Re: [NTLK] iPhone/Newton Checklist?

Pretty good list but it should have another category to denote availability of an app for each platform (built-in, third party) and what the feature level of those apps are (simple, modest, robust). I mention this because of the misleading Notes listing. The iphone HAS notes but the built-in app is simple and no where near feature level of the newtons built in notes but some third party apps approach the Newton level and of course you can enhance the newt notes as well with third party options. That being said I have found the iPod touch notes app to be a good next actions list manager since it starts up much faster then more robust third party notes apps :-) now if it only had folders like on the newt I could use it to manage more then just a few note categories and a handful of notes :-/
Joe Reilly
-----Original Message-----
From: "R A Parker" <QuadzillaNET@SBCGlobal.NET>
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 2009 19:21
To: NewtonTalk<newtontalk@newtontalk.net>
Subject: Re: [NTLK] iPhone/Newton Checklist?

On Saturday, October 3, 2009 at 1:38 pm James Fraser wrote:

> I wanted to ask: *has*
> someone put together a
> sort of Master List/chart
> of Newton features that
> are (and are not) available
> on the iPhone

Well... Let's start one, I'll go first:

                    Newton iPhone
                   -------- --------
EMAIL Yes Yes

The backlight (on my 2100) is getting dimmer and dimmer, these days. Nothing beats the Newton and eMate, in my opinion, for handwriting your emails while sitting on the couch. My wrists, neck and shoulders may argue this point. In such cases I'll break out the eMate or one of my other keyboard driven, Internet appliances. 70 WPM has the advantage of being able to think and type, at the sames speeds. So does handwriting recognition.

EDITING TEXT YES! (uh... no)
SPELL CHECK Yes Yes
THESAURUS Yes Yes

There are a couple of iPhone apps that bring the iPhone "close to par" with a Newton, so far as "editing" with "spell check" and "thesaurus" are concerned.

Dr. Email EasyWriter NeoKate

However, nothing beats the feeling of handwriting or typing your emails, journals, stories, and notes while using a Newton or an eMate. Simple, fast, straight forward, natural. Editing is a breeze with the stylus. Having it read back to you with Macintalk Text-To-Speech was (until this week) 12 years ahead of it's time.

Touch screen editing, using a miniature (non-tactile) keyboard, operated with your finger tip... is far slower, more cumbersome and hardly natural.

GPS Yes YES!

GPS technology has come a long way... baby! GPS and Geocaching on the iPhone 3G is a blast. About $25 to buy into a quality set Of software apps.

For nostalgia, I do like the big, bulky, military look and feel of my Hiking Newton and its official U.S. Army issued camouflage case. But that is another argument in and of itself. Big and Bulky. Everything the Hiking Newton is, now fits in the palm of your hand, with just (about) the same capacity and connectivity. It'll be hard to decide, but the iPhone wins as a "must have" in the wilderness.

BATTERY LIFE YES! no :-(

A Newton can survive on a fresh set of re-chargeable batteries, for 1, 2, 3 days or even a week. The iPhone? Be sure you have a car adapter, 2-4 2300mAh external battery packs, a solar charger running 8 hours a day and the correct cables to connect your various power options.

ADDRESS BOOK Yes YES!
DATEBOOK Yes YES!
TO-DO MANAGER Yes YES!
CHECKBOOK MANAGER Yes YES!
NOTES YES! Yes
VOICE NOTES Yes YES!
SYNC ALL DATA no YES!

These apps were bound to better on a smartphone than a Newton, if only because of being able to sync to most modern day desktop apps.

However, I have yet to see the iPhone (or any portable device) be able to manage the "accessibility" of that data better than a Newton. For instance, wouldn't it be nice to (easily) highlight a piece of text on the iPhone and then have a "Find" or an "Assist" option along with the "Copy" and "Cut." Oh yes... That would double the iPhone's functionality and definitely be more "Newton" like.

WIFI Yes YES!
ETHERNET YES Yes(*)
WEB BROWSING Yes YES!
WAR DRIVING no YES!
IP/DNS DIAGS no YES!

The iPhone is the hands down winner here. It has nearly replaced my desktop for websurfing with Safari.

FILE SHARING no(*) YES

One app, one word... "ezShare" on the iPhone!

FTP, SFTP, Google Docs, Network Shares(*), Doc Viewers (PDF, Word, Text, JPGs, etc... etc...) Yeah... try any of that on the Newt and you're liable to understand why the iPhone is so impressive.

> It would be nice to be able
> to keep track of the
> convergence between the two
> devices

> do so that as/if the gap
> narrows, (?) I can start
> taking a serious look at
> what's out there with an
> eye toward making a purchase.
>
> Is there such a "one-stop"
> resource out there? I guess

Don't wait, buy now... and have some Kool-Aid.

Ron

-- 
Sent with Mail V and a Wireless MessagePad 2100.
--
RAParker
   |\/|\ @ Newted.ORG
   |/-|/ @ Quadzilla.NET
   |\ |  @ TahoeSunsets.COM
--
My name is R A Parker. I own a Newton and a Mac.
--
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