iPhone Update 8

Don’t go getting all excited because it still hasn’t turned up! Posted on the 27th with a 6-10 day schedule today is Day 9 if you don’t count weekends and Day 13 if you don’t!! Up until now I hadn’t counted!

I have to confess to feeling totally apathetic about it at the moment! Normally with purchases I would be reluctant to leave the house, would be keeping an eye out for the post lady, would be going to sleep in the anticipation that it would be delivered the next day, basically acting like a big kid! I have non of that at all at the moment, and it is hard to explain why.

I think it is because deep down I am expecting not to use it that much and not to be blown away by it. I have no real need for it as a phone as I have said ad nauseam and I am slowly becoming somewhat less fanatical about ‘Apple for Apple’s sake’. This is sort of a anti reaction to all the ‘fanboys’ who can’t get beyond the ‘Yeah it’s Apple, Yeah it’s great, Nope I can’t expand on that with any form of logical argument’ type of communication that is flying around more and more.

Maybe I still feel ill from yesterday, maybe I am just getting old, or maybe I am actually starting too see the wood from the trees? Who knows? Who cares?

I am off out to lunch now free of any worries or concerns that the post will come while I am away!

21 thoughts on “iPhone Update 8

  1. Dunks

    Interesting – in some ways I’m excited about the iPhone release in the UK but I have had ‘iPhone’ overload and a lot of the “Mac-centric” podcasts I listen to have stopped being about apple with all its hardware and the software available and become ‘iPhone’ podcasts. It’s begun to frustrate me to the extent that I’m becoming ‘anti-iPhone’.

    Having said that I was in my local apple store at the weekend and got to try an ipod touch. If I could add events to the calendar and it had a to-do list then I would have one – no question.

  2. Mac Sokulski

    For me also this is the only thing that stops me from getting the Touch. I don’t really care about email, but an editable calendar and notepad is a must.

  3. Dunks

    Ah – thats what I wanted to hear. I asked the guy at the apple store who thought this was to be the case. I was really impressed by the rest of the features and the form factor. Typing took a bit of getting used to but hey I cope with a blackberry and previously a Treo so that should be fine.

    Thanks for that link Chris.

  4. Dunks

    lol!!

    @Mac: ‘…don’t really care about email’ – have not heard many people say they are not bothered about the email aspect of the iPhone/iPod Touch – is that because you are near a laptop/pc all day?

  5. Mac Sokulski

    @ Dunks
    you ave absolutely correct. Because the Touch only has wifi, I can only use the net while in “range” of a hotspot. So the email becomes pointless, and safari can be used for that if it’s necessary. I don’t use email that much, for all my critical server monitoring I use sms. Much quicker. Editing calendar and a simple notepad would be very very usefull, and could essentially replace my aging palm. Now if someone ported yojimbo to touch/iphone with full sync capabilities……ah sorry dreaming again

  6. Chris Marshall Post author

    To be honest unless it is an emergency I will only be using the iPhone that way as well i.e. when I pick up a free hotspot or friends WiFi.

    Once Mac’s dreams are fulfilled I think I would swap Sands Palm T3 for a iPod Touch for her as well.

  7. Dunks

    @Mac: Now then Yojimbo. I’m still in my infancy with using this but can already see the potential. That would be a great dream to come true.

    @all: Keep forgetting that email access on the iPod touch would be via webmail only. Now regretting I didn’t try .mac mail on the demo model I tried. I’d be interested to see how that and gmail worked. Some reports online are not so favourable and apple has stated that email is not a feature destined for the iPod touch as it sees it as an entertainment device as opposed to communication device.

  8. Chris Marshall Post author

    I know this isn’t true but at the time of the iPod Touch launch I said that it wasn’t a surprise at all as it felt like a “we have the technology now from the iPhone so me may as well” type of product, rather than a strategically placed product.

    Add to that the faulty screens and bug in the software regards the data entry and we have another well thought out product 🙂

  9. Dunks

    I’d be interested to see stats on the number of people who utilise a PDA daily as opposed to a smart phone. Is there a need for a more strategically placed PDA without phone capabilities? Obviously there is to us but maybe we are a minority.

    On reflection, yeah the iPod Touch does seem to have been ‘rushed’ out on the back of the iPhone, unless they have plans for an ‘in between’ iPDA with all the bells and whistles minus phone!!

