Apple music event 1 sept - quick thoughts

Just watched the jobs-note, and here are some quick off-the-cuff thoughts regarding the new product announcements.

Once the reality distortion field disappears and the Apple hype fades off, proper judgment sets in and I must say that the event was nothing fantastic or revolutionary. All the announcements were evolutionary updates to already very good products. And Apple's appetite for smaller thinner iPods continue to drastic levels - it's the whole form over function thing.

Image from Apple

iPod shuffle:
The new 4th gen shuffle looks almost exactly like the 2nd gen, except that it is now smaller. Clearly the button-less design of the 3rd gen wasn't well-received. The new shuffle also gains the voiceover technology from the 3rd gen, plus genius mixes.

The nice thing to note though is how unbelievably cheap the shuffle is - S$78 for 2GB. Nice, but uh - nothing to get wild over.

Image from Apple

iPod nano:
This is perhaps the most interesting release. Apple has repositioned this product slightly, making it solely a music player. The video capabilities and video camera have been removed - Apple has moved it up to the iPod touch (more on that later.) Firstly, the click wheel has disappeared, making way for a 240px 1.5-inch square multi-touch screen with a UI similar to iOS. Because it is so crazily minute now, it also gains a clip like the shuffle. Gone also are notes, calendar, contacts and games that were present in other generations.

Some people will make noise that video function is gone, but I think it isn't that big a loss anyway. Who really did enjoy watching video on the small screen of the previous nanos? Apple is clearly pushing consumers who want video over to the iPod touch, and the nano now just does what it does best - music. The loss of calendaring, notes and contacts is also no biggie - we all have our phones to handle that. To replace the loss functionality, Apple has included an FM radio with live pause, a pedometer, Nike+ and a whopping 24 hour battery life. Pricing is also very attractive, but the storage still caps at 16GB.

Image from Apple

iPod touch:
Uh, nothing much to say here as well. Basically, the iPod touch gains most of the new features of the iPhone 4 to keep it up-to-date. Yes retina display, FaceTime, HD video recording, A4 processor, 3 axis gyro.. yada yada, all the good stuff the iPhone 4 has basically. The concept of the iPod touch remains the same - it is still an iPhone without the phone. And Apple is also marketing its gaming prowess by adding Game Centre, a social gaming network. All in all, the best iPod touch so far.

But I'm sad!!! Because of the addition of TWO cameras, I can't bring it to camp! Bad news for all army people. But I'm happy with my current iPod touch, it's good enough.

iTunes 10 sidepane - Apple likes it grey.

iTunes 10:
Ahh this is where I have to bitch a little. I don't like the new UI changes to iTunes! As usual, to visually separate version 10 from other versions, Apple gave the UI a spit shine. Firstly, there's a new blue-ish iTunes icon (do we really need a new icon apple?) which still looks fine. But launch iTunes and EEKS! Why is everything so dull, muted and grey now! The coloured icons on the left navigation pane have been replaced with greyscale versions, the volume slider has changed again, and on the mac the three window buttons (expand, min and maximise) has been weirdly placed into a vertical column. I just don't get it... it's so clear these changes are done just because it's a new version.

Apart from the UI nonsense, iTunes 10 adds a new social network platform called ping. I see this as playing catch-up to the zune social. I don't care too much about it frankly. Overall, iTunes still remains largely as it is - don't let the new icon fool you it's still the same old program.

To sum it all up, still the same one word - evolutionary. But I don't think that's bad, it just means the iPod line-up is near perfect. (Apple, why don't you focus on the Apple TV and make it something more than "another hobby"?)

iPad quick thoughts

The Apple iPad is a device which bridges the gap between the iPhone and a laptop. In many ways it's a glorified iPod touch. I think it's way too early to judge if the iPad is a success or not. I don't know if it will be a game changer. All we can do is wait and see first.

As of now, if you're entertaining the notion of purchasing this at first launch (i.e. 2 months from now), I discourage you from doing so. Clearly, this is still a version 1.0 product that needs refining. We aren't even sure if we really need it. I'm not sure if I could actually use this as a netbook replacement. After all, there's no flash support, no multi-tasking, web cam... yada yada.

