Geek Factor

When I woke up today, I was in for a pleasant surprise: The iPhone dev team have just released the Pwnage tool which can unlock and Jailbreak 2G iPhones. Great effort by the team to find the exploit and create this tool for the enthusiast community. After a few hit and miss opportunities (Really frustating few hours!), I was able to upgrade and unlock my iPhone to the latest firmware. I got stuck at the now in-famous 1600 error code for some time. Eventhough I cleared my ~/Library/iTunes/Device Support folder couple of times, I still got the same error. My fourth attempt was the lucky one.

I tried some of the new applications, including Apple’s own Remote. They all worked like a charm. Will report back when I come across some interesting applications.

Note that with Pwnage 2.0 tool, you can:

• You can Jailbreak an iPod touch
• You can Jailbreak and unlock iPhone 2G
• You can only Jailbreak iPhone 3G as of now

For a comprehensive guide on how to carryout the unlock process, refer to this post.

Yesterday I noticed that my iPhone had reset the time on its own (Only time, not the date). When I synced the time with the network and went back to my settings screen this is what I saw:

According to these pictures, I started using my iPhone atleast 38 years ago, which is much before I was born.

Though the official launch of the iPhone 3G in India is a few more months away, the App Store is already up and functional! You can browse and buy applications for the iPhone from here! I was able to create an account with my Indian credit card and sign in!

Before I start purchasing applications, I am just waiting for an unlock solution to be available for my gen 1 iPhone!

“You don’t want your phone to be an open platform. You need it to work when you need it to work. Cingular doesn’t want to see their West Coast network go down because some application messed up.”

- Steve Jobs in January 2007 on why the iPhone will not support third party applications.

“This is the biggest launch of my career.  When IBM introduced the PC, it was good, but it didn’t take off until people started discovering the software. It’s these apps that will dramatically differentiate the iPhone from Treos and BlackBerrys.“

- Steve Jobs on 10 July 2008, On the occassion of the launch of the iPhone AppStore

Update: Bummer. My original source of the quote messed it up. Hence the misquote. You can see that Engadget Mobile have also updated their post. Apologies for the mixup. Thanks Rob!

As the release of iPhone 3G is fast approaching, you may be wondering if it is an upgrade you should go far. Especially if you are the owner of the first generation iPhone. If you are looking at the alternatives, then there are two phones which I would strongly recommend. One of them is already released and the other one will be released in a month’s time. Here is a quick and short description of what are the pros and cons of these phones when compared to the Apple iPhone.

HTC Touch Diamond

Perhaps the best Windows Mobile phone in the market that you can buy today, though I do not recommend this for readers from India.

Where it betters the iPhone:

• Much higher resolution than the iPhone (640×480 as against iPhone’s 480×320)
• Far better camera (3 MP)
• Better PIM applications and Exchange sync capability
• Desktop compatible office suite
• Huge base of freeware and shareware applications

Where it struggles to match the iPhone:

• Though high resolution, the screen is only 2.7″ as opposed to iPhone’s 3.5″
• Only 4GB capacity and no expansion slot
• Windows Mobile default interface will require the use of stylus
• No multi touch
• Resistive touch screen does not offer the responsiveness of the iPhone

Nokia N96

This soon to be released flagship from Nokia will be a worthy rival to the iPhone 3G (No one can forget the N95 comparisons we had with the first version of iPhone).

Where it betters the iPhone:

• 16 GB capacity with expansion slot. (Virtually unlimited memory)
• Stellar camera with excellent video recording
• Mobile TV (DVB-H as of now is available only in a few countries)
• Huge base of freeware and shareware applications
• Nokia provided Maps for virtually every country in the world
• Truckload of Nokia services including Ovi etc.,

Where it struggles to match the iPhone:

• QVGA screen
• No touch features
• Brick like form factor may not appeal to many

There are many common features between these 3 devices. The browser on each one is very useable (In fact Safari and the S60 browser share the same codebase). All of them feature GPS and excellent multimedia capabilities. So the choice is yours.

I have left out phones like Samsung Instinct from comparison because they are not strictly ‘Smart Phones’.

Related: Should you buy the HTC Touch Diamond in India?

Apple did something unexpected with the price reduction of the iPhone. In the past, we have seen Apple’s tendency to keep the price of its products always higher than its competitors. They always made their intentions very clear. Apple wants to be known as a niche product maker for a niche market than a mass market manufacturer. But this perception changed with the price cut on the iPhone. Sure, much of the price cut is offered through the subsidy from the mobile operators – but it is definitely an attempt by apple to reach among the masses and create a huge base for its mobile device.

Going by the same logic, Apple may attempt to boost its market share in the PC/Operating systems business by considering a price reduction to many of the products, including the entire laptop line and iMac desktops. This could possibly trigger a mad rush for these products coupled with the the halo effect already created by the iPhone. Recent reports say that Apple’s current market share in the PC business is around 8%, which is a very impressive gain from about 5% a few years back. As it is fast approaching the double digit mark, Apple should re-evaluate its pricing strategy so as to attract more new customers.

