Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPhone
Pogue: Visual Voicemail 'feature of the year'
There is no doubt that the iPhone is innovative (heck, even ComputerWorld thinks so), and there is also no doubt that David Pogue, New York Times tech columnist, is a big fan of Apple's products. It should come as a surprise to no one, then, that Pogue has included the iPhone on his list of the most important new features in tech of 2007 (the 'Pogies,' as he calls them). Note that this list highlights breakthrough features, and not innovative devices as such.Visual Voicemail, one of the iPhone's signature features, was given the nod as the best new feature of 2007. I can't argue with Pogue on this one, Visual Voicemail has really helped me out (and I don't even get that much voicemail. I'm a sad, unpopular man).
What features in Apple's products do you think are the most innovative this year? Personally, I think Quick Look in Leopard is truly a marvel of technology.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CB said 9:34PM on 12-28-2007
Quick Look FTW. Time Machine is 2nd.
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Fritz Laurel said 10:15PM on 12-28-2007
I'm not sure if something so obvious (this is the way voicemail should have worked from day 1) should be on the "best" list or if all other voicemail implementations should perpetually be on the "worst" list.
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Jon said 10:33PM on 12-28-2007
Visual Voicemail is nothing new (outside of U.S. market).
The European LG Chocolate has had it for a couple years now.
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DaiMac79 said 11:35PM on 12-28-2007
Quick Look and Time Machine both rock, but Screen Sharing is like buttah. 90% of the vital features of ARA, built into the OS for free? Compare this to Vista; only the Ultimate version features VNC capabilities in the box. The controlled computers don't have to be running Leopard or even Mac OS, it handles general VNC as well. Its not really a "new" or innovative feature, but it typifies Apple at their best, taking something relatively complicated and annoying/expensive to set up previously and making it accessible/cheap/easy.
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thethirdmoose said 12:09AM on 12-29-2007
Annoying/expensive to set up? surely you jest. I set it up in no less than 60 seconds per computer at my house. Ubuntu and OS X come with VNC clients. I can even VNC through my phone's data connection
DaiMac79 said 9:16AM on 12-29-2007
Umm, OS X 10.4 comes with a VNC client, not VNC controller software which is what screen sharing in 10.5 effectively provides. Its more robust than current solutions like ChickenOfTheVNC, and its way cheaper than buying apple's Remote Access SW or again buying Vista Ultimate. There are other third party solutions yes, and I'm sure Linux has many as well; my point was the difference between the average user being told to "install those things in 60 seconds" (not to mention being told which website/store/etc to acquire them from) vs pointing out a button in the network dialog built into the OS. Please try and form an argument that installing your own solution/etc is easier than that, I'd very much like to read it.
DaiMac79 said 9:22AM on 12-29-2007
Oh and yes, I've used just about every VNC solution for OSX at least once (does Citrix count as well?), I'm just talking about the application of this feature for bringing simple and easy control of multiple computers over the network into the OS as a small feature for average (not super tech-saavy) users, versus making it one of the primary elements of a nearly $200 price difference between OS versions (Vista) and then still annoying to use.
Now I just need a MBP with n-wireless to come over to my house so I can see what the difference in speed is between that and the G-wireless in this iBook.
Johnny said 2:18AM on 12-29-2007
Visual voicemail is stupid. In fact, I don't even use conventional voicemail because voicemail is so... 2006.
I haven't checked my voicemail in almost a year, because it's a real waste of time. Ya know why? It's cuz I have SIMULSCRIBE. Look it up. You'll be like, "WTF is the big deal with visual voicemail?"
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THJ said 1:38PM on 12-29-2007
Thanks for the tip on simulscribe, Def gonna check that out!
Sam said 3:56AM on 12-29-2007
The idea behind Quick Look is hardly new - something similar called QuickView was introduced in Windows 95, and I believe there was something in OS/2 that was broadly comparable. At the time, I thought QuickView was wonderful, even though I didn't use it much - and it seems that not many people *did* use it, as it was killed off by the time Windows 2000 came out.
No, it is of course, as with many of the things that make Macs (and Apple products in general) a pleasure to use, the implementation of an idea, more than whether the idea is brand new or not that really proves Apple's innovation.
QuickView was flawed in a number of ways, from (probably) not having a plug-in architecture (that anyone ever made use of), to being a separate program. Sure, you could right-click and select it from the menu but it never felt integrated.
As for Visual Voicemail, I think that it might have been done before, but in this case the success has boiled down to Apple's deals with the networks and also marketing. If Visual Voicemail did exist before the iPhone then no-one knew about it!
Sam
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rezatayebij said 9:21AM on 12-29-2007
Quick Look is awesome. It really helps me out to find stuffs. It`s the most useful feature of Leopard.
About Visual Voicemail ... I can`t really say anything. I`m using an unlocked iphone. sad sad sad .......
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David Hildreth said 6:08PM on 12-29-2007
No matter who I show it to or how much they know/care about the iPhone this simple feature ALWAYS wows people.
It should have been on phones 5 years ago and people know it.
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geochick said 7:19PM on 12-29-2007
Visual voicemail is definitely a plus I've taken it for granted already I forgot what the big deal about it was. SimulScribe is interesting if you want to read your messages. However, I like to listen to my messages not read them esp. since I'm reading emails and other things all day long. Its nice just to listen to someone's voice once in a while. In Leopard I'm thankful for Quick Look, TM and Spaces. I use those features all the time. I also like what they have done with Spotlight.
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akatsuki said 1:36PM on 12-31-2007
No way... Simulscribe and Spinvox beat this hands down (plus Visual Voicemail is nothing new anyway, they have had it in Japan for a long time)...
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Beau said 5:47AM on 1-01-2008
Telstra over here in Australia have has Video MessageBank on their 3G/Next G phones for a while now.
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