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Ditching the iPhone? I’ll Bet WinMo Has What You Want

Aviv — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:15:42 +0000

As of late, we have three prominent names publicly ditching the iPhone. Om Malik, from GigaOm, Michael Arrington from TechCrunch, and one person who’s inspired me for ages, macintosh developer Steven Frank from Panic, inc. here in Portland, Oregon. While I have no qualms with their decisions to ditch the iPhone, I’m having a tough time understanding what the hell they’re talking about.

The iPhone is a big deal… Period. It radically changed the entire mobile industry. Since its launch in 2007, Apple has clobbered sales records and the iPhone revenue bomb continues to explode. This single piece of technology and the services around it, including the thriving developer community, close the gap even further between human nature and technology. The vision that good technology should be indistinguishable from magic has clearly shown through with the iPhone. In fact, it’s so intuitive, so easy to use, and so powerful, that when people consider leaving the device due to whatever reason(s), they second guess themselves so much, that they ultimately settle on announcing a personal ban against Apple and AT&T. And you know as they hit that “Publish” button, they regretted it.

Why not just jailbreak the device? Does the need for one app make you ignore the years of work that have gone into this thing? Without the iPhone, you wouldn’t even have a second, comparable device to switch over to! So perhaps you’re bored with it? Perhaps the arrangement of icons on the homescreen is driving you nuts? The dropped calls, poor reception, constant ludicrous prices… Perhaps you hate AT&T with a passion! I do too! And still, NONE of these reasons are good enough to even consider ditching the iPhone.

Some of you may swear this off as just another Apple freak gushing about his toy… So if that’s the way you take this, just stop reading. But for those that can actually sit down and relate with what Apple has done time and time again, and what they’ve publicly said (time and time again), you’ll see that these public denouncements of the iPhone, and these “I’ll pay $175 to leave AT&T” are just people with personal gripes, a large audience, and a little too much time on their hands.

When Apple released the iPhone they were all singing a different tune. They were willingly hopping on the Apple train, ditching Verizon, t-mobile and everything in between to snatch up iPhones. Even though everyone knew how incredibly shitty ~~Cingular’s~~ AT&T’s service was before the iPhone was even released. Through a little bit of common sense, anyone would know that the network would only degrade as millions of content heavy devices were sold to everyone you know. And now with the App Store, Apple has said time and time again that it’s their store and they’ll do what they want with it.

The problem with these public outcries, is that maybe the tiniest sliver of people who Apple actually gives a shit about reads these articles. You think the millions of people around the world buying iPhones know who Michael Arrington is? Or Om Malik? I don’t think so. Apple doesn’t care who does and doesn’t use an iPhone. All they care about is the masses seeing Alec Baldwin hold it up in 30Rock. You think Google Voice is such a big deal that you would leave the iPhone for it? I personally know people who use Google Voice, and it’s not a walk in the park. In a nutshell, if you love Linux and searching for the proper drivers for hours, then you’ll love Google Voice! And the explanation Michael Arrington has outlined for porting your phone number, is akin to calling up an outsourced ISP and setting up managed hosting… A fucking nightmare.

There have been no good reasons as of yet to ditch the iPhone… Perhaps if you were on a call with the president, talking about Iran’s nuclear initiatives and the call dropped, that would make sense. But none of these people’s calls are so important that they can’t communicate via SMS. They’re all on twitter, they’re used to it! One app? A few dropped calls? Poor reception? To leave the single greatest technological advancement in our time since the macintosh? What it is… Is sad.

Whether you love or hate Apple or AT&T, the iPhone is absolutely hands down the best mobile device in the world. Yes, it sucks that we have to deal with bullshit surrounding our service, reception and now the app store, but as long as ANY mobile carriers are involved, it will never change.

For fucks sake, if you have such monumental issues with the thing…. jailbreak it… It’s not that hard.

iPhone 3GS: Some Pit-falls Revolving Search, Photos and Videos

Aviv — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:43:28 +0000

I’ve had roughly 7 hands on hours with the iPhone 3GS. While the device performs entirely like a newer, faster, more powerful iPhone, a few pit-falls regarding searching and tagging leave me a tad confused.

Undoubtedly, the video recording feature is absolutely phenomenal. I’ve already been recording everything around me for the fun of it, and within a few hours, I managed to capture roughly 20 different videos. Alongside this, with the new auto-focus photography feature I found myself taking more pictures. Situations where images would’ve shown up blurry or dark in the past, now have been given a nice enhancement, which inevitably increases my confidence in the iPhone’s camera, which means more photos.

