Apple iPhone Part V - The Verdict

with that. The little excitement we derived for that short period will be forever embedded in our memories. Maybe, not too deep though. But what we’re here to tell you, finally, is whether or not the iPhone is all it’s cracked up to be or just, ho hum, another phone that’s got something new. We looked at it from all angles and here’s what we have to say.

Design and Interface
Let’s start off with the design and interface. We like it! It’s sleek, it’s sexy and even though it’s a bit thin (not too anorexic) it’s light and really easy to use. The singular button only simplifies the whole usage of this device. Having a scratch resistant large display is a bonus, so ladies, go ahead, keep those nails long, it don’t matter. What makes the iPhone really stand out is, of course, the fantastic interface with Apple’s ‘Cover Flow’ technology incorporated. It’s awesome and extremely easy to use and navigate through. This is something unlike any touch screen device you have ever come across. What we did find that didn’t bode too well with us was the onscreen keyboard. The letters are too close together and you would end up typing the wrong alphabet more times than you’d want. Till you get used to it of course.

But from Internet usage to scrolling through the menus to moving through videos and music in the iPod music player it was a pleasure to work with. The idea for simply using your fingers instead of worrying about losing a stylus is a great idea. All this makes the iPhone extremely user friendly. We gave it a 4 in this section.

Media
I must have said this enough already, but let me stress one last time that through their latest offering — the iPhone — Apple has the first step towards a different direction with regards to interactivity in mobile phones. To have the legendary iPod bundled with a phone, I’m sure some of us have wondered if it was a possibility. And sure enough, the iPhone is just that reality. We have to give points to the iPhone for integrating a great music player, and we definitely like what we saw. But the iPod application we are talking about goes one step ahead, and offers more in terms of how well you interact with your player. We like the Cover Flow system that allows you to graphically engage yourself with the playlists and the album artwork.

While it’s great to have speakers to what seems like the next generation iPod, the speakers themselves do absolutely no justice to the quality of the application. In today’s day and age, we are constantly looking towards simplifying things, yet Apple’s inclination to weigh their customers down with an ‘iTunes’ only attitude is only making them take a step forward and sleepwalk back again. But because of the sound quality and interactivity with the player itself, we thought it quite right to give it a 4 rating in this part.

Features and Connectivity
In the third segment in the iPhone’s dissection, we checked out the features that this device offers. Sadly we were quite disappointed. Although the technology may be state-of-the-art, the features that Apple has incorporated fell extremely short of our expectations. Features like the weather and stock market application may be cool to have but are not entirely necessary. Working with what’s already there is great but that’s only because of the user-friendly interface. But the iPhone offers nothing else nor anything new in terms of software. Though having a large screen and Google Maps is awesome. Other features are pretty average and include reminders, a World Clock, calculator, a timer, stopwatch and all other such functions you’ll find in any normal phone.

Connectivity wise the iPhone’s mediocrity is sad realization. Using the large screen with Apple’s gyroscopic technology that allows you to merely tilt the phone to switch to landscape mode, is really handy when you’re surfing the Internet. The simple pinch-to-zoom feature also helps to make the images or lettering more comfortable for viewing. The Wi-Fi feature is a definite plus for quick connectivity. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t seem to work the Bluetooth function at all. It refused to find devices and devices somehow felt the neglect and failed to locate the iPhone as well. There’s also no option for sending files via Bluetooth or MMS for that matter. Just via email. Something else the iPhone lacks – A2DP support. But the dedicated YouTube feature is also another plus point for the iPhone. So all we could give it is a 3 here.

Camera
The iPhone boasts of a camera that seems to be present more for the sake of it than for any real use. I like the way clicking pictures on the iPhone feels. A largish screen makes it all the more worthwhile. I also love the animated shutter. But we also have to take into account that the camera comes without a flash or any options for adjusting any settings.

The 2MP camera also doesn’t allow video recording. I mean, even the oldest phones with a VGA camera could manage videos. This is one of the major drawbacks. When it comes to performance, we like the way the pictures were taken. Colors are vibrant, with some gradation issues, but it has a decent camera all in all. Still, the camera will disappoint you if you intend to use the pictures for anything but for web purposes or within the phone itself. So we thought it best to award it a 3.5 for the camera.

