The poor new guy at Apple…

Tim Cook the new Steve Jobs unveiled the “new” iPhone, which is not so much different to the old one. In fact, the design and actual handset is virtually identical if not the same, and he tried to hammer home that this is indeed a much better phone “on the inside”.

So basically, what has changed, what is new, what do you need to know?

• Faster and better processor (“A5 chip”)
• better graphics
• It has something called Siri
• It is out 14th October for the U.S. and The UK, as well as Germany, France, Japan, Australia and Canada, and 28th October for other countries such as Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and more
• Faster capable data at 14.4Mbps
• New Camera which is 8mp and records 1080p video which is CMOS back lit.  The Camera is supposedly a lot better

And that is pretty much all. The highlights? Nothing much. It has a better camera, that is about all. Sure it is faster and quicker, and have better graphics, but its a new device, its hardly going to be the same or slower as its predecessor is it?!

Siri is a complete novelty from what I can see. Basically its voice recognition, and you can use it to do tasks with your phone, basically instead of pressing buttons. It is complete novelty, just like voice dialing, does anyone actually use it? I can’t see me using that at all….I can imagine it being a complete gimmick used by middle aged men to show their non-geeky middle aged men friends what they can do “aup lad ‘ave you seen what I do, I can talk to my phone“.

So the iPhone 4S is a great phone, but not if you already have an iPhone 4. There is not enough improvement, no new design, no bigger screen, it doesn’t offer anything significant.

Come to think of it the people who come up with these ideas must not like actual interaction; There is a new “find your friends” thing, you can talk to you phone….Why not just call your friends and ask them where they are, and talk to them instead of your new iPhone 4S?

So having said all that I doubt I will get one, and I will wait for the iPhone 5 like I am sure most others who already have an iPhone 4 will.

My iPhone 4…Or is it a 4S? hmmm

I was browsing the Apple site before and noticed the iPad started at £329. I could of sworn it used to start at £429, and they did. I already heard yesterday that Apple in the U.S. were giving $100 off, and it looks like the UK is getting £100 off.

This is while stocks last, so dont expect it to last long. All models have £100 off. So if you are feeling cheap, you can get the current old iPad brand new for as little as £329.

p.s. if you have bought an iPad in the last 14 days and are feeling hard done by, Apple will refund the difference if you contact them.

Yes, just a short time ago the Apple iPad 2 has been officially announced. So, what do you wanna know? Well…

• It will be released 11th March in USA, and 25th March in the UK and Europe
• The price points remain the same

What about the new additions and features? Well as expected, there is nothing outstanding about it, it is more of a refined iPad than something which will take your breath away.

Its lighter and thinner than before. It has twice the power, with a new A5 processor which is dual core, and better graphics. It has dual cameras, one on the front for Facetime and the other on the rear. Its available in white aswell as black, and has an improved speaker.

Also has some new accessories, an HDMI connector and some new covers called “smart covers“, another add-on for Apple to cash in on. The smart covers cleverly clip onto the front of the iPad and can be folded up to form a little stand. They are magnetic and very very thin, at only 2mm.

And thats about it. Did I expect more? Well not really, what more could it have? A better screen perhaps, maybe a bigger screen which I would really want. Also more storage, get rid of the 16gb and start at 32gb going upto 128gb. Flash support? hahaha! That was never going to happen but we can dream.

I may get one, I may not, I havent seen anything from todays announcement which makes me wanna run out and buy one or have a play with one. I didnt get the original iPad, and it looks like I may sit this one out and get the one after, there are some rumors which say that could come this year too.

What do you think?

A good while ago I found a company who were making watches out of the latest iPod Nano’s, which look really cool, and was a great idea. It certainly was, because now many different companies are mass producing straps which you can place your Nano and use it as a watch.

You can pick up the straps from as little as £5, and you will have something that probably most of your friends dont have. I think they are really cool, imagine such a watch 10 years ago, it would of cost a small fortune, I remember when they have calculator watches and things when I was at school, they looked terrible and were expensive.

This looks cool, neon silicone straps are popular, and within your strap you have an iPod!

The only downside is people who dont already have a Nano, like me. I didnt realise they start at £131, so it is quite an expensive little gadget if you dont have, want or need a Nano.

What do you think of these?

I havent bought any gadgets for ages and I want something to play with! I was thinking of getting the next iPad when it comes out, that is if its any good.

Then I got thinking about the Macbook Air. They recently re-launched them, with 2 models, an 11″ and a 13″. They do look really cool, and the 11″ would be just a bit bigger than an iPad, and way more powerful and you can do so much more with it. The downside is I want something which I can just pick up and use, and put down. I dont wanna have to wait for a while for startup, or worry that the battery is going to die. Also no 3G card slot, so you cant get a true mobile internet experience, I suppose you could get a dongle. I have also read some not so good reviews about it, maybe its overhyped.

The next iPad? I resisted temptation to get this one, so why would I get the next? Well maybe I would. I do like the idea of one, but maybe as an all round device, e.g. web browser, media player etc. We will have to see what “the next” iPad has to offer. I would go for it if it was maybe bigger, certainly more powerful, and have a bigger hard drive. An 11-12″ tablet with 128GB HDD and the same RAM and screen as the iPhone would make it tempting. It has to offer something my iPhone doesnt, a huge HDD to store music and vids might do the trick.

