Category: iphone

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iphone LBS

iPhone 2.0 api includes core location component.

Much like the Google Android platform, yesterdays annoucement from Apple includes news of a Location API as part of the iPhone OS which will allow third parties to develop location based applications, and most importantly enable any iphone application to make use of location.

iPhone Core Location API

Seen alongside Android there is now a critical mass of developers building moble applications which use location, and hopefully we will see the same level of innovation we have seen from the web in general.

For the geospatial industry this is fantastic news !

Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network.

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iphone Thoughts

The cult of iPhone

For many years as a user of Apple computers since the Macintosh LC I was quite happy to be a member of the minority of computer users at odds with the majority of other computers users, happy to stand out as a member of “the cult of mac“. Now of course things are different pop into any Starbucks anywhere is the world and you will see Macbooks everywhere, Macs are slowly becoming more mainstream.

iPhoneThis week I was in California and it seemed that almost every other person was using an iPhone, in the Google office it was more extreme almost everybody had one. Yet back home in the UK, I think I have seen maybe two or three other iPhone users in London, and one user on a train from Manchester, the contrast with San Francisco is enormous !

Although there are well known limitations with todays iPhone, no 3G, poor camera, no MMS, the iPhone is by a very long way the best mobile phone I have owned, I actually don’t think it is the spec of the iPhone that is the problem is Europe.

So what has gone wrong, clearly Apple hoped that the iPhone would in Europe follow the success of the phone in the US market, but of course the markets are very different.

Despite the widespread (compared to the US) availability of SIM free phones in Europe, most people still expect to be given a free phone when opening a new contract or renewing an expired contract.

These operator provided “free” phones are not low end models either, the number of people on the train I see with Nokia N95’s is staggering – many I’m sure not even aware of the capability of their “mobile computers”, against this few people outside the geek minority are willing to spend nearly three hundred pounds on a iPhone.

Never mind, I enjoy my smugness as a member of the “cult of iPhone”, knowing that I have spent a large sum of money to have a technically superior device, others think is an extravagant waste of money… ah yes back to the good old days !!

Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network.

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iphone N95

So farewell N95

Now a full committed disciple of the iPhone, its time to say farewell to the my Nokia N95 which has joined hundreds of others on eBay, there is a depressed market if ever I saw one.. when I last looked there were 1600 phones on the market.

Technically the Nokia device is superior to the iPhone, it has 3.5G network access, a fantastic camera and of course GPS, but the U/I is just so much better and it just works, I’m not seeing the signal strength issues some have reported, but O2 really need to get the EDGE network extended quickly, although the Cloud wifi system in London works really well.

So now all we need is for Apple to update their Maps application to use “My Location”…

Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network.

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Apple iphone

A weekend with the Jesus Phone

Unlike my old friend Peter who had a low-key purchasing experience in Winchester, I think I got my moneys worth after joining the line for about a hour outside the main Apple Store in the UK in London’s Regents Street.

The iPhone line

Very soon after the scared hour of 6:02 pm the queue began to move.

After no more than 15 minutes the hundreds of people in front of me and worked they way into the shop and I followed them into the very busy store.. I was lead to one of about a dozen till points, all of which were operating with a least five staff, and handed over my credit card in return for two iPhones, if you see Lisa don’t mention that you know what her Christmas present is !!

The famous glass stairs

So by about 6.20 pm I left with my iphones to the cheers of Apple Store staff who lined the exits, and to the bewilderment of most of the rest of the people on Regent Street.

Apple Store staff

Activation was very steightforward with no issues, even porting my number from Vodafone was easy, although according to a text I then got from O2 on my iphone the process will not be complete for another 10 days!, I have a temporary number to be going on with.

So over the weekend the iPhone has been my constant companion and I don’t really have much to add to what everybody else says.. from a user point of view it just works in the way you would want a phone/pda/ipod to do, and has all the little Apple touches that delight.

Of more interest I guess is the network experience, wifi just works selecting open networks and just using them, although you need to register your iphone at a cloud hotspot to make use of that service, a one off registration after which you phone just connects whenever in range of a cloud hotspot.

O2’s network is more of a disappointment, I’m actually reasonably happy with the performance of EDGE although slower than Vodafones UMTS network, it does not feel that slow.. however you are going to spend much of your time on good old GPRS as signified by that simple square icon, while o2 rolls out their EDGE network.

Over the weekend I only got that wonderful E icon while shopping in Kingston, maybe something to do with the fact there is an Apple Store there..

Where is the Edge

I can tell the hunt for “E’ is going to be the talking point for all UK iPhones owners for some time to come.

Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network.

Categories
Apple iphone

Well toto I don’t think we are in California any more..

So I have lost site of the end of line and its getting cold, this is not how it was in Palo Alto methinks.. still less than a hour to go and I would guess around 2000 people here..Just has a chat with a nice lady from trustedplaces.com, a happy Google maps api user.Written and submitted from the area around the Regents Street Apple Store using my Three 3G wireless modem.