Apple iPhone Made Easy

First Month with a MacBook Air

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Thu, 17 May 2012 23:49:00 +0000

When the MacBook Pro was announced I preordered and could not wait for it to get to me. I ended up having to wait a couple months before it was finally shipped to me, but it was well worth the wait. I kept it for three fantastic years before finally upgrading to a newer MacBook Pro. Then about three months ago I was looking to upgrade again and started thinking about whether I should get the 17" instead of the 15" or go with a Mac Mini. I actually got a Mac Mini only to find that it was not for me. That is a story for another day, but after having the Mini I realized that portability was something that I valued a lot and the processing power of the Mini was plenty for most of my needs. So why not try a MacBook Air I thought, and here I am writing this post on my MacBook Air.

Reasons the MacBook Air is Great

The MacBook Air is unmistakably small and light. This is the main reason that I decided to give it a try. I went with the 13" since I had my doubts I could transition to such a smaller screen as the 11" would have been coming from the MacBook Pro 15". It is still incredibly thin and light at least as compared to the pro I had. Having a smaller laptop really makes a difference when carrying around and using in bed. The screen is still excellent as compared to my work laptop (its a dell), and the built in camera which is standard on all Apple laptops is perfect for video chat. The instant on feature when you just let it sleep is great, but not a lot faster than my MacBook pro was from sleep. The big difference is in booting which is much faster due to the SSD instead of HDD. The SSD is also much zippier when opening programs or files. If you open a lot of programs frequently or boot every time you use your computer then the SSD is a definite advantage. You can get an SSD for a pro however and it could be an even faster model since the one in the Air is not user replaceable and therefore you do not get any choice aside from size.

Reasons the MacBook Air is Not so Great

So not everything is all that great. First and most obvious is the lack of a physical disc drive. Although I thought I could do without it has actually been annoying and I have found myself really wanting a disc drive again. However, it did give me a good excuse to get an external blu-ray drive which it seems Apple will never carry in their laptops so at least there is that. Ripping blu-ray movies in order to get them on other devices though is not that fun due to the size of the file, so really the blu-ray is not that big of an advantage unless you just really need to use blu-rays versus DVDs or you are planning to play blu-rays on your computer and output to your TV. Another large complaint I have is the lack of user replaceable components. The 4GB of RAM and the 250GB SSD are good and plenty for my current needs with the exception of those blu-ray rips, but if down the road I need to upgrade I will be forced to get a new computer entirely rather than just refreshing. The last point to make on the disappointments list is the super loud fan which seems to kick on at the slightest load to the processor which happens frequently with the 1.7 Ghz i5 in there.

Conclusion

At this point, the tradeoffs are worth it. I love the size and weight of this MacBook Air and it matches or exceeds the performance of my previous laptop in almost every way. I still don't think I am entirely ready to rid myself of the disc drive as I still rent from Blockbuster and use my computer to watch the movies often, but the quick SSD and excellent portability are great. If you find yourself looking for a very portable computer that still has good specs then the MacBook Air is a very difficult computer to beat.

I Sold My Geo for an iPad

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Mon, 23 May 2011 13:13:00 +0000

It was time to get a new car for my growing family and so I had to get rid of my 1995 Geo Prizm. I loved that car, but it just wasn’t big enough for the entire family so it had to go. My buyer was looking to sell his iPad so that he would have enough money to buy the car so logically I just said “how bout the iPad for the car?” It worked out and I am the proud new owner of an iPad 2. People have been crazy for the iPad and act like it is the end all device that you can use for everything, but my impressions of its abilities have not changed even after owning one. The iPad just doesn’t fit nicely between my iPhone and my MacBook Pro. Is there really any need for a tablet between those two devices? I have been thinking about what I can use the iPad for to make it really worth the money, but I have not really come up with anything yet. It is really cool and I love watching NetFlix on it, but I do not really see myself using it for GPS in the car and it cannot do things like Hulu unless you subscribe to Hulu plus. The best use I have come up with so far is to put it in the car for my daughter to use for movies. It would be a very good looking screen and we can load the movies to it and get some Bluetooth wireless headphones so it seems like that is the most reasonable use.

