As many who know me can attest to, I’m obsessed with time and location. Naturally, I love watches and clocks, and GPS technology–to name a few things in this category. But this clock has a special place in my virtual palace of want.

QLOCKTWO: EUR 885 (inkl. 19% German V.A.T.)

• typographic time format in 5 minute intervals combined with four-minute dots
• Front: Acrylic glass polished edges, Body: Wood, four layers of lack
• DCF-77 time-signal receiver for to the second accurate time-telling without manual setting
• Automatic summer/winter daylight-savings time
• Light sensor for automatic adjustment to ambient light
• manual brightness control
• including wall brackets for mounting
• including massive acrylic glass holders for stand version
• Dimensions 450 x 450 x 20 mm, Weight approx. 4 kg
• Electricity supply 220V, low energy consumption due to LED technology (less than 2 Watts)
• handmade in Germany

Looks pretty standard, right?

Nope.

This is the first camera to have a built-in projector on it.

Sick. ::

The new Hero from HTC looks awesome running the latest version of Android OS, called Cupcake. I don’t think the iPhone has that long before Android becomes a serious threat.

I think my argument for feel vs. features has been thoroughly supported over the last few years of iPhone success. Not just success in the the U.S. market, where many said the iPhone would fail because it lacked features other phones had, but even in more extreme environments like Japan where the iPhone is way behind other phones in features.

A recent study out of Japan shows that the iPhone is now #1 in that market–despite being years behind in video and network capabilities, just to name a few. Here’s how I captured this a month before the first iPhone launched:

In other words, their [Apple's] bet is that doing a few things beautifully is going to be beat out doing many more things in a “regular” way.

Now that the iPhone is #1 in so many markets all over the world–including Japan–I think we can safely say this is true. ::

Holy crap, these are cool.

I made a prediction a couple months before the original iPhone came out that features would not be the deciding factor in whether or not the device was successful. I also refined that argument here. I think time has shown me to be right on this one. Here’s what I wrote in May of 2007:

My point, which I feel is Apple’s direct strategy with this device, is that you can actually blow away the market without playing the features game. The concept being that it’s possible to actually win with fewer features as long as you do each of them extremely well.

This includes the stuff we normally don’t pay any attention to, such as: the size and shape of the device, the look and feel of it in your hand, how it feels to navigate the interface, and how the system looks and feels when you use the basic functions such as making and receiving phone calls.

In other words, their bet is that doing a few things beautifully is going to be beat out doing many more things in a “regular” way.

I think this is precisely what has happened — both with the original iPhone and with the 3G version. The iPhone is still way behind many phones on the market with respect to features. Not only does it lack key functionality, but many things it does have, e.g. it’s camera, are violently underwhelming compared to the competition.

It doesn’t matter.

When people complain about their iPhone having a crappy camera it’s always in the context of, “I wish my iPhone had a better camera.” In other words, they want their iPhone to have a better one, but the option of going to another device isn’t even on the table. On the other hand, there are many Nokia N9x users (e.g. Scoble) with a 47 megapixel beast on their devices who end up wanting and/or getting an iPhone. That’s the difference.

The thing that got me thinking about this was this “iPhone 3G Killer” article that just hit my feeds. They talk about the latest Samsung, HTC, Sony and Nokia offerings. Here’s a rich piece of comedy:

The HTC Touch Pro is the most powerful and feature packed phone ever on Earth. It sports 288 MB RAM, coupled with a very powerful 528 MHZ processor. It runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro…

Buh bye. All that power — the Mini-Hubble they used for the camera — it’s all pointless if you don’t love using your device. And very few people “love” to use their Windows device. Powerful? Sure. Features? Sure. But do you love to use it? Uh, no.

The iPhone isn’t winning because it’s better at the game that HTC and Windows Mobile are playing. The iPhone is winning because it’s playing a completely different game, within a completely different sport, and it’s the only player on the field.

If you need any more evidence of this, just look to Japan. Their phones and networks make ours look like car phone bricks from the 80′s. You’ve heard the comparisons: “their stuff two years ago is better than our will be next year…” Video conferencing, teleportation, yadda yadda. Well, if that’s the case then why did they go batshit crazy for the iPhone when it’s already so far behind?

