Category: iPhone

iPhone 7 thoughts

~ Shaun ~ 3 Comments

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For some unfathomable reason, I picked up an iPhone 7 over the weekend and have had some time to get to know it. The main reason, to be honest, is that my eyes are not what they used to be and so I needed a bigger screen. 128GB of space also helps.

I should say from the start that it is the most boring phone I have ever used. I don’t like the shape, never have, and for the life of me I do not understand why Apple has made a phone that is as slippery as this one. The matte black finish is nice and all that, but it is still an iPhone 6 in my eyes and doesn’t come close to the form of the iPhone SE, 5s etc.

Remember that I am coming from an SE and moved to that because of the size and the form, and it is still a let down to actually use a phone that feels 2 years old.

I can’t deny the power within it and the camera which is stunning to my eyes, particularly in low light, and the display is also extremely impressive.

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A quick shot taken in very low light – my daughter made the cake by the way.
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And zoomed in. Serious detail given the conditions.

I’m not quite sure why I am so down in the iPhone 7, but I suspect it is the price and the feeling that the enhancements are not worthy of the extra expense. Logically, I should have bought a 6s and waited for the, hopefully re-designed, iPhone 8 which may have offered the sense of something new.

But, we are where we are and for people like me who are embedded in iOS there is no better phone at the time. I just can’t shake the feeling that it should be better than it is and that it feels like a holding device until the next big thing arrives.

The Louis Vuitton Eye-Trunk for iPhone 7

~ Shaun ~ Leave a comment

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The Eye-Trunk for iPhone 7 in precious Golden Crocodile leather seen at Louis Vuitton Fashion Show pays a tribute to the House origins as a trunk designer. More than a protective cover, this new Nicolas Ghesquière statement establishes itself as the ultimate fashionable accessory of the season… More at Louis Vuitton.

I would buy this is it wasn’t $5,050, if it wasn’t made from Golden Crocodile leather, if it didn’t look so terrible and if it wasn’t generally f*cking obscene.

An iPhone 5S that looks like an iPhone 7

~ Shaun ~ Leave a comment

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I’ve been using my 5S for about 2 years and I like it. When 6 came out I was impressed buy it’s design which for the first time reminded me the original iPhone from 2007 — aluminum case with rounded corners, that’s sexy.

I tried to convince myself that the bigger the screen the better, figured out several use case theories like “it’s more convenient to read books on a bigger screen” etc. but nonetheless

I didn’t switch to the 6 family right away. Then SE came out and it became clear that 4″ would not be dead for a long time.

Recently I faced with an interesting piece of aluminum on AliExpress and felt like “I definitely should give it a try”. Rounded corners are sexy… More at reddit.

I can’t be the only one who thinks that the 5S shape is better than the 6/7 shape? Interesting project though.

Before the iPhone, you were…

~ Shaun ~ 1 Comment

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I’m sure I was using the Treo 650. The iPhone changed everything, yes, but I’ll tell you that I still struggle with errors on the iPhone keyboard, and the depth and complexity of software on the iPhone is still not as good as many of the apps I had on Treo/Palm devices. I’ve found workarounds, but I still have a Treo plugged in that I power on and marvel at occasionally. Tom

Same here, Treo 650. It took a couple years before I was convinced about the iPhone. Of course, everything changed and my Treo 650 was left behind. Bob

Palm Z22, which was a ergonomically nifty piece of kit, despite having a resolution half of the Sony Clie it replaced. And some generic color flip phone – Sanyo Katana. The number of little details in the interface (physical button use and virtual) some of those models of flip phones got wrong was remarkable…

Plus I’d use an iPod Nano.

The iPhone could replace all 3 things, and have some web browsing to boot. It took til they got to the app store til they got a decent “Todo” solution, but still… Kirk

Shaun, been following you since your Clie days. (Newton to Palm to Clie to Treo to Blackberry to iPhone.) Although I never did a Psion, I was intrigued by them. Had a Treo 680 around the time of the iPhone, but now am happy with my iPhone 6plus. Arnold

What if the iPhone had never arrived?

~ Shaun ~ 1 Comment

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Now that coral reef is bleached bone white and space gray. There is one kind of phone, the black slab, and two manufacturers. A decade ago phones slipped, slid, and transformed. Now they just slide to unlock.

What would have happened had Cupertino not launched the iPhone when they did? I think Blackberry and Palm would still be alive, their OSes and software churning away on countless phones. The rise of the truly open cellphone – what Android was supposed to be but isn’t – would have created an entirely new ecosystem for cellphone apps and home-brew. We’d have Linux on mobile more than we do now… More at TechCrunch.

What a brilliant premise for an article. Thanks to Bob.

What were you doing before the iPhone?

~ Shaun ~ 4 Comments

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Ten years ago, Nokia was the world’s largest phone maker. Microsoft was gearing up to launch Windows Vista. And the best new products at CES included a wireless TV and an MP3 player that streamed internet radio.

Then, on Jan. 9, 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled a device that went on to change the world — a $499 iPhone that came with 4GB of storage. It was a mobile phone, a music player and an Internet device… More at c|net.

I am fairly convinced that I was using the Tree 650 as my daily phone/PDA and that it was considered by many to be the best available at the time alongside a raft of Windows Mobile devices. We were in a niche and most people looked at us as if we were complete geeks who played with electronic toys just for the sake of it.

And then the iPhone came along and everything changed (the history prior to the iPhone and beyond is detailed here) because people at work were asking me about it, were saying that it looked amazing and perhaps most importantly, they showed an interest in it. No one was really interested in the Treos and other PDA phones of the time, but the iPhone flicked a switch and it really did change everything.

Android became like iOS, Nokia eventually made changes too late to save themselves and BlackBerry bombed.

So, what were you using before the iPhone and do you agree that it changed the mobile industry forever?