I don’t care what anyone says, I will wait for a Google Android-powered mobile phone. As much as I’m drawn to Apple’s iPhone it’s too expensive, closed and there’s too much carrier lock-in. An Android-based device will give me the device I want, the way I want it, on the carrier I want. Now, that’s worth waiting for.
I’ve just spent a few minutes at the UK Apple online store IMing with a guy called Paddy who was able to confirm that the new iPod touch can download podcasts over wifi but only if you create the subscription on the device. It would appear that the touch won’t import podcast subscriptions that you may already have setup in iTunes on your PC/Mac. Somewhat disappointing given that I’m going to have to create all my existing 42 podcast subscriptions all over again.
UPDATE (22.10.07): It seems pretty clear from the comments that the iPod touch DOES NOT download podcasts over wifi and I was mislead by the guy at the UK Apple online store. So, no iPod touch for me then!
Well, I finally got me a Nokia N95 and it hasn’t disappointed. It does everything I could want and it has effectively replaced my iPod which I now view now as such a closed, dumb device (unless the next generation has built in wi-fi).
As a phone it’s predictably excellent but it really comes into it’s own when the wi-fi is activated. I download and play audio and video podcasts effortlessly. With the 2GB microSD card in place I have room for hundreds of tunes. I can upload photos and videos to the web using third-party app’ Shozu. The still/ video camera is superb. The 5 mega-pixel Carl Zeiss lens shoots wonderful stills and captures astounding 4 mega-pixel video.
I’ve installed Opera Mini to browse the web, the Gmail app for email and Jajah for Voip, Fring for free Skype voice calls and messaging and Jaiku just for fun.
Really, some day all mobiles devices will be made this way.
My iPod died yesterday. Initially I was really pissed off but then realised I used it mostly to listen to podcasts which I can do almost as easily on my Nokia N70 phone. Problem solved.
It also had over 5,000 tracks on which are stored in iTunes but what do I use to listen to them on the go now? Question is do I get a new iPod for all my songs and to watch all the video podcasts I now subscribe to but don’t get a chance to see?
Once upon a time I used to have about 30 tabs running in my browser (Flock) which had the effect of slowing it’s performance down to a crawl. Then one day I discovered Netvibes and I reduced the number of tabs down to about eight since many of the services and sites I used could be dealt with within my Netvibes page.
Today I revisited 30Boxes, the calendaring site, and now I only have two tabs open in my browser. Using their nifty ‘webtop’ feature it can incorporate all the websites/ services I use into one location which behaves like desktop within a web page. Stunning!
Gmail is the only web service which doesn’t work within the 30Boxes ‘webtop’ (it opens itself in a new browser page) which means I might as well have it as a separate tab.
The only thing I’m waiting for from 30Boxes now is the ability for it to suck in my Google Calendar data automatically.
I’ve been hankering after a video iPod for many months now as a way of watching much of the video content I subscribe to in iTunes. The thinking goes like this: I don’t have time to watch things like Rocketboom, Ze Frank or The Scoble Show at work or at home so the ideal time would be during my train commute to and from work. It is during this period that I consume most, if not all, the audio podcasts I download.
Yesterday I did a little experiment. I transferred a few videos on to my Nokia N70 to see how I enjoyed the videos in anticipation of a video iPod. Funny thing was I didn’t enjoy them at all. And not because of the relative quality of the screen but because it just didn’t feel right. The screen captured all my attention and this felt uncomfortable. I can’t really explain why but audio is in many ways more powerful than video. The only places I can comfortably dedicate all my attention to a screen is in a cinema or at home in front of the TV. But not out in the world where there are so many distractions. It’s interesting how audio lets you comfortably split your attention between the sounds coming in and whatever else might be going on around you. When I’m out in the world I like to interact with it and not ignore it which mobile video, alas, has a tendency to make me do.
For some reason, I still want a video iPod though. Damn you Steve Jobs.
I love my iPod but it’s an ageing 4th generation version with no video capabilities. I need a video iPod to watch my videos on the go but I don’t want to buy the current version as it will probably be obsolete when the new version appears. I’m also on a budget.
Now this had made things very interesting. Seagate has just announced a new product called DAVE, which stands for “Digital Audio Video Experience.” Here’sthe lowdown from Robert Scoble who filmed the announcement.
What is it?
It’s a small black box. Costs less than $200. It’s thin, fits into a shirt pocket.
It has a small USB port on one side. And an on/off switch.
But, other than that, there’s no other interface on it.
This is no Apple iPhone.
But, here’s the rub. Inside is a small hard drive. 10GB or 20GB. That’s the “Seagate” part of this.
There’s also a Bluetooth and Wifi antenna.
That’s it.
“So, Scoble, that sounds really lame.”
I don’t think so — this is a new kind of wireless device that enables a whole bunch of new scenarios, particularly around cell phones, which is why I wanted Steve Jobs to see this — it’d be an awesome way to add on more music to the new Apple iPhone which I’m planning to buy in June (this comes out in May). Oh, I forgot something. There’s also a software API. They’ve already used that API to build an interface for Symbian and Windows Mobile cell phones. So, you get a new cell phone that only has 4GB of internal flash storage but you want to drag around more media? You’ll want D.A.V.E.
