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Thoughts on Amazon’s Kindle Fire
Jan 8th
Back in June 2010, while rumors were circulating that Amazon was developing a tablet device, I wrote a post which suggested that they would be the only company that could create a product to successfully compete with Apple’s iPad. My reasoning was that they were successfully developing a content atmosphere with products like Amazon MP3, Video on Demand and the Amazon App Store with its free app of the day that would compare to Apple’s digital hub. Now that I’ve used the Kindle Fire for a couple weeks I figured I’d share my thoughts about whether Apple should be worried or not.
Hardware
When I first pulled my Kindle Fire out of its box I have to admit that it was bulkier than I expected. Although I owned the first generation of the iPad, I had long since sold it, and so my closest frame of reference was my iPhone 4S. That’s probably not a fair comparison, but I’ll just say the Kindle Fire felt thicker than it should be, at least initially. Over time I’ve gotten used to the heft of the device and, now that I’ve used it for a while, I’m fairly comfortable with holding it.
One way that the Kindle Fire does compare to the iPad is its monolithic form factor with a lack of many physical buttons. The only button you’ll find on the device is located on the bottom bezel next to its charging and syncing port. I have noticed that the location of the button plus the device’s smaller form factor has caused me to accidentally push it (which causes the device to lock) while I’m holding it in portrait orientation from time to time. That issue is only mildly annoying and probably more of a matter of training myself to place my hands further from the center of the device while using it. Over time I’ve noticed the accidental device locks have been less frequent.
The form factor itself has been surprisingly useable. The only other tablet I’ve ever used for a substantial amount of time is the Apple iPad, so I’m used to a larger device. With that said, I think I prefer the smaller Kindle Fire in some cases, most of all for portability. It has also been more condusive to browsing the mobile web without feeling like I’m using a site designed for a significantly smaller device, and that carries over to using apps designed for phones rather than tablets. When using the iPad’s zoom feature to view iPhone apps on it, I always felt like I was using a Fisher Price version of the app (buttons and other UI elements were blown up and felt cumbersome). The Kindle Fire splits the difference however, which means that phone apps work just fine on the somewhat-larger display.
One last potential issue I’ve noticed with the Kindle Fire is that the display does tend to have some temporary ghosting. Every now and then I notice ghosted elements of a different application or of user interface elements that are on the screen frequently. It’s not a huge issue and the ghosting goes away, but it might bug some users. I think it’s important to remember that this device only costs $199 when nitpicking such issues, and when you take that into consideration I honestly think any slight ghosting isn’t a deal-breaker if you’re interested in the Kindle Fire. Additionally, since my Kindle Fire was purchased very early in the device’s life cycle, that issue might be resolved or could be a manufacturing glitch specific to my device. With that said, the problem isn’t significant enough for me to consider returning it for a replacement device.
Apps, Media & Web Browsing
Consuming content on the Kindle Fire is a joy. Because I’m an Amazon Prime member and have used Amazon’s various content services before, all I had to do was login to my Amazon account and I had instant access to my entire music library through Amazon MP3, all of the apps I had downloaded from the Amazon App Store, and all of the books I had purchased through Amazon’s Kindle app. Best of all, access to all of my content was instant because it’s all stored in the cloud so I didn’t have to spend hours syncing everything to the device.
Listening to music on the Kindle Fire through the cloud works well over wifi. I’ve experienced issues with their mobile app for phones such as my previous Motorola Droid X, where-in streaming over a 3G connection produced a lot of time spent buffering. That hasn’t been my experience on the Kindle Fire, however. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m using a more solid wifi connection, but playback has been fairly instant and I haven’t run into the same buffering problem. At this point I haven’t felt the need to sync any of my music to my device which is a testament to the playback from the cloud. If you’re planning on using your Kindle to listen to music I would recommend investing in a decent pair of headphones though, as the internal speaker isn’t anything to write home about.