What’s Lacking
The iPhone may seem like ‘All Dat’, but here’s what it lacks –
1. You can’t use your music files as ringtones and the inbuilt ringtones, are just plain Blah.
2. The iPhone doesn’t have Stereo Bluetooth support (A2DP). Nor does there seem to be any option for transferring files via Bluetooth or connecting it to the PC via the same.
3. The speakerphone is too darn low.
4. It has no FM radio and no inbuilt games. What will we do to pass the time while commuting?
5. The 2 megapixel camera has no settings whatsoever and doesn’t record video.
6. When the iPhone is hooked up to your PC only the image library opens up to either remove or add pictures. There’s no other option for a drive for data.
7. There doesn’t seem to be any option for sending images via MMS, only email.
8. There doesn’t seem to be any option for reading office documents either.
9. You can sync the iPhone only to one PC unless you’d like to loose all your information
10. The earphone slot is a bit odd to use with normal 3.5mm jack earphones.

Bottom Line


Here’s the verdict. The iPhone incorporates some of the most amazing technology we’ve come across. It’s a damn good-looking phone as well with a bright interface and Apple’s Cover Flow and gyroscopic technology that make maneuverability really easy. It has the most basic of applications for normal usage and a great media player with a large screen. The thing is, the iPhone makes even the most mundane apps look good. The Bluetooth issue could be just a problem with this one piece, we can give it that. But the lack of some of the most basic of features in a device termed as the ‘Jesus’ phone, leaves too much to be desired. Ok so this is round one, hopefully Apple will overhaul it in round two. Let’s hope so. But as it is, I’m afraid it wasn’t what we expected, perhaps that’s also because, it’s possible it was hyped a bit too much thereby increasing our expectations.

Windows Vista Taking its Toll on Users

Yes! Users and sellers have given a big boo to all the flavors of the latest operating system from Microsoft - Windows Vista. After the initial euphoria around it, their expensive piece of advice (read caution) is - ‘Stick to XP’!

Janak Mehta, Project Manager with, Adweb Tech Trade has been using Vista for the past four months now, as his notebook was bundled with the Windows Vista Professional Edition. He says, “It has been crashing ever since I have been on it and keeps asking silly questions, consuming my time.” Janak who is well-versed with programming and security related issues further said, “Agreed, it’s a highly secured OS, and might help novice users, but I will certainly not recommend this to my friends who know how to secure data and employ high-end applications.” He found that several of his programs and applications were not Vista compatible and had to continuously get online updates to move ahead in his projects.

It’s been six months since the most hyped OS from the global software giant was launched in India and most people we spoke to, have given their final verdict - A vehement No! to its Starter Edition, Professional, Premium or any edition you name.

Sony Unveils First U.S. Walkman Video Players

Sony today launched two new Walkman players that support both audio and video. The new NWZ-A810 and NWZ-S610 series of Walkman digital music players will support an open platform, providing more choices for downloading and managing music and video collections online.

"Our Walkman products offer great resolution, a bright screen, high-quality sound and a long battery life," said Brennan Mullin, vice president for audio products in the Digital Imaging and Audio Division at Sony Electronics. "We are providing our customers the choice to use multiple music sources."

The video players have a large Quarter Video Graphics Array (QVGA) LCD screen that displays video at 30 frames per second. QVGA is a display mode for small screens in which the resolution is 320 pixels vertically by 240 pixels horizontally.

According to Sony, the battery life allows up to eight hours of video playback for the NWZ-A810 series and nine-and-a-half hours for the NWZ-S610 series. The battery also provides up to 33 hours of music playback for both series.

The players support security-enhanced Windows Media Audio (WMA), as well as non-secure AAC and MP3 music formats, plus JPEG files for photos, in addition to the AVC (H.264/AVC) Baseline Profile and MPEG-4 video codecs.

For those who just want music sans video, Sony is also introducing the NWZ-B100 series. These audio players include USB direct connect, a three-line color LCD display and an FM tuner. They feature up to 12 hours of battery life. It's also equipped with FM recording capability and a voice recorder function with a built-in microphone.

In addition to supporting easy transfer of non-DRM content via drag and drop, this dedicated audio model will also support most subscription services. The players store up to 485 songs on the 2GB and 235 songs on the 1GB, for songs an average of four minutes in length at 128kbps in the MP3 format.

Nokia Announces Internet Service, Ovi

Nokia has introduced Ovi, its new Internet service, expanding from a focus on mobile devices to offering a range of Internet services.

Ovi, means 'door' in Finnish and looks to enable consumers to access their existing social network, communities and content, as well as act as a gateway to Nokia services.

As part of Ovi, Nokia announced the Nokia Music Store and N-Gage, two services that make it easy for people to discover, try and buy music and games from a range of artists and publishers, including exclusive content only available through Nokia.

Also under the Ovi umbrella is Nokia Maps, a navigation service that offers maps, city guides and more directly to compatible mobile devices.

