I was recently offered the chance to test drive Microsoft’s latest version of their ‘wish I was an iPod’ MP3 player, the Zune and I jumped at the chance.
Despite what some people may think, I’m not *just* a fan of Apple products. I’m a fan of cool products in general and always like to at least try out the latest and greatest so that I know where I stand with my recommendations to friends/family/etc and so that I can accurately compare these products. I prefer to think of myself as a fan of a good experience rather than a particular company…but lately, Apple has been hitting most of the right notes for me so it’s easy to recommend them over many others depending on the product.
At first glance I thought the packaging was nice and simple but almost destroyed the Zune before I’d even opened it. A friend picked up the Zune box (middle in the photo above) and the little orange line on the bottom of the box is actually a drawer where you slide the inner contents out from. He picked up the box (it was standing upright) and the bottom fell out, Zune inside. Fortunately it didn’t fall far but was an inauspicious start to say the least.
As you can see in the photo, my Zune kit came with an AC adapter (basically a USB to wall outlet) along with ‘premium headphones’. The base Zune comes with basic headphones but the premium ones are truly decent. They feel and fit nice, do a great job of blocking external sound, and have a very long, rope-like cable which doesn’t feel cheap or plastic-y.
As you can see from the above photo, it’s pretty similar in size to the older version of the iPod Nano. Just a little thicker but the same width.
The first thing I noticed about the Zune was the large, clean font presentation. For such a relatively small device, it’s very bright and easy to read. The background in the above photo is my own photo (actually my wife’s from our trip to Hawaii) so it’s really nice to customize the background of something you will be using a lot - something Apple could learn from since none of their devices really support this kind of personalization. The iPod interface seems a little dated now in comparison, even on the new models…excluding of course the Touch and the iPhone.
The Zune just launched recently in Canada and has been available in the US for a number of years. Seems kind of strange to launch a product like this so long after they did in the US…and when compared to the iPod Nano (newer model), it may seem a little old to the uninformed consumer.
One thing that was initially a bit of a pain to deal with was the fact that they can only be setup with a Windows PC. I would have liked to use a virtualized version of Windows on one of my Macs but the Zune software complained of needing to do a Windows Update before installing…I wasn’t prepared to do that to any of my installs just yet so opted to use my wife’s old PC (she now uses an iMac) and install the software on there which was pretty straightforward and works fairly similar to iTunes as a media manager.
The menu system is actually quite nice and has a few nice little animated flourishes as you navigate around your content. I found the ‘touch pad’ navigational button to be quite sensitive and once I realized it behaves more like a laptop touch pad than a game controller d-pad, it was easy to get used to.
One feature I haven’t had a chance to play with is the wireless syncing and the ’social’ aspect of the device which allows you to wirelessly share your content with other Zune owners. A number of local friends are also participating in this trial so hopefully we can get together soon and try out these features. The biggest problem is finding other Zunes ‘in the wild’…I’ve never seen one other than on store shelves.
Music and video played back like you’d expect if you’ve ever used an iPod…no surprises there.
Another lesson Apple could learn from Microsoft is the Zune came preloaded with some sample content. What a novel idea! Show people how the various content types could be used before dropping them into iTunes.
One feature that actually surprised me was the FM tuner. I’ve always thought it was a useless feature on an mp3 player. It made sense to me that you’d never use it since you have your own music on it. But considering this is an 8gb model, perhaps not all your music. Plus there are times when you may want to hear the news or traffic. Unfortunately where I live at least, the best news/traffic station is on AM. Still not sure it’s a main selling point, but definitely a nice feature. I also thought it was cool that the tuner was able to pull down the station name and even the track playing from the source radio station which even pushed out weather updates during commercials which was a nice touch.
All in all, I think the Zune is a solid mp3 player when compared to the iPod Nano - at least the model I played with. Possibly even a better device depending on your needs and your computer setup (PC or Mac). The big drawback for me with using it is the Windows only nature of the syncing software which is the same complaint Windows users made about the iPod when it was first released.
