iPhaze

If Google were a Library

iPhaze — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 05:13:48 +0000

People rely on Google a lot.

They are your compass, your communicator, your mail, your entertainment and most of all; your source of information. It’s that last one, the ‘information’ part, I want to focus on.

Back in the day (or during a time I like to call ‘before we had the internet’ – strange, now, I know) we used to have these things called ‘libraries’, people would visit them to read these things called ‘books’, which contained information – it was generally quite hard to find what you were after quickly – but you didn’t know any better, so you persevered.

Imagine if Google were a library.

Now, lets go to the Google library and sign up for free. Here you can browse all the thousands of available books to your hearts content, by the way, the Google library is open 24 hours a day. Enjoy.

A few weeks later you return to the Google library: they’ve installed computers and you can sign up for a free email account to check email and chat with friends. All for free. Cool. This library is pretty awesome.

The next week you go back and you can now look at the maps in the Google Library, you can look absolutely anywhere for as long as you want. They give you a magnifying glass and you can peer at the maps in detail; you can see houses, cars, even people. You browse the maps for your house and you can see your car parked in the driveway, the condition your garden is in, your children playing outside.

A week later you return to the Google library and the staff are already at the door with the books you wanted to read, no need to scout through the mountains of free books for what you want. They already know. They tell you to observe the newly installed security cameras which monitor your behavior – they’ve noticed you like crime novels, so they show you these first. ‘Ok, that’s pretty handy I guess’, you think.

You sit down at one of the computers and there is a man standing over your shoulder watching what you type. He says not to worry, he is just scanning your message to highlight key words and frequently used phrases so that the next time you come in, the staff can show you even better books which match your personal tastes even closer.

‘Ok – that’s weird but I understand’.

A week later you walk into the Google Library and you can now buy many different Google Library branded mobile devices to browse the libraries content and all your mail. They tell you that these devices will match up with the list they were keeping of all the books you read, all the maps you’ve seen and all the conversations you’ve ever had in the Google Library. You like the Google Library so far, so you buy one of these mobile devices.

Now you don’t ever need to physically go to the Library – you can do everything you used to do, but in the comfort of your own home. That’s great, I guess.

You’ve visited the Google Library on your new phone every day. Another week passes and you start to see advertisements on your phone which match up with the places you’ve been, the mail you’ve sent, the books you’ve read, the people you’ve spoke to. All of a sudden, the Google library seems to know what you want before you do.

Then it clicks: ‘This isn’t a library anymore’.

Well, you get my point. Look, Google has a business model and this (albeit extremely) demonstrates how they make their money. Okay – there isn’t someone watching over you as you type out an email in Gmail. But something does scan your mail for key words. How else can you explain my fiancé getting adverts in Gmail’s sidebar for Wedding-Related paraphernalia? It knows our conversations. It knows her web searches. That’s kind of weird, you have to admit. I don’t like being told what to do or where to click. I don’t like being shown where to spend my time or money; those two things are very precious to me. I enjoy getting my own results and my own research done. I enjoy figuring it out on my own. But some people don’t. Some people don’t mind having suggestions shown to them based on their conversations.

I just find it creepy.

It’s the equivalent of someone overhearing your conversation in the street and going; ‘Oh, hey – I just heard you were talking about shampoo (for example) well, I really like this particular brand and I think you should check it out!’

In real life you would probably totally ignore them. Especially if it was a private conversation because you didn’t want people knowing you had a skin condition.

I don’t agree with some of Google’s practices for these reasons. They’ve become to big, too powerful, too influential, too knowledgeable, too creepy.

It would be fantastic if they stuck to being the best library of information and nothing more. I used to like that simplicity in my relationship with the company.

But, unfortunately; that’s their business. I just wish the didn’t want to collect mine.

iPhone Unboxing + Hands-On

iPhaze — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 12:56:58 +0000

The iPhone 5

As I received my parcel and walked back into the house I felt strangely calm. Usually moments like this would be manically exciting, but I was prepared, I knew everything inside the box, no surprises. Or at least I thought.

The Box

It seemed larger than I imagined. Everything I’d read about the iPhone and how incredibly thin and light it was, the package was not. It was hefty, weighty and larger than I expected.

The Device

Perfect. The iPhone is simply gorgeous. It’s mechanically and physically precise and exactly as it should be. The greatest consumer device ever created – Prove me wrong. You’ll struggle.

Using the thing

I am so, so, so, so careful putting it in my pocket – ‘carefully’ doesn’t quite describe how delicately I place it into my pocket. I’m really happy it actually fits in there too – I didn’t think my jean’s pocket would be wide enough (because usually it slips into a horizontal position when I put it in there) But no, it fits. Phew!

‘Mapplegate’

Complete non-issue. It’s Apple’s first foray into mapping. It doesn’t matter if a few mis-placed pins tell me something is a block or two away than it should be, or that it just doesn’t find it. Give it time. Stop assuming Apple is perfect and gets everything right first time.. If we were to do that with Google, we’d be here all day talking about privacy issues, targeted ads, Google Wave, Google Buzz, Google this, that and the other – give Apple time and it will get better. Trust me on this. Oh and wow: damn, it’s beautiful.

