

Thoughts and Observations Regarding Yesterday’s iPhone 5 and Music Event - kristianc
http://daringfireball.net/2012/09/iphone_5_event

======
cageface
_And what shows they were. When Schiller unveiled the iPhone 5, it rose from
the stage floor on a smoothly-rising and rotating pedestal, pinpoint
spotlights hitting the phone and only the phone. The rotation of the iPhone
atop the pedestal was in perfect sync with the rotation of the iPhone
projected on the big screen at the back of the stage. There’s no store where
you buy such pedestals; Apple designed and engineered it specifically for this
event. It was on stage for about a minute._

I think I may actually be physically sick from reading this. There's just no
room to satirize something this ridiculous.

For Apple to maintain its market-leading brand prestige and profit margins it
has to be hands-down _better_ than the competition and no matter how much
heavy breathing hype you want to shower on them the last two iPhones have been
predictable, incremental upgrades that in some important ways are actually
playing catch-up to the competition. Good, but not good enough.

Steve's most successful keynotes were noticeably devoid of this kind of Las
Vegas showroom trickery.

~~~
rimantas

      > iPhones have been predictable, incremental upgrades
    

So Samsung Galaxy SIII was amazingly revolutionary compared to Galaxy SII?

    
    
      > that in some important ways are actually playing catch-up
      > to the competition. Good, but not good enough.
    

Oh, believe me, it is more than good enough. Of course you can choose some
line for the spec sheet and proclaim that Apple is over, but in that case you
are jus missing forest for the tree.

~~~
cageface
_So Samsung Galaxy SIII was amazingly revolutionary compared to Galaxy SII?_

Actually, the combination of new hardware + ICS was really a huge step forward
and the first phone I'd really consider an overal better phone than the
iPhone. And thanks to the diversity of the Android ecosystem we also have
things like the note or the 7" tablets to choose from today.

If Apple wants to play one-size-fits-all then that size has to be in a
different class.

~~~
ghshephard
The Samsung Galaxy SIII is the first phone that has got our died-in-the-wool-
celebrate-apple-fanatic's attention. Honest to goodness direct quote from a
recent convert to the SIII, "Dude, I thought I was trying the real stuff
before, but this things like Heroin!"

I personally think that the big screen, and ICSs speed is pretty damn
attractive - but I don't know how it would fit into my life over a year.

Regardless - Samsung now has a slight lead when it comes to overall mobile
performance (Screen/CPU) - Apple has the lead in App Ecosystem and (in my
opinion) - design tweaks. They do sweat the pixels a bit more than Samsung.

------
zmmmmm
> Here’s the thing: it’s really light.... The glass of the 4/4S feels great,
> but it’s fragile and, compared to aluminum, heavy.

I find it truly fascinating how magnificently Apple can spin anything it wants
any way it wants and have people buy it. For years people have told me how
their iPhone's were made of better quality materials and you could _feel_ it
in the weight. It was the sign of quality. It's awe inspiring to witness now
how after spending so long as a sin, lightness has transformed in the space of
24 hours into a virtue.

~~~
untog
Also:

 _Almost weirdly light, to my oh-so-utterly-accustomed-to-the-heft-of-the-
iPhone-4(S) hands._

I think the thing that bugs me is the tacit admission that he hasn't even
tried any other devices. I own (although no longer use) a Samsung Focus S- a
4.3" Windows Phone. Weight? 110g. At this point the Focus S hardly a new
phone- Apple was _behind_ the times and is just catching up, it's not blazing
ahead.

