Tomorrow is the keynote to
Apple's WWDC 2009, and like every year prior, it's the most anticipated
evah. Gizmodo's
last minute rumor round-up includes a new iPhone with colors, better hardware, upgraded cameras with video capabilities, new laptops, a new OS X, cold fusion, time travel, a uranium-fueled bionic Steve Jobs exoskeleton, and (just maybe) orange drink for the media. If you've been following the mongering over the last month or so, the critical piece is clearly Jobs' presence, post-illness. Because a cult can't survive without its leader.
I've had an iPhone for over a year now (the 3G for about a month) and I thought I'd take a minute to reflect on what this little gizmo has been capable of in that time, before we're all swept up in today's "new and improved!", losing sight of what already is:
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Buy it, sign up with AT&T, and you've got yourself a basic working cellphone with calling and texting. Except this one has a radical (and I don't use that word lightly) touch-screen, which makes using the other basic features - calculator, alarm clocks, stock checking, and music and video playback - less basic.
It's got a camera too, so you can take pictures. But you can also instantly upload them to your Flickr account on the web.
It's a "smartphone", so it's got internet connectivity with standard emailing and web surfing. And it's also got a basic built-in weather forecasting app, but you can leverage the fast 3G wifi connectivity to get other weather apps with more in-depth features, like real-time radar.
The phone seamlessly integrates Google Maps - now with guided GPS capabilities - so you can see traffic directions, your own travel directions, and, for many locations, mass transit stops. A complimentary MTA app details mass transit advisories in real-time, so you not only don't get lost, you also don't get stuck. In the off-chance you do get stranded somewhere, there's an app that geo-locates nearby cab companies and with 2 touches, I'm extracted like a US Marine.
You can check not only the Yankees score in real-time, but you can track the game pitch by pitch faster than many websites. Once the game has officially ended, within minutes you can watch high-resolution video with the MLB app.
You can connect with both your digital friends and my IRL friends, on Facebook and Twitter. You can play social connectivity games, checking in at locations, meeting up with people and meeting new people.
As though it were the 2050 we thought up back in 1950, control my stereo system from the couch with the phone.
Like a middle-aged Boomer, you can check individual housing details on the fly as you cruise for-sale realty. Like a senile octogenarian, you store several scannable shopper value cards, all in one app.
For my work, I can track my time and create action steps from inside a subway tunnel, and sync up online when I get street-side. When I get to the office, if it's too busy for my tastes, I flip on a white noise app with endless soothing rhythms.
I can play over a decade of New York Times crossword puzzles, and dozens from other sources. I can play poker or Scrabble alone or with my fiance with her iPod over WiFi. Play pitch-perfect ports of SimCity 2 and Myst. And when I've finished them all, I can open the Fandango app and buy movie tickets for a show in under 30 seconds.
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Between the very fast 3G wifi and the year-old app store, there is a myriad of possibilities. In my mind, there are really only two major limitations. The first is your wallet, between the phone, the contract, and the micropayments for apps. And the second is AT&T as its lone service provider. Because when some cell tower went down this weekend and I had zero phone service in my home, my iPhone quickly became a very entertaining iPod touch.
