iPhone PHOTO…Adios Zune, Palm, Blackberry…

Posted on 01.09.07 in Tech Stuff and there are 8 comments.

I confess, I like my Mac and I’m probably a bit biased towards Apple, but regardless of that the news about the new iPhone is pretty astounding by anyone’s standards.

Here’s a photo from Engadget:

Details:
• Single front button.
• 3.5 inch widescreen display featuring the highest pixel density ever shipped in a portable device.
• 2 megapixel camera.
• iPod dock.
• Proximity sensor which switches between modes and screen orientation based on how a user holds it.
• 11.6 mm thick.
• Syncs with iTunes
• GSM/EDGE
• Wifi
• Bluetooth
• Cinglar only.
• Visual voicemail - shows a list of your voicemails like you see a list of emails.
• Error correcting on-screen keyboard.
• Gestural interface
• Mail.
• Safari.
• Google Maps.
• Widgets.
• Switches seamlessly between EDGE and WiFi.
• Free Yahoo! IMAP email to all iPhone customs.
• GPS
• 5 hour video battery life.
• 16 hour audio battery life.
The 4GB costs $499 and the 8GB $599 (includes a 2 year contract). It is shipping in June.
The 4GB costs $499 and the 8GB $599 (includes a 2 year contract). It is shipping in June. (HT: TUAW)

In my opinion, this is revolutionary for several reasons:
1. Design - not just the look of the phone, but the interface design. Cell phones and PDA’s have been plagued with poor interface design that makes using the devices almost more of a hassle than they’re worth. Apple is reknowned for it’s design and I have no doubt that the iPhone will be the most user friendly and detailed pda/phone interface we’ve seen.

2. All-in-one - I have a Palm Zire 72 and I really, really wanted to like it, because it had everything I needed, PDA, camera, programs, music, photos, games etc., but it just didn’t work like I wanted it to. It wasn’t intuitive. The iPhone will combine the best music/video player on the market with a phone that is no doubt a rival to any currently available. In addition it will be capable of running Mac OSX applications and take photos.

Concerns - There are a few possible concerns that I forsee:
1. Will the physical design and workmanship match the excellence of the interface design? Apple products are great, but not without workmanship issues that are often particularly apparent in First Generation products.

2. Price - It’s not a bad for what the product does, but it’s still quite high for the average consumer.

Conclusion:
I think the Microsoft Zune, though already drowning, just died in the water. Palm and Blackberry are up against it’s most serious competition as well. It will be interesting to see what these companies do to try to rival this announcement.

Competition is good. 

The Comments:

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Me no speak geek.

What is “Gestural interface?”

I won’t spend that kind of money on a phone (I use the free one that came with my plan) BUT worship leaders everywhere will. ; )

Sorry, Shaun, I don’t speak neanderthal...only italian.

I imagine Los will be sitting setting up a countdown calendar for the June release date. As much as he goes on about his “Crackberry” I think he’ll flip about the iPhone.

Gestural Interface - Somehow the device responds to your physical gestures or movements this may be in reference to that fact that it automatically converts to and from landscape mode as you rotate your hand or if it refers to something else...I’m not sure.

I think that it means it will understand sign language. 

Or it will have an array of obscene and pleasant gestures to offer.  Just turn your phone, say the command that cues the gesture and walla.

The gesture interface Stevey spoke of is that you can make a ‘intuitive’ gesture with your finger to move around the interface.  For example, you can ‘swipe’ a photo to go to the next one, or use two fingers to pinch or expand a photos’ size.  There are many programs which support mouse gestures- Maxthon’s web browser is one of them- though I use that browser I have never really used the gestures feature.

Kat, one thing that I think too many people are reading into this announcement- the phone runs on a Mac OSX base, but I don’t believe he ever indicated it would run OSX applications.  As a developer this is important information for me and I would never just assume this, especially knowing how closed Apple’s hardware systems typically are.  My hunch is that you can write widgets for it, but not full fledged apps.  Think about this- he’s at the Mac’s developer conference, don’t you think he’d say ‘we have a toolset available or coming in xxx that let’s you tweak your apps for the devices’ resolution’ if he didn’t.  The thing is that this phone will do well even if it’s a closed system- just like the ipod does even though it’s closed off tighter than any other mp3 player.  So why give himself the headache of having to deal with a development platform as well.

The biggest problem I see with this device- how many steps to dial a phone number in your contact list- you have to turn the device on, select the phone app, select the dial by contacts list, scroll through the giant list of contacts using your finger, tap the person you want to call, select the phone number of that contact and voila- you can dial that number Not quite as killer app experience as the Mr Ron Popeil of the consumer electronics world made it out to be.

One last thing- the screen is actually pretty low res- 320x480.  That’s great for a phone, but the web page demo he gave was actually showing full web pages like you’d actually be able to read them without zooming, when in reality, you won’t.  There are many cell phone browsers that offer this and they are never very fun.  I’d much rather the web renderer re-render the page to optimize for the device (ie, single column).  To be honest, I’m surprised at this price point and with all the hype of the hi resolution screen that we don’t have a 640x480 screen- after all many Pocket PC devices (one, the Dell Axim x51v (http://www.dell.com/axim) that looks strikingly like the iPhone has been shipping a model with a 640x480 screen for several years now for less money than the iPhone.

Anyway, I don’t want to seem like I don’t think this will sell like gangbusters- it will.  But I feel that ‘After the Music Fades’, we will find ourselves a little disappointed for having gotten this excited over a new product!

I just need my phone to make calls.  That’s it.

Making the sign of a cross with my fingers and hissing at Dave’s comment.  (probably because he is right and I am a huge mac-fan)

Good stuff to know.

although I like my sign language suggestion better.

Dave,
Actually, according to his keynote speech Jobs specified that the iPhone would not only run OSX, but it will run Desktop class applications. There was even a slide that said “Desktop Apps” He also clarified that they would not be “crippled smartphone apps” but full fledged apps.

Good points though. It’s always nice to have balanced opinions and input, especially from bonafide techies like you.

Funny thing is that I rarely use my cell phone. I loathe talking on the phone....but I do like gadgets, so when they come out with a 30gb stable bug tested version (i.e. rev c) I’ll probably fork over the money.

Trouble in paradise!  I hear that Apple Inc. is now being sued by Cisco Systems.  It would seem that Cisco has, for around five years, owned the trademark for the name iPhone.  Apple and Cisco have argued, but Apple seems to think they have a little momentum on their side so they went ahead and used iPhone to directly challenge the trademark.  We’ll see what the name ends up being.

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