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An Android User’s Take On Yesterday’s iPhone News

39 points by jordanmessina 16y ago

ergo98 16y ago
A balanced read. One surprising thing about the iPhone (and about the iPad) is that it still only comes with 256MB of RAM. They seem to accomplish a heck of a lot with that, yet still that is very constricted once you start talking about multitasking and the like. It is a pretty major update, but really the Giz leaks among others did take some steam out of it. It isn't as big of news simply because it isn't news - we long knew about it.
- sp332 16y ago
  “Another key concept is ‘think small’. We have not begun to reach the limits of what can be done with 64K bytes of memory and a single mass storage device. It is important to hold to these limitations in order to keep the project from burgeoning into a huge, expensive and time consuming effort.” -- Jef Raskin, during the design of the first Macintosh (from http://www.azarask.in/blog/post/macintosh-project-genesis-and-history-16-feb-1981/ http://www.azarask.in/blog/post/macintosh-project-genesis-an... )
  - boredguy8 16y ago
    I don't think he was working with frame or layer buffers on a color display at 1024x768.
    - access_denied 16y ago
      Yeah, but 64k and 256Mb are different numbers. And as you already know: 640k oughta be enough for anybody.
    - potatolicious 16y ago
      The point remains valid: the iPhone software absolutely screams, and in many cases achieves better UI performance on Android hardware that is twice as fast. There's something to be said for not writing everything in Java ;) We don't have the hardware problem so well licked that we can disregard it. IMHO programming phones like we program desktops is a serious mistake, and seriously hamper what we can do with mobiles (e.g., bloatier code results in need for faster hardware with little performance gain for it, thus raising battery, heat, device size problems).
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- illumin8 16y ago
  I've heard this 256MB limit that you see on all the smartphones now is because the ARM A8 architecture they are based on only has 256MB of RAM on the die. I think this is the biggest limitation that these devices have right now. I love my iPad, but it kills me to have the occasional "crash to desktop" just because Safari ran out of memory. My prediction - next year we'll see A9 based smartphones/tablets with 512MB-1GB of RAM and these memory starvation issues will be a thing of the past. It certainly doesn't bode well in the short term for early adopters though. The post PC era is upon us - too bad the hardware (and software) is still in it's infancy.
  - ergo98 16y ago
    >I've heard this 256MB limit that you see on all the smartphones now is because the ARM A8 architecture they are based on only has 256MB of RAM on the die Possible, though the Evo 4G, Nexus One, HTC Dream, among a variety of other Android devices are coming with 512MB these days. One weird thing, though, is that one of the feature notes of Android 2.2 is "HIGHMEM support for RAM >256MB", so not sure how that plays into this.
    - masklinn 16y ago
      I believe those phones are on Snapdragon, which is an arch based on the Cortex A8 but not a vanilla A8 is it?
    - barake 16y ago
      Android 2.1 and earlier shipped with a kernel that could only see 256MB of RAM, and 2.2 fixes this. A bunch of HTC Passion/Desire/Incredible/Evo users are about to get a performance boost with Dalvik JIT and double the RAM.
  - drivebyacct 16y ago
    You act as if "first movers" ever don't get screwed by Apple. I understand that technology is constantly evolving and that by time I buy a phone, a better one is being produced, but I can't shake the feeling that Apple schedules their releases and features in ways that maximize their revenue. I suppose I can't really blame them for that. It just makes the whole thing seem less "magical" the way some act like Apple is just the most innovative and new company in the whole wide world. Also, I still can't help but laugh at this moniker of the "post PC era". The rest of us are still doing real work in Windows, Mac, Linux and the smartphone/tablets are accessories.
mark_l_watson 16y ago
Good article. I do wish that my Droid had a video camera on the same side of the phone as the screen for video Skype, but that will probably be in a later release.
ben1040 16y ago
This about sums up my opinion of iPhone 4. My N1 is still a wonderful phone and for the features I use, I still don't think I'd want to trade it (back) in for an iPhone just yet. I think the key phrase there is "for the features I use," however. If I were younger and cared more about video chat, I might be wanting to seriously hop on this phone. I still think that since Android 2.1 was released the momentum in terms of software development is still in Android's favor, while Apple's last development cycle seems to be all about making a seriously slick looking piece of hardware.
- batiudrami 16y ago
  Well, in Australia we've had video chat over 3G for about 6 years now. Everyone has a 3G phone (it's standard) and everyone can use video chat. The thing is, people don't. I've never once received a video call apart from when we all first got them and there was novelty in calling a guy who was sitting 2 metres away from you. Video chat is awkward because it means your contact is on speakerphone so everyone can hear you, and I don't really need to see who I'm talking to anyway.
