All Gadgets Aside...

So anyone that knows me and knows my technology preferences knows that I am a big fan of two technology companies, Apple and Nokia. Lately I have taken up issues with all this iPhone business. Being that I am a mac admin and everyone knows that I love to use macs and Apple related products there hasn't been a day since the original iPhone release that someone hasn't asked me where my iPhone is. I generally politely reach into my pocket and retrieve my Nokia N85 and say, "It's right here, only this iPhone does more". They usually respond by saying, "but, that's not an iPhone". To which I reply, "you are correct, but this phone still does a whole lot more".

Let's face it, even with the third rendition of the iPhone almost out, Apple is still playing catch up especially in the hardware realm. I would agree that Apple has done a marvelous job marketing the iPhone and I know better than most that if you slap an Apple logo on it you may as well just fire up the money printing press at the mint and drop the money off at Apple. The deal with the iPhone is that Apple has drummed up a pretty insane level of fanaticism. I would agree that I am a fanatic of Nokia and it would be tough to pry the Nokia from my hands even if I were dead but I can safely say that if someone came out with a phone that had:
A. The build quality of a Nokia
B. Software that is as tried and true as Symbian/S60
C. Features that best the feature set of a Nokia
Then I would give said phone the time of day and consider switching to it.

It is nice to see that I will finally be able to send pictures to my iPhone disabled friends, a first for those that have upgraded their handsets or paid the ridiculous amount to upgrade. I am also glad that those that purchase the 3Gs can get lost in the woods and find their way out (as long as their battery doesn't die first) with the incredibly useful compass app.

I get it people. The iPhone is a sexy little piece of hardware, not going to deny that. But really? I mean, before the iPhone came out most of these people couldn't give a crap what phone they had in their hand. Remember the RAZR? Remember how everyone jumped on that one and Motorola road it out until they couldn't even give the things away? The RAZR had a horrible camera, a lack of any extra functionality. But hey, everyone else had a RAZR and it looked good when you had it up to your head. At the time I was rocking a Nokia with a 3 megapixel camera. So fast forward a bit. All those people that had phones that didn't have any functionality beyond a phone that made a decent call all of a sudden care about a quasi smart phone? Is it that or is it that they really like to download an app that lets you pop bubble wrap on the screen of your phone?

A person that sits near me at work was asking another co-worker if he was going to upgrade his iPhone to the 3Gs because she was thinking about doing it. I had to interject and say "hey, if you are going to pay $300 while on contract to upgrade your phone then why not avoid the additional time on your contract and buy a Nokia 5800" I explained how it's been out for a little while, costs a bit over $300, offers up the same functionality as the iPhone and then some, can be used with Ovi for free (as opposed to $99/year for MobileMe), and a whole multitude of other reasons why it would make sense. 10 minutes later she says over the cube wall to me, "but there is no app store" to which I reply, "store.ovi.com, accessible both from the phone and the web". I think that even with all the positive things I laid out that Apple's marketing team did a better job selling their product to this individual even though they can't up with one reason why it would make more sense to buy their product. I tried, I usually do, but people in America are stuck in the "I need to buy what my carrier sells me" mentality.

The interesting thing is that AT&T, as of late, has even seen the light and realized that not everyone wants a subsidized phone. They offer up the ability to walk in and purchase a SIM card and a month to month plan, if you ask. People, listen to me when I tell you this. Cellular carriers are not doing you a favor by selling you a subsidized phone. Instead they are selling you products that they dumb down according to their wants and needs and essentially selling you a broken product. *Cough*iPhone tethering*Cough*

Ok let me sum things up as it seems I have gotten off on a much bigger tangent that I can go into at another time.

The iPhone:
-sexy
-sleek
-marketed very well
-extremely trendy
-behind in terms of technology
-even the 3Gs needs a hardware upgrade
-MobileMe should be free
-Useless free apps are just that, useless
-Compass on an iPhone won't save your life unless you know how to use a compass and the battery doesn't die

Pantech/Curitel have a new phone on the market under their high end name brand, SKY. This new phone, the IM-R200, has a standard feature set for phones these days but has a secret under it's slider hood that is surely going to turn some heads with it's clean look. The standard feature set that this mobile includes are 116mb of built in memory, micro SD slot, multimedia player and 2 megapixel camera with autofocus. What makes this handset stand out is the second LCD display, hidden beneath this sliders main display, that turns out to be a keypad. A very interesting use of a secondary display for sure. As with most good bits of technology, we won't see it outside of Korea, at least not for now.

