Apple iPhone 3G S – the 360-degree review
Oh, how the lot of a technology journo has changed. There was a time when a product launch meant going to a bar, drinking a beer and picking up a press release, then forgetting about it until magazine deadline three weeks later. These days, you gotta do the full 360-degree treatment.
Sure, it’s hard work – but it’s much more exciting this way. You learn to interpret events as they take place, then add layer-upon-layer of analysis until you have a lasagne of gadgety truth, which you can serve up hot to an eager audience.
The iPhone 3G S box
Take the Apple iPhone 3G S. After months of rumours, I went over to San Francisco for the announcement last week (still in the middle of writing my epic Nokia N97 review). I tweeted my predictions, liveblogged the Phil Schiller keynote, photographed it, videod it, played with the phone while the news team back in the UK wrote up the iPhone news stories, wrote a first impressions blog, edited and uploaded a ‘live from the keynote’ video. And then jumped back on the plane.
2Mbps broadband just isn’t good enough
I’m hot off the BBC Breakfast sofa, where I was talking about broadband ahead of the publication of the Digital Britain report.
For today, Stephen Carter – the departing Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting – unveils his report into Digital Britain. It could be a significant step in the UK’s recovery. But it’s more likely to be a load of hot air that will be ignored until the election – and then ditched by the incoming Tory government.
But even before it’s ignored, Digital Britain looks a little weak. Take the ‘broadband for all’ recommendations outlined in the interim report published earlier this year: it recommends setting minimum download speeds (to be implemented by 2012) at 2Mbps using satellite and mobile to plug the broadband notspots.
Unfortunately, satellite and mobile deliver tortuously slow upload speeds, with high latency too boot – so while you might be able to stream video with them, you won’t be able to upload it. Or play games. Or use VoIP. And they’re just some of today’s common applications – what of the ideas that are only being generated today?
New iPhone is a small step towards global domination
Reuters asked me to write a column about the Apple iPhone 3G S that was ‘not just a review’. Which is fine with me, because the new hardware is hardly the story at WWDC 09.
Apple iPhone 3G S - now with voice control
What’s becoming clear is that the iPhone isn’t just a physical product – it’s a platform, a launch pad for an enthused community of developers with cheap, instant access to an audience of 40million iPhone and iPod Touch users.
While Nokia, Google and Palm are doing their best to promote their own mobile platforms, and stoke software development, it’s Apple that has all the momentum:
“Apple’s biggest rivals are preparing to release smartphones that are arguably technically superior to the iPhone. Nokia’s N97 will be released in the UK on June 19th – the same day as the iPhone 3G S – while Palm’s Pre has just hit the US market. Both iPhone rivals feature their own application download stores – but neither has the iPhone’s momentum. And without a vibrant community of developers, a smartphone is little more than a complicated way to make phonecalls.
The iPhone is changing the shape of the mobile phone market. The technical specification of a handset is no longer the key selling point – the hardware is now just a platform, and it’s the software that’s built upon it that really counts.
Until rival platforms develop a critical mass of users and developers, Apple can continue to turn small changes to the iPhone into great leaps towards global domination.”
You can read the full piece over at Reuters.com
You can also read my hands-on review of the iPhone at Stuff.tv
Or check out the video of my first impressions of the iPhone 3G S
Oops! Apple’s pricing blunder
I’m in the middle of a whistlestop tour of San Francisco, covering the launch of the new Apple iPhone at WWDC. You can read all about my first impressions of the phone over on Stuff.tv.
Apple also used WWDC to announce updates to its MacBook lineup. As this was a US event there was no mention of the UK pricing – just that the 13in MacBook Pro started at $1199. So while I was being briefed on the new products I took a virtual wonder around Apple’s UK site and found, to my astonishment, that the UK price of the MacBook Pro was £1299 – or $2100.
Apple Macbook Pro's eyewatering UK price
I’m used to Apple marking up its products by a few pounds in the UK, but this made my eyes water. An 80% price hike? I was incensed. I took a screen grab and began putting words to my wrath.
