As you might guess, the blogs are buzzing with the news that the SDK along with a number of enterprise enhancements to the iPhone will be available in June. To recap, the iPhone will natively support Microsoft Exchange Push "everything" (mail, calendar, contacts). Also supporting the enterprise IT organization will be the capability to remotely configure iPhones to a standard enterprise template, the ability to securely communicate using Cisco's VPN, and the ability to remotely wipe the iPhone in case it is lost, stolen, or an employee should leave the company. Also buried in the presentation was the announcement that the June iPhone software update--iPhone 2.0-- will provide parental controls that can be set to restrict access applications such as the Safari browser. Finally, the SDK-developed applications will be available exclusively through a new AppStore that will enable the user to wirelessly download and install the applications.
Most of the buzz is about the enterprise and SDK features, operation, and availability. However, what I found to be the most interesting was a discussion by John Doerr of the venture capital organization Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) announcing the formation of "iFund" a $100 million investment fund for start-up organizations specifically focused on the development of iPhone applications. The iFund opens up a vast applications pipeline supporting the iPhone that will enable the iPhone to quickly capture market both from consumer applications such as games, but also commercial applications supporting a variety of enterprise needs. With the combination of the SDK being made available in beta to a large number of developers today; making the final SDK widely available in June; providing an application distribution approach mirroring the iTunes Store; engaging name companies including Electronic Arts, Sega, Salesforce.com, and others to develop enterprise and gaming content; and KPCB fronting $100 million in seed money for iPhone application development, the stage is set for the iPhone to challenge RIM, Palm, and the numerous Windows Mobile devices on both the enterprise and the consumer front.
This alone gives the existing iPhone legs well into the remainder of the year. However, I expect that on the heels of the SDK release in June, the next generation iPhone with 3G should be hitting the market. The 3G should have at least 32 MB of storage for all those new applications and locally stored content as well as an improved Internet experience. The combination will make the iPhone well positioned for the enterprise.
Showing posts with label iPod application. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iPod application. Show all posts
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Friday, October 12, 2007
Bug: Dead Earphone & Microphone
I don't intend this blog to be a list of iPhone bugs, but since the 1.1.1. update, there are a number to report. This one involves the iPhone's built-in earphone and microphone. I noticed it for the first time yesterday, but had continuing problems with it all day. Evidently, it was caused when the external earphones (or in my case, the cable to my car's speaker system) was removed when the phone was playing a podcast.
The result was that when I attempted to place a phone call the built-in earphone and microphone were dead. The called person got the call, but they did not hear anyone on the other end and I could not hear anyone on the iPhone. In addition, the built-in speakers were dead when in the iPod an YouTube applications. Turning the phone off and back on did not help. Indeed, the only way I could get any sound out of the phone was when placing a call, I put the phone in speakerphone mode--the external speakers and the microphone both worked. When the speakerphone button was pressed again, the built-in earphone and microphone were both dead.
I think I have resolved the problem. What I did was to insert the Apple earbuds. When I made a call, both the earbuds and the microphone were live. I then removed the earbuds from the phone while the call was live. Both the built-in earphone and microphone were live. Subsequent calls indicate that the phone is now working correctly.
Has anyone else seen this issue?
The result was that when I attempted to place a phone call the built-in earphone and microphone were dead. The called person got the call, but they did not hear anyone on the other end and I could not hear anyone on the iPhone. In addition, the built-in speakers were dead when in the iPod an YouTube applications. Turning the phone off and back on did not help. Indeed, the only way I could get any sound out of the phone was when placing a call, I put the phone in speakerphone mode--the external speakers and the microphone both worked. When the speakerphone button was pressed again, the built-in earphone and microphone were both dead.
I think I have resolved the problem. What I did was to insert the Apple earbuds. When I made a call, both the earbuds and the microphone were live. I then removed the earbuds from the phone while the call was live. Both the built-in earphone and microphone were live. Subsequent calls indicate that the phone is now working correctly.
Has anyone else seen this issue?
