[ X-BLOG ] See this world thru’ my eyes

Super futuristic military capabilities, such as the ability to see through walls, exoskeletons and advance armor for soldiers and laser-beam weapons will be rolled out for testing in just 3 years by the Pentagon. [ read more ]

PROS:

Apple seems to have beaten the competition at a design level, the place where it typically does best:

-The industrial design is, once again, a step above the competition. Sleek, slim, bright and well balanced, the device itself is another lovely Apple creation.
-Using OS X, albeit a slimmer version, frees Apple to bring its best UI and file management technology to play, without having to drag the baggage of something like Symbian along with it. The harmonization with OS X for the Mac, using familiar UI touchpoints, widgets, iconography, etc. means Mac users will feel at home with it, and have an intuitive understanding of its workings.
-Functionality as described and demo’d seems also top drawer. Again, the familiar applications, familiar look and feel and function, more natural gestural control and a redefinition of calling functions, taken more from applications like Skype than a traditional mobile interface, are a step above what else is on mass-market offer.
-Integration with Mac applications, particularly for communication, as well as use of Yahoo! and Google applications will add to mass market acceptability over time.

CONS:

Technical and economic shortcomings seem the main areas of complaint:

-The iPhone isn’t 3G, but EDGE, making it a bit slower than the best competition as 3G rollouts spread through the US. The addition of WiFi is very useful, but WiFi availability is still quite patchy, even today. VoIP will be less than optimal, as will any video conferencing applications (iChat?).
-No GPS. This is one of my big complaints. This will hamper the iPhone’s use for location-based services, one important area of future services growth and innovation.
-Availability through one operator only so far. Cingular’s exclusive deal is irritating non-Cingular customers who don’t want to switch to an operator with a less-than-stellar reputation for service and quality.
-The price is high for consumers accustomed to heavily subsidized handsets. $599 and $499 are high costs of entry for a potential customer, but the RAZR started out costing not much less, as did Treos and Blackberries. Apple isn’t known for discounting, so buyers will just have to suck it up and shell out. But they’ve done so for expensive high-end iPods, MacBook Pros and other must-have hardware.
-Memory size and battery life are both less than might be desired. 8MB goes pretty quickly when you want to carry around music, video and photos, AND drive the OS with any speed. Without expandable memory, Apple will have to come up with a good solution for synching and managing media. iTunes for ROKR wasn’t it.
-Only 2 MP camera. Not much to say about this, except 3MP will soon be the standard, just as 1.3 MP is now. 2MP doesn’t future-proof the device very well.

So, overall, a 9.5 out of 10 on design, and probably a 6 out of 10 on the tech specs for me. The iPhone won’t itself be a category killer, but Apple effectively changed the playing field yesterday, particularly for companies like Nokia and RIM, both of which are vying for the smartphone/multimedia device market. Customers of Moto, Samsung and LG will probably be less persuaded, as they are looking for more of a “me too” phone that let’s them fit in at a reasonable price point. [ read more ]