Just as I was about to file a story on it, I checked the website again. Suddenly, the price was down to £899. Which put a dampner on my fury – and my plans to smuggle a batch back with me and sell them on the black market.
Still, makes me feel better about all my error-strewn posts.
Nokia N97 testing notes: email, web and (uh-oh) battery
Nokia N97 Testing Notes: Day 3
Email
So how does the Nokia N97 perform as a messaging device? Well, it’s good. But it’s not brilliant.
The QWERY keyboard is both a blessing and a curse. Yes, it’s easier to use than the iPhone’s cramped soft keypad. But with so little travel in each key, it’s not much more responsive than tapping a touchscreen, and isn’t blessed with Apple’s error-correcting smarts.
Nokia N97 on test
They keyboard is certainly no match for the Blackberry Bold. In fact, the N97′s key layout feels, if anything, a little too big – there are some serious thumb calories burned in sretching for certain lettters, and too much thumb scrunching involved in getting to the awkwardly placed space bar and alt/symbol keys. It’s annoyingly easy to apply symbol lock by accidentally double-tapping the arrow key, too.
On the bright side, the N97′s direction pad provides a precise method of navigating around documents and webpages, and copy and paste is in evidence (if a little fiddly). Plus, there’s a robotic voice that will read your emails to you. Cool, if slightly pointless for those of us with working(ish) eyes.
China’s censors can’t stem the great web tide
Today is the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, when Chinese pro-democracy protests met a brutal end. And, with crushing inevitability, the Chinese government has marked the anniversary by suppressing free speech once again.
By blocking access to a number of social networking websites, including the wildly popular Twitter, the Chinese authorities hope to quieten anti-government sentiment. But this time round, it’s not going to be so easy.
You can read my comment piece on China’s Twitter ban over at the Evening Standard website
Nokia N97 testing notes: feature hinge
Nokia N97 testing notes: day 2
Thing I like most about the Nokia N97 so far: the feature hinge. It’s a feature, for sure, as it solidy lifts the screen into an open-laptop position above the QWERTY keypad. (Nice action”, as Alan Partridge would say).
But the feature hinge is also the place that Nokia has opted to spell out the N97′s impressive feature set: 32GB | AF 5MP Carl Zeiss | nHD 3.5″ | A-GPS | Bluetooth 2.0 | WLAN | 3G HSDPA | USB 2.0 | FM RDS.
The Nokia N97's feature hinge
OK, so it peters out a bit at the end there (USB 2.0? Wow), but I’m very intrigued by nHD 3.5″. near hi-def? nuhidef? I shall investigate.
I also like the fact that the N97 works as a mass storage device, unlike the iPhone, so I can ship my work home on it. But I’m less impressed by the paucity of Mac software have to find something to do with its 32GB capacity. Maybe I can port my Comes With Music subscription?
Finally, the haptic feedback, which vibrates when you touch the screen, is a Good Thing.
PS Apparently nHD means the N97′s screen is proportionate to a hi-def telly. Which I guess means it’s widescreen. The 640×360 resolution definitely isn’t HD, although it beats the iPhones 320×480 screen. But as Apple has proved, it’s not the resolution that counts, but what you do with it. Fortunately, Symbian seems to be catching up when it comes to font smoothing and anti-aliasing and yes, these things are truly important to me.
read Nokia N97 testing notes: day 1
Nokia N97 testing notes
Nokia N97 testing notes.
Day 1.
Nokia N97 arrived, enclosed in a nice black box suggesting this is the finished deal. First impressions are very positive: it looks good, is reassuringly weighty but not too heavy, and has a satisfying solidity to the hinge that transforms it from iPhone-style touchscreen phone to QWERTY-toting micro-laptop. Keyboard lacks numbers, which is a little annoying, but otherwise reminds me of the new Apple keyboards – not a lot of travel, but very easy to use.
