No one said it WAS an Apple innovation!

A lot of these comments are criticizing Apple for claiming this as something new, when as far as this article goes at least, they've done nothing of the sort!

In my experience, having a compass to determine the direction you're facing when starting-up the map application, and in the absence of other land marks, is very useful. Of course, if you get by fine without one, well done, good luck to you. You don't have to buy one; it's not mandatory and you're not the gadget police!

My challenge...

My challenge to the concept car designers is simple: Make it or shut-up.

I am so tired of 'this is what our cars of the future may look like!' Yeah, but they probably won't and even if they do, they don't look even remotely like that now and there isn't any sign of that changing in the near future.

Especially Saab; if I see one more 'hint of future design' while all the current cars look like some partially sighted person's gone crazy with a Halfords gift voucher...

@Interface

I thought it worked like this: You've got a photo of someone, let's say a family group photo, you point the phone at the person in the picture that you want to call at which point the phone recognises the face and calls ther person. I'm still calling 'Stop!' on this! Unless I really have missed the point.

As Bassey says though; shiny new thing. Who knows, it might turn into something useful one day.

I wonder if it works on the actual person too. So I can point the phone at ther person in front of me and it calls their phone (assuming, of course, I already have their number / photo). Now THAT would be pointless, but I'd still have to try it.

@Hmm

But didn't they just have to ask Google to remove the images? I confess I haven't looked into the process but I understand that Google will remove specific SV images on request. No law suit, no 'unwanted' publicity.

Comparing this to slavery, as they have, is insane. It's good to see Reductio ad absurdum is alive and well.

Regarde Moi! Non regarde moi!

Fail

I'm still seeing lots of tiny, tiny icons on there. Not to mention screen shots elsewhere suggest that what we're seeing here represents the sum total of the changes and everything else is still in the mobile dark ages, not that what's shown here is anything to brag about.

Here's hoping Windows Mobile 7 is worth bothering with. Personally, until then, I'll pass.

First optical controller?

Doesn't the Samsung Omnia have one of those? Pretty sure it does.

Presumably the self-portrait mirror is to be used in conjunction with an inbuilt photo template with 'dumb ass' at the bottom?

Oh dear

Having tried for some time in recent months to make a recent, high spec, windows mobile phone do anything well, the idea of using one on (as) a desktop or hooking it up to my TV and getting it to work satisfactorily makes me queasy.

Make SKU or make three or ...

Whichever features are put into the business / consumer version, there are always going to be plenty of people who want a bit of the other, so to speak. So either have only one SKU with it all in or have a third, top-level SKU that has all the bells and whistles.

Or make all the extra features missing from a given version available for a small fee, that sounds suitably OS 2.0, doesn't it?

Either way, I want it to be based on something with decent performance.

Forbidden Planet

That's like the Krell brain training machine from Forbidden Planet. Monsters from the id!

"Home is available to download through the PS3 now."

No. It isn't. At least not in the UK store and not right now.

XBox exec in PS3-being-not-very-good-revelation shocker.

Wake me when a) Home is available to download or b) Microsoft say something surprising about a rival.

Fiction -> Fact

It's just like that episode of Medical Investigation, Alienation, where Dr Connor visualised the spore bouncing up from the drum skins and floating through the market place.

We need a resolution

I think people can't see the benefit of HD until they have HD.

'Upscaled DVD is as good as HD'? Please, it's a good picture but it's no comparison. Personally, I decide on a case by case basis whether to get the blu-ray or DVD version.

Sky run ads where they show HD as being the same thing, only slower, which isn't what they mean and it doesn't make anyone want to buy it.

As far as I know, no-one the general public are likely to see has ever said (making-up numbers here) "HD is 100% higher resolution that SD, here's what your SD picture looks like at 50% resolution, see the difference?"

People generally don't care about politics, DRM, ethics, etc. they care about how much it costs and what they get for their money (quality / convenience / street cred. / whatever their hot button is. So far, no HD service has made a compelling argument.

That little mirror

Are you talking about the little convex mirror next to the lens? That's been on SE phones for years!

Whee!

"The airship would suddenly be very positively buoyant, and would soar upwards uncontrollably. ... As helium is expensive, it can't be thrown away like this every time a load is dropped off."

Which is a shame because it'd be funny to watch.

Um...

I've got an 8GB card sat in my phone right now... had it for months. That new adaptor thing is quite good though; wouldn't mind one of those.

Level Two

Surely playing it with food on the table would be a more advanced level of the game? After all, not being able to see the 'ball' coming towards you has got to make it more of a challenge. Hey! What about blindfold tennis?

W.A.S.P.

Isn't W.A.S.P. the World Aquanaught Security Patrol?

I bet they'd rather be battling Subterraneans than Microsoft anyday.

O-kay

They've been trying this for years. They've been failing at it for years.

I can't even take this clown seriously. Getting me to go back to a Microsoft device is possible but I'll want to see at least two generations of proven working-as-expected, no more having to hard reset just because it doesn't feel like syncing any more or completly losing the plot on it's bluetooth module or soft resetting because it's ground to a halt. No more duplicating all my PIM data because I had to reinstall *&%$! Windows again and had to set up a new partnership.

Good luck Ball-mer, you're going to need it. You gimp.