Ovi is the gateway to Nokia's Internet services, including the Nokia Music Store, Nokia Maps, and N-Gage games. It will also be an open door to web communities, enabling people to access their content, communities and contacts from a single place, either directly from a compatible Nokia device or from a PC. The first version of Ovi.com is scheduled to go live in English during the fourth quarter of 2007 and additional features and languages expected to go live during the first half of 2008.

The Nokia Music Store offers millions of tracks from major artists, independent labels as well as a broad range of local artists from around the world. The store is accessible via a desktop computer or directly from a compatible Nokia device, such as the Nokia N81 or Nokia N95 8GB multimedia computer. Users can browse for new music, buy what they like or add a song to their wishlist to download later. Users can also transfer purchased songs to your mobile device and with the built-in music player, create playlists on the go.

The Nokia Music Store offers full track streaming on PCs as well as individual track and album purchase. The store opens across key European markets this fall with additional stores in Europe and Asia opening over the coming months. In Europe, individual tracks cost EUR 1.00 and albums from EUR 10.00, with a monthly subscription for PC streaming for EUR 10.00.

N-Gage allows users to find, try and buy games directly from compatible Nokia devices. By selecting the N-Gage application on compatible Nokia devices, users can preview available games, connect with friends, read reviews or download a free demo. They can buy games either with a credit card or by charging it to their monthly phone bill. The application is expected to be available for download from here in November 2007.

Volkswagen, Apple Heads Discuss 'iCar'

U.S. computer company Apple Inc. and German automaker Volkswagen AG are discussing the possibility of building an ''iCar'' which would feature products by the producer of the ubiquitous personal music player.

Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs and Volkswagen's chief Martin Winterkorn met several days ago in California, and plan to meet for further discussions, said Hans-Gerd Bode, a spokesman for VW.

There are ''scores of ideas,'' but few concrete plans at this point, Bode said.

Market experts have estimate that a compact car upgraded with Apple products would be of substantial interest to young target groups, according to German financial magazine Capital.

Apple Brings New iMacs to India

Apple today unveiled an all-in-one iMac range of desktop computers featuring 20 and 24-inch glossy widescreen displays.

"This new iMac is one of the most awaited models Apple has ever made," said Darren Sng, desktop product marketing manager, Apple Asia Pacific. "The computer has just three cables – one each for the power supply, keyboard and mouse unlike its competitors that have an untidy web of entangled wires," he added.

An optional wireless keyboard with a wireless mouse offers a cable-free desktop.

The 20-inch 2.0 GHz and 2.4 GHz iMac costs Rs. 64,600 and Rs. 80,300 respectively while the 24-inch 2.4 GHz iMac comes at a price of Rs. 96,100. Get the specifications of the iMacs here.

Every iMac includes iLife ’08 and iWork ’08 that costs Rs. 4,050 each. The cost of five user copies is available for Rs. 5,110.

iLife ’08 has two new features iPhoto ‘08 and iMovie ‘08. iPhoto ‘08 automatically organises photo libraries into Events to help users manage their growing number of pictures. iMovie ‘08 allows users to make movies at a much faster pace.

iWork ’08 has added a new feature Numbers ’08 that allows users to prepare spreadsheets. With multiple tables on a flexible canvas, users can now rearrange information, add and resize columns without breaking the spreadsheet.

Apple also announced .Mac Web Gallery that allows members to share pictures and movies directly from iLife ’08 with anyone on a Mac PC or the iPhone.

The subscribers can also download high quality images for printing and can contribute photos using a standard web browser or e-mail. The storage space for the .Mac Web Gallery is 10 GB as against the previous 1 GB capacity for individual members and 20 GB as against the previous 2 GB for family members. .Mac subscribers can send and receive e-mail attachment of a maximum size of 20 MB.

.Mac Subscription to .Mac Web Gallery is optional. The annual individual subscription fee is Rs. 4,800 and Rs. 8,710 for a family pack that includes one master account and four sub accounts. A free 60-day .Mac trail version is also available on www.mac.com.

iPhone Hackers Could Face Legal Battle

Hackers have figured out how to unleash Apple's iPhone from AT&T's cellular network, but people hoping to make money from the procedure could face legal problems.

At least one of the companies hoping to make money by unlocking iPhones said it is hesitating after calls from lawyers representing the phone company.

Unlocking the phone for one's own use, for instance to place calls with a different carrier, appears to be legal. But if it's done for financial gain, the legality is less certain.

''Whether people can make profits from software that hacks the iPhone is going to depend very much on exactly what was done to develop that software and what does that software do,'' said Bart Showalter, head of the Intellectual Property practice group at law firm Baker Botts in Dallas.

