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Steve Jobs live from WWDC 2010

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Re: Steve Jobs live from WWDC 2010

#111

Post by davidw »

cwilson wrote: post #78
someone_here wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The N900 has skype and google talk video calling already, and people don't call that epic. It also works on 3G, unlike the iphone.

You and many others are missing the point of why this is epic. When was the last time a device with so much market penetration and insane adoption rates allowed video chat in such a simple way? The reason it is epic is because this is the first time it'll actually work. Who cares about N900s? Does my grandma know what an N900 is?

My Nokia 6120 has video calls, and it's certainly not one of their really high end products. They're easy to set up, and work fairly well, but I have only ever really used it once or twice - it's honestly not that compelling a feature.

Likely, Apple will do a better job of it, but "first time it'll actually work" is hyperbole. For a bit of hyperbole of my own, let's try "first time Americans, who have been the laggards in the mobile phone space until the advent of the iPhone, will take note of it".

Re: Steve Jobs live from WWDC 2010

#112

Post by adolph »

crocowhile wrote: post #48

HD display and movies, 5MP camera, increased battery life, folders and multitasking, gyroscope... I have all this on the Nexus One and that is a 6 months old phone. I think this WWDC is signing the end of an era: jobs has lost his famous innovative advantage and now he is running behind. Android/HTC had these features in their last generation phones and with EVO coming out they are going to make the iPhone 4 obsolete…

I wasn't aware that the Nexus One had a gyroscope.

Re: Steve Jobs live from WWDC 2010

#113

Post by mclin »

jokermatt999 wrote: post #86
mclin wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not smart phones that do this legacy video chat, it's 3G feature phones, which are pretty much non-existent in NA. Pretty much every [candybar, flip] phone in asia has 3G and a front facing camera, so you can video call anyone, anytime. Part of the reason people don't is because it costs extra. Actually since these phones were around before youtube and real mobile browsing, the main marketed reason to get a 3G p…

I honestly did not realize that the adoption of them was that widespread. Thank you for the correction, that definitely does make a difference to my post. Still, don't you think that video chat at no extra cost will be a rather huge innovation? If part of the reason it isn't used is because of the cost, wouldn't make it free help that? I know that video calling isn't necessarily better in plenty of cases, so I don't…

Yea, who knows. At least it'll set the trend to put front cameras in smart phones. Eventually the capability will spread enough that you can use it when you want, but I suspect that after the novelty wears off people will go back to regular calls, even if it's free.

Why? People are really good at perceiving presence even if we can't see someone. It's just not necessary.

Think about this: What fraction of time do you spend looking at a person's face in a casual conversation?

Re: Steve Jobs live from WWDC 2010

#115

Post by stcredzero »

jonknee wrote: post #99
stcredzero wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still more convenient than chat on net-books/laptops. Calling on a phone is very convenient and if you can, add video.

Except it's not hands free, laptops have the camera in a pretty good position without any additional effort.

But to be in that situation, you've already committed to sitting.

Re: Steve Jobs live from WWDC 2010

#116

Post by proee »

herdrick wrote: post #81
poutine wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't understand WIFI. All WIFI devices share the same 2.4/5GHz bandwidth and thus if you have too many devices in one physical location you're screwed.

Sure, but why didn't they use directional antennas to get a demo-dedicated network on the stage? Which would be a good permanent feature for any big conference room come to think of it.

It's not that simple. The allocated spectrum is saturated so pointing a "loud speaker" at someone is not going to help if they can't hear anything in the first place.

Re: Steve Jobs live from WWDC 2010

#118

Post by mike-cardwell »

tvon wrote: post #15

I'm not really clear on what the gyroscope adds that wasn't there before, can someone clarify?

The G1 has one of these in. Not sure about other Android based phones, but I'm assuming it's going to be fairly common if it was available in the original Android phone...

Re: Steve Jobs live from WWDC 2010

#119

Post by eli »

mclin wrote: post #55

Video chat. It's been available in asia for ~5 years? yet no one uses it. Will it be different in North America?

Yeah, I wonder about this too. Granted, the existing technology for video chat is not very good and could certainly benefit from Apple's UI team... but I'm not sure it's something people even want. I'm not sure it's useful.

I have the ability to video chat with many of my contacts through Skype or Google Talk yet I pretty much never take advantage of it. Not sure adding that feature to my phone changes anything.

Re: Steve Jobs live from WWDC 2010

#120

Post by alttab »

gbhn wrote: post #38

I'm not sure I follow the "Retinal Display" name. Is this just branding on a 300dpi pixel resolution? Or is there something to do with multi-resolution support for apps (those coded in the old resolution will still get up-converted text resolution, it sounded like).

All I saw was an opportunity for fragmentation. If a developer wanted to make an iPhone app that took advantage of the new resolution - he'd either be limited to the original iPhone resolution, or to only the consumers that had the iP4.

In either case, I can't imagine games running their own UI would look better as the images are limited to their original resolution. Only the UIBuilder interfaces will look sharper.

What about battery life?

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