Michael Robertson: 9 things the iPhone can’t do.
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I had a Nokia E61 on Cingular (Michael Robertson reviews a similar phone), it was a great smart phone. I gave it up and went back to my rock-hardened Motorola V60 which has 1-touch calling (got
you on my speed dial, baby) and voice activated calling (“Miya!”) which works great, walking the dog at night. Just 2 features that even the Nokia is supposed to have, but when you get right down to the convenience factor — it doesn’t really have them the same way.I know three people with iPhones and they love them to bits. It makes me happy to see that, too. I just don’t feel a bit bad that I don’t have one.
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The iPhone success (I have one, so does the wife) is literally form over function.
People like it because it feels good and looks great. Thats all.
Everything Robertson lists is >software
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A friend and Serious Major Hacker who also leveraged his N800 for all it was worth (and even did work on the Maemo team) told me a couple days ago that his efforts were better spent on the iPhone because the development community is bigger; and because “UI counts”. He likes the iPhone because it’s good at both form AND function. Making calls, even on the hated AT&T system, is easier and more straightforward on an iPhone than over the N800 using Skype or Gizmo. With all due credit to the latter. It was an interesting conversation.
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Michale Robertson: Instead of earning your business Apple wants to lock you into their system where you have no choice. Your devices and ultimately your data are under their control. I believe the world is a better place where consumers have open devices they can control. Steve Jobs glosses over this in his well orchestrated unveiling by saying the device is “open” because you can use the web browser to visit any web site, but he knows that it is not really open.
I need to strongly object to this statement. While the phone platform is currently closed (but then, it has only been out for two months, it may perhaps be opened in the future), the idea that Apple is locking users data into a proprietary system is completely wrong. All the data that syncs with the iPhone is through Address Book, iCal, Apple Mail, and iTunes. Every item in each of these programs, with the exception of DRMed media content, is utterly open — it is stored in open formats, it can be easily imported or exported, it can connect to standard servers with standard protocols. The iPhone supports IMAP or POP for email, Address Books can come and go as vcards, events as ics files, etc. I am very serious about controlling my own data. I managed to lose several years of events and emails and such because they are locked into a Microsoft Entourage binary blob that is nearly impossible to upgrade now that I don’t have access to old versions of Office and a non-OS X computer. But with the Apple formats I can feel relatively comfortable that when the time comes to move to a new platform or format or program, my data will be readily accessible.
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I use the MobileChat application on my iPhone. It works flawlessly with any AIM account.
The iPhone is an amazing piece of technology. Everything is nearly perfect. I finally retired my Blackberry and now that I have an iPhone I don’t see myself giving it up anytime soon.
Apple has raised the bar yet again.
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Some other things Nokias can do the iphone can’t:
sync over the air with an Exchange server using ActiveSync
cut and paste text
easily enter special symbols like slashes and punctuation
operate one-handed
be used by someone with big paws
be used without looking at the keyboard
3G data
cost lessI really think the people who say the iphone is perfect just haven’t used that many phones.
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