  - geocar 16y ago
    > Video chat is awkward because it means your contact is on speakerphone so everyone can hear you, About that: You can use an earpiece.
    - batiudrami 16y ago
      I assume you can do this with other phones too, though I've never tried it. The video call quality you get over 3G is fairly poor too - iPhone's implementation seems to have much better quality based on the promo videos. However, it still has some major flaws - only to other iPhones (for the moment) and only when you're on Wifi - that requires quite a bit of coordination to make sure the person on the other end is ready for your call. I honestly don't see this catching on - the trend I see is away from actual human interaction (SMS, Facebook updates and IM) rather than towards it.
  - bad_user 16y ago
pcestrada 16y ago
I think a big advantage that the iPhone has over Android is that Apple is able to synchronize hardware and software development since it exists within the same company. I imagine Google works with handset vendors but there must be inherent inefficiencies in communicating across multiple companies. Apple can maintain a yearly drumbeat of putting out a polished product where the software and hardware dovetail nicely.
- drivebyacct 16y ago
  I don't understand why that's an advantage? It's just another of Apple's control vices. The hardware of the phone functions independently of the software and vice versa. Maybe for things like fragmentation or updates it makes sense, but I don't really see Google putting on the brakes because they don't make the hardware. Ironically that's the very thing leading to the so called "fragmentation problem".
  - jsz0 16y ago
    A good example is upgrading the quality of the iPhone video recording and simultaneously releasing iMovie to go with it. So you get a hardware upgrade and a much more practical way of using the hardware. For many people syncing videos off the phone and editing them on a PC (especially Windows) is just too much of a hassle. Android phones have had video this quality of video recording for months but don't have anything like iMovie which might make the hardware capabilities less appealing to someone. Another example is the front facing camera which you can presently get in the Sprint Evo. How many Android apps support switching camera sources? They're relying on Qik for video chat which has experienced major problems since the Evo's release. Who's accountable for that? Not Google, Not HTC, not even Sprint. They just throw the stuff out there and hope it works right. Hardware has to be accessible to people via software or it's just a geek fetish.
    - nooneelse 16y ago
      But in the land of pure unbundledness and light, the upcoming hardware improvements would have been made known to all simultaneously, and more than one group could have been making software for it. Possibly giving you more choice on the first day the hardware was available. So the thinking goes.
torpor 16y ago
Just wait until the Creative Labs Zii EGG device gets released and updated a revision or two .. this thing kicks ass and has had all the key features of iPhone 4 already - HD video, front-facing camera, etc. Okay, its not a phone (yet) but it sure does have the chance to steal a bit of thunder .. c'mon Creative, release it already!
edster 16y ago
I have to say that I'll be very disappointed if the iPhone 4 comes with only 256MB of RAM. You would think the iPad experience would have taught them that 256MB is not enough RAM to accommodate the significantly increased amount of RAM needed to back the higher resolution display. It's a world of difference between my 3GS and the iPad, where the iPad can't seem to keep more than one page in memory at a time. It's really annoying. I think the author is quite wrong in thinking that Android will have hardware parity in 4 months. For one, Apple has probably consumed all available supply for the display hardware. Not to mention the disconnect the author himself pointed out between software and hardware. Vendors are finalizing now the hardware that will be shipping in 4 months. It will be months before comparable hardware is spec'ed out, and 8-12 before it starts shipping. the 900 pixel OLED screens most Android handsets have is nowhere near comparable to the 900 pixel IPS LCD display.
- ergo98 16y ago
  >I have to say that I'll be very disappointed if the iPhone 4 comes with only 256MB of RAM Be disappointed. They built the A4 SoC with 256MB of RAM, and that's what they're delivering. >I think the author is quite wrong in thinking that Android will have hardware parity in 4 months I would say that there is already hardware parity. An Evo 4G and a iPhone 4 have middling differences -- is 960 vertical pixels really that much huger than 800? No -- though the former has double the RAM. The Evo doesn't have the DPI, though it's humorous how important that suddenly has become (whereas previously the iPad was "gooorrrrrgeous" with it's very low DPI). >the 900 pixel OLED screens most Android handsets have is nowhere near comparable to the 900 pixel IPS LCD display You know it's weird how when Apple does something, suddenly it's considered superior. I keep reading people hilariously holding up IPS as some sort of ultra-tech compared to "inexpensive" OLED. It, of course, is absolutely wrong. The iPhone's 800:1 contrast is terrible, but that's what you get with LCD. All IPS adds to the plate is better off-axis viewing (not that it really matters), but that's a non-problem with OLED. I'll take a SuperAMOLED any day of the week. It beats LCD on virtually every metric. Apple does make the most of what they do have though. See that Android prior to 2.2 had horrific banding in the Gallery app because it did ridiculous processing of the color bands, completely undermining the massive colour capabilities of the AMOLED screen.
