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iPhone iNsanity: Musings and a Wishlist
July 21, 2008
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve been virtually surrounded with iPhone news, reviews, and general hysteria for the last few days. That’s completely understandable, because the Apple iPhone is certainly revolutionizing the industry. No other mobile phone has generated such widespread interest (or such long lines) so it’s almost impossible NOT to pay attention. In many ways, the iPhone is revolutionary because it is such a great example of how elegant and easy to use consumer devices should be. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for the actual process of getting an iPhone, due to limited supply and occasional inaccuracies with Apple’s availability matrix.
I have an iPod Touch, so I won’t be joining the insanity this time around—with the $10 software update, I have access to the App Store and some of the other improvements, and I’ll be reviewing some of those applications here on this site. Several established mobile developers such as Ilium Software, Red Mercury, and Stand Alone have joined the fray, and some big companies have also gotten involved, mainly in the games category.
Many writers have already mentioned the fact that this looks a lot like Palm a few years ago—a big launch of a cool new device that causes an “economy” of developers to spring up around it. We’ve already seen this with iPod accessories and there doesn’t seem to be any sign of that slowing down any time soon. My hope though is that the quality applications will quickly rise to the top—the one troubling aspect of Apple’s App Store is that while people can post reviews of applications, there is no way to actually try an application before purchase.
Speaking of Palm, one of the more pleasing aspects of the iPhone/iPod Touch is the ability to use it as a replacement for a traditional PDA, since it now syncs with Microsoft Outlook (or you can sign up for Apple’s MobileMe service). I have been pleasantly surprised by how bulletproof and trouble-free the synchronization process is; just plug in the device and wait for iTunes to do its magic. It takes a bit longer than synchronizing my ancient Dell Axim, but I haven’t had any strange crashes or random error codes either. I’ve had fairly good luck with ActiveSync, but I’ve also had a few bizarre problems that caused reinstalls, forced me to change firewall applications, and the like.
The Touch does just about everything I need it to do, and does it well—especially when it comes to browsing the web. I use the web version of GMail (insead of the built-in Mail app), Google Reader, webmail for this site and for the various forums and blogs I frequent. Safari on the Touch simply trounces any other mobile browser I’ve used, and it easily handles some things I could never do on my Dell Axim, like logging into my bank’s home banking site, making purchases on eBay and other sites, etc. No muss, no fuss, it just works—and I find myself using the Touch as an Internet tablet at home instead of pulling out the laptop!
Of course the experience isn’t perfect, and both Apple and third party developers need to enhance a few things. Apple needs to enable both Task and Note syncing through iTunes. Calendar and Contacts already works flawlessly (though I wish that I could specify specific categories, instead of all-or-nothing sync) and there’s no reason at all why the same can’t be done for the rest of the PIM applications. I’ve created a clumsy workaround by creating all-day calendar events for my task list, as well as some reference notes I need for work, but it’s a stopgap measure at best.
Third party developers have mostly met my needs on the Touch. I’m not loading up on a ton of applications, but eReader and SplashID are enough to keep me happy until ListPro is available (the developer is working on it now). But I still need a good TV application for the iPhone/iPod Touch. One of my most-used PDA applications is the (sadly orphaned) Pocket TV Browser from DoubleBit Software. Along with a Schedules Direct subscription ($20 a year) I can download up to 14 days of listings at a time, customized with the channel numbers and programming for my area. I can easily see listings by time or channel, mark favorite programs, get future showtimes in case I miss an episode or a movie (I’m still stuck in the dark ages without Tivo), even tap on an actor’s name in a plot summary and instantly see what other movies and shows in which they have a role.
I’m not expecting anything quite that fancy for the iPhone/iPod Touch, but I’m sure that someone out there can come up with at least a basic listings application that isn’t so bloated with advertising as to be completely useless (I’m looking at you, TVGuide.com). The TV Forecast web application is a good start, but doesn’t offer listings or channel numbers. Perhaps I’m just too addicted to TV for my own good, but since the Apple App Store already has a couple of choices for our friends in Sweden and New Zealand I figure this isn’t completely outside the realm of possibility.
I’m still a bit jealous of my iPhone-toting pals, but I couldn’t justify the cost of the upgrade and the monthly service when I already have an iPod Touch and a much cheaper monthly contract with Verizon. Hopefully the next iPhone will have an improved camera and go back to the much easier home activation setup instead of requiring folks to stand in line for hours on end—I doubt I’ll be able to resist the next time around.
