Look, let’s stop beating around the bush with this… It should be fairly obvious from the photo above who Nokia’s after with their flagship N97. It also can’t be denied that in North America, at least, Apple’s iPhone is everywhere.

My goal with this post is to highlight the key differences between the two and let you draw your own conclusions. Along the way, I’ll be pointing out what Nokia could have done (and can still do) better.

Character Input

The typical reaction I get to the N97 is something dismissive along the lines of: “So it’s like an iPhone”, at which point I flip up the screen to expose the full QWERTY keypad underneath, and all derision immediately stops.

The keypad is okay but not perfect — the space bar placement is a non-issue but putting the shift key next to the four-way D-pad makes it very awkward to select a block of text. You’re better off doing that with a free finger on the touch screen.

But there’s an additional way to input text which I find myself using more often than not, a full-screen virtual numberpad with old-school T9 built-in. It’s often a bit frustrating when I try to write something in Lolcat or enter my favourite curse, but one-handed texting is very useful when I’m on a crowded bus or train, or have bags in my other hand.

Homescreen

The second big revelation for anyone seeing an N97 for the first-time is the touch screen. But even then it’s not immediately apparent that pretty much every single element on the homescreen is a shortcut to something, and many of them are updating live by pulling in data from the Internet.

More on the homescreen widgets in a moment… I’ll finish my critique of the N97’s default display with the recommendation that entire folders — not just apps or bookmarks — should be an option for shortcuts from the homescreen as well.

Interface

It’s at this point that the wonders of the N97 begin to get lost on the new user. For starters, it’s not immediately apparent that the large diagonal menu will take you to into the handset’s filesystem. BlackBerries have a menu presented as a default screen, while Apple overwhelms you with screen upon screen of apps. I think Nokia would do well to eliminate an unlabelled physical button and put something that says “menu” right on the screen.

Back to the iPhone UI for a sec, the N97 has a nifty feature where you can organize individual apps into folders, like this. I really wish Nokia would include an option to sort these folders alphabetically. You can do it in the optional list view, but there’s too much wasted screen space to make me want to use that.

Widgets

Widgets on the N97 are akin to many apps are to the iPhone — lightweight single-purpose tools that are often little more than mobile-friendly skins for web sites. But some of the the Nokia widgets can run on the N97’s homescreen — like the bundled one for Facebook, while others — like Dabr’s excellent Twitter interface — cannot.

Dabr, could you kindly rectify this?

Ovi Store

It’s actually not the full-on disaster that I was expecting, but it’s certainly no iTunes App Store, either.

Gaming

In a similar vein, Nokia needs to get N-Gage working with the N97, and fast. The included games on the US version of the N97 are embarrassingly bad.

Price

Here’s something I’ll bet you didn’t know: The N97 is actually cheaper than the newest version of Apple’s iPhone.

“But the iPhone is only $199“, you say… Well for starters, that’s the 16GB version. To match the built-in 32GB of Nokia’s N97 you’ll have to pony up an additional hundred bucks.

Oh, and you’ll also have to sign on for a contract of up to three years, whereas the N97 is sold unlocked. I’ve ranted enough about the evils of contracts that I would be repeating myself at this point, so I’ll just point out that the actual, unsubsidized price of an iPhone 3GS 32GB is actually over $800, USD or CAD — and that’s if you can even buy one legally in the country where you live!

Meanwhile, the current price of the N97 from NokiaUSA.com is almost $100 less. No contract required. No iTunes required. And no unlocking or jailbreaking required should you ever want to sell it to someone on another carrier.

But like I said when I started this, I’m not here to tell you which is better — I’ll let you draw your own conclusions on that.

As soon as Apple’s WWDC keynote wrapped up yesterday I started thinking about what I would write here.

First I was going to write about the new iPhone 3G S, and how the hardware doesn’t measure up to Nokia’s forthcoming flagship N97. But nobody in North America is likely to even blink at this; they’re too busy drooling over the new iPhone apps like the one for Zipcar, that lets you unlock a vehicle and honk the horn from your phone.

