Apple’s iPhone comes with the ring of overconfidence

The much hyped new smartphone soon to arrive from America is magical but flawed, says the first journalist to use one in Britain

The world of technology is driven by hyperbole. In a crowded marketplace, a new product doesn’t stand a chance unless it’s heralded as the Next Big Thing. And nobody understands this better than Steve Jobs, boss of Apple, whose artfully choreographed product launches guarantee media coverage.

But finding a truly revolutionary product these days is difficult. Now that the transition from analogue to digital technologies is all but complete, most new gadgets are evolutions rather than revolutions.

So when, in January, Jobs claimed Apple had “reinvented the phone” with a fanfare that was grandiose even by Apple’s own standards, I set about trying to find the truth behind the hype. Was the iPhone really “five years ahead of the competition”, as Jobs claimed?

Days after the US launch in June, I took a trip to California to buy a £200 iPhone with a plan to test it in advance of the planned UK launch (the iPhone is due to go on sale here in early November). Apple was one step ahead of me; its American phones are locked to a US network and won’t work with a British Sim card.

Luckily, there are geeks out there who can unlock anything and after trawling the web I found the advice I was looking for to link my new iPhone to the Vodafone network. It’s a tricky procedure and not one I’d recommend to nongeeks, but it gave me the head start I needed to assess the iPhone’s capabilities – and deficiencies.

First, the trifling matters: yes, the iPhone’s screen gets smudged but it’s easy to wipe clean and the glass front is remarkably scratch resistant. Yes, the virtual keyboard takes some getting used to, but it’s fine once you learn to trust the built-in error correction. And, yes, the headphone socket is annoyingly recessed – but a £5 adapter will allow you to use the headphones of your choice, rather than the flimsy ones provided by Apple.

More disturbing are the low-res camera and slow data connection. They may have seemed cutting edge when Apple began work on an iPod phone in 2004. But by the time the iPhone finally launched, many rival handsets had cameras with twice the resolution, and a 3.5G connection capable of browsing the web at 10 times the speed of the iPhone.

As a phone, the device works well (even if you are uncertain at first where to hold it to your face) and call quality is on a par with most good handsets. Reception, though, can be patchy.
Fortunately for Apple, you won’t immediately notice these technological shortcomings when you first pick up the iPhone. Instead, you’ll be captivated by mouthwatering, candy-coloured icons, which cry out to be pressed. Not poked with a stylus, but squashed with your finger.

And once you press, the response will take your breath away: unlike every other smartphone on the market, the iPhone does what you ask without pausing to think – and does it beautifully. Click on the “photo” icon and your photo album zooms at you from the centre of the brilliant 3.5in display, pushing all the homepage icons off the side of the screen.

Choose a picture to look at and it nudges the album screen out of view. Stroke your finger across the screen and the photo makes way for another, travelling at the exact speed of your finger. Switch the iPhone to landscape mode and the picture that you’re looking at smoothly rotates with you.

This glorious user interface is the iPhone’s most powerful weapon, and the one thing that truly is years ahead of the competition. It won’t just wow the gadget addicts – it’ll have techno-sceptics drooling, too.

But satisfying that technolust won’t be cheap. The basic iPhone handset will cost £269 but UK buyers will then have to sign up to an 18-month contract with O2, Apple’s service provider, for £35-£55 per month, which puts the true cost at £899-£1,259.

Jobs has blamed Vat and the fact that “it is a little bit more expensive to do business over here” for the price of the handset in the UK. He also claims: “Sometimes you get what you pay for.” But after the initial glow wears off, will British iPhone users agree?

Undoubtedly the biggest frustration for iPhone users will be the lack of a high-speed 3G connection to a mobile network. It has been sacrificed for the sake of battery life, according to Apple. (In my experience the battery required charging only every other day, even with heavy usage.)

So, despite the fact that O2 paid billions for its 3G network, the iPhone can’t use it. Instead, O2 is having to upgrade its old 2G network to enable an iPhone-friendly system called Edge. But even Edge runs at speeds that rarely reach 100kbps (a quarter of the speed of a 3G connection).
Not only that, but O2 will have only 30% coverage at launch so most iPhone users will have to put up with the tediously slow GPRS connection – similar to the bad old days of dial-up home connections – unless they’re in a wi-fi hotspot. This is a shame because the iPhone’s web browser is better than anything on the mobile market, thanks to the touchscreen software and the clever way it displays websites.

