iPhone blog
Bert Latamore
--
Bert Latamore
Freelance Writer/Photographer
ComputerWorld Online Columnist
Donald E. Stidwell
On Jul 2, 2007, at 4:54 PM, Bert Latamore wrote:
> I have been reading one of the iPhone reviews on ComputerWorld
> Online and have been very amused by how the reviewer keeps saying
> how sexy the device is while describing functionality that I
> consider very basic. I have attached a draft of a blog for my PDA
> Guerrilla blog on ComputerWorld Online in response, in the hopes
> that some of you will read it and give me your thoughts.
>
Just a couple of comments. I agree for the most part with what you've
written - this, as you, from one who has not used the device.
I think some of the missing features will be addressed with software
updates including some of the missing features in the broswer. (I
mean, come on - who ever heard of modern day cell phone without voice
dialing? I'm still thunderstruck that Apple let this out in the wild
without such a basic feature). And are you sure you can't answer the
phone with a BT headset? I know you can with the included wired headset.
Again, I believe I've read that some of the corporate email issues
will be addressed through a software update. But don't forget - this
device isn't really being targeted to the corporate market. In fact,
Apple is almost 100% focused on the consumer and creative
professionals. (XServes being the exception).
There is some, kinda sort of, development allowed through Safari. Not
sure how far that can be taken though.
The inability to use a BT keyboard is almost insane - another case in
my mind of "what was Apple thinking"?
In its current form, I can not even conceive of buying one of these
things - it's too limited compared to what I'm used to. But honestly,
I suspect that you and I and most folks in this group aren't Apple's
target either. Me - I'll take the HTC Touch over an iPhone in its
current form. But there will be an iPhone 2.0 - and I'll bet it'll
evolve into a more droolworthy device as it grows.
Don
PhilippeR
weekend who was telling me all that the iPhone could do. He was amazed
when I told him that my Q could do just as much, and had some features
(such as adding software) missing from the Apple. Frankly I just don't
see what is groundbreaking about this device. It's a very nice piece
of design, but unless you need to carry an iPod around, it's a lot of
money just for a phone. I had to drive to a closing this morning
(total time in the car: 2+ hours) and I listened to a book for the
whole trip on my Q, As someone else on this site has said (I can't
remember who) this device will appeal to people who don't know what
existing smartphones can do.
> 16 The iPhone.doc
> 43KDownload
Bert Latamore
My understanding is that you can use a Bluetooth Dongle ,but not a Bluetooth stereo headset. My headset links to both its dongle (usually plugged into my iPod) and my cell phone, and when I get a call I can answer it using the same headset that I use to listen to music. This has a huge advantage -- I don't have to tear off my music headset when I get a call. I am not going to give that up, believe me.
I
Bert, that is indeed the case. I was talking to someone over the
weekend who was telling me all that the iPhone could do. He was amazed
when I told him that my Q could do just as much, and had some features
(such as adding software) missing from the Apple. Frankly I just don't
see what is groundbreaking about this device. It's a very nice piece
of design, but unless you need to carry an iPod around, it's a lot of
money just for a phone. I had to drive to a closing this morning
(total time in the car: 2+ hours) and I listened to a book for the
whole trip on my Q, As someone else on this site has said (I can't
remember who) this device will appeal to people who don't know what
existing smartphones can do.
Thanks for the comments, which are constructive as always.
Bert
On Jul 2, 4:54 pm, "Bert Latamore" < bert.latam...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have been reading one of the iPhone reviews on ComputerWorld Online and
> have been very amused by how the reviewer keeps saying how sexy the device
> is while describing functionality that I consider very basic. I have
> attached a draft of a blog for my PDA Guerrilla blog on ComputerWorld Online
> in response, in the hopes that some of you will read it and give me your
> thoughts.
>
> --
> Bert Latamore
> Freelance Writer/Photographer
> ComputerWorld Online Columnist
>
> 16 The iPhone.doc
> 43KDownload
Donald E. Stidwell
Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pro's and I doubt they'd equal those, but do
they sound better than the stock earbuds?
Don
Lee Hauser
who's never so much as touched the device.
I did read (I think on one or another of the Apple blogs) that Apple
may be in negotiations to license the ActiveSync Exchange technology
to allow Exchange integration on the iPhone. I don't know whether we
can take that seriously or not.
By the way, Don, I don't think any Blackberry device allows voice
dialing. As one reviewer of the 8700 (the model my employer provides
me) said, "What does RIM have against voice dialing?"
