First, God gave us Allen:

Then God gave us Natasha:

And now we are excited to say that God has chosen to bless us with number 3! We expect this new bundle of joy to make an appearance around the first of next year!

Did I get what I wanted? I got some of it, there were things I didn’t get that I never expected to get and doubt whether Apple will even ever give me. I’ll go over my list from the previous post.

1. Verizon

Well, I knew there would likely be nothing in the iPhone OS event about opening up to other carriers in the U.S. even if it is going to happen (which I still doubt by the way). This event was about iPhone OS 4, and I think support for other carriers would be announced with a hardware event since the current iPhone hardware only fully works on AT&T’s network. In my book this makes a multi carrier strategy announcement a hardware announcement.

And anyway, much as I would like to see a CDMA/EV-DO iPhone, in my opinion, it will never happen. You see, Apple has stated on many occasions that their business model is to make one iPhone. AT&T’s network operates on the same standard as 80% of the rest of the world. T-Mobile uses weird 3G frequencies, and Verizon and Sprint run CDMA/EV-DO networks (we’re not even going to talk about Sprint’s weird iDEN network left over from their Nextel merger, and their affinity WiMax). So the point here is that AT&T is the only network I see the iPhone running on for now, inept though AT&T may be compared to Verizon. However, as we move to 4G this may change. Verizon is going to have the first commercial LTE network (4G). LTE is the 4G technology of choice throughout most of the world so we may well see a Verizon iPhone when Verizon has deployed LTE across their entire footprint with full voice support (in other words they can’t be relying on CDMA for voice or it still won’t work for Apple).

So that’s a long explanation for my opinion that we won’t see a Verizon iPhone for a few years to come, and it STINKS!

2. Multi-Tasking

Yes, we got it. At least we got it in ways that count and make sense. I was blown away. Summer can’t come fast enough. Apple will be providing 7 OS integrated services to reduce the processor strain and battery life issues of having each app do it’s own thing when in the background, but the result will be the same to the end user. And state saving (freezing) apps will be huge! For those apps that don’t need to run background services, state saving will be the same as multi tasking without the battery drain or CPU cycles.

So yeah, I think I’m happy with the way Apple is implementing this. Still, took them long enough!

3. Better Notifications

Yeah… didn’t get it. We still have single mode pop ups that obliterate previous notifications if there are any, and stop you doing whatever it is you are in the middle of. STUPID! But I can deal… for now.

4. Release the App store shackles

I knew this would never happen. And it didn’t. I doubt that Apple will ever give up their current app model. I’ll have to evaluate whether I can deal with this at the end of my current AT&T contract.

5. Better Lock Screen

Oh Apple how you disappoint! Such a wasted opportunity!

6. Customization

Oooo, looky, pretty wallpaper behind my icons! Seriously, it seems small, but it is a baby step in the right direction.

7. Widgets

You know, I’m not the only one that wants them. And in the Q&A after the event, one of the media people asked why Apple wasn’t giving any love to widgets, glancable info, or better lock screen info. The answer was a sidestep. That either means it’s coming in future builds of the OS, or they didn’t want to draw any more attention to this glaring omission. In any event, we didn’t get it (yet, he says hopefully).

8. Notes and to-dos

Still no word on to-dos. And I have a feeling that Apple is going to do nothing about my “Die Marker Felt, die” sentiment in Notes. However, though not directly talked about, according to some sleuthing of the iPhone geeks around the interwebz, it does seem as if over the air note sync is a part of iPhone OS 4

9. Unified Inbox View

We got that and more. There are some major updates for Mail on the way. I am a very happy camper in this department! See Apple, I know you can impress, you still have it in you! Go Apple! Now give me my other stuff!

10. Better Home screen icon management

Folders for the home screen have been long in coming! But it is going to be awesome! And it is going to help a LOT!

So, I got some stuff, and I didn’t get some stuff. I’ll have to see if I’m satisfied when this update comes out in the summer.

Apple is holding a special event tomorrow to show the world what iPhone OS 4 holds, let’s see what they need to do to keep me happy.

It’s no secret that the iPhone has changed the landscape of smart-phones forever. In 2007, most of the smart phones on the market were not very good. Palm was a stagnating platform, and yes Blackberry seemed to be taking over the space, but even they seemed to have a problem tapping the potential of mobile devices. Then Apple waltzed right in and changed everything.

Even before Apple announced the iPhone I knew my next phone was going to be a smartphone. I had quite outgrown dumb phones, I needed to be able to get my email, and access my calendar, notes, todos and internet on the fly. So when Apple held their special iPhone announcement event I watched with rapt attention. I saw so much potential in this new platform that I ignored any shortcomings I saw. And towards the end of the event, when Apple announced that the only U.S. carrier for the iPhone would be Cingular (now AT&T), I thought, “well how bad can Cingular be, really? I mean, they are the number 2 carrier in the nation, and I have known people who really like Cingular, so I’ll bet I can live with them for the iPhone.” And of course, 3G coverage was a non-issue since the first iPhone was stupidly, 2G GSM (EDGE/GPRS) only (and yes I even thought it was stupid at the time but chose to overlook that as well).

