Talking about Apple and swooning over their products like an obsessed fanboy is boring. But what can’t be ignored is the sheer hype machine that IS Apple. The volume of queues for two days this time round for the new iPhone 4 must surely mean they’re doing something right? First off the new iPhone. The new iOS4 is great and best served by the gorgeous new hardware that it now sports. Bit of a summary below and in my next post I’m going all out Apple fanboy as I explain WHY I love Apple, even though they often infuriate me.

Apple have leapfrogged every other smartphone right now with the iPhone 4. Android offers some great devices but the OS remains fiddly and the entire package is not yet a slick match for Apple’s hardware / software / App integration.

What’s to like about the new iPhone? Lots. The display has a crazy pixel resolution and looks fantastic. The engineering of the phone (Antenna issues aside) is so meticulous it makes the outgoing 3GS seem like a toy – you can only really ‘get’ this when you hold it in your hand. The speed of the device means that Apple’s ‘multitasking’ seems to work well, even if it isn’t really true multitasking but more ‘fast app switching’. The camera is improved, the new iMovie for the phone is a nice touch and in general it’s a big move forward even from the 3GS.

The only thing that does bug me with the iPhone is the complete lack of a dashboard display showing all your stuff at once. Even though multitasking now makes things easier it’s still not as good as showing your mails, social media nonsense and other bits and pieces all on one screen. A shame because I think if Apple turned themselves to such a dashboard it would be great. Oh well, maybe next year then. I’d also love some form of LED notification system on the hardware instead of badges which I find crude.

The new phone seems to be even more of a hit than the 3GS with practically no handsets available in the UK today. Crazy stuff.

What does interest me is that all networks now can sell the iPhone but not one of them is really doing anything on price. I expected THREE to come in with unlimited data as their usual data plans are generous but no such luck. Bizarrely whilst I don’t really rate their network I’ve decided to stick with O2. They seem to be the only people doing visual voicemail (Which I couldn’t live without) and their prices don’t differ too much from anyone else. As for the nasty 500mb data cap – well, go online and see what your data use is each month. I use my phone all day long and don’t really ever go above the 500mb mark.

So in summary the iPhone 4 is a worthwhile upgrade, even for 3GS users. WIRED have a video if you haven’t been able to have a look for yourself yet:

Having owned Apple products since the ‘Classic’ it’s often been a mysterious journey following the groundbreaking tech firm. What is common over the years is a sort of jump and dip in Apple innovation. Some years see a real emphasis in hardcore computing power (Think back to the G4 ‘supercomputer’ ) whereas recently we’ve seen a much more consumer focused company with the advent of the iPod, iPhone et al.

For a while I felt a bit dissapointed in the Apple keynote speeches. I was seeing rehashed technologies banded about by Apple as real innovations but with the keynote from yesterday firmly in my mind it becomes evident to me how all of Apple’s products are converging into objects that can placate high end users AND consumers alike. For the first time in a few years I see Apple as really pushing the envelope. When the iPad was launched I was cynical but in use it’s a joy. I love having something that is Apple but is smaller than my 15″ MacBook Pro workhorse. I also love the huge battery, the fact that I can check my email, review documents, play games, watch movies, speak to friends via IM but still have power to spare at the end of the day – all on something so well designed that it garners coos from every corner wherever I take it.

So Apple’s iPad DOES have a genuine place in not only consumer electronics but also for us powerusers who don’t want to be on their work centric machine all the time. It’s fun, not expensive, beautifully made, technically advanced and it’s also only the beginning.

Now my thoughts on the new iPhone 4. Notice it’s not 4G. A shame but not Apple’s fault – I believe the networks really have to step up their game now. If they want customer retention then they need to not only fix the insane amount of dropped calls on their networks but also build the networks of the future. I cannot help thinking that Steve Jobs and Apple are secretly furious with AT&T for providing such a shambolic network right now, forget even thinking about a 4G network! So I cannot come down hard on Apple here. They were demonstrating their ‘FaceTime’ feature as though they had invented video calling and I felt like ranting about how we’ve all been using Skype for years…but Apple do things better and by stressing that FaceTime works only over WIFI they are making sure functionality isn’t compromised by the poor networks.

