Ikthog

@loadoftoad Even though it's far too early to start writing the obituary for the iPhone or iOS -- the numbers don't include most of the iPhone 4's sales, and also don't include other iOS devices -- it's inevitable that Android phones will overtake the iPhone in sales and market share. There are many Android devices, form factors, price points and spec buildouts, and they're available from every carrier. As with the PC market, people are choosing them because they're available and they're good enough -- unlike the relatively small Android booster crowd that posts loudly online, most of them aren't "choosing" Android, because they have no idea what Android is. They're buying a phone. They don't really know the difference, they just want something better than what they have, without paying through the nose to get it.

However, the real issue is that, ultimately, Apple doesn't care. Apple has never attempted to dominate a market, though they did so with the iPod. Apple wants the high-end, high-margin part of the market, not the masses who want discounts and two-for-ones and pandering to their whims. It doesn't need to dominate the market to achieve its goals of immense profitability and influence. Have you noticed Apple's profit margins? Have you noticed how much cash they have on hand? You guys think constantly think Android has run the ball way down the field from Apple and is looking back and laughing; meanwhile, Apple is over there playing chess.

Apple has total control of its hardware and software, its software is not in danger of being watered down by device manufacturers and carriers, it controls what software runs on its devices with an iron fist. Is this bad for consumers? Many certainly think so. Undoubtedly Android will become the dominant smartphone platform. But as with the PC market, the smartphone market will be so fragmented that no one player will be immensely profitable... except Apple.

@sonicyoof You do have some idea who Michael Gartenberg is, right? Did you notice he's carrying around three smartphones from three different carriers? He is a professional, whose job it is to assess technology like this. Unlike the commenters you find so intelligent and incisive, he actually wanted to try the thing before passing judgment on what it can and can't do well.

Time will tell what the iPad is good for. As an oversized iPod touch, it's probably not worth your $500. As more apps are released and its functionality grows, it might be worth it to you if you're interested in the things it does. I think it will find numerous niches in various professional and other fields as a dedicated, task-specific device that works well precisely because of its form factor and simplicity. I think in a year, people are going to have a very different idea of how an iPad compares to other devices. But its primary audience still isn't going to be snarky, bored gadget blog commenters.

@Ikthog Oh, and if you want to run Logic or Final Cut... you need a Mac. If you want to do .Net or Silverlight development (or use lots of other development tools), or play most PC games... you need Windows. (You could, of course, buy a Mac and put Windows on it, and do all that stuff.) So again, it's not as simple as comparing specs and price.

Needless to say, you can't judge a Mac vs. a PC as an apples-to-apples (no pun intended) comparison, purely on specs. If you have no idea how efficient each is, in all the various ways that may matter to someone (startup/shutdown speed, battery life, overall processor performance, number crunching, Photoshop performance, game performance, heavy software development, etc.), nor how a comparable Mac will perform once they get the newest Intel chips, you can't really look at PC with a x.xx gHz Core 2 Duo and say "see, it's better than a Mac." A lot of people get caught up in the specs and don't look at actual performance.

Regardless, that issue is moot anyway. If you need a Mac -- for iPhone development, for other Mac-specific software development, because you have mostly Mac software, because your designer friends will snicker at you if you don't, etc., or because you're a Windows refugee -- it doesn't matter how exactly they compare. Plus you can still run Windows on that Mac. If you don't want or need MacOS, there's no earthly reason why you would want to buy a Mac, unless you simply love Mac hardware (which is nice, but not worth that kind of premium to most people). There's really no other argument to be made. The rest is just fanboy fodder.

It may not destroy Android, but it will lead to what you might call the "IE6 syndrome," as developers hedge their bets and program their apps to run on the dumbest of the Android variants in circulation... which will slow adoption of newer devices and defeat the purpose of pushing the limits of the platform. Perhaps Google can create a simpler system of specifying which phones can run which apps, so you can filter out apps you can't use in the Market. (I don't own an Android device yet, so I don't know exactly how it works now, but I get the impression it's less than ideal.)

Regardless, they have a problem on their hands, and they don't seem to be taking it as seriously as they should.

Nice to see some video of the OS, but seriously, what is with all the blurrycam video when it comes to tech blogs? Does anyone actually take this seriously enough to have a camera with a macro lens/setting, perhaps even some expertise in video? It's tough to consider it professional media with the sub-YouTube production values we keep seeing in these videos.

If you really want to tether, there are many phones and carriers that do allow it... this is really just another example of haxx0rs doing something just to see if they can, and then pretending to be indignant when the inevitable crackdown occurs. I guess if you find that all entertaining... and the note about "losing all the talent" is laughable. Something tells me their talent could be better used elsewhere.

Though I don't own a Pre (yet), I think automatic updates sound like an excellent idea. They're trying to maintain the stability and security of the platform, and given that it's obviously quite easy to do anything you want on the Pre with some pretty simple hacks, this gives them at least a certain degree of control. I'm sure it won't be hard to find your way around the updates anyway. The only potential downside I see is if the update process gets screwed up, and it automatically installs an update that bricks your phone (or even temporarily disables it)... that would be mighty annoying.

And a blurry camera phone JPEG is definitely rock-solid proof. The letters are obviously blown out from the terrible photo, so how could you possibly tell? The second photo on that page clearly shows that all the type is an unreadable smudge! How can anyone use a phone with such a blurry display?!

I haven't used the Pre enough yet to know if there are actual letterspacing issues, but clearly neither have you.

When 90% of the UI of your big, important, company-saving product consists of type, why not commission a unique typeface to make it look like nothing else on the market? Hundreds of thousands of typefaces exist, and yet, hundreds of new ones are designed every year. It's also safe to say few, if any, existing typefaces were designed with mobile devices in mind. Many newspapers and magazines have commissioned their own typefaces, even though there are lots already available. Because, again, they consist mostly of type. It's kind of like saying "There are already many perfectly good phone shells (or car designs, or house designs, or clothing designs) available. Why do they bother designing new ones?" And have people already forgotten Android has its own unique typeface as well?

For reference, please consult the Blackberry or Windows Mobile to see what happens when you don't care about what typefaces you put in your OS.

DJ Hero looks neat, but seriously, I don't understand the mixes they've talked about so far. Maybe I don't hang out at the same clubs as these guys do, but is a DJ mashing up two mainstream rock songs really that interesting? Even a techno remix of one of these songs would be mediocre. How about actual music that a DJ would play? Well, yes, that would mostly mean artists that the average gamer has never heard of, and these franchises seem to be largely driven by playlists, but the result might actually be something worth listening (and pretending to DJ) to.

As it is, it seems like they don't have a lot of respect for the genre of music they're simulating. Hopefully they'll announce some better music.