tech ronin

First Person Report on my new iPhone

Count me among the many who scored an iPhone last night. I was monitoring the iPhone news on the Net all day, gathering last minute information. Would the iPhone bomb! Would lines be endless?

The lines were not bad. I waited until initial reports came out from the first few East coast people with phones. Did they like them? People were saying really good things. I didn't want to buy a Newton 1 again and feel like I bought into the hype and got suckered.

So, I waited until 7:10 pm before driving over to my local Apple store which is about 8 miles away in Corte Madera. When I arrived, the line was about 80 feet long. It took about 45 minutes to get to the front of the line. Then another 10 minutes waiting in a line inside the store. People were incredibly excited and maybe a little tense.

I bought the phone in about 3 minutes at the counter. They had about 6 people set up to sell iPhones. Then, there was a little spot over on the side where you could check out iPhone cases and I checked those out briefly.

I liked the red In Case case but not well enough to forego a more thorough shopping effort. I really didn't want to sully my phone with a case that couldn't possibly look as good as the iPhone itself. I did buy a clear screen protector which I have not yet applied. A couple staff were taking your cards with their little portable machines. Most staff were just standing around or outside. I am sure they were completely exhausted.

So how is it? It is absolutely the most amazing cell phone ever by a mile. It is the most cool computer ever. It will rock the cell phone space.

I had a slight delay before activation took and I was able to place calls. I need to try the phone in various environments to tell whether it is as good a call quality as my BlackBerry Pearl but the first call was fine.

During the delay when I could not make calls, after about 5 minutes, I could use other features on the phone. When I synced, I could not use the phone. It didn't sync music, photos, podcasts, video, TV shows at all. That is a separate step because all the checkboxes for those syncs start out unchecked. That is good because it means you can do exactly what you want with that.

I am getting email but I was using IMAP access to my local email account and instead they are giving me POP access. I had both accounts in my Apple Mail, but the POP was inactive and the IMAP was active. Not sure why that happened. I will ask when I go to the Apple store tomorrow for two 1-hour iPhone classes. Hopefully, they will be able to get me on IMAP access.

I downloaded the 100+ page user manual you can download from the Apple site. I've read 44 pages in the manual so far. I recommend printing the manual in color, just cause.

Flipping through the addressbook is sooooo cool. The feel is fantastic.

Surfing the web isn't perfect but MUCH better than on my BlackBerry or Treo. I'm still learning also. I will get back on web surfing after a bit more time. One nice thing is my Safari bookmarks synced. What I saw when going into safari bookmarks was everything I had in the bookmarks bar. Just what I want. Of course, I use single letters for these things to fit more and here it would have been better to see the full names. Whatever.

I am able to use Google maps. I can put in bookmarks for whatever. I am hoping I can put a lot more than the 10 bookmarks I could get in my BBP.

I am expecting all sorts of interesting web and social networking services targeting the iPhone. The iPhone could drastically alter the web towards being mobile friendly.

Congratulations to Steve Jobs for getting AT&T to be in favor of wi-fi hotspots. The first carrier on the wi-fi side of that argument. I hope we see lots more hotspots so we can use wi-fi more and the slower EDGE less.

I had to pay $600 for the phone, a $36 activation fee (that will probably appear on my next AT&T bill) and I had to add 2 years to my AT&T service contract. That's expensive. What was not expensive is the monthly charges. I will be paying the same as before. Which is $20 for the data plan, $40 for my pre-existing 1000 anytime-minutes voice plan and $10 more for 1500 SMS messages. Like everyone else, I am not crazy about Apple withholding iChat and want that changed!!! I am sure this was a hard fought concession that Apple made to get other things they wanted like the wi-fi, the $20 data plan, etc..

As usual, these are first day reports. Typically, the enthusiasm dies down a bit as time goes by and you get used to things and start taking them for granted. But right now, I think a lot of people will buy these things. And a lot more will buy when the price goes down in 9-12 months.

Good news you may not have seen. At the Apple employee meeting on Thursday morning, Steve Jobs said there would be OS X-based iPods. I am very curious to see how those will be configured. Steve will not have to compromise to please AT&T but will still be dealing with record label push-back. When do we get downloading direct from iTunes? How about an SD card slot at some point?

