WWDC '09 discussion - new iPhone, Snow Leopard, iPhone OS 3.0

[Twilight]

The Keynote is starting now ...

A good liveblog can be found here:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/06/apple-wwdc-keynote-liveblog-coverage.ars

 

[Twilight]

another liveblog, with many more photos, can be found here:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/08/phil-schiller-keynote-live-from-wwdc-2009/#continued

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

I may be in the market for a new phone in a month's time so i'm glad they bumped up the specs.

but overall that's pretty underwhelming. They mostly added features that my crap non-smartphone has had for the past two years - video recording and voice control, that really shoulda been there at launch. Well, video recording at least.

Sucks for those that bought 3G and want video since the hardware was clearly good enough for video then.

 

[Messianni]

^ Except the camera, which really wouldn't be worth recording all that much on. I'll take the 3GS' 3 MP, autofocus, auto-color correct any day. Besides, considering it's going to be able to edit video that is taken, I'm sure that requires more processing power than then original 3G would really be able to dish out.

I was a little disappointed that the 3.0 OS update wasn't released today (rather, June 17th) but probably the most surprising news is the $29 price for OS X Snow Leopard.

 

[Twilight]

Most welcome news: $29 Snow Leopard. I think everybody expected that it'd be $129. Good on Apple for not charging so much for what is effectively a service pack. $29 is totally reasonable.

Most unwelcome news: AT&T FAIL. What the hell? No MMS until the end of the summer? Shouldn't you have had this ready by now? It can't be that difficult. And no support for tethering announced from you guys yet?

Rumor win: Rumors of an "iPhone Pro" turned out to be generally true. iPhone 3GS is little more than a 3G with some (very) welcome additions - but it's not a huge overhaul and it looks exactly the same. Do I want one? Yes, but I only recently got a 3G and cannot justify dishing out another $300 for video (which I really wouldn't use ... I barely use the camera as it is) and some extra storage (and I can't quite fill my 16 GB as it is). Performance-wise, the iPhone 3G is totally adequate. I'm not using it to run 10^6 particle nbody simulations. I'm using it to make phone calls and play music. And it excels at doing those two things ... so I'm happy.

Rumor Fail: an Apple netbook. A video camera embedded under the iPhone's touchscreen for vid conferencing Uh huh.

 

[Arrqh]

I was surprised that the rumored OLED screen for the iPhone wasn't there, especially since the Zune HD is going to have one. I don't have any interest in the iPhone, but both the Zune HD and the probable next version of the iPod Touch are vying for my money in September so I was hoping to see that in there.

 

[firehawk12]

The Jobs declared that netbooks were just pieces of trash unworthy of bearing the might scion of the bitten Apple!

Really though... that's the response to the Pre? Alrighty then.

 

[Twilight]

The Jobs declared that netbooks were just pieces of trash unworthy of bearing the might scion of the bitten Apple!

Really though... that's the response to the Pre? Alrighty then.

I'm not sure it needed to be a response to the Pre.

My friend has been wetting himself over the Pre for months, and was first in line to get one on Saturday. So I've had a chance to play with it ... and ... meh.

It's no more or less impressive than the iPhone is on first impression. It's very pretty, it feels a little cheap (it's plastic-y, and the two halves wiggle about one another in a disconcerting way). The OS is absolutely gorgeous and animates well, but it's *slightly* sluggish and hangs slightly when doing simple things (scrolling). But, while pretty, it doesn't look or animate any better than the iPhone does. It's just a tad more colorful because your wallpaper is displayed more often, while you only see your iPhone wallpaper at the unlock screen and a black background the rest of the time.

But yeah - the only genuine leg up it has on the iPhone is multitasking. The whole "cards" idea works very well and allows you to easily have multiple apps open, as opposed to the iPhone's approach of (1) Open app A (2) hit home button, closing app A, (3) open app B.

But there are rumors that the Pre's battery life is SEVERELY diminished with more than three apps open and running simultaneously (that has not been confirmed though), and the Pre is missing one huge aspect:

Apps! Palm hasn't even released the SDK for webOS, so an app store is a LONG way away. Meanwhile, the iPhone has been absoultely transformed by its app store in the past year, and it will only continue to mature as the Pre is still struggling to catch up.


So the Pre is pretty and can multitask. The iPhone is also pretty and, while it can't have multiple apps open, it is getting robust push notification services (which is a better approach than having multiple apps open on a mobile device, anyway), and it has 50,000 apps.

But seriously? I was a little surprised that (some aspects of) the Pre form-factor felt so cheap. The back is nice, but the thing feels a little too light, a little too plastic, and there's too much wiggle between the touchscreen and keyboard halves. Oh, and the edges surrounding the keyboard are sharp and uncomfortable.