But after a few hours, my photo and video library is full, and finding a specific video or photo couldn’t be more of a time suck. I have to basically choose between a list of different thumbnails. Why do I still need to do things this way when Apple’s baked in Spotlight Search into the OS? Why can’t I flick my homescreen to the right and search for my videos based on a title or a few tags I’ve given them? At that rate, why can’t I title and tag my videos or photos? With 16 and 32GB flavors of the new iPhone, we’re talking mountains more memory than competing devices. Yes, we know it’s an iPod too, but we can actually search for music in that iPod much in the same way we should be able to search for photos and videos.

Search is an absolutely phenomenal thing to focus an OS around. If done right, everything, at anytime, from anywhere inside the OS, can be found by typing in the desired result. But it doesn’t work if things aren’t indexed, like the iPhone’s photos and videos.

As an iPhone owner, I’d like to be able to give my photos and videos a title, description and some tags. Obviously, this could be worked into the entire user experience in a very elegant way, and would be entirely optional for the end user. However, as the memory in my device increases, so will the amount of media on it, and so will the need for me to alter, edit, include and omit things from my search results.

In a nutshell, Apple, if you’re going to give us Search, don’t half-ass it, let us tag and label our media so that we can find it. And in the meantime, if Apple doesn’t respond, or care, maybe an iPhone developer wants to whip up a solution for organizing your photos and videos, then making them available in search. I’d buy the a copy for me and all my friends.

Israel Finally (Officially) Gets the iPhone

Aviv — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:03:57 +0000

From an article on popular Israeli website nana10, it has been announced that Israel will finally (officially) get the iPhone through national carrier support.

As of now, the announcements only state that Pelephone will be carrying the device and that they’ve been told to “get ready” for the launch. What’s perplexing is why Orange isn’t anywhere near these negotiations. They have a major presence in Israel and surrounding nations. Plus they already have deals with Apple to carry the iPhone, and it has been reported that they have upwards of 1 million iPhone users on their network.

Either way, this is good news for Israel, and for Apple. The tech scene over there is so involved in telecommunications and innovating for mobile environments, it’s a natural fit for the country to get official iPhone support. With the upcoming release of iPhone OS 3.0, Apple announced that Hebrew would officially be supported as a language, so that definitely gave a tiny clue as to what was coming.

Of course, unlocked iPhones are literally a dime a dozen over there. Certain pockets of software developers stay in business by selling unlocked iPhones with Hebrew pre-installed, so it makes sense for Apple to get rid of this foul play and allow even more people to innovate on the already burgeoning platform.

iPhone OS Running On A Multi-touch Monitor. Probably Fake, But Still Amazing! (Video)

Aviv — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:18:46 +0000

Apparently some folks over at DreamField.se either decided to get real creative with some After Effecting, or they’re literally doing Apple’s work for them.

This might totally be fake, and done with running a matte mask through After Effects, but it’s still incredibly impressive. I can think of a ton of useful real-world applications for something like this. via Crunchgear.

iPhone Concept: I Really Wish This Was Real

Aviv — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 00:30:38 +0000

Between some exciting Steve Jobs reports, iPhone 3.0 and Snow Leopard, things are heating up the weekend leading in to WWDC. Be sure to tune in to Gizmodo’s live coverage here: http://live.gizmodo.com/ on Monday, June 8th at 10am Pacific.

No, it’s not real (sadly). But I really wish it was.

Palm Pre Overhyped, and Why Roger McNamee Shouldn’t Speak In Public

Aviv — Thu, 28 May 2009 23:52:36 +0000

Currently burning through huge cash infusions from Venture Capital firm Elevation Partners, Palm has moved all their chips, their rolex and mortgage to the center of the table with the Pre.

In a matter of days Palm will be releasing the most overhyped device since the original iPhone. They’re calling it the Pre, which takes its name from the way it supposedly thinks and acts a few steps ahead of its owner. In essence, attempting to help consumers find solutions and information before they know what they need. I’ve got some strong opinions about the Pre, and for the sake of competition in the marketplace, I hope it’s not just hype. But sadly, the closer we get to launch, the more I’m realizing it’s just another plasticky iPhone competitor without a thriving developer community, no App Store and no proprietary competition to iTunes.