drivebyacct 16y ago
It's beautiful hardware and beautiful software. I'll take functionality any day though. This is the divide. I have two geeky friends. One is OCD and well dressed. He likes things to work smoothly and look good. He is very happy with his iPhone and is excited to upgrade. My other friend is like me, he loves to hack and is a fan of Google's services. Google needs to put Matias Duarte to work. Gallery3D is beautiful, there's no reason those GUI elements couldn't be more standard/accessible to the avg dev.
- ubernostrum 16y ago
  Google seems to have problems hanging on to top design talent; Doug Bowman's post on leaving Google, and on the culture at the company, was rather revealing for me on that point.
  - drivebyacct 16y ago
    I think you misunderstood my point. Matias Duarte is "famed" UI guy that just left Palm/HP's WebOS team for Google's Android team. I'm not sure about Google's ability to retain talent... but I'm hopeful that Matias can bring Android some UI/UX love.
    - ubernostrum 16y ago
      And I think you misunderstood my point: it seems likely that Google simply does not value design talent all that much, and thus that the way to improve Android UI is not simply to hire talented designers, but rather to completely change that aspect of Google's corporate culture.
      - ubernostrum 16y ago
        OK, what did I do? When Doug Bowman left Google he wrote a rather revealing critique of their attitude toward design, and the general disregard for it in their corporate culture: http://stopdesign.com/archive/2009/03/20/goodbye-google.html http://stopdesign.com/archive/2009/03/20/goodbye-google.html Given that, is it really all that unreasonable to point out that Google's UI problems probably are not going to be solved by one person, no matter how much the general community likes him (after all, Bowman's pretty well-loved in the design community, and look what happened to him)?
rimantas 16y ago
But I expected to walk out of San Francisco’s Moscone Center yesterday longing for the next iPhone despite my current allegiance to Android. That didn’t happen. It did not happen, because it simply couldn't. After reading the article I cannot imagine what could Apple offer to satisfy him it apart from shipping iPhone 4 with Android OS. Really, if you dismiss all the good points as not so important, what's left? Rainbows and ponies? He prefers Android, that's OK but Apple just cannot satisfy him then, no matter what they do. That's OK too, that's why we have a choice.
- ergo98 16y ago
  >It did not happen, because it simply couldn't Sure it could. I think a lot of people expected Apple to pull a rabbit out of hat (because they've done that time and time again), but instead it's just a relatively minor (compared to the state of the art) upgrade to the iPhone.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - el_chapitan 16y ago
    Out of curiosity, what features would you define as state of the art?
    - ergo98 16y ago
      Performance, battery life, display quality, weight, etc. The iPhone 4 is the new front-runner, but it isn't in a very significant lead.
    - dminor 16y ago
      In the Android world, EVO or Droid Incredible are basically the state of the art.
      - mr_justin 16y ago
        I would call the custom build glass for the front and back of the iPhone, along with the multi-purpose custom alloy bezel, and the other hardware innovations to be the definition of state of the art. What other vendor is putting this level of detail and innovation into their products?
martythemaniak 16y ago
One pretty disappointing thing from my perspective was no-iTunes related announcements. Using iTunes as your generalized device sync hub is terrible and Apple hasn't given any hints on what it plans to do about it. The cloud sync stuff Google showed off was impressive and that's their strength. Apple has a lot of catching up to do and they need to get to it pretty soon.
- barake 16y ago
  It is pretty rad. I had to swap out my Nexus One a while back and upon logging in to my new device all my contacts, applications and even wallpapers were downloaded automatically. There were a few hiccups like missing custom ringtones but overall the syncing works as advertised.
  - martythemaniak 16y ago
    I was also pretty impressed with the upgrades. Froyo was 44mb, installed in about 5 mins and kept all settings/data. Contrast that with the iPhone update I did from 3.1.2 to 3.1.3 - first a huge 300+ MB download, then erasing the device, then overwriting everything and finally syncing back countless gigs of data. ugh.