Then I thought about documenting how truly evil Apple is becoming, selling an entire line of notebooks with non-removable batteries while advertising how “green” they are.

I also considered writing about how Apple’s big innovation this summer is taking a cue from Acer, Asus and the like — not by releasing a cheap netbook (as many had hoped) but by slashing the price on their current iPhone and making it a commodity item, almost a disposable one like the lower end of their iPod line.

And then it struck me: I really don’t care.

Considering the behaviour of both Apple, Inc. and their unquestioning masses:

1. Greeting the announcement of voice dialing on their beloved iPhone with thunderous applause like it hasn’t been a feature on other handsets for the past five years;
2. Knowingly committing to a multi-year contract on a crap carrier for a locked handset;
3. Being so smug as to summarily dismiss the Ovi Store less than a month after its launch, and the Palm Pre after only a few days on the market…

… I realize that I can’t win — or more truthfully, I no longer have an interest in attempting to penetrate the overwhelming ignorance that is Apple’s reality distortion field.

So if you’re looking for advice on Apple products you should probably look elsewhere. I just can’t be bothered anymore.

My recent trip to Bermuda for their annual Film Festival may well have been my last (the family I have there might be moving off the island later this year). So now is as good a time as any to profile the mobile landscape on “The Rock”…

On my last stay in Bermuda I narrowly escaped the advancing hoardes of 3G iPhones. This time I wasn’t so lucky — Apple’s locked down JesusPhone arrived with complementary 3G service on Tuesday, March 26th.

The lucky exclusive carrier is M3 Wireless, appearing as “MOBILITY” on my handset. It works out nicely for me, as for some reason I can’t get a data connection at all using the island’s other GSM network, Digicel Bermuda (formerly AT&T).

And just like my experience in Tokyo last summer, the only iPhone I actually saw in the wild was in the window of a local shop. As Bermuda is populated largely by expat financial mucky mucks on work visas, BlackBerries are everywhere — though I did spy a native Bermudian with a Moto Ming a few years back.

Since Fido, my carrier here in Canada, charges 5¢/kB for international data I couldn’t really test the speed of Bermuda’s 3G network. Fortunately the diner down the road from my brother and sister in law’s place has free and ample WiFi, along with excellent banana pancakes.

If you can’t wait to see the new gear that Apple will be revealing at the MacWorld Keynote Tuesday morning, I can at least show you two products they probably won’t be announcing…

iPhone Mini

First up is the iPhone Mini, which I found on Apliu Street in Kowloon’s Sham Shui Po district. At about $100 CAD this little number doesn’t have 3G or WiFi, but it does sport an FM radio, apparently powered by Windows Media Player…?

iPod Shuffle with screen

And in the famous Temple Street Night Market I spotted these new iPod Shuffles, with screens! Code-named “MP3″, a 2GB model will only set you back about $15 CAD and comes in 5 colours and 2 screen orientations, apparently…

All kidding aside, that iPhone knock-off beats Apple’s official product with one killer feature — it’s 100% unlocked. While it’s technically true that Apple’s iPhone 3G is sold unlocked here, to actually buy one you need to meet the following criteria:

1. You must provide proof of Hong Kong citizenship;
2. You must be willing to sign up for a two-year contract with 3, the only carrier that sells it.

With such restrictions, I can’t really fault the local pirates for giving consumers an alternative, albeit an illegal one. And of course, you get what you pay for…

Uh-oh...

The Web is all abuzz this morning with news that a voice-prompted search service is on the way to iPhone users courtesy of the clever folks at Google. All I can say is, god help us all…

I’m a big proponent of mobile manners and I’m not afraid to let someone know when they’re disturbing the peace by yakking too loudly into their handset. I’ve so far been very lucky to have only once had to endure the unholy abomination that is Push-to-Talk, with some asshat wandering my local supermarket like an army commander on the battlefield: “What kind of milk should I get, over… You want the 2%? You can’t handle the 2%!“, and so on.