‘Scuffgate’

Please. This is stupid – the idea of ‘lets-rub-house-keys-on-the-back-until-it-scratches’ is so ludicrous that it…. No, just stop. No marks, no scratches and surprisingly, no fingerprint marks on the back. At first I was very conscious of it, they were obvious, but after rubbing the back with my Mac’s cleaning cloth, fingerprints magically don’t show up anymore, it’s bizarre.

The Screen

Retina has never looked more – saturated. An example of this is: I took a picture of an iPhone 5 in an Apple Store, the purple colour of the iTunes icon was kind of flat looking. Looking at the exact same picture on my iPhone 5 (taken with my 4 bare in mind) shows the same icon in a vibrant, rich, saturated purple that pops almost off the screen. Ok, maybe not that much, but it is a huge, noticeable difference.

The Lightning Cable

Mind-blowingly Small. Tiny. Miniscule. Ridiculously, Microscopically Miniature. But the top scratches easily – no one is complaining about this – everyone is talking about the stupid maps thing.

Compared to the iPhone 4

After two days with my New iPhone 5 the 2010 iPhone 4 feels fat, squat in size and kludgy. The OS (iOS6 Latest build) is clunky and slow in comparison. The iPhone 5 does ‘just scream’ with blazingly fast animations. The Camera opens in fractions of a second, panorama just works (well) and switching between apps feels a lot closer to ‘real’ multitasking instead of just jumping to suspended apps in the app tray.

The iPhone 4 which I queued up for and paid over the odds for is gathering dust as I type. Which is a shame because I loved it so much a few days ago. Now if I hold it, I feel like it’s a bad copy of the new iPhone.

Screen Size

The 4” screen of the iPhone 5 takes time to adjust to. I’m still surprising myself every time I pull it out my pocket (forgetting it’s the new one in there!) and my muscle memory automatically tells me that the screen is still 3.5 inches so I have to blink and adjust my eyes as I gaze upon the taller screen. But wow. It’s a huge improvement. Developers who haven’t jumped on the bigger size yet are really missing out.

Wrap up

If you haven’t got your hands on one yet, just go do it. If you haven’t pre-ordered and you’re thinking you might, just do it. If you’re thinking of buying a Samsung Galaxy Dingus 3; are you serious? This right here in my hand my friend, is the future. iPhone is still king. On build quality, design, desirability, usability, usefulness, app selection, polish, finish, styling, thinness, speed – if you are considering anything else you might want to have a frank word with yourself.

iPhone 5 – Hands On Impressions

iPhaze — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 06:09:16 +0000

Today was my first chance to get into the new Apple Store which opened up last Friday in Canberra. The Store itself was by-far the most visited store in the Civic Centre. Canberra is usually really quiet first thing on the weekends, I got there about 10:30am and the entire Centre was like a Ghost town. Except the Apple Store.

The Store itself is very modern and beautiful – by far the best ‘little’ Apple Store I’ve visited in a while. It’s very open and spacious – the best store in the entire Civic Centre by an English country mile. The staff were friendly and bubbly (probably because they A) are expected to be, and B) are probably excited about having a new job.

The thing I noticed about the store was the amount of iPhone 5’s on display, there were tons. And everyone was clambering over the Black ones. The white ones were behind me and I didn’t even take notice – as with a lot of people. I had people looking over my shoulder at the Black 5 even though there were perfectly good white ones behind them. Interesting.

Build Quality

Picking the thing up was every bit as exciting as seeing it for the first time, and I can verify for those of you who haven’t held one yet, it is every bit as light as you’ve read. It feels like theres absolutely nothing inside it. It was quite shocking. The quality of the device was a nice surprise, it feels solid and rigid all the way through – I didn’t feel like I could bend it despite it’s added height.

The Screen

The screen itself was much better than my iPhone 4’s. I held them up (like an crazy idiot) for a good minute, next to eachother side-by-side to compare. I can guarantee – the colours are deeper, richer and more vibrant. To compare – the iTunes icon’s purple hue was dull on my iPhone 4 compared to the bright purple of the 5’s – it felt right, as intended by it’s original designer. A true representative of it’s original design.

iOS6

Solid. Fast. Very fast. Oh, and did I mention is was Fast? Everything was snappier and bouncer, list were far more flickable with your finger. It just felt amazing. I’m used to minor lag on iOS6 on my iPhone 4 (Yes, there was a great improvement from iOS5) but the iPhone 5 just gels so well together with this software – almost as if they were made for eachother… ha.

Other details

Things I noticed: The two machine manufactured sides of the device weren’t symmetrical. The front-face’s wrap around was ever-so-slightly thicker than the backs. Running your fingers over the sides verifies this. I could have been wrong but it’s such a minor detail, people might not ever notice.

The Lightning Connector was SO TINY that I didn’t even notice it. I had spent ages trying to figure out how small the connection part was, but until you see it – you just cant fathom how small it is. It’s like, a quarter the size of the USB at the other end. Maybe even smaller. It’s a huge difference between the old 30-Pin connector.

