The most important iphone 4G update: free cloud

[DoNoHarm]

So I've read a number of threads here and external websites like this one:

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-18438_7-10466314-82.html?tag=mncol

talking about wishlists for the next iphone. I'm amazed that so few people are not talking about the real advantage the competitors like google have over the iphone, and that is integration with the cloud - for free. I think apple is increasingly looking old with it's outdated hardware and lack of free integration. The company is becoming so weak that instead of going head to head with it's competitors, it's banning them from the app store to artificially keep it's lead.

 

[FSMBP]

So I've read a number of threads here and external websites like this one:

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-18438_7-10466314-82.html?tag=mncol

talking about wishlists for the next iphone. I'm amazed that so few people are not talking about the real advantage the competitors like google have over the iphone, and that is integration with the cloud - for free. I think apple is increasingly looking old with it's outdated hardware and lack of free integration. The company is becoming so weak that instead of going head to head with it's competitors, it's banning them from the app store to artificially keep it's lead.

I don't know. Google's had some outages recently and let's not forget the Sidekick outages w/ clouds (people lost contacts, SMSes, email). I feel its a good concept but technology isn't 100% there...reliability is key.

 

[Roessnakhan]

Even when I was on my iPhone all my stuff was pulled from Google services (Contacts, Calendars, Mail). Going from device to device its just much simpler. I also think Google services have a lot more to offer than say MobileMe.

 

[DoNoHarm]

I've got to insert a caveat to what I just posted above. The reason I'm eagerly awaiting the new iphone is that I just bought a Google Nexus One and it has been the most horrible experience ever. The phone, despite having all this cloud technology out of star trek, has a glitchy touch screen and programs that crash. I called google support and they do NOTHING. They say that HTC of Taiwan is the manufacturer and I should contact them.

The Apple equivelant of saying "Foxcon manufatures our product, so you should contact them." Can you imagine? For anyone out there interested in getting a Google Nexus One, I suggest you take a look at Google's OWN forums on the Google Nexus One and see what a disaster of a phone it is there.

If it weren't so close to the iphone update, I would even prefer the 3GS with its primitive yet reliable UNI-task setup. But what I'll do is return the Nexus One and use a cheap phone until the new iphones come out.

 

[Small White Car]

I'm amazed that so few people are not talking about the real advantage the competitors like google have over the iphone, and that is integration with the cloud - for free.

What cloud services can I get on Nexus that I can't get on an iPhone? Google Mail? Google Calendar? Google Contacts? Free Dropbox storage? I've got all those on my iPhone now.

You may point to Google Voice, but is that really a 'cloud' service? Seems like it's more of a number-forwarding service, which isn't exactly an online-storage thing. If we're just looking at the original question, I need to ask what 'free cloud' services you're talking about. Google Documents? I dunno...can the Nexus edit those? I really don't know. (EDIT: Just learned that the iPhone browser can edit Google Spreadsheets, but not their text documents.)

I'm just trying to nail down exactly what advantages you're talking about. Saying 'cloud' is pretty general.

 

[jayenh]

The Apple equivelant of saying "Foxcon manufatures our product, so you should contact them." Can you imagine?

not really, apple buy the parts but piece it together them selves. google don't even do that, they pay HTC to do it all. it is, after all, a HTC handset with google branding on it. if HTC said "talk to foxcon" then, yes, the above would be true.

 

[CocoaPuffs]

Sure it's great to have all your calendars and contacts sync automatically, but most end-users simply don't really care for them. I'll be interested to see the number of users that actually signed up for MobileMe, and/or that uses Google's various cloud apps.

Both HTC and Foxconn are Taiwan base and made in China.

 

[Small White Car]

not really, apple buy the parts but piece it together them selves. google don't even do that, they pay HTC to do it all. it is, after all, a HTC handset with google branding on it. if HTC said "talk to foxcon" then, yes, the above would be true.

Exactly.

1) Hardware Designer: Apple / HTC
2) Hardware Builder: Foxcon / HTC
3) Software Developers: Apple / Google
4) Marketers: Apple and AT&T / Google and HTC and Verizon

Apple is appearing on the list more than it should, which is confusing people, I guess. They've mixed up Apple on line 6 with Apple on line 5.

Google said "Don't talk to line 3, talk to line 1."

Apple wouldn't have to say that, because they're on both lines.

But NO ONE ever said "talk to line 2."

