To iPhone 3GS or not to iPhone 3GS

I somehow managed to lose my mobile phone while in Nepal so I’m not having to deal with something I had hoped to be able to avoid until early 2010: Having to get a new mobile phone.

While my previous phone, a Nokia 6120, was far from perfect it got the job done and combined with my iPod touch (1st gen) I was quite happy with my mobile communication devices. However a lot has happened since I bought the 6120 in early 2008 so now I can’t but consider buying an iPhone 3GS even though I’ve been known to rant against the iPhone, iTunes, Apple, closed systems, etc. in the past.

One thing that surprised me a bit is how limited the alternatives to the iPhone are when it comes to high-end phones. I do generally keep tabs on what’s happening in the mobile phone markets but had still expected to find some hidden germ that I hadn’t heard of before. So based on my requirements (with voice, text messages, e-mail, Web browsing and Twitter representing 99% of what I do with my mobile devices) I’m currently looking at the following options:

Apple iPhone 3GS (16GB): Can’t say much more than that this is my preferred choice at the moment even though most of my previously mentioned rant reasons still hold true. The 3GS is simply an amazing product even though there are some details that I’m not too fond of. One thing I’m really going to miss compared to my 6120 is that unlocking the screen will leave me looking at my app home screen whereas I’d much prefer to see upcoming appointments, to-dos, etc. and similar information as presented on more business orientated Symbian S60 and Blackberry phones. However at the price €150 I’d pay for the 3GS with 16GB might simply prove too hard to refuse.

Blackberry Bold: Had I lost my phone 6 months ago I wouldn’t have hesitated and gotten the Blackberry Bold. I really like it’s design and keyboard and the software seems solid enough. However now I can’t help but feel that it’s lacking the application infrastructure that make Android devices and iPhones such interesting platforms in the mid- to long-term.

Nokia E75: I hadn’t paid much attention to what Nokia was up to in the smartphone segment lately but did remember that I found the E75’s form factor to be quite enticing. After reading some reviews it seems to be a really solid smartphone that could probably fulfill 95% of my requirements with ease. The one thing that is a big letdown though is the small screen size.

Nokia N900: Now this one device that I’m seriously interested in, especially after reading these hands-on comments. While I haven’t used an N900 in person Nokia seems to have gotten a lot of things right with this device, both on the hardware and software side of things. While it remains to be seen how the software ecosystem evolves compared to the Apple and Android competition I’m confident that we’ll see many interesting Maemo applications appear in the next 6 to 12 months. The one thing that kills this choice for me is the price of >€500 and the fact that it’s not offered by any Austrian carriers at the moment (and I’m not holding my breath for that to happen anytime soon).

T-Mobile G2 (aka HTC Hero): This is proving to be the hardest competitor for the iPhone 3GS and I’m quite tempted to go with the G2. I’m really impressed with what HTC did with the software and in many ways the G2 and related ecosystem contains less restrictions than fruitland. Subsequently I also believe that over the course of the next 6 to 12 months there’s a higher chance of seeing innovative apps (mostly thinking of Augmented Reality stuff here) on Android rather than the iPhone. With this and similar arguments the G2 appeals more to my geek side whereas the iPhone 3GS is better at pleasing the customer in me (who wants something that works). However after reading half a dozen reviews I can’t help but be afraid that the G2’s hardware is simply too underpowered to be a reliable platform 18 months down the road (which is the timeframe for my next mobile phone upgrade) which is quite a downside.

It’s with these thoughts in my head that I’ll make my way to the T-Mobile store in just a bit… I’ll of course keep you posted on my decision.

iPhone sales

1/3 of all iPhones were sold in New York.
1/3 in San Francisco.
1/3 elsewhere.

And Research in Motion owns the phone market in Washington, DC because literally everyone here (or at least everyone riding the Metro) has a BlackBerry.

These are the results of my extensive research into the topic over the past few weeks. Don't believe anything else, it's all lies lies lies.

Move over iPhone...

I'm still happy with my Nokia 6120c for now but there's a couple of *very* interesting phones showing up these days. In terms of "oh-my-god-me-wants-to-have" my favourite is the HTC Touch Diamond which was introduced earlier this week. Coming up strong in the "I'm a tool, a very effective tool" category is the BlackBerry 9000 which really looks like a kick-ass product.