I can see a whole number of scenarios. Particularly for digital photographers, or people who want to carry a lot of stuff around with them in their pockets (this is far more useful to me than one of those USB memory drives, because I can keep a couple of these in my backpack and get to them via Wifi or BlueTooth (Bluetooth works up to about 30 feet from your cell phone or computer, Wifi goes even further).
As well as my iPod I also carry around a Bluetooth enabled Nokia N70 phone which could act as the visual interface to DAVE. Or I could use my Bluetooth and Wifi enabled Orange SPV500 Windows Smartphone as well.
The separation of the storage media from the interface seems so obvious it hurts. The next best thing to storing the date in the Cloud which is prohibitive because of mobile carrier date costs.
I’ll be watching this very closely.
Interesting Wired column. As a humanist, the author likens the devotion to Apple/ Mac products and the Steve Jobs keynotes as a form of emotive worship.
At a time when I’m looking closely at my own beliefs this struck me as both true but immensely sad.
I have my doubts about the potential success of Apple’s new iPhone which Steve Jobs launched to great fanfare this week.
I think the problem is that it has more in common with existing Apple Mac computers (it runs OSX) than the iPod. Paradoxically it does too much. The iPod does one thing. Brilliantly. I fear the iPhone will do three things adequately. Not good enough if you’re looking to ‘revolutionise’ a market.
Apple Mac computers have single digit market share whereas the iPod has something close to 70% market share. Given that the company has now changed it’s name from Apple Computers to Apple Inc. and alongside the iPhone Jobs announced AppleTV (a direct link between computers and the lounge), it’s pretty safe to say Apple is attempting to transform itself from a computer/ technology company into a mainstream consumer media company.
The success of the iPod is the bar Apple have set themselves as they move into the mainstream consumer market and, alas, the mobile/ telco market is a minefield. That said, Jobs took on the might of the record industry and has successfully transformed the way we buy and listen to music and I’m sure will subsequently do the same with television and movies with AppleTV. The big question is can he do the same with the mobile phone industry? I believe he can but not with today’s iPhone. The iPod is simplicity personified. The iPhone, though beautiful, elegant and seductive is simply too many devices-in-one. What we need is the iPod of the mobile market and the iPhone isn’t it.
It’s a distinct possibility that Nintendo’s Wii games console could finally be the device that gets me gaming at the ripe old age of 38.
Jason Calacanis recorded a conversation between himself, Dave Winer and Peter Rojas about the RWC media player. The most exciting aspect of the discussion was the focus on features that no other devices have like real wi-fi and podcatching. I want one so badly. Listen and yearn.
The current discussion around the net about the Calacanis/ Rojas/ Winer white label, open source media player is getting really fun now. Everyone with an opinion or an idea for a feature is weighing in. It could go one of two ways. Splinter into peices under the sheer weight of input or actually get some traction provided there is some clear leadership to guide it. In this regard I can’t think of two more determined and willful people as Dave Winer and Jason Calacanis. If the project is to prevail Winer, Rojas and Calacanis will no doubt piss alot of people off but ultimately I’m hopeful and optimistic.
I’ve read and heard three ideas recently that have made crystal clear how the future creation of consumer products should, and hopefully will, be.
The first was the suggestion made to the newly unemployed and not unwealthy Jason Calacanis, that he should team up with Engadget’s Peter Rojas to design the Wi-Fi enabled media player the market place is crying out for, but the vendors are failing to supply.
The second was Dave Winer’s idea that ultimately we the users will control what we want by telling our peers who have the skills to make the products and services we crave (see above really).
And the third was an extended ramble by Doc Searls around the idea of Vendor Relationship Management (VRM) whereby we the users are in control of the relationships we have with vendors instead of the vendors controlling and telling us what we want.
Ultimately it all boils down to a market ecosystem where we the customers supply ourselves with the help of other customers who have the skills to fulfill our needs.
UPDATE: Interesting post from Dave Winer.
Today my three year old son discovered how to use the mouse on our computer. It came so naturally and he was oblivious to my sense of the moment. The computer, mobile phones and no doubt video games (although I'm not a gamer) will be normal and unexceptional to him. I wonder what future inventions will occur during his lifetime that he will find as life-changing as personal computing and mobile communication were to me.
Oh boy. I had to wait a while before it came back into stock (and now I notice it's out of stock yet again - thanks to that old popular demand) but it was definitely worth the wait.
The SPV M500 is the mobile device I've been dreaming of all these years. Yes, the Nokia 6680 is a great phone (the camera is superb, better in fact than the M500) but the combination of a small phone-form handheld device incorporating the Windows Mobile Pocket PC OS is simply too good. Touch screen usability changes everything. I don't just have a phone/PDA. I truly have a handheld computer.
[Technorati tags: spv m500 spvm500 windowsmobile pocketpc orange nokia 6680 nokia6680]
A couple of months ago I switched from my old SPV E200 to the Nokia 6680. To cut a long and tedious story very short the otherwise excellent Nokia 6680 wouldn’t display caller ID despite two replacement handsets. The only way Orange thinks it can solve the problem is to switch me to a completely different device. And guess what I found to switch to? The new super-sexy SPV M500. Basically a full featured Windows PocketPC PDA but the same size as a phone. But it’s out of stock so I’m just going to have to wait.
[Technorati tags: orange nokia6680 spvm500]
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