When I had an iPad my primary reading app was iBooks, but having read on the Kindle Fire I’m happy to say that it’s just as readable if not more so. You have many of the same options as with iBooks, including changing the background color of your book, how big or small the font size is, and the style of font you prefer to read. The reader also has a slew of other handy features, like the ability to search a book or document, make notes and of course leave a bookmark. Navigating pages is pretty simple, just a tap on the left or right side of the screen to move backward or forward a page, or you can swipe your finger across the page to replicate the page turning experience, though it’s not as elegant as the page turn in iBooks (but now I’m just splitting hairs).
The Amazon app store, though easy to use, does leave something to be desired. Although I’m sure the selection will improve over time, the amount of apps developed specifically for the Kindle Fire is lacking right now. There isn’t a great Twitter or Facebook client available yet, though simple apps which link to each service’s mobile website (think more of a bookmark) are available. It has been nice to revisit my collection of Amazon apps that I had on my old Droid X though, and like I mentioned previously even apps developed for phones specifically work pretty well on this device.
Between the Amazon video on demand software and the Netflix app, if you’re looking to watch video on the Kindle Fire you should be pleasantly surprised. Video streams very well in my experience, even when skipping around a video by scrubbing through its timeline. I can’t say a whole lot about the quality because I’m far from a videophile, but for a device this small I haven’t been let down at all. It’s definitely watchable, though I’d recommend some headphones because the sound volume is a bit low at times.
My time spent using the Kindle Fire has re-introduced me to the mobile web in a way. To make up for the fact that I don’t have a great Twitter or Facebook app yet, I’ve been using both services’ mobile sites more. Additionally, to speed up the Fire’s Silk browser I’ve defaulted to a site’s mobile version whenever possible. This doesn’t have a whole lot to do with the Kindle Fire specifically, I have to admit that browsing the mobile web is often an enjoyable experience so don’t rule it out if you’re without an app! Most major websites have put a lot of time and thought into their mobile site, and you can usually complete the same tasks as you can with a full website or app. With that said, I have noticed that the Silk browser is a bit pokey at times. There are already guides on the web for settings you can change to speed up the browser, but by default it’s a little slow. I’m sure that Amazon will fix that issue with a future software update, though.
Recommendation
Overall, I’d have to recommend Amazon’s Kindle Fire. For a mere $199 it’s a heck of a package if you want easy access to your content collection. As is the case with most consumer electronic devices there are some imperfections in software this early in the product lifecycle, but many of those will be fixed in time. It’s hard to argue with a device that offers a lot of the great tablet experience I’ve enjoyed with the iPad at a price point that’s less than half that of the cheapest Apple model. The good news is that these things are flying off the shelf, so if you’re curious about the Kindle Fire just ask a friend or go try one out at a store!
Rumored Amazon tablet – the first true iPad competitor!
Jun 23rd
Steve Jobs said it during the iPad 2 announcement: 2011 would be the year of the copycat when it comes to tablet devices looking to compete with the iPad. For the most part, so far at least, I agree. Everytime I turn around I hear about a brand new tablet computer that will truly compete with the iPad and iPad 2 once and for all. For the most part I think these claims have been empty. The slew of Android tablets, though very tempting on paper, have yet to reach critical mass with the general public. Don’t get me wrong, Android-based tablets as well as other competitors like BlackBerry’s Playbook have been evolving all year, but at the end of the day if you ask your Aunt Susie what kind of tablet device she’s interested in there’s a pretty good chance she’ll want an iPad.
In my opinion, part of the reason for this is Apple’s approach to their device. Rather than start with hardware they built upon a stockroom of great services and features they had already developed for other products in their arsenal, whether it be music and video through iTunes or applications through the App Store. On the other hand, many other tablet manufacturers are thinking hardware first and ecosystem second, and that’s exactly why I think a tablet made by Amazon could be the first true competition the iPad has seen since its launch.
