agreed, but that was more about using video at all as opposed to not using it.


i don't think you have to explain where everything is, it uses the location services. so an example like remind me get some milk when i'm passing Sainsburys that pops up when you get close to Sainsburys is pretty clever.

Iain

If Samsung have their way, no-one will be buying a iPhone 4S. They started already seeking bans in France and Italy. I am sure that every Samsung country office will follow suit, it looks to be full out war:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10...nce_and_italy/

its also (IMHO) a very solid piece of kit, that feels very robust in the hand.

i'm not sure what all Blackberries are like, but i was holding a friends recently, and it felt very lightweight and plastic in comparison to the iPhone.

Iain

when it comes to all these lawsuits, they're probably both as bad as one another, and i'm not going to pretend to know too much about the fine detail involved.

but when you look at a side by side image like this, its difficult to side with Samsung.

Iain

To be fair to the Blackberry, it's primarily a business phone for those who want to have the keyboard for email. It's never had great form factor and probably never will, but that's not the point of it.

I like my HTC Desire but I will be the first to admit it looks nowhere near as smart as an iPhone 4. But Apple have always excelled at making their products look good. For some, that's a selling point. For others, it's pretty irrelevant.

I myself was actually dreading (to some extent) a case redesign because the fake mockups that had been floating around there (though, as it turns out, weren't actually real) made it look a bit more like an iTouch/mini iPad, which I wasn't overly keen on. Thought the 4 looked better.

That said, I can understand the disappointment at the lack of case redesign, there were a lot of expectations floating about. I just need to decide, if my next phone is an iPhone, whether I budget it up a bit and just get a 4, or if I want to shell out a bit extra for the 4S specs (Siri doesn't really overwhelm me). Can't really decide. Probably will depend on what I feel like on the day.

They look identical apart from the Samsung has a much bigger screen. Oh yea, it has three controls instead of one They look very different from each other.

Aside from the fact the phone image has been doctored so that the iPhone and the Galaxy S are the same height (which they are not in real life), the phones hardly look very similar. The chrome edging on the Galaxy S is a lot more pronounced than on the iPhone. The button is square as opposed to round. There are additional controls either side of the button. The screen is in 16:9 as opposed to 4:3. The Galaxy S says "Samsung" on it. Apple have already had a Dutch judge tell them he wasn't buying the design lawsuit, so it's not going to be long before that gets thrown out everywhere else too.

And don't even get me started on the iPad vs Galaxy Tab...

The Nexus One had these specs in January 2010.


You can have that one, though the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a better device.


Need I say more about the 4S. In 6 days it will look like a childs toy...

Yes but my point is there's probably going to be few instances when it is appropriate to use it. For me personally, I wouldn't want to use Siri in my work or in public such as while walking down the street or shopping or eating out because I'll look like a tool. So that basically leaves in the house or the car.


Actually I doubt that many people would make any calls via Facetime. I would love to see usage stats for it. I suspect a vast majority (95%) have either never used it or used it once as novelty to try it and never looked at it again.
Video calling and voice recognition have been around for years now and they just have not been adopted. Apple think they can weigh in and change that but they fail to take account of culture and society. An innovative company which once brought us the App Store and a sleek, shiny, absolutely beautfiul phone is now reduced to trying to scrape the barrel with features that have already been around for years and haven't worked.

Voice recognition (and to a smaller extent Video calling) haven't taken off because it's never really worked seamlessly.
It's all been a bit clunky no matter what device it's used on.
I suspect that when they just 'work' straight out of the box and you don't need no technical know how to make them work, then we'll see them being used more and more.

I really don't understand all this Android v iPhone crap. Who cares.. just give me something that works and works well...

It's nothing to do with working seamlessly. I remember using a Nokia 5800 about 4 years ago to make a video call and it worked absolutely fine - the problem? I was on a train and didn't want everyone to hear my conversation - again highlighting my point it's nothing to do with the technology or how seamlessly it works - it's the idea itself and culture/social norms! Aside from this there's just not the demand for it. I can only thing of a few times when video calling would be truly advantageous over voice calling - when you're away on work/holiday/travel, to show someone something while talking to them and as a conference call for work.

