[Hands0n]

I can't believe that I missed this, it was out on 17 March 2009 - the Apple Keynote presentation of iPhone software version 3.0. In this keynote all of the new features are presented by Apple, and very nicely done too.

See the links to the keynote in SD and HD here --> http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/0903lajkszg/event/index.html

I'm quite looking forward to the SMS and MMS stuff. MMS is done very nicely. Also the Landscape features might get a bit of use by me. I am also quite happy that Apple are sticking with standards such as VCard, and also with the calendaring to open the in-phone support for Yahoo and Google calendars to name but two.

In 3.0 I suspect that the usability of the iPhone is going to increase substantially.

So what features are you particularly waiting for?

Is this merely a catch-up with the "norm" of other handsets, or has Apple gone and done it again with their leapfrogging?

[solo12002]

" or has Apple gone and done it again with their leapfrogging? "

I currently dont have an I phone, Im going to hold out for the summer and see what that brings. as the leapfrogging, clelry not if they have taken two years and two issues of a phone to provide basic things like mms etc.

[Hands0n]

See, thats the thing with leapfrogging - you don't have to have been equal to the others previously. I think everyone knows that Apple's implementation of a Smartphone has not matched other devices on a point-by-point basis. Equally though, I also think that Apple outstripped all of the competition, without exception, setting a whole new standard that all of the other manufacturers, without exception, are trying to emulate.

So I would contend that Apple have led where others now follow, but not leapfrog. But when viewing the presentation it is somewhat clear that [again] Apple are about to step into a leading position in how they've implemented touchscreen functionality for a lot of the new functionality.

Their MMS implementation appears to be head and shoulders above the rest also - the tight integration of MMS (and SMS for that matter) into the entire rest of the iPhone's applications is breathtaking. Such is the integration that even independently developed apps appear to be subject to the new regime of cut-paste-search etc ...

Looking at the opposition OS'es the only one that, I believe, stands a chance of meeting the new standard being set is going to be Android. Symbian doesn't stand a chance. Microsoft Windows Mobile may be able to do something, but they've got legacy to shed first such as OLE and DDE which was a worthy attempt in its time.

If you get a chance run up the presentation, skip through all of the razzamatazz and go direct to the new functionality. You may be in for a pleasant surprise :) Well, especially if you're holding out for the new hardware too.

[@NickyColman]

Just picking up on your mention of phone OS's and in particular, Windows Mobile. I had my first go of a WinMo phone last night and to say I was horrified is an understatement to say the least.

It was a HTC Touch HD on Orange. To look at, its gorgeous. But the OS is horrible. Its slow, clunky, very very counter-intuitive, laggy to the extreme and the screen is so unresponsive.

I am all for healthy competition and anything that gives iPhone a run for its money is a good thing in my book, but really, do HTC and more importantly, Microsoft believe that WinMo (in its current version) has any chance of rivaling that of iPhone?

Credit where its due, they have MMS (lol:)) but its just so user-unfriendly. I tried to add a contact on it and it took me several attempts before I spat the phone back at its owner in frustration. I would say I'm able to pick up any gadget/gizmo and work the thing out in a matter of minutes but that really threw me.

First experience of Windows Mobile (or whatever Microsoft have decided to rebrand it to) is a bad one. No way am I getting a WinMo handset any time soon!

BTW I'm talking from the average Joe perspective, not from a business point of view.

[Hands0n]

Now I'm shocked! My daughter has got the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 (http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/index.cfm?reviewid=105404) which is running Windows Mobile 6.1. I've had a little play with it when she first got it late last year, but I pretty soon put it down. It was horrible to use, and that tiny keyboard drove me nuts.

What I did not know is that the Xperia X1 is manufactured by HTC and not Sony Ericsson at all!!


Apart from that the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1's keyboard is good, with slightly raised separate keys sitting a millimeter apart. It's rather comfortable to write on, but, again, not as comfortable as the HTC Touch Pro's equivalent.

There's a good reason that we keep mentioning the HTC Touch Pro, as both phones are more or less identical hardware-wise. The 'Sony Ericsson' Xperia X1 is being manufactured by HTC, though Sony Ericsson has gone to lengths to communicate that they have developed the phone without HTC:s input. Even so, it makes sense to compare the two, as both phones are based on Windows Mobile and also are in the same price range - at least on the Swedish market.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 has a little more RAM and the display is 800x480 as opposed to the straight-laced VGA resolution in the Touch Pro. This gives the screen, and consequently the entire X1, a slightly longer and more narrow shell, which also explain the lack of dedicated number keys on the keyboard.

I knew it was WinMo because in my playings I got in behind the panels that it uses for its UI. Not difficult to do. But it does beg the question why the need for panels anyway - it seems to me that most handset manufacturers are hiding WinMo away like its old aunty Lucie, the family embarassment! Is this a tacit acknowledgement that WinMo has seen its better days, days when it had no competition, unlike now in 2009 where it has two very capable competitors.


The Windows mobile base in the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 has, like all Windows Mobile-based touchscreen phones, been supplemented with a homegrown graphical interface called the X-Panel, since the system itself is the textbook definition of the word clutter.

The X-Panel consists of a number of different start screens shown either as a grid or as a fan. The only screen you cannot replace with any of the built-in (or downloadable) alternate designs is the main Today screen that acts as Windows Mobile's foundation. Applications include a media file drawer we've seen in other Sony Ericsson models, a calendar screen, radio, Google search and so on.

I guess its what you eventually get used to.