How is it better, you ask?
1. It has more than one farking button. In fact, it has a full QWERTY keyboard.
2. It took only four taps to enable installation of "unofficial" applications. No jailbreaking needed.
3. It can run more than one goddamn app at a time.
4. I don't need to pay 99 bucks to distribute an app.
5. I don't need to send it in just to change the battery.
6. If I lose the data cable, I have a crapton of USB mini-B cables lying around that will work just as well.
And what does the iPhone have that the G1 doesn't?
1. Multitouch. Ooh, look, I can squeeze the page and it gets smaller. Big whoop.
2. A half-eaten piece of fruit stenciled on the back.
3. An aura of smugness.
iPhone fanboys, flame away.
1 comment:
So, I wasn't an iphone fanboy (I still don't own one), until recently, when a buddy told me how much money he made on a very simple app. I became an "i wanna make an app and get rich" fanboy.
At any rate, I can address each of your points from a non-fanboy POV (and the POV of someone who is studying the sdk in order to cash in).
1) it has one useful button that changes function depending upon what's most logical at the time, vs many tiny buttons that I'm not sure I have the patience for. It also has a multi-touch screen, that (admittedly) some ham-handed users have said don't work well for them. I seem to have no trouble when I borrow one for a moment.
2) I'm annoyed by Apple's policies. I'm not going to say Steve is right when he says the andriods store is a 'porn store', but I've heard that it's really hard not to trip over porn apps (to the tune of 50%+).
3. Fixed in the current release. The iPhone has some decent state-saving tricks that they urge(d) developers to use, to save on system resources, so that it really seems like you're picking up where you left off (because you're actually picking up where you left off). Developers also can push events to the iPhone OS (from a server), so you could make it seem like your app was working and waiting for you. While this isn't perfect, it wasn't bad. Of course, less of this is relevant -- but if developers use better tricks, end users can experience good results and better battery life. Then again, I was also the guy who wanted programmers to program responsibly, so that we could keep cooperative multitasking back in the day.
4) Somehow this isn't the hindrance it would seem at first glance. If it were, there wouldn't be so many people lining up to pay it, or to pay for apps on the store. I'm betting that I can make that money back. (for what it's worth, it's $300 if you do it with a company name vs a personal name - and I think I can make *that* money back, too).
5) Yeah, that's sucky.
6) I don't own an iPhone, but somehow I have 2 of the cables... I guess one for my ipod and one for my wife's ipod... I'm not sure this is an issue for everyone the same way it is for you.
7) You didn't address Flash, but I'll respond to it anyway. The POV is "Flash wastes batteries -- you can use our frameworks to do what you want far more efficiently" added to "Flash crashes - 90% of crashing in web browsers id due to Flash" -- there were some interesting threads after a VP at Adobe denied crashing bugs (the internet pretty much said "yeah right" and proved the opposite). I wish apple and adobe would play nicely, and I think they both get some of the blame on this one. Even if Adobe had a perfect product (which I'll agree with apple they don't) I'm not sure Apple would play ball.
Anyway, what I'm complaining about, personally, is Cocoa. It's warping my brain. But if development continues at this pace, I'll be forced into iPhone ownership, perhaps around the same time as the next release. Otherwise, I would continue on with my "it's just a phone, it can make a call if I mash upon the buttons in the right order" phone - complete with cracked case, qwerty or no qwerty.
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