John McLaughlin of Uniquephones.com, an outfit based in Northern Ireland, said in a phone interview Wednesday that its unlocking software for iPhones is ready, but the company is holding off while it gets legal advice.

He said it had been contacted by lawyers from O'Melveny & Myers LLP, an international law firm representing AT&T, who told him the software contained material copyrighted by Apple Inc.

''They don't have it, so therefore they can't actually threaten us,'' McLaughlin said. ''It was 'friendly advice.'''

AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel and Apple spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock said their companies had nothing to say about the case.

Uniquephones.com had planned to release the software via iphoneunlocking.com. The price for people on its mailing list, which contained just fewer than half a million addresses, would be $25 per iPhone, McLaughlin said.

''From their e-mail addresses, they're from everywhere in the world,'' McLaughlin said. ''Everybody is just waiting for it.''

The iPhone is sold only in the U.S., and only for use on the AT&T network, but it is compatible with cell phone technology used around the world, which means an unlocked phone can use an overseas account and number. In the U.S., T-Mobile is the only other major carrier compatible with the iPhone; Sprint and Verizon Wireless use different network technologies.

Most U.S. phones are locked to their carrier when sold, because the carrier subsidizes the cost of the phone. The iPhone, however, is apparently not subsidized by AT&T.

Some carriers provide the unlock codes on request when a subscriber's contract expires, but that doesn't apply to the iPhone, and in any case, the phone only went on sale two months ago, while the minimum contract length is two years.

Another Web site, iphonesimfree.com, has said it plans to release iPhone unlocking software in a few days.

The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress last year issued a statement that unlocking cell phones was not a violation of copyright under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. That law has been used to go after software that copies DVDs.

But Tracfone Wireless LLC, a Florida-based company selling phones that use prepaid plans, won an injunction in February against a couple who bought its phones in large numbers and resold them unlocked.

The U.S. District Court in Orlando found that the DMCA exception did not apply to those unlocking a phone with the intent to resell it.

Bruce Sunstein, a patent lawyer with Boston-based Bromberg & Sunstein, said unlocking software could well stand up to a legal challenge.

''They're aiding and abetting something that's completely legal ... the exemption the Copyright Office created does not state that it applies only to the user,'' Sunstein said.

George Hotz, a 17-year-old in New Jersey who managed to unlock his iPhone last week, using both software and hardware modifications, tried to sell it on eBay but ended the auction after apparently fake bids send the price to $100 million.

Instead, Hotz traded the unlocked phone for ''a sweet Nissan 350Z'' and three iPhones, according to his blog.

Hotz made the deal with Terry Daidone, co-founder of CertiCell, a cell phone repair company in Louisville, Ky.

In a statement on his Web site, Daidone said he was ''keenly interested'' in having the teenager help his engineers modify phones, but does not have any plans to commercialize Hotz's unlocking procedure.

Microsoft to Release Vista Fixes in 2008

Microsoft Corp. said Wednesday it will release a major package of updates and fixes for the Windows Vista operating system in the first half of 2008.

The company said a ''beta'' test version of Service Pack 1 will be released ''in a few weeks to a moderate sized audience.'' The SP1 beta includes updates Microsoft has already made to the operating system it started selling to consumers at the end of January.

The service pack fixes some common problems that cause computers to crash or freeze, Microsoft said, including compatibility problems with some newer graphics cards, external monitors and printer drivers. Microsoft said it also fixed some problems users had with putting their PCs to sleep and waking them up again.

The company said SP1 is also expected to improve battery performance, increase the speed of copying files and help Internet Explorer run faster on Vista.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker said SP1 also brings several security improvements.

Microsoft said it expects to release Service Pack 3 for Windows XP, Vista's predecessor, in the first half of 2008 as well, but in a statement added that it ''should not significantly change the Windows XP experience.''

In the past, some of Microsoft's business clients used the release of a service pack as a sign that a new operating system was stable enough to install. Analysts have said Vista seems more reliable out of the box than past versions of Windows, and that businesses need not wait for the service pack.

Halo 3 Goes Gold

Bungie’s much awaited Halo 3 has finally gone gold and is well on track for its September 25th release date.

The wait is almost over. Halo 3, the final chapter in the groundbreaking Halo trilogy and the most anticipated game release of 2007, has been released to manufacturing. Three years in the making by renowned developer Bungie Studios, Halo 3 is now finished and will begin its journey to store shelves around the world in less than four weeks. Halo 3, which has already set new records as the fastest preordered game in history, has exceeded one million presales in North America alone. The title is set to shatter day-one entertainment sales records when it is released worldwide beginning Tuesday, Sept. 25.