Gadget Technology Shop By SevenSize

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7

2008-10-31T00:12:00.000-07:00

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #4 in Software
Brand: Adobe
Model: 65026616
Released on: 2008-10-13
Platforms: Windows XP, Windows Vista
Format: CD-ROM
Original language: English
Dimensions: .45 pounds

Features

Stay connected with your favorite people and memories with new Photoshop.com membership
Make ordinary photos extraordinary with easy-to-use editing tools
Share your stories in beautiful, personalized creations for print and web
Easily find and view all your photos
Share your photos in fun, interactive ways with invitation-only Online Albums

Amazon.com
Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 software combines power and simplicity so you can make ordinary photos extraordinary; tell engaging stories in beautiful, personalized creations for print and web; and easily find and view all your photos. New Photoshop.com membership* works with Photoshop Elements so you can protect your photos with automatic online backup and 2 GB of storage; view your photos anywhere you are; and share your photos in fun, interactive ways with invitation-only Online Albums.

Effortlessly select an area and simultaneously apply incredible effects with a single stroke of Adobe Smart Brush. Click to enlarge.

See all your photos in one convenient place where you can scroll through them, apply visual keyword tags, and view and retrieve them fast--even if your library includes thousands of photos. Click to enlarge.

Showcase your photos in one-of-a-kind Online Albums with your choice of dynamic, animated templates. Click to enlarge.

Easily upload photos to your website, iPhone, or CEIVA Digital Photo Frames, or view them on your TV.

Do it all with one powerful yet easy-to-use product
Use Photoshop Elements with Photoshop.com* for all your photo needs--organize, edit, and enhance photos; make unique photo creations; share in print and on the web; protect your photos; and view them anywhere you are.

*Available only in the U.S.

Introducing new Photoshop.com membership*
Works with Photoshop Elements to help you protect your photos from computer loss and hard drive crashes with automatic online backup and enough storage (2 GB) for up to 1,500 photos; view your photos anywhere you are; and share your photos in fun, interactive ways with invitation-only Online Albums. And upgrade to Plus membership at any time and get 18 GB more storage, and a variety of inspiring ideas, tutorials, seasonal artwork, and templates delivered regularly to your software.

*Available only in the U.S.

Select and apply with a single stroke
Simultaneously select a specific photo area and apply incredible effects with a single stroke of new Adobe Smart Brush. Improve lighting, add rich textures, and more with eight libraries of over 50 sophisticated effects.

Go from flawed to phenomenal in seconds
Whiten teeth, make skies bluer, get rid of red eye, and take advantage of many more shortcuts that reduce common, multistep editing tasks to a single click or brush stroke.

Dramatically transform your photos with easy-to-use tools
Convert your color originals to elegant, nuanced black-and-whites, or use color curves adjustments to get the perfect exposure.

Count on step-by-step assistance
Want to touch up a scratch? Create a scrapbook page? Add artistic effects that make a photo look like a pencil sketch? Photoshop Elements walks you through key steps to make it easy to get the results you want fast.

Quickly clean your scene of unwanted elements
You took five shots of your subject, but pedestrians and cars distract from the scene in every one. Now, see only what you want to see in your photos--use Adobe Photomerge Scene Cleaner to simply brush away any elements that changed positions between photos to create a single, perfect composite.

Composite with amazing results
Create flawless group shots in just a few clicks with amazing Adobe Photomerge technology. Photomerge also lets you create seamless panoramas and combine elements of different faces for entertaining results.

Share experiences in fresh, exciting ways on the web
Showcase your photos in one-of-a-kind Online Albums with your choice of dynamic, animated templates--including new, visually stunning options. Adobe Flash technology lets viewers interact with your photos for an entertaining experience.

Show off your creativity in unique ways
Make amazing printed photo creations--like scrapbook pages, photo books, and cards--that you can customize to get exactly the look you envision.

Organize your library with ease
See all your photos in one convenient place, and find photos fast using powerful, flexible visual tags and a variety of viewing and searching options, including a new text search box.

Customer Reviews

Adobe should start over
I am an expert PC user, a reasonably serious amateur photographer and a great fan of Adobe Acrobat. I started using Adobe PSE V6 about a year ago, after using Microsoft Picture It for years (and liking it, though I'm not a Microsoft fan).

Because I'm experienced and because of my enjoyment using Acrobat, I expected PSE6 to be relatively easy to learn. It wasn't. Nothing works the way I expected it to and nothing was where I expected to find it. I'm also one of the few who actually reads a manual when all else fails. I read two books, including the Dummies book and still couldn't comfortably navigate this software.

When PSE 7 came out, I thought maybe things would get better. Not so. Now I don't know what I'm going to do.

Adobe should get the Acrobat development team to start from scratch with the Photoshop programs.

Diffficult to USE
I find this program powerful but not helpful in its design. It is difficult. I tried Corel's Paint shop pro easier, more logical and just as powerful. The Corel program is very mainstream and accepts many useful plug-ins just like elements. This program needs a total redesign for the the advanced consumer market - is is locked into the more difficult aspects of Photoshop.

Good Program
This is a good program. I was originally using PSE4 that belonged to my Mother who had loaded it onto my computer. Something went wrong and ended up buying Photoshop for myself and decided to go with the most up-to-date program Adobe was offering. Sure there isn't a HUGE difference from PSE4 to PSE7 but I enjoy the program and I was able to buy it cheaper than what I could've bought PSE6 for. If you want to save some money, go with 5 or 6, definitely don't think you'll go wrong. I wanted CS3 but is beyond what I can afford right now. And as an aspiring photographer, Elements is great!

List Price:	$99.99
Price:	$79.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

2008-10-31T00:10:00.001-07:00

Product Description The PowerShot A590 IS will astound you with its power-packed performance and impressive value. It's got 8.0-megapixels, a 4x optical zoom, an Optical Image Stabilizer and a large 2.5-inch LCD. A range of shooting modes - from manual to automatic including Canon's new Easy Mode - make picture-taking carefree. A DIGIC III Image Processor with Enhanced Canon Face Detection assures natural-looking results, while Motion Detection Technology reduces blur. For added creativity, attach wide or telephoto converter lenses.

Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
From Canon

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #1 in Camera & Photo
Brand: Canon
Model: A590IS
Released on: 2008-02-15
Dimensions: 2.50" h x 1.60" w x 3.70" l, .39 pounds
Display size: 2.5
Included Software: Yes

Features

8.0-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 16x 22-inch prints
4x optical image-stabilized zoom
2.5-inch LCD screen; Face Detection
New Easy Mode simplifies operation
Captures images to SD memory cards (not included); powered by AA batteries

Editorial Reviews

Manufacturer Description

The PowerShot A590 IS will astound you with its power-packed performance and impressive value. It’s got 8 megapixels, a 4x optical zoom, an Optical Image Stabilizer, and a large 2.5-inch LCD. A range of shooting modes -- from manual to automatic, including Canon’s new Easy Mode -- make picture-taking carefree. A DIGIC III Image Processor with Enhanced Canon Face Detection assures natural-looking results, while Motion Detection Technology reduces blur. For added creativity, attach wide or telephoto converter lenses.

Canon PowerShot A590IS Highlights

8 megapixels with 4x optical zoom and optical image stabilizer With the PowerShot A590 IS, dramatic, personal pictures have never been easier to shoot and share. The 8.0-megapixel design lets you create impressive high resolution images of family and friends you’ll be proud display. The genuine Canon 4x zoom lens moves you in for powerful close-ups -- like a bird in flight or a child’s winning goal -- at the touch of a button. Plus, Canon’s highly sophisticated Optical Image Stabilizer keeps every shot absolutely steady even when you’re not.

2.5-inch LCD screen The camera’s 2.5-inch LCD screen gives you the big picture, whether you’re shooting, reviewing or showing off your images. This high-resolution screen offers a crisp, clear and bright picture. It also features Night Display for easy viewing in low light.

New Easy Mode simplifies operation Even if you’ve never picked up a camera before, with Canon’s new Easy Mode you can take inspiring, dramatic pictures that will impress everyone. Once you choose Easy Mode, the PowerShot A590 IS handles all the details automatically. It automatically sets every camera control including the flash to reduce blur and improve image quality. So you get pictures that are bright, clear and natural just by pushing a button. Best of all, you can relax and concentrate on what really counts -- your subject.

Selectable shooting modes With 19 Shooting Modes including 7 Special Scene Modes, you’re ready for whatever shot comes your way.

DIGIC III Image Processor With DIGIC III, your images boast superior quality, the camera operates at top efficiency and battery life is enhanced. What’s more, DIGIC III enables Canon’s Face Detection Technology and Red-eye Correction to give you better, more true-to-life people shots. Simply press the Shutter Button halfway down, and the camera automatically pinpoints the faces in the scene and chooses the ideal focus point. The camera controls exposure settings and flash to keep every face looking bright and natural. Red-eye Correction can be handled in-camera, in two ways. The entirely new Red-eye Correction during shooting uses the Face Detection Technology to recognize and remove red-eye from flash images as they're taken, before the file is written to the memory card. It's also possible to correct red-eye during image playback, using simple settings in the A590 IS's menu.

iSAPS Technology is an entirely original scene-recognition technology developed for digital cameras by Canon. Using an internal database of thousands of different photos, iSAPS works with the fast DIGIC III Image Processor to improve focus speed and accuracy, as well as exposure and white balance.

