Macworld Thoughts, Day Two
on 01.10.07, 02:04pm in mac • comments (9)
Now that I’ve calmed down a bit and have been able to escape the reality distortion field of yesterday’s Macworld and iPhone announcement, I’ve been thinking more about the iPhone.
It’s a beautiful device, really, but calling it a phone is a bit of a disservice, IMHO. It’s really a UMPC, and it’s what I want in a portable communications device. Do I still want to buy one in June? We’ll see in six months.
AppleTV, on the other hand, is getting mixed reviews. I’ll go ahead and admit it - I ordered one as soon as the store came back online. Why? I just want to shoot my iTunes content around the house and it looks like it’s going to be a fun device to do that with.
Will it replace the 360 in my home theater? I doubt it, not until it has mpeg2 support. Most likely end up in the living room or the bedroom. The 360 is a better hd media streaming device, but I just have to check it out.
One final thought: I wonder if I could throw AppleTV into the closet and attach a Slingbox to it (someone needs to put together a virtual remote control for it)? I could then just ’sling’ any AppleTV to my Dash, laptop, etc…. :)
Frank McPherson (January 10, 2007 @ 6:59 pm)
If you read the Time Magazine article about the iPhone, you’ll learn that the the iPhone started with Apple’s research for developing Tablet PC equivalent, so I think you are correct in thinking of the iPhone more as a UMPC that happens to have an integrated phone.
I think there are going to be many challenges that the iPhone will have to overcome. First is the exclusive, multi-year with Cingular. I don’t see Verizon lovers jumping to Cingular just for an iPhone, after all a cell phone is useless if it doesn’t connect to the network.
Next is the walled garden. No third party apps means little end user expandability, which will kill this for geeks.
Finally, no hard keys will make the device difficult for one-hand operation. Many non-geeks I encounter don’t like my Pocket PC Phone editions because there are no buttons for making phone calls.
ken partridge (January 11, 2007 @ 12:33 pm)
I order the AppleTV also, I have been waiting for years.
I was at the keynote (on the media side, there was also the attendee side) and what was funny is that whenever he mentioned anything about the iPhone everyone would clap, then when he mentioned that it is an exclusive deal with Cingular the whole hall went silent for about 2 seconds then the fan boys started clapping, but the whole media side was silent.
It was funny.
Richard (January 11, 2007 @ 2:14 pm)
Airport Extreme - it contains a USB port - you can easily hook up a hard drive and share it on a local network. Neat.
http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/
JeffMc (January 11, 2007 @ 4:59 pm)
Not only hook up a hard drive, plug in a hub, and connect a number of drives and printers for sharing.
JeffMc (January 11, 2007 @ 5:05 pm)
I am surprised it does not do MPEG2, since it is just Quicktime running in there on embedded OS/X. I am surprised they did not put the MPEG2 plug-in on it. I guess they want to limit to what they like, i.e. iTunes Music Store stuff. Who knows, if enough bitch, they can upgrade it
Of course, ya could always transcode, Steve :), you got that MacBook pro waiting to heat up while transcoding
Steve (January 11, 2007 @ 8:52 pm)
I already have a NAS and a print server on the network - no need for that.. I also dont think the Macbook Pro (Core Duo) has the draft-N cards
Steve (January 11, 2007 @ 8:56 pm)
No MPEG-2 may have me canceling my order.
Richard Rafaj (January 11, 2007 @ 9:37 pm)
It looks like Airport Extreme (with USB plug) is prepared for Leopard’s Time Machine…
JeffMc (January 12, 2007 @ 9:18 am)
I guess my wait for the Core 2 Duo MBP was a windfall
And my Mac Pro has the n-card too. Of course, my kids and the GF’s mini don’t. Oh well 