I am more than pleased with what Apple has accomplished with this device. There are a few big compromises like non-removable battery, no iChat, EDGE instead of 3.5 G, AT&T-only, 2-year activation required, no activation discounts. These are big but we got lots and lots of goodies in exchange so to me the deal is well worth it.

Technorati Tags: Blackberry Pearl, iPhone

BlackBerry Pearl vs iPhone

I bought my BlackBerry Pearl in February. It has been a good device especially for email. But the iPhone represents an advance in the mobile phone world and I am seriously considering get one.

I thought it would be helpful to look at a comparison of the two devices. This is not the ultimate list. But a good start and you may find it helpful in your thinking:

These are two really cool devices. Pricewise, I would say the BlackBerry Pearl is a better deal. As Steve Jobs said, though, the iPod aspect of the device could be valued like a 4 gig Nano - about $200. That makes the price for the iPhone $300 - $400 which at least helps.

I am paying $30 a month for the data plan on the Pearl. I will plan to pay $30/mo for the data for the iPhone $20 for the internet and email and $10 for extra text messages.

A few more subjective ratings:

This is just part of the picture.

Technorati Tags: Blackberry Pearl, iPhone

iPhone Story Keeps Getting Better

Last week, Apple re-did their entire website. It is way improved with tons of motion. Things pop-up, slide, roll up and down and play. The iPhone section has 2-minute QuickTours. In the Internet in your Pocket section, there are 5 QuickTours.

As of Monday, the iPhone got an optical glass top layer instead of plastic. It also got a much improved battery life going from 5 to 8 hours of talk time. And, one more thing, you can buy your iPhone on Apple's online store, eliminating long waits in line.

Today, it got YouTube. All the technorati have been wondering what the missing 12th button might be. In at least one demo, there was a 12th button but you couldn't see what it was. You can not only watch YouTube videos, you can instantly send links to your friends by email.

Now we know. Maybe Apple is done with surprises. But, I doubt it. My guess is the story will continue to get better right up to launch day. I wonder what is next?

To iPhone or Not?

The painful memories of looking forward to and being disappointed by the first Newton still affect my thinking on whether or not to get in line and buy an iPhone next week. I am an optimist and a technology enthusiast.

I am strongly tempted to get in that line Friday the 29th. I am watching all the tech sites, gathering information here and there.

Newton 1.0 didn't have the best handwriting recognition but I could live with that. What didn't work is that when I put in 50 contacts, it got slow. Unusably slow.

Steve was not at the helm when the Newton was released. In fact, he killed the Newton project. Maybe he deserves a free pass on the failure of the Newton. Steve is the most competitive, perfectionistic tech exec out there. He is betting the company on the iPhone or close to it and I don't see him letting it fail.

However, I am a techie. I know the advice and have given it often to not buy a 1.0 device or OS. Wait awhile to see how things shake out the first couple of weeks and months. But, of course, being a blogger and tech professional, I often break the rule so that I can better advise my clients.

I want to know what it is like to use an iPhone. I want to see how well it will work for me. Whether it is better than my BlackBerry Pearl by leaps and bounds.

Since I bought the Pearl in February, I am in a bit of jam when it comes to signing another 2 year contract. I will be studying the details in the days before launch to see what my cost would be to get an iPhone right out of the gate.

The TV ads and the iPhone demos on the Apple site look awesome. I am sure next week I will be swept up in the excitement and be sorely tempted. And yet, I am not looking forward to waiting in line for hours on end and then finding out that the cost is too high or the store I choose has run out.

OS X on a mobile phone seems amazingly cool. I am one of those who believe the mobile phone is the next computing platform of interest. The always-on connectivity and the universality of cell phones is getting to a tipping point that I am sure will produce all sorts of cool stuff.

I want to lead the pack ahead of the next guy, rather than sit on my hands next week and wish I were one of the lucky first adopters.