Fortunately, the iPhone is good at sniffing out free hotspots and will choose wi-fi over a phone connection where possible. And in the UK, O2 has built a subscription to 7,500 wi-fi hotpots operated by the Cloud company into its monthly iPhone charge. There are more plans afoot, too; a deal with Starbucks will allow American iPhone users to access the iTunes music store free when they’re near a wi-fi enabled Starbucks – and even buy the music playing in the shop.
It’s not hard to see Apple striking deals with other high-street chains to offer deals to iPhone users who happen to be passing. And if critical mass is achieved, the iPhone’s wi-fi connections could allow music swapping and social networking – just as Microsoft tried (and failed) with its Zune.

But will the iPhone reach critical mass? Apple has sold 1m handsets in just over two months in America, but only after an unexpected – some might say desperate – $200 (£100) price cut. With a target of 10m iPhones worldwide by the end of 2008, Apple is chasing a significant chunk of the smartphone market.

There are, however, distinct differences between the UK and US markets. The UK has more developed 3G networks and there is a wider choice of appealing handsets here than American consumers can buy.

Jobs points to the success of the company’s previous revolutionary products – the Macintosh, which popularised the mouse, and the iPod, which is reshaping the music industry. But personal computing was in its infancy when the Mac was launched in 1984, and few people knew what an MP3 was when the iPod appeared in 2001. By wrapping new technologies in appealing, easy-to-use packages, Apple scored two easy wins. Can it do the same in the mature – and intensely competitive – mobile phone market?

Nine months after first playing with the iPhone, I’m still entirely smitten. I’m willing to forgive its failings and I’m not alone – Apple claims the iPhone customer satisfaction rating is higher than with any previous product.

But there is a serious threat, and it doesn’t come from Nokia, Samsung or Sony Ericsson – it’s from Apple itself. By launching the iPod Touch MP3 player with wi-fi, which although not a mobile does feature the same magical user interface and web browsing functions as the iPhone and does not require you to switch to a hefty phone contract, Apple may have unwittingly cannibalised its own market.

Apple iPhone Storage 8GB fl ash drive Display 3.5in 480x320 pixels Data connections Wi-fi , Edge/GPRS, Bluetooth 2.0 Camera 2 megapixels Price £269, with contract

New gadgets from Microsoft

Microsoft announced five new additions to its line of computer peripherals today: three notebook mice and two Web cams (all available next month):

1. Mobile Memory Mouse 8000. $99.95. The specs on this rechargeable wireless mouse include 1GB of flash memory in its transceiver; 2.4 GHz wireless technology and high-definition laser technology.

2. Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000. $49.95. Specs include HD laser technology and three months of battery life.

3. Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse 7000. $49.95. 2.4 GHz wireless; HD laser tech and five customizable buttons.

4. The LifeCam VX-7000. $99.95. High-definition video and photos; unidirectional microphone with acoustic noise cancellation; a 71-degree wide-angle lens; automatic adjustments for low lighting.

5. LifeCam NX-3000. $59.95. HD resolution; automatic audio controls; swivel lens; video effects to personalize video calls.

Sony shows new Blu-ray disc recorders for Japan

TOKYO: Sony Corp. said Wednesday it will start selling four new Blu-ray disc recorders in Japan, stepping up the battle in next-generation video formats.

Sony's Blu-ray is competing against HD DVD, backed by Toshiba Corp. The battle has kept confused global consumers from rushing to buy new gadgets until they determine which format will emerge the winner.

Sony's models, shown Wednesday, will hit Japanese stores Nov. 8, priced between 140,000 yen (US$1,229; €889) and 200,000 yen (US$1,756; €1,270). Sony plans to initially produce 40,000 recorders a month for Japan, the Tokyo-based company said.

Sony already sells Blu-ray disc players in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. But there are no overseas sales plans for Blu-ray disc recorders so far, according to the manufacturer of Walkman players and PlayStation 3 game consoles.

Next-generation DVDs store large amounts of data for high-definition images and video.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic brand products, and Sharp Corp. support the Blu-ray disc standard.