There are a couple of things that shocked me about the iPad. First, it does not come with any headphones. Those ear buds that Apple usually provides with iPods and iPhones have got to be really cheap to produce and therefore it seems like an odd exclusion on a $500 tablet. I have my ear buds from my iPhone so there is not really any problem, but if I were getting this device to be in place of the laptop or the iPhone I would definitely need some way of listening to it without using the external speaker. The second thing that seems odd is that my MacBook Pro came with a microfiber cloth to wipe the screen off because it is a glass screen, but it is not a touch screen so in theory it should rarely be necessary. On the other hand, the iPad does not come with anything to wipe the screen off with. I find myself constantly trying to wipe it off with my shirt or something just so that I don’t see all of those awful smudges on the screen. Why would they not include a way to wipe it clean? The Smart Cover certainly would not do the trick because you would really need to wipe the screen to get it clean and from my understanding the Smart Covers also take dirt off of the table and get smashed between the screen and the cover every time you close the cover so it seems like a lose/lose situation.

What are your impressions of the iPad? Have you come to love this Mac in tablet form factor? Does it do everything that you need it to do to take the place of your laptop and do you find that it can really be useful in between an iPhone and a MacBook? Let me know what you think in the comments.

The iPad in All of Us

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 02:20:00 +0000

Apple's new iPad has no doubt crossed your mind if you are even close to an Apple or Mac fan. I know it has been an item that has been impossible for me to ignore lately. Even with all of the fanfare and how truly spectacular the iPad itself looks, I still have no desire to own one. I just cannot find a good place for it to fit into my lifestyle. Although it looks cool and is a prime example of an Apple product, it just doesn't seem like a very good alternative to a MacBook. Of course the starting price is quite lower than a MacBook, but a MacBook has Mac OSX, flash, easily replaceable or upgradable components, a physical keyboard, a countless number of existent applications, and I am sure there are a few other things that I am missing. Also, the premium that you pay to get 3G on the iPad seems downright outrageous at $130, unless I am missing something. You would be hard pressed to convince me to get the 3G version of the iPad especially since it is on AT&T's network and costs so much more both monthly and initially.

So where do you stand on the fence of iPad or not iPad. If I were to get the iPad I would definitely have to use it for a car computer or something. It is just too expensive for me to justify using as a reader and too limited to use as much more than my iPhone. No flash! Look, I do not care if Steve Jobs hates flash and the HTML5 or whatever is supposed to be better (debate-able), every site out there already uses it even after three years of Apple pushing back against flash. Can we not just grow up and allow the consumer some convenience for once?

Guide on How to Replace the iPhone Screen

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:58:00 +0000

Since my post a while back providing video tutorials on how to replace a cracked iPhone screen seems to be a more popular post I thought it might be helpful for some who are looking to do this difficult repair to have a guide on how to go about fixing the iPhone. This do it yourself project should only be attempted by those that are confident in their ability to work on delicate electronics and are willing to void the warranty for their iPhone. This project should cost between $50 and $150 depending on where you get your parts and which ones you will need to get.

Where Do You Get the Parts to Fix Your iPhone Screen

Of course when you attempt to do this project you are going to make sure you can get all of the tools required to replace the iPhone screen. First thing is first though, you need to determine whether you have broken just the front panel (glass covering the display) or the actual display (lcd) itself. The easiest way to tell is if everything still looks clear aside from the broken glass. If all of the pixels appear undamaged and there are no odd colors then you are probably in luck and it is only the front panel that needs to be replaced. This could save you around $70 since the display is the most expensive part. The guide to fix the screen is the same with the exception of actually using the new display or not; the video in this post does a great job of explaining that as well.

There are a few places that you can go to get iPhone parts and tools. Without a doubt, iFixit is your best place to start your search for parts and tools for the repair. iFixit has plenty of parts for most anything that you need Mac related and they also provide repair guides for the DIY project you are planning to do. Although iFixit is a great place to get these items, there are other places that may have the parts and it may be a good idea to shop around so you get the best price on your iPhone parts. Rapid Repair is a great site which has iPhone parts and also offers repair services if you think that you may be in over your head. eTech Parts looks to have a good selection with some good prices and there is always eBay. iFixit and Rapid Repair are probably the best places to get the necessary tools if you do not have them already.

How Do You Replace the iPhone 3G Screen

This guide will be very similar to the one for the iPhone 3GS, but you should make sure that you use the guide that applies to your specific model of iPhone if you are still using a first generation iPhone.

There are a few tools that you will need a also a couple of parts. You will need a Phillips #00 Screwdriver, a small suction cup, and a spudger. The parts required would of course be the display and the front panel which is actually the covering for the display. Once you have these items you should head on over to iFixit for the full guide on how to repair the screen. There is also a somewhat humorous video below that goes through the process for an iPhone 3G. It would be a good idea to familiarize yourself with both before attempting to do the repair.

