Is the iPad right for me and where does it fit into my life?

There has always been a gap I needed filling, between smartphone and computer, so ever since Steve Jobs announced the iPad I've been excitedly waiting to get my hands on one and fill the gap, after all I have an iPhone, so I knew I was going to love it right?

Before I answer this I need to set the scene. Two week ago, prior to my iPad arrival I started thinking, well if I've got an iPad do I still need my iPhone, after all, I don't need two devices that work the same, then I saw a Tweet by @jasonbradbury saying since he'd had his iPad his iPhone has just become a phone. With all this in mind, and that I wanted my iPad to feel fresh and new I decided to run an experiment of living without my iPhone for the two week run up to when my iPad arrived. Being a bit of a gadget geek, I knew I'd need a new toy to play with to achieve the task, a task I actually expected to fail as I'd been using an iPhone since 2007, so I decided to upgraded my Orange contract and chose the Android based HTC Desire to help me through my withdrawal symptoms.

With the order place and in advance of the Desire's arrival I thought it would be a good idea to work out exactly what apps I used on a day to day basis and what I actual use my iPhone for. What surprised me was how few apps out of the 7 pages of apps I had that I actually used regularly and I was quite shocked how few it was.

The following day my HTC Desire arrived, and I was immediately impressed, it's AMOLED HD screen was awesome, it multitasked and took every task I set it at high speed, I even found out of the apps I used on my iPhone I only need to find a few equivalent apps from the Android marketplace as most others were in Sense or pre-installed.

I'm not going to go into detail about how good the new Android is and the HTC Desires, that's for another article, but sufficed to say I'd not missed my iPhone and had discover a new exciting and more efficient way of working.

Yesterday my iPad arrived by UPS, along with my mum's and Jan's by TNT a bit later, which was quite a nice surprise as it was a day early.

My iPad box sat on my desk teasing me as I continued working at my PC. Finally I found a window of opportunity to open my iPad box and have a quick play. The iPad, for want of a better description, is like a Touch on steroids, and as we have all come to expect from Apple, was well built, chic, look impressive and the size I wanted. I eagerly pressed the power button with much excitement, as it booted, but wait, oh no the dreaded connect to iTunes appeared, my heart sank, WHAT!!!! Sod off, just let me have quick play, I said allowed. OK, you win, I thought while plugging it into my Macbook while booting iTunes. I then spend the next hour glancing back at my Mac in-between working on my PC while iTunes messed around syncing and setting up my iPad - boy this was frustrating, all I want to do was have a quick play. A pleasant memory of two weeks ago flash in front of my eyes of how quick and refreshing it was to set my Android up within a minute or so, the memory sat heavy on my shoulders like a huge weight had been placed on them; my excitement turn suddenly to a flat feeling, had I made the right decision buy the iPad, did I secretly long it to be an Android pad - I quickly decided to step back from the iPad and rather than play with it there and then I'd fully sync my photos, movies and data leaving it until that night to play with it. I through myself back into work mode on my PC ignoring my iPad and Mac.

Before I knew it, it was 7pm and Jan was rushing excitedly into the my office asking what I thought of the iPad - I lied and said, well I've really be too busy working to get a chance to look at it, I've only just had chance to activate and sync it.

I pack up work, collapsed on the sofa with a glass of wine in one hand and Desire in the other watching her connecting her new iPad to her Macbook Pro awaiting her numerous questions that were about to be ask any second.

After answering here iTunes question, like which do I select here then and her sync process complete we had dinner, all the while my iPad sat in my Crumpler bag nestled up next to my Macbook Pro.

After dinner there she was on her iPad, trying some of her iPhone games, but soon stopped and said, they look fuzzy when full screen, I thought to myself, fuzzy, jeez your eyes are bad, they look shit! but just agreed. She then was in the App store buying new iPad games. At this point I stopped reading twitter on my Desire and dug the iPad out of my Crumpler.

I turned the iPad on for the first time....

My first realisation was the screen is not AMOLED and I'm not quite sure how Apple are getting away with marketing it as HD, in my books it's not much better than the Touch's display - I guess I've been spoilt with how awesome the HTC Desire's HD and AMOLED screen is, it's just sooooo vibrant and stunning it blows your socks off!

