Random thought: An iPhone app that does it all

[by the way, this post was typed in an iPod, so forgive me of any typos]

Well, I was doing my routine iPod internet checking, going from Google Reader for my feeds, WeatherBug for the forecast, checking my mail for new messages, MySpace and Facebook for my social life, and Twitterific for everything else, in addition to anything else I may need to do. As productive as Apple’s flagship touchscreen products are, one can’t help but feel a little dragged-down by having to open another app every few minutes. Additionally, there are times one simply wants their information at a glance, with more than just the time and date on-screen. This is where my concept app takes over.

I challenge the App development community to program the all-in-one app for the all-in-one device. I’d like to be able to take my iPod out of my pocket, unlock it and see the time, the date, the stock market, my to-do list when it’s going to rain, my RSS feeds, and my latest @replies, hopefully all cached in case there’s no WiFi. I don’t need every functionality in the book, just what I look at the most.

Lucky for you programmers, the power of the Internet is on your side, and the majority of this can be done through web feeds that do much of the work for you (The Weather Channel, Yahoo! Stocks, the Twitter API, ect.)

Now the big problem is the UI of the entire App. How will so much information be placed in such a small screen? One concept would be similar to that of the Home Screen, allowing you to slide your finger to go page by page of overflowing love. Of couse, you can always use the blah-inducing arbitrary touch menu. Or how about a number of user-selected screens with a toolbar at the top of the screen allowing you to navigate to your information? To be honest I see a number of flaws in all of these interfaces.

If I were programming this App, I’d go for the overgrown Safari web page way, which allows you to move around in a seemingly endless territory that allows for vertical and horizontal movement. Use two fingers to pinch-zoom in and out of your floating information. Double-tap on (for example) the the current temperature and chance of rain to zoom directly into it, and expanding the information to a 5 day forecast. Press a button on the bottom-left of the screen to go into editing mode, where the user can change the location of thee little info widgets.

Poll! What’s the best touchscreen device on the market?

There’s a number of touchscreen devices that are too good to resist. The iPhone 3G, the iPod Touch, the Nokia N800 and N810, the HTC Touch Diamond, among others. Now, if someone walks up to you and says “I’ll give you one of these for 90% off MSRP,” which one would you choose?

I myself am having trouble deciding…

Ciao!

Curse you, Apple! The iPhone will soon be worth buying…

Yeah, you heard me– Apple’s prized possesion, actually getting a compliment from me? I’m just as amazed as you.

It takes a lot for a company in my “I want to stab you to death” list to get me to change my mind about them, but Apple’s iPhone is quickly becoming so good that I can’t resist but appreciate it!

I’ve always had the nicest things to say about Nokia’s N800. For God’s sake, man! It’s got WiFi, a Linux-based OS, Firefox-based web browser, touch screen, stereo speakers, two SD slots, a webcam, a special edition of Skype, and tons of apps to chose from. Oh, and did I mention you can get one of these babies for only about $230?

With all these great features, why am I complimenting the iPhone, that glossy, welded-shut brick? Well I got a list for you:

• The iPhone is now available with 16GB of flash memory

• Apple released the SDK for the iPhone, allowing the common geek to hack away (though the experience is limited unless you give Apple some moola…)

• AT&T and Apple are now selling refurbished iPhones at a tremendous discount– $200 friggin’ dollars off!

• One of the newest Apps for the iPhone include an IM/VoIP client. Yeah, Skype calls can now me made from the iPhone.

• And here’s the big one: Apple intends on releasing a new version of the iPhone that will load GPS and 3G

And expect more price cuts as the release of the iPhone2 approaches.

But not to fear! There’s still one thing Nokia will have that the iPhone2 won’t: A WiMAX chip! Yeah, Nokia made it official that the N810 will soon come loaded with WiMAX [essentially "4G", will have a 30 mile radius hotspot and a download speed of 5mbps].

So alas, the competition for cell phone domination continues, and I don’t intend on turning my back on it.