I’m excited about the new iPhone because Apple HAVE pushed the boat out technically. I was expected a new design relying more on a new OS than anything else but I’m blown away by a few things. First off the display:

The ‘Retina Display’ (I love Apple’s marketing dept!) is insane. To have that many pixels on a mobile device right now IS innovative. It’s going to allow developers to provide the most beautiful graphic experience ever and for people in design allows for close up zooming without quality loss. So the screen is a huge huge thing to shout about.

iMovie on the phone – wow. I mean as if recording 720p HD video wasn’t enough Apple develop a baby iMovie App for use on the new iPhone. Kudos to Apple here, the demo looked incredible – see for yourself here

Then we have a better camera promising better quality snaps, LED flash, front facing camera for video calls, thinner easier to hold body, better materials, faster processor, better noise cancellation…and I could go on but all with a larger battery and better talk time.

In summary Apple have come from two points and arrived at one – they’ve produced a groundbreaking product but improved the weight and size AND battery life.

Roll on June 24th!

It’s the word on many people’s lips, twitter streams and websites – iPad. Like many Apple products nowadays there is a large amount of hype before a product release. I spent a few minutes with an iPad some three weeks ago and whilst I didn’t have an opportunity to test it out in my ‘real world’ (i.e. at home, on the move, with clients and so on) I did like what I saw. It’s much smaller in the metal than in pictures and is easy to hold and use comfortably. It’s also incredibly fast and looks beautiful.

The problem in prejudging the iPad is that until you have one and decide how it can help you, your family or your business then it’s very difficult to form an objective opinion.

I’m looking forward to getting the base version in Vegas this Friday. I think that whilst newer versions will sport better connectivity and a camera I’m keen to get my hands on the first iteration. One thing I think is worth mentioning is the ability in the UK to hook up your own ’3G’ solution rather than have to be tied to a carrier at purchase. THREE produce a wonderful ‘MIFI’ modem right now that I have been using for a month. It resembles a small phone and basically pushes the THREE 3G network to any WIFI device you might have without having to use your USB slots on your laptop.

Hence a perfect solution for getting the WIFI only iPad and not having to splash out on the more expensive 3G version AND not being tied to one of the more expensive UK carriers.

Content is going to be key to the iPad’s success, much in the same way that the iPhone has relied on Apps to revolutionalise the smartphone market with everyone now following suite. It’s early days but I really like what i see from WIRED:

For a long while now rumours have been ramping up about Apple’s impending ‘tablet’. Most recently a flurry of activity has centred around how Apple will shake up the news industry as they did the music biz. Hmmm. Interesting. This comes at a time where news online is no longer the freebie it once was and whilst I’ve yet to be prompted for a PayPal login or credit card nudge to read my favourite news sites this could become reality…and soon.

In the latest episode of Diggnation Alex Albrecht hints at the price point as being extremely low.

This got me thinking – would this tablet be subsidised based on a subscription model driving revenue to news providers or groups? Like everyone else I’m intrigued as to what Apple have up their sleeve here. I remember also like many being totally cynical of the iPod when it first came out. At the time I was immersed in my music production and live act career and music was (and still is) something in my blood and close to my heart. I didn’t believe that people would settle for the inferior sound of compressed mp3 files but years later and Apple have truly revolutionised not only the music business but also made an enormous impression in the mobile phone world. Can they do the same for print media and news?

I found this article by CNET’s Tom Krazit totally spot on. He really ‘gets’ the importance of the ‘little’ things that make a mobile experience useful and productive. One of Apple’s failings with the iPhone (And something they promise to address any day now) is the inability to allow third parties to run apps in the background. Palm seem set on not only providing a pleasing aesthetic and user experience but have also had a keen look at user functionality.

