Backing up an iPhone, in case you hadn’t noticed, is a hassle. You do the job via iTunes, but it’s not a particularly intuitive experience, nor one that’s as automated as it should be. (The syncing that happens automatically when you connect an iPhone via USB falls very short of a full backup.) Unless you’re a lot more careful than I am about protecting your data, you probably don’t back up your iPhone as often as you should.

Enter Iomega’s SuperHero, which I wrote about when it was announced at CES in January. It’s an iPhone charging dock–it also works with the current version of the iPod Touch–that aims to make backup so easy that you’ll actually do it. Or contact and photo backup, at least–the SuperHero can’t protect apps, e-mail, calendars, and other items because Apple provides no way for third-party products to get at this data. Iomega provided a unit to me for review.

The SuperHero takes up about as much space on a desk or table as a coaster: It’s not much more than a little box with an iPhone connector, a slot for an SD card (Iomega supplies a 4GB card, but you can swap in a larger one), and a jack for its AC adapter. It works with a free SuperHero backup program, available from the App Store. Launch the app, pop the iPhone into the SuperHero, and it will charge your phone and automatically back up contacts and photos, so they’re safe if you accidentally lose them–or lose your iPhone, period. If you install the app onto multiple iPhones and/or iPod touches,  you can use them all with one  SuperHero dock, although backups are assigned cryptic names such as “1ED0132A,” and I couldn’t figure out a way to change that to something friendlier like “Harry’s iPhone 4.”

When I tried backing up my iPhone 4 with the SuperHero, my 1700 contacts transferred over in a few minutes. Fine. Then the software started transferring my 658 photos to the dock. Backing up each photo took longer than I expected.

Much longer than I expected.

Like, around two to five minutes per five-megapixel photo.

Which means that backing up 658 photos might take close to two days. Or, if I kept the SuperHero on my nightstand and got it going right before I went to sleep–the iPhone app is smart enough to pick up where it left off if you interrupt a photo backup–four or five nights. Even if you don’t let photos linger on your phone like I do, backing up a day’s worth of snapshots might take hours, not minutes.

By way of comparison, Apple’s iTunes can back up my iPhone–contacts, photos, apps and all–in less than ten minutes over a USB connection.

An Iomega representative explained that me that the SuperHero talks to the iPhone via iPhone Accessory Protocol, a feature Apple created to let car stereos and other external devices control iPods and iPhones and download track information and cover art. IAP was never meant for transferring humongous files like digital photos;  sending iPhone snapshots back and forth over it is the equivalent of shoving blueberries through a drinking straw. Iomega says it can only transfer photos at about 6-Kbps, a speed so slow I’m amazed it’s associated with any product manufactured in this millennium.

There is good news, sort of: Apple has recently increased the throughput of iAP. Iomega expects to have the new version implemented by summer, which it says will make the SuperHero ten times faster. But it’s so sluggish that even a 10X boost will only make it less slow, not fast.

Now, using a SuperHero won’t always take eons. Once you’ve done your first backup, subsequent ones only transfer new photos, not the ones which are already on the SuperHero’s SD card. And if you back up your photos to a computer fastidiously or don’t take all that many in the first place, a SuperHero backup would go a lot more quickly. But the fewer photos you keep on your iPhone or more often you transfer them to a computer, the less attractive a proposition SuperHero is in the first place. And even in a best-case scenario, it’s useful only for supplementing backups via iTunes, not replacing them.

I still like the idea of SuperHero. An iPhone dock that did a reasonably speedy, reasonably complete job of backing up your phone’s contents could be a winner, and a decent deal at $69.99. I wish Apple would give third-party manufacturers the access they need to build such a gadget. But given that there’s no way for the SuperHero to protect all your data, or to transfer the data it does have access to at a respectable speed, I can’t help but conclude that Iomega had a good idea that it can’t currently turn into a good product.

Me, I’m hoping for a new Zune soon–maybe several of them. Hold on, hear me out, I’m serious.