Answer: it’s not about the features. It’s about the feel. ::

[ 2010-07-05 : You should seriously read this piece from marco.org as well. ]

I’ve been wondering what kind of speeds I should expect on my new iPhone 3G when I get it Friday. So I did some research and here’s what I came up with.

Short Answer: Fast

HSPA (AT&T’s 3G) currently has a theoretical maximum of around out at 14 Megabit/sec, but it looks like the “observed maximum” for the iPhone will be around 1.4Mb/sec. I personally tested a Samsung Blackjack in my town, which has 3G, and was getting solid speeds between 700 and 900Kb/sec down. This is compared to roughly 150 to 230Kb on EDGE on my iPhone, so I’m highly enthused about that degree of improvment.

It does seem like of bummer, though, since the Motorola Q supposedly gets like 3.6Mb/sec over AT&T’s HSPA network. So I wonder if they’re capping the network now that they’re about to have a massive increase in usage due to the iPhone 3G launch.

The great news is that in 2009 AT&T plans on doing a software upgrade on their towers that will take them to 20Mb/sec!

Either way, I can’t wait for Friday!

Links

[ AT&T to Limit iPhone Speeds to 1.4Mb? | tauw.com ]

I finally got the headset I’ve been wanting for a while. It’s the Earset 2 by Bang & Olufsen.

My Apple Bluetooth Headset was producing too many complaints of background noise and poor voice quality. I also had trouble with not being able to hear people using it in louder environments. I truly love the form factor of it, though, and the fact that I don’t need a separate charger for it.

But the Earset 2 is just phenomenal. Talking on it really just feels normal. It’s almost as good as the wired headset in terms of quality, and those I’ve talked to on it so far have noticed a major difference.

It was fun to get it, too. I waited til rather late at night and drove a short 12 miles over to the flagship 5th Avenue Apple store. Then I got a shiskebob thing from street vendor guy out front and came back.

Good times. The only thing that would have made it better would have been doing the trip with my fiance so we could go get some Tom Yum at our favorite Thai place in Manhattan.

Next time.:

Google is releasing a phone soon (possibly Q1 2008). It’s going to run on HTC hardware. It’s going to be sick. This we know.

Google vs. Apple. I don’t see anyone else in this game right now. Everyone else will be trying to catch up via imitation. A few points/predictions:

• The overall web service integration (Google services, obviously) is going to be extremely tight. Camera -> Picasa. Compose Document -> Google Docs. Local email app -> Gmail. Etc. So they’ll present a nice “local” interface (think Gears), but the backend will tie directly to their online services.
• I see GPS/map integration like we’ve never seen. I think this is going to be their primary application. Not just better maps — better GPS with the maps. It’s going to be like the movies for the first time, i.e. more real-time and smooth.
• I see them doing some serious online syncing. All settings, contacts, etc. all being on the server side. Backing up will be automatic and transparent, and restoring will be almost as seemless as soon as the network recognizes it’s you.
• Google Docs is going to be insanely nice. It’s going to be the first REAL implementation of word processing on a phone form factor.
• Their major downside is going to be not having the hardware slickness of the iPhone. So while the OS might be incredibly awesome, stable, and efficient — the overall feel will suffer compared to the iPhone package — especially after the iPhone update.
• I see cost being around $250-$350 — purposely way below iPhone.

Overall? Google will have the features that Apple wished they had — most of which will hinge on their strong web services presence. But Google will still envy Apple’s monopoly on lust.

The overall package of the iPhone (especially after the update) will make it VERY hard for people to leave it once they’ve experienced one. But the same will go for anyone who gets used to the features on the Google phone. It’s going to become a matter of which you get spoiled on first.

So, Apple will lower their entry point for the iPhone (the cheaper version) by at least $100 and try like hell to develop some web services that can compete. Google will grumble because HTC won’t make anything as elegant as the iPhone, and they’ll start looking for a hardware platform that can compete with the beauty that is the black marble slab.: