White iPhone

Hey
So you may wonder what ever happened to the white iPhone 4. There are pictures of it sitting there in all its awesomeness on the apple website, but when you go and order it, you get a message like the one shown below. Now Apple has been very quiet about this but the never ending leaks on the product continue. Maybe Apple should use the money the gained from firing their head of engineering over the "Antennagate" scandal to hire a plumber.

Apparently (i have noticed I am starting to use this word a lot) they are finding it very hard to stop the screen's back light shining through the front panel of the phone. You may not really get what I mean but if you have ever seen a MacBook, you would. In the laptop's case, Apple utilizes the back light as not only a....well....back light, but also to light the Apple logo on the reverse side of the screen. In the case of the iPhone 4, this would cause the phone to glow like a Christmas tree.

The interesting thing about this reason is that functional white iPhone 4s do exist. Apple some employees have been given them. Most likely, these are hand made devices built at the headquarters in California. In silicone valley, not suicide valley(if you did not get that joke, the company that makes the iPhone, Foxconn, has had 13 suicide attempts in five months). But I digress with my tasteless jokes. Basically, there must be some way to make the phones not bleed light, because Apple is doing it. I'm guessing though there is something expensive about it that is not feasible in mass production.

Another theory states, this delay is just so they have time to re-engineer the antenna. Apple has really not had luck with this product launch. Not only was there is delay in white iPhone, but also reported problems with a batch of phones proximity sensor(the thing that makes the screen turn off when it is close to your face) as well as the terrible lagging experienced by users of iOS4 on the original 3G...like me....

In any case, I will have my iPhone 4 soon and then be happy. I have already ordered some really cool cases and I recommend you check them out HERE. They are truly amazing unique things.

Thanks for reading:)
AndrewCow

New Tech of E3 and Apple!!!

Hi

Well the first day of E3, the internationally renown gaming expo, has been full of major releases and announcements. Not all of these have come from E3 however - Apple, being the company they are, could never have a day of major announcements without one of their own. Not only did iPhone 4 pre-ordering start for countries were the device will be released on the 24th, the company released an update to the Mac Mini. The ultra small computer not only has a uni-body shell similar to the MacBook Pro, but also HDMI output and a SD card slot. I really like this upgrade as I have always wanted one - but not even more as Apple is exhausting its abilities as a media center device.

Microsoft finally fully unveiled their "Project Natal" device, dubbed the Kinect. This XBOX 360 add-on allows you to control games with motions, but unlike the Wii, it does not require a controller. This seems like another face palm for me. This device seems strikingly similar to the old EyeToy for the PS2 or Playstation Eye for PS3. The XBOX even had a version of these called XBOX live vision. All three devices sort of.....well...failed miserably. I seriously do not know why Microsoft thinks a better version of this 1999 technology will sell. There will be tonnes of people buying it in the beginning, but only because of media. Well at least that is what I think.

This device should be released in the US in November and has no price yet.

A motion sensor device for the PS3 is also in the works, although it uses a rather suggestive looking controller(the bottom pic). The Wii is a pretty awesome console and for so cheap its great but by the looks of it, Sony and Microsoft are trying to annihilate it.

Lastly....NEW XBOX !!!!! No, it is not the ridiculously named XBOX 720, it is still called the XBOX 360. The thinner version of the 360 has had a visual redesign as well as included Wifi (such a new concept). Personally I think too little (hardware wise) too late and.....it's sorta ugly....

It will be sold for $500 from July 1 in Australia.

Till next time :)
AndrewCow

iPhone 4

Ravings of a Technogeek - every Monday, Wednesday and Friday......usually....except for 2 weeks when I am incredibly busy. I thought I should probably post about about the sexiest thing ever to come to the earth. I have included a photo of the past sexiest thing on the planet (Megan Fox) for comparison.


So, you have probably guessed, at 3am this morning, Apple started their press conference and released their latest iPhone - the iPhone 4. It turns out this was exactly the phone that was leaked, except this one seems really really really pretty. So apart from changing the looks, there are over 100 changes on the inside. I don't know all of them for sure, but Steve went through the main ones. 


Firstly, it has the A4 chip, like the one in the iPad. This makes it very very very fast. They also managed to shrink everything so they could grow the battery. I'm very happy about this. I never really had a problem with my 3G's battery but .....faster.....longer battery ...what could be bad???


Another thing displayed and I think is AWESOME is the 4's ability to record 720p HD video. With its new 5mp camera it can take excellent pictures and its LED Flash (which can stay on while videoing), those pictures can be taken in the dark. Now you might think, as I did at first 'pfffft 5mp, thats nothing' well Apple has dished out some of their trademark jargon to convince us that 5mp is plenty. For once, it actually makes sense. You see.....I don't really understand it. It is something to do with the number of photons in each pixel...which sounds right... OH WELL :) 


One of the reasons the iPhone 4 looks so brilliant is because of its display. Apple has implemented something called Retina Display Technology. What this means (I think) that, although the screen is only 640p, it has much smaller pixels. Text, photos, basically any curved lines are now much much smoother because there are more pixels making them up. I hope that whole bit actually made sense.


