Life Between 0 and 1

The new iPhone was announced today to an underwhelming amount of fan fare and new innovations.  As much as I put down Apple products, the iPhone more than anything, I was disappointed on many counts.  I expect more from Apple this far into the game and with so much more to lose now than ever before.  It’s a smaller version of the iPhone 4Gs basically.  Yes, it has an upgraded camera, slightly larger retina display, larger screen resolution, and a brand new energy sipping processor.  But come on Apple, other than the size it looks pretty darn close to a 4Gs!

Nokia on the other hand, announced their new Lumia line of phones: 920 and 820 so far.  The screen is 4.3″ to Apple’s 4″ screen, the resolution is higher, display is brighter, better camera, more storage that expandable, and a complete metal construction with Gorilla Glass 2 on the front.  It certainly won’t be anywhere near $199 for the top model with a 2-year contract either.  Nokia sold their first gen Lumia 900 for $49 when it came out.

Samsung announced their Ativ phone and HTC announced the 8X.  Nokia, Samsung, and HTC are all releasing these phones with Windows Phone 8 and probably won’t be available until early November.  I’d commend on the Android market, but its exploded past the point of making sense of what is being sold so I don’t bring them into the picture.  I’m less of a fan of Android than I am of Apple, so that is also one of the main reasons.  My wife is fed up with her Android phone, her third, and is ready to jump ship.  Being a tech guy of over 15 years, I even have trouble trying to figure out why certain things don’t work on her phone as well.  Very frustrating when tech usually come so easily to me most times.

Call me a Windows Phone fan boy if you want, but I use my phone as a tool, not a toy.  My bias is based on actually using these phones and has nothing to do with what is more popular or cooler.  I’ve found in my years working with geek-ware that the underdog usually innovates and comes out on top in the end.  For instance, the days when WordPerfect was king, I was puttering along with Microsoft Word.  A horribly designed program back in the day, but I saw the potential and put a lot of effort into making it work for me at the time.  Now that I’m sitting on an Office 2012 release candidate, I throw my middle fingers up in the air to every person that said “WordPerfect just works and I’ll never switch.”  I’ve never taken anything for granted because things just change so fast.

I’m excited to see what the smartphone industry is going to be like in a years time or even in 2 years time.  Just think back to 2007 when the first iPhone came out…..  we had Blackberry, Palm, and Windows Mobile 5 or 6.  That’s it.  The term “smartphone” hadn’t even been invented yet as they were called PDA’s.  They were electronic rolodex’s that just happened to also make phone calls.  I personally had a flip phone.  Now, more than 50% of all mobile devices in the United States are smartphones.  The percentage is higher in a lot of emerging markets where land line service was NEVER reliable.

I’m up for a new phone in January 2013 and I’ve decided that I’m going back to Nokia and getting a Lumia 920.  I might change my mind between now and then, but if any other devices are as underwhelming as the iPhone 5, I doubt that I’m going to change my mind. Nokia has all their skin in the Windows Phone 8 game and has everything to lose.  They’re pushing hard to be “different” and create a smartphone that users actually like using and look different from every other black slab out there.  There will always be the iPhones, Androids, and Blackberries of the world, and I don’t think any less of the people that get those devices.  What works for them is their choice, not mine.  But I’ll be damned if I’m going to help someone try to get their phone to do something it wasn’t designed to do when my phone does it already without hassle.  Take the time and learn how to use your phone, I did.