The Speck SeeThru Case ($29.95) for the Apple iPhone is a hard plastic case that also comes with a belt holster. When I saw Speck at Macworld, I was impressed with their wide array of cases and also with their clip/stand system. After some time with their SeeThru case, I continue to be impressed.
Read on for the full review!
One of the most interesting stories at Macworld hasn’t gotten a lot of attention in the larger press - namely that Google was around at Macworld a lot more than most people realize. It’s not just that they have a medium-sized booth featuring both their Mac products and new iPhone-compatible web offerings. No, the real story about Google at Macworld is that it’s very clear that Google has the iPhone on their collective mind in a big, big way.
Google’s services will continue to be great on the iPhone even after their Android OS hits the market. Read on to find out why!
The Pacific Rim Leather Jacket is a simple flip-lid style case for the iPhone. It has a clean, elegant look, but is it clean and elegant to use? Read on for our review.
The Smartphone Round Robin contest is over. Here are our last thoughts and responses about the the iPhone. After the break are the winners of the contest and the bulk of the article.
I’d like to say that the Smartphone Round Robin was an excellent idea. It was a lot of work, too, but hopefully it ends up being something useful for those of you that followed it while it was going on, or to anyone that ends up here long after this moment has passed.
And if you’re not ready to say goodbye to the round robin just yet, we’ll all be chatting about the round robin for the Mobile Computing Authority podcast tomorrow, that podcast should be available next week.
It seems like a long time since I affixed my burning gaze towards iTunes, and as luck would have it, there’s a bunch of iTunes news floating around just aching to find their way into a roundup smörgåsbord type of article.
It sounds like the new Pepsi zillion song giveaway is going to be with Amazon MP3 instead of iTunes. You’ll probably hear marketing speak say they’re giving away $1 billion worth of songs, but the reality is a different situation:
“PepsiCo is planning to place tokens on five billion drink containers. Consumers will have to collect five tokens to qualify for free tracks. In theory, the campaign could flood the market with $1 billion of free music (Apple charges 99 cents per DRM-free track), but redemption rates on these types of offers are usually low, at about 2 per cent.
iPodObserver has a quick story about independent superstar band Radiohead, who made headlines by letting anyone choose the price they wanted to pay for the album. Rumor has it that Radiohead are working through a deal directly with iTunes, the first of its nature. If this happens, it upends the content distribution methods currently in place by bypassing the middleman. In other words, it screws the record companies.
Ars Technica has an interesting article about kids using podcasts to replace lectures and iPod-ready versions of Cliffs Notes for late-night cramming.
Om Malik has a little introductory article about Songbird, an open-source version of iTunes that’s built on the Mozilla platform. The Mozilla platform is the basis of widely beloved internet browser FireFox, so if Songbird ends up like FireFox, it will be bloated and slow we’ll have a nice alternative to iTunes. Songbird isn’t anywhere near ready for release yet, as indicated by the current version available: Songbird 0.3 Developer Pre-release. Amazingly, device syncing is not one of the core functions yet, though they do have add-ons that allow syncing for iPods and other devices. There’s a video interview there that’s worth a look, and there’s an interesting tirade against iTunes starting at about 9:45, calling iTunes a bottleneck in the value chain. Yup, he calls it that even as he compliments it for being the best out there as it stands. See below:
W00t! With your help this podcast reached #41 in iTunes gadget podcasts. Thanks to you! We chat a bit about the Smartphone Round Robin, iPhone launches in Europe, unlocked iPhones, supposed spat between AT&T and Apple, rumors of the SDK being seeded, Universal CEO mockery, and the usual looks from our community.
I’d also like to apologize for the lateness of this podcast — we’ve been t roubled with some audio problems since we upgraded to Leopard. Okay, I’ve had some audio problems since we upgraded to Leopard. Dieter has been fine.
After a week of using the Treo 680, I have to say that it’s pretty much the same as I remember it. I used the 680 as my primary phone for about half a year, and I’ve reviewed it twice already. I won’t claim to be the most knowledgeable 680 user out there; that honor would certainly be bestowed to many, many users in our forum before I would even enter consideration for it. I’ve had a lot to say about Palm OS, generally favorable I suppose, but there are caveats. I’ve said as much in the TreoCentral TreoCast, but I’ve never had an opportunity like this one to really distill thirty podcasts and a few dozen hours of listening into a manifesto of what’s good and what’s bad about Palm OS, and what I really think about their Linux venture, and why Palm is on their current path.