I love Amazon. I use Amazon Prime constantly, I’ve bought 4 Kindles to give to friends and family as gifts, I use Amazon MP3 as my primary music store and I check into the Amazon App Store everyday on my Droid X to see what the free app is. Essentially, Amazon already has the ecosystem built to successfully support a tablet device. At the end of the day folks don’t buy a device because of the number of processing cores it's using, but rather the user experience. Instead of asking questions like “How much RAM does this have, and can I connect it to my TV with HDMI?” folks ask “Can I watch movies and listen to my music library, and does this have a ton of great apps I can play with?” It’s all about user experience, and Amazon already has the repertoire needed to support the average consumer’s laundry list of requirements for a tablet device they’ll love.
Consider that the Kindle is already the best-selling item on Amazon.com. Now combine that success with the growing popularity of tablet devices. If people could get a reading experience like they have on their Kindle combined with all of the other great services Amazon offers to users of their music, video and app services they’d have the total package. I’m not really sure what an Amazon-developed tablet would look like (would it use an e-ink display, or one of the many Kindle apps already developed for other mobile devices?) but I do think they have a shot to be a major player.
If nothing else I’m sure an Amazon tablet would have one hell of a shopping app!
Is Android Tablet Abundance a Problem?
May 24th
I was taking a look at an article on Mashable about the new HTC Flyer tablet, a 7-inch newcomer rocking a 1.5 GHz processor with 16 gigabytes of storage and dual cameras. I could go on listing features but it has the standard affair for premium Android tablets: Bluetooth capability, HDMI output and expandable storage through microSD. Basically, it seems like a pretty solid Android tablet with a nice set of features.
Next I scrolled down to the comments section of the article to see what people were saying about it and, spam comments aside, most people were waiting for something for a different tablet. I found at least 3 separate devices that have launched or are launching in the same timeframe that folks would rather buy instead, including the Transformer from Asus, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from Samsung and the recently released Motorola Xoom. One of the best parts about the Android operating system as opposed to iOS is that any hardware manufacturer can create a device for it. Ultimately this means more options for users, so rather than being stuck with one iPad model you can choose from several different Android models to find what fits best. Right?
In the end I’m wondering if all of these new tablets and phones being released every month end up confusing customers, or end up causing techies to wait and wait for the perfect model. I see a lot of folks bargaining with themselves in comments for new tablet announcements. Things like “This model is pretty good but next month Acer is coming out with XYZ that will have an even FASTER dual-core processor” or “I like this one but have you heard about Samsung’s new ABC? It’s supposed to have double the on-board storage!” At some point there’s a reluctance to commit to a single product when something newer and better is right around the corner. The only problem is that once next month arrives something even newer will be announced, causing folks to be stuck in an infinite wait loop.
In some ways I’m wondering if part of the reason for Apple’s success with the iPhone and iPad isn’t that it’s a much simpler purchasing decision. Typically for both products there’s one new version per year, so unless you buy right before a new version is announced you can be pretty sure that you have the latest and greatest. On Android you can buy a phone or tablet and it’ll be outdated in a week. Anybody have thoughts about this? Is Apple’s admittedly limited product line a testament to their dictator-style approach to product development, or does it make it a little easier for us decide what to buy? In a way, as there is no clear answer, I’m sure it’s a bit of both.
Can the Motorola Xoom Survive at $699?
Jan 27th
I wrote about my favorite CES product yesterday, the Atrix 4G, and while heaving loads of praise upon Motorola I mentioned in passing that I also thought the Xoom looked interesting. Combined together the two products "won" the show for hello moto in my opinion, so I wanted to take some time and focus on the Xoom today. If ypu don't know, the Motorola Xoom is an Android 3.0 Honeycomb-based device (Honeycomb being a release of the Android OS built specifically for tablets) that is the most promising iPad competitor we've seen since the iPad itself.
The Hardware
From a hardware perspective the Xoom is sparse in the best possible way, that is to say that Motorola outdid Apple by making a device that has 0 physical buttonss or toggles on the from of the device. The device has a 10.1 inch capacitive screen so it's almost the same size as the iPad, 1280x800 resolution which exceeds the iPad, a dual core Tegra 2 processor, 32GB of storage, a front-facing camera for video chatting and a slew of other interactive hardware such as:
- Accelerometer
- Gyroscope
- Barometer
Yup, there's literally a straight-up barometer in there. Why? Probably to predict the weather or some other crazy business. I don't even know! More on that when I talk about te price though.
