Quote:
Originally Posted by ApeintheShell  Hey I wonder. Is Fryke looking at a small laptop that works like the Palm Foleo? |
I've commented on that in another thread, but yeah, I do. I'm also interested in the iPhone, of course. Might make my next small device indeed. But I'm waiting for clear information on what comes to Europe at the end of this year (UMTS or same old 2.5G as in the USA?), what the contract's going to be like etc.
About the foleo: It's not exactly what I'd want. They're talking about 5h of battery life, but I get _that_ from my MacBook with a good battery, so it's kinda _exactly_ what I've _not_ been talking about all these years. From the outset, though, it kinda looks like it does what I'd need. Small device, full keyboard. That's about all I need.
But back to the iPhone: I'm not really an iPhone hater, I'm just one who's been extensively trying out new smartphones in recent years, and yep the iPhone is *not* all that a good smartphone can do. That doesn't mean I think Apple can't do better. I'm pretty sure the things the iPhone _does_ it does well.
But the thread's got it right: It's about the things it _doesn't_ do. Not letting 3rd party devs go crazy on the device is a mistake in my opinion. It seems their main issue is stability. Kinda goes against hammering on about how stable OS X is. The iPhone done right could've had 250+ 3rd party apps selling well at the time of release. They could've added a Cocoa iPhone SDK and one of those "just check this checkbox and – boom! – your app's compiled for iPhone!"-checkbox thingies to Xcode a few months ago. They could have made such apps only installable through the iTunes Store. Could've made apps pass some kind of test by Apple even. Apple could've taken a dollar or two from the end user price for checking such software. People who buy phones that cost 500+ dollars would surely pay 15 or 20 bucks for a decent text editor or little bookkeeping app or a great little game etc.
I'm not saying the iPhone's a failure. I'm just saying Apple could've done quite a bit more. I'll probably still get one as soon as it arrives in Switzerland, even if it means switching from Orange, mobile phone network provider of my choice for years and years. If iPhone goes Orange in Europe, even better. If it'll come unlocked in some variant, even better.