I'm going to the 2008 SXSW Interactive Festival. Really looking forward to it.
As you may know, panels at SXSW are voted on by the community. We are hoping that Bug Labs (a Spark portfolio company) is selected. Naturally I think Peter, Bug Labs CEO/founder would be a great speaker and his topic selected for consideration is called Hardware Mashups: Introducing the Long Tail of Gadgets.
Some of you probably know that I've been using the iPhone as my main device instead of my trusty blackberry curve for awhile.
It's been a struggle. That's for sure.
There are days I think about switching back to my Blackberry Curve. That thing just works but the blackberry browser is so lame. And WiFi on a phone is genius. So I think I'm going to hang in there. I want/need 3 things to stay loyal to the iPhone though:
-Wireless ActiveSync. Or some way to wirelessly sync my iPhone calender with my Exchange server. Syncing via USB is so ghetto. I can't believe I'm doing it.
-Search. The lack of address book search is absolutely killing me. There are a bunch of native apps for the iPhone (more on that one in a minute). Someone needs to develop a native address book search app. The current method of last or first name sort is ridiculous.
-Copy & paste. I didn't think I would miss this but I really do. The software should just let me hold down the shift key on the keyboard and click to select text. Then give me some short cut to copy, cut and paste. Please.
If I don't get at least items #1 & #2 soon, I'm gonna use my iPhone as a fancy, schmancy iPod Touch w/a camera and switch back to the Curve. My patience is wearing out. I'll wait until the Leopard release as my cut off date.
In the meantime, I have made improvements to my iPhone's usability. I switched from exchange config to imap config on the iPhone. That was was a big help.
And now thanks to Installer.app, I have a few great native applications on my iPhone (vs web services). Note: Installer.app is a little funky to install. During the install your iPhone will tell you it needs a full restore but just ignore it, be patient and keep iTunes closed. Once Installer.app is installed, it's a breeze to install native apps. All of the apps are installed on the iPhone itself over Edge or WiFi.
My favorite native apps so far are MobileChat which is an AIM client that works great. Summerboard provides home screen customization. And SendPics is a must if you take photos on the iPhone.
I first discovered Wonderbeings one day at Bug Labs. Peter showed them to me several months ago.
The next day I ordered a few for my office. They are so excellent.
These toys are cubes that have digital characters inside of them. The cubes have magnets so you can connect the cubes to one another. And when you connect the cubes the characters interact in many different ways. For example, one character can "walk" and move from one cube into the other. They also have buttons so you can play games or interact with your character.
There are even motion sensors in the cube so if you shake them up they do stuff.
They are great toys for the office. And I like the idea of toys that are connected. Online or offline.
Maybe someone will build a CubeWorld-like module for Bug Labs one day.
My friends at Wallstrip do a much better review of the Garmin Forerunner than my previous review on the product. Howard blogs about Garmin as well and why it's the stock to own. I'm glad I own the product and the stock.
It's another great Wallstrip show. I love Lindsay's "punch in the face" question at the end. So funny.
A bunch of friends have asked me how my experiment is going.
As my friends know, I've been a die hard blackberry user for awhile. We use Microsoft Exchange at the office and blackberry enterprise server. That trio is like gold. It just works.
But I wanted more. Don't we all?
For the past week, I've been using my iPhone exclusively. The Blackberry Curve has been in my desk drawer at the office. And turned off. Cold turkey.
My experience so far:
1. Screen. Unfucking-believable. Gorgeous. I love having (& showing off) photos of my kids. I watch funny N3 and Wallstrip videos when I'm at the airport or when I'm bored. The screen makes all the difference.
2. WiFi. Apple did WiFi right. The range is better than my MacBook Pro. And set up couldn't be easier. WiFi combined with the built in browser is a winner. Love Facebook, nytimes and reading blogs on iphone w/wifi. Browsing on iphone on the ATT Edge network is a loser though. I usually don't do it
3. Keyboard. The keyboard isn't a blackberry. Not even close. And if I'm ever asked to defend my crown, I will absolutely use a blackberry to avoid getting my ass kicked by fred, howard or any other contender. Yet after just one week my iphone typing skills are getting better. Really. Two tips to become an iphone typing jedi
-hit the keys at a 90 degree angle. this is a must.
-don't edit any misspellings until you complete the word. The built in dictionary is quite good and will prompt you in a very intuitive way. Similar experience as Blackberry SureType. Finish the word first. always.
4. Telephone. I like the phone features much better on the iphone than my blackberry. It's easier to hold, dial, mute, redial, hang up, navigate auto-attendent systems, turn ringer on/off etc. Visual voicemail works really well. Pet peeve: phone numbers listed in calendar or email aren't clickable.