My second was I realise I'd have to treat the iPad as if a big iPod Touch, nothing more nothing less or I would get very disillusioned real quick and be back how I felt about it earlier that afternoon. With that in mind I set about trying to find what this device's key roll is going to be and where it fits in my life. I'd already decided earlier that it's not going to fit the gab between computer and smartphone I'd hoped and wanted, a tablet it is not, and imaginary flashed through my mind of a future Android based tablet were not helping either.

I'd quickly decided it's not going to replace my Touch as a music player, after all I'd look stupid walking down the road with the iPad connected to my head via head set, also not very practical in the gym or on the move, so I'll not be putting music on it.

I also found out real quick I wasn't going to enjoy Twitter on it, EEKS full screen Twitter that size, no no no, just don't work for me - at that size screen I want it Tweetie style in a floating panel that interacts with my browser, like on my Macbook pro or a widget on my desktop like Android, but never full screen, so after trying tweetdeck and twitterric they were swiftly deleted - I'd stick to Tweetie on my Macbook and rely on my Desire for mobile usage. The same went for the weather app.

Photos, now we're talking - Apple's new album and the way it works is like voodoo, it's well cool! OK, me like that, so that will be one BIG uses.

1Passwords - oooh yes, now that's like my Mac's version, me like that to, very handy!

Magazines - now this is one of iPad's best uses, Ok I'm starting to get a sense of what I'll use the iPad for and I'm more enthusiastic again. I can see me getting into this, if they aren't too expensive.

instapaper & Evernote - Now this fits perfect into my life, especially as I'll be using my Desire for tweeting and Facebook etc; the share function within Android is very sweet, i can from within any app share info to Instapaper, Evernote, Email, in fact you name it, it can do it - SO, now I can send stuff to Instapaper and Evernote from my Desire and read on my iPad where the full screen will be easier - OK, I really like that idea, now that's going to be a big used feature for me! I'm starting to feel more positive about the iPad now.

Video - well, yep, how can I not like that idea. the 4:3 iPad ration isn't ideal, but hey, video looks good and better than trying to watch an iPod Touch screen when traveling, so yeh, I like that.

OK, I feel like I'm now starting to understand the iPad, and at the moment I've only skimmed the surface and I'll probably do a follow up article in a few weeks time after I've lived with it.

But, as far as I can see, the iPad is more a media device like an Archos but with a big screen rather than a new bread of device as Steve Jobs claims - from what I can see based on the present OS, the iPad doesn't fill the gap I need filling, it lack core functionality, multitasking for one. As far as I can see, the space it's competing in already exists, it's not filling the gap I need filling.

I can see Apple have motivated others to see what the space is, mind you they should have ask me, I've knew what it is for years, and may be this is the problem - I know exactly what I want to fill the gap between smartphone and Laptop, and it's not the iPad.

I want a device that freely and seamlessly communicates between the internet, my PC, Mac, smartphone, camera and TV, it needs to be smart like a smartphone, a media device hub, multitasking, data centric carry everywhere device - it almost needs to know what I want to and how I like to work and adaptable to fit my needs and how I like to work. At the moment I feel there is only one OS that can give me what I want and fill the gap - and that is an Android based tablet. (HTC, Samsung, Sony and HP are you reading this???)

Now, don't get me wrong, I'll end up liking my iPad and using it once I settle back into Apples ways of doing things, and the iPad may suit your needs from this type of device, but a tablet or the killer device that's going to reign in this space it is not, so if you have not got one and are getting one think of it more as a big iPod Touch type device and you will be very pleased, expect a Laptop replacement and you'll be very disappointed and wish you'd waited for an Android or got a Windows 7 tablet.

I think the biggest discovery I've made on my journey over the last two weeks is, I'm no longer that Apple Fanboy I once was and I no longer believe in Apple's locked down app centric, computer tied vision of the future, I kinda like what Google are saying and believe their vision will work and free us from our computer ball and chain. Didn't Bill Gates predict something similar to what Google are doing years ago, what a visionary genius that guy truly is!

Yesterday I ended up have a heated debate with an Apple Fanboy, @Appleconsultant, and there are a lot of thing he bought up I could easily address and shoot down in flames, but one thing that struck me more than others was the legacy issue and roll out of OS updates.