Can You Replace An iPhone Screen Yourself

At this point you may be asking yourself, "can I replace the iPhone screen myself?" The video above should make you a little more confident in your ability to do this repair, but if you do feel uncomfortable it may be a good idea to get a professional to repair it. Apple will of course do the repair for you, but it will cost you about $100 more to get them to do it for you. This will allow you to retain your warranty though, and it also could give you peace of mind. Unfortunately, there is no fun in that approve at all. If you are good with gadgets and think that you can be careful when doing the repair then you are probably going to be just fine.

AT&T Speaks Out About Their Network

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:54:00 +0000

It turns out that AT&T has not taken kindly to all of the Verizon ads lately knocking their network. It seems that the two networks are playing nice now after a small legal battle that was childish at best and just managed to bring light to the whole deal anyway; making it a lose lose for AT&T. After the dust has settled a little bit though, I got this email from AT&T. They decided to email me and let me know that their service was great and getting better all of the time.

Normally I would just think this was some email that I had signed up for accidently when buying something, but I know that for AT&T I had specifically told them not to send anything. They sent it anyway and it only puts more bang in Verizon's advertising buck. True, it does speak well about AT&T's network and it does try and reassure us all that they are working hard to make it better, but only when they are under the gun. Shouldn't AT&T be working on their network all of the time. I know that AT&T has to defend their brand whenever it is slandered in someone else's advertising, but AT&T should have addressed many issues long before deciding to take on the iPhone. The iPhone has done so much to damage AT&T's reputation that AT&T has actually started to advertise their other devices more heavily to soften the blow when they lose exclusivity of the iPhone. There will probably be a huge shift in brand loyalty when the iPhone does become available for other carriers, but unfortunately only time will tell.

iPhone to Verizon

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:18:00 +0000

Although it is just a rumor, it has been floating around so it may be worth a mention. With all of these Droid commercials and "there's a map for that" stuff you would think that Apple and Verizon will never have a partnership, but the truth is there is a perfect transition here that could truly make sense. The "Droid Does" campaign was not a very good one for the argument, but if Verizon keeps pushing the fact that their network is much better and you should pick your network and then your phone we could see a perfect shift to the iPhone coming on to Verizon's network. We have always known that Verizon was greedy and wanted too much control of the iPhone and so Apple had to logically fall back on ATT as the second best partner. Verizon is really kicking themselves right now since Apple and ATT have been living it up, but if Verizon gets a second chance it could mean great things for Apple and not so great things for ATT. I think with all of the talk of bad networks that ATT could actually see a decline in their subscriber numbers if Verizon were to get the iPhone. I for one would consider the switch if only to give Verizon a chance. The only reason that I ever switched from T-Mobile was because of the iPhone and to have a choice between the two biggest wireless providers in the US would just make it more dependent upon the network. Only time will tell if we are going to get a chance to have a big red iPhone, but hopefully we will get the option so that it helps pull prices down a little.

iPhone OS 3.1 kills Tethering Hack

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:48:00 +0000

AT&T has yet to release a tethering option for iPhone owners, but there was at least a little hack that was discovered which would allow you to use tethering for free without jailbreaking or unlocking your iPhone. Unfortunately, as promised, the new firmware for the iPhone does break that hack so that you can no longer use your tethering to surf the web on the go. There are a few upgrades that may be worth the update; especially alongside the iTunes updates that you can now use in conjunction, but still the loss of tethering is a major bummer. Hopefully someone will find another easy way to get the tethering working again for free and without jailbreaking. If I find one I will be sure to post it here.

Apple's New Snow Leopard

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:38:00 +0000

So now that Snow Leopard has been released and everyone has gotten a chance to get their copy it sounds like it is well worth the switch. Are you going to update your mac to Snow Leopard or are you going to wait for the next OS to make the upgrade? I have been anxiously awaiting the new OS especially since it has a lot of under the hood improvements that actually help with making your mac run more quickly. For a $30 upgrade cost it is not something that I think I can pass up. Sure I probably will not see much of a difference, but it is always good to keep as up to date as possible. Windows 7 on the other hand made a lot of improvements to the looks of the Windows platform, but possibly not as much focus on the internals. It is however, supposed to work much better than its predecessor so everyone is still working in the right direction it would seem.