Check any Symbian Smartphone and you’ll find holding down the menu key brings up all your open apps. Use your D pad to flick between them, copy and paste between apps with ease…and then you start to see how basic the iPhone is. Everyone wants an iPhone because they’re cool – if you turn up with your ‘smartphone’ to a board meeting you risk being laughed at if it’s not an iPhone or Blackberry…depending upon your corporate status (Are you biz (blackberry) or creative ‘cool’ biz (iphone). I just don’t buy it. Yet.

Remember the Palm Pilot? It had a cult following and even saw Sony launch their popular ‘Clie’ range of Palm OS powered products. That time has come and gone but the Pre looks good, provides interesting functionality and more importantly for Palm, seems to address many of the business failings of other handsets – multitasking and notifications.

By using a ‘card’ system users on the Pre can flick between apps in a neat and intuitive way. Similarly notifications have their own special space without obscuring content. A mobile device should surely be something you can use on the move as opposed to having to stop, use both hands and then shut down apps to launch others? If you check the online video demos at Palm’s website you’ll be impressed – the Pre seems to flick between a host of Apps with ease and better still with realworld functionality. Palm have a strong sell here – they have concentrated on communication rather than hype and have addressed realworld situations and social media to drive the phone’s notification system and messaging.

The Pre launch is very close to the new iPhone launch so it will be interesting to see how far Apple has gone in the way of letting background apps run and whether software and hardware have now been redesigned enough to deal with the new breed of supersmartphones.

First off I’ll mention CNET’s BuzzReport – they flag the now VERY hot rumours that Apple are to launch a netbook. Interestingly though and contrary to other reports Molly Wood discusses how Apple could launch an expensive netbook. The theme of netbooks so far apart from Sony’s latest very desirable ‘P’ series has been not only portability but also price – i.e. cheap. So far Apple has resisted any low price point move on it’s portable line up – indeed the new MacBook launched recently is not cheap.

I was a huge fan of the last Apple iPod Shuffle – it was incredible small, beautifully designed, cheap and was fantastic for listening to music whilst at the gym or out and about. What on earth have Apple done with the new Shuffle? The outgoing model was small enough but they’ve decided to make it even smaller loseable and by putting the controls on the cheap Apple headphones they’ve totally infuriated people who would much rather plug their higher grade units into their iPod. Sorry Apple I don’t ‘get’ this one!

Possibly the most hyped mobile phone launch in the history of the device, Apple’s iPhone is available in the USA today. I’m eager to cast eyes on it myself but simultaneously can’t help but feel a huge pang of disappointment. Will a touch screen keyboard REALLY work? I want to whip my phone out and send a text quickly – I can’t imagine any touchscreen being so fast as to deliver the rapid-fire texting of my favourite Nokia hardware keys. The camera seems a huge letdown too – with cheap basic phones such as the superb Nokia N73 delivering such wonderful photos for both web AND print the iPhone’s device looks poor in comparison.

One of my most major gripes however is the lack of 3G in the iPhone for European markets. I am almost convinced the Apple will in fact implement this. I was expecting Apple to in fact chuck in the 3.5G spec that is now becomming almost standard in high end phones such as the Nokia N95. This is a big oversight from Apple. Not satnav either? Not a huge issue but it would have been a nice touch and would have placed the iPhone in direct competition with the best smartphone on the block, the Nokia N95.

Perhaps I’m being a little unfair but of late Apple’s products have failed to inspire me the way they used to. Look at the rollout of their MacBook Pro line for example – offerring very little in the way of technological differences from the cheaper and much more attractive and portable MacBook line I failed to be convinced enough to part with my cheaper MacBook. Where’s a new sexy casing for the MacBook Pro line? Come on Apple!