I was think about this issue and it dawned on me, is it such a big issue not having the latest OS? On an iPhone, yes it is as it lacks a lot of functionality other devices take for granted, but in my experience other devices are less important for updates. For example, my Scan built PC is still running Windows XP Pro, I like XP Pro, it's rock solid!, in fact @sabbietage and Microsoft are having a very hard time trying to convincing me why I should upgrade to Windows 7. Even though my PC is now 5 years old it's still brilliant, I still love, it's fast, high spe'd and a good work horse, faithfully do what I need it to do, so why do I need Windows 7 on it? My Macbook Pro is still running Leopard which I'm happy with, it works really well and does the job - in fact I'm not over impressed with Snow Leopard having used Jan's new Macbook Pro. Snow Leopard is more of a pain than Leopard, it's always losing the Wi-Fi printers meaning I need to re-install them every five minutes. My HD2 is running WM 6.5 and won't get Win 7, which I'm quite pleased about as it mean I won't be tempted to upgrade and lose the power WM 6.5 gives me.

So let's get back to Android, his main port of attack - my Hero is running 1.5 still, I haven't even updated to 1.6, not because it's hard to do, it's not it's easy! Do I really care, no not really, my Hero has lasted a year, done it's job well and now I've upgraded to a new toy, the HTC Desire running 2.1, and I'm all excited again. The way I look at all brands of smartphone (except the iPhone) is that I'm always upgrading to the latest, newest and best bit of kit each year, my Hero is now redundant and will be passed on, (to @sabbietage in my Hero's case), to me OS update is less important than the spec of a device and the functionally I need from that device to do the job I require from it. The whole OS upgrade roll out argument never existed until Apple started rolling them out for the iPhone, and IMHO the iPhone is the one device that actual needs the OS rollouts more than other devices do, so why does it you ask:

1/ The iPhone is a locked down device - meaning I have to rely on Apple to add stuff to it that I can't do myself. For example, if I want to make my WM into a Mi-Fi hotspot device I just download the protocols and set it up, I don't need a Microsoft update to do it for me, the phone has the ability for me to add the functionality I need! And that goes for Android to, all I need to do is root it, install Wi-Fi router and it's done.

2/ The iPhone still lacks a lot of basic functionality other devices take for granted.
It wasn't that long ago that the only way to get apps on your device was to jailbreak it and add Cydia, in fact Apps and the App store weren't even Apple's idea (you have the jailbreak community to thank for the App store idea), Steve Jobs stood there and said back in 2007 there won't be Apps for the iPhone, it's all going to be web based Apps - sound familiar, "Flash is not coming to the iPhone" (I wonder how long before he back tracks on that one, or is it to late and his shot himself in the foot as he's pissed Adobe off). And will the iPhone ever get Wi-Fi router ability?, unfortunately I doubt it as that would kill 3g iPad sales!

3/ The iPhone, unlike other smartphone brands aren't free on a realistic contract, they cost you a lot - they are also locked to network and only available sim free at a stupid unrealistic price. For me to buy a replacement for my unlocked 32GB 3GS iPhone it would cost me £699 for last year model (when they first came out it would have been £999), in contrast to replace my brand new model HTC Desire it's £399 sim free and it's free on a realistic monthly contract. Now that's a big difference! It's not because the iPhone is better, it's nowhere near as high spec'd as the Desire, it's not because the iPhone has more features because it has less. It's more because Apple is making money from every network contract sold with an iPhone, so networks have to pass that on and Apple also doesn't want you buying them sim free to put a non Apple contract sim in it. So yes, I want my 3GS OS updates, it's not like I can easily afford to replace it, unlike the Desire!

4/ Apple lock down the developers so much that core API's aren't always available, hence they need to keep tweaking their OS, they aren't improvement, they are just adding stuff that should have been there in the first place! Copy and paste springs to mind! My first smartphone had more core functionality in it than the iPhone has today, and OK you need to be tech savvy to get the best out of it but that's not the point, the point is the iPhone still lacks core features, so yeh it needs updated OS until it reaches the point it has them all because unlike other OS's I can't tweak the iPhone myself, Apple has to do it for me!

So is new version of OS that important to me the end user, nope, not unless it's an iPhone update! It's more important for the brands (except iPhone), as it helps them sell new kit, and that's fine by me, in fact the idea that my next Android device is going to be better than my current one makes it all the more appealing! So if their new kit fits my requirements and I like it I'll buy it, if not I won't!

Don't get me wrong, I actually like the iPhone and have had one since 2007, and for a lot of people it's probably the best choice of smartphone, but that doesn't mean it's the best device on the market today, best OS or that it will be the ideal choice for everyone. It's more down to what fits your needs and what you expect for a device.