The video below is of ex-Apple executive, now Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein and Venture Capitalist (Elevation Partners) Roger McNamee hyping up the Pre even more at this week’s All Things Digital conference. You’d think with all the massive media outlets hyping up the Pre so much, Rubinstein and McNamee would try toning it down a bit. But they are definitely not trying to calm things down. Instead, they’re layering the hype with thick coats of redundant points about the mobile space, that Apple CEO Steve Jobs made us aware of two years ago.

Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein and Elevation Partners Co-founder Roger McNamee

With every piece of high technology, game-changing hardware or innovative software that’s announced to the masses, several coats of hype are applied before an official release date is even set. For most companies and products, this is what causes their inevitable demise. The inability to live up to the expectations set out by their own people, which in turn leaves consumers disappointed and downright angry.

We can all agree that in the last few years, the iPhone stands out as the only piece of mobile hardware to induce a puddle of drool from everyone who’s ever used one. Those who clamor against the iPhone, for whatever reasons, have already had their mobile fantasies fulfilled (Blackberry owners, email power-users), but for the vast majority of consumers, the iPhone came along and truly delivered the best and most intuitive user experience on the market. In fact, the software (iPhone OS) leaves the hardware lagging behind most of the time. With iPhone 3.0 Apple is hoping to change that, and all the rumors happen to be pointing in the right direction.

At the risk of sounding too negative, my honest opinion is that the Palm Pre will massively disappoint. The lack of dedicated Palm developed desktop software leaves the company open and vulnerable to being shut out by those they depend on to make the device sync with your media. Very early reports play as a constant reminder that a built-in QWERTY keyboard is not so enticing. Additionally, how does Palm expect potential iPhone switchers (which they are counting on) to adjust to the lack of dedicated killer apps that they have grown accustomed to using on a daily basis (twitter clients and Google iPhone offerings mainly). Not to mention the elephant in the room… Gaming.

Palm is facing a steep uphill battle. One that may very well turn out littered with lawsuits and legal troubles stemming not only from Apple, but other patent holders in the mobile industry. Yes, Palm has some very old patents in the books, and in court, some may hold up. But unless Apple’s legal team takes a drastic turn, Palm may not even be able to afford the legal fees associated with taking on a company that has $30 billion (debt free) in the bank.

Some Facts:

• For the 13 weeks ending 2009-02-28, Palm’s net profit was -95 million
• Palm is burning close to $1 million a day
• “Palm shares closed Thursday up 93 cents, or 8.8%, to $11.46 and are unchanged in recent late trading” (WSJ)
• The Pre syncs with iTunes, which leaves it completely vulnerable to being shut-out by Apple
• Apple is closely watching Palm and will aggressively defend its intellectual property through legal outlets
• Palm’s stock is currently surging on rumors that the device is headed to Verizon
• ” Instead of creating an entirely new trunk Palm is branching off of the established phone environments.” (John Biggs over at CrunchGear)

AT&T Working On “Everything Plan” Tethering Included

Aviv — Thu, 07 May 2009 02:21:51 +0000

I’ve recently heard that AT&T has plans to release an “everything plan” to combat Sprint’s efforts with the Palm Pre. They are hoping to have details hashed out before the Pre is released. But from pricing plans all the way down to data usage, I get the feeling that things are still pretty disorganized over there.

Here’s what I was able to get:

• AT&T is working on an “everything plan” to directly compete with Sprint’s offerings
• Tethering should be a predominant feature and be included in this
• Can’t release it before iPhone 3.0
• Can’t release it without new plans (as previously explained)
• Once this is released, tethering will be an optional add-on for most AT&T subscribers
• Data caps still a major concern

When we first started hearing about iPhone tethering, we were a little shocked by the lack of an unlimited plan. Especially for potential power users and extensive travelers. Seems like they are trying to address this, plug any holes and have an answer for all competition from any and every angle.

Note: AppleInsider’s latest reports about Carbon Fiber patent-thingies or whatever is complete bullshit. Apple applies for an incredibly vast amount of conceptual approaches towards rethinking existing technology. Most end up gathering dust… Stay classy AI.

The Palm Pre: Hope or Hype?

Aviv — Tue, 05 May 2009 01:02:32 +0000

Let’s cut around the hype and get to the point. I’m hounding the release of the Palm Pre the same way I hounded the iPhone from January 2007 until that historic day in June. Maybe not with the same passion and intensity, but I’m definitely checking in on a daily basis to see what’s going on in with the Palm Pre. When this product drops, it better be worth the hype.

