iPhone 5: Is it enough?

Apple product announcements have become the Super Bowl of tech events in recent years. Today was no exception. The anticipation, leaks and speculation leading up to the event was pretty massive. 

The event had a lot of breadth. I wasn't particularly surprised at the iPod updates - well at least, not that it happened. I'm a little disappointed that the Nano has grown again as I am a huge fan of the current size. It would have been nice to see the same form factor but simply slimmer with bluetooth. THe new unit has a nice design, but I won't be looking to purchase a new one any time soon.

 

The iPod touch changes were unsurprising following the iPhone announcements other than perhaps the wrist strap which while functional isn't something Apple typically concerns itself with. Still, a nice feature for those on the go or for kids. Odd that they are keeping the old Touch around, but I guess that helps them hit another price point or get into an up sell situation.

 

The headphones were kind of an odd drop in. Though, when I think about it, given the volume of headphones that Apple distributes, it does make some sense to put some effort in there. It seems in line with Apple's approach to continually evolve and round out their platforms into the "total package."

 

Lastly, I am very thankful that iTunes got a redesign and face lift. I have found it harder and harder to use the application effectively to manage my media so I'm looking forward to that change a great deal.

 

And then of course was the main event. The new iPhone was announced and all the features touted. I was gratified to see the new A6 processor and was pretty much amazed at that it will be 20% lighter. For them to have taken out 1/5th of the weight between generations is pretty remarkable. I think the thinner design will also be appreciated as well.

 

The camera didn't seem to change much on paper - though without side by side photo comparisons it's hard to tell how much change it will bring. The new panoramic feature is nice - better than a manual stitching process with some of the apps that are out there. I saw that they did add the ability to take photos while shooting video, but I always thought that to be a bit of an odd feature. Perhaps it was a capability of the new lens? Glad to see that costs remained the same, though I still feel like the absence of the 128GB model remains odd. I wonder if it is a power issue?

 

The new connector was well leaked in advance so no surprises there. I wonder if they'll have a thunderbolt to lightning connector as well or if it will only be USB to lightning? They have to have something up their sleeve or else they'd just go with micro USB. I know a lot of people are irritated at the instant obsolescence of their accessories, but 9 years is a pretty good run stability wise.

 

LTE support was as expected as was the size of the display. It will be interesting to see just how different the new screen will look in person as well as how much more, if any, responsive it will be. The battery life looks pretty great overall, though it'll be interesting to see how well it holds up in real world usage.

 

Overall, it seems like the iPhone has enough going for it in combination with iOS 6 to justify an upgrade. Pre-orders start on Friday so get those credit cards warmed up!

 

Posted with Blogsy

One (Many) iDevices to Rule Them All

On the eve of the next iPhone announcement (or will it be the New iPhone?), I'm taking a step back to re-review my personal electronic inventory.

And, as I do, I've come to the realization that while I might be a PC in terms of what's on my desk, the rest of my media experience is ruled by Apple. I have the iPhone as my personal phone. The New iPad is my travel companion and TV watching companion. The Apple TV has become one of my prime media consumption devices, so much so that I've now purchased two of them. To a degree, just being able to throw video up on the two different TVs from the iPhone or iPad was worth the price of entry. But add in the iTunes store and the NetFlix application and it really becomes quite a compelling device.

Minty Fresh

I had never heard about the Mint family of devices before. If you haven't either the short version is that they are floor cleaning robots similar to the concept of a Roomba but for hard floors rather than carpet. I actually found out about it from woot.com which, in its typical style, had a one day sale on an older Mint model. I read the reviews and saw some issues with that model. However, when I looked into the newer model it seemed that most of those problems had been solved albeit at a higher price.

Robot Round-up

It's been awhile since I've posted a technology item here, so let's get to it.

Robots in our homes aren't exactly new. We have machines that clean and dry our clothes and dishes, machines that condition the air and water the lawn and so on. I've had a lot of schedule challenges lately and wanted to find a way to get back some free time. I've made two recent key investments in home automation.

United Airlines Remains Out of Touch

Some time ago, I wrote an email to United Airlines detailing my issues with a recent flight experience. I also posted it as an open letter in this blog.

I few things I want to note. Apparently, there are limited ways you can contact United via email.  Or rather, that is to say, none. An email sent to customerrelations@united.com resulted in the following response:

An Open Letter to United Airlines

Dear Mr. Smisek,

During a recent flight from Milwaukee to LA I happened to read your article regarding rewarding rewarding good customer service. Your article called out that United aimed to reward top performers in customer support with a generous, though surely well deserved, $50,000 bonus.  I applaud this approach as I continually see erosion of customer service by companies through the shaving of costs and overuse of procedure rather than asking, expecting and rewarding people to think.

I would like to ask though, how committed are you to this concept? If you are willing to reward folks for superior service, are you also committed to accountability in your co-workers?  Will you discipline them, dock their pay and terminate them when appropriate as well?

Where have all the cool sites gone?

In the late 90's and into the 2000's it seemed like the almost every day a friend, colleague or family member would mention some new site they found on the Internet. Whether it was something silly like the Hampster Dance, a scary puzzle, or something helpful to debunk all the various urban legends it seemed like the number of sites were exploding every moment.

With the massive expansion and commercialization of the Internet, new ideas appear to have been overrun by corporate sites. Design has, in many cases, become more important than content. Google, for the most part has stuck to its tried and true minimalist designs. But the rest of the high profile sites seem to be replacing their designs like we change clothes. That's not exactly the wonder of the Internet to me. I think the last new site someone tipped me off to was maybe Zillow.com. I know we still get the occasional viral video that goes around, hits the news sites, etc.

Perhaps the web is dead as a source of innovation? It seems that all the innovation has gone into the various Smartphone App stores. And there's nothing wrong with that at all. But, with over half a million apps in the iOS store and over 200,000 in the Android store, it is awfully hard to find good new apps. And, smartphones are not yet nearly as pervasive as a computer. And even with that many Apps it is extremely rare to hear about a new app from a friend, family member or even a store. There certainly are a lot of updates coming out for the operating systems - and those are good because they bring a lot of improvements to every user.

But, it almost feels like we need a Google for Apps. A search engine that helps you find applications and solutions across all the various platforms. Don't get me wrong, I know this isn't a new problem. There never has been a great way to find applications. Sure, there are reviews and magazines, but you have to almost already be in the eco-system to find things. That's not the accessibility that most people are desperate for.

I suspect that the company that solves this evolving meta problem will find the road ahead paved with gold.