My last point on OS updates - Apple your doing my head in, why can't you do updates like Microsoft, download it in the background and install when I turn my computer off rather than as soon as I boot my Mac it wants to update and re-boot, jeez that is so irritating - I'm trying to work you know, I don't need interruptions I get enough of that from Twitter. lol

As for the Virus issue, where have you Apple Fanboys been for the last couple of years! Microsoft protect my computer! Microsoft Security Essential - it does what it says on the tin! I don't get viruses, end of discussion! I'm sure PC viruses are created by Apple Fanboys. lol

The thing is, I don't need an Apple Fanboy to try justify how good Apple products are and why they do things the way they do, I don't really care. All I'm interested in is does that device do the job I want it for. I also don't like the way Fanboys trash all other products and brands, there is no need for it! I've worked with computers since Windows 3.11 was the hottest thing since sliced bread, from Windows, Unix, Novel, Linux to Mac and mobile OS's from WM, Android, Palm, Symbian to iPhone, so I've got a pretty good idea of what I want from a device and what I expect that device to do - I don't need preaching at, I'm not religious, so I'll never pray at the Apple alter. If an Apple product fits my requirements , yes I'll buy. But I'll never ditch Windows, it does exactly what I need it to do and I can't survive without it, so doesn't expect me to! My Macbook is awesome, Leopard is fantastic and I love it, I use it because it fits my needs, not because Apple is god and all things Apple are superior! mmm.... mind you Bill Gates on the other hand, well he's just a visionary genius! - after all he gave Steve Jobs the idea of the iPad! lol

Has Steve Jobs put the final nail in the iPhones coffin in it’s present OS form factor?

So now we know from the horses mouth, Steve Jobs, that we won’t get Flash on the Apple iPhone and the net has been buzzing ever since with the whole HTML5 issue and whether Apple is right or wrong, along with Adobe and Microsoft joining in with public statements, which all seems a bit playground stuff to me. Personally I think Apple have made a mistake ruling out Flash, and time will tell whether Apple do a U-turn on the decision like they did with Apps for the iPhone.

The writing Is On The Wall
It’s only a question of how long can the iPhone retain it’s popularity in it’s present App OS format, I give it 4-5 years before it ends up just a Apple Fanboy phone in it’s present Apps centric format. Why do I come to this conclusion, well there are several factors:

Adobe Flash v HTML5
It’s all very well for Steve Jobs to say HTML5 is the way forward and Flash is old tech but it's not as simple as that. HTML5 is years off and even if it did happen tomorrow it will still be years away before becoming main steam regardless of what Apple and Microsoft say. The one key factor Apple and Microsoft are forgetting and that is us, the Web design / development companies that have to lean and implement the new technologies while still servicing clients current sites and needs - even if we were totally versed in HTML5 right now, with our current portfolio of clients sites it would take us several years to re-build them all in HTML5 as we can’t have it hamper our development on our own back end technologies, which to us is more of a priority as they are a direct benefits to our clients, HTML5 isn’t.

Flash is not just about playing video either - for us that is a very small part on how we use Flash, most is used for animation within web site design to enrich the viewers experience. Flash is a quicker, reliable and a way more cost effective solution for making visually stunning and interactive content for the client.

So Flash is here for the forceable future, and it won’t boded well if Apple mobile OS doesn’t support it when other OS’s like Symbian and Android do and will so more in the future with the release of Adobe Flash 10 for mobile in June.

It’s My Phone - My Choice
I’ve run Flash on all my smartphones from Windows Mobile to Android, it may not be desktop experience, but it’s better than not having it. It’s not down to Apple or any other manufacturer to dictate whether I can view it or not, if I want to install a plugin to view Flash on my mobile then I should be able to install it.

App Centric v Data Centric
Palm saw the future first, something Apple had missed, data synergy on a data centric device, but unfortunately Jon Rubinstein took Palm down a similar lock in deal with only selected networks as Apple did in hardware that doesn’t do it justice, which was doomed to fail as I said at the time, hopefully HP can resurrect the Palm OS, it was pure genius and still is. HTC saw it and brought us Sense and are gaining ground (HTC’s Sense is excellent, it’s what the iPhone should have), even Microsoft realised data centric devices are the future of the smartphone and re-designed Windows 7.

