Don MacAskill, CEO of SmugMug (a photo sharing service) writes “the iPhone is magic.”
Thomas Hawk, CEO of Zooomr (another photo sharing service) writes “it pretty much rocks.”
And yet the Nokia folks continue their attacks. I wonder why, if the Nokia N95 has a superior camera (it does) why CEOs of photo sharing sites (both avid photographers in their own rights too) would be so rabid about an iPhone (Thomas even had a LOT of activation problems over the weekend so has an extra excuse to hate the iPhone).
Scobleizer 
well, trollers troll, but you’re aggravating it by comparing a phone announced last year (released in March) with a brand spanking new Apple product!
I don’t even think they’re aimed at the same market…if we’re blurring the line between PC and phone, the N95 lies more towards the phone side than the iPhone…A more appropriate comparision would be with those HTC or O2 phones…
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well, trollers troll, but you’re aggravating it by comparing a phone announced last year (released in March) with a brand spanking new Apple product!
I don’t even think they’re aimed at the same market…if we’re blurring the line between PC and phone, the N95 lies more towards the phone side than the iPhone…A more appropriate comparision would be with those HTC or O2 phones…
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Farooq: oh, what fun would THAT be? Heheh.
Seriously, it’s more fun to compare it to a $750 Nokia that’s packed with “features.”
And I disagree with you. The whole point I was making is that the iPhone is a better phone. Period.
Now, if we were talking about which is the better camera, or the better GPS device, or the better 3G device, then I’d have to agree that the Nokia is a better one of those.
But as a phone? Not even close.
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Farooq: oh, what fun would THAT be? Heheh.
Seriously, it’s more fun to compare it to a $750 Nokia that’s packed with “features.”
And I disagree with you. The whole point I was making is that the iPhone is a better phone. Period.
Now, if we were talking about which is the better camera, or the better GPS device, or the better 3G device, then I’d have to agree that the Nokia is a better one of those.
But as a phone? Not even close.
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Robert,
Not to be trolling, but i guess things look different from the other side of the pond. I’ve read several reviews of the iPhone in Dutch papers and they are somewhat underwhelmed.
It might be that Europeans have had a longer life with mobile phones, we’ve got other phones (once forgot my charger while in the US, had to enter almost a dozen phone shops and ended at target because most hadn’t seen my phone nor was it available in the US, it was a Sony Ericsson S770i).
The UI is definitely a big step forward as far as I can see, and that definitely sets it apart from the competition. But its feature set, does seem not to impress the press over here.
I’ve owned mobile phones since 1995, and based upon my experience, the weakest part of a mobile phone are its battery, and the screen. I believe that Apple has solved the screen part, but a fixed battery is in my opinion the worst decision they could have made. Regardless of the quality of these, they’ll start to get worse after a year of heavy use. It’s not that they become bad, but gradually you’re time between charges is getting less and less.
I guess they will have to put some enhancements into the phone (partly because edge is already being phased out over here in favor of UMTS and higher), and partly because in some european countries simlocks are forbidden by law, or need to be easily removable. (which from a consumer viewpoint of course is great).
When it gets overhere I will test it, where for me the biggest test is whether I can one handed make calls without to much steps involved. (I know it won’t beat most phones on this because the lack of a keypad with shortcuts, 2 is my wife ;), and i can dial her without even looking at the phone as well as key customers)
one of the best reviews up till now was over there on Zdnet, where Mathew Miller gives a very comprehensive review. http://blogs.zdnet.com/mobile-gadgeteer/?p=461
I think they’ve done some great stuff on the UI side, but feature wise, they must up the ante when they come overseas because else the phone will feature wise loose to cell phones in Europa and Asia.
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Robert,
Not to be trolling, but i guess things look different from the other side of the pond. I’ve read several reviews of the iPhone in Dutch papers and they are somewhat underwhelmed.
It might be that Europeans have had a longer life with mobile phones, we’ve got other phones (once forgot my charger while in the US, had to enter almost a dozen phone shops and ended at target because most hadn’t seen my phone nor was it available in the US, it was a Sony Ericsson S770i).
The UI is definitely a big step forward as far as I can see, and that definitely sets it apart from the competition. But its feature set, does seem not to impress the press over here.
I’ve owned mobile phones since 1995, and based upon my experience, the weakest part of a mobile phone are its battery, and the screen. I believe that Apple has solved the screen part, but a fixed battery is in my opinion the worst decision they could have made. Regardless of the quality of these, they’ll start to get worse after a year of heavy use. It’s not that they become bad, but gradually you’re time between charges is getting less and less.