One of the great mysteries of the current tech industry is why Apple’s iPod Touch–basically a smartphone without the phone, 3G connection, monthly charges, or contracts–has no real competition. It’s clearly selling like gangbusters, yet the only products that feel like direct competitors come from little companies like Archos. Wouldn’t other big electronics companies like a piece of the action?

But when you think about it, maybe the lack of Touch rivals isn’t all that surprising. A competitor would need to be built around a platform. The most obvious candidate would be Android–but Android, as it stands, wouldn’t be very satisfactory. The iPod Touch benefits not only from Apple’s iOS but also from the whole iTunes ecosystem: the music, the video, the e-commerce infrastructure, the integration with other Apple products such as Macs, iPads, and Apple TV. Without this stuff, the Touch wouldn’t be the appealing, ready-to-enjoy entertainment device that it is.

Android can’t match any of that: It bundles in some loose integration with Amazon’s music download service, and that’s about it. Attempts by other companies to supplement Android’s standard entertainment features, such as Verizon’s use of a Blockbuster movie download app, aren’t exactly inspiring.

That won’t stop some companies from building Touch-like Android devices–here’s Samsung’s Galaxy Player, which is rolling out in Europe. But few companies are in a position to put together a suite of entertainment services that are even vaguely in the same league as the ones Apple controls.

But Windows Phone 7? I think you could use it to build a decent iPod Touch competitor right now. All the money Microsoft has invested in Zune hasn’t bought it a significant percentage of the media player market, but it’s resulted in a solid music service (Zune Pass), a reasonable selection of movies and TV episodes to download, and a piece of ambitious Windows media-management software. And Windows Phone 7′s gaming features are on the Xbox Live platform–a form of integration into a larger ecosystem that even Apple can’t match.

The smart, entertaining Windows Phone 7 user interface also feels like it work just fine on a media handheld designed to appeal to millions of non-nerds; Android still feels a bit like it was designed by geeks, for geeks.

At the right price, a WP7-based media handheld that was essentially a phoneless Samsung Focus could be the first plausible mainstream iPod Touch competitor. I’m not saying it would be a hit–there’s still the question of “Why should I buy this instead of an iPod Touch?”–but it seems like it’d be worth a try.

Microsoft itself could release a “Zune Touch,” or it could work with Samsung, LG, HTC, or another hardware maker, or with several of them. I don’t have a clue whether such a device is on the road map. But I’m struck by the unbelievable patience that the company has shown for the Zune brand name. It’s practically synonymous with “unsuccessful Microsoft attempt to compete with Apple,” yet it lives on–Windows Phone 7′s desktop software, entertainment services, and media apps all put the Zune name front and center. That’s especially odd given that Microsoft has a history of changing the names of products early and often when they’re not instant hits. (Back in January of 2009, I suggested that Microsoft consider dumping the name Zune in favor of “Xbox,” but it didn’t listen.)

With all the Zune-ified aspects of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft is doubling down on the brand rather than getting ready to phase it out. Could it be doing so at least in part because it thinks there’s still life in the Zune hardware line beyond the Zune HD?

So how does that translate into percentages of users who get to enjoy the benefits of a current mobile operating system versus. those who are stuck on something at least slightly stale? Online advertising network Chitika, which publishes stats based on aggregate data about visitors to sites on its network, shared some relevant numbers with me.

Here are Chitika’s number for Android devices: Forty-three percent of users are on Froyo, which means that the majority are still running an old version of the OS.

And here are Chitika’s current numbers for the iPhone and iPod Touch–sixty-eight percent of users are on a 4.x version:

(For the sake of consistency, Chitika didn’t include the iPad–which will only get iOS 4.x in November–in the above numbers.)

iOS 4 had a head start on Froyo, but only a small one: Apple released it on June 21st. Google began pushing Froyo out to Nexus One owners on June 29th, and (some) other sellers of Android devices have followed in the weeks since.