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
iPhone: Two-Month Check-up--Part VIII
This post covers my experiences with the the last of the standard applications included on the iPhone over the past two (now going on three) months: the iPod.
iPod: The iPhone was billed as the best iPod ever. In an absolute sense, I would agree. The touch interface, album flow, and controls all make it so. The iPod application is a multi-function multi-media capability that enables the user to listen to music, podcasts, video podcasts, recorded television programming, and movies--all in a small footprint. The iPod application has dedicated icons for artists, albums, audiobooks, compilations, composers, genres, playlists, podcasts, songs, and videos.
The artists, albums, compilations, composers, and songs selection all use the same "flick" and alphabet slider along the right side of the screen to choose a selection. In contrast, the audiobooks, genres, playlists, podcasts, and videos all use a more traditional menu/sub-menu/item selection scheme. However, both the videos also provide graphic images at the highest menu level, but does not really provide any advantages in selecting content.
The portrait mode provides icons for four of the preceding selection approaches at the bottom of the screen, along with a "more" button. A really nice feature is that which four buttons appear is entirely up to the user. The vertical screen provides an edit button that allows the user to drag icons to the bottom bar and to arrange those button as desired. It seems like a simple capability, but when the user rarely uses a selection mode, it is really nice to be able to relegate those modes to the "more" area.
With the exception of the video selection, when the iPhone is rotated to the landscape mode, the menu, regardless of type, transitions to the album flow interface. All album flow is by album cover (or a generic cover if the cover art is not available). Regardless of the content type selection, when rotated to show album flow, only music is shown. When a specific album is visible, tapping the "i" icon in the lower right corner will cause the album cover to "flip" revealing a list of the songs and related track times on that album along with the artist and album names. When rotated back to portrait mode the screen returns to the original menu listing before album flow was initiated.
When a video podcast has been loaded to the iPhone, it is available as both video and audio only. It shows in both menus. This is a nice feature if you want to "listen" to a video while in the car.
When a song or audio podcast is playing, a button for returning to the previous menus appears on the upper left, the current song/podcast and artist appear in a band across the middle top, and a button to flip between the current screen and a listing of songs (if an album is selected) appears on the upper right. The control buttons for starting, stopping, fast-forward, and fast-reverse appear at the bottom of the screen. The buttons are relatively small, but do not represent a problem in "normal" use. However, if you are driving and attempting to use the controls, it is very hit-or-miss. As a result, the button designs often force the user to take eyes off the road to manipulate. With the amount of real estate on the screen, it should be very easy to make the buttons larger to resolve this problem and improve safe operation of a car when attempting to use the buttons. (One could argue that you shouldn't be manipulating buttons when the car is in motion, but realistically, it is going to occur.)
In portrait mode, a tap on the top of the screen will cause a volume slider control, a button for repeating the same song or podcast, and a button to activate song or podcast shuffle to appear. These buttons are even smaller than the ones at the bottom of the screen and could also easily be enlarged for easier use (or improved mobility use).
When a song or audio podcast is playing and the iPhone is in the landscape mode, the screen shows album flow and if a podcast is playing, an image associated with the podcast shows (this podcast image does not show when flipping through songs). In the lower left is a small button to stop or start the audio. Again, for the screen space, the button is far too small. In the bottom right of the screen is the "i" icon that, when tapped, flips the album flow to the list in the same way the portrait mode upper right button operated. Unfortunately, the volume control, repeat, and shuffle buttons are not available in the landscape mode. Instead, when tapped in the middle of the screen, the image flips to the song/podcast list exactly the same as tapping the "i" icon. For whatever reason, Apple violated their own design mantra of consistency from screen-to-screen. the iPod function would be greatly improved if the flip button was kept in the upper right and the tap in the middle of the screen provided the volume, repeat, and shuffle controls. Why it was not designed this way makes no sense.
For videos, once selected, the controls operate in the same way as the YouTube application. Therefore, they will not be discussed further here.
All-in-all, the iPod application provides best-in-class functionality. The only complaint is that with a few adjustments--such as making the buttons larger--the iPod could be so much better.