I guess they will have to put some enhancements into the phone (partly because edge is already being phased out over here in favor of UMTS and higher), and partly because in some european countries simlocks are forbidden by law, or need to be easily removable. (which from a consumer viewpoint of course is great).
When it gets overhere I will test it, where for me the biggest test is whether I can one handed make calls without to much steps involved. (I know it won’t beat most phones on this because the lack of a keypad with shortcuts, 2 is my wife ;), and i can dial her without even looking at the phone as well as key customers)
one of the best reviews up till now was over there on Zdnet, where Mathew Miller gives a very comprehensive review. http://blogs.zdnet.com/mobile-gadgeteer/?p=461
I think they’ve done some great stuff on the UI side, but feature wise, they must up the ante when they come overseas because else the phone will feature wise loose to cell phones in Europa and Asia.
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neverness: I agree with that. This isn’t a world-ready phone, yet.
I’ve learned that a version 1.0 product is lucky if it gets onto the right wall. A 2.0 is lucky if it gets onto the target. A 3.0 is lucky if it strikes the bullseye.
This one not only got onto the right wall, but got onto the target with a 1.0 product.
Can’t wait to see 2.0, which hopefully will clean up most of the flaws. And there are flaws in the iPhone. We’ve been over those a few times already.
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neverness: I agree with that. This isn’t a world-ready phone, yet.
I’ve learned that a version 1.0 product is lucky if it gets onto the right wall. A 2.0 is lucky if it gets onto the target. A 3.0 is lucky if it strikes the bullseye.
This one not only got onto the right wall, but got onto the target with a 1.0 product.
Can’t wait to see 2.0, which hopefully will clean up most of the flaws. And there are flaws in the iPhone. We’ve been over those a few times already.
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I think they will need to indeed improve some stuff to make it Eurasia ready, and lets not forget that though the Nokia N95 costs a lot in the US, when i compare the iPhone offer and would take the equivalent over here in Eu, the N95 costs me less than 100 Euro.
They will have to sell it subsidized in Europe because else it will just be to expensive.
As far as you’re remark that it’s a better phone, I think my wife would tell you otherwise (she has a nokia 6310i bar), and when honest, it’s a better phone than most modern phones because it only has one function making calls, no whistles and bells, it just makes calls without taking to much attention.
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I think they will need to indeed improve some stuff to make it Eurasia ready, and lets not forget that though the Nokia N95 costs a lot in the US, when i compare the iPhone offer and would take the equivalent over here in Eu, the N95 costs me less than 100 Euro.
They will have to sell it subsidized in Europe because else it will just be to expensive.
As far as you’re remark that it’s a better phone, I think my wife would tell you otherwise (she has a nokia 6310i bar), and when honest, it’s a better phone than most modern phones because it only has one function making calls, no whistles and bells, it just makes calls without taking to much attention.
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Over here the Nokia N95 is $750, so for the N95 to even be considered by a large group of people it’ll need to be around $200 to $300.
$750 automatically puts it in the class of “freaks and geeks.”
Hell, the iPhone is darn close to that class too.
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Over here the Nokia N95 is $750, so for the N95 to even be considered by a large group of people it’ll need to be around $200 to $300.
$750 automatically puts it in the class of “freaks and geeks.”
Hell, the iPhone is darn close to that class too.
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iPhone is good. Atleast that’s what it says in the local newspapers.
It’s coming to India only after 6 months and by that time I guess, there’ll be a lot of stiff competition here.
Apparently, Apple will have a hard time finding a local service provider – AT&T does not provide services to India.
A corporation called HTC has caught the headlines for a new iPhone like phone with touch screen and all the other stuff. The phone is called (pretty dramatically) – The Touch. (News link – http://www.hindu.com/2007/06/16/stories/2007061602831600.htm).
Apparently, iPhone is available in the black market and there are people who can crack it and make it work with a local SIM card. (blog link -http://youthcurry.blogspot.com/2007/06/apple-iphone-what-about-us.html)
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iPhone is good. Atleast that’s what it says in the local newspapers.
It’s coming to India only after 6 months and by that time I guess, there’ll be a lot of stiff competition here.
Apparently, Apple will have a hard time finding a local service provider – AT&T does not provide services to India.
A corporation called HTC has caught the headlines for a new iPhone like phone with touch screen and all the other stuff. The phone is called (pretty dramatically) – The Touch. (News link – http://www.hindu.com/2007/06/16/stories/2007061602831600.htm).