Face Detection Technology Canon's powerful Face Detection Technology delivers even better results with the new A590 IS. The Face Detection Technology continues to recognize faces in a scene, and concentrate exposure (daylight or flash) and focus upon them. But the A590 IS adds more: Face Detection WB means the camera concentrates upon faces when calculating white balance for the best possible skin tones. Face Select and Track lets the A590 IS user highlight one face among several in a scene, and the camera concentrates on that person, even as they move around the scene. Face Detection Technology is a powerful contributing factor in Canon's new Motion Detection Technology.

Red-eye Correction Red-eye Correction provides three options for removing red-eye from subjects in flash pictures.

The new Red-eye Correction during shooting actually identifies and corrects red-eye in human subjects as pictures are taken.
The A590 IS can be set to automatically detect and correct red-eye during image playback.
The user can manually locate any red eyes in a scene during image playback on the LCD screen, and command the camera to remove them.

High ISO The PowerShot A590 IS features ISO 1600 and High ISO Auto settings that reduce the effects of camera shake and sharpen subjects in low-light situations, giving you greater shooting flexibility.

Motion Detection Technology automatically reduces blur Life doesn’t stand still for picture-taking. That’s why Canon included its advanced Motion Detection Technology in the PowerShot A590 IS. This sophisticated feature works in the background to instantly evaluate how fast your subject is moving. Then it automatically selects and sets the optimal exposure and ISO settings to keep everything looking sharp and clear. So whether you’re shooting a bride walking down the aisle, a ballet recital or even a child’s soccer game, you can relax and shoot with confidence knowing you’ve got the picture you intended.

Accepts Wide-Angle and Telephoto Converter Lenses To expand your creativity, the PowerShot A590 IS is compatible with shooting accessories such as wide and tele converter lenses, High-Power Flash designed for all of the PowerShot models.

The Complete Print Solution

The A590IS features a Print/Share button for easy direct printing and downloading, plus ID Photo Print and Movie Print with select Pixma photo printers and Selphy compact photo printers.

The PowerShot A590 IS's Print/Share button makes direct printing easier than ever. Simply connect the A590 IS to a Canon Pixma photo printer or Selphy compact photo printer or any PictBridge compatible photo printer, press the lighted Print/Share button and print! Also use the Print/Share button to transfer images to a computer (Windows and Macintosh).

Print your own ID photos in 28 different sizes or use the Movie Print function to output multiple stills from a recorded movie on a single sheet with a Canon Selphy compact photo printer.

Customer Reviews

Best camera I have ever owned
Received the camera right away. Will deal with this merchant again. I am no photography expert, although, if I were, this camera gives me the option of manual settings. However, it also has an automatic setting that gave me FABULOUS photos. Just got back from vacation and reviewed the photos today. I can't believe that I took them, they look too good!!
I would recommend this camera to anybody and everybody.

Thanx-
JE

Options
My wife and I like this camera so much we now have two of them.
I bought this camera for my wife because it has an "easy" setting. The easy setting is the ideal point and shoot that eliminates the need to set any options and is therefore well suited to anyone who just wants to take pictures. I also bought a 4G SDHC card which allows almost 2K pictures at the highest resolution. My wife is delighted with the camera and has shot a couple of hundred pictures, all on the easy setting (the one with the little red heart). Because of the 8mp resolution I am able to edit and crop the pictures without losing detail. I have played with the camera just enough to learn that the advanced features are very comparable to some of my larger and much more expensives cameras. It won't replace a SLR but it has become our main travel camera because of its small size, it is simple enough to keep my wife happy and complex enough to keep me happy. We have owned these cameras for several months, taken over 1,000 pictures and they have held up very well.
At the current selling price of these cameras they are a great bargain.
P.S. I did have a minor problem with one of the cameras that required a return to the Canon service center. I realize that stuff happens and I wasn't thrilled about having to mail the camera to Canon but their customer service person couldn't have been nicer or more helpful and I had my camera back in a just a few days. All in all not a bad experience.

Great Value - fun camera
My display unit on my previous camera developed a crack and I needed a quick, inexpensive replacement. I am very pleased with the A590IS. More MP than I had before plus it has a nicer feel than the compact, square digital cameras.

Price:	Too low to display & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Price:

Too low to display & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Auction : APPLE iBOOK G3 WHITE MACINTOSH LAPTOP OFFICE

2008-06-30T02:46:00.000-07:00

Auction : APPLE iBOOK G3 WHITE MACINTOSH LAPTOP OFFICE

Are you looking for a basic laptop for web surfing, emails, music and photo library management, word processing, completing school assigments or keeping track of finances? Then this ibook is for you.

NO RESERVE - HIGH BID WINS

OVERVIEW
This ibook is in perfect working order and comes ready to go with a good battery and an Apple ac adapter charger. This sleek white iBook has a nice bright, big 12" display with no scratches or dead pixels, OS X 10.4.11 Tiger, 500 mhz processor, 384 mb of RAM memory, 20 gb hard drive, CD-ROM drive. Originally priced at $1499, the ibook is a slim, durable and beautiful laptop. There’s also a slew of software including iphoto, itunes, and much more. Hook up your ipod, iphone, digital camera, external hard drive and have fun. This laptop has been fully tested and everything works perfect.

With a warranty available and a no hassle guarantee, you have nothing to worry about with this laptop. You can spend a lot more, but if all you need is a basic computer, you won't get much for that extra investment! From my own experience, I use Apple's top of the line desktop tower to produce huge murals, but I am typing this description on my G3 laptop. For most things people do with a laptop, there is little to no difference between those two computers.

There are two USB ports, firewire, ethernet, internal modem, earphone jack, built-in microphone, an internal slot for an airport card, CD-ROM for listening to music, loading more software or whatever you can think of.

Guaranteed non DOA

Includes battery and a/c adapter.

Auction : APPLE iBOOK G3 WHITE MACINTOSH LAPTOP OFFICE

Auction : NEW Unlocked CECT LH01 GSM PDA Cell Phone MP3 MP4

2008-06-28T22:57:00.001-07:00

NEW Unlocked CECT LH01 GSM PDA Cell Phone MP3 MP4 (11 Hr)

Features:

*3.2 inch TFT touch screen.
*Touch-screen, slide-screen operation, touch screen vibration.
*Menu animation effect.
*Bluetooth 2.0 stereo music.
*Dual stereo speakers.
*Double card to receive.
*2.0Mega pixels, automatic focus.
*64 polyphonic ring tone.
*Stock WAP .
*Electronic map WAP.
*Memory expandable to 2GB Max (T-flash).
*Support calls, Voice reported.
*MP3/MP4 high-definition video multimedia.
*Voice recorder, Video recorder USB interface U-disk.
*Standby Time: Up to 200-250 hours, Talk Time: Up to 120-180 mins

NEW Unlocked CECT LH01 GSM PDA Cell Phone MP3 MP4 (11 Hr)

ฺBid : P4 1.4 DELL LAPTOP 5 1 2 M CORE 1 PC NOTEBOOK WIFI XP-2

2008-06-28T22:31:00.000-07:00

Dell Latitude D600 Laptop
Processor (CPU):	Intel Pentium M 1.4ghz SUPER FAST
Memory (RAM):	512mb DDR Memory GREAT AMOUNT
Hard Drive:	20 Gigabyte TONS OF SPACE
Optical Drive:	CDRW / DVD / CDROM
Network:	10/100 High Speed Lan
Modem:	56K Dial Up Modem
Ports:	Parallel, Serial, USB PORT
Sound:	Stereo Sound
LCD:	14.1 Beautiful LCD Screen
Video:	Onboard 3D Graphics
Wireless:	802.11 Internal Wireless (Wifi)

The computer comes fully loaded with Microsoft Windows XP Professional! It has been freshly restored and updated so you will be the first person to use it. It also includes a Microsoft compatible Professional Office Suite. It includes a Word Processor (for typing and editing papers), a Spreadsheet program, a Database program and Presentation software. It comes with a powerful Anti-Virus program that keeps you protect 24/7, 365 days a year.

P4 1.4 DELL LAPTOP 5 1 2 M CORE 1 PC NOTEBOOK WIFI XP-2 ( 12 hr)

Nokia 7610 Supernova

2008-06-28T21:21:00.000-07:00

covers mean that you can keep the 7610 looking fresh, and you can also customise the handset's key illumination and wallpaper to match.

In the past, we've tended to see these features with 3G phones, but the Nokia 7610 is not a 3G device, although it does support EDGE data which is OK as long as your mobile network actually uses it.

The display is a 2" 240 x 320 pixel panel in 16 million colours, which is perhaps a little smaller than we would like to see. Talktime is pretty decent at up to 5.4 hours with a maximum of 12 days standby time. Overall, the 7610 Supernova measures 98 x 48 x 15mm and weighs 99 grams which is pretty typical for this type of device.

It's not a cheap phone, costing €225 (around £180 / $360) before tax and subsidy. That puts it roughly in the same price range as the Nokia N81 and Nokia N77 which are both 3G devices but don't have the same quality of camera as the 7610.

The standard sales package includes a 512MB microSD card (2GB for the US version), an AC-3 charger, video out cable, two Xpress-on covers and a stereo wired headset. The 7610 Supernova should be available during Q3 2008.