Everyone's favorite designer phone brand, Vertu(a division of Nokia), has gone a bit crazy. I think Samuel L. Jackson might put it best by saying: "I have had it with these motherf***ing snakes on this motherf***ing phone", or something like that. But seriously, Vertu has gone from making their standard super expensive steel, gold and platinum phones to making an extremely gawdy mobile with a snake encrusted in Diamonds, emeralds and 439 rubies attached to the front. Unfortunately for anyone that actually likes the look of this Signature Cobra model there will only be 8 made and the price is a quaint $310,000. Apparently there will be 26 cheap "Python" models made as well so that you can get your fix for only $115,00. In any case, they would have to acually pack some decent features in the mobile for me to purchase one, that is if I even had $310,000 burning a hole in my pocket.

I often get people asking me questions about mobile phones(comes with being a gadget geek I guess). But more often than not people tell me that they just want a simple phone with none of the bells and whistles like a camera, or web browser, or... well you get the idea. Well, to all those people out there looking for simplicity, your time has come. Motorola has recently released a revolutionary new phone in India that is simple yet its the first of it's kind. I am talking about the Motofone F3. What's so revolutionary about the F3 you ask? E-ink technology. E-ink is that amazing new technology that is being used for displays on things like Sony's eReader, e-ink only uses power when you switch pages, or in this case, when you are inputing a phone number. Since the F3 doesn't have any of the bells and whistles the predicted price in the US will be a quaint $50 without a service contract, yes you heard me right, only $50 with your choice of wireless provider to use it with. Of course Motorola was kind enough to include some svelte looks ala it's SLVR series of phone and with that you get the style you love at a price that is nearly non existent in comparison to other phones.

Widsets has your answer. Widsets, or widgets as the rest of the computer world calls them(unless you are Microsoft), are little widgets much like those offered by Opera, Apple or Yahoo only these work on your mobile phone. These widgets provide a means of keeping track of things like news, rss feeds, photos etc. Widsets looks to be fairly promising and works nicely. So well in fact that I have created a special Widset Widget for all of you out there that enjoy reading this Blog, The OrgsTechTimes Widget can be found in the Widsets Widget library located here: OrgsTechTimes Widget Keep in mind that Widsets is still in beta so it may take some tweeking on your mobile phone to get it to work but the forums seem to provide the help that most users need to get Widsets up and running if they run into any issues. In order yo use Widsets you need to sign up for a quick painless account(they will need your mobile number in order to work with your phone), but once you are signed up you can manage your widgets online and sync them with your phone. I recommend checking Widsets out as it is definitely a handy program for every mobile.

Sometimes it seems incredibly unfair that there is still the only in Japan factor when it comes to things like NTT DoCoMo's line of mobile phones. For this summer DoCoMo has released a phone that not only has style but also has some odd fluid themes. The N702iS is a very interesting phone in the fact that the outside has some lights that bubble up towards the hinge and then on the inside they continue the theme with a background that reacts like a liquid. When you tip the phone one direction, the water flows the other, when you tip it up side down the water ends up right side up. This phone is available in both "Water" and "Champagne" models/colors but has a host of faceplates to change your phone into "Strawberry Soda" perhaps? Unfortunately this phone, like most japanese phones, is not compatible with US service providers so you have a choice. You can either oggle it here, or you can move to Japan so that you too can own stuff this cool.

BenQ really knows how to tug on the hearts of the female gender. It seems that more and more lately they are trying to target the female demographic with their line of pretty standard but nice looking tech items(see previous post). Without further ado BenQ introduces the EF61 "Mia Special Edition", a phone that is as much art as it is tech and obviously way more feminine than most phones out there. This phone sports a standard feature set with a 1.3mp Camera, microSD card slot, and apparently some program entitled "5 Minutes to Fabulous" which apparently gives you tips on doing your makeup in 5 minutes. What is really nice about this handset is the price, only $180 USD which is pretty reasonable especially when you ladies can look so good while chatting away on it.