The Software
Like I said the Xoom runs Honeycomb, which was created with tablet-style devices in mind, and I have to say I like the user interface quite a bit. I could go into detail but just like with yesterday's post Engadget has already done a stunning job of giving us a video walkthrough. Take a look below!
I really lie the look of the Gmail application especially, and the thumbnail view for multitasking is pretty great. They've also modified the notification bar to be located along the bottom part of the display, but you ca still drag it out to view more information like ou can in other versions of the OS. One thing I will note is that it's a little troubling that the device was only being shown with a video demo of the software rather than the software itself, especially since te Xoom will be available at Best Buy on February 14th (only a little over a month after CES). Hopefully the software's ready for primetime by then!
Will Price Be An Issue?
Okay, so it's better than the rumored $800, but can the Xoom be successful at $699? That's $100 more than the current 32GB iPad (which has been ), and we can only assume that the iPad 2 is just around the corner that will have an improved resolution and front-facing camera. Apple's usually pretty good about keeping prices close to their starting point, and in a lot of cases they actually reduce the price a bit. As much as I like the Motorola Xoom I can't help but feel like it's being left to twist in the wind with a $700 price tag.
Motorola Atrix: The All-In-One Mobile Powerhouse
Jan 26th
Android-based phones and tablets seemed to dominate the discussion during CES this year, and in particular Motorola had an awesome show. Not only did they launch the most substantial iPad competitor in the Xoom tablet, but they also had some interesting new phones on display as well. The one that impressed me the most was the Motorola Atrix 4G, not only because of its hardware specs, but some really cool things they're doing with dock support.
Beefy Specs
As I mentioned Motorola has rolled some cool features into the Atrix, some of which involve a PC-style computing experience, so they need to have the hardware to power that functionality. To start off the phone uses a Tegra 2 dual core processor which is significant. It's a chip developed by Nvidia that is the world's first multi-core CPU crafted with mobile devices in mind. They've also packed in a gigabyte of RAM, a front-facing camera and a fingerprint reader. That's the boring part though - things get interesting when you take a look at some of the accessories and integrated software features, most-importantly the Webtop OS.
Webtop OS
Where the Atrix really shines is when you see it seamlessly transition into a desktop or laptop computer by simply inserting it into one of its docks. Webtop is an operating system that runs on the phone to give you desktop-like functionality from a device only 4" in size. There are two implementations of the custom Atrix dock - one that allows you to hook up an external display and one that's integrated right into an inexpensive laptop enclosure. The easiest way to understand how Webtop works is to see it in action, and the folks from Engadget have put together an awesome hands-on video that certainly gets the point across.
Can you say perfect business and travel device? Given the tiny stature of the laptop dock especially I can imagine using the Atrix with Webtop anytime I met with clients or whenever I needed to fire off emails in the car. There's no wonder why this phone was Engadget's best of CES!
Some Concerns
I would happily trade my current phone in for the Atrix, but I am somewat concerned about the fact that getting the most out of Webtop OS requires an investment beyond just buying the phone and paying the contract fees. Although not required and certainly affordable in its own right, the 11.6" laptop dock is rumored to cost $150 when it's available for purchase later this year. I tend to get a new phone every year or so, and therefore the prospect of paying roughly $350 (assuming the Atrix is about $199 with a contract) for a device I won't have in a year is somewhat troubling. Hopefully Motorola will continue to make Atrix phones without changing the form factor of the dock so that you don't have to re-buy hardware.
There's also the whole AT&T exclusivity thing. I'm not a fan. Motorola did announce a Verizon-based phone that uses the Tegra 2 chip called the Droid Bionic, but it only has half the RAM and there hasn't been a whisper about Webtop OS integration. That said I'm proud of Motorola for becoming the premiere Android device developer in the market by building on the success they began with the Droid and Droid X.
