The iPhone Brings Revolutionary Features Not Found in WM Devs

[Brandon Miniman]

I've been keeping up with the keynote summary (http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/live-from-macworld-2007-steve-jobs-keynote/) over at Engadget, and every time I refresh the page, I'm wowed by the features that Steve Jobs is showing. It's slimmer than the Q and the BlackJack, yet it's got the highest pixel density screen of probably any device around. It's got an accelerometer that senses when it should go into landscape and portrait mode (why can't our WM devices do that?), it automatically switches from EDGE to WiFi (again, why can't our WM devices do that), and it even support Exchange email! Wow. What's missing is 3G...which is a huge issue, but for the general public, it won't be.

The device will be available on the Cingular network...no word on price yet.

Is this a threat to Windows Mobile? Possibly for the more casual users...but this isn't a business device. It's more of a lifestyle device for those that don't need serious emailing and serious security, or so it seems. More as it comes along.

[sskarlatos]

The one major marketing problem in this whole announcement is that Cisco owns the rights to the trade name "iPhone". I wonder what Cisco will do?

[cgavula]

I watched the webcast as well and I have a few thoughts off the top of my head:

First - I'm not sure it won't make a good business device. It's handling of email/SMS/etc. seems to be very advanced. The fact that it is running Mac OS X and supports widgets is going to be a big thing. There are widgets for weather, traffic, games, and all kinds of other things. It will be interesting to see how far they can/will push the technology. Some of the more advanced communications features may end up outweighing the ability to use it to display an Excel spreadsheet (and there may yet be a way to do that that we don't know yet).

For grins, you should take a look at the widgets that are available out there for OSX. The other question, of course, is will they run without modification?

They're including the Safari browser. If it isn't stripped, is way above PIE.

The screen is an odd size: 320 by 480. 1/2 VGA. I'm not sure how to take that news yet.

RAM is unknown - I haven't seen any specs anywhere on that yet. It could dramatically impact the performance of this device (although it looked speedy in the demo).

The automatic screen flipping, the touch controls are amazing - if they work as stated. The ambient light sensor can slo do a lot of good in saving battery and keeping the display readable in varying light conditions.

I am also concerned about the EDGE support without UMTS (3G) support - I can make guesses as to why they did it that way, but I think they should have gone with full 3G support. They may be making the assumption that, as a business device, WiFi support is the more important connectivity option - especially since they made it "b" and "g" capable - on top of that they are claiming that their switching between Edge and WiFi is automatic and seemless (again subject to how well it actually works).

Random access to your voicemail is a very interesting service offering in a cell phone. That combined witht he visual presentation of voicemail (developed jointly with Cingular) is going to be a BIG business plus.

No stylus? That should be interesting. I wonder if the display face will scratch as easily as the face of an ipod scratched?

4GB or 8GB onboard - but is there a card slot? I don't see any specs for one. I think the answer is no. I don't like that, but many people may not care.

It's also supposed to sync to your Mac or your PC. I believe it uses the iTunes mechanism for that so that means music, contact, email.

I would have liked to have seen GPS support in this device,but they did, at least, include Google Maps support (which seems pretty complete - both maps, satellite, and POI searching).

The iPhone reference is an interesting one - I'm not sure what Apple/Cisco will do (or may already have done). I did see that the iTV product is now called AppleTV (due to iTV already being owned/used).

Overall - there is a lot to be impressed with here. The coming weeks will see a lot of folk evaluating, commenting pro and con (often without any real facts). My gut feel is that there are still quite a few unknowns here, some of which I've mentioned, and a lot will depend on those "unknowns" as well as exactly how some of these services are implemented.

But no matter how you look at it, Apple, as they often do (good and bad), has given the industry something to think about. I can't wait to see how this plays out.

--Chris

[Brandon Miniman]

Good thoughts, Chris. I wonder too about the screen being scratched, and what sort of processor and RAM configuration it's using. I'm sure they didn't cut corners on performance - to be able to include all of the fancy visual effects, there must be some good hardware behind it all. I bet they used an Intel processor, perhaps an XScale, and perhaps a dedicated video chip as found in the Axim X50v/51v.

Yeah, I could see how it may serve as a business device. The first impression is that it looks "cool" ... and you can't have "cool" and business together. Well, why not?

[RobertCF]

Oh my gosh. What a waste. "Accelerometer"? How stupid is that? And what's this obsession with integrating a cheap flippin' camera into everything? If I want to take pictures, I want a REAL camera, not some Wal-mart type cheapo. Yeah, Apple, way to go, you mental midgets.

You know, it was amazingly ignorant enough to see Steve marvelling over "It's an iPod.....and it's a phone".....over, and over, and over. The iPod is a piece of overpriced garbage compared to the Sansa E-series. And, hey, Steve, guess what? I've been listening to virtually limitless mp3 music on my Axim X5 for YEARS, dude. Silly little man. Has he not heard of Smartphones or PocketPC Phones? Hello? They've integrated those same features for quite a while. iPhone=revolutionary? Not hardly. Maybe, JUST maybe, it's evolutionary. But what was MORE amazingly ignorant was that room packed full of drooling idiots who "ooo'd" and "aahhh'd" as if someone had shown them fire for the first time.

Oh, and this was priceless, too! You don't need a stylus!! Woohoo! Yes, I never thought to try tapping on my Axim screen with my fingers. Wow, how revolutionary! Yes, Steve, putting big icons on your screen, thus wasting your screen real estate is brilliant....not to mention having no choice but to get your big, fat, greasy fingerprints all over it. Yes, bright boy.