One last thing - this isn't the first time that Nokia have used this model name, the original Nokia 7610 from 2004 is one of Nokia's more off-the-wall handset designs. In fact, despite our misgivings, there are plenty of original 7610s around so make sure that you are ordering the 7610 Supernova rather than a bargain-basement phone from four years ago.

From : http://www.mobilegazette.com/

Review : Nikon D40 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera

2008-06-28T21:02:00.000-07:00

Manufacturer Description

Great pictures used to require complicated and cumbersome equipment along with years of experience. Not any more. The D40 is compact, lightweight and designed specifically for ease of use, yet contains all the top-quality, high-performance technologies that you expect from a Nikon digital SLR. And with world-famous Nikkor lenses, you know you have the sharpest and most reliable optical performance available. All in a camera light enough to carry with you everywhere. Beautiful photography has never been easier.

Nikon D40 Highlights

Extraordinary Nikon image quality The D40's high-resolution image quality is made possible by Nikon's high-performance 6.1 megapixel Nikon DX format CCD imaging sensor and exclusive Nikon image processing engine which assures stunning sharpness and color.

Easy operation with intuitive controls Intuitive controls make the D40 point-and-shoot simple, enabling even first-time SLR users to capture beautiful memories perfectly.

Nikon's smallest digital SLR ever At just over 16 ounces, the beautifully styled and compact D40 makes high-performance digital SLR photography easier and more convenient than ever.

The D40 is capable of shooting 2.5 frames per second

Fast startup with instant shutter response: Fast startup combined with super-fast shutter response and rapid-action shooting at up to 2.5 frames per second makes it easy to freeze special moments instantly.

Includes 3x 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor lens Designed exclusively for use with Nikon DX-format digital SLRs, this ultra-compact 3x zoom offers Nikkor sharpness and versatility in a wide variety of shooting situations.

Shoot at up to 2.5 frames per second The D40 can fire continuously at a speed of up to 2.5 frames per second, capturing high-quality action sequences of children in sporting activities such as soccer, baseball and much more.

2.5-inch color LCD monitor with 3 colorful display options Playback images are easy to see, and function menus are easier to use with a larger and brighter color LCD monitor. The large 2.5-inch LCD monitor enables image preview at up to 19 times magnification and has large type fonts and easy-to-view menus as well as three all-new display options: Classic, Graphic and Wallpaper.

High-performance 6.1-megapixel Nikon DX format CCD imaging sensor Nikon's DX format CCD image sensor delivers vivid color and sharp detail, great for making beautifully detailed enlargements of 16 x 20 inches and beyond. High resolution also provides room for creative cropping.

In-camera editing functions include red-eye removal

In-camera image editing Highly versatile in-camera editing features include Nikon D-Lighting, Red-Eye Correction, Image Trimming, Image Overlay, Monochrome (Black and White, Sepia and Cyanotype) along with Skylight, Warm Tone and Color Balance filter effects. These features provide greater creative freedom without the need for a computer, for those who prefer to send pictures directly to a printer.

New advanced HELP menu system with Assist Images The D40's newly introduced "assist images" help you select the appropriate settings for many camera features by showing an example image typical of that setting as well as an advanced HELP Menu for the current item selected. The D40's Question Mark icon (?) indicates that help is available for the currently selected item; just press the help button beside the LCD monitor to see a context sensitive help page.

Fast, accurate 3-area Autofocus The D40's advanced 3-area AF system and the refined algorithms inherited from more advanced Nikon digital SLR cameras deliver fast, efficient and precise autofocus. AF refinements deliver greater precision with fast, more consistent subject acquisition and improved focus tracking for consistently sharper pictures.

Enjoy easy in-camera optimization

Image Optimization Options The D40's Image Optimize setting lets photographers adjust color, contrast and sharpening as well as other image settings according to the type of scene or output desired. Settings include: Normal, Softer, Vivid, More Vivid, Portrait, Custom and Black and White, each of which are automatically adjusted based on sophisticated Nikon algorithms or user-selected settings for optimum results.

Built-in Speedlight with i-TTL automatic flash control Nikon's innovative i-TTL flash control evaluates flash exposure with incredible precision to achieve better automatic flash balance and deliver outstanding results. The built-in Speedlight is always at the ready and brings beautiful exposures in darkened conditions as well as adding sparkle for fill flash in outdoor situations for enhanced twilight shots or an added impact to daylight images.

Bright, accurate SLR viewfinder A large viewfinder makes composition easier, and overall viewfinder brightness makes focusing in low-light photography possible. Its bright and sharp viewfinder, with 0.8x magnification, ensures precise composition.

Automatic exposure with 8 Digital-Vari Program Modes Eight Digital Vari-Program Modes include: Auto Flash-OFF, Portrait, Landscape, Child, Sports, Close Up or Night Portrait, each of which adjusts automatically for optimal results under varied conditions.

Nikon 3D Color Matrix Metering II The D40's 3D Color Matrix Metering II evaluates each scene for brightness, color, contrast, size and position of shadows and highlights, selected focus area and camera-to-subject distance, comparing that information against an onboard database of more than 30,000 actual photographic scenes.
Product Description
6.1-megapixel effective recording * APS-C-size CCD image sensor (23.7 x 15.6 mm) * AF-S DX 18-55mm Zoom-Nikkor f/3.5-5.6G ED II lens (35mm equivalent focal length: 27-82.5mm) * 2-1/2" color LCD screen * 3D Color Matrix Metering II for accurate exposure control * continuous shooting mode: 2.5 frames per second (unlimited JPEG frames or up to 9 RAW frames) * program shooting modes: Auto, Auto (Flash Off), Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Child, Sports, and Night Portrait * in-camera image editing functions: D-Lighting, In-Camera Red-Eye Fix, cropping, image overlay, monochrome settings, and filter effects *

From : http://www.amazon.com/

Motorola's touchscreen Blaze for Verizon in the wild

2008-06-28T20:57:00.001-07:00

Remember that touchscreen Motorola Blaze we'd mentioned a while back that was on the hook to get Verizon's visual voicemail service? It may not be in Verizon stores yet, but it's all up in Boy Genius Report's labs with a dark red body, MING attitude, and almost limitless mediocrity on board. The touchscreen apparently requires ridiculous amounts of effort to actuate, and that problem is compounded by a lame on-screen keyboard that makes texting tricky at best. EV-DO Rev. A is cool and all -- and the visual voicemail support should be a pretty popular add-on feature -- but that giant Motorola logo up front with the red ring and three pounds of chrome leaves the Blaze with a face only a mother could love. Let's hope Verizon's positioning this one as its low-end touchscreen offering, because we're not seeing it cha-chinging many registers otherwise.

Review By : Engadget

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2008-06-28T07:22:00.001-07:00

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Review : MacBook Air

2008-06-28T07:09:00.001-07:00

Overview

In his Macworld Expo 2008 keynote
address, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the latest Apple laptop:
MacBook Air. Stunningly thin and lighter than any Apple laptop ever
made, yet missing ports and expandability expected of laptops, the
MacBook Air has been a topic of intense discussion in the Mac community.

Soon
after he returned to Apple, a decade ago, Jobs simplified the Mac
product offerings to just four product lines, defined by a two-by-two
matrix of Professional vs Consumer, Desktop vs Laptop. The "pro" models
have been more powerful, expandable and upgradeable than the "consumer"
models, and carry a hefty price premium. Design has also been a
differentiator — consumer Macs have been more informal and even
whimsical, while pro Macs have ranged from stolid to striking but
always sleek and refined.

The MacBook Air is not a
traditional Apple pro model, lacking the requisite raw power and
expandability. Yet, at $700 more than the basic MacBook (which is much
faster), it's clearly not positioned as a consumer laptop, either.

In
the general PC market, the MacBook Air falls into the "ultralight"
category (and can run Windows, like its non-Mac competitors). The Air
weighs just three pounds, which is a pound lighter than the Newton
eMate 300 and 1.2 pounds lighter than Apple's original lightweight, the
PowerBook Duo 210.

Apple says they designed the MacBook
Air's "form factor" — its shape and size — and then figured out how to
fit a computer into it. Though this seems backwards vs. most computer
development, it's typical for Apple, and strikingly similar to the
design process for the groundbreaking Sony VAIO 505 ultra-small laptop,
introduced in 1997.

MacBook Air takes a different
approach from most ultralight laptops, though. Instead of shrinking all
dimensions, Apple's designers focused on just one: thickness. The
MacBook Air's footprint is fully as large as the MacBook, but it's just
three-quarters of an inch thick at it's thickest point. In profile,
MacBook Air is a wedge, just 0.18 inches thick at its narrowest.

The
large footprint provides the space for a 13.3", 1200x800-pixel display,
a full-size keyboard, and an oversized trackpad. Unlike the retired 12"
PowerBook, which was barely as wide as its keyboard, MacBook Air offers
a larger palm rest area, and we've already discovered this makes for a
remarkably comfortable work surface when holding MacBook Air in the lap.

MacBook Air fits nicely into a standard business folio

Trading
power for size, the MacBook Air is the slowest of Apple's current
laptops, however. It uses an ultra-compact 1.6-GHz CPU, developed by
Intel especially for Apple. The Air also omits the MacBook Pro's
dedicated graphics processor and video memory in favor of Intel's
slower, but smaller integrated graphics controller, which steals 144 MB
of system memory. And Apple uses a tiny hard drive, similar to an
iPod's, instead of a standard 2.5-inch laptop drive.

