Google has finally released details about their phone plans, and despite rumors, it’s not going to be a Gphone.
Instead, Google announced the creation of the Open Handset Alliance, and specifically Android, “the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. It includes an operating system, user-interface and applications — all of the software to run a mobile phone, but without the proprietary obstacles that have hindered mobile innovation.”
While it’s not an iPhone killer that most had hoped for, it does present some interesting opportunities for the mobile world, so stay tuned to see what they do with it.
Soon, we will live in a world where everything will be documented and photographed and videoed for the consumption of the masses.
For example: As one Swedish passenger was crawling out of the wreckage of last week’s Thailand plane crash, he grabbed his mobile phone and started to video the scene.
The result is a barrage of bloodied and bewildered passenger photos that give a pretty good idea of the horror that they must have been going through.
CallWave Visual Voicemail is a free service that lets you manage your mobile phone messages on your computer. It’s designed to work with virtually any cell phone, and on virtually any network, and sends copies of your messages to your email inbox, where they can be played, paused, replayed, saved, and deleted. If you’ve ever lost a message after the 14 day period that your phone company gives you, this service is for you.
If a widget is more your style, then check out the Visual Voicemail Widget for Apple, Yahoo, and Vista. Each one alerts you to incoming calls, and gives you call details like the length, and when it was received. Give CallWave Visual Voicemail a shot, and think outside the Phone (or iPhone in this case).
Though I didn’t expect any of my predictions to actually come true (I hoped they would, but didn’t expect they would, and I think I ended up with 0 out of 8 correct), Apple dropped a bomb in the form of the iPhone that caught everyone by surprise. I even got a few Apple fanboy goosebumps when the full specs were announced. Combining “a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching”, the iPhone will do it all and then slip away into your pocket. Features include:
3.5-inch widescreen display
Multi-touch input
OS X based operating system
Bluetooth 2.0
Wi-Fi
EDGE/GSM
5 hours of talk/video/browsing time
16 hours of audio playback
Weighs in at only 4.8 ounces
Comes in either a 4 or 8 GB versions
There’s also a sensor to know when you’re rotating it so it can change the orientation of the screen, a sensor to know its proximity to your face so your cheek doesn’t make any unintentional phone calls, and a sensor to turn up and down the brightness depending on how much you need
Oh yeah, and it’s beautiful
Since this thing is already clogging all of the Internet’s tubes, I figure I’d give the readers of DYH a little something different. First off, let’s see how the 10 people whose reputations relied on the iPhone did.
Kevin Rose got the January launch date right but missed out on the Cingular exclusive, was definitely wrong on the size, number of batteries, and slide-out keyboard; but he was right on the number and size of the models, and somewhat right on the touchscreen.
Rebecca Runkle from Morgan Stanley got the number and size of the models right, dimensions right, colors wrong, Cingular right, virtual clickwheel wrong, and full screen LCD right.
Think Secret got the fact that their would be a camera right, EDGE/GSM right; but got the megapixel count and the display size wrong.
The rest of the 10 just put their money on their actually being an iPhone, and though they were right, though it wasn’t too hard to figure that one out.
What I find interesting is that if you combine everyone’s information and pick and choose the good stuff, you could have had a pretty good idea of the specs of the actual iPhone. Most got the fact that there would be two models in 4 and 8 GB form right, Kevin predicted the January launch date and the touchscreen, Rebecca got the pricing very close, the size close, the Cingular exclusivity right on, and the LCD screen size right on, and Think Secret got the GSM/EDGE thing right as well as the inclusion of a camera.
Besides the iPhone, Apple (as they’re now officially being called after they announced they’ve dropped the word Computer from their name) finalized the specs on the Apple TV (the now official name for the iTV). Designed to bridge the gap between your iTunes and your TV in a wireless way, the Apple TV features its own Intel processor, a 40 GB hard drive, 802.11n networking, and does 720p high def video. Plus, it’s scheduled to ship in February.
Lastly, Apple secretly updated their Airport Extreme Base Station to 802.11n specs and changed the form factor to a more Mac Mini style. Very sneaky.
Overall, some great stuff, though some definite shockers. No iLife update? No cameras in the monitors (Is that one really that hard to include)? I did like what I saw though, and Apple definitely managed to show that the first 30 years were just the beginning.