What a non-event.

[Brandon Miniman]

Well, you're right... a lot of this technology isn't new. But it's the manner in which everything is brought together, in a slim, attractive, easy to use device. They did that with the iPod. And people liked it.

I think the accelerometer is very important...I wish there was one on my Axim, so that I didn't manually have to change the screen orientation.

[ChrisSpera]

I've heard it said, and I have to agree. Apple knows industrial design. They have it down to an art. This is an awesome device. However, I think the lack of 3G support, apparent lack of a card slot, and implementation of a soft keyboard may be problematic. I am especially concerned from an e-mail point of view. I've used Spb Soft Keyboard, and its not that great. If they made this thing with a similar styled keyboard, writing mail is going to be difficult. Spb Soft Keyboard doesn't work well because you can't see what you've typed until after you put the keyboard away.

[adamz]

I'm imagining that all those animated graphics, high resolution screen, WiFi, bluetooth, and video playing is going to take up alot of processor power and battery life. The estimated 5hr battery life sounds very optimistic.
The lack of hardware buttons with tactile feedback is going to make it difficult/dangerous to use while driving as well since you'll have to use two hands and your eyes.
Still I love the pinch-zoom interface, as well as the scrolling with inertia thing. Very cool!

[Tim Adams]

The one major marketing problem in this whole announcement is that Cisco owns the rights to the trade name "iPhone". I wonder what Cisco will do?

Cisco made an announcement that said they had worked out an agreement.

Sure, it doesn't have 3G, but this is the first rev. of the phone. There is going to be a lot of phone surfers when this first unit is released, and I doubt Cingular has the bandwidth to support all of them over 3G speeds (or any US provider, for that matter).

This is a revolutionary product. No doubt about it. Will it sway everyone over to Apple? Hardly. At least not in this first release. But remember that Microsoft's first endevour into the PDA world was pretty miserable too. Palm ruled at one point. And now? Barely a whimper.

I would expect a lot of major advancements in the next couple of years. Flexible screens are up next...

[Pony99CA]

OK, here are my thoughts. It certainly looks cool, with an awesome display.

No, it doesn't have a card slot, but how many iPods do? With 4-8 GB, that's more memory than most PDA owners have with a card slot. (Except for the most hardcore of us -- I have 10 GB in my iPAQ hx2795 with a 2 GB SD card and an 8 GB CF card.)

The keyboard didn't appear to full-screen, like the Spb one. It takes up about half of the screen as Apple's image shows.

http://images.apple.com/iphone/images/noqt_sms20070109.jpg

The automatic portrait/landscape switching isn't a big deal to me. I can map a button to toggle portrait to landscape and back on my iPAQ and that's good enough. (Yes, it "wastes" a button, but the iPAQ has 8 if you count press-and-hold.)

Even the accelerometer isn't that new. There was a device for the Pocket PC that added one. It was even reviewed at pocketnow (http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=reviews&id=322). ;)

The ambient light sensor could be useful, but I'll wait and see. The iPAQ 3650 had one and it never seemed to work well (it seemed to always turn the sidelight off completely indoors, making the screen impossible to read).

If it's running a full (or nearly full) version of MacOS, though, Apple may have pulled off what OQO and other ultra-mobile PC vendors have been trying to do for years.

I'll be interested to see the device -- and how PDA and phone vendors respond.

Steve

P.S. Regarding the Cisco iPhone, I'm currently working at Cisco. Yesterday I heard people speculating (or maybe hoping) that the deal got everybody there a free iPhone. Somehow I doubt that will happen. :D

[ChrisSpera]

My understanding is that it doesn't run a full version of OSX; but enough to run any of the hundreds of Mac widgets currently out there. Now, whether or not the widget needs modifying for iPhone is another story (but you'd think it should be able to use them natively...)

[sskarlatos]

Cisco made an announcement that said they had worked out an agreement.

I guess Apple did not sign the agreement. Cisco is suing. Here is the story cnn story. (http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/10/technology/cisco_apple/index.htm?postversion=2007011018)

[cdaly1970]

I, for one, am not impressed. Yes, it is slick looking. Yes it is born from the iPod brand. But really, what exactly is "revolutionary" about this???

First lets remember that all we've really seen of this unit is what Apple wants us to see, as they are not available until June.. So we really don't know how these units will hold up to everyday heavy usage. I must say, that my SX66 is still working hard after many years of use and abuse..

Second, lets remember that taking music along with your phone is great!! But this is not the first phone to offer that. All the Windows Mobile units have had Windows Media player for some time now. That and a good sized SD card, and you had your own "iPhone" way before Apple made it's announcement (I even have a skin for my WMP that looks like an iPOD). And I for one am glad I don't have to use iTunes to get music on my phone. The idea of the converged device has been around for many years now.

And another thing I am waiting to see, what is the battery life going to be like? After a day of dancing around with your white headphones on, are you going to have enough power left to make that 30 minute call??

I've also heard comments that only Apple certified applications will run on this phone, if this is true, it means getting 3rd party stuff for it will be difficult at best. And lets face it, some of the best applications we have for handheld units are not from the manufacturers.

So, from where I am standing, the only thing that Apple has going for it with this unit is the branding power of the iPod, which is not to be discounted. Don't get me wrong, this unit will sell, and probably sell like hot-cakes. This is because Apple did it does best, it made it simple to use. Anyone with little technical knowledge can operate this device. But lets not guild the lily here, there is very little about this unit that is revolutionary.

So someone so nicely put it over on XDA-Developers. com, "Apple, welcome to 2004."...

-Chris