Apple on the other hand are App centric, which is cool but I wonder how long it will take before the new iPad and data centric smartphones starts killing iPhone sales, after all an App centric device will be better in a slate form factor than the iPhone’s form factor and the smartphone is more suited to being a data centric device. The iPad has not hit the UK and the international market yet, but my gut feeling and from the feedback I see from the few that have it via the US, is once you have an iPad the iPhone get used just as phone. If this becomes the case for most people they won’t bother upgrading or getting the expensive network locked iPhone especially as the data centric smartphone’s are generally free and on all networks.

I wonder whether Apple saw that this move to data centric smartphones could well happen and so got in quick with the slate form factor using the iPhone’s OS onto it rather than a full blown Mac OSX, makes you wonder.

Data centric is the way forward for the smartphone, there is no doubt about it, the question is how long Apple’s iPhone will rule, the iPad could well be the final nail in the iPhone’s coffin, but only time will tell.

I’m looking forward to getting the iPad (when Apple eventually get to shipping it to the UK), but I won’t be upgrading my 3GS to the next 4G iPhone, I’ll be get the HTC Desire instead.

Today while skimming through the numerous tweets, I spotted a link to an article "What puts me off Apple? Apple users" written by Katie Lee. [click here for article]

After reading, it becomes quite apparent that many Windows users are not fully aware of the benefits of switching to the Mac. The situation is not helped by the Apple "fanboys", as they are commonly referred to by Window users, who will try ramming the point home that the Mac is better than Windows period - very helpful indeed! The business community has also not help with it's dismissive approach to the Mac harking back to pre intel days. The Mac has evolved and is a competent business tool.

Being a die-hard Windows user since Windows 3.11 you could hardly refer to me as an Apple "fanboy", but when it comes to replacing our computer kit we will be replacing PC's with Mac's as there are numerous advantages which I'll try to put into a Windows user language.

The big problem with the PC is the fact Microsoft do not make them, if they did they would be brilliant (are you reading this Microsoft), like an Apple Mac. A computer is more than just the sum of it's parts and the OS running on it. Apple have got this OS / hardware synergy down to a fine art, something Microsoft can only hope their computer manufacture partners get right, and very few succeed like Apple. Apple are very helpful at installing Windows correctly configured within it's own partitioned area, known as "boot camp". The beauty of this is you have dual boot OS, a neat trick! I found Vista runs better on my Mac than it does on the PC's we have running it. Why Microsoft haven't done a deal with Apple to have it pre-installed I'll never know!

I don't see it as Windows v Mac OS anymore, I want both and do, all on one computer, there is no competition anymore! Mac fans know this already, but for some reason tend to go on about how good the OS is, and yes it is easy, fast, intuitive and I do love it, but that's no help if your a Windows user, as it is a daunting task to swop and learn something new and alien to what your used to. I found it quite exciting, like the day I got my first ever computer all those years ago, but hey I'm a sad techie geek who love new toys to play with rather than the average user.

We would never have bought our Mac's if it hadn't been for the fact that I knew if we didn't get on with the OS we could just us Windows on them instead, Apple said it was easy to install and it was, thanks Apple your great!!

We are running Leopard, which is very good and its quite refreshing to have an OS that enables sync with most if not all other standards built in, something Microsoft needs to address within it's system, it's either Microsoft standard or nothing. We have even ditch Outlook (Entourage on the Mac) in favour of Apple's built in Mail, iCal and Address book. It's very refreshing to simplify and get email through how it was originally meant to look, pictures showing, text neatly formated, boy does that reminds me of the early days when life was less paranoid. The Apple way, separate programs that interlink doesn't suffer the same as Outlook which gets crash happy with age as file size increases.

It connects to my network without a fuss, see all the shared Windows PC's, access their drives, use their printers and open their files with no network set up needed, just Wi-Fi access to the network - simple, neat and I wish Windows was that simple.

PDF creation is built in, sorry Adobe, who needs your over priced full Acrobat. PDF's can be created from just about anywhere you can print from - how things should work!! As for viewing documents and pictures, well erm what can I say.... Boy is it slick, simple and extremely cool. HOW THE HELL DID I SURVIVE WITHOUT PREVIEW!!!! Highlight a bunch of pictures, ctr+a on pc is cmd+a on mac, then hit the space bar and be amazed how it works! Make full screen and hit the play button, viola, slide show in the time it takes to press the keys - pure magic! Space bar trick works in Mail with any attached file as well, now that's sweet!

