I am generally known as an Apple fanatic. But I still don’t have an iPhone. I was tempted to buy a unlocked iPhone several times but always decided against the purchase. I simply do not want a phone that:
1. Gets locked every time its software gets updated. Two weeks ago, unlocked iPhone dealers were looking pretty dumb: they had iPhones in stock but could not sell them because they had the 1.1.2 version of the software on them. Now we’re already into 1.1.3, and 1.1.2 was only very recently cracked.
2. Doesn’t allow me to take videos. It’s a deal breaker for me.
3. Has 2 MP camera. I am really happy that my Nokia N95 has 5 MP camera.
4. Doesn’t have GPS and maps for the region. I was in Riyadh last week and it was great that I could switch on my GPS one evening to get oriented in that huge city.
Eventually, Apple will bring out an iPhone that I will buy. And eventually it will be available in Jordan, hopefully through Zain. Till then, I am not biting.
From a usability and “delight” point of view the iPhone is clearly a winner. One of the biggest attractions points of the iPhone for me is the Safari browser. Compared to other mobile browsers, Safari really shines. I tested it on several friends’ iPhones and it was a pleasure to use.
But now, a new browser for Windows Mobile (and later for Symbian S60, which means it will work on my N95) is about to take the mobile world by storm: SkyFire.
It is still in private beta, but people out there have already posted reviews of it. It is similar to Safari: fast display and desktop-like rendering of web pages, zooming in through double tapping. But SkyFire has one more great thing: support for embedded Flash content, which means you can use it with sites like ikbis.com and YouTube. This is great.
I read a good review of SkyFire on Brighthand, which also included this video walk-through.
If I get such a browser on my N95, I will be even less inclined to to get an iPhone. I am starting to consider the N95 8 GB (which is noticeably faster than the normal N95) or the new N82.
I am also pretty sure that Nokia will bring out a touch-screen based phone soon. When they do I will give it a serious look.
And no, I am NOT going to buy a Window Mobile phone, even if SkyFire comes out on that platform first. I am not THAT desperate.
Comments
3 responses to “SkyFire: one more reason why NOT to buy an iPhone”
apple took a damn long time to bring the iphone here, i lost taste of it,
i used to be an iphone groupy, now I’m not interested anymore
thx for the share
I’ve been using the new version of opera mini v.4, and I find it amazing, it does desktop like rendering with zoom, it’s a java application, so it should work on most phones, I’ve been using it on my Samsung phone and on my windows mobile PDA (with a touch screen!), it’s quite an improvement from the previous version, they added several useful features too, like the option to sync the bookmarks between all the opera browsers you use.
http://www.operamini.com/
I forgot to mention the signature extremely fast loading and rendering!