5. SMS. The SMS app on iphone is very cool. Some may disagree but I like that SMS are separate than email (unlike the blackberry). I really like how it keeps threaded messages together. It's the ultimate Twitter device.
6. Camera. Very easy to use. Photos are a bit nicer than the Curve. Syncs with iPhoto. Easy to upload to flickr via email. Love that. I also like that photos of my contacts appear in full screen with callerID for incoming calls. So far my friend Stan has the best photo ID in my address book. I won't include it here but it's very funny.
7. Contacts. The contacts/address book app is really sweet and really bad at the same time. It's very easy to call, email and sms your contacts. Contact integration with google maps is just magical. But the iPhone doesn't have contact search (yet).
8. Super iPod. Listening to music on iPhone is awesome. Coverflow is dreamy.
Incoming phone calls fade out the music perfectly. iPhone headphones also has a mic so you can talk on them as well. Even though I've been an ipod owner since the beginning of time, I didn't always carry my ipod with me. with iphone, i do. And that's excellent.
9. Form factor/durability/stability. The iPhone is solid. Hasn't crashed on me once. The keyboard does slow down every so often but not bad. Form factor is outrageous. Screen seems very durable. No scratches after a week or normal use. I do tend to baby this thing a bit though. I don't just throw it on my desk like the blackberry.
10. Dealing with Microsoft Exchange. Email is easy for those of you that use gmail, aol, yahoo, pop3 or imap. Exchange is not easy on iPhone.
By enabling IMAP on the Exchange server, the iPhone works with your corporate email. It's not push email like blackberry though. Instead iPhone can at best fetch every 15 minutes. You can also manually fetch your email. I thought this was going to a headache but I can live with this.
There are two huge problems with iPhone for Exchange users though:
-Calendar and contact sync can only happen locally. And requires a cable. No over the air sync and no bluetooth sync. Sad but true.
-Even worse, any Exchange-based meeting invites sent to you are not received on iPhone. I believe it's because IMAP is for email and can't deal with the calendar protocol in exchange. It's not made for that. I cannot accept or reject an incoming meeting invite from the iPhone mail client. (This doesn't effect meetings I schedule myself obviously). My workaround is to check Outlook Web Access periodically where I can accept/reject mtgs.
So after a week, I've decided to continue using the iPhone as my primary phone. It's far from perfect but at this time I like it the best. And it's fun. I've never felt that way about my Blackberry.
When I travel more than a day, I'm going to keep the Blackberry in my bag just in case meetings suddenly change and I need to stay on top of it in real-time.
But for days in/around the office, quick day trips to nyc and weekends, I'm going all iPhone, all the time.
I'm going to try and use my iPhone instead of my Blackberry Curve for one week. Going cold turkey.
Starts now.
My friend Chris from Apple showed me how to sync Microsoft Entourage contacts and calendar with Apple iCal and AddressBook. So those things now easily sync to the iPhone inside of iTunes.
And I can now get my work email via imap onto my iPhone. It's not push email but I've set the iPhone to fetch my email every 15 minutes.
Why am I doing this?
Well the iPhone is simply the coolest consumer product that I've seen in years. As I mentioned on iDay, the screen is stunning, WiFi and the browser are killer and having the best ipod on the planet is fantastic. And it's way more fun than my trusty Blackberry.
It's beautiful. The user interface is gorgeous and the display is truly stunning.
iPhoto & iTunes integration is slick. Safari is so cool. WiFi on a phone is killer. Activation on AT&T is a breeze with iTunes. I'm sure I could gets used to the keyboard.
But it's not going to replace my Blackberry Curve. Unfortunately it doesn't work with Exchange in a seamless way like the Blackberry. I want wireless email, calender, contacts syncing with Exchange. And I want push. The iPhone doesn't do this.
Sigh.
I'm sure Apple will figure this out and offer some killer integration with Exchange soon. Maybe with Goodlink software, Visto or ActiveSync or something. please god something.
"Does the iPhone synchronize with my computer’s calendar and address book? Yes. It can sync with Address Book or MS Entourage on the Macintosh, Outlook, Outlook Express on Windows, or
Yahoo’s address book on the Web. If you add appointments or phone
numbers to the iPhone, they are added to your computer the next time
you sync."
But these two statements make me uneasy about making the big switch
"Can you type with two thumbs? I’ve seen Apple employees flail away with two thumbs as though on a Blackberry, but it takes loads of practice. After two weeks, I’m still tapping with one index finger.
How snappy is the real iPhone, compared with Apple’s ads?
It’s identical, with one exception: Apple never shows the iPhone when
it’s on AT&T’s cellular network. That would just be embarrassing.
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