In my next post, I'll finish up with my thoughts on features in the Set-up along with some summary impressions and a few additional things that I've noticed since I began the two-month review.
iPod: The iPhone was billed as the best iPod ever. In an absolute sense, I would agree. The touch interface, album flow, and controls all make it so. The iPod application is a multi-function multi-media capability that enables the user to listen to music, podcasts, video podcasts, recorded television programming, and movies--all in a small footprint. The iPod application has dedicated icons for artists, albums, audiobooks, compilations, composers, genres, playlists, podcasts, songs, and videos.
The artists, albums, compilations, composers, and songs selection all use the same "flick" and alphabet slider along the right side of the screen to choose a selection. In contrast, the audiobooks, genres, playlists, podcasts, and videos all use a more traditional menu/sub-menu/item selection scheme. However, both the videos also provide graphic images at the highest menu level, but does not really provide any advantages in selecting content.
The portrait mode provides icons for four of the preceding selection approaches at the bottom of the screen, along with a "more" button. A really nice feature is that which four buttons appear is entirely up to the user. The vertical screen provides an edit button that allows the user to drag icons to the bottom bar and to arrange those button as desired. It seems like a simple capability, but when the user rarely uses a selection mode, it is really nice to be able to relegate those modes to the "more" area.
With the exception of the video selection, when the iPhone is rotated to the landscape mode, the menu, regardless of type, transitions to the album flow interface. All album flow is by album cover (or a generic cover if the cover art is not available). Regardless of the content type selection, when rotated to show album flow, only music is shown. When a specific album is visible, tapping the "i" icon in the lower right corner will cause the album cover to "flip" revealing a list of the songs and related track times on that album along with the artist and album names. When rotated back to portrait mode the screen returns to the original menu listing before album flow was initiated.
When a video podcast has been loaded to the iPhone, it is available as both video and audio only. It shows in both menus. This is a nice feature if you want to "listen" to a video while in the car.
When a song or audio podcast is playing, a button for returning to the previous menus appears on the upper left, the current song/podcast and artist appear in a band across the middle top, and a button to flip between the current screen and a listing of songs (if an album is selected) appears on the upper right. The control buttons for starting, stopping, fast-forward, and fast-reverse appear at the bottom of the screen. The buttons are relatively small, but do not represent a problem in "normal" use. However, if you are driving and attempting to use the controls, it is very hit-or-miss. As a result, the button designs often force the user to take eyes off the road to manipulate. With the amount of real estate on the screen, it should be very easy to make the buttons larger to resolve this problem and improve safe operation of a car when attempting to use the buttons. (One could argue that you shouldn't be manipulating buttons when the car is in motion, but realistically, it is going to occur.)
In portrait mode, a tap on the top of the screen will cause a volume slider control, a button for repeating the same song or podcast, and a button to activate song or podcast shuffle to appear. These buttons are even smaller than the ones at the bottom of the screen and could also easily be enlarged for easier use (or improved mobility use).
When a song or audio podcast is playing and the iPhone is in the landscape mode, the screen shows album flow and if a podcast is playing, an image associated with the podcast shows (this podcast image does not show when flipping through songs). In the lower left is a small button to stop or start the audio. Again, for the screen space, the button is far too small. In the bottom right of the screen is the "i" icon that, when tapped, flips the album flow to the list in the same way the portrait mode upper right button operated. Unfortunately, the volume control, repeat, and shuffle buttons are not available in the landscape mode. Instead, when tapped in the middle of the screen, the image flips to the song/podcast list exactly the same as tapping the "i" icon. For whatever reason, Apple violated their own design mantra of consistency from screen-to-screen. the iPod function would be greatly improved if the flip button was kept in the upper right and the tap in the middle of the screen provided the volume, repeat, and shuffle controls. Why it was not designed this way makes no sense.
For videos, once selected, the controls operate in the same way as the YouTube application. Therefore, they will not be discussed further here.
All-in-all, the iPod application provides best-in-class functionality. The only complaint is that with a few adjustments--such as making the buttons larger--the iPod could be so much better.
In my next post, I'll finish up with my thoughts on features in the Set-up along with some summary impressions and a few additional things that I've noticed since I began the two-month review.
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