Hello,
--- On Thu, 6/18/09, Lord Groundhog <LordGroundhog@gmail.com> wrote:
>>the i(am SO tired of hearing about it)Phone. :)
> >
>
> :-) I hope you don't mind but I intend to quote
> this.
If you mean on the list, go for it. Anywhere else online/in print and I'd appreciate attribution, assuming that it is, in fact, an original phrasing. I don't know offhand whether it is or not; it just came to me as a very heartfelt sentiment. :)
>> I guess that depends: are you toting around an iPhone solely as a >>high-tech fashion statement? Or do you view it, instead, as a >>productivity tool, and one that you're looking to wring the most utility >>out of?
> >
>
> Errrr, at the risk of sounding inflammatory, I'm not toting
> one around at all because I regard it as short on the kinds of features I
> really want in a phone, and long on features I don't care about plus >froth I consider a waste of precious minutes of the rest of my life. As >I've said before, I want my nice-looking things to be seriously useful, so >for me, the iPhone isn't a fashion statement, of whatever the altitude of >tech. and productivity tool?
To be clear: I didn't mean to imply that you (or anyone/everyone) "ought to" have one. I suppose I phrased it the way I did because I was viewing this from the viewpoint of a theoretical iPhone end user.
So: apologies if it sounded as though I automatically expected you to have one. That wasn't the intent, and I am sorry if it came across that way.
>> You're familiar with Palm's Stowaway keyboards, yes? At least, I would >>*hope* you would be, seeing as how the Newtway Stowaway connector allows >>us to use such a keyboard with our Newtons. :)
> Not only familiar with them, I had one when I tried to make a Palm work >for me. WORST typing experience I've had, except once on one of those >weird "keyboards" that's just a membrane you can unroll on a desk
> and gives you no tactile feedback and sore fingertips.
I'm glad you touched on tactile feedback, because that's really what I was trying to get at with the Stowaway: *some* tactile feedback is better than none at all. And "none at all" is, alas, where iPhone users are currently at with the virtual keyboard: you're typing on a piece of glass. Can you type on glass with some speed? Yes. But you could likely type with even *greater* speed (not to mention comfort) if you're receiving tactile feedback whilst you're keying-in information.
>I can't see how using a rattly, cheap-feeling "thing" like the Stowaway is >an experience to be desired.
Mentioning the Stowaway was merely furnishing you with an off-the-cuff example with what a Newton keyboard *could* be like. It was really more a matter of the possible form factor I was trying to get across more than anything.
>I assumed a keyboard more the size of the "real" Newton keyboard, but >looking more like the iMac keyboard, on the grounds that people
> might want it to be nicer to use (and of course, to look at). My
> mistake.
I don't know: a keyboard the size of the Newton Keyboard might work, too. I suppose it's all a matter of what end users are willing to cart around. The Stowaway form factor in particular resonated with me because of the allure of having a full-sized keyboard that can fold up into a compact package. As you pointed out, however, the compactness comes at a cost, and iPhone users may (or may not) expect more from a keyboard.
> [I should add that your assumption that I'd know the Stowaway by the >ability to use it with my Newt misses the fact that I'm one of the lucky >ones who finds that the 2100 seems to be able to read my handwriting >almost flawlessly. I'm a HWR activist and I really, REALLY want Apple to >resume the development of the Newton, complete with HWR at least as good >as what I have now.]
Actually, it was more or less a guess on my part that you were familiar with the Stowaway. If nothing else, it's been discussed on the list from time to time, in conjunction with the Newtway, so I thought it was a fairly safe bet that, if not familiar with it in person, you'd at least know what kind of form factor I was alluding to. :)
>> I would hope that Apple (or a third-party licensee) could be at *least* >>as ingenious when coming up with an external keyboard for the iPhone.
> And I sure hope Apple does a better job of engineering it
> than Palm did.
I'd like to see multiple third parties come up with keyboards. From what
Mr. Scotten mentioned in an earlier post, it sounds like there are third party vendors raring to go as far as an iPhone keyboard is concerned, but either Apple is indifferent to their needs, or perhaps wants to be the sole producer of a keyboard, or???
On my own part, the fact that Apple is on the third iteration of their phone, but still haven't seen fit to provide (or let someone else provide) their end users with a physical keyboard is baffling. Don't they realize that, if nothing else, geeks get a big charge out of plugging things into other things? :)
>> Since when were geeks and/or cell phone users ever afraid of looking >>silly?
>Touché! I fully concede that one. Or, in keeping with that great >tradition of cell phone users, should I shout my concession? ;-)
[laughs] No, please DON"T! :)
> Bluetooth headsets? Is THAT what they're doing? I just put it down to >Care In The Community ...
Can I be honest?
I'm pretty sure I read of someone wanting to design a shirt that said, "If you wear one of these [picture of BlueTooth headset] around everywhere, you are taking yourself FAR TOO SERIOUSLY," on the front.
On the back, the shirt said, "You look like a tw*t, too."
Okay: I've yet to actually see such a shirt in-person. But if/when I do, I can only hope the wearer knows how to run very fast, because I'm going to nick it off them, one way or the other. :)
> Again, a point -- I mean, AGAIN, A POINT! [I'M ON THE TRAIN, ABOUT TO GO
> THROUGH A TUNN-..."]
It sounds like I don't need to explain to you how some twa^dub^dub^dubpeople who wear BlueTooth headsets can sometimes behave. :)
> Well thanks, James. For my part, you've provided both. But it looks >like I'll stick to my Newton-plus-OtherPhones way of working for
> now and hope someone, somewhere, can create the device of my dreams.
I can't say I blame you. And before I forget, I did want to mention: I do not own an iPhone myself, and have no intention of owning one based on what I have seen thus far until, possibly, the fifth iteration of the device (with a strong emphasis on the word "possibly").
Despite my not owning one myself, however, *seeing* one has been pretty much inescapable around here, so I have seen it, seen it, and seen it (willingly or otherwise). And from what I have seen, it's just not compelling enough for me to own one at this point. Yes, I've heard seemingly sane, rational people claim that they could not live without one, (oh, the horror of iAbsence!) but that sort of remark was quite commonplace when the iPod was The New Shiny, too, so I don't take it as seriously as I once might have.
At any rate, one of the things that attracted me to the Newton was that it reached a point where I was convinced that the technology behind it was relatively mature. Then and only then did I start coughing up the dough for one (and now seem to have more than one). Speaking for myself, it looks like it's going to be a while before I feel quite the same way about the iPhone (other folks' MMV and I respect that because, well, it's their dough).
Best,
James Fraser
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Received on Fri Jun 19 08:51:46 2009
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