Apple iPhone: I won't be getting it

Nope. I won't be the first on the block to get the new Apple iPhone. I sure as hell want one though. ;)

The plethora of great features is really astonishing, and the slickness of the integration and the OS is worlds beyond anything ever released before. However, assuming I could even get an unlocked version of this quad-band GSM/EDGE phone (which may be a problem since Apple has an exclusive multi-year deal with Cingular), I'm not sure the phone really suits my needs entirely. My main issues are the price of the phone, cost and speed of net access, storage, and of course battery life:

1) The phone itself is quite expensive. Given that it's US$599 with a 2-year Cingular contract, I'd imagine that it would be upwards of CAD$1000 for an unlocked version of the 8 GB phone (if unlocked phones are actually available).

2) The data costs for this phone are prohibitive in Canada. Many of the features are fairly useless to me, unless I were to get an unlimited data plan. Unfortunately, such plans in Canada are extremely expensive, even if they may be quite reasonably priced in the US. It may be somewhat moot though, considering that this is an EDGE phone, not a 3G UMTS phone. EDGE speeds often are quite slow, which doesn't always make for a fun time when surfing. WiFi support does mitigate this somewhat, but most areas do not have free WiFi support.

3) One of the reasons I really like this phone is because it has a 3:2 480x320 widescreen. This is just what I wanted for an iPod, for movie playback. In fact, it's more, since I was hoping for a 480x272 widescreen. However, it has only 8 GB storage total. With the H.264 files I have encoded, an average movie is roughly 1 GB. Thus, an 8 GB model can only hold a few movies, if there are music, other files, and various applications on the phone at the same time, not to mention OS overhead. Unfortunately, there is no option for user swappable memory cards.

4) Battery life something that is likely to concern a lot of people. Often times when I am on the plane or train, I will drain my iPod battery down to zero playing back movies and music. After I arrive at my destination I can then take the iPod to the hotel and charge it there. However, this is unacceptable for a phone. If my phone runs out of juice, I am in trouble. For this reason, I always carry a second phone battery when I travel. This is impossible with the iPhone, as the battery is not user replaceable.

Other niggling issues include the 2 Megapixel non-autofocus camera, but I suppose I could live with that. I did mention lack of 3G UMTS support, but in truth our Canadian carriers are still relatively behind on that front, and so for now a quad-band GSM with EDGE is in many ways preferable here. Of course, I already have such a phone though, with a 3 Megapixel autofocus camera too. That mates well with my video iPod, which has the added benefit of TV output.

This is an excellent start for Apple. No, "excellent" is not the word. Shockingly impressive is a better description, considering that this first phone for Apple has an OS and features that are light years ahead of phones from companies who have been at this for just about forever. Hopefully they will get this phone out in time for their claimed launch date. They do have a lot of time to prepare though, since Apple has uncharacteristically announced this new iPod 6 months in advance for the summer release, sending AAPL up 8.3% to $92.57, and sending Research In Motion, Motorola, Nokia, and Palm lower.

I personally will await the iPhone 2.0 in 2008 however, with its 12 (or 16?) GB memory, tri-band GSM support with UMTS (and iSight and iChat mobile), extended battery life, and a 3 Megapixel camera. In the meantime, I hope Apple releases that $299 40 GB widescreen video iPod.

Don't expect full HD DVD support on Macs very soon

Amir Majidimehr, Corporate Vice President, Consumer Media Technology Group at Microsoft had a few interesting things to say about commercial HD DVD support on Macs:

Well, the situation is pretty simple now that Apple machines are based on X86 as the same highly optimized ports can be used that we have. Of course, we also have the PowerPC version for the 360. So VC-1 is not an issue at all.

You should note that there is a big difference between us providing a full blown player (i.e. the case you are talking about) and us providing component technology for someone else who has the know-how to build Mac applications for a living. In case of Apple building the overall player or someone else with experience with DVD playback on the Mac, the situation would be much better than it was for us fending for ourself.

Our HDi code is highly portable and since PCs/Macs are pretty fast compared to embedded products, getting it running there is not a big deal. The bigger issue is someone building a secure implementation of the player on the Mac. This is the thing that always held us back. Without Apple's cooperation, it is very difficult to build a secure DRM implementation there. But I expect third-parties to get there, should there be enough demand on that platform for HD optical playback.

While OS X's DVD player application does support HD DVD partially, and OS X 10.5 Leopard should support the HD DVD disc format (and drives) natively, there is not yet full support for commercial HD DVD discs.

Judging by Mr. Majidimehr's comments, it sounds like we won't see immediate full HD DVD support (including DRM, HDi, and VC-1 support), although market demands mean that we'll likely see this sooner rather than later, possibly from a third party. Blu-ray support may come quicker though, as Apple has thrown its support behind the format, at least on paper.

Apple financial statement tomorrow. AAPL closes down at $80.87.

In the few days before Apple's 2006 financial statement is released (2 weeks late) tomorrow, AAPL has been hit with more negative news surrounding its options scandal, including news that some documents regarding Jobs' options grants may have been falsified.

AAPL so far has done reasonably well in light of this, probably partially because of advice from analysts for investors not to overreact, but we could see more selling tomorrow if Apple's numbers are bad. In the meantime, I'm glad I sold my AAPL stock weeks ago.

AAPL closed today at $80.87, down 65¢ (0.79%).

iPhone announced... sorta

Gizmodo was right. The iPhone was indeed announced today. Two of them were announced actually.

However, they aren't what anyone (except Gizmodo) expected. They are VoIP phones produced by Linksys.


And the wait continues...

My Macs and the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive

Yesterday, shortly after I wrote the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive article, my local store got the Xbox 360 HD DVD drives in, so I was able to try it myself on my Macs. As expected, the drive is recognized immediately.


There is a separate Xbox 360 HD DVD Memory Unit listed because HD DVD players must include non-volatile memory for things such as user bookmarks, etc. On my Macs CDs and DVDs play fine using this drive, but commercial HD DVDs are not natively supported by OS X Tiger (yet).


With Windows Vista on my MacBook, commercial HD DVDs are recognized (but are not playable without the correct software). The drive is recognized as a Toshiba DVD/HD X807616 USB Device. Out of interest's sake, I checked out the disc sizes of some HD DVDs. King Kong (a 188 minute movie) is 27.4 GB, but Corpse Bride is only 19 GB. The Polar Express, a reference quality 100 minute disc, is reported to be only 13 GB.

Xbox 360 HD DVD drive works in Mac OS X

Microsoft has recently released the HD DVD add-on drive for the Xbox 360, to rave reviews. HD DVD playback is apparently absolutely stunning with this setup, as it can output HD DVD's native 1080p24 content at full resolution using VGA, and up to 1080i over component connections. (I say apparently, because we Canadians still don't have this drive, although we'll probably get it this week.)

We've known for quite some time that although Microsoft is not supporting this drive on Windows, they didn't do anything to the drive to prevent its usage on a PC (according to Amir, a Microsoft executive who posts at the AVS Forum). Thus, it was no surprise when people proved that the HD DVD drive works on a PC. Also, unsurprisingly, it works on Mac OS X too.

With the proper hardware and software, commercial HD DVDs play back fine on Windows. Unfortunately, the same is not true on Mac OS X. While DVD Player.app does support HD DVD, I believe that it does not support VC-1 encoded material (which is what most commercial HD DVDs are), and does not support the copy protection and encryption used on commercial discs either. I am guessing that such support may come in 2007 however.

In other news, Connect360 can now stream WMV video, including full HD 1080p24 WMV, from a Mac to the Xbox 360.