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What the iPhone Got

Entry 1029, on 2009-06-09 at 21:48:22 (Rating 1, Computers)

A week ago I blogged about what I thought the new iPhone needed. Today Apple demonstrated the new phone so how much of what I wanted did I actually get?

I wanted tethering and I got it... well sort of. The new iPhone has tethering built in (actually the new iPhone OS does) but it is up to the network to activate it, and no doubt there will be a charge. I can't see why I should pay extra because I already pay for a certain amount of data and whether that is directly from the phone or through the phone from a computer shouldn't make any difference. Still, cell phone service companies aren't exactly know for their fair deals!

Next was video. As expected, we are getting that, along with quite nice basic editing. Again this is provided by the new OS so owners of existing phones will also get the video capability.

The notification service will also be in the new OS and we will just have to wait for a while to see how well it works, especially compared with the multitasking in phones like the Pre (which I don't think is as great as some people think).

The new messaging system handles MMS as well as simple text messages and that will be useful for many users. Yet again this is an OS feature so we might be wondering at this point what the new hardware is really going to give us!

Well there's the digital compass and this will work well if it is sufficiently accurate. One of the demos made it look like the accuracy might not be that great but, again, we will need to see it in action to really know.

I didn't see any information about which bands the new phone supports but I hope it supports the second band Vodafone uses here in New Zealand or it won't be possible to use the 3G network in half the locations.

There is no video chat because there is no forward facing camera. I know that is a fairly significant addition but I would like to see it in the iPhone. Maybe next time.

As expected, there is no OLED screen but the current screen is so good already that this isn't a critical issue. No doubt these screens will become standard in the future but the cost is currently still too great.

The new camera is very welcome. More pixels are great but the autofocus (and manual focus by touching the area to focus on - nice!) is even more welcome. And the macro will now allow scanning bar codes and lookup of information and prices - that's something other phones could do but the iPhone couldn't.

There's no FM transmitter and that's not surprising and not a particularly important omission anyway.

Extra memory, extra storage and extra speed are always useful and we'll get all those. That will allow better performance from existing apps and the possibility of more sophisticated apps in the future.

So that's it. Will I upgrade my existing iPhone to get a new one? Maybe not straight away. I'll upgrade the OS first then see what hardware upgrade paths are available later.

Comment 1 (2095) by NJS on 2009-06-09 at 23:19:33: (view recent only)

From the tech specs on Apple's web site:

UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz) <=== looks like you're out of luck?
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

Comment 2 (2096) by OJB on 2009-06-10 at 13:03:02:

So I need to swap to Telecom then.

Comment 3 (2130) by SBFL on 2009-06-18 at 05:40:03:

In wonder if the iPhone's day in the sun is ending...?
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/content/living-cloud

Comment 4 (2131) by OJB on 2009-06-18 at 08:40:34:

Fairly typical WhaleOil unsubstantiated, opinionated nonsense. Really how much garbage does this guy have to serve up before you conservatives stop visiting?

Its hard to say what impact the Android phones might have long term but currently they are nowhere near as polished as the iPhone, the UI is inferior, they have fewer apps, and integration with desktop computers is inferior (maybe the cloud will be the future paradigm, maybe it won't).

The iPhone was the first really usable touch-screen full featured smart phone. Now the rest are copying. From that perspective the iPhone now has real competition (Android, Pre, maybe even Windows Mobile 7 although I doubt it) so your contention that its "day in the sun is ending" could be supported that way. But its still the best.

Read some real reviews and please keep away from sources of misinformation!

Comment 5 (2134) by SBFL on 2009-06-18 at 10:45:21:

Your don't hide your bias very well do you? WhaleOil refers to the the Radar Tech link: Here it is: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/htc-magic-532657/review

Read it and learn. You talk about iPhone being the first (zzzz, so yesterday) but you fail to really address WhaleOils reasons for HTC Magic ruling the world!

Comment 6 (2135) by SBFL on 2009-06-18 at 10:56:34:

Plus I thought you were a fan of open source...?

Comment 7 (2137) by OJB on 2009-06-18 at 21:07:22:

I am an IT professional and I have kept up fairly well with industry opinion on the various phone platforms out there. Android is potentially a very nice system, as is the Pre, but neither is quite up to the standard of the iPhone yet. Maybe never will be. The stuff Whaleoil says makes it obvious he has no idea what he's talking about: pretty much business as usual there!

Comment 8 (2545) by SBFL on 2009-10-24 at 22:51:51:

Well, well. Looks like your favourite American corporation is living up to that greedy stereotype you have for big business:
A nasty legal spat among tech giants pits Nokia against Apple

"Having grown up in the computer industry, where standards and sharing of intellectual property has much less of a tradition, Apple seems to refuse to play by these rules or, at least, does not want to pay as much as Nokia demands."

Comment 9 (2546) by OJB on 2009-10-25 at 09:56:58:

Well first Apple as a corporation certainly doesn't escape the criticism I direct at other big business. I think Apple legal are just scumbags, for example. Its Apple's products I like, not the corporation itself. Secondly, filing lawsuits against other companies for real or imagined breaches of "intellectual property" (a term I usually don't use) is just part of the business behaviour many companies indulge in and often is nothing more than an easy way to get an extra a bit of cash.

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