iWindows 7?

Microsoft unveiled an iPhone-like touch screen feature for its new operating system, Windows 7, yesterday at the "D: All Things Digital" conference and announced that the expected release date to be in late 2009.

Chairman Bill Gates calls this an evolution away from the mouse claiming that some tasks could be done much faster than using a traditional mouse. The multi touch technology would allow users to shrink and enlarge photos, much like the near one-year-old iPhone. But at a surprise to most, the new technology will be able to work with existing touch screens. So does this mean that our screens will also have the messy fingerprints that always magically appear on our iPhones?

So why so late in '09? At the pace Apple is releasing new products, they may even have something similar, or even newer and better before Microsoft will be able to ship their new toy. It's interesting to see how this will all pan out...

Samsung Instinct: Sprinting Ahead of the iPhone?

Last Tuesday, Sprint announced the release of their version of the iPhone: the Samsung Instinct.
Which is better?

The Instinct brings a couple things to the table that the iPhone doesn’t. It features a 3.1” touch screen and has 3 buttons on the bottom—phone, back, and home. It is reported to be faster and also have more preloaded content than the iPhone. Let’s look at how it does in comparison to the iPhone.

Price: the Instinct is likely to be priced at around $200-$250 with a 2-year Sprint contract. You can bump up the storage to a maximum of 8 GB. The iPhone is still uncomfortably priced at $399 for the 8GB model.

Phone Service: the iPhone runs on an older, slower AT&T network. Fortunately, a faster iPhone is in the works, one that supports AT&T’s fastest data network. The Instinct uses Sprint’s fastest network and provides “faster online access than the iPhone.” Sprint has also reportedly been trying to persuade cable companies to deploy Sprint’s WiMax network which would offer faster wireless speeds than its competitors for a long period of time with a greater range than Wi-Fi.

Touch-Screen Technology: If you’ve ever tried the iPhone, you know its touch-screen technology is amazingly responsive. The iPhone allows for multi-touch abilities, where you can use multiple fingers to zoom in and out of things. The Instinct does not offer the same advantage, however the Instinct also offers a new touch-screen technology that the iPhone doesn’t: it uses “tactile feedback.” For instance, if you’re dialing a number or typing using the touch screen, the screen will vibrate in the areas where you press, making it feel as though you’re actually pressing a button. This is a pretty cool innovation—one which addresses many people’s complaints about touch-screen technology. The complaint against the resistive touch screen, however, is that it lacks the iPhone’s smooth response. It’s all up to preference, but to that good chunk of people who abhor touch technology because of its lack of feedback, the Instinct offers a solution.

GPS: The Instinct offers true GPS technology on it. The iPhone has a similar thing—you can use Google maps to get where you need to go but it doesn’t offer a real GPS.

Customizability: The Instinct is super customizable. You can create a list of favorites for your start-up screen and you can customize the main screen by swapping out icons. Third-part apps are also supported by the phone, so all BREW/Java apps for other phones should be easily ported onto the Instinct.

So back to my original question, which is better? I’d have to go out and play with a Samsung Instinct before I make a final decision, but based on the cold hard features, the Instinct seems to be a better choice in terms of value for the price. Of course, if you’re a huge iPhone fan, the Instinct will look like nothing more than a knock-off. And I think I prefer the iPhone’s looks over the Instincts’. But the Instinct is cheaper, has a better network, and offers a wide range of features and content like the GPS and 3rd party apps that the iPhone does not. And I want to play around with the new tactile feedback the touch screen offers. Whether or not the Instinct is a hit, it is, to date, the closest thing to the iPhone that anyone has to offer.