Alex Hardy

… that many features that I previously described the iPhone as lacking are present on the rather nicely designed Nokia N95:

• 5 megapixel camera
• Upload to Flickr
• Video recording
• GPS
• RSS (though Apple seems to be building a web based RSS reader for iPhone)

The Nokia isn’t perfect. 2Gb storage (via microSD memory card) is pretty miserable. You have to use RealPlayer *spit*. I can only wonder how syncing all your different assets (contacts, email, music, pictures etc) works.

Apple are going to have to be more aggressive with incremental upgrades to iPhone than they have traditionally been. Reviews are appearing and it looks like the hype is (pretty much) justified – it could raise the bar for design and usability across the whole market. Once the interface is taken for granted however, these technological shortcomings will become more urgent.

The launch of Apple’s hyped iPhone is mere days away. Many questions remain unanswered: How practical is the touchscreen? When will developers get a proper SDK? Who will buy it?

I’m going to sit this one out. I didn’t buy an iPod until the third generation model. Ultimately the user interface is what will win customers over, but there are a few things it must have before I consider one:

5 megapixel camera

My Sony Ericsson K800i has a 3.2 megapixel camera. It’s the first time I’ve felt that my phone was a worthy substitute for my 4mp Sony Cybershot. The iPhone’s 2mp camera is simply not good enough.

30Gb storage and disk mode

I don’t think my music collection is unusually large, but 8Gb is nowhere near enough to hold it. My iPod’s place in my pocket is unchallenged until the iPhone can store at least 30Gb. Don’t even get me started on how absurd it would be to try watching Pirates of the Caribbean on it. That alone would practically fill it!

I also want to be able to mount it as a disk (like I can with my iPod) and use it for file storage, or data backup with Time Machine.

GPS

That bright, wide screen is begging to be used as a satellite navigation system like a TomTom. The hidden iPhoto Google Maps geotagging feature suggests that it’s only a matter of time before GPS is added.

The day it has these features is the day I’ll eBay my iPod, camera and phone and buy an iPhone. Any of the next few would just sweeten the deal

Big screen presentations

Everyone who’s had to run a presentation from a computer knows what a fuss it can be. If iPhone could play PowerPoint, Keynote and Flash presentations, all you would need is a cable (similar to which the iPod has now) to hook it up to a screen or projector and you’d be in business.

Easy transfer of pictures to a website

My preferred photo site is Flickr, but given Apple’s cozy relationship with Google that might be a bit unlikely. If I could take a picture, comment on it, then send it to Picasa in a couple of taps I would switch.

Flash SWF

Flash player would open up a whole world of rich media and present some exciting opportunities to web designers. To play games like those on Orisinal while waiting for a bus would make the trip to work much more pleasant.

iChat

SMS is so last century… Not to mention a rip-off. I want an instant messaging solution, and iChat is the obvious choice. I’ll eat my hat if it doesn’t get Google Talk support, although support for the MSN Messenger network is what’s really needed.

iTunes Music Store

An obvious one: I want to be able to browse and buy on the iTunes Music Store while I’m out and about, and sync it back to my computer.

Apple are apparently planning to sell ringtones (the iTunes ringtones tab didn’t go unnoticed by the web rumour mill). PDF books would also be a logical move.

RSS Reader

RSS is a killer app for a mobile device. Phone makers seem to be waking up to this, but the reader on mine is pitiful. Surely a reader is already in development…

Touchscreen Tetris

The game that sold the Gameboy. If Tetris DS is any indication, a touchscreen Tetris could work beautifully on iPhone.

Video recording

The obvious next step from incorporating a decent camera is to enable recording. It would be brilliant to be able to film a clip, then upload it to YouTube. Between these features and the browser you’d have a easy way to capture a holiday in blogged words, pictures and videos.

Wireless sync and device recognition

It would be cool to be able to sync iPhone with my computer wirelessly, and use the cable only for recharging. If Bonjour was available you could browse iTunes libraries, share files and even print without any mucking around with settings.

When all is said and done, this is just a version 1.0 product. Considering how far the iPod has come, iPhone has the makings of an powerful new mobile platform. Many of the suggestions on this wish list can be delivered with a software update rather than a new model, and that is where the iPhone’s power and potential really lies.

