gotta get an iphone. i am a foreigner living in
japan
and am very
unsatisfied with my cellphone here. i really hate having to push a button a
number of
times to get to a
particular letter or symbol. on the iphone there are no buttons and each letter
of
the alphabet is
displayed. phones in japan can do nearly everything that the iphone can do but
the touch screen
on the iphone is revolutionary. i havent seen anything like that in japan
anyway.
besides, like the ipod, the iphone is art...
so beautiful to look at and hold. after watching Steve
Jobs presentation
of the iphone at MacWorld 2007 (check it out at
http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/j47d52oo/event/) i was impressed at how easy it was to scroll
down a page with a
swipe of a finger and zooming in and out of a picture but pinching the screen.
his use of google maps was really cool too.
for a quick summary of what the iphone can do
check it out here
...http://www.apple.com/iphone/ Yeah, so it's on the expensive side but so was the
ps3 and i have
that.