Apparently, iPhone is available in the black market and there are people who can crack it and make it work with a local SIM card. (blog link -http://youthcurry.blogspot.com/2007/06/apple-iphone-what-about-us.html)
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>>> I wonder why, if the Nokia N95 has a superior camera (it does) why CEOs of photo sharing sites (both avid photographers in their own rights too) would be so rabid about an iPhone.
Robert, I believe accomplished photographers won’t buy the iPhone (or the N95 for that matter) for the camera. Instead, they would go for the phone “feature set”, which (except for the camera) seems to be better on the iPhone (I haven’t used neither so it’s just out of the top of my head).
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>>> I wonder why, if the Nokia N95 has a superior camera (it does) why CEOs of photo sharing sites (both avid photographers in their own rights too) would be so rabid about an iPhone.
Robert, I believe accomplished photographers won’t buy the iPhone (or the N95 for that matter) for the camera. Instead, they would go for the phone “feature set”, which (except for the camera) seems to be better on the iPhone (I haven’t used neither so it’s just out of the top of my head).
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“why CEOs of photo sharing sites…would be so rabid about an iPhone”.
It’s not about the phone – it’s about talking about the latest bright, new shiny thing.
Yesterday, you would have hung out at a drive-in and showed-off your Holley carbs, today you hang out online and talk about your iPhone.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
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“why CEOs of photo sharing sites…would be so rabid about an iPhone”.
It’s not about the phone – it’s about talking about the latest bright, new shiny thing.
Yesterday, you would have hung out at a drive-in and showed-off your Holley carbs, today you hang out online and talk about your iPhone.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
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I see where they’re rabid about the phone but I don’t see where they’re rabid about the camera. That’s what the topic of the post seems to be about. Maybe I’m missing something.
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I see where they’re rabid about the phone but I don’t see where they’re rabid about the camera. That’s what the topic of the post seems to be about. Maybe I’m missing something.
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“Over here the Nokia N95 is $750, so for the N95 to even be considered by a large group of people it’ll need to be around $200 to $300.”
Whereas overhere you can get the N95 on a contract for $80/£40 and are expecting the price of the iPhone to be $800/£400
Just because its your opinion that the iPhone is better, Scoble it doesn’t mean you are right, which is what people are angry about, you’re coming across a lil arrogant at times.
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“Over here the Nokia N95 is $750, so for the N95 to even be considered by a large group of people it’ll need to be around $200 to $300.”
Whereas overhere you can get the N95 on a contract for $80/£40 and are expecting the price of the iPhone to be $800/£400
Just because its your opinion that the iPhone is better, Scoble it doesn’t mean you are right, which is what people are angry about, you’re coming across a lil arrogant at times.
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I suspect it has something to do with those two CEO’s spending about 2 days in line to purchase an iPhone and aren’t wanting to admit they were duped by Jobs.
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I suspect it has something to do with those two CEO’s spending about 2 days in line to purchase an iPhone and aren’t wanting to admit they were duped by Jobs.
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Rod: you keep believing that. Our COO at PodTech got his iPhone yesterday without standing in line and was even MORE effusive with praise for the iPhone.
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Rod: you keep believing that. Our COO at PodTech got his iPhone yesterday without standing in line and was even MORE effusive with praise for the iPhone.
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@Rod: I’m dumb often, and I admit I’m dumb often. This isn’t a case of me being duped. Sorry. 🙂
@Robert: You’ll notice I don’t even mention the camera in my review, other than wishing it did video. That’s because I think it’s mostly useless. I’m not a super camera snob (ie, DSLR or bust!), I do shoot with point-and-clicks, but they have decent lenses. The iPhone does not.
That being said, timing and location almost always trump quality with photos. Will I whip it out if I don’t have a “real” camera on me and my kids are doing something cute or amazing? Absolutely.
Basically, when it comes to the camera, I just shrug. That’s not why I bought the phone, it wasn’t even on my radar. I have lots of better cameras. 🙂
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@Rod: I’m dumb often, and I admit I’m dumb often. This isn’t a case of me being duped. Sorry. 🙂
@Robert: You’ll notice I don’t even mention the camera in my review, other than wishing it did video. That’s because I think it’s mostly useless. I’m not a super camera snob (ie, DSLR or bust!), I do shoot with point-and-clicks, but they have decent lenses. The iPhone does not.
