Now This is a Phone

Well actually it’s just a concept phone, but it’s pretty.

If they would only make this phone I might have no other choose other than to buy it. I’m really liking the minimalism of this design. Phones like these just show you how much the competition has already caught up to Apple’s iPhone. A few years ago, no phone could touch the iPhone, but now every phone is almost like it. It must burn Steve Jobs to see what phones people are coming up with.

The whole design of this phone and the UI are amazing. I’m not sure if I like the Alarm clock idea, but I know that people that travel will probably appreciate this feature. In any case, I hope HTC decides to put this phone into production, or creates a phone very similar to this one.

What do you think? Do you like the look of this phone?

VIA

Great Artists Steal

I think Steve Jobs is probably wishing he never said that.

The above video was taken from an interview that Steve Jobs did back in 1996 for the documentary entitled "Triumph of the Nerds". It is pretty clear now that Steve Jobs has changed his mind on whether or not "Great artist steal". Especially after Steve filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Nokia, and HTC.

Then again, perhaps Steve is ok when the stealing is done by him and not by others. Let’s face it. The iPhone is a revolutionary device that uses a lot of technology that other people created, but never implemented as well as Apple did. Everything from multi-touch on down was in another device prior to the iPhone. But yet Apple has seemingly taken possession of those technologies.

Perhaps the line is better stated, “Great artist steal and prevent others from stealing back.” Hopefully this will all be resolved shortly.

VIA

Apple Sues HTC

I wonder if this has anything to do with Apple's Google hatred.

Gizmodo is reporting that Apple has filed a patent lawsuit against HTC for patent infringement. According to Gizmodo, Apple has filed a suit against HTC citing over 20 cases of patent infringement related to the iPhone’s user interface and hardware. This suit follows Apples successful suit against Nokia just a couple of weeks ago. Just what these patients are referring to is beyond me. Every time I try to read the list of patents my eyes start glazing over, so we’re going to have to wait till some lawyers get a look at the list of patents. But from what I can tell Apples patients sound kind of vague.

I'll give you an example. Here is the first patent on the list;

The ‘331 Patent, entitled "Time-Based, Non-Constant Translation Of User Interface Objects Between States," was duly and legally issued on April 22, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Your guess is as good as mine what this patent means.

Whatever the case, Apple appears to be taking this action rather seriously, filing for an injunction to prevent HTC from selling their phones in the US. Pretty well all of HTC’s Windows Mobile and Android based phones fall under this patent suit, which is kind of troubling. Strangely enough though, Google is not in this lawsuit, even though it seems that Apple is taking aim at their Android operating system.

I really hate patent lawsuits. To be honest I don't know how someone could really patent a process. Sure if it was wholesale copying of Apples hardware or operating system I would agree with Apple. But this just sounds like a monopolist wanting to hold on to his business. I can understand Apple needing to protect their patents. I just believe that Apple probably shouldn't have gotten some of these patients in the first place.

Hopefully, some of these patients will get struck down. Apple needs competition in order to keep them innovative.

Nexus One Releases

As expected, the Nexus One released today to much hype and anticiapation online.

For weeks there has been many rumours floating around concerning the actual price of the device, as well as, when it would be released.  The rumours stated that the Nexus One would retail at $530 unlocked from Google themselves, or at $180 through T-mobile on a 2 year contract.  It was also to be rumoured to release on Jan.5.

As time went on we received more and more details on the Nexus One, which came to a head with the release of Engadget's review of the unit a few days ago.  Engadget confirmed many of the technical details that were bouncing around on line concerning the Nexus One, and put to rest the debate as to whether or not the Nexus One would be the iPhone killer it had been made out to be.  Which unfortunately, it wasn't.

Today, my anticipation for the Nexus One grow, as I found myself checking up on google.com/phone to see if the site was up and checking in on Gizmodo to see if they had started live blogging.  At 9:30 am, Google's press conference began and Gizmodo keeped right on it, ( I don't know how that guy at the conference could post so fast and take pictures),  giving us every detail that was unveiled during the conference.  Which by the way, confirmed that the rumours were in fact right about everything concerning the Nexus One.

Also, google.com/phone very quickly after the start of the press conference went live to reveal Google's new retail site for the phone, and one thing very quickly became apparent.  Google wasn't going to be selling the phone to everyone.  When I visited google.com/phone, I was greeted with a message stating "Sorry, the Nexus One is not available in your country".  To say that I was a little upset is a bit of an understatement.

Anyone that has read the posts that I put up concerning the Nexus One, knows I was waiting for this phone.  Its really disappointing that Google has decided to ship the phone only to Britian, US, Sinapore and Hong Kong.  Why not Canada?  I can understand if Google feels they will have shortages on the Nexus One or something,  but really restricting where you will let the phone ship.  Why don't they just see if the phone sells first then worry about limiting it?  Its really disappointing Google has decided to do this.  I know that I may never buy Nexus One now, as I need a phone now and unless I can get someone to order me one, I'm going to probably go with a Blackberry or something.

By the way, for anyone interested, I checked eBay to see how the Nexus One is selling.  As of the writing of this post, the cheapest Nexus One on eBay is at a bid of $640 with no buy out price, and the cheapest buy out price is $799.  I want the Nexus One, but I'm not willing to pay much more than what Google was offering it for. 

My ranting aside, the Nexus One looks to be a good phone and kind of puts Google in an interesting spot.  As Engadget pointed out in their review, Google is now officially competing with the companies licensing their Android software.  Is this a good thing?  Maybe.  From a business perspective, I believe that it could make the Android platform less desirable for companies to license, as Google could theoretically create a better Android phone, being the company developing the software.  This is probably one of the reasons why Microsoft hasn't decided to try and compete with its Windows Mobile licensees.  But, from a consumer perspective it could be good, as Google can force its licensees to step up and create a better phones.

In any case,  I hope Google quickly reconsiders not shipping the Nexus One to Canada.  Also, hopefully the Nexus One will help to create more competition in the wireless handset space.

But enough from me. What are your thoughts on the Nexus One?  Can you buy one?