From the get go, the Mac OS has all core stuff to start you off without the clutter of unwanted third part junk installed on it - just how I like it. For the average user, all you'll need in addition is either Microsoft Mac Office (usual stuff, Word, Excel, Entourage and PowerPoint) or iWorks Apples equivalent and a paint program, either Pixelmator (well cheap and very good) or Adobe Elements with do the job, and your off and running with one of the best everyday communications computers you'll ever used.

Apple's customer service has been second to none and I cannot fault them. It has been the best computer manufacturer we have dealt with. This is NOT a comparison to Microsoft customer service whom I've never spoken to - they don't make computers so not needed to.

The more I right this article the more I realise how much the Mac and it's OS has simplified my life, oh no I think I'm becoming a Apple "fanboy"!!

As Windows is no longer an issue, the only things to consider are: your budget and do I want a desktop or laptop - now which Mac shall I buy and what version of Windows 7 do I need.

Twitter v Facebook - a newbies first impressions

I've stepped out of my comfort zone, Facebook, bit the bullet and dipped my toe into Twitter. It's taken me a good week to scratch the surface on how it works and why I'd want to use it in the first place. I'm kinda getting my head round it all, like who I follow (not easy), rather than using it as a glorified RSS feed for all my tech tweets, which seemed stupid as I've already got Google Reader to do that job.

So far I'm finding it a mad, slightly daunting place, where no prisoners are taken, bullets fly thick and fast and not quite as friendly as I was expecting; maybe I'm just used to the social interaction in Facebook. There are some very amusing people tweeting, Will Head and Katie Lee spring to mind and it's a very fascinating world to peer into, where I can see one getting an addiction, but it's not the comfortable friendly place Facebook is.

Having said that I find myself being drawn more and more into Twitter, checking tweets and hell bent on some insane mission to fine new people to follow that will stimulate my ever increasing twitter addiction.

At the moment the verdict is still out.

Not sure how many out there have tried the new Microsoft Security Essentials which is on beta, but we reckon it might be a good idea after we discovered it's protecting and finding stuff other anti-virus software just aren't picking up, like a Trojan exploit on some of those dodgy websites or hacked websites. If your running Firefox then you should be OK as it usually blocks such sites, but IE is venerable to load them.

If in doubt, it would be worth downloading the beta, which is free, and scan your system. Once the MSE is installed its non-intrusive and doesn't seem to slow your PC down like some Anti-Virus companies products do.

For more info click this link to Microsoft Security Essentials

I just saw this post on Gizmode; Sony have done a questionnaire asking the public if they're interested in features like "Bluetooth, integrated storage, GPS, TV tuning, better file connectivity with the PS3, a touchscreen, improved battery life and speedier load times". I just burst into laughter!

Oh Sony where do I begin; some NEW GAMES maybe for a start.

My better half was, and would still be, a PSP addict - she was on every spare minute. Now she hardly uses it favoring the hundreds of games she can get on her iPhone. The main reason she doesn't use it - NO NEW GAMES!! It doesn't matter how good you get the device Sony, if you are not getting new games released quicker and more of them you may as well kill it off and concentrate on other stuff !

Sony to grab our attention again, you need to start getting creative, don't just give us a revamp - come on, do an Apple or Palm, think out side the box and knock our socks off - you know you want to! I'll even give you a little help, A PSP Phone with: Quad band with 7.2 Mbps download data speeds, HD touch screen, downloadable games, movies and music, built in hard drive (min of 16GB, 32Gb would be better), memory card expansion slot, GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, TV and radio tuner, Email, contacts, notes (usual smartphone stuff) and full sync with Google, Google maps, Google Earth, a good web fast browser, oh and one of your fantastic 5 Megapixel cybershot phone cameras with flash. This should get your R&D team started. Come on Sony, start playing the game with us and we all may just love you again!




UPDATE:
Now now, play nicely Sony and try share your toys with your brothers.
Oh well I guess I'll have to kick that dream of a PSP Phone into touch then as Sony do not want to play the game with us or anyone else.

Crazy as it may seem, it appears Sony have refused to share the brand name of PlayStation with Sony Ericsson, who had been working on the PSP mobile phone idea and had presented it to the board late 2008. Mobile Today quotes sources saying "the refusal to sanction the brand on the handsets in December has prompted a fallout between Sony and the mobile phone joint venture."

Oh dear, the kids are in the playground again. Makes you wonder whether Sony are looking for an "out" from their joint venture with Ericsson doesn't it.

Full article via Mobile Today here >