NYTimes.com: Nokia Profit Falls on Tough Smartphone Competition

"We believe that the Nokia N8, the first of our Symbian 3 devices, will have a user experience superior to that of any smartphone Nokia has created," Mr. Kallasvuo said. The new handset, he added, will be followed by others that will "give the platform broader appeal and reach, and kick-start Nokia's fightback at the higher end of the market."

Not superior to the iPhone or Android?  This is a case of doing your best isn't quite good enough.

Got my iPhone 4 about an hour ago.

My initial impressions:

• The iPhone is an absolutely beautiful phone.  Extremely solid with a finish that makes every other phone I've owned feel like a toy.
• The screen is incredibly sharp.  Must be seen to really appreciate how clear everything looks.  The screen is closer to the top glass so images look like they're on the surface of the glass.
• The internal memory seems slightly smaller or iOS4 is bigger as I'm having trouble copying everything from my nearly full iPhone 3GS on to the iPhone 4.
• The main camera is super sharp.  You can also take pictures with the front facing camera.
  

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

UPDATE: Google has changed the default behavior, removing the background picture.  Hopefully it stays as a user controllable option.

Here are some of my iPad first impressions after using it all weekend.

iPad Hardware
Size
Most people's reaction when they first see it is that it's smaller than they expected.  But, after you use it, it seems to be the right size.  I find it solidly built, maybe a bit heavier than I would like.  Most of the time I have it resting against something, my belly, the desk, the bed, etc.

Screen
The screen is sharp and beautiful, but picks up fingerprints like crazy.  Fingerprints are a lot more noticeable than on the iPhone.  I think I'm going to have to invest in some lint-free cloths to wipe down the screen.  The cloth that I used over the weekend wasn't quite lint free and now I have dust on the edges of the iPad case. 

The screen is extremely glossy so glare can also be an issue.  I might try buying a matte screen protector to cut down on glare and fingerprints.

Speaker
The speaker is louder than I expected and works well for watching videos.

Battery Life
The battery life is so long that I don't really think about charging it.  Normally when I use my Macbook Pro, I'm always thinking about when or where I can plug it back in. But with my iPad, I wouldn't be afraid to head out for the day leaving the charger and cords at home.

The iPad won't recharge when connected to my Macbook Pro or my Mac Pro.  Both of my computers are a few years old and do not provide enough power through the USB ports to charge the iPad.  The small iPod charger did charge iPad battery overnight, but probably slower than the 10V charger it comes with.

Apple Case
I like the Apple case a lot.  It's got a nice rubberized feeling when holding it in your hands.  I haven't used the stand much, but it feels a little wobbly when I've tried it.  The case is matte and seems to pick up dirt pretty easily.  (between the screen and the case, I'm beginning to think my place is really dusty.)

Software

Safari
Safari for the iPad is a killer app like it was for the iPhone.  But it is some much nicer with the extra real estate.  It's amazing to see the difference in web pages between this and the iPhone.  It's so good that you wonder why some companies are bothering creating iPad apps for their websites.

Some sites that do work, have a few problems.  The Google Reader RSS website seems slow and somehow less responsive.  The Google Reader website has multiple columns that require the use of a two finger motion to get the columns to scroll.

Twitter client
I've tried both Tweetdeck and Twitteriffic.  I like how Tweetdeck shows multiple columns by I don't like how it wastes half the screen for the Tweetdeck icon.

eBay App
eBay tried to differentiate their app from the website by showing for sale items in gallery format- like a store.  I find this app totally unusable without having the ability of showing search results as lists.  I also don't like the fact that it does have the saved searches from the website.  I'd much rather use the eBay web page than this.

Scrabble
Scrabble looks amazing.  Problem is that the iPad keeps beating me.  If you have iPhones or iPod touches, you can download an App that allows you to use your iPhone as a letter tray while using the iPad as the board.

Marvel Comics App
It shows comics in two ways, traditional panels or a more cinematic, frame by frame way.  This is one you really need to see.  Comics can be bought through the App for $2.00 a comic.  If they every came out with a Netflix like monthly fee, this might be worth it.  Otherwise, I'll pass.

Numbers
Haven't played with this much, because getting files in and out seems a little awkward.

"The future starts today"- or yes, I did buy an iPad.

