Posts Tagged iPhone 4
Droid X vs iPhone 4: A Play in Pictures
Posted by tloverro in Apple, Google, Marketing, Mobile, Operating Systems, Technology on June 21, 2010
Did you guys hear? OMFG! The new Droid X has an HDMI output! H-D-M-I OUT-PUT!!!!!!! Magic cakes!!!!!!! Isn’t that a useful feature!
Oh, hey there Grandma! I know you’ve been jonesing for HDMI output on your phone because you totally know what that means and spent the $80 a normal retailer charges for an HDMI cable. And what’s that? You even bought the hard to find mini-HDMI adapter? Radical! Oh and I bet it’s easy, like falling off a log, to set up. Ohh nooeess!!! It’s notttttt?!
This is what using HDMI on an Android phone is actually like according to the tech savy, professional gadget blogging CNET:
After spending some time encoding various file formats and sizes, we found that MP4 movie files performed the most consistently. Also, files rendered closer to the Evo’s native 800×480 resolution worked best as larger videos stuttered and would not play properly on-screen.
Well, don’t worry about that Grandma! It’s a good thing we bought you all that file conversion software and that new Alienware gaming rig to convert your huge video collection to MP4 in your codec of choice. But wait! What’s that Grandma? You were actually hoping to show photos of your kids over HDMI? Well F*CK, apparently Android phones CAN’T do that. They can only use the HDMI output for the bundled video player and/or YouTube, so no luck. But don’t worry Grandma! You can still brag to all your friends that your phone rocks because it’s like totally open!!! Yay!!! And don’t be scared of that creepy robot eye either Grandma!
BUT OH WAIT. What’s this? The iPhone 4 has BABY-DMI Output! Oh SNAP! That phone just made a goddam baby! It’s miracle! Hallelujah!
And that dude is downloading the baby on his iPhone! Double snap!
No, I was wrong. That phone didn’t make that baby. That baby made that phone call. You can call MUTHAF*CK!N BABIES OVER VIDEOCHAT on the iPhone 4. And it’s so easy babies can make video calls.
Now’s that what I call a useful feature Grandma. So which would you rather have Grandma, the Droid X or the iPhone 4? Your call.
[Ed. Apologies for the uncharacteristically foul language in this post. The script demanded it.]
WWDC Keynote Analysis
Posted by tloverro in Apple, Google, Mobile, Operating Systems, Technology on June 8, 2010
Two parts of Steve’s WWDC Keynote yesterday stuck out in my mind:
1) iMove for iPhone: Embodies Why I Prefer iOS Over Android
When you look at iMovie for iOS you are not seeing a standalone app, but rather the embodiment of Apple’s vision of crafting the entire user experience all at once. Apple didn’t just throw a bunch of cool sounding hardware specs on a device like an Android device (ahem…HMDI out on HTC EVO?). Apple not only provided the better cameras and flash, but also the whole package by making iMovie for iPhone available–and it’s not just available it’s available at launch. That’s not to be underestimated because if it wasn’t delivered at launch or consumers were supposed to wait for a third party editor (and I would argue HD video has much less utility without cutting & editing), it would be a half-finished feature. I bet that when Android eventually copies Apple they’ll fully deliver on the hardware and the APIs but not the software, eg they’ll deliver a half-baked feature. Third party editors will eventually be available on Android but they’ll lack the integration and polish of iMovie for iPhone.
2) FaceTime
FaceTime is like a diamond mounted at that end of a 12 gauge shotgun. The video conferencing is just a shiny object distracting everyone, especially AT&T, from the real story. What is FaceTime with the video turned off? It’s an easier to use Skype that’s better integrated with your contacts in Address Book–and, oh yeah, it’s open. Eventually you’ll be calling iPads, computers, Android phones and everything else. So when the wi-fi restrictions are lifted, I hardly see a reason to ever place a call outside of FaceTime 
(except landlines? for now…). True, getting to that point would require some features and changes, but I think this is potentially where Apple is headed. There’s a good reason Apple didn’t put iChat on the iPhone. iChat’s user experience blows. Buddy lists? Needing people to be online? Come on. A phone should work like a goddam phone. Dial a number and brrring-brrring, beotch! That’s it. That’s how FaceTime works, but not Skype, not iChat. FaceTime might be the final straw that forces AT&T to realize they are an ISP, a packet jockey, and not a phone company. We’ve all been dreaming about video calling for so long that we were distracted from the real message: it’s not video conferencing, it’s IP calling. Video is a feature.
PS- So I guess Android 2.3/2.4 “Stay Puft” is going to require MEMS gryoscopes, 326+ pixels/sq inch displays,a forward facing camera, a rear facing camera, an LED flash and two mics? Seems like their laundry list of must-have features is going to get longer by the day if they are to avoid serious fragmentation (which I think they have thus far). I am not saying iOS is for everyone, just like OS X isn’t for everyone, but for my personal life I prefer things that “just work” even if I sacrifice some flexibility. It’s a trade off I make knowingly and willingly. (I used to go for customizable and complex 1994-2004, but then it just became too complex.) I can sum it up in saying: I want my iMovie for iPhone on day one.