Part of the marketing campaign is to track the conversations about this mp3 player. They’ve asked me to include a link to the tool they are using to do this so that you, the reader, can add your voice to the conversation. This is an interesting approach and I’m curious to see how many people actually participate. It’s not an easy thing to track and requires people to do something they may not normally do. If you’re so inclined, here’s the link:
So here’s my quick list of thoughts about the Zune after playing with it for a few days:
Positives:
slick user interface
personalization options
wireless built in
FM tuner
the premium headphones are really nice
preloaded with sample audio/video content including tutorials and even the Zune commercial so you can use it out of the box (kind of - you need to run ’setup’ first)
Negatives:
Windows only software install
form factor a little old when compared to Apple’s offerings
possibly a year or two too late to Canada
touchpad took a little getting used to due to sensitivity
poor design choice in package layout
I’ll add to this list once I’ve used it more and had a chance to further test some of the features.
I was going to call this post “It’s been One Week…” but in light of the recent issues Barenaked Ladies frontman, Steven Paige is having, I decided to go for something else instead.
I’m not going to do a ‘full’ review since that’s beendone to death already. I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on the differences between the ‘old’ and new iPhone, and some tips and tricks. Excuse the randomness of these observations.
The Screen Bezel
Physically, the two flavors of the iPhone (old and new that is) look very similar…except for the black bezel on the 3G model. It actually bugs me that it’s so wide compared to the 2G model. The original felt like the whole device was your screen. The new one just feels strange to see that wide black bezel. I’m sure I’ll get used to it but it’s just something I’ve noticed.
Battery life
First of all, battery life is quite a bit different than the first generation iPhone. Before, I’d normally get 2-3 days of battery life with wifi on, bluetooth off and Edge enabled. Now, it’s more like 1 to 1.5 days although I’ve charged it everyday. This is with wifi off (who needs wifi when you have 3G data), bluetooth off and ‘location services’ (the GPS function of the new iPhone) turned off - it only turns on when needed, like when you launch Google Maps but more on GPS in a bit. If you’re not using Mobile Me, you should also turn off Push as well as lengthening the amount of time between ‘fetches’ of your email which should improve your battery life a little.
Some of this battery experience can also be contributed to ’shiny new toy’ syndrome as it gets a lot of show and tell time since it’s so new. We’ll see how this plays out once things die down and normal usage starts happening.
The App Store
As I’ve suggested a number of times before, the App Store has proven to be the killer iPhone app. With over 500 titles available at launch, many of which are free, it’s been an amazing way to extend the usefulness of the iPhone. That’s not to say that all 500 apps are great as there is certainly some crap-ware. There are fortunately more than a few gems in there and I’ll highlight some of my favorites in a future post.
I currently use my US iTunes store account to get access to a bit more content than the Canadian store has to offer. At launch the US store had about 10 more pages of apps on offer. If you have the means, I highly recommend you setup a US account…you just need a gift card from the US to do so and you can put in any US address (choose an address in a state such as Oregon to avoid tax). No credit card needed. I’ve heard that you can’t create a credit card-less Canadian account if you want to buy apps though which is strange.
iPhone ‘HotSpot’ access
One of the things that Rogers offered with their ‘value packs’ was unlimited wifi access at all their hotspots. Turns out this seems to work on any iPhone with the Mobile Safari browser (so all iPhones). They only look for the user agent string that Safari serves up. A little birdy told me that if you were to enable the ‘Developer’ menu in any version of Safari (like on your laptop for example via the bottom of the preferences screen), you would be able to choose the iPhone version of Mobile Safari as your user agent. This basically enables free wifi at just about every Canadian Starbucks for starters…haven’t had a chance to test this myself so YMMV and they could pull this at anytime.
Getting the 6gb data plans on 2G iPhones
For various reasons, people haven’t been able to upgrade to the 3G iPhone. Apparently later this month Rogers will have an option for people that aren’t eligible for a hardware upgrade to pay (thru the nose) for an iPhone. In the US, this seems to mean that the $199 8gb iPhone costs $499 and the $299 16gb model goes for $599. Pretty steep penalty for being an existing customer. So if you want to wait until you’re able to upgrade or are still happy with your 2G iPhone, you can simply call up Rogers and ask them to add the $30/6gb data plan to your current phone.