Here's a picture of me holding 64 gig iPad at the Kenwood Apple Store after my 2 1/2 hour wait in line.Waiting in line was kind of my fault as I could have pre-ordered it and had it sent to my home or had one reserved for me at the store.  For a while, I thought about waiting for the next model, but realistically, that was never an option.  I truly do believe that the iPad is the future of computing so why wait when you can have the future today?

The Apple shopping experience is unlike any other.  First, there's the line.  You really won't find a line anywhere of friendlier people.  It really is kind of like a party.  Apple employees had carts with coffee, tea, or bottled water.

Once you get to the front of the line, an Apple employee would come shake your hand, ask your name, and then act as your person concierge for your entire visit to the Apple store.  The Apple employee offered to demo a unit for me and to setup the iPad for me after I purchased it.  No rushing to move to the next customer whatsoever.  For me, I would have been happy with a giant stack of iPads for me to pick up and take to checkout, but for someone new to Apple, this kind of service would make a world of difference.

This hydra like mess is the NOKIA 10 In 1 Cell Phone USB Charging Cable (Black) from the Cellular Factory.  While some make get a kick out of being able to charge any phone known to man, others will find carrying around all these extra adapters that you'll never use to be really annoying.  I wonder what would happen if you plugged in all 10 different cell phones at once.

BNet.com: Bill Gates Joins the iPad's Army of Critics. Steve Jobs Couldn't Care Less

I wasn't sure what to expect when I asked Jobs' longtime rival, Bill Gates, what he thought of the iPad. After all, Gates has been a proponent of tablet computers for years, and he was in awe of the iPhone when it first came out. But the iPad?  Gates told me he isn't sold.

"You know, I'm a big believer in touch and digital reading, but I still think that some mixture of voice, the pen and a real keyboard - in other words a netbook - will be the mainstream on that," he said. "So, it's not like I sit there and feel the same way I did with iPhone where I say, 'Oh my God, Microsoft didn't aim high enough.'  It's a nice reader, but there's nothing on the iPad I look at and say, 'Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it.'"

Microsoft has tried and failed with the Tablet PC since 2001 which of course makes Bill Gates an expert in predicting the success of the iPad.  The iPad like the iPhone will succeed because it breaks away from the conventional PC's in a way that opens up new possibilities in computing.  Mimicking old technology, just gets you more of the same.

Microsoft has failed with the Tablet PC because of their inability to break away from its legacy items: Windows, keyboards, and the stylus.  Even their new phone is called the "Windows" Phone. 

To me, Microsoft is one of the most disappointing companies around.  All these years they should have pushing the envelope of computing and making products so great that they make us forget about Windows.  Not because Windows is bad, but because Windows shouldn't be the end all and be all of computing.

NYTimes.com: Thirty Knots, With the Wind at Your Wings

They call these yachts?  I barely recognize these as boats, more like something you see in Star Trek.  I love technology and the application of technological advances, but shouldn't races be more about tactics than the boats?

See more photos here: NYTimes.com: Innovations in America's Cup Sailing

This is my yearly reminder that you can save money on MobileMe by purchasing it from Amazon.com.   My MobileMe was set to expire this week so last week I picked it up for $71.99 with free shipping.

What you get from Amazon is a small cd sized box.
Inside the box there's a couple of white Apple stickers and a sheet with the activation code that you enter at http://www.me.com/activate.  By buying from Amazon, I saved $27.01.

Microsoft should consider replacing Steve Ballmer with Fake Steve Jobs.  While Steve Ballmer is giving interviews and talking about "attack vectors" and "mama don't let your phones grow up to be PC", Fake Steve Jobs is giving insight on hybridized content:

New technology spawns new ways to tell stories. That's the really exciting thing here. Not the tablet itself, but what it means for news, for entertainment, for literature. Gasp. Geddit? Is the fucking light going off yet? This is what Anton Chekhov meant when he said that the medium is the message. This is why the Tablet is so profound.

There is no point in moving to digital readers if we're just going to do what we did on paper. That's why Kindle is such a piece of shit. All they did was pave the cowpath. And that's why we've held back on our Tablet -- not because the technology wasn't ready, but because the content guys are such fucktards that they still can't create anything that makes it worth putting the Tablet into the world.

FakeSteve.net: Tablet Part Two: The true significance of the Tablet
Techcrunch.com: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer: Chrome And Safari Are Rounding Errors