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Comment by rimantas | Hacker News Reader

  But I expected to walk out of San Francisco’s Moscone
  Center yesterday longing for the next iPhone despite my
  current allegiance to Android. That didn’t happen.

It did not happen, because it simply couldn't. After reading the article I cannot imagine what could Apple offer to satisfy him it apart from shipping iPhone 4 with Android OS.

Really, if you dismiss all the good points as not so important, what's left? Rainbows and ponies?

He prefers Android, that's OK but Apple just cannot satisfy him then, no matter what they do. That's OK too, that's why we have a choice.

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Apple saying their going to stop ruling the AppStore like a dictatorship and introducing an open-protocol voice chat that they could champion? It would definitely get a second look from me.

A higher density screen that is only slightly better than current Android phones, a lack luster multitasking architechture, video chat that ONLY works with other iPhone 4 users... not "game changing" in my opinion.

Facetime is the one that just bugs me. What is Jobs thinking? Why would you not call it iChat and allow it to work with desktop-iChat? Even then it would still be a joke. With Qik, any Android phone, or more important any phone period has the ability to communicate with other Qik users regardless of their phone. How does he expect Facetime to take off? Apple spearheading an open video chat platform would be ... cool. I still am not sure I would jump to the word "revolutionary".

Or is it just a sale gimmick?

> "a lack luster multitasking architechture"

What's lackluster about it? I'm been working with SDK4 for a while now, and it seems remarkable to me. This is the only multitasking architecture out there where the user doesn't have to treat his phone like a device with processing/memory limits.

You don't have to treat Android phones like devices with memory limits either; the only things that run in the "background" are services that explicitly request the ability to run something in the background, and most apps don't do this. Please stop spreading FUD.

> video chat that ONLY works with other iPhone 4 users...

Built on open formats and which they clearly said they were going to submit as an open protocol.

> Why would you not call it iChat and allow it to work with desktop-iChat?

because it's apparently not an IM application, and Skype will have to take care of that part.

> With Qik, any Android phone, or more important any phone period has the ability to communicate with other Qik users regardless of their phone.

Uh not really, unless they've fixed the 20s lag (each way). And it's not like Qik can't update their iPhone client. You know, the one which already exists.

Feel free to ignore my criticism's of Facetime. I feel completely ignorant.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/apples_biggest_news_vid...

Thanks for the heads up.

It's possible iChat will get this feature sometime in the future or that Qik for the iPhone will be able to use the front facing camera and offer that level of interoperability you're looking for. Who knows? It's a bit early to jump to conclusions I think.

>It did not happen, because it simply couldn't

Sure it could. I think a lot of people expected Apple to pull a rabbit out of hat (because they've done that time and time again), but instead it's just a relatively minor (compared to the state of the art) upgrade to the iPhone.

Out of curiosity, what features would you define as state of the art?

Performance, battery life, display quality, weight, etc. The iPhone 4 is the new front-runner, but it isn't in a very significant lead.

In the Android world, EVO or Droid Incredible are basically the state of the art.

I would call the custom build glass for the front and back of the iPhone, along with the multi-purpose custom alloy bezel, and the other hardware innovations to be the definition of state of the art. What other vendor is putting this level of detail and innovation into their products?

"In the Android world"

Actually I'd love Froyo on hardware like the iPhone 4. It's never going to happen, but I can dream can't I?

Never say never. Froyo currently runs (in very crude form; drivers need work, as does power management) on an iPhone 3G today, dual-booting iPhone OS. (I'm currently experimenting with Android 1.6 on my 3G.) As long as the phone can be jailbroken, you can run another OS on it.

(For me, it's a perfect marriage. Apple makes incredible hardware; full-stop. Android is a vastly better operating system and developer ecosystem. The only unfortunate part is AT&T, but at least T-Mobile is available as an option for unlockers.)

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