As much as Apple calls it a new class of device, the truth is that the iPad will compete head on with the saturated netbook market. The iPad's aggressive pricing implies this. So the first question that I ask is whether the iPad can do what most people do on netbooks. Now as much as Apple says netbooks suck/is not the solution, the truth is that it is wildly successful, and because of its success surely the netbook can't be all wrong. It is successful because it offers full laptop capabilities in a cheap and compact form-factor. In my view, if the iPad is going to be a huge success like the iPhone was, it has to do what the netbook does, and do it 10 times better. If not, then I think it makes little sense for people to get the iPad in addition to a netbook. It just complicates life to have to manage another device.

So to me the real question is this: can the iPad replace a netbook? If no, then I won't get it. I don't want to be managing my iPhone, netbook, laptop AND my iPad. It's just too much technology for me.

Apple unlikely to do a netbook

Will Apple be launching a new netbook soon? I mean, almost every major computer manufacturer has one in its line-up. HP has the Mini 1000, Asus has the Eee PC, Acer has the Aspire One, Lenovo has the S10, Dell has the Mini 9, MSI has the Wind... you get the idea. Netbooks are the hottest computing trend now.

Sad to say, Apple is unlikely to jump on the bandwagon soon. It will not be releasing a MacBook mini or a netbook similar to what's on the market now.

Why is this so? Tim Cook, chief operating officer of Apple, said at a recent financial results conference call that "we're watching that space, but from our [point of view] the products are based on hardware that's much less powerful, software technology that's not good, cramped displays. We don't think that people are going to be pleased with those type of products. It's a category we watch, we have some ideas here, but we think the products there now are inferior and won't provide the kind of experience people want."

There you go, question answered. I don't think we will see any low-cost, mini laptop from Apple this year!

Darn!

Now my younger sister has a faster, cooler laptop than me!

Apple Notebook Event - Summary

Image from Apple

On the 14 October, as anticipated by rumour websites, Apple held a small event at Cupertino to unveil their next generation of notebook computers. These new notebooks are mind blowing... but boy I wasn't at all surprised, because the rumours were dead accurate and I knew so much prior to the event! These days the rumour mill is so unbelievably accurate that it destroys the excitement when the product actually launches... it was the same for the iPod event.

But as suspiciously accurate as the rumours were, not all rumours came true. Apple did not release a tablet notebook, and neither did they decide to venture into the hot netbook market. But hey it's not as if I really expected them to... for the longest time ever there were rumours of a tablet, but time and time again this rumour proves to be just baloney.

So Apple introduced a new MacBook and MacBook Pro and gave hardware upgrades to the MacBook air.

The event started off with Mr Tim Cook's presentation on 'State of the Mac', giving a general overview of the Mac's incredible uptake rate and crazy-good sales. He reported that with several quarters in a row, Apple grew above market rate by two to three times.

Accounting for this trend, he cites a few reasons (not all I agree with). Firstly, this is because Apple makes superior computers and software, like Leopard, iLife and iWork. That's fine, I believe that. Then he mentions running Windows on the Mac via Bootcamp as another compelling reason why people switch. This I fully agree... having the option of Windows and Mac running on a same machine and thus eliminating compatibility concerns is in my opinion THE MOST crucial reason why people are convinced to switch.

After that, Cook mentions something which I feel strongly for. He says that Vista's inferiority to OS X is yet another reason why people move away from PCs to Macs, and goes on insinuating that OS X is miles ahead of Vista, and Vista did not live up to Microsoft's expectations. If you ask me, I tell you this is nonsense. Cook's statement is the typical response of Mac fanboys, ridiculing Vista just because they worship Apple and hate Microsoft. Vista is not selling well, yes that's a fact, but NOT because it is inferior to OS X, but because Apple's "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads give consumers a false negative impression of Vista, thus users shun it. Like I've written, Vista is superb. It's not because Vista sucks, but because people perceive it sucks and hence want to switch to a Mac.

Ok enough of that. After 'State of the Mac' followed an interesting presentation on new ways of manufacturing notebooks. This new manufacturing process was first seen in the MacBook Air with its precision aluminium unibody enclousure, ensuring a robust, sturdy yet lightweight chassis. Basically, the body is carved out of a single block of high quality aluminium. Then, Jobs returned on stage to introduce the laptops proper. To cut it short, these are the new changes:

MacBook Pro 15-inch

Image from Apple

1) New precision aluminium unibody enclosure, which saves half the structural parts as compared to the previous model. Jobs passed around the unibody to the audience and allowed them to feel how sturdy it is for themselves.