Back in January, when Palm first revealed the Pre to the masses, I said that Apple should take notice of the device, especially since the entire project was being spearheaded by ex-Apple handyman Jon Rubinstein.

Let’s face it, this is Palm’s last chance. The company is pretty much dead in the water and if the Pre doesn’t live up to all the hype surrounding webOS, it will be a major disappointment. Not only for Palm’s wacky investors, but for consumers and the mobile industry in general. At the moment, Apple’s iPhone has absolutely no competition, and with the Pre, Palm is hoping that will change, and so am I.

When patent lawsuit rumors were getting heated between Apple and Palm, I wrote the following, “Instead of lawsuits, we’d like to see this settled with the separation of proprietary technology. But for that to happen, Palm needs to reveal how its multi-touch interface and operating system function. If that technology impedes on Apple’s patents, Palm might need a plan B.” This coupled with the rest of the obstacles standing squarely in Palm’s way don’t make for a very positive outlook.

If the mobile industry keeps chugging along without any real competition, Apple will be able to take its sweet time releasing software and hardware upgrades, not to mention giving the users core features like copy-and-paste, which is coming in iPhone OS 3.0… finally. But even if Palm has enough mojo to make Apple reconsider, or rethink their software/hardware releases, there’s one thing Palm simply won’t be able to compete with. A little neighborhood shop they call the App Store, which just demolished the 1 billion downloads milestone.

The Palm Pre has an incredibly steep hill to climb. And along the way things will only get worse for both Palm, and Sprint. Which is sad considering the extremely poor state both companies are currently in. Palm’s investors simply won’t be able to keep floating the company hundreds of millions of dollars. And when getting into complex mobile innovation, we’re talking about billions spent in research and development, emulating network environments and stress testing against millions of users. There’s just no way for them to compete against Apple, who at this point has around $30 billion debt free and growing.

Assuming people actually buy the Palm Pre, begin loving it, developers leave the iPhone platform and flock to Palm’s Mojo SDK framework, and Palm gets through the undeniable bugs, mobile carrier pitfalls, and gross outcry from consumers about whatever issues the masses choose, they still have to compete with Apple. Who, as CEO Steve Jobs put it, “is at least 5 years ahead of the curve.” However, when compared to Palm, Apple seems more like 10 or 15 years ahead of the curve. And putting Apple in an even better situation, the Palm Pre is the iPhone’s only real competition for the foreseeable future.

Apple Holding iPhone 3.0 Special Event on March 17

Dave — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:24:42 +0000

Apple has recently dished out invitations to a special event set to be held on Tuesday, March 17 in Cupertino to go over the iPhone 3.0 software and new Software Development Kit (SDK).

Next Tuesday’s event will come just over a year after the company released the original SDK at the iPhone 2.0 software event. Apple has mentioned that this will be an “advance preview of what were building,” so nothing is really expected to be ready to go. The invitation did not make mention of who would be leading the event, but with CEO Steve Jobs still on leave, it may be safe to assume Phil Schiller or iPhone software chief Scott Forstall will be taking the reigns.

Amazon Releases Kindle For iPhone Application

Dave — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:24:13 +0000

Following on the heels of the Kindle 2’s recent debut, Amazon has released a free Kindle application for the iPhone and iPod touch that will give users access to their vast e-book library.

Dubbed “Kindle For iPhone,” the application will allow consumers to purchase and read Kindle books through an interface that the company describes as simple and easy-to-use. Amazon notes that there are “hundreds of thousands” of e-books that can be wirelessly transferred to the device of your choosing. Unfortunately magazines and Newspapers are not currently supported.

Primary features of the application include:

• Buy a Kindle book from your Mac, PC, or iPhone using a Web browser and wirelessly transfer the books to your iPhone
• Read first chapters of any book for free before you buy
• Download the Kindle books you already own for free — they are automatically backed up on Amazon.com
• Adjust the text size, add bookmarks, and view the annotations you created on your Kindle device

The application also comes coupled with Whispersync, allowing users the ability to seamlessly revert back and forth between your Kindle and Apple handheld, while maintaining bookmarks and reading locations synched between the two devices.

Because purchased items will be linked through an Amazon account, those using the iPhone app will need to make new purchases through the browser or a Kindle itself, which can then be pulled into the application the next time that it is launched. The application can be found here (iTunes link).