Thoughts on Yesterday's Apple Event

[Jeff Campbell]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://live.arstechnica.com/Event/iPhone_5' target='_blank'>http://live.arstechnica.com/Event/iPhone_5</a><br /><br /></div><p><img height="478" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1317509275.usr105634.jpg" style="margin-left: 50px; margin-right: 50px;" width="500" /></p><p>I finally had a chance last night to watch the keynote (Apple has posted it <a href="http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/11piuhbvdlbkvoih10/event/index.html" target="_blank">here</a>), and I wasn't as underwhelmed as the stock market was <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20115860-17/apple-stock-feels-impact-of-iphone-4s/?part=rss&amp;tag=feed&amp;subj=News-Apple" target="_blank">apparently</a>. At least initially I suppose, as the ending tally resulted in a loss of only around $2.00 USD. Tim Cook will take some getting used to, as he definitely is not Steve Jobs when it comes to the live presentation. The program started out with stats and while the stats were interesting, I, like many of you, wanted them to hurry and get to the meat of the presentation, namely what was new! There were some cool announcements, such as the new <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/appletell/~3/LIFJKtANfBs/" target="_blank">iPod Nano clock faces</a>&nbsp;and the Nike + integration update. I really like the new clock faces which, seriously, make me consider buying one of these and one of the <a href="http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&amp;rls=en&amp;q=ipod+nano+watchband&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;oe=UTF-8" target="_blank">watchbands</a> that are now out and on sale. I really think it's cool that Apple saw what was happening and added something to the Nano options so that it's customers would have an improved experience. Also I'm really looking forward to October 12th when I can try out iOS 5 for myself. And of course the iPhone 4S. Initially when I read the news via the blogs that were reporting live, I was a bit underwhelmed. But I knew I needed to see the keynote to get the whole story so I held back on judgement. To be honest, after seeing the upgraded iPhone 4S I am on the fence about upgrading. The main reason is that I don't want to be stalled from upgrading by AT&amp;T when the iPhone 5 comes out. But with that improved camera it may be enough to get me to buy and then see what happens later next year. It wasn't the announcement I was hoping for but it is definitely an improvement over the iPhone 4. So, what are your thoughts on the event from yesterday? Going to go ahead and upgrade or hold off for the iPhone 5?&nbsp;</p>

[Macguy59]

I thought Cook was terrible. The reveals should be left to the likes of Schiller and (especially) Forstall. I won't rehash my feelings about what was introduced. The 4s needs to sell well to curb the "Beginning of the end" stuff that's being grumbled the day after. The passing of Steve Jobs today throws nitro on that kind of talk.

[Sven Johannsen]

I'm far from a fanboy, former Windows Phone MVP in fact, but I own Apple products and enjoy the heck out of them. Was even an Apple User Group president in the Apple II days.( P.S. that was User Group, not Fan Club) I do take the time to watch the keynotes, and actually enjoyed this one more than previous. I find it to be less 'egotistical'. I don't mean that personally, but as a general atmosphere that this is the best that has ever been, Muhamed Ali like. I found the improvements significant, though not enough to spend the cash to upgrade, given my contract situation. 200 improvents, including better camera, better antenna, better processor, finally usable notification implementation, iCloud syncronization, and more is nothing to sneeze at IMHO. Siri is compelling, but I expect the real worl usability will fall a bit short of the scripted, practised demo.

I had a feeling that Tim Cook expressed a real belief that they had done good things that people will enjoy as much as they did. I liked that. I liked it less in-your-face magical, unbelievable. Never was a fan of 'Who could have imagined that cut and paste, implemented this brilliantly was even possible'. And the audience gasps and cheers. [Balmer, BTW, is a trip to watch, better in person, but he couldn't sell me a car ;) ] Did notice the audience was much more reserved than in the past, at points that I would have thought deserved applause.

So. I liked the keynote, I don't see anything drastically disappointing in what was delivered, except it seems, it doesn't have a 5 on it. The GS was better than the G, and that seemed OK. Maybe I'm not remembering that well enough ;) Now at least you have some more time to imagine and wish for what will be new next time. I vote for thinner and lighter, but not neccessarily bigger screen. (Love to see a 5-7" iPad. Think it would kill the similar sized android tablets and color readers). Maybe some more opportunity for uintegration for applications in the OS. Not sure in-OS integration is a great thing. What if the user doesn't like Facebook and Twitter, why stick him with it. On the other hand if you provide the hooks that apps can use to integrate with each other at the user's request, you wind up with intgration the user wants, not what you believe he needs, or just what is currently in vogue.

P.S. looking forward to upgrading my iOS devices. Good new stuff there.

[Macguy59]

So I sucked down and installed the 5.0 GM last night and . . . I'm confused about the way Apple has implemented Notification Center. IMO it's ass backwards. The swipe down to display widgets and info should be on the lock screen but it's not. Instead you get a series of configurable line items (very reminiscent of Intelliscreen and WM Today screen) Having it exclusive to the Home screen makes zero sense to me. Maybe I'm prejudiced by 4 months with an Android phone (Infuse 4G). Or perhaps I haven't found that option yet ?

[Macguy59]

So. I liked the keynote, I don't see anything drastically disappointing in what was delivered, except it seems, it doesn't have a 5 on it.

But for a company that focuses on usability and aesthetics . . . Meh don't get me wound up again :p I think the disappointment in large part is due to all the rumors and cases that clearly showed a shorter, wider and larger screened phone. I wouldn't doubt it one bit if it was Apple that put that prototype out in the wild.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

The swipe down to display widgets and info should be on the lock screen but it's not.

Ok, I'm pretty sure vanilla Android's notification system cannot be accessed from the lock screen. The phone needs to be unlocked for the swipe action to work.

[Sven Johannsen]

But for a company that focuses on usability and aesthetics . . . .So is it now unusable and ugly? Wasn't three days ago. I suppose having significant expectations unfulfilled can be disappointing. Those were of course rumors, though in some cases physically instantiated rumors; cases, fuzzycam pictures. Still unsubstantiated rumors. Guess as a MS guy I'm more immune to such things ;) If there was some intent to release something brand new, I would suppose there was some issue, and they weren't going to release something half-baked. I'd respect that decision.