By the way, I sold 1/2 of my Apple stock Monday morning. I was nervous and wanted to take some profits (4x since I bought in 02 or so). But, I didn't want to miss out on what could be a sky high stock price as the impact of all the ads and hoopla hit a crescendo next week. I may sell another 1/4 on launch day. I'll see how I feel. Lick my finger and stick it in the air. You know the drill.

I am worried about the possibility that the keyboard will suck. I have used a Treo 650 and a BlackBerry Pearl. Can I appreciate and tolerate or even enjoy the iPhone touchpad keyboard? What is your advice? Are you there in the line next week?

UPDATE Jun 19 5:08 pm
Ooh. Apple's latest press release says you can buy an iPhone on the Apple Online store. Waiting in line is not required.

Disappointing WWDC Keynote

Everything is going to be OK. Apple is doing fabulously. And, I was disappointed with the WWDC keynote.

I was in a good mood for a while, but by the end of the keynote, the stock was down 5 points (I own about $20k in Apple stock) and I was not excited anymore. Maybe it was pre-buyer's remorse, but here are some of the downsides I reacted to.

Worst thing. The way Steve Jobs told developers that there is no software development kit for iPhone because developers can just write web 2.0 and AJAX applications. Yes Web 2.0 is all the rage and I think this may be a good decision on Apple's part. I just felt these loyal developers needed at least a bit of hand-holding on this subject. I'm sure they felt locked out of the iPhone right about then. Steve got off the stage ASAP.

The fact is, this was a marketing event. The keynote is available on the Apple site and anything negative was not going to be included in the keynote. Not when iPhone is the subject of conversation anyway. So, I guess, the geeks shouldn't take it personally.

Blooper. When the Apple guy demonstrating something on the iPhone had trouble typing a word on the iPhone. All he had to do was type one word and he mumbled -- if I can just type correctly... (or something to that effect).

New Desktop? Compare this to the launch of OS X. I'm with the that's it? group. I like the little tray with 3D icons dock. It is different and probably cooler to look at. Too bad I am a hardcore dock-on-the-left person. Guess I can change...

Coverflow in the Finder. That's a big change if it turns out to be useful. I will let you know on that one. It definitely is a cool feature to brag about. Is that why it is here?

Finder iTunes look. Looks good. But not sure I want the Finder to be like iTunes. I am not in love with the iTunes UI. Steve said a 100 million people already know it. I guess that means maybe this will help lower the learning curve for switchers.

Quick Look. I like it. I hope it works as good as it looked in the demo.

I was all gung ho about Tiger before it was released. Now, I am not particularly enamored of Spotlight and hardly ever use widgets. I used to have a lot of widgets but it took forever for them to load when I switched to dashboard. I have only 7 widgets now and I hit the F12 key a while ago and some of the widgets are still loading.

After my less than stellar Tiger experience, I am a little gunshy about Leopard. But it looks a little like Apple's best-of-the-best talent is working elsewhere. Steve said he pulled some quality control people over to the iPhone team. Who else did he pull?

The hottest guys and gals are over working on iPhone. They sure were not working on AppleTV from what I can tell (Steve calls the AppleTV a hobby).

Steve's devil-in-the-details attention drives Apple to achieve great things. Having at least 5 major balls in the air is not easy (Macs, OS X Leopard, iPod/iTunes, iPhone, AppleTV).

Steve has so far proven to be a great juggler and I still think all this will be pulled off remarkably well. There is a reason the stock price is way high and analysts, post-WWDC, are projecting even higher target stock prices. But, the WWDC keynote didn't make my day.

Palm Foleo Cheap Ultralight Notebook

The Palm Foleo was not on anyone's radar. People were actually angry because of being so disappointed that the new device is not a handheld. I was one of those people.

Jeff Hawkins invented the Palm Pilot. He invented the Treo. The guy is a visionary. The Foleo was code-named "the Hawk". Everyone was cautiously hoping for an innovative handheld device that would blow them away.

The Hawk turns out to be a small, low-powered Linux-based notebook. Palm loyalists were shocked and discouraged. They fear that the Foleo will be DOA and be the last nail in Palm's coffin.