I think if Apple had addressed the following they’d have a winner – 3.2 Megapixel camera with Zeiss optics and autofocus. 3.5G for all markets. Built in MSN messenger or ‘general’ IM Client. Memory card option. But I’ll have to wait and see – perhaps the sheer draw of owning an Apple mobile phone will be too much for even this hardened cynic!

Recently I did spend some time with the Nokia N95 and was almost convinced I’d not be able to part with it as I had only seven days to examine it and take it back to the O2 shop on Oxford Street for a full refund and cancellation of my new contract.

I currently own a Nokia N73. It’s a brilliant phone. The screen resolution / display plays a major factor in influencing how I feel about the device. As does the camera which is the best I’ve used on any mobile phone – the images are beautiful and always draw ‘wows’ from people who view print outs of pictures taken with the N73.

I thought to myself, ‘Surely the N95 will be like the N73 only better with more features, faster browsing, a better and bigger screen and camera…’

Alas no. I returned the Nokia N95 yesterday and felt disappointed with it. How can Nokia get things so wrong?!

The main problem with the N95 is the screen. It has a poor resolution and I’m baffled as to why Nokia chose to do this. On my N73 I can view ten email headers at any one time on the screen – the font sizing and choice of only one line per email enables me to do this. On the N95 I could view only four! There is no way on the N95 to choose only ‘one line per message’. Useless. 

Again this affects any menu item using font sizing on the N95. Calender entries seem massive and the active standby screen looks childlike in comparison to the Nokia N73.

I’m baffled by Nokia sometimes and wonder if they’ll ever succeed in marrying function with form. I look forward to the N95 successor.

So after all the hype the iPhone was ‘launched’ by Apple a few days ago but won’t see an actual release until June in the USA. I stayed up to watch the Keynote speech by Steve Jobs and as soon as he began discussing input methods I became extremely interested. Aside from the phone not supporting 3G or HSDPA (significant omissions) or posessing a decent camera I wondered how on earth the user would input data rather than simply search for it as demonstrated many times by Jobs during his Keynote.

The answer was nowhere near as revolutionary as I had hoped but simply a ‘soft’ Qwerty keypad that is displayed as and when necessary. In short this seemed awkward to use and my heart gradually sank as I realised that whilst very ‘cool’ Apple’s iPhone also lacks many of the wonderful things I love about my Symbian / Nokia smartphones of today. On this note I firmly believe that the Symbian OS operates the best smartphone platform right now – look at the forthcoming Nokia N95 and you’ll find a plethora of connectivity options (including high speed data), a great email client capable of sending and receiving attachments (including opening of Office documents), built in Satellite Navigation / GPS, a superb five megapixel camera and a keypad to operate the device. Also worthy of note is the ever increasing third party application and software library for the Symbian platform offerring items such as Instant Messaging (IM+ being my app of choice here), ftp clients, photo editing software, flickr uploading and many many more including games or music players.

Jobs stated that the iPhone’s trimmed down version of OS X will be closed to developers – i.e. Apple will be providing the software. What baffled me was the lack of any IM client on the device which means that support for AOL, AIM, MSN clients looks doubtful in the iPhone.

There are many positives, all mainly very ‘Applesque’. The UI looks gorgeous, the animation of menus is superb and the general look and feel of using the iPhone seems typically Apple. The mini Safari browser looked impressive and seemed to render pages well but again Nokia have already implemented Safari technology in their superb browser for their Symbian smartphones.

I remain confused with Apple’s entry into the Cellphone market. However if Apple perhaps develop a way for users to load in applications easily to the phone and open the door to developers then the iPhone may very well become a huge success. So far other manufacturers have failed to offer anything compelling in terms of cohesive application purchasing program – it has been left to third parties to push this.

I can’t wait to see the iPhone but also can’t wait to own a Nokia N95. Only time will tell if Apple’s judgement is as lucky this time as it was with the iPod.