Blogpress Review

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:10:00 +0000

After using Blogpress for a little while and having some experience with customer support I feel it is time for a full review. This iPhone app has a lot to offer for mobile bloggers and is really the top pick if you are looking for an app to do bloggng for a few different blogs.

First Impressions

The app overall felt like a very solid one at first, but soon I found out that I was not able to connect to Wordpress. I have two main blogs; this one and Dave's Movie Reviews which is on Wordpress. I liked the Wordpress app, but it did not allow for placement and sizing of the photos. This was a must for my movie review blog so I set out to find a decent blogging app for the iPhone that had more functionality. At first I wondered about the price, but after using the app I have to say that it is well worth the few dollars. So how did I resolve the Wordpress connection issue; it was quite simple actually because customer support was quick and helpful. I tried a couple of their stock troubleshooting techniques with no avail so then I decided to email customer support for help. In only a few hours I had a response. After a couple days and a few emails the issue was resolved. I am not sure what I was doing wrong, but the customer support was friendly fast and helpful so I have to give them top notches for that.

Review

The app is not free from it's glitches, but I am hoping that constant improvements will be made to alleviate some of those issues. The first thing I noticed was the ability to do landscape editing of the post. This is a mus for any true blogging software on the iPhone because it allows you to type a whole lot faster and easier. Now even though it is included in this software I would say it is a little inconsistent. You can only switch to landscape view while in the body of your post. This is not that much of a problem, but is not very intuitive and I see no reason that you should not be able to all navigation and editing in landscape mode. Also, there have been a couple times when the app got stuck in landscape and I had to close it out and restart and also a few times where it failed to go into landscape mode entirely. This is the main complaint about the app for sure. The great news is the ability to add your own photos to posts and be able to place them and size then to your liking. The main reason I chose this app proves to be quite useful and works great. I have heard of people having trouble with length of posts, but I have not had any trouble with that yet. I also would not mind a few more formatting and sizing of text options, but this is a great start. If you are looking for a great blogging app that works with wordpress and blogger then this is your app.

Blogpress - iPhone App First Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:41:00 +0000

I just purchased Blogpress for the iPhone so that I can do a little more mobile blogging. Mainly, I have been annoyed with the lack of a Google blogger iPhone app so I thought I would see what third party apps were available. Blogpress had the best reviews out of the apps I saw and it is supposed to work with a few blogging formats including the two that I use; Blogger and Wordpress. So far it is pretty good; although the main concern now is that I cannot get wordpress to work. I am hoping that the support ticket I sent in gets answered quickly and then I would probably give this app high praise. We will have to wait and see though.

Tethering With Your iPhone 3GS

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:27:00 +0000

It turns out that even though AT&T does not allow tethering that there is still a way around that. To unlock the feature and use your iPhone as a wireless modem for your laptop just check out this post at 9 to 5 Mac.

There are a few easy steps:

1. Download the file at 9 to 5 Mac

2. Open the file with iTunes

3. Connect your iPhone and option click the restore button in iTunes and select the open file

4. Go to settings/general/network/internet tethering on your iPhone and turn it on

This will allow you to connect by USB or by Bluetooth; I have tested both and it did not seem to make a difference in speed. What have you found to be faster when tethering? Just remember that if you tether too much AT&T may catch you and can suspend your account or charge you hefty fees. Good luck and happy tethering!

iPhone 3G S First Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 19:19:00 +0000

Unboxing

After actually receiving my iPhone 3G S on the 19th as promised, I decided to take a few shots while unboxing it just for good measure. The only noticeable difference when you first look at the box is how much smaller it is than the iPhone 3G box and the “S” after iPhone 3G. I opened it up to find a device that looked much like the one I had purchased almost a year ago. The upgrades are clearly on the inside of the phone; two things on the outside of the iPhone are apparent after looking it over and using it a little bit. First, the lettering that says iPhone and 16GB (in my case) is now shiny like the Apple towards the top of the back casing. In addition, the screen clearly does not smudge as easily. This was noticeable from the first time that I touched the screen. On my iPhone 3G I would get smudges from the first touch and it just built and built until it looked awful. Now it actually does not smudge that much and the little that it does is cleaned off much easier. It almost only takes putting it in your pocket for a little and it will be a clean screen. This is definitely a great plus which was not mentioned much when the iPhone 3G S was announced.