But, what does the Foleo have going for it? Did Jeff Hawkins completely miss the mark this time?

Maybe. Maybe not. The Palm Foleo is light, has long battery life and is cheap. It is a handheld-like notebook. A light, literally and figuratively, notebook with instant on, instant app switching.

As light and simple as it is, it can still run the Opera web-browser and give you access to all the information and applications on the web. You get internet access through either its built-in wi-fi or through a dead-simple Bluetooth connection to your smartphone (Palm says they plan to make it compatible with feature phones as well in time).

We know that people do not carry their laptops around all the time. If they do, they either are really large humans, have a little cart that they drag along as they go through their lives or they can afford a tiny Sony Vaio or something. Emphasis on the word afford.

Here we have a device for $500 that gives you that middle device I have been wanting. The small-enough device that is bigger than a handheld to give you a lot more screen real estate and comfortable typing.

What Palm is hoping is that the Foleo will have enough plusses to attract a large following once people get used to the idea. I think Palm has a decent shot for a number of reasons:

It is cheap and light, the other ultraportable notebooks cost 3-5x more. That is major. Normal people who do not have money coming out of their ears can afford to buy one.

It is simple. Palm is keeping simplicity and they think computers are too complicated. They think that when you go mobile, you can get by with the basics plus the internet.

It is instant on. Instant on changes the game and that has been witnessed in the PDA, smartphone world.

It is mobile-centric. They think we in the US are living in a PC-centric world and the world (including eventually the US bringing up the rear) is going mobile-centric. Lots of the rest of the world gets by with a tiny screen on a handheld as their interface to their personal computer (cell phone).

I believe that Palm is showing off the Foleo a bit early to see if they can ride on the iPhone's coat tails. The problem with that is that, the iPhone looks to be the ultimate sexy device and people immediately get it. A ton of iPod owners would want it simply because it is a much cooler iPod. The foleo may be buried in all the iPhone hype. The comparison between the Foleo and iPhone will not be pretty.

Secondly, the Palm OS that runs on Treos and other Palms is this ancient thing that has been out for years. They missed a few software upgrade cycles and are eager to show off something based on Linux since Palm-fans are tired of waiting for their new Linux-based OS.

We'll see whether the Foleo can survive long enough to find its audience. Will Palm survive that long?

Surface Computing, Bring it On!

Last week, Microsoft unveiled Surface Computing at the D (All things Digital) conference. The demos were great. The UI is one of my main areas of interest in computing. Augmenting human talents. Using your finger or hands to move things seems like a really good way to unlock our amazing spatial intelligence. While the left brain is kept in its place, all sorts of possibilities emerge.

Of course, this is all vaporware right now. Undoubtedly it is being rushed out in response to the imminent release of the iPhone (June 29th according to the new ads). But, whatever. Give me goodies like surface computing that extend the boundaries of what we think a computer can do.

I would love to have one. Here's how I would want to use one. In consulting with a client. We sit side by side or across from each other with the coffee table right there. We move stuff around, pull things out, zoom in, get creative. Microsoft says this is a new paradigm. Yeah! Make information exploration more like a sport. Use all that native intelligence that computers have not yet tapped.

OK. It's not Minority Report. I just watched the movie on TV the other night. Wonderful technology that. I love the way you could shove stuff out of the way. Actually, the shoving, pushing and *throwing* you will do as you flip through images, albums and contacts on an iPhone will be a lot like that. Just a lot more portable with a smaller screen.

Obviously travel agents could have you come in and work with them on one of these. Or career counselors working with you around your skills, interests, abilities vis-a-vis careers, industries and opportunities. Or how about boomer retirement planning? Investment counseling. Or where to live? I would love one of these things.

I doubt that I am the only software developer who has imagined or wanted something like this for a long time. Kind of like knowing that eventually we would have our music collections on hard drives.

The plan is first to introduce this for commercial purposes at somewhere between $5000 and $10000. And eventually drive the cost down enough to release it as a more affordable offering.

After that we get lots of surfaces in the house with these kinds of smart, interactive, touch screens. In the hallways. Score one for Microsoft!