All of
this compact but low-speed hardware means the MacBook Air won't be
winning any Photoshop or Final Cut Studio contests any time soon. So if
it's so slow, one has to ask, will it sell?

Almost
certainly. The PC industry has been turning out ultra-light notebook
computers that are significantly slower than their bigger cousins for
years. Most are niche products, commanding high price tags and fat
profit margins, with loyal customers. Enduring examples include IBM's
ThinkPad 200 and ThinkPad X Series and the Sony VAIO 505 series.

First Impressions

Opening the MacBook
Air's box is a treat. Unlike the utilitarian Styrofoam packing of other
MacBooks, it literally presents the Air to you on a tray.

The
packaging is clearly inspired by iPhone's, in both look and function.
Instead of corrugated cardboard and a hinged lid, the Air's box is made
of stiff single-ply cardboard, and the top lifts off entirely. Inside,
instead of a stiff Styrofoam shell, MacBook Air is presented on a
simple, lightweight plastic tray. The inside of the lid is covered in
light foam padding. Underneath the tray are neat compartments for the
45-watt power brick and extension cord, video adapters, documentation
and software restore discs.

Like the original iPod's
unfolding cube box used in 2001, and like the iPhone box today, the
MacBook Air's packaging is an experience that says you're about to
touch something special.

Inside the MacBook Air box

Sleek
elegance is the first impression of the MacBook Air, and touching it is
pure pleasure. It's the most visually and tactilely compelling Mac
laptop since the black PowerBook G3 series.

And
everything about the MacBook Air exudes precision. The screen opens
more smoothly than any Apple laptop's in recent memory. Interior edges
are crisp and defined, but without the painfully sharp edges that
plague the polycarbonate MacBooks. Curved bevel edges are reminiscent
of the recently updated iPod Classic's face, and the up-curved bottom
makes picking it up off a table shockingly easy.

The
MacBook Air is remarkably sturdy, too. Closed, it doesn't twist at all;
it's much more resistant to torsion than a 15" PowerBook G4 or MacBook
Pro. Opened, the screen can be slightly twisted, but the base is rock
solid. The Air seems to have a monocoque design, stiffened by the
bottom curves and lacking the interior frame found in other Mac laptops.

Those
same curves make the Air supremely comfortable to use when sitting
tailor-style, and heat build-up doesn't seem to be a problem. The left
rear gets warm but not uncomfortable, even when the processor is busy
enough to turn on the cooling fan.

Keyboard feel is as
expected — indistinguishable from the MacBook keyboard — but the
backlit keys are black instead of white. A light sensor near the iSight
camera adjusts both display and keyboard brightness to match the
environment.

The MacBook Air's display is extremely bright.
Like the LED-backlit MacBook Pro we reviewed last year, the Air's
screen is distinct and colorful even in direct sunlight. At the same
size as the MacBook's 13.3" display, we expected the MacBook Air's
display to be identical, but it is far superior — brighter and clearer
with a wider viewing angle. Like many laptop displays, it looks a bit
yellow when viewed far off-center, but the effect is much less
pronounced than on the MacBook.

The oversize trackpad is
nice, but the button is shallower versus previous MacBooks and MacBook
Pros. Click-feel is nice and solid in the center but slightly soft at
the far left and right sides.

The trackpad's Multitouch
feature, adapted from Apple's iPhone, is fascinating. Watching an image
rotate in Preview, with the twist of two fingers, is startling. Pinch
and open gestures zoom images smoothly, though it requires a bit slower
motion than the iPhone. A three-fingered swipe backs up (or forward) a
step in a web browser or in the Finder, or among photos or PDF pages in
Preview.

But the "navigation" gesture confused our iPhone-trained fingers; instead of moving the object of the manipulation in the direction of the swipe, it moves the viewport.
This is consistent with traditional Mac/Windows behavior, but exactly
opposite the iPhone and iPod Touch. Anyone who uses both the MacBook
Air and the iPhone should soon develop separate reflexes for each
device, though; after a few days, we switched back and forth without
conscious effort.

Features

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

Antoine de Saint Exupéry, 1939, Terre des Hommes

Apple
appears to have taken the poet and aviator Antoine de Saint Exupéry to
heart... the Air dispenses with many of the ports and features of the
MacBook Pro and even of the less expensive MacBook. There is no CD/DVD
drive, no FireWire or Ethernet port, no microphone jack, no S-Video.
MacBook Air has just three ports, hidden in a drop-down hatch on the
right side: a headphone jack, a single USB port, and a micro-DVI port
are its sole concessions to the wired world.

Two other
limitations are also important. The MacBook Air's memory is
non-expandable; its 2 GB worth of memory chips are soldered onto the
logic board and there is no provision for more. And its battery, unlike
every other Apple laptop ever made, cannot be replaced with a spare
when it runs out of power.

On the wireless side, MacBook
Air does include both 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless networking,
and Apple promotes a "Remote Disc" feature that enables you to use
another Mac or PC as a wireless CD/DVD drive. More on that below....

Hardware

The standard MacBook Air has a 1.6-GHz Core 2
Duo processor and an 80GB hard drive. The tiny 1.8", 4200-RPM drive is
the same size as that used in Apple's iPod Classic. And like the
iPod's, it's dead silent — we can't hear it unless we literally press
our ear to the Air's metal shell.

A slightly faster,
1.8-GHz processor is available as a $300 option, and a flash-memory
based 64GB SSD (solid-state drive) is an additional $999 option. And
that's as customizable as it gets.

Both models have 2 GB of
RAM, a high-quality 13.3" display, Intel GMA X3100 integrated graphics
(the same as used in the MacBook), and Apple's "Sudden Motion Sensor"
that parks the hard drive if it detects the Mac is falling.

Remote Disc

Although MacBook Air lacks a CD/DVD drive,
Apple acknowledges you might need one — say, to install software such
as Apple's own iWork, or Microsoft Office. Or to restore the system
software from the DVD's included with MacBook Air.

Apple's
solution to this is "Remote Disc". Included on the MacBook Air
installer disc is custom CD/DVD sharing software you can install on
other Mac and Windows systems. On the MacBook Air itself, the Finder
has a new "Remote Disc" icon in the sidebar "Devices" list. When you
click this icon, MacBook Air scans the local network (using Bonjour)
for host Macs or PCs with this special software installed and shows you
every computer with the Remote Disc service enabled. Selecting one of
these computers shows any available discs; click that disc to mount it
on the MacBook Air's desktop. (By default, the host computer will ask
its user to approve the Remote Disc connection request. This can be
disabled.)

Office 2008 CD mounted via Remote Disc

The
MacBook Air also can start itself remotely from its installer disc
served elsewhere on the network, which makes it possible to conduct
system software upgrades or file system repairs without an optical
drive. Starting in this way isn't anywhere as quick as starting from a
local drive, but it is at least possible.

When you install the Remote Disc
sharing software on another Mac or PC, it installs a new program in
your Utilities folder, "Remote Install Mac OS X." This software
leverages the NetBoot system from Mac OS X Server. When started, it
guides you through the steps to start the MacBook Air from its software
DVD. It works over both AirPort and Ethernet.

On the
MacBook Air end, startup is easy: hold the option key as it starts up,
and it searches the network for Remote Install hosts. It even scans
available AirPort networks, or lets you enter specific network name to
join a hidden wireless network.Of course, it works with Apple's
USB-Ethernet adapter too.

Once started over the network,
the system software setup works like any other Mac OS X Leopard startup
disc. You can access Disk Utility and Terminal, reset the Mac's
password, set a firmware password, run System Profiler or Network
Utility, and even restore from a Time Machine backup.

We
haven't yet tried the Remote Install software with custom-built DVDs,
but we expect we ought to be able to make custom startup discs for
utilities such as Alsoft DiskWarrior.

Remote Install host software; click for more screen shots

MacBook Air selecting a Remote Install source

Remote Disc doesn't enable you to play
DVDs, though (Apple would be happy to rent you movies from iTunes
instead), and some copy-protected games may not work. For those, you'll
need local hardware.

MacBook Air SuperDrive

And for those cases where only a
real CD/DVD drive will do, Apple sells a $99 MacBook Air SuperDrive.
Connecting to the MacBook Air's sole USB port, this super-slim,
lightweight drive does everything you would expect. It reads and writes
CDs and DVDs in all the popular formats, and does it pretty quickly too.

The
drive needs more power than the USB specification provides, though, so
Apple provided extra, non-standard power to the USB port. This means
the MacBook Air's USB SuperDrive doesn't work with any other Mac, nor
does it work with USB hubs.

We tried the MacBook Air
SuperDrive directly attached to an iMac Core Duo and also connected to
a powered USB 2.0 hub. While the SuperDrive did show up on the System
Profiler's USB device tree in both cases, the SuperDrive didn't
actually function. We had hoped it might work in a reduced-performance
mode, but it wasn't even able to suck in a CD (despite making a
whirring sound in the attempt).

(Had Apple used FireWire,
power and compatibility would not have been an issue. FireWire provides
45 watts, compared to USB's standard 2.5 watts.)