So my first week with the iPhone was both a dismal nightmare, and a happy joyous time. Happy, because the phone was wonderful on many fronts, not the least of which was the seamless syncing with my Mac. But dismal nightmare in that AT&T’s network was so overloaded that first week that over half of the calls I tried to place would fail to go through, or would drop after a couple minutes if they did go through. And I discovered that AT&T’s in building coverage was abysmal compared to Verizon. I never really thought about it much with Verizon, I only remember a handful of times where a structure affected my ability to get signal with Verizon. AT&T on the other hand was (and is) quite different. It seemed that a good 80% of the buildings I walked into would not get good signal at all, and quite often would cause me to loose signal altogether (Yes, I am aware there are areas where AT&T does not hold a license in the 850 MHz spectrum and Verizon does, but that is not the issue in my home area so it’s not that at all). The worst part was, that I would constantly miss calls in the office where I work in downtown Franklin, TN. because the building in question was one of the places where AT&T in-building coverage was quite abysmal (I did finally learn where the sweet spot was that would at least allow my phone to ring so I could pick it up and run out of the office toward the edge of the building and talk).

Eventually AT&T did clear up the network congestion problem on their 2G network so that at least I stopped experiencing dropped calls and calls failing to go through after a couple weeks. But I discovered when I got my 3GS that the 3G network drops calls all the time, and still does. Oh yeah, and AT&T 3G footprint is garbage!

But these aren’t the end of my disappointments with the iPhone. I waited software release after software release for that untapped potential of the platform I spoke of earlier to be tapped. And yes, Apple finally did give us 3rd party applications, which opened the door for IM clients (I was sorely wanting a mobile IM client), but I was in for a nasty shock! 3rd party apps were, and are not allowed to continue running in the background. This effectively shot the whole idea of an IM client in the foot, and listening to my favorite Pandora station while reading my email, that’s out too. Yes, Apple finally gave us push notifications, which works okay for IM clients, but what about full on multi-tasking? Still no go!

And while I’m talking about notifications, the iPhone’s notification system is also abysmal! No worse, it’s beyond abysmal… I don’t have a word bad enough to describe the current state of iPhone notifications. Get a second notification before having a chance to look at the first? Too bad, the new notification pushed the old one into oblivion! GONE! No chance to see what it was. Now you have to go hunting for badged apps on the home screen.

Oh, and speaking of the home screen, I’m reminded of the lock screen. Talk about a wasted opportunity. Why can’t I get a glimpse of my email on the lock screen? Maybe a glance would tell me if it’s important or not. Know what the lock screen is good for? Telling the time, and seeing the last notification. Oh, and I suppose you can see how good your cellular signal is That’s IT!

To cap this all off, my brother-in-law was here last week with his Android device. It galloped circles around my iPhone in terms of features and abilities. Yes, it was a tad clunkier, a tad rougher around the edges but so what? And yes, his particular model was a “bit” under powered in the processor department but there are Android phones out there with bigger processors. I was impressed with Android. I suddenly realized this was not at all like Apple against Microsoft because Google has a fine mobile OS in Android while Windows just stinks!

So that is a VERY brief overview of how I am feeling about the platform. There’s more, but you are probably already wondering what Apple is going to have to do to get me excited about the platform again. So let’s get started on that list. In order of importance.

1. VERIZON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For the love of smart phones let me have the stupid phone on a REAL carrier with a REAL 3G footprint and a reliable network. Need I say more?

2. Multi-Tasking!!!!!!!!!!

Give me the option of running apps in the background! I can’t stand the fact that I can’t listen to Pandora in the background while I do other things, or keep Google Latitude updated, or whatever. Android can do it! And Android devices don’t seem to have worse battery life than iPhone, possibly even better.

3. BETTER NOTIFICATIONS!!!

I want a unified notification system 2 years ago. Enough said.

4. Release the App Store Shackles

I’m sick of apps I want getting denied by Apple. Apple decided they didn’t like google and so denied their Latitude app. In fact, while I’m fine with Apple running the App store, I shouldn’t be limited to the apps that Apple decides I can and can’t have. I should be able to download and install any app I want on MY device.

5. Better Lock Screen

I’ve already talked about this, just make it useful instead of stupid waste of space. And let me CUSTOMIZE it.

6. Customization in general!

This is another area where Apple gets and F minus on the iPhone. There is almost nothing I can customize about it. I don’t want my icons to be limited to Apple’s grid system of left to right icons. I want to decide the info I see on my lock screen, and my home screen for that matter.

7. WIDGETS

Android home screen widgets really are awesome and Apple had better get on that train!

8. Notes and to-dos

You know, I really like that fact that my contacts, calendars, and mail all sync wirelessly over the internet. Now make my notes sync over the air as well! It’s a no brainer. Oh, and get rid of that STUPID, non customizable Marker Felt font in the notes app!

And to-dos don’t even exist natively on the iPhone even though the calendar apps that iPhone syncs with (such as Apple’s own iCal) have to-dos. It’s embarrassing that iPhone doesn’t have to-dos!

9. Unified Inbox view

I love Mail on the iPhone, don’t get me wrong, but not being able to view email from all my accounts in one view like in the full grown version of Mail on OS X drives me crazy.

10. Better home screen icon management.

It’s currently horrendous trying to organize icons on the home screens.

That’s all I’ve got for now, but I consider all of these fairly important. Frankly, Android has passed the iPhone OS as if it was sitting still. And I’m tired of defending Apple for their lagging behind. I will still defend their computers, and Mac OS X. I think Apple still has the best computer platform in the world, but they better impress me tomorrow on their mobile platform front or they are going to loose me!