(Mini) iPhone 4s Siri Review and Easter Eggs

I was debating on getting the new iPhone 4s- I wondered if the speed and Siri really made the upgrade worthwhile.  Short Review: YES!  Siri Rocks!

I decided availability would be the deciding factor for me, if I could get a 4s without waiting in line, I would.  Turned out I missed the morning rush at the AT&T store, and walked right in.  I was expecting to be told a 3-5 week wait (like their website said), but the rep said they had “plenty” in stock (NOTE: If you are looking for an iPhone 4s and are in the Raleigh,NC area, hit up the North Hills AT&T store – they have some, no wait!)

Anyway, fast forward a few hours, Siri and the speed make the upgrade great.  Web pages are snappy and crisp now.  No more delays while the rendering happens (my iPhone 4 even took a while on WiFi for most page rendering).  A great Purchase, highly recommended if you do any browsing at all.

And then there is Siri.  It is amazing how good the recognition is.  It understands almost everything and generally just does what you need it to, without learning some complex syntax for speaking to it.  Apple has done a great job with this, and I expect to see it get even better over the next several months based on how they see people using it (Siri data is sent back to Apple’s servers for processing so they know what people are asking/expecting Siri to do).  I can’t wait to get my hands on the Siri API / SDK – I’m really hoping Apple starts to expose some of this soon.

In additional to the cool functionality (I won’t iterate it here, Apple does a good job in the promo videos), it seems that the Siri team hid a few Easter eggs in the app.  Here are a few of the funny ones I’ve seen so far..Enjoy!

Siri Easter Egg 1Siri Easter Egg Love

Siri Easter Egg Meaning of Life

Siri Easter Egg 1Siri Easter Egg BarkingSiri Easter Egg EULA

Alltel to Battle the iPhone Buzz with ‘CellTop’

Today Alltel announced a new product called CellTop:

“An exclusive, patent-pending technology that offers customers an easier way to access, manage and organize a wide range of information already available on their Alltel Wireless phones. Celltop gives customers more control over their wireless experience through a unique and fully-customizable technology similar to the desktop on a personal computer”

Sounds like a great concept, and I’m all for ANYTHING that helps making a phone easier to navigate, but patent-pending?  This sounds an awful lot like Handmark products that have been around for years.  But it is nice to see carriers actually getting involved in the UX (user experience) field, and augmenting their products (sure beats crippling them, as some carries have chosen to do).

CellTop runs on the Qualcomm Brew platform, so it should be portable across multiple phones (and potentially carriers).  I wonder if any of the big guys will take notice of what a regional player like Alltel is up to?

More info and screenshots on CellTop can be found at http://www.mycelltop.com/

iPhone for Windows Mobile?

Some clever (and fast) developers have put together an iPhone interface for Win Mobile 5 devices.

If I get some time, I may install it on my phone this weekend.

Download here