Syncing and Activation

Upon connecting it to my MacBook Pro I found that it had to activate and restore from a previous backup of my iPhone 3G which did take a while since I had a lot of apps and music on it. In fact, I took the movies off of the sync just because I did not want to take that long. After it was done syncing it still said there was no service and that activation may take some time. I went online to check what kind of wait we were talking about here and found that Apple was reporting up to 48 hours activation time before the phone was ready to go so I tried swapping the old SIM card out with the new one even though it said on the instructions not to do so. I found that to work right away and was happily exploring my new device. I guess it is possible that the switch between the SIM cards will eventually happen and I will have to put the new SIM card back in, but I kind of doubt it. In any case, I will be keeping my new SIM card around for at least a week to be on the safe side.

First impressions

The first thing I tried out on the new phone was the compass. I wanted to see how well it worked. It works great, but actually orienting your Google Maps app to the direction you are facing is not intuitive at all. It took me a few tries to figure that out. All you have to do is touch the current location button on the lower left of the screen and then press it again. Then it will spin the map to the direction you are facing. It may ask you to calibrate your compass by waving the iPhone in a figure 8 motion, but once it is locked it works great. It is amazing how much better the Maps application is by adding just this one simple thing to it. This is one of the simplest and yet most effective upgrades on the phone.

Another thing I noticed just from opening up an app or two and playing with different programs was how much zippier the phone felt. Everything opens faster and refreshes and loads faster which while not making it instantaneous it does make it a smoother and cleaner experience. It already seemed a little better when I upgraded the iPhone 3G to the 3.0 software, but the 3G S really does mean speed. In case you are wondering, there have been a few speed tests going around to see how fast the iPhone is compared to the T-Mobile G1 and the Sprint Palm Pre and the new iPhone is faster than both.

I did also try the voice control a bit, but found that it was not as impressive as some other functions of the phone and I will likely not be using it much in the future. I will give it a few more tries probably, but I just don't see the big advantage even if I was trying to use the phone while driving since it was not as accurate as I had hoped. The next great thing about the new iPhone is the video capture ability and quick and simple editing. Although I have not had much time to play with that I have used it a little and found the picture quality to be quite good for a phone for sure and decent for a dedicated portable video camera. This is sure to make those cheap handheld camcorders worry about their market share. I will talk more about the camera and video camera in a later post.

Conclusion

The overall experience of getting the iPhone 3G S as compared to the 3G and the original was not as exciting, but was much less stressful and more enjoyable. The main reason is that I was able to pre-order it from AT&T and it was shipped directly to me instead of having to wait in line. Also, I actually got it on the day it came out instead of waiting in line at AT&T last year only to find out after two hours of waiting that the manager had lied when he said there were plenty of phones for everyone. The activation process was also a breeze since I was able to just sync the phone and switch the SIM cards rather than wait for a long time for an AT&T rep to waste my time with an activation that should take a couple minutes. All in all the experience has been a really good one and although the fact that the outside of the iPhone looks almost identical takes away from the excitement, the internal upgrades are quite noticeable with normal use and are likely to increase the productivity and functionality greatly for this next year while we wait for the new ones to comes out next June or July.

The iPhone 3G S is Finally Here!

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:55:00 +0000

After a whole year of anticipation (maybe a slight exaggeration) our wait if finally over. Today Apple and AT&T are releasing the iPhone 3G S to the eager public. This iPhone promises to be more of an internal upgrade than an external, but as Apple has said in the past it is more about the software than the hardware. While other companies are pushing the hardware specs of their devices, Apple is talking about software and functionality. This is what truly separates the iPhone and Apple from other phones and phone manufacturers.

With all that said though, the new iPhone has a lot of impressive specs to present. Apple claims that it is twice as fast and in fact that has been proven to be true with most normal tasks that the iPhone is given. This versions will especially see improvements in graphically intensive games which the older model had some difficulties running at times. Even with the increases power of the phone though, it still manages to get a little bit better battery life. Of course we would all like to see that day when we could have an iPhone that would last a week on one charge, but that is just not going to happen anytime soon.

I am hoping to have my new iPhone 3G S soon so I will post some unboxing photos and start to work on a full review.

Could This be the Next iPhone?