You can’t get Visual Voicemail working on it (at least at the moment on Rogers) but you should be able to get the data plan. The CSR may say that it’s not supported but it should work fine. You just need to put ‘internet.com’ into the APN setting in the Settings/General/Network/Edge screen. Leave the username/password section blank. There is a 3 year contract term if you do this but since this is basically unlimited data for an iPhone (AT&T’s ‘unlimited’ is soft capped at 5gb in the US), it’s a deal. You can cancel early for a $100 penalty. I’d also watch your billing the first few months to make sure they don’t incorrectly bill you for data.
The other nice thing about this particular data plan is that you can throw your sim in another phone and use it…it’s not ‘locked’ for use on an iPhone only. So if Nokia wanted to send me an N96, I’d be happy to play with it using my own sim and data plan.
Need a case?
As usual, one of my favorite shopping destinations is already stocked up with various cases for the 3G model with prices ranging from $8-20 depending on the style you like. Many 2G cases also still work with the 3G due to the very similar size and the give that a silicone case has. I’m also still using my DLO Hipcase with my 3G.
GPS
The GPS function of the iPhone 3G is pretty slick…even if there aren’t any turn by turn driving directions like what you’d find in a TomTom or Garmin GPS system. That’s not to say that it’s not a little buggy. For example, you can geo-tag your photos. When you upload them to Flickr, they automatically get plotted on a map (once you enable the preference in your profile at least). But sometimes the iPhone is a little off in it’s coordinates. Take for example this photo, taken at Spanish Banks, near UBC in Vancouver. Strangely not in Hulunbeier, Nei Mongol as Flickr shows. I’ve read a few things about a bug in the GPS software that Apple will fix in the next firmware update which is due out soon.
2.0 Firmware unlock status
Keep an eye on this site for updates on the jailbreak/unlock status to enable 2G iPhones access to the 2.0 firmware (including App Store) and eventually the ability to jailbreak/unlock the 3G iPhone. I still want to be able to use my iPhone while travelling in the US (using my AT&T Pay as you Go sim card). Somehow I don’t think Apple will allow apps like Customize onto the App Store (hope I’m wrong) so a jailbroken 3G phone will be a nice way to add this.
Money tight?
Don’t want to spend the bucks on an iPhone and a contract? Get a cheap iPod Touch and pretend as Buzz suggested. I want to make an ‘iPhone simulator’ for the Touch as a gag app so you can mess with your friends.
That’s all for now…more later.
Update: Added the App Store RSS feed link
Update 2: The 2.0 Pwnage tool has been released. I just successfully upgraded/jailbroke/unlocked my (now my wife’s) 1st gen iPhone. You need to download the restore/update file from Apple to use this tool. You should get a download only/download+install option - choose download only. You may also need a few bootloaders. More info on my new post about the 2.0 firmware.
This pretty much sums it up (works best if you use Twitter):
(via Sean Osteen on Flickr)
Despite being in line at 4am, it still took over 4 hours for me to have a working iPhone 3G after physically getting it due to server issues. I’ll elaborate more on the phone in a future post (or two) but suffice to say this morning was a clusterfuck is an understatement.
It would appear that my plan to stay in the burbs rather than head to a major outlet worked as I was able to get into the store (being first in line helped) and get my choice of phone (8/16gb in black or white).
Then the fun started.
I saw on Twitter that the Apple activation server was down earlier that morning as the people on the east coast started twittering about their phones hours before the west coast. Once I got into the store, not surprisingly, the system that Rogers uses to make changes to your phone plan (like say add the 3G data plan) was timing out due to too many people trying to access it. After waiting for about 45 minutes, the store clerk retrying every few minutes, I finally get a positive response on their servers and they began processing my account. The iPhone was still shrinkwrapped in the box.
Once the Rogers process started working, they informed me that my current phone would stop working as they transfered my details to the sim preloaded inside the iPhone. Sounds great except for the fact that I was scheduled to participate in the Bill Good Show at 11am and it was about 10:15 at this time…kind of hard to phone into a radio show if you don’t have a phone. You see the problem was that my ‘old’ iPhone didn’t work anymore (the sim card inside technically) and I wasn’t able to activate the new iPhone on Apple’s servers.
Effectively I was in iLimbo with no working phone, new or old.
Peter, who was second in line with me, ended up coming to the rescue by running back to my place and picking up my wife’s phone so that I could call into the radio show. He would have given me his but he was next in line for iLimbo so it didn’t make sense to risk it.
