Harv, some responses to things you brought up:

The Newton was a very cool device that (unfortunately) was also a commercial flop (just like the Cube). You can blame Apple for having unrealistic sales expectations, but what does it matter? Apple was in a very bad way back then, almost going out of business. So the company took some drastic measures and refocused its efforts on modernizing their OS (based on NextStop/OpenStep). Most handheld enthusiasts I knew were disappointed, but they weren't surprised by the move. But hold onto that grudge for another 10 years if it makes you feel better.

The Foleo is not a smartphone, a video player, or a pocketable device.

As far as the iPhone battery lawsuit goes, the iPhone is not the first phone, PDA, or media player to come out with non-replaceable batteries. The suit is retarded.

Every device has compromises and while the iPhone is missing a lot of features common to other smartphones, it also has advantages:

• Its interface is amazingly smooth, fast, intuitive, and simple
• The applications all work together seamlessly
• The OS never crashes, doesn't require resets, and doesn't randomly act sluggishly (like Windows Mobile). Its web browser does occasionally crash, which -while annoying- is far better than the temperamental nature of other mobile platforms
• Its the only smartphone with a capacitance-touch screen (responsive and durable)
• Its the only smartphone with multitouch
• Its the only smartphone with visual voice mail
• Its arguably got the best web browser of any smartphone (despite the lack of flash)
• It's the only phone with a screen of this size and resolution in such a small small, thin, lightweight formfactor
• It makes effective use of the pixels and screen size (for example, there are no scroll bars unless you're scrolling, the upper menu scrolls off screen when reading a web page, etc)
• It's the only smartphone with this much included memory
• It's got the best smartphone media playback and web browsing battery life that I'm aware of

Obviously you have to weigh those last two against the disadvantage of not being able to swap in memory cards and spare batteries (I'd rather have the speed advantages and smaller formfactor that integrated memory and battery allow for, but that comes down to personal preference). And there is an even longer list of things the iPhone can't do. Ultimately if the iPhone doesn't meets your needs, then it's not the right smartphone for you. If it's an effective tool for you and if you enjoy using it, then it may be a good choice.

> "Have you used the new jailbreak for 1.1.1 yet? I keep meaning to do it, but haven't gotten around to it yet."

Nope, I never bothered upgrading from 1.0.2. Here are some pages to check out if you want to jailbreak 1.1.1:

1 2

> "I think that one commercial was the thing that made me grumpy."

Seriously? I mean the expression "X is the best thing since sliced bread" is often applied for good ideas but I never take it literally, so why take this that way? The guy in the commercial comes off as a business man who would make statements like that so I didn't even give what he said a second thought... maybe I'm just desensitized to commercials being full of BS :-)

But it's not like Apple's never had smarmy advertisements before. If you're going to get angry at them, then let it be over something legit like:

• no PIM search on iPhone/Touch
• no copy/paste on iPhone/Touch
• no sanctioned 3rd party apps or SDK for iPhone/Touch
• no calendar edits on the Touch

Those are all absolutely retarded decisions by Apple (though calendar edits is rumored to be added to the Touch soon).

> "I think I'm going to go jailbreak it again."

Yeah I simply left mine at 1.0.2 so I could keep running the apps.

Ubuntu is sweet so you should definitely check it out. For myself, I weighed OSX's limitations in choices of hardware (and software vs Windows) against the various headaches that come with Linux and Windows. I ended up going from dual-booting Windows and Linux to just running OSX.

As far as the iPhone commercials go, what's so objectionable? Visual voice mail is unique to the iPhone and the commercial about it is pretty good. The other two commercials are on the weak side, but they're not really untruthful. The one about the kid looking up a couple names on a website is lame, but it doesn't claim that the iPhone is the only device that can do that. Same goes for the one about the guy who likes carrying one device. And most of the people I know with other smartphone models still carry a dedicated media player while my friends with iPhones do not... so it seems fair to portray the iPhone as a good all-in-one device.

It's like the Sidekick commercial about getting a bunch of people in one place to spray silly-string. The Sidekick isn't the only device that you can use to organize something like that, but it's good at that and there's nothing wrong with a commercial highlighting its strengths.

What bothers me is when companies make false or out-of-context claims about devices or when they post selective comparison lists. For example, see Helio's absurd iPhone vs Ocean list. I like the Ocean; it's is a neat device with its own advantages. But in trying to make the Ocean seem overall superior to the iPhone, Helio's list doesn't even mention screen size, screen resolution, device weight, device dimensions, wifi, battery life, included memory, video playback options and performance, audio playback options, or bundled software (they also haven't updated the chart to reflect the iPhone's current price).

Likewise, have you seen HTC's page on the Advantage? It claims that the device is "a powerful mobile office device that lets you work wherever and whenever you want" that can "connect to your office, watch videos or listen to music anywhere". But it doesn't play full-screen videos smoothly and when editing Office files, the Pocket Office apps have problems like messing up dates/formatting and losing tracked changes. That's a hell of a lot more misleading than some commercial about looking stuff online using the iPhone.

Anyway, ignore Apple's trendiness and the mounting backlash against them and instead use whatever tools work for you.

My old Sony VAIO PCG-SRX99 had the same basic curved shape and look as the HP2133. However, it also had a 10.6" screen, P3 850M, and 5 hour battery life in a 2.7 pound package.

This new crop of mini-notebooks is interesting, but there are really only two new features:

1) They're cheap
2) You can "officially" get them with Linux

Otherwise, the Panasonic Toughbooks, various old Sony models, and many other laptops have managed to squeeze larger screens, faster CPUs, longer battery runtimes, and other features into small devices of similar weight for years. But they're more expensive:

Panasonic W7
Panasonic R7

Also, I read that the HP2133 sucks for video playback. If Apple can put a GPU capable of handling 30 FPS h.264 movies into a phone (and Dell and HP can do the same for their PDAs), why can't HP do the same for its mini-laptop?

Still, at $550 the 1.2GHz Linux model is tempting. Add a better GPU and a GPS and I'd happily pay $600 for it.

[Edited at April 13, 2008 16:29:41 PM.]