MacBook Air with external SuperDrive

Adapters and Dongles

In its minimization quest, MacBook
Air also uses a custom (non-standard) micro-DVI video port — it's even
smaller than the mini-DVI port used in the MacBook. Included in the
Air's box are VGA and DVI adapters. We tested both adapters at
resolutions up to 1600x1200 and experienced no problems. (Display
rotation worked fine, too.) It's a little hard to tell which side of
the adapter is up, though; expect some fumbling as you learn.

Though
MacBook Air lacks an Ethernet port, Apple does sell a rather elegant
little USB-Ethernet adapter for $29, which operates at 10/100
Mbit/sec., not gigabit speeds (not surprising since USB 2.0 is limited
to 480 Mbit/sec.). We discovered that the adapter gets a slightly warm
after a period of sustained network activity. And, it, too, is
incompatible with other Macs.

Accessibility

When it comes to getting inside, Apple's
recent laptops run the gamut — the 12" PowerBook is especially
challenging, but the MacBook's hard drive is easily replaced. MacBook
Air falls somewhere in the middle of Apple's modern designs.

Ten
tiny Phillips-head screws secure the bottom panel; once unscrewed, it
just lifts off, revealing the battery, hard drive, and logic board
inside. The battery looks huge but it's thin, rated at 37 watt-hours.
(For comparison, the MacBook Pro has a 60 watt-hour battery.) The hard
drive is cushioned with a bit of foam, but there's not even enough
space to install the slightly-thicker, 160GB drive used for an iPod
Classic.

A relatively large fan flows air across the
processor's heat sink; both intake and exhaust ports are on the rear of
the laptop. The heat sink touches the lower case, turning the entire
bottom into an extended heat sink. (Unlike the MacBook and MacBook Pro,
the case never gets uncomfortably hot, though.) The single speaker is
underneath the right side of the keyboard, near the hatch for video,
audio, and USB ports.

Most buyers will never have cause to
open up MacBook Air for service, as Apple performs battery
replacements, but at least it looks fairly straightforward if required.
[See iFixit disassembly, linked below, for more details.]

Performance

With a 1.6-GHz, Core 2 Duo
processor and a 4200-RPM hard drive, nobody expects the MacBook Air to
be a speed demon. So we were pleasantly surprised by its general
responsiveness. While disk-intensive operations, such as starting up
applications, were noticeably slower than on a MacBook Pro, routine web
browsing, email, and word processing tasks were quick. PowerPoint 2008
ran transitions and builds in its dual-screen Presenter Tools mode with
no slow-downs at all.

Geekbench scores, which test pure
processor performance, show the 1.6-GHz MacBook Air to be about 80% the
speed of a 2.0-GHz "Late 2006" Macbook.

When we moved a
VMware virtual machine from an iMac Core Duo to the MacBook Air,
Windows XP fired up and ran fine. It took a bit longer to start up than
usual but otherwise was quite usable.

Hard Drive

The MacBook Air's hard drive is its Achilles
heel. This Samsung HS082HB is a 1.8", 4200-RPM, parallel ATA drive,
similar to that used in the iPod Classic, and it just isn't built for
speed.

Samsung's rated average seek time of 13 ms isn't bad
for a laptop drive (most run 11-12 ms), so it can get back and forth
across the platter in reasonable time. But the average rotational
latency of 8.3 ms (vs the 5.5–6 ms for a typical 5400-RPM, 2.5" drive)
means it takes a while for the disk to spin around and present data to
the read/write head — and this seems to be a real limiting factor.

(We
speculate that the lack of SATA's NCQ, or native command queuing, may
also limit the PATA drive's random access performance, but there is no
good way to test this.)

Our AJA Kona File Sweep tests
showed decent but unspectacular throughput, with a sustained read speed
of 26.8 MB/sec, and writes at 30.5 MB/sec. This doesn't lag far behind
our three-year-old PowerBook G4's 80GB Toshiba drive (33 and 31
MB/sec.), but the LED MacBook Pro's 120GB Fujitsu, which we tested last
year puts them both to shame, at 36 and 38 MB/sec.

In terms
of the user experience, you'll be waiting longer than you would be on a
MacBook or MacBook Pro anytime you're using the disk. For example,
simply switching from Photo Booth's video effects pane to the new
motion video composite effects had a long freeze every single time we
did it. And starting a PowerPC application that requires Rosetta takes
noticeably longer than it takes to start the same application on a
two-year old MacBook Core Duo with a relatively slow 160GB Western
Digital Scorpio drive.

At the time of this review, MacBook
Airs with the 64 GB solid-state drives are a bit thin on the ground,
and we haven't had the opportunity to test one. (MacInTouch readers who
ordered SSD models on the day of announcement are still waiting for
them.) Since an SSD doesn't have to move a read/write arm across the
disk, or wait for a platter to spin to the needed sector, we expect the
SSD model ought to perform better than the standard MacBook Air drive,
although it's still a parallel ATA device.

In terms of
capacity, the 80GB hard drive won't be suitable for everyone. A
10,000-photo iPhoto library we use for testing is 23 GB — not much of a
strain. But over the years our iTunes library has grown to over 60 GB.
Combined, they exceed the capacity of the MacBook Air's 80 GB drive —
even ignoring the space required by applications and Mac OS X itself!

Our
test unit arrived with nothing more than Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and
iLife '08 installed, making the most of limited disk space. Unlike
other Macs we've received, there were no trial versions of iWork '08,
Microsoft Office or Aperture pre-installed. After installing Microsoft
Office 2008 and iWork '08, and bringing over a 9GB VMware Fusion
virtual machine, we were already down to 43 GB of free space.

Battery Life

Apple claims a 5-hour battery life for the
MacBook Air, but that's optimistic at best. We never achieved it and
haven't found anyone else who has either.

We think the
process of writing this review might be representative of typical
workday usage: Lots of typing in Microsoft Word (which saves an
Autorecovery checkpoint file every 10 minutes), interspersed with web
browsing (several windows, each with several tabs), jumping back and
forth into Excel, accessing files on other Macs over the wireless
network (and a bit of screen sharing), and email checks automatically
every 5 minutes. The hard drive isn't working constantly, but neither
does it sit idle for long. Activity Monitor reports about 300 MB of
free system memory out of the MacBook Air's 2 GB, so it's not really
dipping into virtual memory.

Under these conditions, the
MacBook Air ran unplugged for about 3.75 hours, until it warned "You
are now running on reserve battery power". That's pretty reasonable,
but still more than an hour from Apple's claim. And we saw the battery
drain even faster when playing full-screen videos.

Historically,
Apple's battery life claims have been pretty realistic, so perhaps the
expensive SSD drive is the key to getting the claimed five hours. Or,
perhaps there is a reason that Apple has removed the text "5 full
hours" from the MacBook Air's technical specifications web page since
it was introduced.

Issues

Battery

The MacBook Air's battery isn't accessible, so
frequent fliers won't be able to swap in a spare when they need more
juice. MacBook Air seems to assume that you'll have short flights or
access to power outlets — neither of which is true for most of us who
don't have private jets. Most US domestic carriers don't have power
outlets at every seat, even in business class, and those who fly often
inevitably become too familiar with phrases such as "holding pattern"
and "waiting for landing clearance."

Apple dropped the ball here. This isn't
an iPod; it's a productivity tool. Running out of power doesn't just
mean the music stops — work stops. Two years after introducing the
proprietary MagSafe connector, Apple still hasn't licensed it to
companies such as Kensington that make external battery packs, so when
your battery is out, you're out of luck. However, there are a few
options, though they aren't sanctioned by Apple.

Entrepreneur
Mike Lee sells Kensington and iGo battery packs with custom-made
MagSafe cables, harvested from Apple power supplies. And, MacInTouch
reader Gershom Martin has informed us of a vendor named Battery Geek
that sells external battery packs with MagSafe-compatible cables. Mr
Martin reports the BG 15-21-130 powered MacBook Air in a 9-hour plane
flight with power to spare.

We then contacted Battery Geek
CEO Sean Murray, who said that their connector does not infringe upon
Apple's patent, as it only provides external power, not battery
charging, and omits Apple's status LED. This looks like a viable option
for travelers.

And finally, we have spotted MagSafe
knock-offs on eBay, shipping from Hong Kong, that purport to work with
Kensington battery packs.

(Links are provided at end of review.)

CD/DVD

Though it's an extra cost, we suggest buying the
separate MacBook Air SuperDrive just to avoid hassles. Remote Disc is
quick enough for installing applications, but booting from Remote Disc
offers lessons in patience. And Remote Disc can't be used to install
Windows with Boot Camp.

The Superdrive takes over the Air's
one available USB port and doesn't work with any USB hubs, yet it
doesn't provide any downstream USB ports. This is a startling oversight
and seriously impairs the Air's potential as a hybrid portable/desktop
system. (Apple's Bluetooth keyboard may help here, as another
extra-cost option, but we didn't test it.)

Migration Assistant

We have several reports of problems
with the MacBook Air's Migration Assistant program. MacInTouch readers
reported that they were unable to get the Migration Assistant to
complete migration over the wireless network and only resolved the
problem by purchasing the USB-Ethernet adapter and going wired. (We
haven't yet tested this.)

Minor issues

Unlike some other Apple laptops, there is
no "prevent accidental input" option in the Trackpad system
preferences, and we occasionally clicked with a palm by accident while
typing, resulting in text appearing in unexpected places.