After the radio show finished up, I tried again and it failed…so we went off to lunch.
Once I got home from lunch, I plugged in my new phone and it was activated…it’s like it didn’t even have time to ‘phone home’.
Last I heard, Tanya and Tod were still stuck outside the Fido store downtown waiting to get in. Ironically, when I left the mall, there were still people coming in, walking right up and getting iPhones. They only had 8gb models left (Peter & I got the only 2 black 16gb models) but the people coming in weren’t complaining. Maybe Tanya should jump on the West Coast Express and come out to the burbs?
So there’s the morning wrap up. More stuff coming when I catch my breath (and some sleep). I’m hoping to have a copy of the radio show to post soon too….with another post to cover off the crazies that called in.
I’m off to play in 3G land for awhile…possibly on a patio, definitely with beer.
Update: Here’s the source stream to the audio (WMA) from CKNW today with Tanya & myself. Head to around the 7:15 mark for the start our our bit.
Thanks to Warren, who interviewed me recently for my thoughts on the upcoming iPhone App Store and what it will mean for people currently enjoying Installer on their iPhones. I think it just hit newstands today, so check out page 15 of the August issue. I guess I’m officially an iPhone expert because it’s in print!
Here’s a few pictures of it…I’ll link the full article once/if it hits the Mac|Life site:
Buzz also interviewed me for an epic iPhone piece for 24hr magazine (a daily paper here in Vancouver) but it got edited down to half the size. He posted the full article on his site though.
My media tour continues this Friday bright and early when you might hear me on Crave while in line to get my shiny new iPhone and then later in the morning on CKNW’s Bill Good show talking about (wait for it) the iPhone and if it’s a game changer.
Rogers caved and announced today a new ‘promotional’ iPhone 3g data plan that gives you 6gb of data for $30. That’s as close to unlimited as we’ll get on the iPhone and I’m sure things just got a whole lot more interesting for the launch on Friday. This option is only available to get until August 31st but I’d be surprised if they didn’t have something similar after that.
The nice thing is you don’t have to take their ‘high value plans‘ - you can just add this $30 data to an existing voice plan.
Oh and check out Buzz’ article that he submitted to 24hr magazine (print publication)…sadly the piece he interviewed me for didn’t make the final cut in the print edition but Buzz has it in it’s entirety on his site.
A nice diversion from all the iPhone related stuff lately, yesterday a bunch of us (John, Rebecca, Jen, Keira and Amy) went to Playland for the day. It’s our local amusement park that is the foundation for the Pacific National Exhibition which happens later this summer.
I thought it might be fun to try and shoot a bunch of video of the different rides we went on. I quickly learned that trying to record a wooden rollercoaster by holding the camera with one hand and holding onto the coaster with the other wouldn’t end well:
The video ends abruptly when I hit the power button by accident while being whipped around on the coaster. That and the kidney pummeling I got from the ride as well. You can see a little more of the ride here where I turned it back on and got a short clip….then I gave up due to the difficulty in holding on to the ride, let alone the camera.
You’d think I’d learn my lesson on the Wild Mouse coaster:
It was easily the scariest ride at Playland and inflicted the most physical damage to my knees.
Fortunately I didn’t drop the camera on the Hellevator which was fun but wasn’t nearly as scary as the anticipation of going on it. I thought the Pirate Ship ride had more stomach churning moments:
Judging from the bruises on my knees today, shooting video may not have been the best choice but it was still a lot of fun. Thanks to Rebecca for making the arrangements, Playland for having us and for the weather which almost cooperated the whole day…it actually helped keep the lines down and allowed us to hit the bumper cars over and over - especially when the rain was coming down:
We finally had enough and called it a day after two back-to-back trips to the “Crazy Beach Party”:
Check my Flickr set for more videos and pictures from the day.
In case you’re curious, I shot these videos with my Casio Exilim EX-60 which is a couple of years old now. It’s not terribly popular anymore but it still works great for stills and video. It makes me wonder what the big deal is with those Flip cameras? I mean this camera can be had for about the same price as a Flip - probably alot less (mine even came with one of those 4×6 photo printers for free), is smaller than the Flip, has wicked battery life, can do more (shoot great stills and video) and uses memory cards that can be changed when it’s full. I get a little more than 1/2 an hour of video with a 2gb card which can be bought for about $2-5 a piece these days. Just sayin’.
