What is your next smartphone going to be?

[ratewhore]

although it is a shame it's not a bit more computer-like, like some of the others and have a slightly bigger screen.

Isn't that the point though, make it less computer like and make it more attractive to the normal people out there..

[TimberWolf]

Isn't that the point though, make it less computer like and make it more attractive to the normal people out there..

Normal people who also have a Mac/PC and with £500 quid to spare on a gadget?

[NickFitz]

Normal people who also have a Mac/PC and with £500 quid to spare on a gadget?

Lots of normal people have computers and smartphones, yet don't have the faintest idea what a web server is nor any desire to run one on a handheld device.

FWIW, if you jailbreak it, Apache and PHP have both been ported to the iPhone, as have a number of other HTTP servers. If you're on the iPhone Developer Program, you don't even have to jailbreak it if you just want to run a server on your own device(s).

I use mine to SSH into real servers instead. There's an app for that

[TimberWolf]

Lots of normal people have computers and smartphones, yet don't have the faintest idea what a web server is nor any desire to run one on a handheld device.

FWIW, if you jailbreak it, Apache and PHP have both been ported to the iPhone, as have a number of other HTTP servers. If you're on the iPhone Developer Program, you don't even have to jailbreak it if you just want to run a server on your own device(s).

I use mine to SSH into real servers instead. There's an app for that

Do you see any weakness in the iPhone when it is compared to other offerings?

As an unrelated aside, with regard to the iPhone4 camera. I've just been wondering how the camera would perform on a standard optometrist's eye chart. Would it see close to 20/20? I've just done a very crude calculation based on a 20 degree angle of view and get around 1mm per pixel at 6m. Just a fleeting whimsical wonderment.

[NickFitz]

Do you see any weakness in the iPhone when it is compared to other offerings?

As an unrelated aside, with regard to the iPhone4 camera. I've just been wondering how the camera would perform on a standard optometrist's eye chart. Would it see close to 20/20? I've just done a very crude calculation based on a 20 degree angle of view and get around 1mm per pixel at 6m. Just a fleeting whimsical wonderment.

I haven't used any of the other offerings. Also, I hardly use it as a phone, as I hate using the phone (my hearing isn't what it used to be). I regard it primarily as a handheld Internet device, for which it's excellent, and also a general-purpose computer. In fact, looking through my recent apps/task-switcher bar, I realise that almost every single app on there involves Internet connectivity at some level.

It's also an extremely nice platform to develop for, assuming you don't mind learning to think after the manner of Smalltalk: Objective-C is basically a way of bringing Smalltalk-style object orientation to C programmers. This is due to the history of NeXT. When they were founded in the Eighties, the goal was to create an OS that properly embodied the OO principles that had come out of Xerox Parc and the work of people like Alan Kay, but it would have been hard to hire enough Smalltalk programmers as the language was mainly used by academicians and researchers. Therefore they chose to create Objective-C, which allowed them to hire C programmers (who were readily available) and bring them up to speed on the necessary concepts while still taking advantage of their existing knowledge. The resultant NeXTSTEP of course eventually became OS X, and iOS was in turn based on that. I've noticed that people who are only familiar with Java or C#'s approach to OO seem to struggle with some of the concepts underlying Cocoa, but I've been mucking about with OO concepts since the Eighties (even sort-of-implementing them in Forth on the ST) and find that I much prefer the Smalltalk-style Cocoa approach.

One notable point about the camera is that although it may offer fewer megapixels than some rivals, it has a larger CCD than most other such devices on the market, meaning larger pixels for the all-important light-capturing process and a better SNR, which makes for better quality images.

[TimberWolf]

I haven't used any of the other offerings. Also, I hardly use it as a phone, as I hate using the phone (my hearing isn't what it used to be). I regard it primarily as a handheld Internet device, for which it's excellent, and also a general-purpose computer. In fact, looking through my recent apps/task-switcher bar, I realise that almost every single app on there involves Internet connectivity at some level.

It's also an extremely nice platform to develop for, assuming you don't mind learning to think after the manner of Smalltalk: Objective-C is basically a way of bringing Smalltalk-style object orientation to C programmers. This is due to the history of NeXT. When they were founded in the Eighties, the goal was to create an OS that properly embodied the OO principles that had come out of Xerox Parc and the work of people like Alan Kay, but it would have been hard to hire enough Smalltalk programmers as the language was mainly used by academicians and researchers. Therefore they chose to create Objective-C, which allowed them to hire C programmers (who were readily available) and bring them up to speed on the necessary concepts while still taking advantage of their existing knowledge. The resultant NeXTSTEP of course eventually became OS X, and iOS was in turn based on that. I've noticed that people who are only familiar with Java or C#'s approach to OO seem to struggle with some of the concepts underlying Cocoa, but I've been mucking about with OO concepts since the Eighties (even sort-of-implementing them in Forth on the ST) and find that I much prefer the Smalltalk-style Cocoa approach.

One notable point about the camera is that although it may offer fewer megapixels than some rivals, it has a larger CCD than most other such devices on the market, meaning larger pixels for the all-important light-capturing process and a better SNR, which makes for better quality images.

I would use it primarily as a handheld internet device too, although it's more of academic interest at the moment. What tariff and which carrier do you use? And what kind of apps do you develop - business, games, graphics?

[NickFitz]

I would use it primarily as a handheld internet device too, although it's more of academic interest at the moment. What tariff and which carrier do you use? And what kind of apps do you develop - business, games, graphics?

I'm on O2 PAYG; I think I've got one more month of the "unlimited" free first year, and then I'll have to start topping up a tenner a month for 1GB, I think

I've done some work with OpenGL1.1 for games/graphics, as well as Location Services (GPS and so forth), and of course all the standard UI stuff. I've basically been exploring the whole set of frameworks, knocking together little sample apps as I go along just to get my head round stuff. I'm about ready to start getting some apps into the App Store now

[TimberWolf]

I'm on O2 PAYG; I think I've got one more month of the "unlimited" free first year, and then I'll have to start topping up a tenner a month for 1GB, I think

I've done some work with OpenGL1.1 for games/graphics, as well as Location Services (GPS and so forth), and of course all the standard UI stuff. I've basically been exploring the whole set of frameworks, knocking together little sample apps as I go along just to get my head round stuff. I'm about ready to start getting some apps into the App Store now

OpenGl apps would be cool. I went through an OpenGL period and wrote some physical based modelling applications using it some years back, on the PC. Newton's cradle, that sort of thing. I also wrote a fairly crude 3D graphics engine in Java (without using a graphics library obviously), but didn't touch it once I'd finished. Looking forward to seeing your first (free) app

[Lockhouse]

I like my Blackberry. It does what it's supposed to and is easy to use so I got one for the missus as well.

[doodab]

I like my Blackberry. It does what it's supposed to and is easy to use so I got one for the missus as well.

I feel the same about my parker pen, although I only got her one cos she kept stealing mine.