The
ambient light sensor is a bit too sensitive: the screen sometimes
dimmed or brightened when a shadow passed over it as we were working.

And,
while the Air's custom MagSafe power connector is elegant, it is
possible to loop the cord backwards on itself, such that the cord spins
the laptop around in place, with the potential to yank it off a table,
in a way the MacBook and MacBook Pro wouldn't do.

The Air's
headphone jack is slightly recessed. We had no trouble with any
headphones we had on hand, but we've received some reader reports of
plugs that don't work. The workaround is to buy one of those those
obnoxious, overpriced extenders sold for the iPhone's recessed jack.
Hopefully you won't need one.

As we noted earlier, MacBook Air's memory isn't expandable, and it has no Ethernet or FireWire port.

Lastly,
the Air's footprint is relatively large, but we think this is a fair
trade-off, and we discovered that it still fits neatly into a leather
business folio.

Conclusions

MacBook Air is a pleasure both
to behold and use. It's quick enough for web, email, office
applications, watching movies, and wasting time on YouTube. It slows
down if you push memory usage past its 2 GB of built-in RAM, when slow
virtual memory on disk comes into play, and launching applications
takes longer than on a MacBook or MacBook Pro with its slow disk. The
Air will run Aperture, but without a full-strength graphics controller
or a faster drive, MacBook Air lacks the horsepower needed for
applications such as Final Cut Studio.

MacBook Air is
neither a speedy, expandable "pro" laptop, nor an inexpensive, rugged
"consumer" laptop. In light of the traditional Jobs product matrix,
it's not entirely clear who the target buyer is, but we expect the Air
to appeal to two groups of customers.

Business users who
travel frequently will find the MacBook Air's three-pound weight and
slim profile highly appealing. Its video port easily drives a
projector; its spacious keyboard makes note-taking a breeze; and its
bright, clear screen is highly usable. Saving two and a half pounds of
weight over a 15" MacBook Pro may not sound like much, but if you carry
a laptop everywhere, it's a noticeable difference. We think the MacBook
Air will find a home as an "accessory" Mac in the business market, with
an iMac on the desk and the MacBook Air in the bag. But MacBook Air's
non-swappable battery is a gross oversight that may limit its appeal to
frequent fliers.

We also expect the MacBook Air to appeal
to well-heeled consumers who don't need stellar performance but who do
value style (not to mention Air's superior display). Just $300
separates the black MacBook from the sleek MacBook Air.

Those
who bought the 12" PowerBook a few years ago might consider the MacBook
Air, if their storage and performance requirements are limited.

Although
the MacBook Air has much to criticize — battery and hard drive foremost
— its benefits are compelling. A bright, clear, full-size display and
backlit keys make it usable without the squinting and crunched fingers
that characterize most ultralights. It's so thin, and so light, that it
slides into a bag and makes hardly a bulge; even with its power brick
and video and USB-Ethernet adapters, it seems hardly to add any weight
to the load.

And MacBook Air's industrial design is a
stunning union of form and function. The curved bevels make it look
even slimmer than it is, yet create a super-stiff chassis, which
doesn't flex or bend, and make it easy to pick the computer up off a
table one-handed. Its wedge profile makes typing easy, and it settles
into the lap comfortably.

And the Air is lighter than any
Mac laptop ever made before, including the legendary PowerBook Duo. Not
since the black PowerBook G3 series have we used such a tactile
machine; not since the PowerBook 500 series has an Apple laptop so
enthralled us.

At the end of the day, the MacBook Air isn't
about speed, features, or bang-for-the-buck. Its value is simply this:
it's both beautiful and a pleasure to use.

Review By : Macintouch

Review : Apple iPhone - 8GB (AT&T)

2008-06-28T06:59:00.001-07:00

From the moment Apple announced its iPhone
at Macworld 2007, the tech world hasn't stopped asking questions.
Because Apple has kept many iPhone details under wraps until very
recently, we've been forced to speculate. Until now. Is the iPhone
pretty? Absolutely. Is it easy to use? Certainly. Does it live up to
the stratospheric hype? Not so much. Don't get us wrong, the iPhone is
a lovely device with a sleek interface, top-notch music and video
features, and innovative design touches. The touch screen is easier to
use than we expected, and the multimedia performs well. But a host of
missing features, a dependency on a sluggish EDGE network, and variable
call quality--it is a phone after all--left us wanting more.
For those reasons, the iPhone is noteworthy not for what it does, but
how it does it. If you want an iPhone badly, you probably already have
one. But if you're on the fence, we suggest waiting for the
second-generation handset. Even with the new $399 price for the 8GB
model (down from an original price of $599) and $499 for the 16GB
model, it's still a lot to ask for a phone that lacks so many features
and locks you into an iPhone-specific two-year contract with AT&T. We'll be more excited once we see a version with--at the very least--multimedia messaging and 3G.

Design

On with the review: the iPhone boasts a brilliant display, trim
profile, and clean lines (no external antenna of course), and its lack
of buttons puts it in a design class that even the LG Prada and the HTC Touch
can't match. You'll win envious looks on the street toting the iPhone,
and we're sure that would be true even if the phone hadn't received as
much media attention as it has. We knew that it measures 4.5 inches
tall by 2.4 inches wide by 0.46 inch deep, but it still felt smaller
than we expected when we finally held it. In comparison, it's about as
tall and as wide as a Palm Treo 755p, but it manages to be thinner than even the trend-setting Motorola Razr.
It fits comfortably in the hand and when held to the ear, and its 4.8
ounces give it a solid, if perhaps weighty, feel. We also like that the
display is glass rather than plastic.

Display
The iPhone's display is the handset's design
showpiece and is noteworthy for not only what it shows, but also how
you use it. We'll start off with its design. At a generous 3.5 inches,
the display takes full advantage of the phone's size, while its 480x320
pixel resolution (160 dots per inch) translates into brilliant colors,
sharp graphics, and fluid movements.

Menus

In true Apple style, the iPhone's menu interface is attractive,
intuitive, and easy to use. In the main menu, a series of colored icons
call out the main functions. Icons for the phone menu, the mail folder,
the Safari Web browser, and the iPod player sit at the bottom of the
screen, while other features such as the camera, the calendar, and the
settings are displayed above. It's easy to find all features, and we
like that essential features aren't buried under random menus. Fluid
animation takes you between different functions, and you can zip around
rather quickly.

Much has been made of the iPhone's touch screen, and rightfully so.
Though the Apple handset is not the first cell phone to rely solely on
a touch screen, it is the first phone to get so much attention and come
with so many expectations. Depending on what you're doing, the touch
screen serves as your dialpad, your keyboard, your Safari browser, and
your music and video player. Like many others, we were skeptical of how
effectively the touch screen would handle all those functions.

Touch screen

Fortunately, we can report that on the whole, the touch screen and
software interface are easier to use than expected. What's more, we
didn't miss a stylus in the least. Despite a lack of tactile feedback
on the keypad, we had no trouble tapping our fingers to activate
functions and interact with the main menu. As with any touch screen,
the display attracts its share of smudges, but they never distracted us
from what we were viewing. The onscreen dialpad took little
acclimation, and even the onscreen keyboard fared rather well. Tapping
out messages was relatively quick, and we could tap the correct letter,
even with big fingers. The integrated correction software helped
minimize errors by suggesting words ahead of time. It was accurate for
the most part.

The Apple iPhone features a virtual QWERTY keyboard.

Still, the interface and keyboard have a long way to go to achieve
greatness. For starters, when typing an e-mail or text message the
keyboard is displayed only when you hold the iPhone vertically. As a
result, we could only type comfortably with one finger, which cut down
on our typing speed. Using two hands is possible, but we found it
pretty crowded to type with both thumbs while holding the iPhone at the
same time. What's more, basic punctuation such as periods or commas
lives in a secondary keyboard--annoying. If you're a frequent texter or
an e-mail maven, we suggest a test-drive first.

We also found it somewhat tedious to scroll through long lists,
such as the phone book or music playlists. Flicking your finger in an
up or down motion will move you partway through a list, but you can't
move directly to the bottom or top by swiping and holding your finger.
On the other hand, the letters of the alphabet are displayed on the
right side of the screen. By pressing a letter you can go directly to
any songs or contacts beginning with that letter. But the lack of
buttons requires a lot of tapping to move about the interface. For
example, the Talk and End buttons are only displayed when the phone is
in call mode. And since there are no dedicated Talk and End buttons,
you must use a few taps to find these features. That also means you
cannot just start dialing a number; you must open the dialpad first,
which adds clicks to the process. The same goes for the music player:
since there are no external buttons, you must call up the player
interface to control your tunes. For some people, the switching back
and forth may be a nonissue. But for mutlitaskers, it can grow
wearisome.

Criticisms aside, the iPhone display is remarkable for its
multitouch technology, which allows you to move your finger in a
variety of ways to manipulate what's on the screen. When in a message,
you can magnify the text by pressing and holding over a selected area.
And as long as you don't lift your finger, you can move your
"magnifying glass" around the text. You can zoom in by pinching your
fingers apart; to zoom out you just do the opposite. In the Web
browser, you can move around the Web page by sliding your finger, or
you can zoom in by a double tap. And when looking at your message list,
you can delete items by swiping your finger from left to right across
the message. At that point, a Delete button will appear.