But I digress ...

 

[firehawk12]

Well, it's all academic because Canada is in the data plan ghetto and I won't get a chance to check out either. Anyway, from Americans talking about the phone, the main disadvantage is AT&T more than anything else.

 

[Twilight]

One of the main side effects of Apple's keynotes today was to highlight how much AT&T sucks.

"iPhone OS 3.0 has MMS! 3.0 comes out next Wednesday! ... But, oh right, AT&T won't support MMS until the end of summer".

"iPhone OS 3.0 supports tethering! A shitload of carriers will support it. Except for AT&T, who have not even come close to announcing anything yet".


Yeah, Canada gets screwed when it comes to carrier services. But you're not missing out on much with respect to AT&T's standard of overpriced FAIL.

 

[firehawk12]

We get 1 gb of data a month.... you guys get unlimited. No right to complain.

 

[Arrqh]

Yeah, I'd take AT&T over Rogers any day.

When I was in the US I used to complain about my cellphone providers a lot (first Cingular and then Verizon) but that went to a whole new level when I moved here. People I know here who are from Europe just shake their heads sadly.

 

[Small White Car]

I was surprised that the rumored OLED screen for the iPhone wasn't there

How do we know?

When asked directly they refused to say what the processor upgrade was or how the system RAM changed, but they both seem to have been changed in some way.

Given that, how can we say that no news on OLED means anything? Is there a way to tell by looking? We may not know until review sites can buy one next week and open it up.

 

[Arrqh]

I was surprised that the rumored OLED screen for the iPhone wasn't there

How do we know?

When asked directly they refused to say what the processor upgrade was or how the system RAM changed, but they both seem to have been changed in some way.

Given that, how can we say that no news on OLED means anything? Is there a way to tell by looking? We may not know until review sites can buy one next week and open it up.

I assume they would have mentioned it if it was there. You're right, it still could be, but I think it's a reasonable assumption. Why would they withhold something that would easily make a great looking bullet point?

They didn't give details on how the CPU was upgraded but they did say that it was upgraded. If the screen was upgraded, why not mention that it was even if they didn't want to give details?

 

[Small White Car]

They didn't give details on how the CPU was upgraded but they did say that it was upgraded.

Not exactly.

When someone asked about the processor they gave off some joke answer about how the "magic" inside the iPhone was twice as magical now.

That doesn't sound like someone wanting to talk about the details. If no one asked about the screen, I really don't see them bringing it up when they were so evasive about everything else.

 

[TemporalFlux]

AT&T dropping the ball doesn't surprise me. Our local provider Cellular South just activated 3G coverage in our area; AT&T hasn't and has no ETA on when they will.

 

[Arrqh]

They didn't give details on how the CPU was upgraded but they did say that it was upgraded.

Not exactly.

When someone asked about the processor they gave off some joke answer about how the "magic" inside the iPhone was twice as magical now.

That doesn't sound like someone wanting to talk about the details. If no one asked about the screen, I really don't see them bringing it up when they were so evasive about everything else.

The press release specifically says that the 3GS is twice as fast as the 3G with "improved speed and performance." Which means... it's a faster CPU but they don't walk to talk about the details.

 

[Hermiod]

We get 1 gb of data a month.... you guys get unlimited. No right to complain.

We get unlimited, plus support for MMS and tethering.

 

[Warp Coil]

I bought an iPhone 3G back in November. Was a little bummed to hear that a new phone was coming out already, but to be honest, the new phone doesn't offer any features that I care about. I rarely ever use the built-in camera, so capturing and editing video is even less important.

I'm happy that the iPhone OS 3.0 will be free when it is released.

I'm also pleasantly surprised to hear that the upgrade to Snow Leopard will be only $29. Very nice! I'm typically not one to purchase OS upgrades for my computer. However, given the low price, I may actually consider purchasing OSX 10.6 when it is released.

The only thing from WWDC that pissed me off was the update to the laptops. I just bought myself a 17" MacBook Pro at the end of April, and now they've already gone and updated them AND lowered the price. I also specifically chose the 17" model because I wanted the built-in, 8-hour battery. Now they've gone and installed it on the 15" models, too, so I could have saved several hundred dollars. Thanks, Apple!

 

[Twilight]

Such is the nature of buying computer hardware. There will *always* be a more powerful version sold for less money very soon after you make a purchase.

Seriously, don't worry too much about it - if we worried about always waiting for the next version to come out - nobody would own computers.


-Twilight, consoling himself because he's the owner of a desktop computer from Newegg of which a better, cheaper model was released one day after he made his purchase.