Apple is going to beat all competitors

[Jens Fursund]

On Fri, 2007-09-07 at 12:35 -0700, Ted Lemon wrote:
> On Sep 7, 2007, at 11:27 AM, Andreas Utterberg wrote:
> > What the v2 neo needs is a nice oi, the best would be if its  
> > possible to add compiz fusion, beryl effects to it. That would  
> > really boost the interest to the mass, just look at the development  
> > speed to the berylproject had, and the very big community around it  
> > in a very short amount of time.
> 
> I like cool effects as much as the next guy.   But what the phone  
> needs is a really good UI.   To sell against the iPhone it needs to  
> be as good a value proposition as the iPhone.   Doesn't necessarily  
> have to be better, but has to be as good, and it also has to be  
> different.   For me, right now, it's already better, because the  
> iPhone isn't open.   But for an average person, what's going to make  
> the value proposition work is that it does the things they want their  
> phone to do nicely, transparently.   Frankly, we are many person- 
> years of coding away from that right now.
> 
> At a minimum, we need:
> 
> - It's got to actually work as a mobile phone.
> - At least several hours of H.264 playback.
> - A good music app, ideally tied in to the Amazon/Universal store.
> - Smart connectivity - connecting up bluetooth devices has to be  
> easy, and sensing and connecting to known WiFi networks has to be  
> seamless and automatic.
> - Mobile Safari-like web browsing - that is, you get to see the whole  
> web page, and you can expand and contract the image.
> - Leverage the GPS to do things the iPhone doesn't do.
> 
> Most of this is self-explanatory, but just a couple of notes.
> 
> Remember that a touch screen is not the same as a mouse - you have a  
> lot of built-in positional cues when using a touchscreen that a mouse  
> UI has to *show* you.   One example of this in the Neo UI that's  
> already been adopted is kinetic scrolling.   Another thing that the  
> iPhone UI has that we don't is shrink and grow.
> 
> Since we don't have multitouch, we can't do shrink and grow the way  
> that the iPhone does.  The way I would do it is to designate an area  
> of the screen to be the size zone.   Maybe the bottom.   When you  
> hold and drag in the size zone, it shrinks or grows the view.   So  
> hold and drag to the left, and the view zooms out.   Hold and drag to  
> the right, and the view zooms in.   The new GPU ought to make this  
> possible.   I think this is more important than any of the stuff i've  
> seen demoed in compiz/beryl.   I don't understand why the compiz/ 
> beryl people spend so much effort on window dressing.   But maybe I'm  
> missing the point - I've never actually run the stuff, just seen the  
> online demos, none of which have ever impressed me.   Sigh.
> 
> As far as leveraging the GPS, something like a remotely-updateable  
> locational todo list would be smart.   Say you go out to pick up  
> groceries.   At home, your sweetie remembers that you need more tp.    
> No problem - she updates the todo list for the supermarket you're  
> going to.   When you get there, the phone bleeps with your complete  
> shopping list - the stuff that was already on it, and the tp that was  
> just added.
> 
> You're making coffee, and you notice that you're almost out.   You  
> select the local coffee roaster and put in a note that you need  
> more.   The next day, you're at the Indian restaurant a mile away,  
> which is relatively close in your milieu, and it bleeps to tell you  
> to stop at the coffee shop on the way home.   Or, if you're a New  
> Yorker, it bleeps when you wander by the store.   Proximity depends  
> on your milieu.   Extra credit for locational milieu sensing.
> 
> Another app - you have a list of friends, and your phone and theirs  
> share information at a common site somewhere. You can update your  
> drop-in-ability - when you've got dropins available, your friends'  
> phones will all tell them if they are near you.   If you're trying to  
> meet your friend who has a Neo, you both tell your neos to be on the  
> lookout for the other, or to give you a running positional  
> commentary, and using that, you plot a course toward each other and  
> meet.
> 
> These are things the iPhone doesn't do, so they create a new value  
> proposition that makes the Neo competitive.
> 
> Another thing that would really change the Neo value proposition for  
> me is that I'm afraid to put it in my pocket because of the  
> touchscreen, and the carry bag we got with our Neos is (a) completely  
> artificial and stinky and (b) has too much padding, so it's too big  
> to use.   The Neo needs a protective case.
> 
> 

All this sounds really good, but am I wrong when I say that the GPS has
been cancelled for GTA02?

Best Regards,

Jens