Thanks to the handset's accelerometer (a fancy word for motion
sensor), the iPhone's display orientation will adjust automatically
when you flip the iPhone on its side while using the music and video
players and the Internet browser. Also, a proximity sensor turns off
the display automatically when you lift the iPhone to your ear for a
conversation. All three are very cool.

The January 2008 update added new customization options for the
iPhone's home screen. By pressing and holding any icon, all of the
icons on the display will start to wiggle. You then can move the icons
around and rearrange them at will. By moving them to the right, you can
also access a second menu page, and you can add or remove on the "dock"
at the bottom of the display. It's clear that with this new feature,
Apple is readying the iPhone for more applications, particularly as the
company prepares for the upcoming SDK. To stop the icons from wiggling,
just press the Home button.

Exterior features

The iPhone's only hardware menu button is set directly below the
display. It takes you instantly back to the home screen no matter what
application you're using. The single button is nice to have, since it
saves you a series of menu taps if you're buried in a secondary menu.
On the top of the iPhone is a multifunction button for controlling
calls and the phone's power. If a call comes in at an inopportune time,
just press the button once to silence the ringer, or press it twice to
send the call to voice mail. Otherwise, you can use this top control to
put the phone asleep and wake it up again. You can turn the iPhone off
by pressing and holding the button.

The Apple iPhone speaker is located at the bottom of the phone.

Located on the left spine are a volume rocker and a nifty ringer mute
switch, something all cell phones should have and which is a popular
feature of Palm Treos. On the bottom end, you'll find the speaker, a
microphone, and the jack for the syncing dock and the charger cord.
Unfortunately, the headset jack on the top end is deeply recessed,
which means you will need an adapter for any headphones with a chubby plug. Is this customer-friendly? No.

Unfortunately, the Phone does not have a battery that a user can
replace. That means you have to send the iPhone to Apple to replace the
battery after it's spent (Apple is estimating one battery will keep its
full strength for 400 charges--probably about three years' worth of
use). The cost of the replacement is $79 plus $6.95 shipping. No, you
don't really need a removable battery in a cell phone, but like many
things missing on the iPhone, it would be nice to have, especially for
such an expensive phone. And just what are you supposed to without a
cell phone during the replacement period? Contrary to earlier reports, the SIM card is removable
via a small drawer on the top of the iPhone, but other AT&T SIM
cards will not work in the iPhone. That's especially troubling, as it
completely defeats the biggest advantage of using a GSM phone with a
SIM card. Some people have multiple phones and like to change the SIM
card between their different handsets. Also, you can't use the SIM card
to import contact information from another handset.

Features
The iPhone's phone book is limited only by the
phone's available memory. Each contact holds eight phone numbers;
e-mail, Web site, and street addresses; a job title and department; a
nickname; a birthday; and notes. You can't save callers to groups, but
you can store your preferred friends to a favorites menu for easy
access. You can assign contacts a photo for caller ID and assign them
one of 25 polyphonic ringtones. We should note, however, that there's
no voice dialing and you can't use MP3 files as ringtones. Other basic
features include an alarm clock, a calculator, a world clock, a
stopwatch, a timer and a notepad. There's a vibrate mode but it's a tad
light.

The calendar offers day and month views, and you can use the calendar
as an event reminder or a to-do list as well. The interface is clean
and simple, though inputting new appointments involves a lot of
tapping. There's no Week view, however. We were able to sync our
Outlook contacts and calendar and our Yahoo! e-mail address book with
no problems.

Bluetooth and wireless
The iPhone offers a full range of
wireless functionality with support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
connectivity. The Wi-Fi compatibility is especially welcome, and a
feature that's absent on far too many smart phones. When you're
browsing the Web, the iPhone automatically searches for the nearest
Internet hot spot. Bluetooth 2.0 is also on board, which delivers
faster transmission and a longer range than Bluetooth 1.2. You can use
Bluetooth for voice calls, but you don't get an A2dP stereo Bluetooth
profile--another item that's not necessary but would be nice to have.

Though Apple CEO Steve Jobs has explained the iPhone's lack of
3G support by saying the chipsets take up too much room and drain too
much battery, we'd like the option anyway. Yes, the Wi-Fi network is
great when you can get it, but AT&T's EDGE network just doesn't cut
it for all other surfing. EDGE Web browsing is so slow, it almost ruins
the pretty Web interface. More on this in the Performance section.

Messaging and e-mail
For your messaging needs, the iPhone
offers text messaging and e-mail. As on many smart phones, a text
message thread is displayed as one long conversation--a useful
arrangement that allows you to pick which messages you'd like to
answer. The January 2008 update added the ability to send a text
message to multiple recipients. It was a welcome addition, but truly,
that capability should have been there from the start. If you use
another function while messaging, you can return to pick up that
message where you left off. We just don't understand, however, why
Apple doesn't include multimedia messaging. Sure, you can use e-mail to
send photos, but without multimedia messaging you can't send photos to
other cell phones--pretty much the entire point of a camera phone.

The iPhone's e-mail menu includes integrated support for Yahoo,
Gmail, AOL, and Mac accounts. You can set up the phone to receive
messages from other IMAP4 and POP3 systems, but you'll need to
sweet-talk your IT department into syncing with your corporate exchange
server. It's rumored
that Apple will update the iPhone to support ActiveSync but Apple
hasn't confirmed that as of this writing. Yet the iPhone does offer a
way to connect with your VPN. You can read--but not edit--PDF, JPEG,
Word, and Excel documents. Worse: you can't cut and paste text when
composing messages.

iPhone's iPod
Sandwiched between all the iPhone's features
lives Apple's most amazing iPod yet. The display, interface, video
quality, audio quality--all of it is meticulously refined and
beautiful. Unfortunately, it's trapped within a device that will cost
you more than $1,000 a year just to own. CNET recently reviewed a Rolls-Royce
that had a top-notch umbrella hidden inside its passenger door. Buying
the iPhone for its iPod feature is a lot like buying that Rolls-Royce
for its umbrella. Regardless, the iPhone is an exciting glimpse into
what Apple hopefully has planned for its sixth-generation iPod. Apple
has redeemed itself following the Motorola Rokr E1 debacle.

The Apple iPhone's music player lets you view album art.

On paper, the iPhone's iPod doesn't offer any features not already on a
fifth-generation iPod:
podcasts, videos, music, and playlists are all here, and content
management with iTunes is identical. The difference rests entirely in
the iPhone's interface. We've used other MP3 players that use touch
interfaces, such as the Archos 704, iRiver Clix and Cowon D2, but the iPhone's unique integration of multitouch technology and a graphic user interface put it in a category all its own.

From an iPod perspective, Apple's biggest triumph with the iPhone is
the fact that it has returned album artwork back into the music
experience in a way that goes beyond a token thumbnail graphic.
Physically flipping through your music collection in the iPhone's Cover
Flow mode really brings back the visceral feel of digging through a CD
or record bin. It's a tough feeling to quantify, but the real music
lovers out there will appreciate how well the iPhone reconnects their
digital music to a form that is both visually and physically more
vivid. Even iTunes users who may already be jaded about using the Cover
Flow mode on their personal computer will be surprised at how the
experience is changed by using the iPhone's intuitive touch screen.

Truth be told, there is one feature that is new to the iPhone's
iPod--the integrated speaker. While the iPhone's speaker sounds thin
and is prone to distortion, it works in a pinch for sharing a song with
a friend. Apple was also smart enough to manage its speaker volume
independent of the headphone volume, so if you're listening to the
speaker full-blast and then decide to plug in your headphones, you
won't be deafened.

The bad news is that the iPhone's iPod leaves out the ability to
manually manage the transfer of music and video content. Unlike any
previous iPod, the iPhone does not allow an option for manually
dragging and dropping content from an iTunes library directly to the
iPhone device icon. Instead, the iPhone strictly uses defined library
syncing options for collecting and syncing content from your iTunes
library to the device. This should work out fine for most people, but
for a device with limited memory the inability to manually manage
content seems like a misstep. Our 8GB iPhone was already a quarter full
after only a few hours of testing, giving us the impression that users
will need to be vigilant at grooming their iPhone library. An external
memory card slot is another one of those "nice to have" features.

The iPhone's music sound quality seems right in line with our
experience using the 5G iPod. All the same EQ presets are available,
only now they are found on the iPhone's main Settings tab. The included
iPhone earbuds did a passable job for casual listening in a quiet
environment. Unfortunately, the iPhone's recessed headphone jack
prevented us from using many of the test headphones we're familiar
with. We were just barely able to squeeze the plug of our Etymotic ER6i
earphones into the jack to do the comparison.

Watching video on the iPhone is not quite as luxurious as a Creative Zen Vision: W or Archos 504,
but its wide screen and bright contrast beat the fifth-generation iPod
by a mile. As with previous iPods, video playback is automatically
bookmarked so that playback resumes where you left off. And because the
iPhone is a phone, it includes an airplane mode that will keep the
music player activated while turning off the call transmitter. Thanks
to the January 2008 update, you can also browse movies by chapter as
well as view subtitles. Other changes include the lyric overlays on
music tracks, support for the new iTunes movie rentals, and the ability
to redeem iPhone gift cards from the device using the wireless iTunes
store.

The Apple iPhone's video player really takes advantage of its wide screen.