But then, Gruber is only reviewing this for people that have already decided
they want one, so the bar is lower.

~~~
sedev
Point of information: he's reviewed several Android phones in the past, and
he's talked about them on the podcasts he's on. He does in fact try other
devices.

------
jpxxx
I like this guy but this opinion piece has almost nothing going for it.

What the tech-elite are upset about is that the iPhone is the product of
-SAFE- design. They made safe design choices, safe technical choices, safe
aesthetic choices, and paved over some platform disruptions that are going to
stick in more than a few craws (new maps, new dock connectors, new
advertisement rules, etc). There was no zing zap zowie twist, no manic panic
streak, just safe iterations like thinner/faster/tighter/stronger.

Think about it: there isn't one new sensor type, one new I/O type, one
signature new datatype (save for possibly Passbook), nothing. The smartphone
is becoming mature and the 8000 pound gorilla isn't willing to start zigging
and zagging with the highest profile product in technology.

People want to be wowed, and when all they got was a thorough refinement of
what they had, they left disappointed. My mom is going to love the decisions
Apple made regarding her iPhone 5. John X. Android won't.

It doesn't matter though. This phone is going to sell tens of millions a
month, be the safe #2 market seller, be the #1 money spinner, and stand for
another year as the overall best.

You want daring phones? You want risky phones? Look elsewhere.

~~~
thewarrior
What happened to "Think Different" ?

~~~
jpxxx
"Think different" won them a dominant position in two colossal (and colossally
important) markets that they're in the process of eviscerating to the
consternation of all involved.

I assure you they are in the process of "thinking different" about a number of
new markets and form factors. For the ones that are gushing money? "Think
Dominant"

~~~
ktizo
_For the ones that are gushing money? "Think Dominant"_

Well, that goes fairly well with their 1984 commercial I suppose.

------
bryanlarsen
Gruber is essentially arguing that those criticizing Apple's choice of
Lightning over microUSB are wrong because Lightning is better FOR APPLE than
microUSB is.

Of course Lightning is better for Apple. It's going to make them gobs of
money. That doesn't make it better for the consumer than microUSB.

~~~
jpxxx
I need you to do a thought experiment: It's yesterday. Apple has just
announced that they are immediately moving to micro-USB on all of their iOS
products.

What does this mean for the existing ecosystem of 30-pin accessories and the
customers who bought into it?

~~~
cageface
At least they could use any new accessories they have to buy with other
gadgets instead of being locked into another expensive, proprietary Apple
format.

~~~
jpxxx
Other gadgets? Like what? Describe this workflow.

Plugging in to your Kindle PowerFast adapter that only fast-charges a Kindle?
Plugging in to a PMP that that supports USB-MTP or USB-MSP, which Apple
doesn't support at all? Plugging in a HDMI or VGA adapter? Wait... they don't
have those for micro-USB. Reusing your PDMI gear? Ooops, those are only pin-
compatible with 30-pin and haven't gotten any real traction. Plugging into a
USB audio device? Oh wait, THAT STANDARD DOESN'T EXIST EITHER.

So I'm begging you, tell me, my mind is OPEN on this: describe the benefit of
Apple moving to micro-USB beyond "I can reuse my BlackBerry charger from
2005".

I can't come up with enough pros for anyone, including the customer.

~~~
gergles
MHL moves 1080p24 video and 8-channel audio over a micro-USB connector. The
use cases for the 'dock port' in 2012 are docking in cars/alarm
clocks/speakers/video docks and charging. MHL covers the first set, and any
charger can give the right amount of amperage as long as they reverse-engineer
Apple's hacky way of using a resistor grid on the data pins to control how
much power the device can take.

Just because you don't hear about these things in the Magical Revolutionary
Wonderful Apple bubble doesn't mean they don't exist. MHL to HDMI cables exist
_today_ and are usable _today_.

~~~
dmishe
S3 needs its own adapter for MHL. So much for a standard

~~~
gergles
That's primarily because it also supports sinultaneous USB OTG for some reason
(likely Samsung's bizarre checkbox marketing team...) The GS2 supported MHL
over the regular connector.

I hope companies start developing MHL compatible docks now that many high end
Android devices are shipping with it. A good ecosystem of devices would
prevent "improvements" like Samsung's from taking root. (obviously, Apple
adopting it would have been enough to finally make one unified accessory
ecosystem, but Apple can't charge exorbitant licensing fees for "Made for MHL"
logos...)

~~~
jpxxx
It would seem that the 11-pin Samsung variant would have enough pins available
for all of Apple's backwards compatibility needs. I too wish they'd gone in
this direction instead.

------
ktizo
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER5NG2i_5V4>

