CityBlogz Design Studio / Blog

Check out this new video clip on YouTube about the new S60 platform for Nokia and other Symbian based handsets. It’s looking like the iPhone is finally getting a run for its money.

I finally bought an iPhone! Here are list of pros and cons that I have experienced thus far.

Pros

• Mobile Safari web browser using Wi-Fi or EDGE. You can surf the web just as on a desktop, or you can go to iPhone specific sites that really customize the web browsing experience.
• Everything you can find in an iPod, plus a mobile phone.
• The thin form factor and profile is elegant and makes it feel like you’re holding something luxurious.
• Photos taken from camera are surprisingly good. Viewing photos on an iPhone is a joy.
• Syncing all your songs, podcasts, photos, contacts, and calendar with iTunes is a breeze and brain-dead easy.
• Wi-Fi Music Store. This is really a long time coming. Basically, if you happen to be at a coffee shop (i.e. StarBucks), and you like a song thats playing there, you can connect to the Wi-Fi Music Store and purchase it on the spot. To me, thats the future of how people will discover new music instead of traditionally on the radio.
• An active iPhone hacker community.

Cons

• No GPS. The Google Maps application is great, but without GPS you need a copilot with you when you are driving in order for it to work. Plus, it doesn’t cache any of the maps. So if you are in an area without any network connectivity, you are pretty much hosed.
• No wireless sync. This is something that Zune2 got right.
• Can’t record video.
• No real 3rd party apps (no access to local storage and other advanced hardware features). UPDATE: See later post about Steve Jobs change of heart.
• No disk mode. Basically, you can’t use it as a flash drive as you used to be able to do with the iPod video.
• Have to pay an extra $0.99 for a ringtone version of a song that you purchased at the iTunes store already. Ringtone maker won’t work with MP3s or AAC files that you ripped from CDs.
• No external battery. Must recharge.
• Headphone jack is not compatible with other head phone makers. Duh!
• Locked only to AT&T service provider for 2 years. There is a simple work-around to choose the Go-Phone Prepaid plans that have no contract obligations. Just make sure to call 611 to cancel automatic monthly refills, and you’ll have a really expensive Go-Phone in your hands.
• Apple and AT&T are becoming NOT so consumer-friendly. Just lookup the all the bad rap they are getting with their intentional “bricking” of iPhones and the really bad AT&T customer service.

Ok. There are more cons than pros, but that’s the price you pay for being an Apple fanboy. For an alternative smartphone go check out the Nokia N95 8GB version. At the moment, its not available in North America and the price tag is $200 more than an iPhone.

We are getting close to the launch of the iPhone and there is no shortage of media coverage. At least we are getting some constructive criticisms along with the praises. Here’s a listing of some of the coverage that I’ve been reading…

• Zec Online Journal: Steve Jobs doesn’t understand mobility
• Steve Jobs Answers Walt’s iPhone Questions
• The iPhone’s Camera: Great Under Ample Light
• Finally Confirmed: What the iPhone Doesn’t Have

I have one comment about the iPhone’s announced rate plans. It works out the same as the current Cingular/AT&T voice plans plus the $19.99 unlimited data plan. There were rumblings that Apple and Cingular/AT&T would make it more expensive, but I think it was a wise decision not to charge more.

Zec from Zec Online Journal wrote about a new concept from Nokia demonstrated at MobileCamp event in New York for the first time – Nokia Mobile Web Server:

It’s the concept of serving web pages directly from a mobile phone connected to the network.

The plan is that every mobile web server will be provided with global URL.

If every mobile phone or even every smartphone initially, is equipped with a webserver then very quickly many websites will reside on mobile phones. That is bound to have some impact not only on how mobile phones are perceived but also on how the web evolves.

Further reading at the Nokia OpenSource Wiki – Mobile Web Server describes some very interesting scenarios for possible use cases. In particular, one such scenario:

When every phone has a URL and there is a web service interface to calendar, it becomes straightforward to create a peer-2-peer based distributed calendar application without any centralized server.

This is really really cool stuff coming up. Can’t wait to see how this pans out.