The Sony HX7v aka the update to the HX5v which is my current phone. Sony have announced this at CES2011, it has 3D capabilities and takes pics all the way upto 16.2MP. Looks like Sony is in the Megapixel race again. Some people are saying this is too many for the camera and will actually make the image quality worse, we will have to wait to find out. Also it may be too early to upgrade my camera to this, its only a year old, will this be a big enough jump to justify getting one?

My Macbook Pro is quite dirty, i really need to clean it up, its not easy to see it in these pics, but the metal looks a bit dirty.

I will have to find something to clean the aluminium lid, because it is looking a bit scruffy

Hopefully the horrible marks will come off.

I know i am not the only person with these. If you have an iPhone you will probably of experienced this, the infamous Auto Correction. When you type it will guess the word you are trying to type if it thinks you have typed it wrong, and automatically correct it. The problem is, when you dont mistype, and it thinks you have and replaces the word. This happens lots if you live in the north, and write “mam” for mother, and it replaces it as “man”. This can be very confusing for the person reading it, e.g. “I am going to my Mans house” probably not the best thing you want to write if you are a guy

Normally if i am paying attention to what i am writing i will spot things like this before i send them. On this occasion i didnt, and sent this:

Hahahahaha

Yes, we have ANOTHER tablet on our hands. This time from my favourite company (LOL) Blackberry.

First off I dont hate Blackberry. I like them for what they are supposed to be used for, which are primarily a business communicator. They have a few products for the home market, with more to come, as we see here.

Its called the Blackberry Playbook, and i actually think it looks quite nice. There isnt too much info on it yet, none that the general public care about anyway, a few specs have been thrown out there, but no information on 2 things which for me would decide getting one or not: Battery Life and Price. So what do we know about it:

• Its a tablet device, it looks pretty good
• 1ghz dual core processor, 1gb RAM
• It has a 7″ display 1024×600 screen resolution, multi touch
• Size – 130mm x 194mm x 10mm and weighs in at 400g (0.9lbs)
• Wifi 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Runs Blackberry tablet OS /QNIX Technology
• True Multi-tasking, Built In Micro-USB connector, It supports flash woohoo!!
• 3mp front facing camera, 5mp high defination rear facing camera

As mentioned, no information on battery life, price or even release date from what i can find.

Is it for me? Well probably not. I am assuming this is going to be expensive, and from what i have seen of other tablets, nobody seems to be able to come close to the battery times Apple is getting, which for me is a crucial factor in getting a device like this. Another reason is the screen size. 7″ is too small, if i want to buy a device like this i need a middle ground. PC 22″ Laptop 15″ Phone 3.5″…I need something a bigger than a phone and a little smaller than a laptop. 9 – 11″ for me is perfect, i can carry that around like a book, it wont fit in my pocket, but a 7″ screen isnt going to either.

More to come

The year 2011 (or maybe even late this year) will be the year of the tablet. HP have their Slate coming, we have the iPad, we have the Samsung Galaxy Tab and now we have this. 4 tablets from 4 huge companies, as well as other ones from other companies.

I am going to wait it out, and see what the future holds. The good thing about this is that companies like Apple now have real competition for the iPad, they will have to step it up, so maybe i will get the “iPad 2″ or whatever it happens to be called when it is released

What a cheek!!! O2 have put their iPhone 4 packages up by £20!! This is a disgrace.

I checked the other day, only 2-3 days ago and they had the packages i wanted which i highlighted above, for £179 and £119, i went online today to order and it was £20 more! Not only that, it now says it will take upto 5 days to be delivered.

This is just the tip of the iceberg really, they have increaed all their packages and tariffs, the current one i am on, is £35, and i get 600 minutes and “unlimited” data, and now there is no unlimited data its 500mb and for the same tariff as what i have its £5 more.

Things are supposed to get cheaper or you are supposed to get more! You arent supposed to get less and pay more.

Get your act together O2!!

Hey!

Ok, so i have been due a renewal for my mobile phone for almost 2 months now, and still havent renewed because i dont know what to get. I think it is going to be either the iPhone 4, or the Samsung Galaxy S.

iPhone 4

I like my iPhone, it works and does everything i want it to. The new iPhone has a few improvements, and makes it better than the current one i have. But if i get it, its still just an iPhone, i have one already, its not going to feel like a new toy. I am also worried that they will launch a newer model, since this one had issues dropping the signal.

Samsung Galaxy S

Its powered by Android which is different, and i wanna try it out. But there isnt the same number of apps as the Apple App store, and probably will never be. There are lots of apps which i would want, but a few which i have on the Apple store there wont be. I also used a Samsung before, and the touchscreen was terrible, but maybe this one will be better.

Which ever i choose i would be stuck with for 18 months, so i have to choose the right one. If i choose the wrong one, i would have to buy the other sim free, which is around £400 for the Samsung, and £500 for the iPhone.

What do you think?