I’ll have a bigger, more detailed look at my new iPhone 5 when it comes in two weeks. For now – take my word for it. You can’t pass judgment on this device until you have it in your hands, then – and only then – do you finally understand the direction Apple is taking the iPhone. And all the negative reviews in the world seem to fade away to nothing, to be replaced by one single word (made famous by Keanu Reeves)…

“Woah….”

iPhone 5 – My thoughts

iPhaze — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 06:32:07 +0000

iPhone 5 – My thoughts

The iPhone 5 dropped today – I was taken a-back with the naming, I’ll be honest – I seriously thought they were going to go down the ‘New iPhone’ route. But, I can’t be right all the time. Plus, everyone and their dog was already naming it the ‘5’, so why fight the masses (or confuse and scare them?)

There are a lot of people out there saying that this is a ‘disappointment’ – but these were the same people who said that about Apple’s last best-selling device. (The iPhone 4s) Which in and of itself was a ‘huge disappointment’ despite being Apple’s most purchased product by a country-mile. In fact, I’m sure there are a lot of people out there being negative for the sake of it – are these the same people who enjoy larger phone displays ‘for the sake of it’ too I wonder?

I agree with Jony Ive – his design ethics are flawless. I agree with his logic and his passion and his childlike glee at seeing his vision come to fruition. The iPhone 5 is a masterpiece, refined. Unlike a lot of other companies *cough Samdung* who are forced to rethink and reinvent their product line through fear of A) litigation and B) being called ‘unimaginative’; Apple has a design-ethos and they’re sticking to it. You know when Porsche or Audi release a new car and it doesn’t look too drastically dissimilar to their previous one, but looks more up-to-date? Well, there you have it. Apple’s styling is refined and remastered and recrafted. And really beautiful.

I love how Apple isn’t saying: ‘Here’s something that looks so new, you can’t tell it’s an iPhone’.

The fact of the matter is that you’ll see it and know what it is instantly because of its design and its craftsmanship. It’s unique. It’s ICONIC. It’s the styling Samsung had to pay one and a half BILLION dollars because of. And you think Apple will just give that up for the sake of it? Hmm….no. Leave that to everyone else.

The biggest mistake I made was obsessively checking my RSS feeds months in advance to see the latest little pixelated blurry-cam picture of what *might* be the iPhones back panel. Or new connector, or speaker grille, or.. or.. or..

It just spoilt it for me.

Like a kid on Christmas who snuck downstairs hours before anyone else was awake and peeked inside his toy-sack, I felt let down only by my enthusiasm to read the rumours. And that was what spoilt it for me. I really don’t want to know next time – I’d rather be delighted by the keynote which I now have to stay up until 3am to watch (Thanks Australian Time-Difference!) In summary – I just can’t get enough of that Black iPhone. I’m sure I’ll get it as soon as is humanly possible. I want it in my hand, in my pocket, in my possession.

Innovation vs Inspiration

iPhaze — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 00:15:01 +0000

I’ve been wanting to write this for a while but haven’t had the opportunity until now – it’s about the idea of innovation vs just being ripped off blindly. I got a comment from a person called ‘Dark Horse’ about Samsung and Apple’s latest scuffle.

Have a look at this. I am interested to know if you think Apple is as guilty as Samsung of copying what has gone before. http://imgur.com/gallery/Nd4JI

For progress, you must build on what has gone before. Apple do it, Samsung do it. Musicians have done it since the beginning of music. Artists have done it throughout the ages. If you ban it, you limit progress and you block innovation.

So I responded with this:

“It’s very interesting what you’ve brought up – and I’m glad you have because it is a topic I was going to visit in an upcoming post: The idea of Innovation vs Inspiration.”

First of all – Dieter Rams has acknowledged Jony Ive’s love of his designs and is truly flattered. I honestly don’t see the connection between Samsung blindly ripping off Apple and Apple being influenced by good design by Braun.

Braun’s products are completely separate from those sold by Apple – they might have similarities or even close resemblances. But they are a homage. They draw from them and improve upon them, they resemble in admiration.

Samsung admires the profits Apple make. It’s that simple. They do not understand its culture, its ethics, morals or why they have such a strong following associated with them. Samsung saw Apple as a profit machine and said ‘That’s where the money is – let’s do that’. That it not what Apple did with Braun.

Also, Samsung operate in the present – they design devices in direct competition with Apple. They make phones in 2012, Apple makes phones in 2012. Apple did not make a radio in 1967. They did not decide to compete with them in the same market. This is a conscious decision that Samsung made, to move to were Apple’s puck was. They didn’t skate there; they jumped on the hockey players back.

I agree that everything is a remix – we’ve all seen Kirby’s great documentaries. But if you really listen and study what is going on, Apple’s take on Braun is admirable – it’s like a student coming out of his master’s shadow. Samsung has no respect for Apple, its people, its culture or following – they just see it as an opportunity to capitalise.