Friday, January 12, 2007

iPhone

Updated Jan 13, 2007

iPhone has been officially launched by Apple and this marks the start of a new era for converged devices. Triple-play anyone? No, it is not a dirty word. ;) It means the convergence of TV, Internet, and Phone.

iPhone sends chill down the spines of all major phone makers, and its launch has literally start a fire under the seat of every CTO who has some business in mobile devices. Eventually a lot butts will be baked.

Why? Mobile phones nowadays are very hard to use. They are so complex that you must study the brick-thick user manual before you can take advantage of most of the functionalities. As an example, Moto V3i has about 50 A4-pages of user manual, and still I can't find where to turn on/off GPRS after reading it twice.

Apple has the track-record of delivering stunning beautiful and easy-to-use user interface. I am quite optimistic it will make a cut in the ultra competitive cell phone market.

Side-item: Do you know that Siemens-BenQ alliance on cell phone business has failed?

If I have to choose between Apple and Microsoft, I will definitely get a Mac powered handphone, but carrying an expensive cell phone is troublesome. For the phone I am carrying, though it comes free, I am still constantly worried it will get stolen, or misplaced and lost during my frequent submersions in thinking. On top of that, its user interface sucks big time. Now it is more like a liability than an asset to me. Trading it in for another one (obviously not Moto anymore...) is a mental note long stuck in my mind.

6 comments:

Jimmy L. said...

Having a slick, well-design cellphone is like owning designer underwear -- feels good but people won't quite understand it. :)

Apple designs good stuff -- for a price. If you can handle the price, then it's not a problem!

The Soothsayer said...

Not too excited. Haven't used a cellphone in years. Will it have a WiMax interface? But I probably don't want a WiMax transmitter next to my head anytime soon.

Cuppa Chai said...

F.Stream: There is a saying that wrist-watch and pen are men's jewellery, because they are easily seen even when seated. Cell phone is slowly emerging as the third piece because most people tend to put the phones on table or close to them. I don't think you can do the same with underwears.

Sooth: Even normal transmission I have reservation to put beside my head for too long. Wimax is designed to cover the whole city and therefore the base station transmission is somewhere between 40W while client devices need to have at least 7W in order to reach the base-station. Heh.

The Soothsayer said...

7W is a bit high. Around 38.4dBm.

I still remember the WiMax RF researcher from our old place who said he doesn't even use a handphone, much less want a WiMax transceiver anywhere near him. :)

Something for those people who spend hours and hours on a handphone to think about.

Cuppa Chai said...

I guess phones may need similar or even stronger signal because most phones have no external antennas. Imagine putting a wimax enabled laptop on your lap.... :P

The Soothsayer said...

Microwaved eggs, anyone? ;)