And now, thanks to your lazy thumbs, I’m going to have to sit on the streetcar surrounded by morans pretending they’re Captain Picard: “iPhone, where is the nearest Apple Store?”, “iPhone, what is Steve Jobs wearing today?”, “iPhone, what’s the URL of Apple.com?”, etc.

If this sounds like sour grapes because such a thing isn’t yet available for my Nokia believe me, it’s not. I use GOOG-411 all the time, but you know what? If I’m in a public place I find a quiet corner away from other people, or at least cover my mouth while talking at an appropriate level.

Okay, so now that I’ve got you all riled up I’ll come clean: I am of course being unfair in singling out iPhone users for bad mobile behaviour — not respecting your environment is a sin committed on all types of mobiles by all types of inconsiderate people. Consider this my plea to you: If you really want me to covet that wondrous iPhone of yours you’ll do the right thing and use your fancy new voice-activated Google search only in appropriate situations. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility…

Image courtesy of Gizmodo.com

Earlier this week Apple announced it had sold a staggering 6.9 million iPhones in Q3 2008, beating RIM’s 6.1 million BlackBerry sales and crowning Apple as one of the top three mobile vendors worldwide. And thanks to the company’s “Think Different” bookkeeping, their $4.6 billion profit for the quarter isn’t just gross handset sales, but a mere portion of a typical AT&T 24-month contract.

With every other handset manufacturer rushing to market with a touchscreen mobile of their own you cannot deny that Apple has hit an out-of-the-park home run with the iPhone 3G.

So why am I not using one?

Even though I’m a Mac user of thirteen years I’ve also eight years of smartphone experience under my belt, going back to the infamous VisorPhone, in fact. And for me there are still four major ways in which Apple’s monster handheld comes up short:

1. The Keypad – With a growing number of iPhones around me I’ve had lots of opportunities to play with the virtual keypad. It’s definitely quicker and more intuitive than using T9 — particularly with one hand — but still can’t match the speed of a physical QWERTY. And I know a thing or two about physical QWERTY keypads.

2. The Contracts – I remain fundamentally opposed to carrier contracts for GSM-based devices. And while Apple has certainly revolutionized the mobile handset interface, its dealings with telcos worldwide have been anything but. I’ll let this excellent IntoMobile editorial explain.

3. The Camera – How can you possibly argue that a 2 megapixel fixed-focus camera with no flash or video is better than a 5 (or even 8!) megapixel auto-focus camera with both?

4. The Killer App – I’ve been combing through the iTunes App Store since it became available in Canada and I’ve yet to see that one program that makes the iPhone a must-have device. With all the smart developers out there embracing the platform I’ve a strong feeling that it’s on the way, but from what I’ve seen the iPhone’s killer app is still iTunes, as it has been since day one.

If anyone out there has a killer app for the iPhone, by all means let me know!

I figured this would happen sooner or later…

Somewhat absent-mindedly I accepted a prompt for an auto-install of iTunes 8.0.1 last week, which immediately turned my decade-old collection of digital music into an unstable mess. And I put the blame for it solely on iPhone!

The problems began when I tried to stream music to my stereo via AirTunes, and got this surprising error message:

Um, no it won't...

I say “surprising” because streaming was working exactly as advertised!

Shortly thereafter iTunes started crashing — an inexcusable thing for the one critical piece of software that users need to interface with their music collections, and to connect to other Apple devices.

If you can’t see the problem here I’ll happily spell it out for you: iTunes is going so far beyond its original mission as a music app that its nomenclature no longer makes sense. And I’d venture to guess that for the vast majority of users it has become bloatware.

I’ll never say never, but I currently have zero interest in an iPhone or Apple TV. I could foresee playing with an iPod touch at some point, but when that day comes I’d much rather sync my PIM data to it using iSync, the sync utility made for this express purpose, than endure the marathon syncing sessions that some iPhone users have reported with iTunes.