Image from Apple

2) A wonderfully bright 15-inch LED backlit display, which is instant-on and saves more power than normal displays. Colours are also more punchy, and the screen is all-glass, extending to the edges, taking after the iMac's design.

3) A new multi-touch glass trackpad, which has 39% larger tracking area than the old model. The click button has been eliminated, and now the entire trackpad is the button and is clickable. Also, some new multi-touch gestures were introduced. For example, swiping four fingers down on the trackpad will activate expose.

4) Screaming fast but more expensive DDR3 RAM.

5) Now just 0.95 inches thin.

6) Solid State Drives (SSDs) now come as an option on the MacBook Pro, and capacity has been bumped up to 128GB. Clearly this trend of SSDs over spinning hard drives are spilling beyond netbooks and ultra-portables, to the high-end notebooks too.

7) 802.11n Wi-Fi technology with bluetooth 2.1 and EDR. Comes as no surprise to me.

8) New mini display port connector which will drive 30-inch displays.

9) New graphics chipset! It will feature dual graphics - the more powerful but battery draining Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics (512MB), or the less powerful but more battery friendly GeForce 9400M integrated graphics.

MacBook Air

Image from Apple

The MacBook Air is Apple's ultra-portable laptop, and this time, the changes made were purely under-the-hood. The new Air will have a larger hard drive at 120GB, or an optional 128GB SSD. It will also use the new DDR3 RAM, and the same mini display port found on the MacBook Pro. But the most significant upgrade is the graphics. It will use the GeForce 9400M to provide 4X faster graphics than the previous model.

MacBook

Image from Apple

"The MacBook is the best selling Mac, ever." This was what Jobs said, and it comes as no surprise. The MacBook is an awesome machine, and now, Apple has reduced the price of the white plastic MacBook to only S$1588. (I feel it could have been much cheaper though.)

But the real news is that selling alongside this white MacBook is a totally new aluminium MacBook, featuring the same uni-body design with the MacBook Pro. It will feature a 13.3-inch LED backlit display for the first time, with the same button-less multi-touch trackpad, mini display port, DDR3 memory, and new GeForce 9400M graphics chipset.

Available in 2 models (2.0GHz and 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo), the high-end model will even have a backlit keyboard. One can also opt for the SSD option. Prices are steep though, starting at S$2088, but still reasonable considering the new features.

All in all, if you have been looking for a Mac notebook, now is the opportune moment to get one. Their laptops have reached such a high level of quality and perfection, it is really a class above the rest. Still, you might find them lacking in certain minor areas, such as having only 2 USB ports, and no card reader at all. Once you look past these small disappointments, you will realise that this is one incredible, durable machine that's above the competition.

Apple's deceptive iPhone 3G advertising

This video is excellent! It shows a comparison between the iPhone 3G data load times in Apple's ad, against real world usage in the US.  Boy, the difference is enormous.  Apple's deceptive marketing tactics... and AT&T's inferior 3G networks... enjoy.

iPod touch 2G has bluetooth chip

According to iFixit, they disassembled a new iPod touch 2G and found out it has a Broadcom BCM4325 bluetooth chipset! It supports bluetooth 2.1 + EDR!

Now apple didn't say anything about that! This shocking discovery raises the immediate possibility that bluetooth could feature in the 2.2 software update, but no confirmation from Apple on that. If this is true, bluetooth headphones could be paired up with the iPod touch.

However, I think this is rather unlikely. To me, it is more a case of inheriting the iPhone 3G's hardware, since both devices technically run on the same electrical parts and circuitry. Thus bluetooth is there, but Apple doesn't plan to 'activiate' it as the iPhone would then lose its bluetooth advantage over the touch.

Update:
As of June 2009, bluetooth has been unlocked on 2G iPod touch with iPod software update 3.0!
(Not applicable for 1G owners)

Sept iPod event - roundup and first thoughts

Just caught the hour-long webcast of this event from the Apple website, and I'll be sharing some of my initial thoughts. Firstly, I would like to say that everything that was rumoured and what I had anticipated came true, including the accelerometer for the nano which I kinda guessed (more on that later).