When I say the King is dead, I don’t mean that the 680 is a bad device, or that there’s no reason to use Palm OS, or that anyone that uses it is dumb. Far from it, I think the 680 is pretty high up on my list. It’s still a good phone. If I thought Palm OS was dumb or not relevant, I wouldn’t do the TreoCentral TreoCast. It boils down to two things with Palm OS: the hardware and the software. The hardware will see updates. There will probably be more Palm OS GSM phones to come out. Better cameras, 3G, smaller form factors, the whole shebang. When it comes out, it will probably be a compelling upgrade for Palm OS users. But I don’t think we’ll see a significant software update for Palm OS in the next two years. While some may accuse that it’s unfair to say “the king is dead” alluding to Palm OS, it’s not accurate to say the king is alive, either. But still, there are always these persistent rumors about faked deaths and random sightings…
Kevin Michaluk of CrackBerry.com reviewed the iPhone and reviews it positively. He’s got a thread going in our forums too. Someone may have asked if they could keep the 4GB iPhone until it became available on their carrier; I won’t name any names, nor will I offer proof (because I forgot to take a !@#$ screenshot). No, I’ll be content to insinuate. The other party would have accepted except that they have other immediate plans for said iPhone once the Smartphone Round Robin is over. Still, it’s an interesting proposition, and if someone had a spare iPhone to give, someone would have taken someone else up on it. If someone could dole out iPhones to people that needed interface love, someone definitely would.
figure 1: UMG CEO Doug Morris as interpreted by artist Psillos
If you’re looking read a sob story for the music industry, Wired has your ticket. They interviewed Universal CEO Doug Morris about his woes with iTunes and how to deal with the MP3 problem, and it’s pretty revealing.
Universal in the process of starting a new subscription-based service called Total Music to replace iTunes (and Microsoft’s Plays-For-Sure, and maybe Microsoft’s other Zune marketplace too). The best part about that is he’s looking to deliver yet another format. You have MP3s, you have iTunes’ AACs, you have Windows Media’s WMA, you have other myriad formats like OGG and FLAC, and then you’ll have yet another choice.
figure 2: Mr. Non-Digital guy drinking with Mr. Internet Enabling Apple Board Member Digital Guy
Morris admits he’s not a digital guy, but… wow. his response to the threat of iTunes doesn’t make sense to me. He wants tech companies to foot the bill for at least the first few months, which I don’t think will fly. They’re just going to pass the added cost on to consumers, and after that the consumer is stuck with keeping things up. Would I need multiple subscriptions for multiple devices? If I do, that would suck. If I don’t, it would still suck, since the tech companies would still build the cost of the unnecessary subscription into the retail price of their music player. And this is assuming they don’t try to establish a 4th common format, mind you. Which they probably will, probably with the help of Microsoft (or worse, Real).
If they sell multiple versions with different music licensing — one version more expensive and with a subscription, and one much less but without a subscription — consumers get confused, have a negative experience with the platform, and return to iTunes (or Amazon MP3, or stealing music, or home taping, or whatever).
And if they get the tech makers to build in the cost a lifelong subscription into a device, what’s to stop Apple from licensing that tech besides collusion? What would be my purpose to upgrade in music-playing hardware besides capacity? It doesn’t look like it would be a good long-term deal for the tech giants either (let alone me), unless the tech giants have an elaborate plan for screwing over the record companies later.
Another part of his plan was to not renew the contract with iTunes, so they could reduce the number of songs and albums they’d sell on iTunes. Forcing customers to subscribe to a subscription service so he can escape the “golden handcuffs” of iTunes probably isn’t going to fly especially well. The market has pretty much spoken for the iPod so far — maybe something revolutionary will come along; maybe something won’t. My best guess is that whatever replaces the iPod will still be made by Apple, but whatever. The music industry’s next best hope is the Zune from Microsoft. Is that scary or what? Fleeing Apple for Microsoft is the very definition of “out of the frying pan, into the fire.”
I dunno, it seems like this guy is dancing in quicksand. In other news, iTunes accounts for 22% of all music sold in the USA, and Amazon MP3 is also an excellent choice for online music. My line in the sand: if it’s not iTunes or it’s not MP3 or some similar open format, it’s doomed. (photo via Getty, painting via Wired)
I think that I’ve been lucky with all of the phones that I’ve reviewed in the Smartphone Round Robin. I think there’s a proper order. I began with the device furthest away in mentality to the iPhone, the BlackBerry Curve, and it was a fine device. I missed having a touchscreen, but it was a good device. Then, I got to use the Tilt for a week, and that was actually another good device — very powerful with its touchscreen, and it has a form factor at least in parts reminiscent of the iPhone, though maybe without some of its ease of use. And last, I get to review the Treo, which is in many ways the closest of all of the phones we’ll review to the iPhone. Did you know that iPhone owners were 7 times more likely to have used a Treo (or Sidekick) than any other phone?
  
|
News Tips Subscribe to our Store Newsletter: |
|||
|
|
||||
|
"
The iPhone Blog merged with the Phone different site in May of 2008. Both sites were founded on a premise that comes one from one of Apple's old slogans: Think different. The iPhone Blog: for people who dare to phone different.