Granted, iTunes has strong foothold as a media delivery system on both Mac and Windows computers, but such a monolithic feature set doesn’t really jibe with the rest of Apple’s desktop software. Consider that Final Cut Studio splits up editing, graphics and DVD authoring into separate apps; likewise, iWork has Pages, Numbers and Keynote. Would it be so hard to spin off video, PIM and iPhone/touch software into leaner, dedicated apps that are easier and more intuitive for the user?

I mean, this is supposed to be Apple’s core strength, ain’t it?

I’m sure Apple will send a fix for the latest iTunes/iVideos/AppStore/iPhoneSync down the pipes soon enough. But me? I’m downgrading to an earlier version without so much bloat, and hoping that Apple will soon remember that sometimes less equals more…

Tagged: Apple, Desktop, iPhone, iTunes ]]> http://acurrie.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/iphone-itunes-stupid/feed/ 9 AC Air Tunes Error http://acurrie.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/who-will-answer-the-rogers-iphone-data-challenge/ http://acurrie.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/who-will-answer-the-rogers-iphone-data-challenge/#comments Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:00:21 +0000 Andrew Currie http://acurrie.wordpress.com/?p=549 ]]>

Ted Rogers, evil overlord

Talk about chutzpah… Rogers Wireless, narrowly avoiding a disastrous Canadian iPhone launch by introducing a (comparatively) reasonable data plan of 6GB/month for $30, is now claiming that a statistically insignificant 1.2% of iPhone users have sent more than a 1GB of internet data through their device during their first billing cycle.

Rogers is extending the availability of this plan until the end of September, probably to spur sales of their new BlackBerry Bold. But to the 60,000 people who signed that iPhone petition I gotta ask: What’s the deal?

Are you still scared of going over your monthly data allotment, or did you really just want an iPod with a built-in phone? I’m not being facetious here, but Canadians have been given a rare chance to influence the future of the mobile internet in this country and it seems to me like we’re squandering it.

I’m no longer a BlackBerry user myself, but it seems to be relatively easy to tether such a device to a laptop. Tethering is also possible with a jailbroken iPhone, but according to Rogers it doesn’t look like anyone’s doing that either.

Unlike Tokyo I have indeed seen iPhones in the wild here in Toronto — so what exactly are you people doing with them, and why aren’t you using more data?

Ready, fight!

Nokia surprised its many fans around the world this week with the announcement that its N96 smartphone, the highly-anticipated successor to the flagship N95, would be available in India a month before its scheduled release in other markets. Of particular significance is that this announcement was made only three days before the release of Apple’s iPhone in that country.

Nobody’s denying that Nokia is trying to steal Apple’s thunder here, not even Nokia itself — they’ve got a 60% domestic market share to protect and see India as second only to China for future sales opportunities.

Both the N96 and the iPhone are likely to be considered luxury items in this part of the world — indeed, for about the price of three iPhones you could buy a brand-new car. In its favour Nokia was recently voted the country’s most trusted brand, while Apple has once again managed to get folks lining up to purchase their mobile device.

This battle for Indian smartphone supremacy won’t actually get started until Nokia gets some of their product on store shelves, but it will definitely be one to watch… Stay tuned!

So I’ve been waiting on a trackback from Nokia’s WOM World to my last post about what the company needs to do to beat the coming iPhone invasion. It looks like I won’t be getting it — I guess I can understand, as their site doesn’t really have a “rant” category. Still, I was hoping that someone of influence in the mobile industry would listen…

So imagine my surprise when I found out that Fabrizio Capobianco, CEO of Funambol, blogged about me!

If you didn’t know, Funambol has been getting a fair bit of iPhone-related heat as of late, with Techcrunch featuring them as an open-source alternative to Apple’s own MobileMeh.

Funambol isn’t an app you run from your desktop computer, but rather a product they sell to hosting companies, like 1&1. This iPhone app is apparently their first attempt at their own free-hosted service, and would certainly be my PIM of choice were I to switch to an iPhone — you know, now that Fabrizio and I are buds and all…