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:46:00 +0000

Picture from MacRumors.com

There are photos circulating that are supposedly the next iPhone. If the photos are real, then it would certainly be an improvement upon the current model's casing. I like the shiny black just fine, but a matte black with a little bit of grip to it would be a great idea. Also, bringing back the metal casing on the back instead of the plastic one that we have now would make the iPhone feel much more sturdy which is definitely something I liked about the original iPhone. We will have to wait and see of course if these are in fact real photos, but for now we can speculate and try and figure out what kind of casing we would like the best. The next iPhones are likely to come out around the middle of the year since this is when Apple has stated as the normal life cycle of the iPhone. Above is the picture compliments of MacRumors.com

UPDATE - it turns out that this is in fact not the new iPhone case, but it was either a consideration by Apple or a way to identify a leak in there staff. In either case it would have been very nice for the new iPhone to have a matte finish, but hopefully they consider it for the next one.

Flash for iPhone Coming?

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:39:00 +0000

There have recently been talks about Adobe bringing flash to the iPhone, but it has been almost two years since the original iPhone came out so does it really matter anymore. Apple has been working on doing more than just fit the mold of every other company out there and has actually tried to make things the way they want them. Flash is a great example of this. Apple decided not to encourage Adobe to create flash for the iPhone in hopes that Apple can help push the internet to work better with the iPhone and possibly create a new platform that could make Flash obsolete. This is an incredibly bold move that hopefully in the long run will make it possible for iPhones to have rich internet experiences, but for now it seems like it is hindering the internet experience. Now that the iPhone is so popular it gives Apple more leverage to push for internet reform, but will it be enough to actually make any sort of dint in the out of date internet? We will have to wait and see.

Update: Adobe has officially stated that Apple has not allowed them to make flash for iPhone. This is sad for all of us wanting a full internet experience now. I admit that flash is out of date and far to processor intensive, but it is still the king for delivering rich internet experiences. Maybe some day Apple will allow Adobe to bring flash to the iPhone, but until then we can only hope that more people make mobile versions of their site that do not require flash for them to be used.

New MacBooks and MacBook Pros Announced

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 02:27:00 +0000

The event today proved to be quite an exciting event for fans of Apple notebooks. The MacBooks and MacBook Pros got plenty of revamps and they look stunning. You should definitely check out the Apple webpage to get the nitty gritty specs, but here are a few of the things that were rumors and I love that they turned out the way they did:

- The trackpad is glass and doesn't have a button; instead it is a button itself and it is bigger and allows for much more multitouch support
- The NVIDIA graphics cards are confirmed so the graphics are going to be a lot better on the new MacBooks and especially the MacBook Pros which incorporate not only one graphics card, but two so that it can use one for lower power consumption and one for better performance.
- The screen are all LED and this means less power consumption and thinner brighter screens.
- The ports are all on one side and the disc drive is on one side so plugging cords in only mean manuevering the notebook to one side and the DVD will eject more easily if the notebook is in my lap

There are plenty of other great features that I have not mentioned here just because of course it will be better explained at Apple and with more pictures and videos; get it from the source if you really want to know everything there is to know. Now there is one great thing and one bad thing about the notebooks. The bad thing is that they appear to only include DVD drives and not blu-ray support; bummer, I was really looking for the blu-ray. The great news is that these puppies are available tomorrow, so check em out and order it now.

New MacBook and MacBook Pros Coming Soon

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:17:00 +0000

I always get excited about new Apple products coming out and new notebooks are long overdue in my opinion. I love my MacBook Pro and I got it when they first came out (yes I am one of those crazy people). Sometimes you just have to have it I guess. That exciting time for new notebooks has finally come again though. Apple will announce the new MacBook and MacBook Pro models on Tuesday the 14th and will likely explain all of the new exciting features. I have been checking out the rumors and general rumors and photos indicate a few things about the new laptops:

- There is going to be an aluminum version of the MacBook now and not just the Pro

- The new notebooks will be using a dedicated NVIDIA graphics cards to provide higher quality graphics

- The larger trackpads that are included on the MacBook Air are going to be on the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros

There are other rumors surfacing about possible LCD HDTVs made by Apple that would include the Apple TV functionality right out of the box. I am not so sure about the HDTVs, but most of the notebook stuff seems to be feasible. the other thing is the possible inclusion of Blu-ray drives in the notebooks rather than the DVD drives included now. We will have to see on Tuesday how it pans out. In the mean time take a look at these pictures at Mac Rumors; they should wet your appetite for the new all aluminum notebooks.

iPhone 3G New 2.1 Software Update

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:19:00 +0000

After the "Let's Rock" special Apple announcement, we have found out that Apple is going to release a new software update for the iPhone 3G. This new software, 2.1, is supposed to be the answer to all of our 3G problems and battery life complaints. Although I find it hard to believe that Apple can really do much about AT&T's poor 3G network, it will be interesting to see if anything gets better. The other promise is the battery life being significantly improved. Well, that seems like a hard thing to do unless they are really getting those push updates and such working. Hopefully it will really work and end up improving the iPhone 3G's battery life. Only time will tell. Actually, we will know these answers shortly after Friday as that is when the new update is being released.