Jeff Kirvin
Donald E. Stidwell
On Jul 2, 2007, at 9:26 PM, Jeff Kirvin wrote:
>
> Just posted the first part of my thoughts on the iPhone: http://
> www.jeffkirvin.net/2007/07/02/the-iphone-is-a-bad-phone/
>
It's ironic that I own three Apple computers, an iPod and an Airport
Extreme 802.11n, which would probably make me qualify as a fanboy,
but I agree that I don't see the value in this phone as it currently
exists. Oh the technology is cool and I'd LOVE to see a standalone
iPod with the iPhone's iPod features. But as a whole, I think the
device lacks a BUNCH.
Imagine if Microsoft had put out something like this - the whole
world would be trouncing it. (Although for all its flaws, it is an
elegant piece of gear and Microsoft is hardly known for elegance -
Zune being a major case in point here). But it seems that Golden Boy
Jobs can do no wrong these days and quite frankly, I find that
disturbing. I gotta side with Jeff on this one - it just ain't all that.
Don't get me wrong - I love my Macs and my iPod and I'm really
looking forward to the release of Leopard. But I think the iPhone is
hardly worth all the hype it received and I wonder how many folks
will wind up regretting the purchase or fiercely defending it because
they don't want to admit they paid too much for something that does
too little.
It will be very interesting to see how the iPhone develops because I
think it has potential. But in its current state... get real.
Don
John Cunningham
> see what is groundbreaking about this device. It's a very nice piece
> of design, but unless you need to carry an iPod around, it's a lot of
> money just for a phone. I had to drive to a closing this morning
> (total time in the car: 2+ hours) and I listened to a book for the
> whole trip on my Q, As someone else on this site has said (I can't
> remember who) this device will appeal to people who don't know what
> existing smartphones can do.
It has no groundbreaking features, but it does have a groundbreaking
interface. It looks like it is head and shoulders above anything else
out there.
First, it is gorgeous. I'm not aware of any mobile interface that is
like it. Dave Winer said that using the iPhone gives him the same
feeling as driving a BMW. He also said:
"You don't want to give it to someone, you want to just hold it. I
know it sounds silly and dorky, geez it's just a phone, after all, but
it's not. It's a totem. A symbol. A charm. A fortune cookie. It's
personal. It's mine.
Yes I know I sound like Gollum. ;->"
( http://www.scripting.com/stories/2007/07/02/whyILoveTheIphone.html )
This is the kind of thing that makes a device popular, moreso than the
spec sheet.
Second, it seems very well thought out. It appears that nothing is
more than a few taps away from the home screen. I haven't heard
anyone grumbling about critical settings being buried under obscure
menus.
Third, the input innovations, such as flick, double tap (as in 2
fingers, not 2 taps), and pinch in/out, are great. Until the iPhone,
that kind of stuff could only be seen in prototype demos. The
combination of hardware and software controls to do things like lock
the screen and power off, are really quite clever, too.
Yes, it's feature set is pretty anemic compared with what we're used
to. And it's an Apple product, so they're going to do stupid stuff
like not allow any third party programs. Therefore, I probably won't
own one. However, I am looking forward to the copycats!
John
Bert Latamore
While certainly not audiophile quality, the Plantronics headset is better than the earbuds Apple provides. Actually the best earbuds I know of are the ones from Scott eVest, which give better sound blocking and reproduction than any of the others I have tried. The Plantronics are close to that, but with less physical sound blocking. However, they free me from the tether of the connection cord. My iPod sits in a pocket or even on the table or on its charger stand, and I can wander around our little house, even take the laundry downstairs, and maintain connection. Occasionally I will forget where I put the iPod itself.
The ability to switch to my cell phone at a button touch is very nice. When the cell rings the headset beeps. It has a glass tube microphone built in, so I can talk through it, and I don't have to rip my headset off when the phone rings. Unfortunately I do not have a bluetooth house phone, but I plan to fix that soon.
The only problem with the headset is that it has about an 8 hour battery life, and some days the battery dies on me. So I do sometimes use earbuds during the day. Also, whenever I am not listening to music or podcasts I plug the headset back in to charge. For instance today I will have about 90 minutes of meetings to dial into, and will use a wired headset for that and charge the Plantronics.
The Plantronics set is very well designed, with control buttons on the headset, a nice charging stand, and even a hard case for carrying them safely. All in all, they are a nice package that I can recommend. I have had mine for more than 6 months now and am very happy with them.
