But certainly worse than what I hoped for. The iPhone 3G is a marginally improved device that builds upon the very solid foundations of the first iPhone by adding 3G connectivity (though without the video conferencing part) and version 2.0 of the software and does this at a significantly reduced price — which is probably the highlight of the keynote. It’s also available in many more countries, including Hellas.

While I may get my hands on one pretty soon, I still think that the Nokia N95 is a superior device in many ways, and one that’s mostly hurt by the vastly inferior (from a usability point of view) application software stack. The new iPhone seems like a buffer solution to the consumerism that brands the original as ‘old’ and whose price and attractive featureset, augmented by a software ecosystem, wider availability and faster network performance are certainly going to serve as catalysts while it becomes a(n even more) mainstream product and expand Apple’s market share in this difficult market. That is, until a much evolved model appears in 12-18 months from today.

Update: I’ve already read several comments about the contract prices in various countries; it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in Europe and especially in Hellas, a country where mobile internet access costs about 70% more than the US. If 3G access is forced onto consumers buying the iPhone (which it will), the adjusted $199-$299 price points won’t make a difference to people — especially if the contract means a monthly cost higher than €30.

Update 2: It is now blatantly clear that the price reduction, even in the US, is marginal at best; the new contract coupled with higher prices for data connectivity make the new iPhone cheap to buy, but expensive to maintain.

Έχει ακούσει κανείς κάτι; Η μόνη περίπτωση δοκιμών με WiMax την οποία γνωρίζω είναι αυτή του ΟΤΕ στο Όρος Άθως. Είναι ειρωνικό αλλά η Ελλάδα, παρά τη διείσδυση της κινητής τηλεφωνίας, παραμένει πανάκριβη σε ό,τι αφορά τη πρόσβαση στο διαδίκτυο μέσω κινητού (γύρω στα 30€/μηνιαίως για 5GB σε ταχύτητες 3.5G/HSDPA) αλλά έχει επιλεχθεί ως πιλότος του WiMax και δη χωρίς να ενημερωθεί κανείς;

Ας σημειωθεί πως η Vodafone έχει ήδη αγοράσει άδεια για το φάσμα του WiMax στην Ελλάδα από πέρυσι και υπάρχει περίπτωση το BBC απλώς να σφάλλει, μπερδεύωντας τη περίπτωση της χώρας μας με αυτή της Μάλτας. Αν κάποιος γνωρίζει περισσότερα ας αφήσει ένα σχόλιο.

At last, Linksys just upgraded their SPA (formely Sipura) 942/962 series phone firmware. Among many other bugfixes, the new firmware fixes a number of longstanding and extremely annoying SIP registration bugs (CSCsm28353, CSCsk69012) that afflicted dynamic IP ADSL users whose external (routable) IP address gets changed frequently and necessitated a relatively long process to make the phone behave properly. Kudos to Linksys for fixing this, albeit quite late.

A first attempt at creating a visual UI designer for Android. While not exactly sophisticated compared to more mature visual UI design tools, it greatly simplifies the task for designers (cf. programmers). Worth a look for anyone interested in developing for Android.

Nokia has been after the navigation market for quite a while now. The free inclusion of Nokia Maps in some of its high end models and the fact that the application and maps are given for free — with the user optionally purchasing navigation for set amounts of time and having access to updated maps whenever those are available — was in itself a radical departure from the buy-to-own products sold by companies like Tomtom, Navigon, Destinator, Michelin etc.

Nokia’s €5.7bn acquisition of Navteq, one of the two major mapping companies around, cemented what was previously speculation about Nokia’s interest in this market.

While accessible and relatively economical, Nokia Maps 1.0 was not without its problems: a relatively disingenious interface coupled with slow performance left it trailing far behind its leading rivals. Today Nokia released Nokia Maps 2.0 in beta form, for free on their Nokia Betalabs web site. The new application sports a much improved user interface, faster performance, new map modes (satellite and hybrid modes were added) and a clear shift towards catering equally for pedestrians as well as drivers — a very welcome addition, sorely missing for the most part from other offerings.

To my eyes, Nokia has already surpassed many of its competitors in the market in navigation and mapping. Its inclusion of free mapping and (paid) navigation functionality in mobile phones leverages its dominant position in the mobile phone industry and might render it a trojan horse, its more ‘traditional’ competitors might not be able to counter. We live, after all, in the era of convergence.

Ύστερα από σχετική ειδοποίηση (ευχαριστώ!), ανανεώθηκε το widget ώστε να λειτουργεί με τις τελευταίες αλλαγές στη δομή της σελίδας του ΟΤΕ. Απλά αντικαταστήστε τη προηγούμενη έκδοση όταν σας γίνει η σχετική ερώτηση από το σύστημα.

Yikes. Τα παιδία παίζει. Μόνον λίγες ημέρες μετά τη τελευταία τροποποίηση ο ΟΤΕ άλλαξε — για μια ακόμη φορά — τις σελίδες του whitepages.gr αναγκάζοντας με να τροποποιήσω και πάλι το widget. Ορίστε η έκδοση 1.06. Φαίνεται να δουλεύει σωστά. Προς το παρόν. Την κατεβάζετε από το γνωστό μέρος.