Apple's Adoption (or Not) of Google's My Location

Google’s new My Location feature for mobile phones is useful and, best of all, free. It is also pretty low tech. It would be a cinch to implement it into the iPhone. But will Apple? And how soon? This could a good indicator for whether Apple’s iPhone team has flexibility in adding functionality to the phone, or if its following a predefined roadmap from headquarters. At first glance, there seems to be no good reason not to add this feature.

Notes Feature, iPhone, & Synching With Leopard

Apple pulled a little magic trick and made the synching of notes with the iPhone disappear from their website. They did the same trick with the Leopard feature that would allow us to use Airport disk with Time Machine. What's strange to me is not the loss of features, but that they don't explain what is going on. Could it be the case they have a policy not to comment on negative activity, as in, they need more time to get the features to work?

New iPhone Commercials: Hello, Kristin

Can't say I'm a big fan of the new style of iPhone commercials. I have to call bullshit on Apple in the new Kristin commercial where she states she "mobile blogs" backstage at her dance concerts. Don't get me wrong, you can mobile blog on the iPhone. But it's not a built-in feature for the iPhone; it's all done on the blog side via email, and it can be a complicated set up for the everyday user. It's hardly something Apple should be marketing as an iPhone feature. Strange.

The iPhone Makes a Good Kitchen Timer

I'm serious, the iPhone makes the perfect kitchen timer. Using the timer under the clock function, set the alert sound to alarm, and you'll see exactly what I mean. Helped me broil a perfect steak tonight.

Which Features on the iPhone Can Suck?

Not all features on the iPhone are going to work perfectly out of the box. So, I was wondering, which features must be perfect, and which features can be not-so perfect?

1. The phone feature has to be perfect. No question. My grandma needs to be able to make a phone call on the iPhone and then check her voicemail. There must be no fumbling with features. There must be one and only one button to push to answer a call. My current cell phone gives me that. I expect to make and answer calls on the iPhone flawlessly. Has Apple built a user interface that will make that happen with a touch screen? Sounds like a tough job, and we'll soon see.

2. The iPod feature has to be perfect or close to perfect. This should be easy for Apple to pull off, but the touch screen interface could present some unforeseen challenges. The iPod feature is what will make or break the $600 price tag. I do not want to pay $600 for just a great phone. No, $600 should get me a phone and an iPod.

3. The Internet feature can suck. It'd be nice to be out in downtown Chicago and be able to whip out my iPhone and catch up on Engadget while I'm waiting for the bus, but it's not something I will be let down by if it doesn't work well. Besides, I can't afford AT&T's data package, so only the wifi is relevant. How pervasive is wifi? Wifi in downtown Chicago is not as saturated as San Francisco. For most of the country, wifi is random, undependable, and thus un-Appleish.

4. The touch screen keyboard can be average (but can't suck). I'm so used to taking a few frustrating minutes to pound out a 10-word message, I find it hard to believe Apple won't be able to improve on the experience. At the recent D: All Things Digital Conference, Steve Jobs said users will need to learn to trust the keyboard, and it will take about a week to get used to it. Hmm, I thought a good user interface was intuitive. Sounds like this is already working against the iPhone. Not a deal breaker for me though.

5. Other iPhone features that can suck: calendar, note taking, games, and photo viewer. However, they all can't suck. If they do, you'll hear grumbling about the price.