There seems to be quite a lot of people upset with Rogers and their iPhone voice and data plans. The topic just doesn’t want to die down and major media outlets are all over it. For example, watch a number of local (Vancouver) people that wanted an iPhone talk about why they aren’t getting one on Global TV - watch for my friend Tanya talking about her plans for Rogers too:
As well, yesterday there was a large article in the Globe & Mail’s Report on Business section - I just had to grab a photo (with my iPhone) of this huge (nearly half a page) pull quote:
and CBC had extensive coverage online and on TV (WMV video link).
Let’s also not forget the competition while we’re at it. Bell and Telus both have new devices coming online shortly (I’m not even going to link them since I think they are junk) and they’ve made a big deal about the fact they include unlimited data plans for a fraction of what Rogers is charging. If they (Rogers) can offer unlimited data for the N95 and all the other wap phones, why not the iPhone? Or is it because ‘unlimited’ really isn’t unlimited and since they won’t be bastardizing the firmware of the iPhone like all their other handsets (crippling or removing features of the physical phone), they can’t change how the browser behaves and limit your online movements.
I still don’t think a Windows Mobile device, no matter how pretty you make it look will ever offer the same experience as the iPhone. But that’s another story all together.
I’m wondering what this kind of exposure and pressure, on the eve of potentially their most wanted and lusted after handset, is doing to those in the executive offices of Canada’s largest wireless provider? You have to think that all this negative press, the fact that over 34,000 people have signed a petition (as of this post date) and planned boycotts can’t be very well received…especially by Rogers shareholders.
I also noticed that all the negative press seems to come from media outlets not owned by Rogers Communications. No mention of the iPhone ‘kerfuffle’ on News 1130 locally. Hmmm.
Has Rogers done anything to address or counteract this negativity?
Not really. All they have done is tried to ‘clarify’ the situation by allowing people to use their existing plans when they buy the iPhone on the 11th. They try to say that the plans offered save people money by bundling features ‘most’ people will need or want without really getting the fact that the iPhone is meant to be on the internet all the time. The iPhone 3G plans page has been updated many times in the last couple of days with different language that says nothing really new. I’m sure the communications department at Rogers has been burning the midnight oil since the plans were announced trying to do damage control while at the same time trying to put a positive spin on the crap on the table.
Clearly, to myself and many others, their plans just reek of a cash grab as their data plans have always been.
Rumour has it that, like their counterparts in Sweden, Rogers may be making some additional changes or tweaks to the plans for the iPhone…possibly as soon as Monday.
Everyone has been telling me that things aren’t final until the 11th so stay tuned for more details from Rogers.
You have to wonder who’s pulling the strings here since it’s not like this hasn’t been worked on or known about for awhile - well before the June 9th announcement….is Apple nudging carriers to get them on side with a better experience for the iPhone customers?
Data Usage - Your iPhone will be enabled for data usage. If you subscribe to a plan with no data included, data charges at a pay-per-use rate of 5¢/KB for data sent and/or received over the Rogers network will apply, unless you subscribe to a data plan, which we highly recommend. Roaming charges apply while using your iPhone outside Canada. U.S. data roaming on iPhone Packages is $3/MB. The standard international data roaming rate applies. Visit rogers.com/roaming for our roaming rates and destinations. Data usage is measured in KB rounded to the next full KB.
Basically everyone is taking this to mean you can continue to use your current voice and data plans with the iPhone 3G…the ‘value pack bundles’ are optional (and of course highly recommended) as long as you commit to a 3 year term. This seems to be a very soft form of back peddling to counter the negative press they have been receiving due to the confusion that you had to choose one of the bundles in order to get an iPhone. Some people have been told by CSRs that the plans there were announced are not final until July 11th and could change….I suspect these are the final plans but we may see some different offerings in the future but not for launch. I’d like to see a reasonable amount of data (at least a gig) and visual voicemail bundled.
I also liked this passage from the popup linked from that page (red text link popup):
Unauthorized modification to iPhone
Your iPhone is restricted to use on the Rogers network, unless you are roaming. If you attempt to unlock your iPhone and use it on another network, it may become permanently unusable. Making unauthorized modifications to the software on your iPhone violates the iPhone software license agreement, and any resulting inability to use your iPhone is not covered under your iPhone’s warranty.
