Posts Tagged ‘apple’

What Would An ‘iPhone Killer’ Look Like?

// April 22nd, 2008 // 4 Comments » // Mobile

I hate to even bring up the iPhone here, because I’m guaranteed a flood of fanboys saying that I’m an iPhone hater and that I just don’t get it, blah blah blah. However, I have an honest question, and I’m hoping for at least a few honest answers. Since the iPhone came out, everyone’s been looking for the ‘iPhone killer’. That magical handset that some other manufacturer is going to produce that will dethrone the iPhone as the greatest <insert whatever> phone ever.

My question, is what would an ‘iPhone killer’ even look like? What would it be capable of, what would it look like? Thus far, as far as I can recollect, any finger-friendly touchscreen enabled handset (despite the fact that these were available before the iPhone came out) has been labeled an iPhone copycat/wannabe/clone.

Most recently, the Nokia Tube has been labeled an ‘iPhone killer’, and Ewan over at SMS Text News has chatted with some people who’ve played with it. They’re saying it’s definitely nice, but nothing impressive, but I’d like to know what would it take for it to be impressive, vs the iPhone? You can’t tell me that nothing would be greater than the iPhone, cause, well, that’s clearly not true, and certainly won’t be true in even a year, or possibly less.

So what say you? What do you think an ‘iPhone killer’ would look like?

Locked Down iPhone SDK Surprises No One

// February 29th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Mobile

So the news is all over the place: The iPhone’s much-anticipated SDK, due to be released on March 6th, will be pretty locked down. According to reports, Apple will implement a system where it decides what iPhone applications are ‘approved’ and which aren’t, since they’ll be using iTunes as the delivery method. Also, apparently, the SDK will *not* allow developers access to the iPhone’s Dock Connector, which means 3rd party solutions such as the GPS module are ruled out. There’s still a bit of confusion as to whether they’ll get access to the Bluetooth chip, but integrated features such as the camera, WiFi, and phone app will indeed be open for developers.

There seems to be quite a bit of surprise around the intertubes on this, and I have to say, why? Please explain what part of the iPhone thus far has been open? It’s locked to a specific carrier, locked to 3rd party apps, locked to ringtones, why on EARTH would you think this magical SDK would be Apple dumping all the locks?

This is why I use Nokia’s S60 handsets. It’s not necessarily because I blindly believe that S60 is the rule-all OS, but because I, as the end-user, am ENCOURAGED to use the handset for anything and everything I can think of. Nokia/S60 is constantly working to make it easier and easier for developers to create applications for the platform, with access to nearly everything on the phone.

Regardless of anything else, why on earth would you want to give your money to support a company that intentionally prevents you from getting the most out of their product?

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