Accept Credit Card Payments With Square
Jan 19th
A week ago I shared a video interview Kevin Rose recorded with the inventor of Twitter and the founder of the project, Jack Dorsey. In that post I mentioned that I'd write about Square once I'd had a chance to try it out, and now it's time to deliver on that promise. Square is an awesome combination of hardware and software that makes it possible for anybody to accept credit cards as payment from their phone.
Think about it - how many times have you paid for a friend's dinner or drinks after they swear they'll pay you back, but when it comes time for them to pony up they never have cash on them. Alternatively, if you've ever been in a band or other organization that sold merch, how many times did you miss out on a sale because you couldn't accept a credit card? Square solves these problems, and best of all, both the Square card reader and the accompanying app are completely free!
The Square Reader
The hardware piece of the Square puzzle is remarkable because it's so unremarkable. It's simply small white square (fitting, isn't it?) with a groove in it, through which you swipe the credit card to be charged. The device is about the width of a quarter, and it plugs into your phone's headphone jack. Truthfully there aren't many comments to make here other than to say how tiny it is, and that it "just works" if I can borrow that commonly-used Apple term. It fits perfectly into your pocket and it has become a mainstay in my laptop bag just in case I need to use it.
Square: The Appsperience
Where things get really cool is when you start to use the reader in conjunction with its free app (available for and devices). I tested my reader with both the android and iPad apps and the experience is fundamentally identical. Using the on-screen keypad you insert the amount to be paid, an optional note about the transaction as well as an optional photo if you're selling an item. Next you swipe the credit card through the Square reader (if you haven't received your reader yet you can also insert the card's number using the on-screen keypad). The credit card will be authorized and you can even send an automatically-generated receipt via text message or email to the person who paid you.
I think the receipts are one of the cooler parts of using Square. I absolutely hate managing paper receipts (in fact I'm not a big fan of information on paper in general, it''s too inconvenient), so the fact that you can get a digital receipt in the first place is pretty cool. That said, the developers took things an extra step further by using some of your phone's inherent features to improve the receipts. For example, instead of signing with a pen like you usually do when you use your credit card, you instead input your signature using your phone's touchscreen. Additionally if your phone has built-in GPS and you allow the Square app to access your location at the time of the transaction, it will embed a Google map of where the transaction occurred right on the receipt. That's extremely helpful when you're trying to figure out what a particular charge was for 3 months after the fact.
It should also be noted that you can always review your transactions and receipts at the , so you don't have to worry about accidentally deleting a receipt from your email or text messaging inbox. If you really want to geek out you can even export your transactions to an Excel file for further data manipulation.
How Is This Free?
So the card reader is free, the app is free, AND the website is free. How can these guys make any money off of this? Well, much like with any credit card payment processing system there is a very small percentage taken out of each transaction that goes to Square. The exact fee as of the day I'm writing this is 2.75% + 15 cents of each transaction. To give you an idea of how much that is, if you were to receive a 3 dollar payment you'd end up with $2.77. That's less than a quarter for this awesomely free service. Obviously the bigger the transaction the bigger the fee, but from what I've read these fees are extremely competitive. Plus keep in mind the scenarios I gave at the beginning of this post - these are probably payments you would have never been able to receive without Square unless you made a significant investment in a credit card processing system. I happily let Square take a small piece of the transaction because they deserve to.
Square is truly one of those things in life where you try it once, realize it's the most ballin' thing ever and then become a fan instantly.
The Google CR-48 and Chrome OS
Jan 7th
In case you missed it, Google had an event not too long ago which detailed Chrome OS in-depth and, in effect, "launched" the cloud-based operating system. Chrome OS has been available for some time now, but it was never available as a product - you could download a copy of it and install it yourself, but starting this year you'll be able to purchase devices with Chrome OS pre-installed.
Chrome OS in a nutshell
If you haven't heard of Chrome OS before, it's very similar to Google's Chrome web browser. In fact, from a user interface perspective it's basically identical. The first thing you see when you login to Chrome OS is a window that looks just like the Chrome browser, and from there you can navigate the web and use various cloud services and web applications to get your computing done. The idea with Chrome OS is to work 100% on the cloud, which means you can't get a whole lot done if you don't have an internet connection, but more on that below. Chrome OS also has the existing Chrome web app store built-in, so you can run various rich web applications much like normal programs on Windows or Mac OSX.