Don't get me wrong, I'm lusting for an iPhone just like the next guy - especially once it shows up with 3G in early June - however I do believe that these two alternatives and especially the BlackBerry 9000 could end up being better mobile productivity tools as compared to a fancy multimedia focused fashion-gadget.

3G iPhone to arrive within the next 60 days.

This has been all over the news already but in case someone missed it: Walt Mossberg mentioned that a 3G iPhone is to arrive within the next 60 days. This would single-handedly get rid of the biggest flaw of Apple's latest and greatest and I think a 3G version would also help the not-too-impressive sales in Europe. However I'm convinced that Steve Jobs is going to milk this one. Looking at the current price in a market such as Austria (€399 for the 8GB and €499 for the 16GB iPhone) I'd imagine a 3G iPhone to come in at around €499 (8GB) and probably something such as €599 for a 16GB version. Or maybe Apple will skip the 8GB 3G iPhone all together. That could of course also mean that the current, non-3G iPhone see a price-cut to something closer to €299 and €399.

Personally, and I know that's not going to happen, what I'd like to have is a 4GB 3G iPhone that comes in at €199. (I'd even settle for 2GB is the price is right) because for all my multi-GigaByte media-storage I prefer a seperate device anyway. "I'm having a day-dream and it feels so good."

Anyway, let the countdown begin! :-)

interesting iPhone and Android comparison

Alexander Schatten posted an interesting comment called "Two Cultures: iPhone and Android" on his Software Engineering - Best Practices blog. He compares the very different approaches that Apple and Google are taking when it comes to the SDKs of their respective platforms and also the distribution mechanisms behind it.

From a philosophical point of view I also prefer the more open Android approach but having said that I believe that Apple is going to me more successful with the way they do things. As Alexander also points out "the open source model also had a problem in providing a consistent and user friendly UI experience" and I believe that UI is what makes or breaks a consumer electronics device such as a mobile phone. The open-source approach is particularly strong when it comes to enabling people (developers) to come up with customized versions that fit their unique needs. It therefore allows for a broad ecosystem of similar, yet not identical, sub-systems to emerge (e.g. KDE vs. Gnome). However I believe that when it comes to a 24/7 device such as a mobile phone less can be more and most people (customers) would prefer a product that may do less but does those things in a very polished way. This is exactly what the iPhone is doing and people like me might complain about the lack of 3G, video-recording capabilities and whatnot all day long but at the end of the day I still *want* an iPhone for the simple fact that it does its things so incredibly well.

Other than that I also believe that the iPhone application-distribution via iTunes is a relatively smart thing. Again I might prefer a 'marketplace' that's not 100% Apple-controlled but at least there's a single point where people (customers) can look for new applications. I'm afraid that with Android it's going to be much more of messy situation where there might be a significantly wider selection of software available but without an easy way to access it that might go unnoticed by most people.

Anyway, this is certainly a very interesting topic and I'll keep a close eye on the developments over the coming months...

Update (an absolute must-read): "How Apple Got Everything Right By Doing Everything Wrong" (from the current edition of Wired)

Unpacking Videos

If you're into technology as much as I am I'm sure that you've stumbled across at least one "unpacking" video in the past months. In case you haven't had the pleasure this is the appropiate moment to ask "what is an unpacking video?"

Well, it's basically a video of someone unpacking one thing or another, most of the times some hip new techno-gadget. I have to admit that I don't know exactly when or how that whole thing started but it has certainly spread in the past months and these days there aren't too many tech-sites that haven't done an unpacking video.

In case you're interested in watching such a video I'd suggest you head over to YouTube and simply start looking for "unpacking" but if you're lazy you can also click this link and watch a video of some guy unpacking his iPhone.

If you've clicked that link above and actually watched the video you've just wasted 5 minutes of you life. Why? Because you could have gathered the same information from looking at Apple's website and the iPhone's "what's in the box" page:

• iPhone
• Stereo Headset
• Dock
• USB Power Adapter
• Dock Connector to USB Cable
• Documentation
• Cleaning/Polishing cloth

There are even fancy photos of everything there so you can even get a good look and what the design of the box looks like! (In case that's your cup of tea.)

What I'm trying to say here is that at least from my point of view an unpacking video is a real waste of time. This is a case were using video as a medium doesn't really have any advantages over a text and some photos. So in my book looking at that list and the corresponding photos above gives you the same information plus it only takes 60 seconds instead of spending 5 minutes listening to someone's (mostly useless) comments. Some might argue that watching an actual human being tell you something fulfills an emotional need but I don't really see that...

