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Switched On: The 2007 Switchies, Portable Products
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment. The consumer technology landscape shifted somewhat in 2007. Companies that were once major forces, including Gateway and Thomson Consumer Electronics, better known to most Americans as RCA, were acquired as their fortunes declined. MVNOs such as Amp'd and Disney Mobile closed their doors as did PC retailer CompUSA. Palm, forced to kill its "third platform" of Foleo, was saved from a similar fate by an influx of capital. Delivering alternative programming into homes proved too challenging for set-top boxes from Akimbo and MovieBeam. And there were changings of the guard at Dell, Sprint, AT&T, Motorola and Logitech, to name a few.However, amidst all this tumult, a number of products were released that deserve recognition. In many industries, there is a defining award that recognizes excellence. Today, though, these products will have to settle for a Switchie, the third annual Saluting Wares Improving Technology's Contribution to Humanity award.The "The Right MultiTouch" and Product of the Year Award goes to the Apple iPhone. While it was difficult to find news about this obscure device in 2007, the iPhone's slick user interface, polished applications and appealing interface navigation methods outweighed its EDGE network limitations and touch-screen keyboard compromises. With a sleek design taken for granted in Apple products, the iPhone was noteworthy for straddling the traditionally fragmented worlds of smartphones and fashion phones. The announced arrival of an SDK next year offers tantalizing possibilities.
Switched On: The 2006 Switchies -- Portable Products
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment: The "Ink Well" Award (and Portable Device of the Year) goes to the Sony Reader (pictured at right). With a slim, portable design, restrained feature set, breakthrough display and great battery life, the Reader was a bit of a sleeper from a company known for its audiovisual heritage. The product would benefit from better bitmap scaling, color, and a clip-on light like the "Itty Bitty" variety available for print books, but it represents the kind of smart design and well-integrated service that could have made the electronics giant a stronger competitor in the digital audio player market. The "Big Ideas in Small Sound" Award goes to the Altec Lansing InMotion 500, the slim battery-powered speaker dock optimized for the iPod nano, and which is compatible with both generations of the popular digital audio player. Altec Lansing's decision to use its own speaker technology for this paid off; it produces far superior sound to its closest competitor. Runners up include the Samsung K5, iriver clix, and the Samsung Helix/Pioneer Inno and the Coby MP-C341 Portable MP3 Boom Box.