I’m a big Nokia fan, but of late I’ve been overcome by a sense of disappointment that their handsets are still not matching up to the iPhone. But I’m glad to report this sense of ennui doesn’t strike with the N97. Like previous Nokias, it has iPhone-busting features – such as a 5MP camera, turn-by-turn sat nav and a built-in keyboard. But the N97 also feels right, in a way its forebears simply didn’t. It’s responsive and fun to use. Within 15 minutes of opening the box I’d already set up not personal email and corporate Exchange account. Without even plugging it into a computer, I have my diary, contacts and email ready to go. So no worrying about the lack of Mac software in the box.
The first small disappointment is the web browser. Despite being based on the same webkit foundations as Apple’s Safari, it doesn’t make a very good job of rendering the Stuff.tv site. In fact, it’s all-round ugly. I quickly install Opera Mini, which is faster but even less fun to use. So I give Nokia’s browser a second chance, and reluctantly admit that it’s not so bad. But it lacks the iPhone’s pizzazz.
Second disappointment is Ovi, Nokia’s iTunes App Store rival. As has been widely reported, Ovi has been struggling since last week’s launch – but I’m surprised it’s still not working when I try to download a free Star Trek ringtone (it was top of the list! Honest!). Eventually I give up and wait til I get home from the office. Late at night, it works fine – but there’s a severe paucity of apps available right now (most of the ones that are available are already pre-installed). And BBC iPlayer, which was pre-installed on the N96, is nowhere to be seen. So I hunt it out over at bbc.co.uk, but the N96 version refuses to install. Perhaps I’m jumping the gun – after all , the N97 isn’t due out until June 19.
On my way home from work I strap the N97 to my handlebars and use Nokia Maps to track my route. Unlike the iPhone (at least until next week), the N97 allows you to use 3D maps with turn-by-turn navigation – but I don’t try this, instead trying (and failing) just to get a 3D position that alters itself depending on my orientation. I’ll give this another try tomorrow. Frutstratingly, Nokia Maps offers car and foot directions, but no bike directions. Hardlly surprising, I guess, but it’d be nice if Nokia matched the cute ‘unplug your charger’ eco message with some pro-cycling appaganda.
- Nokia N97 – distinctly likeable, and eco-conscious too
Despite a few reservations, the overall first-day impressions of the Nokia N97 are very positive. I like the design, even if it’s a tad thicker than most rivals. Messaging and facebook work well, and I’ve only scratched the surface of the features. Plus the reception is better than the iPhone. Worried about battery life, though.
Tomorrow, some proper head-to-head testing with the undisputed king of smratphones, Apple’s iPhone 3G.
How much is money?
Free ain't what it used to be
It seems like ‘Free’ may not be the future of business after all. It certainly doesn’t seem to be working for media.
The new book from Wired honcho Chris Anderson is imminent. Called ‘ Free: The Future of a Radical Price: The Economics of Abundance and Why Zero Pricing Is Changing the Face of Business’, it’s currently available for pre-order from Amazon. For £11.39.
A couple of weeks ago, Rupert Murdoch announced that News Corp was to charge for their news websites. Stung by profits falling year-on-year from $216m to $7m, Murdoch admitted that the free model is ‘malfunctioning‘. Put simply, there aren’t enough adverts to pay for the content.
Meanwhile Murdoch’s own freesheet, TheLondonPaper, recently announced losses of £12.96m for the last year – down from £16.48m in its first year, but still a nasty red mark on News International’s books.
Fortunately Murdoch has deep pockets – as do his rivals at Associated, which publishes London Lite. Which is bad news for the UK’s other newspapers, already struggling with high costs, plunging ad revenues and falling circulations.
No Auntie, we won’t pay more for iPlayer
The popularity of iPlayer has led BBC technology chief Erik Huggers to suggest that we should pay for a separate licence fee to use it.
In your dreams, Mr Huggers – the Beeb is already sitting on a guaranteed income from our license fee. Which means that rarest of things – a video site with a business model.
My opinion piece on The Evening Standard site
The Evening Standard asked me to write a column about this. I happily agreed.
You can read my BBC iPlayer column “Stope whingeing, Auntie” over at the Evening Standard site.