Everyone loves Apple stuff. So when I saw how small the new iPod Shuffle looked on Apple’s website coupled with the similarly diminutive price I couldn’t resist placing an order. To be honest it was more of an impulse buy / cheap retail therapy exercise – I’d never really considered the merits of such a small mp3 player.

However months later I thought I’d post my brief review. The first obvious thing that strikes you with the new shuffle is it’s tiny size. It really is ridiculously small – walking into the gym ‘wearing’ it people ooohed and aaahed at the little music player. It’s about the size of a small thumb but thinner. Even so Apple have still managed to cram everything you need to listen to music into the shuffle. A headphone socket that ingeniously doubles up as a charging dock is found on the underside and there are lights (visible from two directions) showing the status of the tiny ipod letting you know if it’s on, about to ‘hold’ (press the play button for 5 seconds and the device buttons are rendered useless until you press play again for another 5 seconds, neat) or of course off (not illuminated).

You can shuffle songs or play them in the order that they have been placed on the ipod via iTunes. You can pause, play and fast-forward and rewind music and of course control the volume. That’s about it in terms of functionality – there’s no display to show you which tracks are playing – where would they have fitted one? Perhaps more importantly to Apple it would have cluttered the design. The shuffle is clipped to clothing or simply thrown into a pocket – it’s made of aluminium and is very light. Apple also offer the option of engraving the clip part of the shuffle which is a nice touch for gifts. Oh I forgot – it stores around 1GB of music. Audio quality is ok, nothing spectacular as with most mp3 players which use compressed audio…but it’s certainly fairly punchy especially when using better headphones.

GOOD

* Size
* Functionality
* Design
* Ease of use
* Capacity
* Software
* Battery life – seems to last for days
* It’s an Apple product
* You’ll take it everywhere, possibly using it more than your usual ipod

BAD

* No display or way to select individual tracks
* Audio not brilliant
* I keep losing it amongst paper on my desk

SUMMARY

A brilliant product and typical of Apple. This is great, I can take it anywhere and I just listen to my music. Who needs to select tracks when surely a random selection of your music library is more fun? I’ve found that my usual video ipod is now gathering dust – i can’t be bothered to look at tiny photos or videos or play games on the move – the shuffle has won me over, go and buy one they’re so cheap.

*****

Usually it’s obvious, courtesy of the many rumour sites, as to what Apple are going to do next. There’s also of course a frenzy amongst Apple fans waiting for their next ‘iFix’. Previously rumours that have excited have been centered around new Powerbooks or lately MacBooks / MacBook Pros and iPods. However this time round we might very well see some real divergence from the norm from Apple. Yes, there’s ‘Leopard’ the new OS but will that be launched on the ninth of January at MacWorld? There’s the ‘iTV’ which apparently looks like a MacMini but is some kind of media delivery device allowing all your photos, dvds, movies and so on to be streamed to your TV. There are a sprinkling of other rumours but none very concrete – new displays with built in iSights perhaps, new 8 Core MacPro machines possibly…and also the much hyped ‘iPhone’.

The iPhone intrigues me. Whilst many Apple blogs discuss the ins and outs of such a device I feel that Apple’s main problem is to deliver a smartphone (which surely is what people want from a computer company not just a ipod with cellular functionality?) that can really hold it’s own against, say, the upcoming Nokia N95. The reason I mention Nokia is because they make the best smartphones with the best smartphone OS (Symbian) right now, no question. The OS is intuitive, attractive and ultimately fast and functional. The Nokia N95 will sport every possible connection protocol from WIFI to HSDPA, will be able to play thousands of your MP3 files, browse the internet and even has built in GPS / Sat Nav.

I wonder what Apple can bring to the table that will turn the cellphone market on it’s head. We already have a multitude of phones that play music or are dedicated to this task (Sony Ericsson have really gone the distance here with their Walkman range of phones). However Apple innovate and provide the market with inspiration with their products. If they can do for cellular what the iPod has done for music then the iPhone will be a killer product.