The group pushing HD DVD includes Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. Both sides are claiming victory.

Earlier this year, the Blu-ray group was dealt a blow when Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures and Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc. said they will exclusively use the HD DVD format. They had previously released works in both formats.

Kiyoshi Shikano, a corporate senior vice president at Sony, played down possible damage from the switch.

"With all the support Blu-ray enjoys among Hollywood, PC makers and consumer electronic makers, Paramount's decision won't really affect Blu-ray," he said.

Blu-ray discs can hold more data — 50 gigabytes compared with HD DVD's 30 GB — but the technology requires new manufacturing techniques and factories, which mean higher costs.

Sony Pictures, News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox, The Walt Disney Co. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer are releasing films only in Blu-ray. Universal, owned by General Electric Co., backs HD DVD exclusively.

Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. remains the only major studio releasing movies in both formats.

Vehicle gadgets thwart drunks

The electronification of social responsibility proceeds apace. Pressure grows for increased use of ignition interlocks to keep people from driving drunk.

The interlock, not a new idea, consists of a tube into which a driver must blow before starting the car, the tube being connected to an alcohol sensor and a computer that will not let the car start if the alcohol reading is too high. Right now the cutoff used by police is a blood-alcohol content of 0.08.

The idea is that people convicted of DUI would have to use interlocks and therefore would not be hazards to the public. The principle is similar to that of the electronic ankle bracelets that notify police when a nonviolent offender goes somewhere he shouldn't.

In the past, critics said interlocks wouldn't work because drunks could find a way to outwit them. For example, a drunk could have someone else blow into the tube, or go sober to a bar and leave the car idling while he drank.

Well, maybe, but interlocks have gotten a lot smarter than they were. One manufacturer of the devices today is LifeSafer Inc (lifesafer.com). A lot of thought has gone into the device. Its model FC100 has a fuel-cell based sensor that responds only to alcohol and incorporates a long list of techniques to keep a drunk from fooling it.

The user can be required to hum (many of these features are programmable) while blowing into the device. This, says LifeSafer, "deters techniques utilized to mimic human breath or to absorb alcohol." The device can require random retests while the car is in operation. "Breath test refusal or failure is recorded and sanctions are imposed, including honking of the car's horn, [which deter] drinking after completing a sober start and [leaving the] vehicle idling at bars." Furthermore, it can be set not to let the car start at all between certain hours. This is useful if the court decides that the offender can drive to work and back, with an hour added for shopping, but otherwise must stay off the road.

For people with a history of drunken driving, the idea makes sense. That is, it is reasonable to suspect that if chronic drunks blow .08, they will continue drinking until incapacitated. However, in today's surveillance-prone society, there is the problem of the slippery slope. For example, New Mexico in 2004 defeated a bill that would have required all new cars to be equipped with interlocks. Everyone, not just known drunks, would have had to blow into the tube to start the car.

Had this passed, it would have caused technological punishment of potential, not real, misbehavior. Note that alcohol affects different people differently.

Nokia unveils new gadgets,services

By Matti Huuhtanen, Associated Press

HELSINKI, Finland — Nokia unveiled new Internet services and gadgets Wednesday to help customers download music and play games on mobile handsets — in a strong push to challenge rivals, including Apple's iTunes and iPod.

The latest move by the world's largest mobile phone maker, which has a strong position in emerging markets with basic handsets, is further recognition that high-end markets require multitask handsets with photo, music and video capabilities and quick access to the Internet.

Nokia said it will focus its Web services in a new site known as "Ovi" — Finnish for "door" — that will include an online music store that allows users to browse for music "with millions of tracks from major labels" and buy downloads onto their devices, including one that holds up to 6,000 songs.

Enlarge	Courtesy: Nokia
One of the products unveiled is the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic, which has up to 18 hours of music playback and memory for up to 3,000 songs, offering up a rival to Apple's iPhone.

The new services will also enable the transfer of music from PCs to compatible Nokia devices, and give customers the chance to play and download N-Gage games on "tens of millions" of Nokia devices sold worldwide, the Finnish company said.

The high-power launch of the new services, announced in London, sent Nokia stock to its highest level this year in Helsinki, closing up 4.6% at euro23.31 ($31.77).