It’s hard to do useful Apples-to-Androids comparisons here. For one thing, Apple and Google have different approaches to upgrades and version numbering: Apple does one major annual update and rolls the version number ahead by a full digit, while Google has been doing frequent, quite meaty upgrades without ratcheting the version number up to 3.0. We also don’t know how many of the stragglers can’t do an upgrade on their device and how many could but haven’t yet done so.

Even so, this seems like interesting proof of one benefit of Apple’s approach to hardware, software, and the integration thereof versus Google’s. If you own an iPhone or a Touch, you’re probably on the current platform. And if you own an Android device, you probably aren’t.

Since installing Game Center before lunch, I’ve accumulated a few friends, and we’re all wondering the same thing: Now what? Aside from adding friends and altering a status message, there isn’t anything to do in Game Center. The app doesn’t tell you what games are supported or provide links to the App Store. A button for “Find Game Center Games” boots the player out Apple’s Game Center web page, which is basically an advertisement with no resources for people who are already using the service. Apparently, Ms. Pac-Man is one of the first games to support Game Center, but there’s no way to figure that out from within the app.

I’ve had high hopes for Game Center since Apple announced it alongside iOS 4 in April. The concept is a lot like Xbox Live — you can invite friends to games, rack up achievements and get paired with strangers of similar skill in multiplayer  – but it’s still a novel idea for smartphones and handheld game consoles. This was a clever move by Apple, adding a social layer to its App Store games to keep people hooked.

So I was thinking today’s launch would be a grand occasion, with iPhone and iPod Touch gamers — there are apparently so many of them — buzzing about with challenges and friend requests. Instead, Game Center’s launch day is a bust. As soon as Apple adds some actual things to do, I’ll post some real impressions. In the meantime, look for me under the nickname ThePimpOfSound.

Before Steve Jobs introduced the new iPod Touch, he immediately started bragging about the device’s gaming dominance. He claimed that the iPod Touch accounts for half of the portable gaming market, with more sales than and outsells Sony and Nintendo’s handhelds combined.

A claim like that needs a bunch of asterisks. As I pointed out a year ago, fighting a console war means manipulating statistics to your favor, and Apple is guilty once again.

Maybe the iPod Touch outsold its rivals recently — Apple sold 9.4 million iPods (all models, not just the Touch) last quarter, compared to 3.15 million Nintendo DS sales and 1.2 million PSP sales. But the Nintendo DS alone has shipped well over 100 million units , and the PSP topped 50 million sales in February 2009, compared to 120 million iOS devices shipped to date, by Jobs’ own admission. Lifetime iPod Touch sales are not even close to the PSP and Nintendo DS.

That’s not to say Apple doesn’t deserve to talk a big game. The company is hitting a stride now, with next week’s launch of Game Center, a set of cross-game social features that the Nintendo DS and PSP lack. Also, the new iPod Touch will have a gyroscope and the same A4 processor as the iPhone 4, for faster and more accurate gaming. Towards the start of today’s press event, Apple even brought out some people from Epic Games, who showed off a 3D sword-fighting RPG. Indeed, it’s getting harder for Sony and Nintendo to argue that iOS games are insubstantial distractions.

All of which makes me wish Apple didn’t distort reality when slamming Sony and Nintendo. The iPod Touch, and iOS, have momentum and forward-thinking features on their side. There’s no need to mislead the people who watched Apple’s press conference but weren’t inclined to fact-check Steve Jobs.

But like I say, my impulse is to compare the Zune HD to the Touch. So here’s a first pass at a T-Grid comparing the two devices’ specs and features. If all you care about is media playback, the Zune looks like a strong competitor–but stick around until the end of the grid.