39 points by jordanmessina 16y ago

A balanced read. One surprising thing about the iPhone (and about the iPad) is that it still only comes with 256MB of RAM. They seem to accomplish a heck of a lot with that, yet still that is very constricted once you start talking about multitasking and the like. It is a pretty major update, but really the Giz leaks among others did take some steam out of it. It isn't as big of news simply because it isn't news - we long knew about it.

sp332 16y ago
“Another key concept is ‘think small’. We have not begun to reach the limits of what can be done with 64K bytes of memory and a single mass storage device. It is important to hold to these limitations in order to keep the project from burgeoning into a huge, expensive and time consuming effort.” -- Jef Raskin, during the design of the first Macintosh (from http://www.azarask.in/blog/post/macintosh-project-genesis-and-history-16-feb-1981/ http://www.azarask.in/blog/post/macintosh-project-genesis-an... )
- boredguy8 16y ago
  I don't think he was working with frame or layer buffers on a color display at 1024x768.
  - access_denied 16y ago
    Yeah, but 64k and 256Mb are different numbers. And as you already know: 640k oughta be enough for anybody.
  - potatolicious 16y ago
    The point remains valid: the iPhone software absolutely screams, and in many cases achieves better UI performance on Android hardware that is twice as fast. There's something to be said for not writing everything in Java ;) We don't have the hardware problem so well licked that we can disregard it. IMHO programming phones like we program desktops is a serious mistake, and seriously hamper what we can do with mobiles (e.g., bloatier code results in need for faster hardware with little performance gain for it, thus raising battery, heat, device size problems).
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
illumin8 16y ago
I've heard this 256MB limit that you see on all the smartphones now is because the ARM A8 architecture they are based on only has 256MB of RAM on the die. I think this is the biggest limitation that these devices have right now. I love my iPad, but it kills me to have the occasional "crash to desktop" just because Safari ran out of memory. My prediction - next year we'll see A9 based smartphones/tablets with 512MB-1GB of RAM and these memory starvation issues will be a thing of the past. It certainly doesn't bode well in the short term for early adopters though. The post PC era is upon us - too bad the hardware (and software) is still in it's infancy.
- ergo98 16y ago
  >I've heard this 256MB limit that you see on all the smartphones now is because the ARM A8 architecture they are based on only has 256MB of RAM on the die Possible, though the Evo 4G, Nexus One, HTC Dream, among a variety of other Android devices are coming with 512MB these days. One weird thing, though, is that one of the feature notes of Android 2.2 is "HIGHMEM support for RAM >256MB", so not sure how that plays into this.
  - masklinn 16y ago
    I believe those phones are on Snapdragon, which is an arch based on the Cortex A8 but not a vanilla A8 is it?
  - barake 16y ago
    Android 2.1 and earlier shipped with a kernel that could only see 256MB of RAM, and 2.2 fixes this. A bunch of HTC Passion/Desire/Incredible/Evo users are about to get a performance boost with Dalvik JIT and double the RAM.
- drivebyacct 16y ago
  You act as if "first movers" ever don't get screwed by Apple. I understand that technology is constantly evolving and that by time I buy a phone, a better one is being produced, but I can't shake the feeling that Apple schedules their releases and features in ways that maximize their revenue. I suppose I can't really blame them for that. It just makes the whole thing seem less "magical" the way some act like Apple is just the most innovative and new company in the whole wide world. Also, I still can't help but laugh at this moniker of the "post PC era". The rest of us are still doing real work in Windows, Mac, Linux and the smartphone/tablets are accessories.

mark_l_watson 16y ago

Good article. I do wish that my Droid had a video camera on the same side of the phone as the screen for video Skype, but that will probably be in a later release.

ben1040 16y ago

This about sums up my opinion of iPhone 4. My N1 is still a wonderful phone and for the features I use, I still don't think I'd want to trade it (back) in for an iPhone just yet. I think the key phrase there is "for the features I use," however. If I were younger and cared more about video chat, I might be wanting to seriously hop on this phone. I still think that since Android 2.1 was released the momentum in terms of software development is still in Android's favor, while Apple's last development cycle seems to be all about making a seriously slick looking piece of hardware.