I’m home now after being in various parts of the Pacific Northwest for the past five days. Here’s the tally of my iPhone usage during that time:
A grand total of 82.2mb over 5 days. Multiplied out to a full 30 days (x 6) equals 493.2mb ….I could see using something in the neighbourhood of 500mb plus or minus a hundred megs or so. Keep in mind this is strictly Edge data speeds with a first generation iPhone. I would expect the iPhone 3G to be used a fair bit more simply with the built in apps (Google Maps + GPS for example) and Mobile Me….let alone the impacts of the Apps store as I’ve mentioned previously.
As before, the 82.2mb of usage was a combination of surfing a couple hours per day, email, Google Maps and a few other apps. I used a little YouTube at the end of my last day (while waiting in the border lineup to come home). I’m the first to admit that YouTube via Edge is stunningly slow…almost to the point of being unusable…3G may be a different story. Although me personally, I rarely used YouTube on my iPhone via wifi…I’m sure there are lots of other people that would use it a ton more than me.
What does this mean for me and the iPhone 3G? I’m still not sure and here’s why:
A friend forwarded me a copy of an email he received from a Rogers PR person in response to his inquiry about the plans* that seemed to imply that the iPhone 3G data packages (’bundles’) that were posted are optional… which means that as long as you currently have a data plan (or add one of them - even the $30 for 300mb plan) and have a voice plan of at least $30/month, you can get an iPhone if you commit to the three year term.
This *could* dramatically change the opinions of many people as to if they will get an iPhone or not. My biggest concern has been the shitty voice options bundled with the data package…as well as the ‘value packs’ which are way over priced.
That doesn’t mean I think the data plans are good and it’s just the voice side that sucks. The biggest thing I don’t want to be doing while using a legitimate iPhone in Canada is worry about my data usage. I’ve gotten along for the past year on 5mb/month combined with plentiful wifi hotspots. I can’t say that will hold true with all the new features of the 3G model.
So my options are either:
keep my 1st gen iPhone, add on a $30/300mb data plan, cut back on the unnecessary add ons I have and wait for the unlock for the 2.0 firmware to take advantage of the new features
get the iPhone 3G from Rogers and pay the ‘bundle’ ransom
get the iPhone 3G and live with a reduced amount of data but preserve my current voice plan which I like
do nothing and wait and see if the petitions get anywhere with making Rogers offer better plans - which I don’t think will do anything - Rogers doesn’t care about petitions or bad press, they care about making money
I’m probably going to call up retentions and see what, if anything, I can get out of them before I make my final decision. I figure if I can preserve some of my voice plan features (I’m on a couples plan so free calling to my wife and unlimited incoming, among others are must haves) but get the $75/750mb data plan with some retention credits added to knock the price down a bit, I’ll sign for 3 years. I don’t tend to use a lot of daytime minutes and haven’t gone over my allotment ever so we’ll see what they can offer.
T-minus 10 days until we see how many people bite the bullet and get the iPhone…I’m betting that more people than you’d expect will still signup…especially after they’ve viewed the iPhone 3G guided tour of new features.
* It appears a number of people are starting to get responses from Rogers now. Head over to Peter’s site to see what they told him about the plans.
Here’s a thought:
Now that Rogers will be bringing the iPhone to Canada, I wonder what will happen when the 2.0 firmware is released (most likely July 11th)? Let’s say you have a first generation iPhone, connected to the presumably newly released version of iTunes (on July 11th) and update the firmware and you’re logged into your Canadian iTunes account. Upgrading to a new firmware version has always locked the phone back to the original state - but would it now be locked to Rogers or AT&T?
I would be shocked if the above scenario ended up with a Rogers locked first generation iPhone but you never know…I might take a legitimately locked 1st gen iPhone with a plan of my choosing with access to the Apps store, Mobile Me, etc right out of the gate than the abomination that are their plans that lock you in for 3 years.
Or maybe not since I travel enough that I like having an unlocked iPhone.
It doesn’t really matter either way since the new firmware will be hacked a lot quicker than previously as a lot more is known this time around than last year.