In light of this update, I will take a few days and see what improvements are in store before I continue the full review of the iPhone 3G.

iPhone 3G Review: A Rough Start

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:33:00 +0000

When I started writing out the review of the iPhone 3G I realized that I really had a lot to say about it. This made the simple task of writing a review seem like a much more daunting task. So instead of trying to write out the entire thing and post it all at the same time I have decided to go through the review in multiple posts. The first of which will be this one covering the initial attempt to get an iPhone 3G and the horrible AT&T experience.

The lines were of course quite expected for the launch of a previously $400 phone that was now only $200. Half the price was something that made it hard for a lot of people to pass up (even though we will pay more in the long run than we did for the original iPhone). With lines already formed outside of the most popular stores the night before the launch, I could not help myself from being excited. I wanted the new iPhone just like everyone else and I even had the original already. This got me excited about making a game plan. At this point I had already figured out that I could sell my iPhone on eBay for more than it would cost to buy a new one that was better, so it was a no brainer to make the upgrade.

This left me to figuring out how I was going to make it work this time since the AT&T stores were opening early just for the launch and they were supposedly not going to be doing the excellent buy the phone and then take it home and activate it deal like they had for the first iPhone. This time around it was all about the control that AT&T wanted to have and for them to make sure that people were not unlocking phones or getting phones and not activating them on AT&T. This was the first ingredient in their recipe or disaster.

The next problem the launch had was poor decision to launch in so many countries at the same time. The demand was simply to high for the product now that the price was right and this made the launch an absolute mad house everywhere it was being sold. So first thing is first, my wife, daughter, and I went to the AT&T store near my work so that we could hopefully score two iPhones. We were in it for the 16GB Black model and we wanted it right then (I seem to have a hard time with patience when it comes to the latest gadget). We got there early, but there was already a line of about 50 in front of us. I started to sweat a little knowing that there could surely not be enough iPhones for everyone, but just a few minutes after we arrived the manager of the store came out and assured everyone that there were plenty of iPhones for everyone and they were going to try and make it as quick as possible. *Note: we already knew that it was going to be a long process because AT&T is stupid and decided to make everyone activate in store upon purchase.

So after waiting about 90 minutes for the phones to go on sale, we finally were in a moving line. This whole time we had to feed our baby girl and even had to change her once. It was a lot of work and certainly not the funnest thing to do, but we felt ok knowing that we were definitely going to get an iPhone for our trouble. Then the worst thing that could have happened did; the manager came back out and told us that they were running out of product. The man is lucky to be alive today after he had already told everyone that there were plenty of iPhones and now went back on his word. I wanted to kill him and so did the others around me. I know exactly why he lied to us, but the fact that he lied to us will prevent me from ever shopping at his store again.

This manager had the bright idea of making everyone wait there long enough so that they would have no choice but to stick it out just to preorder the iPhone for when it came back into stock. He wanted his employees and his store to get the sale and not to risk loosing the sale to another store. Talk about the wrong way to go about it. If he had simply said that from the beginning we could have made informed decisions. What’s worse, we had to wait for about 5 hours in total to simply order a phone with no guarantee of when it would come. The least he could have done is actually count the phones and start to hand out numbers to people so that we could go do something more useful with our time. AT&T is still my least favorite company.

Three weeks later we finally received notification that our phones were in the store and ready for pick up. The excitement had long since worn off and I just wanted my phone so that I would have GPS and 3G. It turns out they are not the greatest things, but we will get to that later. In the end it simply reassured me of one thing: I hate AT&T and the first opportunity I have to have an iPhone on another network, I will jump ship. Down with AT&T.

iPhone 3G Full Review Coming Soon

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:22:00 +0000

I finally got my hands on an iPhone 3G and have had a month to really test it out and I can honestly say that it was worth the wait. I will have a full review up soon.

iPhone 3G Still Hard to Find

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:16:00 +0000

This is an obvious reality for those of us still looking for the new iPhone 3G, but I thought I would mention it anyway. My wife and I waited for 3 1/2 hours on Friday to try and get the iPhone only to find out that the manager had lied to us (saying that there were plenty of iPhones for everyone in line) and all we could do is purchase the phone so that we would get it as soon as it was available. In retrospect it would have been very beneficial to simply wait at an Apple store or just have gotten to the store a little earlier. I do not have to worry about getting an iPhone now, but I also have no idea when I will get it. The manager had also said a day or two and they would have more, but in fact it has been a week now and they have not called. AT&T and Apple have disappointed greatly this time around. Really, if AT&T had just been honest with us when we were waiting I would not have been upset. AT&T is now one of my least favorite companies, but yet I am still going to sign my life's savings away to them. Frustration.