 

[btcutter]

Even when I was on my iPhone all my stuff was pulled from Google services (Contacts, Calendars, Mail). Going from device to device its just much simpler. I also think Google services have a lot more to offer than say MobileMe.

Except
1. I host my website on Mobileme.
2. Secure email along with 20gb of secure storage space. not sure If I like google with all these info when their biggest revenue is advertisement.
3. Track my iPhone and wipe the data remotely if needed.
4. Share large SECURE files with people I want only and dictate how it's shared by setting expiration time and passwords.

Just off the top of my head.
Would be nice to make it even cheaper!!

 

[DoNoHarm]

What cloud services can I get on Nexus that I can't get on an iPhone? Google Mail? Google Calendar? Google Contacts? Free Dropbox storage? I've got all those on my iPhone now.

You may point to Google Voice, but is that really a 'cloud' service? Seems like it's more of a number-forwarding service, which isn't exactly an online-storage thing. If we're just looking at the original question, I need to ask what 'free cloud' services you're talking about. Google Documents? I dunno...can the Nexus edit those? I really don't know. (EDIT: Just learned that the iPhone browser can edit Google Spreadsheets, but not their text documents.)

I'm just trying to nail down exactly what advantages you're talking about. Saying 'cloud' is pretty general.

There's actually a lot you can do on the google phone. I can just push a button and say "call John Doe" and even though i have never said that name to the phone before, google takes my voice to the cloud, converts it to text, and sees that one of my google contacts match. I can similarly ask to navigate to point x and it automatically launches the navigation app to take me there. Google voice is really much more than a number forwarding service. My fiancee is overseas and I can call her without using some dinky program liek skype because my phone uses google voice seamlessly. so i just dial her number or say her name and I'm connected.

There's Google goggles where I just take a picture of something and google reckognizes that it's a product and launches shopping.google.com for that product. Or if it's a business card - bam I get a new contact to OK with that info. There's a "places directory" that can show me important landmarks based on where I am.

Now, yes, you may be able to do all this with the iphone, but it's not as integrated, and I can't do it while multitasking. so for example, while I'm on a call, I can't push the voice command button and say navigate to xxxx and have the map pop up showing me how to get a certain place. I can't listen to pandora and do whatever I want at the same time.

The multitasking will come in one form or another, so I'm not so concerned about that. What I am concerned about is that Apple is blocking Google from porting this incredible technology on the google phone to the iphone. That's really a sign of weakness on Apple's part.

 

[anjinha]

^^ He asked about cloud services, none of that has anything to do with the cloud.

 

[DoNoHarm]

^^ He asked about cloud services, none of that has anything to do with the cloud.

actually it's all cloud. That's the difference between google and the iphone. in the google phone, it's not a small program on the phone that analyzes your voice. your voice is transmitted to the cloud for analysis. the advantage of this approach is that you get a really powerfull computer analyzing your voice with a proprietary algorithm that gets better and better. All those features I mentioned are better than on apple because of the cloud or closer integration with the cloud that is facilitated by the nexus one's architecture.

 

[t0mat0]

Yes. Apple must be really behind its competitors by actually getting customers to pay for cloud access via MobileMe

 

[ThatsMeRight]

Well, I never hope the iPhone becomes a fully cloud service. First of all: an internet connection, that's something that costs money. And when your internet connection is down, than you won't be able to acces your files. And you won't be able to use it in airplanes etc.

Cloud is a good step forward, but I always want local storage. Sure, as mentioned above, voice control calculated by a powerful computer might be nice but what if I have no internet connection? Than it won't work.

 

[Shoesy]

Yes. Apple must be really behind its competitors by actually getting customers to pay for cloud access via MobileMe

I've been a mobileme customer for three years (since .mac)- they havn't got me any more as google's services work too well to pay £70pa for apples's few minor advantages.

to surmise the competitions advantages:
Google Calendar sync - work with ical and iphone, great, FREE
Google Contacts sync - work with iphone / address book, great, FREE
Gmail - push works with iphone (via exchange), (almost) unlimited storage, works with iphone / mail - great, FREE
Dropbox - idisk storage is slow to the point of being almost unusable, Dropbox. FREE
locate my iphone? great idea, not one I'm dropping any cash for.

I'm all up for services that work well but come at a premium (I'm a mac user!) but mobile me's terrible service when it first came out, relatively small storage allocation and clunky web services just don't cut it.