batiudrami 16y ago
Well, in Australia we've had video chat over 3G for about 6 years now. Everyone has a 3G phone (it's standard) and everyone can use video chat. The thing is, people don't. I've never once received a video call apart from when we all first got them and there was novelty in calling a guy who was sitting 2 metres away from you. Video chat is awkward because it means your contact is on speakerphone so everyone can hear you, and I don't really need to see who I'm talking to anyway.
- geocar 16y ago
  > Video chat is awkward because it means your contact is on speakerphone so everyone can hear you, About that: You can use an earpiece.
  - batiudrami 16y ago
    I assume you can do this with other phones too, though I've never tried it. The video call quality you get over 3G is fairly poor too - iPhone's implementation seems to have much better quality based on the promo videos. However, it still has some major flaws - only to other iPhones (for the moment) and only when you're on Wifi - that requires quite a bit of coordination to make sure the person on the other end is ready for your call. I honestly don't see this catching on - the trend I see is away from actual human interaction (SMS, Facebook updates and IM) rather than towards it.
- bad_user 16y ago

pcestrada 16y ago

I think a big advantage that the iPhone has over Android is that Apple is able to synchronize hardware and software development since it exists within the same company. I imagine Google works with handset vendors but there must be inherent inefficiencies in communicating across multiple companies. Apple can maintain a yearly drumbeat of putting out a polished product where the software and hardware dovetail nicely.

drivebyacct 16y ago
I don't understand why that's an advantage? It's just another of Apple's control vices. The hardware of the phone functions independently of the software and vice versa. Maybe for things like fragmentation or updates it makes sense, but I don't really see Google putting on the brakes because they don't make the hardware. Ironically that's the very thing leading to the so called "fragmentation problem".
- jsz0 16y ago
  A good example is upgrading the quality of the iPhone video recording and simultaneously releasing iMovie to go with it. So you get a hardware upgrade and a much more practical way of using the hardware. For many people syncing videos off the phone and editing them on a PC (especially Windows) is just too much of a hassle. Android phones have had video this quality of video recording for months but don't have anything like iMovie which might make the hardware capabilities less appealing to someone. Another example is the front facing camera which you can presently get in the Sprint Evo. How many Android apps support switching camera sources? They're relying on Qik for video chat which has experienced major problems since the Evo's release. Who's accountable for that? Not Google, Not HTC, not even Sprint. They just throw the stuff out there and hope it works right. Hardware has to be accessible to people via software or it's just a geek fetish.
  - nooneelse 16y ago
    But in the land of pure unbundledness and light, the upcoming hardware improvements would have been made known to all simultaneously, and more than one group could have been making software for it. Possibly giving you more choice on the first day the hardware was available. So the thinking goes.

torpor 16y ago

Just wait until the Creative Labs Zii EGG device gets released and updated a revision or two .. this thing kicks ass and has had all the key features of iPhone 4 already - HD video, front-facing camera, etc. Okay, its not a phone (yet) but it sure does have the chance to steal a bit of thunder .. c'mon Creative, release it already!

edster 16y ago

I have to say that I'll be very disappointed if the iPhone 4 comes with only 256MB of RAM. You would think the iPad experience would have taught them that 256MB is not enough RAM to accommodate the significantly increased amount of RAM needed to back the higher resolution display. It's a world of difference between my 3GS and the iPad, where the iPad can't seem to keep more than one page in memory at a time. It's really annoying. I think the author is quite wrong in thinking that Android will have hardware parity in 4 months. For one, Apple has probably consumed all available supply for the display hardware. Not to mention the disconnect the author himself pointed out between software and hardware. Vendors are finalizing now the hardware that will be shipping in 4 months. It will be months before comparable hardware is spec'ed out, and 8-12 before it starts shipping. the 900 pixel OLED screens most Android handsets have is nowhere near comparable to the 900 pixel IPS LCD display.

ergo98 16y ago
>I have to say that I'll be very disappointed if the iPhone 4 comes with only 256MB of RAM Be disappointed. They built the A4 SoC with 256MB of RAM, and that's what they're delivering. >I think the author is quite wrong in thinking that Android will have hardware parity in 4 months I would say that there is already hardware parity. An Evo 4G and a iPhone 4 have middling differences -- is 960 vertical pixels really that much huger than 800? No -- though the former has double the RAM. The Evo doesn't have the DPI, though it's humorous how important that suddenly has become (whereas previously the iPad was "gooorrrrrgeous" with it's very low DPI). >the 900 pixel OLED screens most Android handsets have is nowhere near comparable to the 900 pixel IPS LCD display You know it's weird how when Apple does something, suddenly it's considered superior. I keep reading people hilariously holding up IPS as some sort of ultra-tech compared to "inexpensive" OLED. It, of course, is absolutely wrong. The iPhone's 800:1 contrast is terrible, but that's what you get with LCD. All IPS adds to the plate is better off-axis viewing (not that it really matters), but that's a non-problem with OLED. I'll take a SuperAMOLED any day of the week. It beats LCD on virtually every metric. Apple does make the most of what they do have though. See that Android prior to 2.2 had horrific banding in the Gallery app because it did ridiculous processing of the color bands, completely undermining the massive colour capabilities of the AMOLED screen.