CR-48
As I mentioned above Google will be partnering with hardware manufacturers to preload Chrome OS on certain devices available later this year, but at the Chrome OS launch even they also unveiled their own custom laptop running Chrome OS that is being used for testing purposes. As is usually the case, everyone in the audience had an opportunity to take one home for free, but Google also opened availability up to the public. It makes sense, they want to have as many folks try Chrome OS as possible so that they can work out the kinks before people start spending money on the hardware. The sign-up page is still available as of the day I'm writing this post, so head on over and if you'd like to try the CR-48 out. Not everyone gets picked but who knows, you might get lucky!
My Thoughts
It seems like Chrome OS is the perfect operating system for someone who needs a thin client. Say for instance you're a traveling business person, or someone who just needs a modest computer for meetings. However it could also have big implications in various areas, such as schools. Presumably when hardware running Chrome OS is released for purchase it will be a much more inexpensive alternative to traditional computers, I'm just wondering where they'll fit in the grand scheme of things with the prevalence of tablets lately. Even Google has its own tablet play, not the hardware per se but more and more Android-based tablets are coming out every month. So really, I'm just kind of curious about which attributes will cause a person to buy a Chrome OS device over a tablet. Some obvious benefits are larger displays, physical keyboards and not having the burden of storing information locally since the device is entirely cloud-based. In the end what will make or break Chrome OS will be the apps. If folks can get an experience that's very close to a traditional desktop computer for cheap then it could take off.
My hope is that when these devices come out they're super cheap...I'm talking sub $200. Since you need an internet connection for them to be used I wouldn't be surprised if they were subsidized, or even if they came free with a data package from one of the major wireless providers like Verizon (the CR-48 has a Verizon data connection). My worry is that Chrome OS was mostly developed and conceived of when netbooks were the big thing, but since that time the popularity of netbooks have died down and tablets are taking off.
As a web developer I'm very interested in what folks think about the CR-48 and Chrome OS in general. How much of your computing takes place while you're on the web? Do you think you could use ONLY the web to get your computing done? Would you buy a Chrome OS device? Leave a comment below and let me know!
A Week With the iPad
Apr 11th
There has been a lot of discussion in the tech community about whether the iPad is a significant new computing device or simply another digital toy that will run it's course and end up sitting in a closet collecting dust. Although I can't really comment on the device's long-term viability, I can comment on some significant realizations I've come to in the week since the iPad launched.
Believe it or not I'd say that I've used my iPad as much or more that my laptop or desktop for daily computing. Since it's small and light enough to literally take everywhere, I find it's just easier to browse the web, check my email and even do things like IM with the iPad. The display is awesome for all applications so I always have a great viewing experience, and much to my surprise typing with the virtual keyboard is a breeze (I'm using it to write this post in the iPad WordPress app). In fact, when the device is in landscape mode I can basically touch-type, and even if I do make a mistake it gets corrected automatically 9 times out of 10.
Watching movies, reading books and listening to music on the ipad are all great experiences. In fact I'd have to say that the iPad is the ultimate content consumption device on the market. One of the biggest surprises I had while first using it was the quality of the built-in speakers. They're totally listenable and I never felt the need to plug in headphones while listening to music, playing games or watching video.
Another happy surprise was the battery life. When Steve Jobs said you could get 10 hours out of this thing most people expected that would be a best-case scenario and actually expected more like 8. That's not the case though, the iPad lasts a very long time and if you're only using it lightly it could easily last multiple days.
All that being said the iPad isn't perfect. First off I think the pricing for apps has been inflated a little too much. I came from the iPhone app store where I was used to paying 5 dollars at most for applications, but on the iPad 10 or 15 dollars is the norm. I think the higher prices are somewhat a result of apple themselves pricing the iWork apps at $10 each, and I'd even say the iWork apps are worth that, but there are several apps that were mostly ported from the iPhone priced just as high. I'm hoping that the marketplace will somewhat self-regulate over time, but as of right now the pricing is unrealistic.
