Nor is it revolutionary or magical or whatever the BBC calls it.
-
I like how Stevie claims that the new Apple mobile phone is a reinvention.
Let's see, touchscreen? Tons of devices has been using that like since forever. Tilting sensor? I believe one company did that on a PDA phone (it's somewhere in T3 from 2-3 years ago), and Sony did implement it on one of their HDD based DAP player, so nothing big here as well. Built-in 2Mp camera? Uhm, isn't 5Mp mobile phone cameras the next big thing? WiFi? Done that. The only thing decent with this, is the 8GB flash memory and IMO that is not enough. And where is the built-in GPS?
Technically it seems to be a marginally better mobile (though no buttons really does mark it down a lot) than most of those currently on the market, not the 'breakthrough' that they seem to imply it is. Still should at least finally kick PalmOne and HTC to finally wake up and start offering real technical updates rather than the usual annual cosmetic redesigns.
Apple fanboys will most likely lap it up anyway and label it an innovation (like they did with the Ipod) and try to justify the reasons in which we no longer need keypads. At least the days of iClones carrying Ipods and Blackberries are over.
Technorati tags: Apple Iphone
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
New Apple phone not a reinvention
Labels:
Apple,
Bad designs,
Mobile Phone,
Reality Distortion Field
7 comments:
i have to agree that there isn't anything exactly new on the apple iphone as they've all been done by other manufacturers before as you mentioned (i still wonder how they manage to patent over 200 stuff for the phone). however, none of the devices from the other manufacturers have all of those things put together on a single device and functions cohesively with a usable interface to boot. for that, i think, due credit has to be given to apple.
and of all things they put together, they missed out 3g! d'oh!
No 3G? LOL! And we hate our cellphones? LOL!
Don't know about userable interface, but I would like to think that as a phone, hardware keys usually go long with providing a good UI.
And no user replaceable battery? What is up with that!?
That's Apple's schtick; they didn't invent the personal computer, GUIs or hard-drive-based MP3 players, but they tend to be the people who make these things cool for everyone else.
Mind you, removing the keypad apparently was Jakob Nielsen's recommendation for mobile phone users since 2000:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000917.html
"they didn't invent the personal computer, GUIs or hard-drive-based MP3 players,"
Tell that to ADFs!
Regarding virtual keypads, MS and Palm were the first to implement the idea, but seeing that more companies are releasing PDA phones with slide out keypads, I think it is fair to say that there are people who love keypads. Especially if you need to text someone quickly with one hand in the bus or underground.
One of the GUI success of the Ipod and other DAP is the ability to control everything with a finger - the Apple Phone, which GUI spans the whole screen, would not allow an easy way to do that.
Anyway cool for someone usually means that it is uncool for someone else. I love being that non-conformist!
And again, MS and Palm went first; we'll see how Apple fares with this one.
I mean, when Apple products work well, they work really well (in the marketplace, at the very least). When they don't, you get the Newton.
Ohh, that would be bad.
That would be bad. Even in my cynical view I doubt that would happen. They are way too clever in marketing and spin, I give you that.
Post a Comment