Stephen Fry calls for iPhone killer

 

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Posted on 25 Sep 2007 at 12:30

Actor Stephen Fry has revealed his techy side with a withering critique of today's smartphones on his blog, which intriguingly begins with a call for an iPhone killer.

Fry is a long-term Apple advocate and claims to have been only the second person in the UK to buy a Mac, which makes his desire for an iPhone beater all the more surprising. But in fact Fry just wants to see the continuing evolution of smartphones through competition.

His observations on the iPhone spring from his ownership of a US model working on roaming networks, and while he claims to love the design ethic and solid build of the handset, his principal criticism stems from the proprietary nature of its applications.

"Until Apple introduces a Java implementation or allows the bonnet to be unwelded and lifted up, the device will remain a fraction of what it should be," he says in his blog.

He also has a few words for the iPhone's much-hyped virtual keyboard, which he likes but still sees as inferior to the hardware keyboards on the Treo and Blackberry. "Text entry just isn't as satisfying as everything else about the device. It's an example perhaps of ideology overcoming practicality, as in the early days of the single click mouse."

Bluetooth and lack of 3G also come in for criticism, with an interesting personal observation on how the Edge network in the UK isn't as fast as that in the US, which could be something to watch when the iPhone is officially rolled out 9 November.

However, Fry remains impressed with the device. "Everything else in the iPhone lives up to, even surpasses the hype. Another triumph for Jonathan Ive and his design team, Apple have made a wholly desirable and beautiful object. Only a cross and silly person would pretend to be unimpressed or make claims of parity about their O2 xda Trion or similar lumpen beast."

Rival offerings

In fact, Fry offers few crumbs of comfort for the iPhone's rivals. Although a great fan of the Palm OS, Fry describes Windows Mobile as "an insulting offering. The feeling, as with all things Microsoft, is that all design features and functions are there to suit Microsoft rather than to delight, enthuse and compel the user."

The operating system is just one of his complaints he has with the iPhone immitator, the HTC Touch. He calls the touchscreen a "towering nuisance" and compares the device unfavourably with the "elegant and powerful" HTC 3600, which in his eyes is more reliable and more usable.

But Fry saves his most scathing comments for the new Sony Ericsson P1i. He tears into its slow operating speed, short battery life, badly implemented Opera browser, poor reliability, uninspired styling and lack of an online mode, before finally summing it up in one word, "unusable."

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Author: Stuart Turton