The keynote was held at San Francisco, and while not as big as Macworld keynotes, it was nonetheless a reasonably major event. Steve came on stage to a rousing applause from the audience, and the first issue he addressed immediately was his health. “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated," said the vegan dressed in his usual black turtle neck top and jeans. Now this is a huge sigh of relief to investors, worried that his supposedly deteriorating health would affect Apple. But anyhow, we're glad to hear that... he looked his usual self.

Then he announced some statistics, the usual stuff that makes people go WOW. There are now 3000 iPhone and iPod touch apps, and iTunes Store is the top music distributor in any format in the US, beating Walmart. Impressive.

Now for the product announcements.

iTunes 8
Jobs started with iTunes 8, the next version of the popular music jukebox software for Mac and PC. He introduced HD TV shows which can be purchased online for USD 2.99, and showed some samples. Great quality, but not exciting to me.

iTunes 8 also has a new way of browsing music, where album artwork are displayed in a grid format so you can see all your albums at one go.


Then comes some really lame stuff IMO: the Genius playlist. What Genius does is to "automatically make playlists from songs in your library which go great together". In other words, this is smart shuffle. It takes random songs of a similar type and genre and pulls them together. Sounds really cool, good way to discover your library, but this is a superficial feature which doesn't impress me too much.


There is also a Genius sidebar, which will fetch recommendations of songs from the iTunes store which goes well with the playlist, and allow you to purchase them. Sadly, this is a not available in Singapore.


And that's about it for iTunes 8. I was expecting something more innovative. -.-

What I think:
iTunes 8 is clearly an evolutionary upgrade, and while some changes are nice, such as the new browsing views, the other features are purely lame and unconvincing, as if they had to force some new feature into iTunes since it's the new version. Genius playlist comes across as being good-to-have, nice to tinker around, but trivial and nonessential. However, the way Apple is marketing this... I think it's overrated. I don't know, you may feel differently, but iTunes 8 is not an impressive update at all.

iPod
With the software side out of the way, Jobs now focuses on the hardware, and this is where things get interesting. As usual, some statistics to brag about how dominant Apple is: iPod has a whopping 73.4% US market share as of July, and more than 160 million iPods have been sold to date. (Interesting fact: Microsoft's Zune player has only 2.6% market share.)

Great job Apple, but I share the same sentiments with Paul Thurrott, that the iPod is now at the point of maturity and changes are getting incremental. The long-term challenge is how to sustain that dominance (and perhaps stub out the up and rising Zune).  

iPod classic
This is the most BORING change to the iPod line. The thicker 160GB classic has been phased out, and the only model Apple will offer is a 120GB version at USD 249. No change whatsoever to everything else. Same software, design etc. This is obviously a non-event.

iPod nano

Image from Apple

Images of this 4th generation nano leaked out before the event, and they turned out to be dead accurate. Like I tell my friends, this new nano is reminiscent of a popular China fake of the 2nd gen nano! Haha... but whatever, it's so much nicer than the 'fat' 3rd gen nano. Clearly that form factor didn't work out for Apple. When you place all 4 generations of nanos side by side, the 'fat' one totally looks out of place, like it was never meant to be. But that's the past.

The new curved nano, the thinnest iPod ever made, is constructed out of aluminium, and even has curved glass. From an aesthetics standpoint, the curve body is beautiful. From a functionality standpoint, maybe less so. The curved glass could be reflective and cause viewing problems. I haven't had my hands on this thing, so that's just my guess.

The nano also sports an accelerometer, same as the iPhone/iPod touch, adding more functionality to it. When turned on its side, the nano will transit into Cover Flow mode. Photos will also rotate accordingly... neat. Also, when you shake the device, it will change track! But the larger picture is that now fun games on the touch which utilise the accelerometer will slowly make its debut on the nano too. There are also some UI tweaks, one obvious one being how the album art fills the screen like the touch.

The mediocre Genius thingy is also available on the nano, where you can create a Genius playlist right on the device itself, and refresh the playlist for new songs too. The pixel dense 2 inch screen is gorgeous, and the long height allows for nice long menus. Battery life is good, at 1 day for music and 4 hours for video. (Do take these numbers with a pinch of salt, it's normally less.)

