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by Tarek Abu-Esber
August 16, 2008 at 8:29 am · Filed under Apple, Devices, iPhone 3G
It has been a month since the iPhone 3G hit stores worldwide to an eagerly awaiting crowd. It was the second coming of the Jesus-Phone and this one was going to be the phone we deserved the first time round. New Firmware, GPS, the App Store and of course the 3G support all built into a more curvaceous body.
Things didn’t get off to a perfect start on launch day with O2s systems going down in the UK and Apple having problems with iTunes activation and the freshly launched Mobile Me. But despite these issues Apple still managed to sell over a million iPhone 3Gs in its first weekend of release.
So how does the Jesus-Phone 2.0 shape up?
The Hardware
The original iPhone was extremely well built with a metal back-plate and a solid glass front and the iPhone 3G maintains that pedigree. The metal back-plate has been replaced by a more curvy plastic one but the device still feels reassuringly heavy, solid and is more pocketable.
Sadly that is where the praise ends because the iPhone 3G has to have some of the worst Hardware I’ve ever used in a high-end phone. It fails at even the most basic tasks and a lot of the features didn’t seem to work at all.
Let me start with the most basic of features: Making voice calls. The iPhone 3G (I shall refer to it as the iFail for the remainder of this post) would regularly refuse to initiate a phone call sometimes requiring me to try 7-8 times before it decided it would let me call someone. That is something I’ve never experienced even in the early days when I had my first mobile phone.
Of course I would only be able to try and make that call if I was actually lucky enough to be in an area where I could pick up reception. The iFail seems to maintain an average reception level of 2 bars and will also drop service all together at random intervals. 3G reception is just as dodgy.
And before you even mention O2, I always carry 2 phones with me, both on the O2 network. Whenever I’ve had these problems on the iFail the other phone (usually a Nokia) has worked perfectly and has maintained full reception in most cases. Can’t blame O2 at all, it’s all down to the iFail hardware.
And reception isn’t the only hardware issue, GPS is just as problematic. The first iFail I used flat-out refused to connect to GPS at all even when out in the open on a perfect clear day. The device even failed to give me a rough location based on Cell-ID or WiFi hotspots, something that the built in Skyhook software should be able to do. The second iFail proved to be a bit better and would actually lock onto a GPS location, however it seemed to have a mind of its own and would only connect when it felt like it. Admittedly when GPS worked it was great but it’s lack of reliability meant that I couldn’t trust that it would work when I needed it to.
However both these problems are trumped by the iFails worst feature: Battery Life. The iFail has the worst battery life of any device I’ve ever used, including the first-generation N95. Sure it will last all day if you turn 3G and WiFi off and don’t check your email too often but I’m a person who actually uses his phone.
Let me try and put this into perspective: After 2.5 hours of using the iFail as I would any other phone I had 20% battery left from a full charge. What was I doing? Checking email, taking pictures and uploading them to Moblog, making a phone call or two and using the browser to check and update Twitter. I wasn’t even listening to music while doing all that. So even if the iFail had no faults and had the most compelling features in the mobile world, I wouldn’t be able to use them as I’d run out of charge before my day had even begun.
Software
When it came to Software I wasn’t expecting any problems. Apples UI is fantastic and intuitive and had just been updated. Unfortunately the new updates seem to have slowed down the UI and OS. Applications (both native and installed) freeze when being opened, Safari stutters when you scroll round a page and I’ve experienced my first crashes on an iPhone. In a word, it’s Buggy.
More annoying than these minor speed issues are the limitations the device has when compared to other phones on the market. We all know that the iPhone can’t send MMS and can’t record video, which is a bad start. There really is no excuse for these basic features to be missing and I’d assume these would be more important to the average user than GPS or even HSDPA.
However power-users who are used to having smartphones will notice more limitations like the absence of an option to copy/paste text and, crucially, the inability to run non-native apps in the background. Before you start shouting, yes I get that most users wouldn’t miss either of those features but in my opinion it’s features like this that are crucial to making a phone a truly multi-purpose device.