I could ramble on for hours about the 4's dual mics for noise cancellation, or the iMovie application making 720p movie editing being just one tap away, but I do not want to. There are, however, three more things I would like to focus on.


 Firstly, Apple is trying to make a case, and it actually looks pretty good. It can be seen below and it is called the "Bumper". This is because it is more like a silicone, well...bumper bar, that fits around the aluminium edge of the phone, leaving the glass back and front exposed. You might be thinking. 'Great. Now I have two places to shatter my phone' but you would be wrong. Firstly, Apple has developed a glass that is apparently, stronger than plastic and sapphires. Secondly, the "Bumper" extends from the phone, like a regular case, meaning if you drop it, the case will hit the ground first. 


Very quickly, it now has a gyroscope. This means it can sense movement as you turn, jump or be doing similar things to the accelerometer, but on more scales.


Lastly, the front facing camera wound have no point without video calling. FaceTime is a service built into the phone application that allows for excellent quality video calls. Unfortunately though, only between the iPhone 4s and, for the mean time, only over WiFi. This is quite surprising to me that they did not integrate iChat and allow it to talk to computers. I'm almost positive though Skype will be able to call to computers, be it a Mac  or PC. What they are doing however, is attempting to make their way of doing video calling (e.g. codecs) universal, which means, someday, you might be able to call between iPhone 4s and HTC phones, or Nokias. 


So there is much more I could say, but I will let the professionals say it for me. For way, way, way more information and videos, go HERE. This phone should be available in the US on June 24th, along with the renamed iOS 4 on June 21, free to all devices excluding the original iPhone and the 1st gen touch. The phone should be available in Australia some time in July. I will definitely be getting one and I will do a full review of it then. 


Till next time,
AndrewCow


P.S. the Word 2010 video should be up this weekend:)

iPad Envy

Hi

There is a delay on the Microsoft 2010 review because I keep recording the video and stupid Camtasia comes up with brand new errors for me:(

Instead I will recap my thoughts on the iPad, seeing it came out today internationally. Firstly, I would like to tell you a story. I was coming home on the train today, just like a nice little non-car using person, and what do I see but my first iPad......well not exactly. It was in its box...in a JB Hi-Fi bag, seeing it was just bought, but oh well, it is the closest I have ever been. As I surreptitiously subtly peered over the crowd in an attempt to confirm my suspicion that the box in the bag had the magical little silver apple, a feeling of complete envy overtook me. It was all I could do to stop myself from snatching the bag from her blotchy little hand and running. I had been had. At that moment, I realised with dispair Apple had infected me. It was an iPad but why was I so eager to have it. I have an iPhone. An iPad is just that crossed with a kindle.

I'm actually having to think about this very hard. Why do I want an iPad? Well firstly, I'm a geek - so for show. That is the main reason. I have said this once before and I will say it again - Steve Jobs is anal. All Apple products must be perfect (in his eyes at least). I think these crazy tendencies are a major part of what appeals to me. This sounds very strange but all Apple products are so soft, yet hard and sturdy, so clean, yet useful and fun. Although other products may be able to do so much more, such as the HP Slate(which may or may not be cancelled and may or may not be called the HP Hurricane), no other product can inspire that morale abolishing WANT that an Apple product can. The hunger for the cool aluminium and glass to be under my fingers. Paying any price, however many thousands of dollars it is only an act an Apple product can push upon me, and much of the rest of the world.

My final thoughts - Apple's combination of hardware, software; interface and design; materials and infrastructure elevates them above any other company when it comes to passion. That is really what it comes down to. Although an Apple product may not do everything, what it can do it does it magnificently and like not any other device conceivable. Even the haters can appreciate how the iPad is really the pinnacle of this. The pinnacle of Apple passion. Sure, I might not, but the first edition or even second but like all Apple products we can make do.

We can wait.

Reading this whole thing back to myself, it does not seem to make much sense. After all this, is the RAVINGS of a Technogeek. Because of this, I will summarise it:

I love all Apple products. Although they are not always the most technically advanced in their range, they exude passion and care. I guess that something resides somewhere in all of us and that is why we buy their products in numbers like no other.

Steve Jobs really summed up the words excitement when he launched the iPad back in January. He quoted an article from The Times if I remember correctly. It said "The last time people were so exited about a tablet, it had commandments written on it". In a way it does. After all it is an eBook reader :)

Thanks for holding on till the end :) A review of Word 2010 should by up by Monday.

AndrewCow