As soon as I get the iPhone I will probably give a review and what not on it, but there are so many reviews out there already that it doesn't seem like there is much of a point. Possibly more of a day to day application of the iPhone in action would be more useful.

3G iPhone Days Are Upon Us

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:46:00 +0000

Ok, so the 3G iPhone has been announced and unveiled, but you can run the specs down yourself. The unveiling of the new phone raised a few more questions about what is going to happen on July 11th.

- If the iPhone is going to be released Worldwide on the 11th, then are there going to be enough for the demand?

- Will we see a huge line forming days before the release or just hours (notice that I have no doubt there will be a line)?

- Why is video recording not included or are they just not mentioning it yet? The hardware is there and there are actually already some programs on installer which allow you to take video, but I do not want to have to pay extra for something like that.

- Why did they not increase the megapixels on the camera? The chipset that the iPhone supposedly uses is supposed to be capable of 5 megapixels or more. If Apple wants to integrate the geotagging and Mobileme sharing of photos, then it would only have made sense to provide a better quality camera or at least a flash, focus, and zoom.

- What am I going to do with the iPhone I have right now? I think selling it on eBay is the best route to go, but I will stay open to other ideas since the $200 price of the new iPhone is a steal.

It is true that the iPhone does not have anything hardware wise that other smartphones can not compete with or even out due, but that is still not what the iPhone is all about. The iPhone is about a phone that looks good, feels good, and most importantly works great. No other phone has ever worked as well as my iPhone and I don't imagine any other company will ever be able to match Apple's ingenious mesh of hardware and software. The iPhone is made for functionality.

Today is the day the 3G iPhone is Unveiled!

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:33:00 +0000

There is live coverage of the WWDC event where Steve Jobs is expected to show the 3G iPhone for the first time. You can catch this right as it happens at Gizmodo. This is a great site with really up to date pictures and comments (or play by play). Go check it out.

I will post up all of the official details later, but of course they will be readily available everywhere you look.

3G iPhone Launch Date Confirmed?

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:49:00 +0000

Gizmodo posted an interesting post earlier today that claims Apple will not only announce the 3G iPhone on June 9th, but also start selling it shortly there after. This is only a rumor of course, but if it turns out to be true we will not have to wait long for a 3G iPhone.

Now the question is going to be whether or not we will have to wait in line to get one of these awesome phones. I still can't wait to see the Keynote on the 3G iPhone. Keep on the lookout for more news breaks as there are sure to be plenty leading up to the Keynote.

3G Could Mean A Lot More Soon

noreply@blogger.com (David) — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:09:00 +0000

ATT’s 3G network although fairly good right now, is definitely not what I would even call 3G. They claim downloads as fast as 3.6 Mbps, but this is just not the case in normal real life tests. Verizon has traditionally been faster than ATT as far as data plans and networks, but ATT has plans for the future which could be very exciting news for the Apple iPhone or even ATT customers out there. ATT says it will have a 3G network with speeds of up to 20Mbps by 2009!

That was the bomb to be dropped, but that is not the entire story. Right now ATT offers 3G at speeds up to 3.6 Mbps it claims, which would be twice the speed of my ATT DSL. Hard to believe that it is true, and has been proven to be far slower in real life performances, but even if it is only ¼ the speed they claim imagine what 20Mbps 3G service to your phone would be like. That’s right, 5 Mbps which is almost the fastest DSL you can get from ATT. It would be good reason for ATT to switch to completely wireless offerings when the network is strong enough.

All this by 2009 is not very likely, but that is not the only claim they have; how about 100Mbps by 2010 on a 4G network. If we see 100Mbps by 2011 I will be an incredibly happen man even if it were not wireless. All of this I am sure has to do with the WiMax technology that is starting hit the news bin, but even ¼ these speeds would be great. This is all just rumor now, but it should be announce around the same time the 3G iPhone is announced so they can boost the sales even higher. This is all so exciting t is hard to take in.