The nano is available in 9 wonderfully vibrant colours, and retails for USD 149 for 8GB and USD 199 for 16GB.

What I think:
Apple's got a winner here with the nano. It looks slender and compact, while being durable, and also comes across as funky and hip. Youths would want this player. It has a good form factor and the curved body fits snugly in the hands. But best of all, it's environmentally friendly!

iPod touch

Image from Apple

The nano was the climax of the event. After that everything was back to dull and lackluster. There was a new iPod touch, but there's nothing to shout about it. It is much thinner (what's with Apple's obsession for thinness?), and takes on a curved back similar to the iPhone 3G, but still with that awful scratch-able metallic back.

What's really nice is the volume controls and inbuilt speaker, similar to the iPhone, which I feel should have been there since first gen. Jobs reminds us that the speaker is just for "casual listening", but apparently Engadget reports that it's not all that crappy. It would be very useful for playing games, since people do not normally connect the headphones.

Battery life for this device is at 36 hours for music and 6 hours for video (assuming Wi-Fi turned off I suspect).  There are also price cuts, though capacities have remained unchanged.  8GB is going for USD 229, 16GB for 299 and 32GB for 399.  Very attractive prices indeed...

Lastly, software version 2.1 will run on the new touches. Jobs claims that a ton of bugs have been fixed in this release, backup time reduced, performance improved, and there's a slightly updated UI, which again features the Genius playlists functionality. 2.1 will also be available to iPhone owners, which fixes call dropping and battery life issues. For iPod touch users running 1.x versions, the upgrade to 2.1 will cost USD 9.95, while existing 2.0.x owners can install 2.1 free.

What I think:
iPod touch 2G is clearly evolutionary.  It essentially remains unchanged from the first gen, since software can be updated to 2.1.  Perhaps the only reason why someone using the first gen touch would upgrade is for the volume controls and speakers! At least, I would.  But of course I wouldn't... it wouldn't be worth the money.  For the speakers, I already have purchased an external portable speaker that attaches to the iPod via the iPod connector, and for volume controls, you can get the new Apple headphones fitted with volume controls.  Problems solved!

So looking at all the announcements as a whole, I'm rather disappointed.  It all seems very mediocre (except for the nano) and conservative.  But then again, when you are the market leader, and when your products are mature enough, the notion of a total change in the product line is hard to entertain.  

Is Apple prepared for the big holiday season? Not really. But will sales be affected? Not really too, simply because they are Apple and the whole world knows iPods.  

Doubled capacities for nanos and price cuts for touch

Engadget reports some last minute iPod rumours just before the "Let's Rock" Apple media event.

The iPod nano's capacities is set to be upgraded from 4 and 8GB models to 8 and 16GB respectively, while having 9 colour choices, up from the existing 6. However, the iPod touch will not be having any capacity increases, remaining at 8, 16 and 32GB models. Instead, the good news is that prices are expected to fall heavily.

We'll see if that's true very soon, but most likely it will be.

FYI, the Apple online store is currently down, perhaps in preparation for the new products :)

New iPods this Sept confirmed

Let's rock!


It's confirmed! There will be an Apple event on 9th September where Jobs will introduce new iPods! He will introduce a taller, rounded nano and a new touch, consistent with the iPhone 3G's design and featuring volume controls at the side (finally). With these new hardware, there should also be an update to iTunes, version 8.0. You know what? I really hope that Apple will drop those scratch-able shiny metallic backs of the iPods and opt for a more durable material.

Also in the pipeline are new MacBooks, but I speculate that will come later at the end of the year instead of 9th sept. These new MacBooks are rumoured to be aluminium, and feature a better GPU and new chips with faster clock speeds. So if you're thinking of getting new iPods/MacBook, hold on for a while!

The must-get free App Store game: Cube Runner!

I'm not the sort of person who would actually recommend playing a game, but for perhaps once in my life, this game is worth checking out. It's called Cube Runner, a free download from the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch version 2.0. Simple, fun, challenging and has much replay value!

The video below shows you what the game is all about:



As you can see, the App Store has transformed the iPod touch into more than just a multimedia player. Increasingly, it is becoming a viable gaming platform too, with it's unique combination of accelerometer and touch-screen interface.

