Is everything just an iPhone with a different case?

I was watching the Apple WWDC keynote today. I'm a little behind on my Apple following.

Jobs was busy explaining all the new cool features in the iPhone 4: Gyroscope, front facing camera, HD video recording, video editing, glass back, better antennas, etc.

Day Two (6/25/2010): People are still waiting for iPhone 4

As I was listening I started thinking about my Sony HD camcorder and how its days are numbered. If Apple decided to come out with an iOS camcorder it would blow away any consumer camcorder device Sony has in its lineup. All Apple would need is a nice lens with optical zoom,  a good video camera case design, and good button layout. The rest they already have, the gyroscope for image stabilization, GPS, true in camera editing, connection to the internet, awesome video and image management interface, application platform (think of what third parties might do), etc. etc. All this stuff would leave Sony and every other camcorder maker in the dust and I doubt they could catch up... ever.

The iPhone is driving Apple to make the Swiss Army Knife of electronic gadgets. A device that can do it all. The thing is, it's also making the best in class tool for each category. There isn't another camcorder on the planet that has the power of iMovie built in or the simple touch interface that iPhone has.

The convergence of functionality around iOS is really powerful. The only thing limiting it is that the iPhone platform is meant to be a jack of all trades like the Swiss Army Knife. Sometimes you need or want the full-size version of the tools. Apple should use what it has done in the iPhone to make best in class single purpose consumer devices such as camcorders.

Ohh the possibilities...

I wish they would also build some automotive products such as a navigation system for Lexus.

Semi-Touch Versus Multi-Touch

Lexus Navigation has what I'd call a semi-touch interface. That's one where some of the interaction happens on the touch screen and some happens with buttons or controls off the touch screen.

Semi-touch isn't bad or good. It just means that you have some fixed interface elements.

When you design one of these types of systems you want to make things people do all the time easy to get to. You also want those things quickly accessible to avoid having the driver get distracted.  In the Lexus design they also want to be able to completely or partially disable functionality while still giving you a button to press that makes you feel like you're doing something.

The Lexus Navigation system has eight button-like objects around the screen. Design-wise that's probably good because the buttons aren't too big or too small. Seven of the buttons are functional. One of the buttons isn't really a button even though it looks like it. It's labeled "Passenger." Sometimes I press the "Passenger" button when someone is riding with me but nothing ever happens.

Many of the other buttons seem mislabeled to me. For example, to make a phone call I press the "Info" button. "Disp" is short for display I think. Why not just call it "Display"? They were able to fit the label "Passenger" on the fake button. Then there is the "Menu" button which is all about system configuration.

Anyway, of the seven real buttons I use only three: Audio, Info, and Map. I suppose the Climate button could be useful but I'm happy enough with the other temperature control buttons.

I don't find having more buttons helps with using the system at all. In fact, the seven buttons made learning the system more difficult. What happens is that you end up reading the manual because you think that phone calling would be somewhere under "Audio" or "Menu." Surprisingly, having to poke around seven separate trees of commands using mislabeled buttons doesn't make things easier or quicker.

The Lexus Navigation System has its own separate 345 page manual. That's more pages than the first Harry Potter book! Skimming through it I see that the system has a lot of hidden functionality. Mostly stuff that I'm not going to use because I won't spend the days or weeks required to learn all the features. Also, since I have to be parked to operate the Lexus Navigation System I have very little time to play with it. Google's Nexus One phone didn't even need a manual and it's capable of much more than the Lexus Navigation System.

Lexus Park Assist Test

A Day Late, A Dollar Short

One the features I like about the Lexus navigation system is the traffic display. However, it has shortcomings. It's never helped me to avoid traffic problems. Usually it tells me about traffic problems after I'm already stuck. I hear the same complaint from other Lexus and Toyota owners with the satellite traffic option. Oh wait, dare I mention that the Toyota and Lexus systems are exactly the same?

The Right of Entitlement

Blossom and I were having lunch today. As we were leaving we saw a colleague of ours standing in front of the Apple Store chatting with someone. We stopped to say hello.  While we were talking it occurred to me that our  colleague already had his iPad even though he wasn't carrying it with him. He's one of those guys that has everything. The odd part is that it just seems right that he has everything. As we left he confirmed my suspicion.

Anyway, that got me thinking about why I'm upset about the navigation system. Buying the Lexus I had high hopes that I would get everything I paid for, everything that I wanted in a car, but I was let down. Yes there are hacks to fix motion lock on the navigation system. Yes, I can probably buy lots of things to fix the other shortcomings. But shouldn't I be entitled to something nice? Don't we all deserve something that makes us a little happier?

VAIS Technology VML (MultiMediaLinQ) to the Rescue

About a month ago I had a VAIS Technology VML (MultiMediaLinQ) installed in my Lexus. The VAISTech device adds a USB interface to Generation 5 Lexus Navigation systems like mine. The USB interface allows you to hook up an iPod, iPhone, iPad (haven't actually tried it yet), other random portable music player, or USB disk drive to your Lexus audio system.

I ordered it through the dealer and had them do the install. I was too lazy to pull out the navigation system on my own. Having the dealer do the install basically doubled the cost. On the plus side, they did a great job and after a few weeks of waiting for the parts and a four hour install I now have a cool USB port in my center console.

For the first week I had my iPod connected. This worked great. I used iTunes to manage playlists which show up as MP3 CD Folders on the Lexus Navigation interface. I could use all the normal steering wheel mounted controls to switch songs etc. I was pretty happy except that I was limited by the size of my iPod disk and I didn't want to upgrade. I also noticed a few sound issues. Some songs with a wide dynamic range were having their audio clipped.

I switched to using a 2.5" notebook drive I had laying around. The advantage of using the notebook drive is that it has more capacity than my iPod, primary drive partitions show up as CDs, I can use FLAC for my favorite music, I can organize files with or without iTunes, and I can hear the sound without distortion introduced by the iPod.

So far I'm sticking with the USB disk approach. Though I think I may be open to having passengers connect their iPods. I still use iTunes to create Genius playlists (just like Pandora but with your music library). I also use Playlist Creator to manage m3u playlists that the VAIS VML supports.

The VML isn't without quirks. Managing music on a USB disk drive requires that you manually update playlists or that you delete cached data in the multimedialinq folder on the USB disk partition. You only need to do this when you're adding or deleting music or playlists. It's manual because there is no desktop software for managing USB disks. I also had some issues with the USB port not providing enough power for a big disk. I connected a 1TB Seagate FreeAgent Go drive. It worked but occasionally went offline. I was able to get it working reliably by adding power from a car charger USB port. And speaking of large disk drives, the VML requires FAT32 which really isn't ideal for 1TB drives. And because FAT32 isn't supported in the Windows 7 GUI disk management tools it is hard to prep the drive. Finally, VAIS provides firmware updates through a secure FTP site. Which is a bit weird because you have to email a request for access. That said, once you get access you can download updates that provide new functionality and improvements. Try getting an update for Lexus components without a forced recall in effect. Overall, even with the quirks the VML is still pretty cool.

At this point, all my music is in the car. I can't readily access a specific song because the Lexus user interface locks down while the car is moving, and apparently the user interface is not extensible by third parties (why not?), but at least it's easy to scan through and play my music library for my occasional hour long commute.

The Devil Made Me Do It

I bought a VAIS technology MediaLinQ instead of buying a new car. More on that later.