This T-Grid is a work in progress, subject to expansion and revision:

The devices	Microsoft Zune HD	Apple iPod Touch
Availability	Now	Now
Price	$219 (16GB); $289 (32GB)	$199 (8GB); $299 (32GB); $399 (64GB)
Colors available	Black, platinum, green, blue, red	One–black/silver
Dimensions and weight	4″ by 2.7″ by .35″; 2.6 ounces	4.3″ by 2.4″ by .33″; 4.05 ounces
CPU	Nvidia Tegra	Samsung ARM
Screen size and technology	3.3″, OLED	3.5″, LCD
Screen resolution	480 by 272	480 by 320
Video output	720p with optional dock	480p and 576p with optional cable
Multi-touch	Yes	Yes
Battery life	Microsoft says up to 33 hours for music, up to 8.5 hours for video.	Apple says up to 30 hours for music, up to 6 hours for video.
Accelerometer	Yes	Yes
Radio	Yes, HD	No
Camera	No	No
GPS	No	No
Wi-Fi	802.11 b/g	802.11 b/g
Per-track music downloads	Yes	Yes
Subscription music	Yes (Zune Pass)	Not from Apple, but Rhapsody offers it
Movie purchases and rentals	Yes	Yes
TV show purchases	Yes	Yes
Audio formats	Windows Media, WMA Lossless, AAC (no FairPlay), MP3	AAC (including FairPlay), MP3, Apple Lossless, WAV
Video formats	WMV, H.264, MPEG4	H.264, MPEG4
Audible audiobooks	Other Zunes support them, but I’m not finding evidence that the Zune HD does	Yes
Photos	Yes	Yes
Web browser	Yes	Yes
E-mail	No	Yes
Instant Messaging	Not yet	Via numerous third-party clients
Calendar	No	Yes
Maps	No	Yes
Facebook and Twitter	No, but due in November	Yes
Apps available	9	75,000
Games available	7	21,000

I was reminded of the anniversary by a fun BBC story by a 13-year-old who tried replacing his iPod with a Walkman (he wasn’t impressed). And I was moved to create a T-Grid comparing 1979′s TPS-L2 to today’s most highly-evolved iPod, the iPod Touch. Like the Beeb’s teenaged tester, I wouldn’t give up my iPod (which happens to be an iPhone) for a Walkman. But I’m not so sure that the TPS-L2 wasn’t equally as impressive (and fashionable) in its day, in its own way…

The devices	Sony Walkman TPS-L2	iPod Touch
Released	July 1st, 1979	September 5th, 2007
Original name in U.S.	Soundabout	iPod Touch (ok, iPod touch)
Associated with legendary tech exec?	Yes, Sony co-chairman Akio Morita	Yes, Apple CEO Steve Jobs
Launched with press bash?	Yes–journalists were taken by bus to a Tokyo park, given Walkmen to listen to, and shown demos such as a guy and girl listening to Walkmen while riding a tandem bike.	Yes–Steve Jobs unveiled it along with the squarish iPod Nano and the iPod Classic; Starbucks CEO Howard Schulz appeared and KT Tunstall entertained
Price	33,000 yen (approximately $475 in 2008 dollars)	$229 (8GB); $299 (16GB); $399 (32GB)
Cleverly adapted technology from an earlier product?	Yes, a $1000 tape player that also recorded	Yes, the iPhone
Dimensions	130mm by 90mm by 30mm	110m by 61.8mm by 8.5mm
Weight	14 oz.	4.05 oz.
Color	Turquoise, silver, and orange	Black and silver
Capacity	36 songs (both sides of a C-120 cassette tape)	7,000 songs (32GB model)
Removable storage	Yes; cassettes provide access to a theoretically infinite song collection	No
Removable battery	Yes (2 AA)	No
Stereophonic sound	Yes	Yes
Recording capability	No	No Yes, with external microphone
Headphone jacks	Two, so friends could listen; “Hotline” button lowered volume so they could talk to each other	One
Screen resolution and color depth	No screen	320 by 280; 16 million colors
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi standard launched 18 years after Walkman	Yes
Included leatherette carrying case	Yes	No
Music store	The Musicland at your local mall, with approximately 20,000 songs on cassette	iTunes, with 8 million songs as DRM-free downloads
DRM	None	Recently removed
Beatles music available	Yes	Not yet
Plays movies and TV shows	No	Yes
FM radio	No, but later models had AM, FM, TV sound, and weather band	No, but can play many of them via Internet streaming
Usable as telephone	No	Yes, via Skype over Wi-Fi
Plays games	I’m afraid not	It’s the Funnest iPod Ever
Other uses	None of note. OK, listening to books on tape.	50,000 applications available
Units sold in first month	3,000	Not reported by Apple, but higher than 3,000
Units sold overall	More than 340 million for all Walkman models	More than 173,000,000 iPods sold (as of September, 2008)