I also wish the app store in general had an official trial system. As I mentioned on twitter, spending 0.99 cents on a bad iPhone app is one thing, spending $15 for a bad iPad app is another. If I could preview apps, even if just for a matter of hours, my experience with buying apps would be much more pleasant.
Additionally, The iBook store doesn't have nearly as many titles as I wish it did. I've already searched for 3 different titles that weren't available yet. I'm sure this will be remedied in the future, and there are alternatives like the Amazon Kindle app, but it's still slightly annoying.
In the end I think the iPad does signal a change, or as Steve Wozniak put it a reboot of computing devices. Using this thing is fun, easy and it just makes sense for 90% of my daily computing tasks. It's the perfect device for any casual user and would probably serve well as their primary computer, and it's an excellent netbook or even laptop replacement for power users. I am a total geek and I use it for several hours a day everyday, and aside from being able to do development work it meets all of my needs. Plus, as developers get a better handle on creating iPad applications in the future it'll only get better and become even more useful.
Apple updates!
Mar 4th
Yesterday Apple updated a bunch of products. Most were just hardware updates (CPU speed bumps, graphics card updates, more RAM etc.) and there are so many to mention that I'll just have to refer you to or if you want to see the nitty-gritty details. Just know that if you were in the market for an iMac, Mac Pro or Mac Mini now's probably the time to take the plunge. I'm just happy because the iMac wasn't significantly updated, no aesthetic redesign or anything, so I'm still pleased with my 24" 3.06ghz iMac from last July.
What I did find interesting was a lesser-noted addition to Apple's product line: the new wired wireless keyboard. It's basically a wired version of of their wireless keyboard which means that it's shrunken down and has no number pad. To me this is pretty odd. The justification of forgoing a number pad on my wireless keyboard was that it was exactly that: wireless. Who's going to buy the same keyboard but now it has a wire and no numpad? Dunno, like I said, it just seems goofy to me.
What most excites me about these updates is what wasn't updated. This smacks of "clearing the road for WWDC" to me. With these updates they can get all of their spec-bumps out of the way and save the flashy stuff for WWDC. After all, announcing a new iMac that looks just like the old iMac but is slightly faster doesn't really excite audiences at a keynote. Instead they can roll out the new version of the iPhone, which I'm hotly anticipating. We might even see something a little more over-the-top like the iTablet everyone's talking about these days. Honestly though, if at WWDC they just spend a whole 2 hours talking about a new rev of the iPhone and how cool all of its new features are, I'll be happy.
If you think about it, the iPhone is the perfect product for WWDC. At a developers conference you should talk about what developers are developing for, right? Increasingly that's the iPhone. How many millions of applications have been downloaded from the App Store? Sure, standard desktop applications are still important but iPhone apps are the new hotness right now.
Windows Mobile 6.5 – the new WinMo user interface
Feb 17th
This is interesting. Everyone knows that Windows Mobile has been looking a little long in the tooth as phone manufacturers race to compete with the iPhone's touch interface. I'm happy to say that with 6.5 Windows Mobile will also enter the manual touch market. The new homescreen does a horizontal scroll to move through the user's day (whether you're navigating through emails, appointments, text messages, or photos) - it sort of reminds me of the Xbox 360's interface in ways. It's a unique way of navigating though, and from what I've seen it's my favorite part of the OS.
From there you can go to the new start menu which houses your applications. The applications are now arranged in honeycomb-shaped bubbles making each a little more accessible with your finger. That's cool because anyone who has used an older WinMo phone can attest that they're difficult to navigate without a stylus most of the time.
The only thing I'm a little concerned about is that the scrolling seemed a little chunky at times. It didn't flow as well as the iPhone's scrolling. They've also worked in the classic "snap-back" for menus, so that when you reach the top or bottom of a menu the content will snap up or down. I think Palm is in some hot water for incorporating that feature because Apple has a patent on it, so I wonder if Apple will go after Microsoft now too. Here's the video:
from on .