More iPod touch 2.0 screenshots

1) The lyrics function: (To add lyrics in iTunes, right click on track, select 'Get Info' and edit 'Lyrics')


2) Google maps, which is way cool! You can view it in 'satellite' mode as shown, or 'map' mode, and using Wi-Fi triangulation technologies, maps is smart enough to detect my location (my house in Hougang) as pictured below. However, one disadvantage (more so on the iPhone 3G with GPS) is the lack of turn-by-turn navigation.


3) Scientific calculator (when iPod is turned to landscape mode):


4) Tap Tap Revenge is THE best free game app available as of now on the app store. A simple music tapping game, very well executed with wonderful graphics, supports awesome double player mode, has a vast range of difficulty levels and allows you to download additional tracks. However, it's a bit buggy at times... but still fantastic play! (No. 9 top free app on the app store now)


Will continue to post more Software 2.0 reviews in the coming days!

iPod touch is the ultimate iTunes remote control

Today I tested out the remote control third-party application which allows my iPod touch (or iPhone) to remotely control my computer's iTunes library via Wi-Fi. With that, I can play, pause, fast forward and rewind tracks from anywhere around my house.

Here's a video of how it looks like:



However, do note that in order for the pairing to be successful, you need to disable your firewall (for both Mac and PC). Once paired, the performance is rather snappy and is very full-featured, assuming a reasonably fast connection speed. You can even play video files remotely, browse playlists and search for content on your computer.

As a free download from the App Store, this is highly recommended, and you can trust that it's stable as it's written by Apple.

Software update 2.0: The feeling of a new iPod touch

I'm so excited about the iPhone/iPod touch software update 2.0 that I don't quite know where to begin. Ok, I created an iTunes account today (yes it's now in Singapore exclusively for iPod touch/iPhone owners), paid 10 bucks and downloaded the 2.0.2 update for my 16GB iPod touch, previously running 1.1.5.

After a long-drawn and somewhat frightening update process which lasted about an hour, I finally have third-party apps! The initial feeling is beyond description... it's like having a completely new iPod! The improvements are SO significant from 1.1.5 and I think every iPod touch user MUST buy this update.

I'll be playing around with this "new" device and will post more stuff in the coming days. But for now, here's what impressed me:

The first thing was the third party apps. I was surprised at how easy it is to install and run them. They really add functionality to your iPod, and lots of fun too. I recommend trying out "Tap Tap", a free music game, and the Remote Control application which can control your iTunes library. Second, the ability to capture screenshots (.PNG) to transfer to your computer. Third, lyrics on the iPod. This may sound trivial, but it means a lot to me since I've been using it on my old iPod nano. Fourth, the apps from the January software update, which includes mail, notes, stocks, maps, weather. This also includes the customisable home screen and web clip.

All in all, this is a very affordable upgrade, and gives your otherwise bland iPod home screen a fresh new look. A word of caution though, the update process is quite time consuming, albeit automated. The restoring of music and videos took the longest time for me. I also noticed that with new applications, the iPod seems slightly more laggy. Well, after I get over the reality distortion field, I'll review this update proper :)

iPhone 3G arrives in Singapore on Aug 22

Cool!! Just a mere 4 days more to when the iPhone will be made available to Singapore. Received this email from Apple:


Check these links out!

1) Where to buy iPhone: http://www.apple.com/sg/iphone/buy/?cid=MARCOM-SG-128666-C0007292

2) iPhone guided tour: http://www.apple.com/sg/iphone/guidedtour/tour/medium.html

Update (20 Aug): Be sure to check out this Singtel iPhone FAQ page too: http://home.singtel.com/singtel/iphone/support_iphone.html

iPhone 3G & AT&T

On the 11 July, iPhone 3G was released in the US and other selected countries. I was too busy with organising Photon for Photosoc and piano concert that I didn't have time to keep track of the happenings in Apple world.

I don't know much about how the procedure went, but I've read stories which said the fastest it took to activate the iPhone 3G onto AT&T's network was half-an-hour! Now that's a freaking long wait, since activation is mandatory upon purchase, unlike through iTunes at your own timing as with the first phone. I will not want to stand in queue for the whole day just for an iPhone 3G!