The lack of background apps is particularly annoying, something I’ve become used to after years of S60 (and even WinMo) use. The last.fm application is useless to me as I can’t play the music in the background while doing other things. Shozu is also effected because I have to leave it open while it uploads a photo and if I exit it by mistake the data sent will be posted as half an image.
Apple tell us that this limitation is to preserve the battery life, and I can believe them given how anemic the iFails battery is. There are promises that some Apps will eventually be allowed to run in the background so we’ll have to see what future software updates bring.
However it isn’t all doom-and-gloom in terms of Software. The addition of the App Store to the iPhone/iPod Touch platform is a real triumph. Never has it been so easy to browse, download and install apps from on the device itself. Nokias Download! app pales in comparison and makes you wonder why Nokia haven’t ever had something as compelling as the App Store on their S60 phones.
It certainly helps that the App Store is already full of various applications a good proportion of which are free to download. My only issue is that some larger applications (over 10Mb) can’t be downloaded over 3G and require a WiFi connection if you want to download it on the device. This is the same limitation that makes the iTunes app totally useless to me, an artificial limitation being imposed by Apple this time on a data tariff that is supposed to allow unlimited use.
My final Software issue is to do with Geo-Tagging. The thing that really made the iPhone 3g appealing was that it would have GPS which would let me dive into the world of LBS. I was especially looking forward to Geo-Tagging my images and mapping various journeys and events using Moblogs new LBS features. However after finally getting GPS working on my iFail I noticed that none of the images I’d been uploading had any location information attached to them.
It turned out that the iFail can Geo-Tag images but the location information isn’t available to non-native apps. This mean when I use Shozu to upload my photos Apple doesn’t send through the location information that is attached to that image. Another needless limitation that defies common sense.
The iFail Experience
Having used the original iPhone and the iPod Touch I really had high expectations for the iPhone 3G. I knew it would have limitations because Apple like to keep tight control of the user experience but I wasn’t prepared for the experience to be quite this bad.
The thing is with some minor tweaks Apple could make the iPhone platform far more compelling. However that would mean loosening their grip on the overall user experience and that’s something we know they aren’t willing to do.
But I’m really just playing devils advocate with this “review”. Some of the issues I’ve talked about wouldn’t affect a casual user and the basic iPhone user experience is still very, very good. The iPhone 3G is a great device, I just think it could have been so much more. Hopefully the next version will live up to my high expectations and really shake up the industry the way the original iPhone did. For now we have a mediocre upgrade to a great device which will still win a lot of hearts and minds for Apple.
by Tarek Abu-Esber
July 29, 2008 at 1:32 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0
Everything seems to be getting the 2.0 treatment these days. First it was Web 2.0, then Mobile 2.0 followed by the inevitable Mobile Web 2.0. The trend has continued now with the emergence of what could be called Moblogging 2.0.
Moblog, one of the original moblogging platforms and communities, has recently launched V2 of their moblogging platform and the list of updates boasts features that wouldn’t be out of place in a new Web 2.0 service.
First of all lets look at the new Mobile services, starting with my current favourite topic: LBS (Location Based Services). Moblog will now allow you to post geo-tagged images to your moblog which can then be displayed on a Google Map as a visual representation of where you’ve been and what photos you have taken there. This information can be used and displayed in a variety of creative ways such laying out a recent trip you’ve made for others to follow along.
Moblog, by definition, have always supported posting via Mobile. Historically this has been done via MMS and Email. However it has never had a Mobile Web version of the site for users to browse the moblogs on their phones until this update. The mobile version of the site is automatically generated and re-drawn specifically for the device you are using (as any good Mobile Web site should) and will even allow you to directly upload images using the Mobile Web service.