The new Zune will have:

• A touchscreen;
• A 480-by-272  OLED display;
• The ability to output HD content to a TV;
• A built-in HD receiver.

That’s an intriguing list of specs, and enough to make it clear that Microsoft is building an iPod Touch rival, not a wannabee: While the form factor shown in the art Microsoft released is extremely Touch-esque, no Apple handheld has an OLED screen, HD radio, or HD video output.

Microsoft pre-announced just enough detail about the device to whet the appetite, so I’m left with more questions than answers. Such as the seven I ask after the jump.

1. Does this mean Zune is here for good? Fairly or unfairly, the name is profoundly tarnished at this point–it’s practically a synonym for “Unsuccessful Microsoft attempt to compete with the iPod.” I had wondered whether the company might retire the moniker in favor of the much more successful Xbox. Looks like I was wrong–you gotta think that if Microsoft doesn’t take this opportunity to rid itself of Zune, it doesn’t plan to. In fact, Ina’s piece says that it’s planning to launch a Zune-branded video service for the Xbox.

2. Will OLED still be big news in the fall? If the new Zune were in stores today, it would likely be a major selling point; I’ve never seen an OLED display that wasn’t very-nice-to-outstanding. But the fall is a long time from now, and Apple will almost certainly release new iPod Touches by September. I’m still wrestling with the rumors that the next iPhone will have an OLED display, but it’s plausible, at least, that the Touch will get one.

3. Will anyone care about HD radio? the technology’s been around for years now, and it’s still not entirely clear whether it’s ever going to catch on. (It’s already lost much of the head start it had in gaining traction before almost all entertainment goes IP-based.) I’m guessing that Microsoft won’t have to compete with an iPod Touch with HD radio, though: Adding it at this point just doesn’t seem like an Apple-esque thing to do.

4. Hey, what about apps? All advertising for the iPod Touch rightly focuses on the fact that there are scads of entertaining and/or useful applications for it. The new Zune will run a variant of Windows CE; we can assume that Microsoft will build an app store and encourage developers to build wares for it. But will it be possible to build apps as impressive as those enabled by iPhone OS? And even if it is, how many developers will jump on what will be a much smaller bandwagon than iPhone/iPod Tocuh, even if it’s quite successful?

5. Hey, what about content? Microsoft already has a decent Zune music store in the form of the Zune Pass service, but it still hasn’t built a full-blown movie and TV download service for the Zune. A Zune focused around HD will have to have one, but people will inevitable compare it to the iTunes Store that Apple has spent years building. And will you be able to watch content you buy or rent on any device other than a Zune–like, for instance, an Xbox? Microsoft isn’t saying.

6. Why is Microsoft announcing the new Zune now? Well, it’s Microsoft–announcing stuff months (or years) before it’s ready is what Microsoft does. Presumably, it would prefer to acknowledge that the new Zune exists than to deal with further leaks over the next few months. And maybe it’s confident enough that the Zune will compare favorably to next-generation iPod Touches that might show up sooner that it thinks some folks will forego a Touch for a Zune-to-come.

7. Does this mean the end of the current Zune line? Actually, Microsoft did answer this one: It’ll retire the current iPod Nano-like flash Zune models, but keep the hard-drive based ones on the market. But presumably the old-style hard disk-based Zune’s days are numbered, just as the iPod Classic’s are–it wouldn’t startle me if both quietly go away within the next year.

Any other questions, or stabs at answers?