But this brings me to my point, that the single weakest link with the iPhone does not lie with Apple: it is with AT&T! The new phone promises superior internet connection speeds with 3G, but the irony is that most people will not get that 3G in the US because AT&T's 3G network coverage is so darn pathetic! In other words, people are duped into thinking they will get 3G just because it is named iPhone 3G. Another misbelief that many have is that owning iPhone 3G will be cheaper. That's absolute baloney. Yes, the upfront payment sum is indeed less, but the monthly bill will be on average more than before, so overall, you pay more. This is a matter of perception: people perceive that something is cheaper because you fork out less at the store upon purchase, but few consider about the long term cost. Nonetheless, it's a good marketing gimmick.

Well at least I'm thankful that this is in US and not Singapore. But things won't be any better here I think. Yes, we should get 3G in most places when it arrives, but I assure you Singtel will sell the iPhone at a hefty price tag, because unlike AT&T, they will not subsidise the cost of the phone. So for me personally, I take on an ambivalent attitude to the arrival of iPhone in Singapore.

WWDC 08: First thoughts

Wow. Stayed up till 2am last night (today actually) to catch the keynote live from engadget. Was staring at the screen and constantly refreshing engadget while the rest of my family were asleep. After a while I couldn't take it and decided that I would just catch the video in the morning.

So woke up today and the first thing I did was to check the Apple website. Watched a bit of the video, and my first thoughts are that everything we anticipated came true.

There was a 3G iPhone, it has a plastic back, it's faster, it's thinner, the screen and look is still similar to the old phone, it has GPS, it'll reach Singapore... All these were known before hand. So no surprises for me.

Even MobileMe came true, though I've yet to understand what this is completely.

The iPhone took centrestage in the keynote, but they also talked about 'Snow Leopard'.

Cool stuff! I'll be formally reviewing these announcements soon, so do check back today or tmr!

WWDC 08: Speculations

Monday (tmr) will be the much awaited Apple World Wide Developer's Conference (WWDC). Steve Jobs will be giving a keynote, and as usual, be announcing several cool products.

This time, he will definitely reveal the new iPhone, which will be 3G, and most probably have new features such as GPS and an Instant Messaging client. Copy and paste remains yet to be seen if it will be implemented. Hardware wise, I think this new phone will be thinner and sleeker, but I doubt there will be major changes to the overall look. This 3G iPhone will be the version reaching Asia, including Singapore.

Secondly, Jobs will also most likely give us a sneak preview as to what's happening with OS X 10.6. They're running out of names of big cats, so I'm unsure what this version will be called. I've heard rumours from cnet that 10.6 will focus on security and reliability instead of adding a ton of new features, which makes sense. With an increasing market share and thus increasing attacks on the Mac, I feel Apple needs to address the issue of security urgently.

So these are the two main topics in the keynote I suppose. Be sure to catch the screencast on the Apple website after the event!

Confirmed: iPhone in Asia this year

According to this article I saw on the Yahoo homepage, Singtel has apparently signed a contract with Apple to bring the popular iPhone over to Singapore later this year. This confirms the initial speculation that I made regarding the iPhone and the iTunes store coming to our shores! I'm excited about this, and hopefully the version that comes will be the rumoured 3G version that will be unveiled at the upcoming WWDC.

iMac: getting along well

So my iMac has been with me for about 4 days. Here are my quick first impressions of Leopard 10.5.2 as I explore it further in the coming days.

1) I've noticed improved security overall. For example, before installing apps that I've downloaded, Leopard actually pops up a dialog box requesting my permission and stating the source of the download. Similar to UAC on Vista?? But definitely not as pervasive and irritating.

2) For the dock, the new small blue glowing oval thingy below the application that is currently running is REALLY hard to see. I prefer what's on Tiger, where it's just a simple black triangle to denote an open application.

3) Software update has had minor changes and works slightly differently regarding the way it downloads and installs updates. But I like this change.

4) I would have preferred more new wallpapers. Getting a bit sick of the old ones, and the new one's aren't really fantastic. Ok I guess I'm supposed to use my own pictures.

5) LEOPARD'S TEXT-TO-SPEECH ROCKS! I love the new voice Alex. Finally it speaks close to a human, with proper pauses and a deep rich voice. Absolutely a joy to hear him speak!

6) I like the new finder. Cover flow rocks.

Overall, it's still very evidently OS X. The changes in Leopard are visible, some of which significant, but not in a way that you're thrown into a completely new environment.