Moblog have also decided to take advantage of voice and have partnered with Spinvox to enable a couple of innovative voice-driven features. You can now post text directly to you moblog by calling up a pre-registered number and leaving a message. Spinvoxs speech-to-text software will then convert the message into text and that will be displayed on your blog as a new entry.
Moblog have also made use of Spinvox technology to make the sign-up process as simple and painless as possible. You can either text in to sign up or simply call Moblog and leave a voice message and the software will do it all for you. This is especially important to Group moblogs which can allow anyone to post to a group blog based around a specific topic.
Other 2.0 features include the ability to syndicate your content to other sites including the ability to post to Twitter (which can be used cleverly) and many other options. A great way to check out a lot of the new Moblog features is to take a look at the recently launched “We Love Your Accent” site. It does a great job of showing off the new Group and voice-driven features and if you take part you could win a Nokia N82.
So, if Moblogs new features are anything to go by then moblogging is starting to evolve and become a far more useful service. You can set-up your own moblog for free (mine is here) so why not give it a go and see if you don’t get hooked.
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by Tarek Abu-Esber
July 23, 2008 at 10:53 am · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0
A couple of weeks ago Nielsen Mobile released a report announcing that the Mobile Web had reached Critical-Mass. According to their research a combination of device availability, network speeds, content availability and consumer interest mean that the Mobile Web is set to grow rapidly in the near future.
While I might not go as far as using the term “critical-mass” I definitely agree with the overall idea of their report. The traditional barriers to the Mobile Web are all being broken and this is helping drive Mobile Web usage: Walled Gardens, Data Charges, Connection Speeds, Device & Browser Technology, compelling content.
All this got me wondering, how long till the Mobile Web hits mass-adoption? More specifically, what would be defined as “mass-adoption”?
The majority of mobile phone users are Mobile Web users?
A high percentage, say over 80%? Or similar to the proportion of PC to web users? As Western telcos and other mobile players make waves in the Mobile Web area this will drive adoption up exponentially. We might expect this proportion to be higher in emerging market as the mobile will be the main internet connection for a large portion of the population.
Mobile Web usage reaches similar levels to Regular Web usage?
Or perhaps even surpasses, especially when the emerging markets start to embrace Mobile Web. This should be a smaller number of users than in the category above as Mobiles outnumber PCs roughly3-1. Should we be comparing the Mobile Web to the regular Web this closely? Does the way the Web played out give any insight into how the Mobile Web will?
We hit a ceiling in the number of data connections that the operators can support on current hardware?
Potentially a real limitation. As networks are offering unlimited data packages and more and more people takes these up (Vodafone are giving 500MB/month free to every customer) their networks are going to start feeling the strain especially as users start to use the mobile data connection as they do regular web. 4G technologies like LTE et al would over come this but will they come online soon enough? Mobile Web adoption is growing at a fast rate and probably ahead of the road-map for most Western 4G solutions.
What else could be possible indicators of “mass-market” uptake of the Mobile Web? Do any of the above thoughts ring true? Please leave a comment with your thoughts and ideas.
by Tarek Abu-Esber
June 18, 2008 at 3:37 pm · Filed under Android, Apple, LBS, Mobile messaging 2.0, Nokia
If you’ve read any articles about the Future of Mobile then the chances are Location Based Services (LBS) got heavy billing. These days LBS has become a real industry buzz-word with more and more GPS enabled devices hitting the market and a plethora of new LBS services going live.
The user scenarios are pretty compelling: be able to know where your friends are, meet new people in your immediate area, get search information based on where you’re located, Geo-Tag your content so you can map where it was taken and many others being dreamed up.
In fact the future of mobile LBS was so pervasive that Google used it as a main components in their Android platform. It should come as no surprise then that when the top 50 entries to Googles Android Developer Challenge were revealed a large portion had used location in some way.
The pattern was also evident when a group of students at MIT handed in their projects which were created using Google’s Open mobile platform. Their professor had asked them to come up with the kind of Mobile Service they would like to use in the future and to then try and build it for Android devices. Again LBS was the most common type of service with the students using location information to determine various phone settings like ring-type or call barring and to deliver reminders (e.g. reminds you to buy milk if it detects that you’re near a store) as well as other useful features.