Ciao!

~uH

End of the mp3 player age

Where should I begin? What I think an mp3 player should have? Problems I’ve had with music players in the past? What I think get’s the best BPB [Bang Per Buck] rating? Eh, I don’t know, so I’ll just start typing whatever comes to mind.

Over the last few months, I’ve been researching music players quite a bit. My main conclusion is this: The mp3 player age is nearly over! Terminated! Discontinued! Ceased! No more! Finito!

“But… mp3 players are bigger than ever,”you say. Frankly, I don’t see much truth in that. Not because music is going to loose popularity [it's growing faster than ever], but because what we know as mp3 players don’t just play music anymore. They hold pictures, video, games, internet, and, you guessed it, personal style. Think about it. The most commonly heard mp3 player, the iPod, has gone far past music. At this point, the only version that doesn’t play video is the shuffle! The Creative Zen plays videos. The SanDisk Sansa is rarely seen without a 16-bit video/picture displaying LCD. The Zune is made for visual delight. Cell phones are becoming portable media players that become phones. With that said, I shall restate my early-stated conclusion: the mp3 player age is almost over!

From this point on, you shan’t hear me use the term mp3 player, but I’ll be referring to them as “media players”.

Let’s start with the brand I like to rant about the most- Apple. I dislike the way their media player became so popular that iPod became a regular word. I’ve seen people actually witnessed people call a SanDisk a “black iPod”. Foey! Electronic devices shouldn’t be improper nouns! It’s blasphemy, I tell ya’!
Let’s talk about the actual media player, shall we? To begin, I’d like to say that the iPod is way overrated, and just like most of the things Apple makes, overpriced. I’m not paying $150+ for a 4GB media player no matter how small! As long as it fits in my jeans’ pockets (which is most media players), I’m good. Now there is one reasonably priced iPod that I wouldn’t mind buying, however. The 160GB iPod Classic, $300 if you search in the right place. Holds more junk than you’ll ever need (unless you put all your HD movies in there). Other than that, overpriced and overrated. The iPod touch is way too small space-wise. That would be alright with me if it had an SD expansion slot, but no such luck. 30GB is my usual standard for space, and 16GB for $350 just doesn’t cut it for me, though [as painful as it is for me to say,] it is undeniable that the iPod touch’s UI is pretty well thought-out. Maybe I’ll get a touch when the new 32GB gets down to $300 and there are at least 30 decent widgets [with the help of the iPhone/touch SDK]. Maybe.

So what do I like? The Zune. The Zune 30GB to be specific. How would you like a media player that stores 30GB for under $200? Microsoft has that. Wanna know who else does that? Nobody. Yeah, the company that often gets blamed for overpriced electronics fires back! As for the Zune 4GB and 8GB, I’m not too excited. I know it’s small, has the same screen resolution, and costs a tad less, but still, you can get much more BPB with a little searching. And as for the 80GB Zune: heh, neat. I like the touch interface (the 4/8GB has the same, BTW) and the fact that it packs 80 gigs into a small, sexy package, but for $250 [and no SD slot], I’m not buying just yet. I think it’ll be down to $200 by the holidays.

I’d like to make a final “notable mensions” paragraph, but unfortunately, I can’t find more than two worth mensioning. There’s the $130 SanDisk Sansa 8GB that has an SD slot, and the all holy (but non-relevant to the subject) Nokia N800 with a touch screen, stereo speakers, handwriting recognition, wifi, SD, Skype, Mozilla, Widgets, remote computing to a PC, a very nice interface, and a Linux-Based OS, but it’s made to be a cell phone, and deserves to be in a blog post by itself. Yes, that was a run-on sentence, but it’s hard to refrain from doing so when trying to describe the N800

So for all of you screaming “I know better media players than that!,” then let me know in the comments box. I’ll read it, don’t worry. I read all my comments for the most part.

[BTW, a blog post side-image is comming up soon!]