iPhone 5–Flattering to disappoint

 

The newest version of the most important product from Apple was unveiled yesterday. With purists gunning for bleeding edge tech to be adopted and inserted into ever thinning profile were not disappointed, it was still a lackluster debut where I felt certain key things were missed.

Build

It was a welcome return to the original design, which was one of the greatest reasons, iPhone sold out when it was introduced. The aluminum back would greatly reduce the need to invest in a phone case.

Physical dimension – Apple avoided the lure of going big and stuck to something which I really appreciated - The width is being retained while the length was increased. I have rotating use of the HTC One X, iPhone 4, and Blackberry 9700. I believe the fit in your pal determines, what you tend to pickup for your daily use irrespective of screen size and features.

I personally do not bother with the 4.0 inch screen introduced. 4.3 would have been the best screen to introduce and continue for a few years, after all, our palms will not evolve in next few years for us to feel the Galaxy Note screens to be any smaller.

Hardware Upgrades

The other hardware upgrades were either expected, given the current crop of smartphones with overflowing features. But, Apple still is left behind by missing to introduce several features beyond the obvious. Retina displays are common, so is LTE and high end optics in flagship phones. Neither did Apple introduce newer Bluetooth version.  The change of data port pin is a bit relief, but again, Micro USB plugs have been around for a while, and we are now heading into Era of Wireless charging, so Apple seem to be chasing the past here.

IOS 6 – Although announced during early Summer, it would turn out to be the weakest part of iPhone eco system, which lacks innovation. It should have been a innovative upgrade, but has ended up being incremental. The classic look is now getting stale and unless, Apple introduces dynamic icons / screen elements to catch up with Android widgets or Live tiles of Metro UI. Apple might excel at what it does, but then so did Blackberry with mobile email. It did not take much time for Blackberry to start staring at its grave with the onslaught of consumer preferences, which they ignored.

What’s for future – The wishlist for iPhone 6 is already out on some tech blogs, I thought I would put in one from my side as well.

• 4.3 inch screen,
• Dynamic screen elements,
• World phone with world wide LTE capabilities in single device,
• NFC or similar approach to use with passbook,
• Offline navigation as standard,
• FM Radio (It’s a unicorn in Apple world),
• Wireless Charging,
• USB Mass Storage mode,
• and a decent set of Earphones, which you don’t throw away after 2 months.

Blackberry - The tale continues....

The word brings into mind two things. The fruit which for some reasons maybe less well known than its namesake smart phone from Ontraio.

I remember reading about Blackberry being a craze among business execs for its ability to exchange messages with each other. Gosh !! I don't even recall when it was, maybe 2002 or something. When I came to US and needed to get a mobile, Blackberry was on my mind, but the sheer size of the 7 series was a big deterrent and then I chanced to see the BB 7105t which was way better in terms of width and design than the rest of its clan.

I signed up for it with T-Mobile and used it happily without its main feature of email which was not a great requirement to me. No other major apps were available at that time which would have prompted me to get the BIS service for the same.

It was not until I got a BB Pearl 8100 in 2007 and Google talk came out with a BB version. Combine this with the excellent email facilities, it became my main communication device on the go. Not only the form factor was excellent, but the enhancements to the screen and ease of use with the Pearl navigation made me a fan of it. Then came along the killer !! BB Curve 8320. How I lusted for it for another 7 months before I could get a chance to own it and realize the use of its wide screen estate and full QWERTY layout. Now I had Wi-Fi coupled with the Instant Messaging solution as well as the not-so great but functional Opera Mini browser.

The iPhone has brought some thought to the RIM designers and they seem to be answering it with the BB Bold due anytime now coupled with the BB 8820 (Kickstart) and BB Javelin (younger sibling of Bold sans 3G) and the BB Thunder showing up later down the road.

With my current contract expired, I was pretty much tempted to try out the iPhone and move into the Apple world. 2 days of use and I made a turnabout. Not only did I return the iPhone, but came back to the curve and would hold on to it, till T-Mobile introduces the other BBs for its loyalist.

Interested !! Hit on the the link below to introduce yourself to the world of Blackberries.

RIM - Official Website

Apple - Always flattering to deceive . . .

A long break from blogging and so much has happened since the last post was done. The last week was a pretty exciting one and has brought me to capture my thoughts and put it here.

I gave in to the temptation to the Apple as Eve had done and didn't completely bite it as she did, so the world around me still looks good. Apple as company has always fascinated me, but the way they intentionally limit features in their products to create variants is something which I fail to understand. Why on earth would they want to leave out some obvious features and leave prospective buyers on the edge.

Take for E.g : FM Radio. God knows since how long mobile phones and PMPs have carried this feature ever since FM radio became independent of a radio box. A quick look at the Apple species and you would wonder whether Apple ever knew FM radio could be put into iPod and iPhone without major design change. From a business point, putting in a feature which might kill their iTunes store really doesn't make sense. Which goes to emphasise that Apple will always have its mouth where the money is. I guess that is the same reason behind Apple products not having other things such as : User replaceable battery, Medium for transfer of media to the player.

Adding to it is the insane cost of a protection plan which is like rubbing salt into the wound of victims with faulty products in their hand, sometimes with no responsibility of theirs.

I guess this premium attitude of Apple held well with their fan boy following and till the point they were not directly in a quick changing environment like the mobile market.

iPhone has not only exposed the cracks (physically as well) but also made Apple realize that premium prices sometimes need to be justified with proper products which work as intended out of the box. If you see the sheer number of updates released by Apple in last 12 months, Microsoft should be feeling the competition heating up.

Bugs, which are part of every Software / Hardware life cycle was something Apple had made parodies targeting Microsoft. Now I guess their creative ad people wouldn't want to attempt that thing again.

I might end up sounding like a Apple hater, which I am not, because not only Apple has wonderfully designed products, they have been the indirect reason for Windows 3.x and GUIs for Linux flavours and development of multifunction smartphones which before iPhone were limited to set of integrated email and mediocre entertainment.

I will still wait for Apple to come up with decently priced products OR products with a good feature list. Till that time, I will step aside and say "Too Good to be useful for me".