And I don't work for Plantronics.
Bert
Lee Hauser
earbuds and have been very pleased with them, especially considering
the price ($9.95US). They are far more comfortable than the Apple
earbuds (they fit very nicely in my ears and actually stay) and I
think they sound a better as well. I got mine at the local grocery
store, but they are available online and in many different colors (I
got black). I think they are the best $10 I ever spent on my iPod (and
that includes albums from the iTunes store).
Bert Latamore
So what could you do with a device with that kind of capabilitiy? Well for a start, how about a full version of Windows XP tablet edition (or of OSX, or of your favorite distro of Linux) with an upgraded interface a la the iPhone and any software you want? for instance, you might want to run your favorite office software suite plus Dragon Naturally Speaking. So now instead of writing that white paper your boss is pushing you to do, you dictate the draft on your commute in to work.
Now the main limit on the device is not memory, processor or storage, and certainly not connectivity, but the screen size and lack of a keyboard. So add a device like the Palm Foleo, essentially a laptop-sized keyboard and screen designed specifically to interface with your smart phone. Now when you are able to work at a desk or table you can get out this device (which by the way probably only weighs a couple of pounds). When you are not -- for instance when you are on an airplane, in your car, or sitting in your easy chair, you use the device as a hand-held but with all this connectivity and power and audio/visual capability, which makes it also an Internet device, able to use services and facilities on the Web.
I think the possibilities are very exciting. Now I don't want to get into arguments about iPhone vs Windows vs Linux. I think that there will be versions of all three in the market in a year or so, and if I am really lucky maybe even a Palm over Linux version that will run my favorite Palm apps. I believe this is a new class of computing device that will have an impact even greater than the PC. At least the people who do projections on consumer devices predict that within five years there will be 3X as many of these kinds of devices out there as there are desktop/laptop computers.
This promises to be exciting times, particularly for people like us who have been the pioneers in handheld computing.
Bert
Jeff Kirvin
http://www.jeffkirvin.net/2007/07/04/iphone-hands-on/
iPhone Hands-on
Okay, I’ve seen the iPhone in person now and my opinion still stands. It’s sleek, stylish and completely ill-suited to any of its intended uses. The phone we’ve covered, so I won’t belabor the point. But what about the rest?
The user interface
The UI on the iPhone is amazing, just gorgeous. The animation between screens is quick but just enough to serve as a useful visual transition from screen to screen. Zooming in and out in Pictures or Safari is quick and intuitive and scrolling using a thumb couldn’t be easier. The Palm-esque home button works reliably and every screen makes maximum use of every pixel on the likewise Palm-esque HVGA screen. This is what the Palm TX should have looked like.
I did find it odd that the auto-sensing rotation worked for some apps but not others. Even without the keyboard up, there’s no way to view the Notes application in landscape, for example.
In many ways, the iPhone reminds me of the HTC Touch in reverse. While both devices sport finger-friendly and artistically gorgeous home screens, on the Touch you find yourself digging for the stylus and familiar Windows Mobile complexity once you get past the veneer. On the iPhone, by contrast, once you get past the beauty and style of the UI, you pretty much have nothing.
Media
The iPhone is just another iPod in many ways, and the user interface makes it the most fun iPod to date. The big on-screen buttons, easily scrollable lists and gigantic album art make this more fun than browsing your old LP collection (what we old timers had before CDs, kids). Displaying pictures and playing music is a breeze.
As well it should be, on a $600 Nano. This is an iPod where you’re paying over $100 per gigabyte. Not even the original iPod was that expensive for what you got.
Web
Safari works as advertised. It’s easy to zoom into the page you want, the device rotates automatically to portrait or landscape depending on how you hold it, and opening and managing “tabs” is both easy and slick. Text is surprisingly readable even at small sizes. It’s great for reading web pages, and I found that dragging the screen around worked surprisingly well to find stuff. Even zoomed out, links were easy to tap on and I didn’t miss a one. If your web activity is primarily as a consumer, the iPhone is hard to beat as a web tablet.
However, text entry sucks. I have big fingers so I expected to have some difficulty with the keyboard. Using a Windows Mobile Professional device, however, I also have a lot of experience with touchscreens so I wasn’t too intimidated. It worked adequately for me, and I was able to smoothly work around most of the issues I had (by the way, the keyboard works much, much better in Safari if you tip it over landscape, though it does take up over half the screen that way).