If Apple want to make voice recognition and video calling work they need something truly innovative to change opinion and the culture of using them. I don't know what this is as I'm not an inventor! What they have offered however is nothing new.

I agree it's nothing new.
As for video calling, I was at a wedding last weekend and my father in law lives in Spain and couldn't get over here. My sister in law used skype video conferencing to show him everyone and chat to him. It worked ok but only because my SIL had been over to Spain in the summer and had setup up their PC so that they could use the feature.
I know, it's a one off situation, but my children do now use video calls via skype to chat to their grandparents in Spain. It doesn't always work though due to driver issues or bandwith limitations etc.
I know you had it on your phone way back when, but really, once it's ubiquitous and just works it will be used more.
As for voice recognition, then that goes double.

I'm not sure. I mean, do I really want to start blabbering into my phone at a train platform, or at a party, or at work? I mean, sure, if I'm making a voice call, but actually holding a phone and asking it what the weather is or to give me directions somewhere? I'm not especially self conscious but I'd feel it a little odd.

I'm not really sure people actually want to do that.

I'd hazard a guess that it ain't broke (just using the phone interface to do these tasks) and doesn't really need fixing.

A friend did once make the observation that video calling isn't a massively used utility purely because a lot of the time you're on the phone, you don't really want the other person seeing you.

Eg, you call your friend having just got out of bed; you're going to look like c*ap, so why would you advertise that fact?

Or maybe you're on the phone to someone you don't like, and you're making rude gestures or pulling faces? (I of course am angelic and never do this!) Or maybe you're juggling tasks while you're on the phone, but video calling would show that you weren't giving a person your full attention?

For better or worse, the trusty phone call is in many ways a tried and tested social norm.

I'm not saying people would use it everywhere, or even in public. I'm just saying that it would get more use if it 'just worked' out of the box.

I do agree to some extent, for instance if you were at home on your own and sorting out your tasks or something (though for a little while I'd probably find it very weird talking to an inanimate object ).

These features are interesting, I'm just not sure they have enough practical application in real life. But you never know, it might take off...

I do see what you mean but I disagree. Video calling and voice recognition for the vast majority of people are gimmicks/novelties and IMO they will remain to be so for the foreseeable future until either society changes or something truly revolutionary is developed - what that is yet I don't know!

The example given in the presentation was "when I leave work". I'll bet money that it won't determine this automatically the first time, it will respond "ok, I don't yet know where your work is. Are you there now?" etc.

Likewise for your wife. If you refer to "my wife" for the first time - it will have to say "ok, I don't yet know who your wife is, please select from this list of [possibly intelligently generated] contacts".

Of course in practice, most people will just say "text Laura" rather than faffing with teaching your phone that Laura is your wife, Jenny is your daughter, etc.

I was disappointed with the 4S unveiling, I was expecting that and a new iPhone 5. I doubt many people will be rushing out to get a 4S when a 5 may be coming out next summer with (hopefully) a new design and a new raft of features. This is Apple's first 'flop' for a long time

I doubt it will be a flop as the it is to the 4 what the 3GS is to the 3 and it sold very well.

I have no doubt there will be a redesign next year as Apple seem to be sticking to a redesign every 2 years with a hardware bump in between.

Except the 3GS was launched before Android blew up. The 4S just won't stand up against the upcoming Android devices, and consumers will see this...

Sales will still be OK for Apple, but it won't be a smash hit and it will only be the diehard fans and those upgrading from the 3GS buying it...

I think what's also dangerous for Apple is by limiting its social services to other iOS devices (Facetime, iMessage, their version of Latitude) is all well and good if it has the market share; if it even starts to lose that share, all of a sudden, this pretty functionality becomes useless as more and more of the people you communicate with are not using iOS.

i was thinking more that if you have an address for 'work', or 'wife' recored somewhere in your contacts, it would figure it out.

but yes, obviously at some point it needs to know these things, just as an actual person would.

Iain

I'm not so sure, the forecast is still that Apple will top global smartphone sales in 2011.

obviously it will be, there's only 2 months left,

but anyway, android was never predicted to be as big as it was,
so anything can happen