And the pattern isn’t unique to Android. When Apple announced the iPhone SDK they also announced that VC firm Kleiner Perkins were setting up a $100 Million iFund to invest in companies building applications for the iPhone. At the end of May the first two companies that had been chosen were announced and Whrrl, an LBS application, was one of them.
Apple themselves had acknowledged the importance of LBS when they added location tracking software in an firmware update for the original iPhone which identified the users location using cell towers and WiFi hotspots. This trend continued when they added Assisted-GPS to the iPhone 3G which was announced last week and will be available in July. The mapping application will take advantage of the AGPS and iPhone developers can too, so we should be seeing just as many iPhone LBS applications as on Android.
And then there’s Nokia who’ve probably put more GPS enabled handsets in the hands of customers than any other manufacturer. GPS support has become a staple in their N-Series Symbian devices and from this week the same is also true of their E-Series enterprise handsets. Nokia have driven users to take advantage of that hardware by releasing a couple of free LBS applications for S60 users, both of which have been hugely successful.
Nokia Maps, which was originally a free add-on and now comes pre-installed every Nokia S60 handset, and Nokia Sports Tracker have been downloaded by millions of users whose feedback has been used to improve the products over the last few months. In fact Nokia Sports tracker, originally used to track your performance while exercising, proved so successful and was used in so many diverse ways that users dubbed it Life-Tracker.
So in 2008 the hardware is starting to become common place with every major handset manufacturer shipping GPS enabled devices. We’re also seeing the handset manufacturers and OS producers starting to make LBS software available. The foundations are being set and by the looks of things the developers have taken notice. Will 2009 be dubbed “The Year of LBS”? I certainly hope so and I can’t wait to see what the industry comes up with.
by Tarek Abu-Esber
June 9, 2008 at 9:56 pm · Filed under Apple, Devices, UK, iPhone 3G
Today we witnessed the announcement of the Jesus-phone 2.0 - the Apple iPhone 3G. So pencil in July 11th as the date of the second coming of the iPhone, only this time with 3G (HSDPA baby), GPS (assisted) and a sexier body.
Darla and Ewan have already covered the American numbers between them and Imran has covered the lust-factor, but what does the iPhone 3G mean to UK users?
First and foremost the new iPhone will be Free from O2 on an 18 month contract. This finally brings the iPhone in line with every other Smartphone on the market in the UK and is no doubt down to Apples re-vamped revenue model for the iPhone. You know, the one that’s replacing the “revolutionary” revenue share model that AT&T and so few other networks agreed to?
Current O2 customers aren’t left out and can pay £100 for the privilege of upgrading to the iPhone 3G. When you compare that to the price point that the iPhone started at in 2007, we’ve come a long way.
As O2 haven’t released details of the subscription packages that will be available for the new iPhone in the UK it isn’t clear if we’ll see large rises in the cost of data packages and call bundles like we’ve seen in the US. Assuming they’re the same as the current iPhone packaged, then it looks like Apple may have hit a home-run when it comes to the price point of the iPhone in the UK.
However price isn’t everything and the UK market is, in some ways, more tech-conscious than the USA. Apple have done the obvious and added 3G and GPS to the device, two major flaws in the original design but they seem to have ignored far more basic improvements like MMS, video recording, instant messaging and an improved camera. My money says those features are as important, if not more so, than 3G and GPS to an average user in the UK.
But perhaps I’ve been too optimistic here. As soon as I heard the $199 price point my immediate reaction was “They’re going for the mass market.” but I don’t think that’s true just yet. The iPhone 3G has been updated specifically to take full advantage of the high-end Smartphone market with its top-end features and software updates aimed at the enterprise market. I’ll leave it to you to decide if that is Apple being short-sighted or a stroke of genius.