But the telling factor wasn’t how well I adapted to the iPhone. I’m an old pro with mobile tech and I expected to master the device quickly. More interesting was the reaction of my friend Roland’s daughter Lori. She’s twelve and thin with long, lean fingers. Like most of her generation, she also takes to cell phones like they’re a body part. So I watched to see what she thought of it.
“This sucks!” she shouted in frustration. She’d been trying to log in to a web site and her user name contains an underscore. This is a fairly common character in a lot of user_names and email_addresses so she was frustrated that she couldn’t find it at all on the iPhone keyboard. I showed her that she had to type the alphabetic characters, then tap the numbers key on the keyboard, which takes you to ten digits and most of the more common punctuation, but not the underscore. Then she had to tap the number key again to get to the next (third) layer of the keyboard, where the underscore finally appeared on the same key as the dash before it and the letter A before that.
The iPhone’s vaunted simplicity is only skin deep, in other words. Once you try to actually do anything with it, like type a username with an underscore, you have to jump through non-intuitive hoops to get there. Assuming there is a there there at all. The camera only takes pictures in 2MP size, and only sends them by email and only sends them resized to VGA. No way to override any of that, and no way to set the camera for presets like sport, burst, MMS, etc.
Several people have pointed out that the iPhone is what Palm should have been working on instead of the Foleo, and I’m inclined to agree that a big-screened, high-resolution tablet phone would have been a better investment. But only because I know Palm would have succeeded where Apple has failed. The Zen of Palm would have dictated a TX-based cell phone be simpler and more intuitive than something like the HTC Touch, but Palm wouldn’t have simplified the device by crippling its use.
Man Ching Cheung
I got your post at the same time an iPhone commercial came on. I think
it was the first time I paid attention to the narrator. I paraphrase,
but he mentioned how this is an iPod like no other. I guess that answers
how we should view the iPhone. If you come at it from the iPod
perspective, then I guess one might be willing to have an iPod that does
extra (answer calls, design and Apple premium.)
Your friend's daughter sounds like a phone power user. Anyone who does
anything more than answer calls or listens to music on a portable device
will likely be disappointed by the iPhone. Although it is a stereotype,
I think anyone under 25 is a power user of consumer electronics. It will
be hard to see how this demographic will be satisfied once, as you put
it, it gets beneath the good looks. Which suggests that Apple is aiming
for the broad middle that still is wary of a device that does too many
things.
Yup, more peanut gallery pop psychology.
I think I don't have a reaction at all to the iPhone; it didn't strike
me as succeeding wildly nor do I see it failing. I know when it first
was announced, I was excited because the lack of precise specs made the
iPhone seem like the Palm Tx on crack. Imagine my surprise when Apple
announced that no SDK will be forthcoming and no 3rd party developers
will be fostered. That killed the joy. The lack of an SDK is what makes
the iPhone a skin deep beauty.
All the problems you mentioned can probably be patched over by 3rd party
developers. Think about people like Dmitry Grinberg, Alex Pruss, Paul
Nevai, and Tyler Faux who have gone beyond writing programs to patch
things at the "kernel level". With that said, I still don't see the
iPhone falling on its face. It will be the cool thing to have; the price
point will move, however slightly. For the mass consumer who entertains
notions that he's a tech geek, this is a pleasant enough way of dipping
into the waters.
mcc
Jeff Kirvin wrote:
>
> http://www.jeffkirvin.net/2007/07/04/iphone-hands-on/
>
> iPhone Hands-on
>
> Okay, I’ve seen the iPhone in person now and my opinion still stands.
> It’s sleek, stylish and completely ill-suited to any of its intended
> uses. The phone we’ve covered, so I won’t belabor the point. But what
> about the rest?
>
> *The user interface*
>
> The UI on the iPhone is amazing, just gorgeous. The animation between
> screens is quick but just enough to serve as a useful visual
> transition from screen to screen. Zooming in and out in Pictures or
> Safari is quick and intuitive and scrolling using a thumb couldn’t be
> easier. The Palm-esque home button works reliably and every screen
> makes maximum use of every pixel on the likewise Palm-esque HVGA
> screen. This is what the Palm TX should have looked like.
>
> I did find it odd that the auto-sensing rotation worked for some apps
> but not others. Even without the keyboard up, there’s no way to view
> the Notes application in landscape, for example.