I’m pleased to see two great web development applications get the recognition they deserve at this year’s Apple Design Awards.

Coda 1.0

Coda by Panic takes the award for Best Mac OS X User Experience:

Coda is a unique web development environment that offers a complete file browser (both locally and remotely), publishing, full-featured text editor, WebKit-based preview, CSS editor with visual tools, full-featured terminal, built-in reference material, and much more. Coda is the Mac’s first one-window Web development application that integrates numerous modules into one cohesive user experience.

CSSEdit 2.5

CSSEdit by MacRabbit wins Best Mac OS X Developer Tool:

CSSEdit has a polished and focused Aqua interface that sports flexible tabs, intuitive visual editors, and exhibits extreme attention to detail. CSSEdit offers real-time styling for absolutely any web page using technologies in a variety of ways.

If you are a Mac user and you make websites, I highly recommend that you check both of these out.

Meanwhile the runner-up award for best game goes to Wacky Mini Golf, reminding us that the Mac games market is still very dry. The EA and Id announcements haven’t come a moment too soon. Maybe the Mac will get Crysis. Fingers crossed…

Apple have released a public beta of Safari 3 for Mac and Windows. It will be released as part of Mac OS X Leopard in October, and for Windows XP and Vista presumably around that time.

Their main reasons for doing this appear to be:

1. Provide Windows-based developers with a browser that they can use to effectively test their web apps designed for iPhone
2. Continue to infiltrate the Windows operating system with Apple software, in the hope that more Windows users will consider “switching” to the Mac
3. Increase their revenue from Safari’s integrated search

As for the rest of us, “Oh good one more browser to test in…” we all sigh. In fact that is the least controversial aspect of this release:

Naughty

Safari for Windows brazenly forces a Mac OS X style window and preference pane onto its users. This may not seem like a big deal to some, but there are many (especially Mac developers) who feel this is very shabby. It’s precisely the kind of activity that causes loud criticism when done in reverse. Firefox for Mac is often criticised for looking like a Windows app, a fact that Camino has cleverly exploited.

Media apps such as RealPlayer and iTunes usually have a non-standard interface so you accept it. Web browsers by and large do not. For Apple to show such disregard for design conventions is a disgrace. It’s especially poor when you consider the excellent job that Microsoft have done of making Office, Messenger and the late (but fondly remembered) Internet Explorer 5 feel right at home on the Mac.

I think this kind of behaviour is liable to put Windows users off Safari.

Not only this, but the Mac beta is a right old mess. It requires a install/restart, and overwrites the webkit framework so that some Dashboard widgets break! D’oh! Good luck removing it…

It’s not all doom and gloom though:

Nice

It claims to be the fastest browser available today, and while I can’t confirm that it does run very snappily on my Boot Camp XP Pro installation.

Truth be told, the improvements over Safari 2 are very modest. Autofill, inline find, pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing etc are all features that we take for granted nowadays whether we use Safari or not. I’ve never been interested by its RSS support, having recently moved from NetNewsWire to Google Reader.

Mercifully it renders consistently with the Mac version. Text quality is nice and even form elements are the same (whether that’s a good thing is your call). I’ve also noticed some minor rendering improvements – labels are now clickable for instance.

Time will tell whether Safari manages to take some of Firefox’s market share. I think the proportion of people who consider their web browser enough to download another is much smaller than the market itself. I still choose Firefox because of Google Browser Sync and Chris Pederick’s Web Developer Toolbar, but there may be some for whom it fits the bill nicely.

Aidas and Saulius Dailide have announced a consumer level image editing application for Mac OS X Tiger called Pixelmator. It is expected to ship in late July for $59.

It’s built on an array of Tiger technologies including Core Image, Spotlight and Automator. It should provide a convincing demonstration of the power of these technologies. Core Image in particular seems to be quite untapped, except to add occasional bells and whistles.

Although the application has been referred to as vaporware (due to it’s unreleased status) it’s worth bearing in mind that the Dailide brothers are founders of Jumsoft, another mac shareware company that has delivered some pretty nice apps. Money in particular springs to mind.

I think their credentials are strong enough not only to believe that the application is real, but that it will be worth a download.

