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You know I had to post something about this years Macworld sooner or later. A thing that I didn't like was this Macworld Expo's keynote speech didn't have much to do with the Mac at all unless you count the iPhone as a Mac since it runs OS X (more on that in a bit). I was wanting for them to devote some time to talking about Leopard and all the innovations they are going to do with the Mac. Although I guess it's true what some people say that it would have been drown out by the announcement of the iPhone.
Speaking of the iPhone it is pretty interesting to me although I have to admit I expected more as far as the design of the unit itself is concerned. I know my expectations are probably too high for Apple but when I saw it for the first time on their web site I was like "That's it?!? *chuckle*". But as I saw all the functionality of the software it started looking more and more acceptable to me.
The touchscreen is pretty neat how you interact with it like to scroll through your contacts or playlists you swipe your finger across the display. One thing about that though is your probably going to want to carry around with you some kind of soft cloth like you would use to clean glasses to wipe off the oil from your hands after a while. It's pretty interesting how it can detect which way it is oriented and switch the screen from portrait\landscape mode accordingly.
The major downsides for me though is how it's expensive. You have to pay 500-600 dollars and get 8GB of space at the most which is not good because not only does this do music, video and photos like the iPod but you also have other things you can sync with it just like a full blown Mac. I'd be syncing my iCal, Adress Book, and also have my eMail on the go and also you need space leftover for your web surfing, etc.
I wouldn't have enough space to even carry half of my entire music library with me and have room leftover to do other things. In my opinion it should have as much space as the standard iPod. I'm sure there has to be enough room in this bulky handset for a hard drive like in the smaller iPod. If it had as much space as those I'd have enough room to carry all my music and have room leftover to do all the other things I'd want to do.
Some people seem to be confused to me whether they are aware of it or not. The reason why I say this is because they see how the iPhone runs widgets like dashboard and assume that new services\applications would be made for it as widgets. The problem with this is widgets aren't applications. Widgets are typically front ends to either applications installed locally on the computer, like iTunes or iCal, etc. or it is taking simple information off the internet (like the weather or stocks) and displaying it in a tiny transparent web page (that's basically what it is). So they can't just make a Skype widget they would have to port the skype client to the iPhone and then make a widget to interface with that. Yes they would have to port it even though the iPhone runs OS X it is different enough that it would need for it to be ported. However it's up in the air whether or not Apple is going to allow third party applications anyway but I would say they would be foolish not to.
The last thing I don't particularly care for with the iPhone is how you are required to sign a 2 year contract with Cingular. Another thing I'm wary about is how a lot of features on the iPhone seem to rely on you having a good data plan (internet) to make use of. While this may be ok when you are in Wi-Fi range this is not always the case and I'd hate to be charged a lot as I'm roaming around accessing the internet from this handset.
What I would like though is if I lived in a town where wi-fi was everywhere and they had an integrated skype client on the iPhone (I'd love to have a wi-fi skype phone). That and the optional cell carrier of your choice for when you are out of Wi-Fi range then it would detect whether or not you are in wi-fi range and use it (via skype) or the cell carrier accordingly. That and a price cut although these things are probably too much to hope for at least for now.
Getting back to the Mac though. Steve did say that this year is going to be a good one for the Mac and I would like to believe him. I hope later on they will be at least have the type of special event they have been having sometimes where they surprise us with one that announces upgrades\new products but is not a Macworld expo.
I don't particularly care for the AppleTV because it only works with iTunes media and more specifically the iTunes media that works with the iPod. That means no DIVX, no XVID, no MKV, no AVI, etc. I don't like keeping videos in iTunes and I don't like buying media on the iTunes music store so I have no investment that would be of any use on this device. It also doesn't support 1080p and I would want to go full hi-def. I also don't have a HDTV anyway but if I did I'd be hooking a computer up to it rather than some cut down set top box even if it's from Apple. For me it would actually be more worth it if I had a HDTV to hook up an intel mac mini and use front row with the plugins that allow for it to play the file formats that I like. Now only if they would upgrade that darn graphics chip in it! I realise though that the AppleTV probably wasn't aimed at people like me.