>
> In many ways, the iPhone reminds me of the HTC Touch in reverse. While
> both devices sport finger-friendly and artistically gorgeous home
> screens, on the Touch you find yourself digging for the stylus and
> familiar Windows Mobile complexity once you get past the veneer. On
> the iPhone, by contrast, once you get past the beauty and style of the
> UI, you pretty much have nothing.
>
> *Media*
>
> The iPhone is just another iPod in many ways, and the user interface
> makes it the most fun iPod to date. The big on-screen buttons, easily
> scrollable lists and gigantic album art make this more fun than
> browsing your old LP collection (what we old timers had before CDs,
> kids). Displaying pictures and playing music is a breeze.
>
> As well it should be, on a $600 Nano. This is an iPod where you’re
> paying over $100 per gigabyte. Not even the original iPod was that
> expensive for what you got.
>
> *Web*
> Once you try to actually /do/ anything with it, like type a username
> with an underscore, you have to jump through non-intuitive hoops to
> get there. Assuming there is a there there at all. The camera only
> takes pictures in 2MP size, and only sends them by email and only
> sends them resized to VGA. No way to override any of that, and no way
> to set the camera for presets like sport, burst, MMS, etc.
>
> Several people have pointed out that the iPhone is what Palm should
> have been working on instead of the Foleo, and I’m inclined to agree
> that a big-screened, high-resolution tablet phone would have been a
> better investment. But only because I know Palm would have succeeded
> where Apple has failed. The Zen of Palm would have dictated a TX-based
> cell phone be simpler and more intuitive than something like the HTC
> Touch, but Palm wouldn’t have simplified the device by crippling its use.
>
--
Man Ching Cheung, Ph.D.
Wachowiak Lab
http://people.bu.edu/dmattw/
Boston University
5 Cummington St.
Boston, MA 02215
lab: 617 358 0694
cel: 857 928 2648
Bert Latamore
Very interesting comments. Jeff, I think you hit it exactly -- Apple was not trying to create a smart phone. They see the iPhone as an iPod with a phone. And given that this is a phone that does not even allow voice dialing, that does not work with Bluetooth stereo headsets, and does not have some other basic cell phone capabilities, I don't think they even did that really well.
certainly since my old 20 GB iPod finally bit the big one two weeks ago (after 2 years and 2 months of heavy use -- believe me I am not complaining here) and I immediately replaced it with a 75 GB video iPod, I lost most of my personal interest in the iPhone.
I just hope that the smartphone makers are paying attention and that they will take the best if iPhone design -- the huge jump in physical capability, the beautiful user interface, and the very nice management of things like WiFi connectivity, and the big, bright, high density display screen -- and add those to what they already offer in smartphones. Now THAT would, I think, be what most if not all of us here would want. I really like the idea of a redesigned TX based on the iPhone capabilities (can the Palm OS address 8 GB of memory? Probably not).
but even with that, I personally would not give up my new video iPod. It is beautiful!
Bert
Lee Hauser
high-end iPhone RAM or Flash? If it's RAM, where do music files get
stored? If it's flash memory, how much RAM is there?
Arun Kartha
- The TX screen is washed out in the sunshine - but according to one review I read, the iphone isn't very great in that area.
- It has 16 bit colour density; I don't know what it is on the iphone.
- The TX screen is scratchable...the iphone's seems to be bullet proof - according to reviews.
- The Palm OS can handle 8GB of flash - atleast the Treo 680 can handle SDHC cards, which go upto 8GB in size. So, that shouldn't be an issue.
- My understanding is that you still cant delete or manage content (photos, mp3s and movies) directly on the iphone. It has to be done on the PC, and then synced back. With an unconnected device like the ipod, that wasn't an issue, but with a wifi device like the iphone ?
- Isn't it kinda dishonest of Apple to call the operating system OSX, when it's obviously not ?
- And finally - unless the power users can count on a 3rd party community of software developers, they wont go for it ... apart from for the oomph factor. Unfortunately, the Palm community isn't thriving anymore. Apple still has a chance to create a community like the hey day of Palm...will they do it ?
I wont attempt to analyse the typing issues or the UI /usability features because I havent seen, let alone touched the iphone. But for a phone, especially in Europe and Asia where texting is the name of the game, how do you get away with a software keyboard? Predictive text sucks - in my opinion. And "intelligent keyboard" just seems to be another way of saying "predictive text".
There...I've finally spouted off on the iphone. Now, officially, everyone in this world has had their say :-D
Arun.