Moreover it seems to me that making such a video is also a waste of time. Again here it really depends on how you do it because obviously some random dude turning on his camera and filming himself unpack something for YouTube won't take that long. But if you're running a tech-website you need to have some kind of narrative, add an intro and title, render it, upload it to various video-platforms, tag it and publish it somewhere. I'd say that the whole process takes about 30 to 60 minutes. Compare that to taking a couple of photos, writing the necessary text and publishing that (that certainly doesn't take longer than 10 minutes) and you're looking at a real waste of time.

Why do I know that? Because earlier this week I spent more than an hour filming, editing and polishing an unpacking video starring the Zonbu for a review over on EPIACENTER... Due to the fact that I don't have the intro here on my machine (and I couldn't find it on our server) I've asked Sascha to finish the video and it will soon be available via EPIACENTER, YouTube and host of other video-websites. Then you'll also get a chance to see yours truly wasting everyone's time with an unpacking video...

Google's Android

So, guess what. This is probably the one-millionth blog posting about the "Android" platform that Google and its partners announced today. Still, I'm set on adding my thoughts on today's developments, even if it's just for the sake of getting them out of my head.

I know some people are probably going to be disappointed that Google didn't announce a gPhone but I actually think that Android has a bigger chance of improving mobile phones than any single device would have had.

Now what exactly is Android? While there aren't any real details available at the moment the Official Google Blog gives a brief overview of what it's all about:

"Android is the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. It includes an operating system, user-interface and applications -- all of the software to run a mobile phone, but without the proprietary obstacles that have hindered mobile innovation."

The interesting thing here is that Google has teamed up with 30+ other companies to really push Android. Some notable partners are HTC, LG, Marvell, Motorola, Nvidia, Samsung, T-Mobile and Texas Instruments. I'm sure we're going to see more companies join the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) over the coming months.

I have to say that this might just be the best thing that has happened to mobile phones in a long time! As previously mentioned I've kept a close eye on the (slow) progress that the OpenMoko platform and its flagship product, the FIC Neo 1973 have made in the past months. The thing is that I really like the idea of having a common software platform for mobile phones and if executed well this development could really improve both the quantity and quality of mobile phone applications and services.

I was also interested to hear what my friends Igor and John of LiveVote.ca fame were thinking (btw, you guys should set up a poll about what people think of Android!). They both replied basically saying the same thing: show us the SDK (which should become available Monday, November 12th) and then we'll see how potent the whole thing really is.

By the way, Apple probably isn't too thrilled about the whole thing because it just mocks them and their decision to lock down the iPhone. Plus now their February date for the iPhone SDK will also look like too-little-too-late! Seems like Steve Jobs really made the wrong decision here... On the other hand OpenMoko will also have to speed up their development because otherwise they might find themselves in a race they simply can't win.

All in all I haven't felt this optimistic about the future of mobile phones in a long time. We definitely have some very interesting times ahead of us!

Today was the first time...

...that I used an iPhone. I know, I know, two Apple related posts in a row make me sound like a fanboy. But trust me, that couldn't be further from the truth. But first things first:

While sitting in a lecture in the afternoon I noticed that the guy in front of me was toying around with an iPhone. Being the geek I am I couldn't stop thinking about it for the remaining (boring) hour of that lecture. This is the first time I saw anyone use an iPhone and I definitely wanted to play around with it. After the lecture I asked the guy whether I could take a closer look at his baby. And I have to say, I was a bit underwhelmed.

Yes, it has a great design. Yes, the display is stunning. Yes, the touch-capabilities are much better than anything I've ever seen.

But still, I wasn't impressed. I guess that's mainly due to Apple's marketing machine working overtime on convincing everyone just how great that product is. Once you listen to all the bullshit, the fanboy reviews and everyone else raving about a product you start believing it, no matter how sceptical you are. And if you really believe that it's a revolutionary phone and a breakthrough internet device then of course your expectations are quite high. And it's bad when the product can't fulfill those expectations afterwards.

So: No, the iPhone is not as cool as I had expected it to be. No, it doesn't even come close to the top of my "hardware I want to buy"-list. And definitely no, I won't part with €300+ of my cash especially since Apple has been treating its customers like shit lately.

As previously indicated I'm still waiting for the rollout of the FIC Neo 1973 product models which should happen over the next 2 to 3 weeks. That phone might not look as sexy as an iPhone but overall it seems to be much closer to my vision of a good mobile phone.