In fact, you can find a video of Pixelmator on The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

I find it encouraging to see that there are still developers who have the courage to try and carve a niche for themselves, in the face of intimidating competition. Pixelmator may find a loyal following among people who would love to dabble in image editing, but can’t justify the expense of larger apps.

With its ability to import Photoshop documents, it could even present a viable option for web designers on a tight budget. Team it up with Coda, and you have a decent web development toolbox for about £80. That’s a bit of a bargain.

So says Steve Ballmer.

You know, I had my doubts about the iPhone, but Apple must be breathing a sigh of relief at this resounding vote of confidence.

If that clueless oaf wants us all to know that iPhone is a lemon, then it must be destined for great things.

My 85-year-old uncle probably will never own an iPod, and I hope we’ll get him to own a Zune.

I hope so too. Competition is always healthy, and if Ballmer’s uncle buys one it would double the Zune’s market share.

We’ve just had a bit of a techno swaparound, and now I’m getting used to the rather compact keyboard of a Core Duo MacBook Pro. It’s a very nice machine, and will be even nicer wen i gET USed t0 typng n iT.

We’re going to install Parallels Desktop and Windows XP on it. I look forward to finding out how good a solution that really is, or whether I’ll be scampering off with the Acer off Ian’s desk every so often.

iLounge has a balanced and well-written piece on the newly released Apple TV called Top Ten Reasons You Don’t Need Apple TV (Yet).

In brief, those reasons are:

1. You have a fifth-generation iPod with video
2. You don’t have a HDTV, or don’t use one as your primary set
3. Your movie collection isn’t in one of its two supported formats
4. iTunes doesn’t sell movies or TV shows in your country
5. You want to protest Apple’s pricing and bundling policies
6. Apple TV doesn’t have a DVR - or you already have one
7. It doesn’t have a DVD or other hi-def disc player
8. You’re budgeting for another Apple purchase, like a Mac mini
9. You want to hold out for a version with higher resolution or more capacity
10. You want to wait until the reality distortion field dies down

Since I’d raise my hand to reasons 1, 2, 4, 6 and 10 I think I’ll pass for now. I’d also add a couple more of my own:

1. Having to turn your telly on to control your music seems a little, well, odd…
2. I can’t honestly imagine using it to browse my photo collection
3. It’s yet another box to fit among the cable box, broadband router, amp and videogame console

I have an iPod dock connected to my amp. That will do nicely.

[EDIT] In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think the potential of it is immense, but untapped in this first generation. Here are some features that I would like to see it gain in future:

1. At £199 and with a good selection of AV-out options, it is dying for a software update that enables it to play PowerPoint, Keynote and Flash files. Hooked up to a projector, it would make a killer no-fuss presentation machine
2. With a HDTV and a broadband connection, it would only take an optional camera (like an iSight or a Sony EyeToy) to make video chat a mass market proposition
3. A selection of cheap downloadable games that people who don’t have a dedicated console might play

A battle between Apple, Microsoft and Sony to make a meaningful and effective whole of your devices is definitely on and heating up. It will be interesting to see how it plays out over the next few years.

On The Onion.

I think I’ll wait for Version 2.0. I hear the battery life on the built-in Reality Distortion Field™ Generator only gets about 90 minutes, and you can’t upgrade it.

I use Firefox as my primary web browser. This is partly down to it doing a satisfactory job of rendering web pages, but also because I use Chris Pederick’s Web Developer Extension and Google Browser Sync to keep my bookmarks in step between work and home Macs.

Lately though, my Firefox had kinda lost the plot. Browser Sync had stopped working properly and I was even getting rendering problems on webpages that I wasn’t seeing on other computers.

So it was time to un-holster AppZapper for the first time. We all love the drag and drop simplicity of installing most software under Mac OS X, but removing it is another matter. Apps distribute preferences and other support files around your system that aren’t removed just by trashing the app.

AppZapper bills itself as “the uninstaller Apple forgot” – drag an application onto its window and it will identify the related components. A press of the “Zap” button causes a cute screen flash and all that junk is moved to the trash.

$12.95 promises free upgrades for life, for when a fresh start isn’t so simple.

My newly installed copy of Firefox 2.0.0.2 is working fine.