Speaking of the iPhone it is pretty interesting to me although I have to admit I expected more as far as the design of the unit itself is concerned. I know my expectations are probably too high for Apple but when I saw it for the first time on their web site I was like "That's it?!? *chuckle*". But as I saw all the functionality of the software it started looking more and more acceptable to me.
The touchscreen is pretty neat how you interact with it like to scroll through your contacts or playlists you swipe your finger across the display. One thing about that though is your probably going to want to carry around with you some kind of soft cloth like you would use to clean glasses to wipe off the oil from your hands after a while. It's pretty interesting how it can detect which way it is oriented and switch the screen from portrait\landscape mode accordingly.
The major downsides for me though is how it's expensive. You have to pay 500-600 dollars and get 8GB of space at the most which is not good because not only does this do music, video and photos like the iPod but you also have other things you can sync with it just like a full blown Mac. I'd be syncing my iCal, Adress Book, and also have my eMail on the go and also you need space leftover for your web surfing, etc.
I wouldn't have enough space to even carry half of my entire music library with me and have room leftover to do other things. In my opinion it should have as much space as the standard iPod. I'm sure there has to be enough room in this bulky handset for a hard drive like in the smaller iPod. If it had as much space as those I'd have enough room to carry all my music and have room leftover to do all the other things I'd want to do.
Some people seem to be confused to me whether they are aware of it or not. The reason why I say this is because they see how the iPhone runs widgets like dashboard and assume that new services\applications would be made for it as widgets. The problem with this is widgets aren't applications. Widgets are typically front ends to either applications installed locally on the computer, like iTunes or iCal, etc. or it is taking simple information off the internet (like the weather or stocks) and displaying it in a tiny transparent web page (that's basically what it is). So they can't just make a Skype widget they would have to port the skype client to the iPhone and then make a widget to interface with that. Yes they would have to port it even though the iPhone runs OS X it is different enough that it would need for it to be ported. However it's up in the air whether or not Apple is going to allow third party applications anyway but I would say they would be foolish not to.
The last thing I don't particularly care for with the iPhone is how you are required to sign a 2 year contract with Cingular. Another thing I'm wary about is how a lot of features on the iPhone seem to rely on you having a good data plan (internet) to make use of. While this may be ok when you are in Wi-Fi range this is not always the case and I'd hate to be charged a lot as I'm roaming around accessing the internet from this handset.
What I would like though is if I lived in a town where wi-fi was everywhere and they had an integrated skype client on the iPhone (I'd love to have a wi-fi skype phone). That and the optional cell carrier of your choice for when you are out of Wi-Fi range then it would detect whether or not you are in wi-fi range and use it (via skype) or the cell carrier accordingly. That and a price cut although these things are probably too much to hope for at least for now.
Getting back to the Mac though. Steve did say that this year is going to be a good one for the Mac and I would like to believe him. I hope later on they will be at least have the type of special event they have been having sometimes where they surprise us with one that announces upgrades\new products but is not a Macworld expo.
I don't particularly care for the AppleTV because it only works with iTunes media and more specifically the iTunes media that works with the iPod. That means no DIVX, no XVID, no MKV, no AVI, etc. I don't like keeping videos in iTunes and I don't like buying media on the iTunes music store so I have no investment that would be of any use on this device. It also doesn't support 1080p and I would want to go full hi-def. I also don't have a HDTV anyway but if I did I'd be hooking a computer up to it rather than some cut down set top box even if it's from Apple. For me it would actually be more worth it if I had a HDTV to hook up an intel mac mini and use front row with the plugins that allow for it to play the file formats that I like. Now only if they would upgrade that darn graphics chip in it! I realise though that the AppleTV probably wasn't aimed at people like me.