  10. Mac Sokulski

    I heard or read somewhere, that people are moving more towards smart phones. Unfortunatelly there is not a lot to choose from. Windows Mobile smart phones are absolute crap (this is from experience of owning one). The OS is clunky, slow, and writen by someone who had no idea what a smart phone should be able to do. Then there is Palm Treo. A lot better then windows, but still clunky and slow. Prone to crashes and unpredicable weirdness (this is also from experience). Blackberry’s I never tried so I can voice my opinion on them, and the iPhone, which I haven’t tried either. Personally I use two devices a phone and a pda. It gives me a feeling of security, that if my pda dies I still have everything on the phone, and vice versa. Paranoid? Yep, but I lost data from a phone/pda device too many times. So 2 devices for me….. then again I’m definately not the norm.

  11. Dunks

    Ditto on the Treo (had a 600 & 650) both worked ok but prone to weird crashes. Moved to a Windows Smartphone – awful (iMate Kjam).

    Now on a blackberry 8800 and so far best of the bunch. Interface is a bit clunky in places. Sync using ‘Missing Sync’ which works better than Palm sync software with the Treo’s and much better than ‘Missing Sync’ for the Windows smartphone. Really toyed between the smaller ‘Pearl’ which added a camera and smaller form factor but plumped for the big brother in the 8800 which lacks a camera (no big deal) but gains the full size (small!) Blackberry keyboard.

    Like you I’d like the security and flexibility of a iPod Touch (with full pda features!!) and the blackberry but keep the 8800 for phone duties predominantly.

  12. Chris Marshall Post author

    Well I have used a Treo, BlackBerry and iPAQ and I can say in all honesty that none of them come close to doing the job!

    This whole area falls in the ‘technology for technology’sake as far as I can see. Sure an electronic diary and address book is great, and a good phone is essential, but I am not the biggest convergence fan.

    Even when I was working full time I always felt that it was a case of square peg and round hole when it came to any type of PDA, SmartPhone etc.

    When I had a paper diary and address book and a phone that only made phone calls I am not sure I was any more or less productive to be honest!!

  13. Mac Sokulski

    Having an all-in-one device makes it diffult to write notes or appoitments when talking on the phone. That’s why I always prefered a separate phone and pda/pen and paper. Don’t get me wrong it’s nice to have a phone with a calendar that can sync to your computer, but it’s not essential. I’m following the progress of hacking the touch with great interest. This really would be a cool pda.

  14. Chris Marshall Post author

    That has always been my point. ‘Usually’ when someone wants to know if I am free they phone me, so how do I know if my diary is stuck to my ear as I talk to them!!!

    I find a diary on the phone the same as a clock – useful at times for the convenience, but not essential.

  15. Dunks

    Was back in town today so went back to the Apple Store and tried the iPod Touch again using gmail. The internet connection was very slow – I assume this was due to the number of machines in the store using the wireless connection. It was also not massively easy to enter the passwords etc onto the login page in landscape mode as the keyboard covered so much of the page and at times the actual login box. I then struggled to actually connect. I’m not sure if this was to do with Apple ensuring people don’t use the display devices for this type of activity.

    I can see why there have been some less positive comments on its use and it has made me rethink purchasing one.

  16. Chris Marshall Post author

    Now that is a good point. I have a feeling that a LOT of people buy new Mac stuff without trying it – as soon as it is announced they buy blind online.

    As with many things I reckon that if you don’t buy straight away on impulse or at the height of emotion the longer it goes on the less likely it is that you will buy.

  17. Dunks

    [quote comment=”13334″]…if you don’t buy straight away on impulse or at the height of emotion the longer it goes on the less likely it is that you will buy.[/quote]

    Absolutely! If I was a wealthy man I’d probably have picked up an iPod Touch without questioning it and be annoyed with the limitations.

    However, not being able to grab one off the shelf has left me really thinking about wether I want to save for a couple of months and get one. This has given me time to really think about the feature set and luckily having an Apple store close means i can test it out.

    I am still considering one but I’d like the add event situation to be sorted and I’d really like to be able to pick up email via a dedicated app. To this end it will either have to be an iPhone or wait for future revisions of the touch to see if more functionality trickles down.

  18. Chris Marshall Post author

    Well it is funny – all the ‘old heads’ say don’t ever by a V1 of any new Apple product, yet all the Fanboys just can’t keep on rushing in!!

    Old advice I am sure – but waiting never does you any harm when it comes to technolgy really!

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