iPhone Smart Home

["Mark McCall" <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://tinyurl.com/2y9zo8

Well, it looks like Apple are set to make the UK iPhone announcement
tomorrow in their Regent Street store in London.  I was lucky enough to
pla=
y
with the iPhone for a couple of hours on the day after its launch back in
June in the US as I was there on holiday at the time.=20

While there are still well documented issues with the device, I have to
admit to being completely blown away with it and so I=92ll probably be
buyi=
ng
one.  But what=92s the iPhone got interest the Home Automator.

In my view, the greatest feature of the iPhone is its user interface. 
I=92=
ve
used the HTC Hermes (T-Mobile Vario2 ) for just over a year now. It=92s my
third windows Mobile powered phone in a row.  It=92s currently running the
sixth version of Microsoft=92s mobile OS, so how come Apple=92s very first
attempt manages to completely blow away Windows Mobile, Symbian and any
other mobile OS you care to mention?

Taking sensible decisions like developing the UI for use with a finger, not
a stylus was a good start.  Creating a multi-touch screen and adding
software to translate  =93gestures=94 is another key factor.  Simple
elegan=
t
design decisions like making the touchscreen flush with the device rather
than sunken a few millimeters another.

Most of our Smart Home systems these days have a web interface.  HomeSeer
and HomeVision for example.  Even take the Sonos music system where an
official web interface has never been released, community developers have
created the excellent SonosWeb.  Hopefully someone will do a high quality
iPhone style graphic front-end for SonosWeb so I=92ll be able to control
ou=
r
whole house music solution from the iPhone too.  Of course I=92m sure
it=92=
ll
work already with the basic Mobile/PDA skin.

So, hopefully by tomorrow we=92ll know more. It looks certain that O2 is
th=
e
UK carrier with Carphone Warehouse as an independent retailer to bolster
th=
e
number of retail outlets on the high street.  Lets hope they also announce
the price of the phone and the monthly costs and data plans.  I hope they=
=92ll
be as generous as my current T-Mobile contract (2GB per month for =A310)
an=
d I
wont have to sell a kidney to buy one.

If you are considering an iPhone too, I recommend downloading and watching
this 20 minute video to get a real feel for the UI and what the iPhone is
capable of - www.apple.com/iphone/gettingstarted/guidedtour.html


http://tinyurl.com/2y9zo8

M.