That being said, timing and location almost always trump quality with photos. Will I whip it out if I don’t have a “real” camera on me and my kids are doing something cute or amazing? Absolutely.
Basically, when it comes to the camera, I just shrug. That’s not why I bought the phone, it wasn’t even on my radar. I have lots of better cameras. 🙂
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Props to Don! Shame on the trolls who are now attacking ‘friends of Scoble,’ too.
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Props to Don! Shame on the trolls who are now attacking ‘friends of Scoble,’ too.
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Hi Don, I hope that the trolls dont shade your opinion of the N95, its still is a pretty great product worth adulation in its own right. For me the main difference (besides the tech specs) is more the cultural difference between Europe and the USA. America is very Desktop Centric ie a cell device is something that satelites around the laptop or desktop. It is also just logical to say then that instead of building an OS from a minimalist approach the two standard desktops (OSX and Windows) have been scaled down to mobility. Europe on the other hand is cell centric and has had cell mobility long before the USA after ericsson invented in the 60 (motorola dudes will debate this but they were a decade too late with their first mobile devices) What this means then is that the minimalist approach is added on by modules as hardware capacity grows. This is a very distinct difference. I am pretty sure when it comes to mobile data usage the average European user racks it up compared to the average US user. With Mobile TV (both DVB-H and 3G) mature in Europe plus, sms, mms webbrowsing et al. So as a Phone the IPhone is a beautiful product that TALKS WELL and is a GREAT compliment to your MAC or PC which is still the primary Life Manager. In Europe, a lot of low level PC USERS are ditching their PC/MACS completely in favour for their smartphones. Furthermore Europe is kinda anti locked in closed garden hence the fact that a product like Itunes is one of many here and not the clear cut leader and both MS and Apple are regularly dragged before the court for locking customers in.
Also the Mobile Phone companies are hardcore established brands and they react so fast. I am very happy with the Iphone because in 6 months they are gonna copy and improve, the average phone lifecycle in Europe is 9 months. A company like SonyEricsson wa s about 10 months late with their first music phone and they copied and perfected. The Nokias and SonyEricssons will live and learn.
I still am disheartened by the money rich westerners spend on toys like the N95 and the Iphone. I feel we have become a tad shallow in the bigger scheme of things.
As for Quotes on products, they are a pound a penny
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Hi Don, I hope that the trolls dont shade your opinion of the N95, its still is a pretty great product worth adulation in its own right. For me the main difference (besides the tech specs) is more the cultural difference between Europe and the USA. America is very Desktop Centric ie a cell device is something that satelites around the laptop or desktop. It is also just logical to say then that instead of building an OS from a minimalist approach the two standard desktops (OSX and Windows) have been scaled down to mobility. Europe on the other hand is cell centric and has had cell mobility long before the USA after ericsson invented in the 60 (motorola dudes will debate this but they were a decade too late with their first mobile devices) What this means then is that the minimalist approach is added on by modules as hardware capacity grows. This is a very distinct difference. I am pretty sure when it comes to mobile data usage the average European user racks it up compared to the average US user. With Mobile TV (both DVB-H and 3G) mature in Europe plus, sms, mms webbrowsing et al. So as a Phone the IPhone is a beautiful product that TALKS WELL and is a GREAT compliment to your MAC or PC which is still the primary Life Manager. In Europe, a lot of low level PC USERS are ditching their PC/MACS completely in favour for their smartphones. Furthermore Europe is kinda anti locked in closed garden hence the fact that a product like Itunes is one of many here and not the clear cut leader and both MS and Apple are regularly dragged before the court for locking customers in.
Also the Mobile Phone companies are hardcore established brands and they react so fast. I am very happy with the Iphone because in 6 months they are gonna copy and improve, the average phone lifecycle in Europe is 9 months. A company like SonyEricsson wa s about 10 months late with their first music phone and they copied and perfected. The Nokias and SonyEricssons will live and learn.
I still am disheartened by the money rich westerners spend on toys like the N95 and the Iphone. I feel we have become a tad shallow in the bigger scheme of things.
As for Quotes on products, they are a pound a penny
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N95 is one of the best cell phones available in the iphone doesn’t even come into the league. And about the features HTC has far more capabilities than it.
About its touch screen feature, its not worth $500.
Dekoh Photos
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N95 is one of the best cell phones available in the iphone doesn’t even come into the league. And about the features HTC has far more capabilities than it.
About its touch screen feature, its not worth $500.
Dekoh Photos
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