Here in the 21st century, it is still an irony that many smartphones still ship with the QVGA (320×240) screen. Though the trend is slowly changing with the likes of HTC Touch Diamond, Toshiba G series and Apple iPhone, it is a pity that almost all S60 phones shipping today still sport QVGA. Of particular note is the upcoming N96 from Nokia. Apart from the E90 no other S60 phone in Nokia’s current portfolio has a screen larger than QVGA. Ha, the good old N80 days!

You may ask- do we really need anything more than QVGA, especially with the kind of mobile browsers available today. When compared to QVGA, VGA at 640×480 provides four times more pixel count. This means less scrolling while browsing. Your pictures and videos will also appear with better clarity and details because of the higher pixel density. Excel mobile becomes usable with QVGA. Look at this comparison picture from Jason Langridge’s blog which shows how better the browsing experience is on a VGA screen, even with the same screen size.

By the way, VGA is not the only option available. The iPhone sports a lower resolution than VGA at 480×320 which is still way ahead of QVGA in terms of usability. I think Apple found this resolution as the sweet spot as some people consider that VGA screens display tiny fonts which could strain your eyes. Some Windows Mobile phones like Toshiba G900 also sport screens with a whopping 800×480 WVGA resolution.

If you want a better mobile experience VGA (or higher) is the way to go. This could be one reason the N96 may not see the kind of success its predecessor, the N95 boasts of.

Revisiting my 3G iPhone wishlist reveals that only a few of my most wanted items will find their place in iPhone 2.0 firmware. Here is a rundown:

What I will get

• GPS Chip
• General Software Improvements: Contact Search
• Better battery life. We have to wait for the reviews to come in to see how much of Apple’s claims are true in this regard.

What I won’t

• A2DP. Hmmm, Will I ever get this?
• Access to file system.
• iChat.
• Better BT stack. From the specs it appears that it is going to remain the same.
• Video Recording. For some reasons, Apple still believes this is not required.
• General Software Improvements: Todo list, Notes Sync.
• Standalone apps for viewing docs: Nopes, but they did add few more document formats.

Now it is time to wait for the 3.0 iPhone firmware!!

This is probably the first time Apple is offering a product at a significantly lower cost than its rivals. The new iPhone, which will compete with the likes of Nokia N96 and several other 3G Windows Mobile phones which sport equally good features, applications and hardware capabilities. Compare Apple’s $199 iPhone 3G to an unlocked N95 8GB, which sells for $600 upwards. Some people may point out to the contract involved, but even if you go with another device, an unlimited data plan will still cost you almost as much as an iPhone data plan.

This will definitely make the iPhone a mass market device. As more carriers are picking it up, it will likely to become as ubiquitous as the iPod. Apple surely is on its way to achieve the target of 10 million phones this year. My guess is that they will handsomely overshoot this target.

Now, what does this mean for other mobile phone makers? Surely, just imitating iPhone is not sufficient anymore. They need to reduce prices and that too in a big way. This will definitely put pressure on the already wafer thin margins that many mobile phone vendors are operating on. The AppStore is likely to be an instant hit with tons of games and applications, which is another nice distribution model that will be difficult to emulate by others. Mobile vendors will now be banking on volumes to derive profits from Smartphone sales too. This is going to be interesting as smartphones will be available at attractive prices for the masses who had to be content with feature phones earlier.

I feel that there will be a new class of phones which could be called ‘Smarter Phones’ which will feature cutting edge technologies, staying ahead in the race. Expect such phones to come from Nokia and the Windows Mobile stable in the next few quarters.

Hmmm… Everyone has their whishlist for the most rumoured product in the world today. Here is mine.

• A GPS chip please. A smart phone without GPS in 2008 is almost passe. For those poor souls who carry the first version of iPhone, please modify the bluetooth stack to support external GPS receivers. You know, these things have become so tiny these days that you can carry them in your keychain.
• A2DP. Need this badly for a music phone.
• Access to file system. Any power user will need this. Accidental deletion of System files can be avoided by making such files protected. Exposing the file system is not a risk – we have seen this working for Win Mo and Symbian for several years now.
• Stand alone application(s) for viewing/editing office documents and pdf. Today, I have to carry all my documents as email attachments. I would prefer to have a OS X’s Preview like application on my handset to conveniently view documents. Editing capability will be a bonus, but not a necessity for most people.
• Better bluetooth stack. Today, there is no way I can transfer a file (photo, video clips etc.,) from my iPhone to my friends who carry lowly phones from Nokia and Sony Ericsson. Can Apple fix that useless BT stack which does not do anything other than connecting to a headset? We need internet tethering support too, considering the 3G speeds we are going to get (hopefully it will have HSDPA and not just the basic 3G support).
• iChat. Yah, a sorely missing feature on the iPhone. And please please, add that front facing camera too.
• Video Recording. Its a shame that we don’t have this on the first revision. And a better camera will be a welcome change.
• General Software Improvements. Todo List, Notes Sync, Contacts search.
• Better battery life. iPhone probably has the best battery life among all other PDA phones I have ever used. But the 3G could seriously hamper the battery life on the phone. Hopefully, Apple has a solution for this.

These are what I think will improve the iPhone as a great digital companion. How does your list look like?