Safari browser
The Safari browser really sets the iPhone
apart from the cell phone crowd. Rather than trudging through
stripped-down WAP pages with limited text and graphics, the browser
displays Web pages in their true form. It's a completely and
surprisingly satisfying experience to see real Web pages on a screen of
this size. Our only regret is that the browser does not support Flash
or Java. To pan around a page, just swipe your finger across the
display, and the page moves accordingly. Tap your finger on a link to
open a new page and double-tap your finger to zoom in and zoom back
out. You can use the arrows on the bottom of the display to move back
and forth, while a multifunction button at the bottom of the display
lets you open new pages and flick among them.

The Apple iPhone comes with the Safari Web browser.

Google search is the iPhone's default search tool, but you can use
Yahoo search as well. When searching for information or typing URLs,
you use the onscreen keyboard. It's just like typing an e-mail except
that the spacebar is replaced with Web-appropriate language like ".com"
and a slash. That's a nice touch.

The January 2008 update brought the ability to add bookmarks to
the home screen in the form of icons. The process is easy enough--when
viewing your favorite site, just tap the bookmark icon and you'll find
an "add to home screen" option. You can add multiple icons (thanks to
the new second menu page), move them around, and delete then. It's
useful as it will save you a few clicks later.

Thanks to the accelerometer,
you can tip the phone on its side for a more comfortable landscape
view. It doesn't matter which direction you rotate the phone, as it
will work either way. It's also nice that the onscreen keyboard appears
in landscape mode when using the browser. Most Web pages looked great
on the screen, but visually busy pages like CNN.com can be too crowded.
And because you can zoom in only a set amount, some text can still be
too small to read clearly. You can store bookmarks and sync your
favorite pages from your PC, but it works only for Internet Explorer
and not Firefox.

YouTube
You can activate the iPhone's integrated YouTube
player straight from the main menu via a colored icon. Videos are
organized using many of the same criteria as on the YouTube site,
including Featured Clips, Most Viewed, Top Rated, and Most Recent. You
can read the information attached to a video, such as the date posted
and the poster's name, but you can't read comments. It doesn't appear,
however, that the YouTube connection updates in real time. We uploaded
a video of our own, and it didn't show up until a few hours later.

The Apple iPhone has a built-in Google Maps application.

Widgets
The iPhone has a widget for accessing Google Maps.
You can see the satellite view--nice--and get turn-by-turn directions
between two points, with traffic information. We tried mapping routes
from CNET's offices to various places and received accurate directions.
As the iPhone lacks standard GPS, it couldn't provide location
information for the first six months of its life. But with the January
2008 update, it gained the ability to tell you approximately where you
are. When you tap the new icon in the lower-left corner of the touch
screen, a circle will show where you should be on the map. But rather
than connecting to a satellite, it finds you by connecting to nearby
Wi-Fi hotspots and cellular towers and pinpointing their location (sort
of a backdoor locater). You then can find directions using your
pinpointed location.

When I gave it a go, the location service was off by several
blocks on my first attempt. Though even standard GPS systems aren't
perfect, the margin of error was still too big. Also, the area that the
circle covered was much too expansive (when I tried to zoom in, the
circle disappeared). Fortunately, the second time I tried the location
service it was much more accurate. Also, I like that the circle covered
a smaller area. Yet it's worth noting that the functionality won't work
when you're away from wireless civilization, which typically is a time
when location services come in really handy. Also, the lack of audio
instructions will limit its usability while driving.

The next mapping feature is pretty cool. By pressing the new icon on
the lower-right corner of the touch screen, you can drop a pin wherever
you like on the map. You can move the pin around, save it as a
bookmark, and use it as a location for determining directions. The map
interacts well with the calling functions; you can find a point of
interest and ring it in just a few taps.

Additional widgets point to stock information and weather reports. You
can program your own tickers and get information like a share gain or
loss and see the chart of a share price over time. The weather function
gives you a six-day forecast for your choice of cities. For more
options, there is already a selection of third-party iPhone apps. No games are included on the handset

Visual voice mail

One of the most intriguing features on the iPhone is the much-touted
visual voice mail. iPhone's voice mail works much like a text-message
folder in that it displays the caller's name or phone number and the
time. What's even more fantastic, however, is that you can listen to
the message instantly by pressing the individual message--you don't
have to call your voice mail first.

The Apple iPhone has a 2-megapixel camera on the back.

Camera
The iPhone's 2-megapixel camera offers a spiffy
interface with a graphic that resembles a camera shutter. You're
offered no camera editing options, which we didn't expect. That means
you can't change the resolution, choose a color or quality setting, or
select a night mode. There's no flash either, and with no self-portrait
mirror, those vanity shots are going to be tricky. The camera performed
well in our tests, however. Photo quality
was excellent with rich, bright colors and distinct object outlines.
White looked a bit too soft, but we approve overall. On the downside,
you can't shoot your own video, which is disappointing on a phone at
this price.

As we said earlier, the photo menu is attractive and easy to use,
particularly due to the pinching motion. You can also flip between
photos by swiping your finger across the display. When selecting a
photo, you're given the option of assigning it to a contact, using it
as wallpaper, or e-mailing it to a friend.

Call quality

We tested
the quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) Apple iPhone in San Francisco
using AT&T service. Call quality was good for the most part, but it
wasn't dependable. Though voices sounded natural, the volume was often
too low, and the microphone has a sensitive sweet spot. When we moved
the phone away from our ears ever so slightly, the volume diminished
noticeably and we had to move the phone back to just the right place to
hear clearly. The volume wasn't so bad that we weren't able to hear a
friend who was in a crowded bar, but it just could be better. The
speakerphone was also too quiet though conversations weren't too
muffled.

CNET users have also reported volume problems, and a few people
we called said they heard a slight background hiss. We didn't hear the
hiss on our end, but more than one of our friends said they noticed it.
Automated calling systems were able to understand us, but only if we
were in a quiet room. On the whole, the call quality stayed the same in
most environments.

Browser speed
Our first test with the Safari browser was over
CNET's internal Wi-Fi network. Web pages loaded in 5 to 10 seconds,
though sites with heavy graphics took longer. It was a smooth
experience overall, though it not quite as zippy as we had hoped. We
thought that could be due to CNET's network, but it seemed to be more
or less the standard. Pages took about the same time to load on a home
network and just a couple seconds longer in a cafe. When not using
Wi-Fi, you're stuck with AT&T's EDGE
network, which is just too slow to render the lovely Safari interface
enjoyably. With speeds in the 50-to-90Kbps range, it reminded us of a
dial-up browser. In other words, it's pretty intolerable. CNET Labs
tested the speed of the EDGE network against the Wi-Fi connection by
comparing repeated results of the download time for a 9.4MB file. After
two days of testing, EDGE resulted in an average download time of 15
minutes, 41 seconds for the file; Wi-Fi on average required a mere 1
minute, 11 seconds. In the end, our test results indicate that the
iPhone's Wi-Fi connection is 13 times faster than using EDGE, although
results will vary depending on location. We can only hope Apple adds 3G
soon, especially since AT&T has a robust UMTS/HSDPA network.

Music downloading

We tried purchasing music through the wireless iTunes store, which was
announced in September 2007 (originally we knocked the iPhone for not
allowing wireless downloads). You'll need Wi-Fi to use it (sorry, EDGE
isn't sufficient), but on the whole it was a satisfying experience. You
can view featured songs and the top 10 tracks by genre. If you have
specific music in mind, you also can search by song name. We found our
track quickly, and we liked that results surface as you're typing. Once
we selected our chosen song, it downloaded in less than a minute, and
it appeared directly in our iTunes folder.

Activation

Activation was easy using iTunes 7.3. Our computer recognized the
iPhone right away, and the activation system started automatically.
After a few prompts, it asked us if we wanted to automatically sync
contacts from Yahoo and Windows mail and contacts from Outlook. It also
asked us to if we wanted to sync Internet bookmarks but, as we said
earlier, it won't import Firefox bookmarks. The integration with
AT&T's account service is also seamless. We were able to select a
plan and indicate whether we were a current AT&T customer. It even
asked us if we wanted to port a current cell phone number. In all, it's
much better experience than dealing with AT&T.

It's important to note that the iPhone is little more than an
expensive paperweight until it's activated. You can make emergency
calls, but you can't use any other functions, including the iPod music
player. What's worse, if you cancel your AT&T contract, the iPhone
becomes a paperweight again.

Battery life

The Apple iPhone has a rated battery life
of 8 hours talk time, 24 hours of music playback, 7 hours of video
playback, and 6 hours on Internet use. The promised standby time is
10.4 days. When we tested the iPhone with the Wi-Fi function turned
off, we got about 7 hours, 45 minutes of talk time. When we tested it
with the Wi-Fi activated, we came away with 4 hours less. Video time,
however, clocked in at an impressive 7.3 hours. Music-only time was
also satisfactory. We got 28.4 hours of music playback time on a single
charge. Just keep in mind that it's rare you'll be using just one
feature for hours on end. As such, your battery life will vary widely
as you switch between functions. Large color screens such as the one on
the iPhone tend to be battery drainers, so you'll most likely need to
charge your handset every couple of days. According to the FCC, the
iPhone has a digital SAR rating of 0.974 watts per kilogram.

Review By : Cnet.Com