drivebyacct 16y ago

It's beautiful hardware and beautiful software. I'll take functionality any day though. This is the divide. I have two geeky friends. One is OCD and well dressed. He likes things to work smoothly and look good. He is very happy with his iPhone and is excited to upgrade. My other friend is like me, he loves to hack and is a fan of Google's services. Google needs to put Matias Duarte to work. Gallery3D is beautiful, there's no reason those GUI elements couldn't be more standard/accessible to the avg dev.

ubernostrum 16y ago
Google seems to have problems hanging on to top design talent; Doug Bowman's post on leaving Google, and on the culture at the company, was rather revealing for me on that point.
- drivebyacct 16y ago
  I think you misunderstood my point. Matias Duarte is "famed" UI guy that just left Palm/HP's WebOS team for Google's Android team. I'm not sure about Google's ability to retain talent... but I'm hopeful that Matias can bring Android some UI/UX love.
  - ubernostrum 16y ago
    And I think you misunderstood my point: it seems likely that Google simply does not value design talent all that much, and thus that the way to improve Android UI is not simply to hire talented designers, but rather to completely change that aspect of Google's corporate culture.
    - ubernostrum 16y ago
      OK, what did I do? When Doug Bowman left Google he wrote a rather revealing critique of their attitude toward design, and the general disregard for it in their corporate culture: http://stopdesign.com/archive/2009/03/20/goodbye-google.html http://stopdesign.com/archive/2009/03/20/goodbye-google.html Given that, is it really all that unreasonable to point out that Google's UI problems probably are not going to be solved by one person, no matter how much the general community likes him (after all, Bowman's pretty well-loved in the design community, and look what happened to him)?

rimantas 16y ago

But I expected to walk out of San Francisco’s Moscone Center yesterday longing for the next iPhone despite my current allegiance to Android. That didn’t happen. It did not happen, because it simply couldn't. After reading the article I cannot imagine what could Apple offer to satisfy him it apart from shipping iPhone 4 with Android OS. Really, if you dismiss all the good points as not so important, what's left? Rainbows and ponies? He prefers Android, that's OK but Apple just cannot satisfy him then, no matter what they do. That's OK too, that's why we have a choice.

ergo98 16y ago
>It did not happen, because it simply couldn't Sure it could. I think a lot of people expected Apple to pull a rabbit out of hat (because they've done that time and time again), but instead it's just a relatively minor (compared to the state of the art) upgrade to the iPhone.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- el_chapitan 16y ago
  Out of curiosity, what features would you define as state of the art?
  - ergo98 16y ago
    Performance, battery life, display quality, weight, etc. The iPhone 4 is the new front-runner, but it isn't in a very significant lead.
  - dminor 16y ago
    In the Android world, EVO or Droid Incredible are basically the state of the art.
    - mr_justin 16y ago
      I would call the custom build glass for the front and back of the iPhone, along with the multi-purpose custom alloy bezel, and the other hardware innovations to be the definition of state of the art. What other vendor is putting this level of detail and innovation into their products?

martythemaniak 16y ago

One pretty disappointing thing from my perspective was no-iTunes related announcements. Using iTunes as your generalized device sync hub is terrible and Apple hasn't given any hints on what it plans to do about it. The cloud sync stuff Google showed off was impressive and that's their strength. Apple has a lot of catching up to do and they need to get to it pretty soon.

barake 16y ago
It is pretty rad. I had to swap out my Nexus One a while back and upon logging in to my new device all my contacts, applications and even wallpapers were downloaded automatically. There were a few hiccups like missing custom ringtones but overall the syncing works as advertised.
- martythemaniak 16y ago
  I was also pretty impressed with the upgrades. Froyo was 44mb, installed in about 5 mins and kept all settings/data. Contrast that with the iPhone update I did from 3.1.2 to 3.1.3 - first a huge 300+ MB download, then erasing the device, then overwriting everything and finally syncing back countless gigs of data. ugh.