Given that Apple announced the iPad in January, and it is now late May, and the shiny device has only just reached the UK, I am pretty irritated with Apple’s incompetence there. Despite this, I am very happy to finally see the iPad, and delighted that people can actually go use one, rather than just talk about them.
I have been rather quiet about my opinions on the iPad. Since it was announced, I have always said that the iPad has huge potential when the developers get their hands on the SDK, and will only do significantly well with the public at the right price. Now we can finally review those two things. Horrah!
I’ll start with addressing the many things people dislike about the iPad.
Lack of flash support – In my opinion, this is something that I, if anything, am glad about. Flash is buggy and becoming a dead technology.. and I congratulate Apple in bravely progressing forward with the move. From a personal point, I honestly don’t use many flash sites these days – even I, as a web designer – don’t use flash in my designs.
“Too much like an iPhone, just larger” – They have the same software operating system (to an extent), but thats about it. If anything its probably more like a MacBook than a iPhone. When you look closer – they are worlds apart, mostly because of the interaction element, just you wait to touchscreen full, non-mobile websites on the utterly gorgeous 9″ screen.
“Not a computer” - I’ve said this time and time again. That’s because it’s not meant to be a computer. It’s a multimedia device, and in that, there is no need for USB ports, physical keyboards, massive speakers, etc. Too right, if it’s software was not iPhone OS, but Mac OSX and designed to function as a computer, then yeah, I’d be annoyed… but it’s not a computer!
No phone function – well what are you going to do!? Hold the damn thing up to your ear? Yeah, you’ll look cool. If you are really desperate… there is a Skype app for you.
Talking of apps, I am very pleased to see some great names out there. My favourite iPhone game, Angry Birds, now has an Angry Birds HD for iPad. Newspapers such as the Guardian (free) and Murdoch’s Times (a tenner a month) are making their content available on the iPad. And this free IMDb app, sums up the whole 9″ touchscreen format, and I think if developers go down this route, the iPad has a very promising future.
But there are flaws, and annoyances. I am annoyed about the lack of camera, I would have liked to hear of better sound quality, and I am irritated by Apple’s constant going on about “HD movies on the iPad”. The iPad has a terrible 4:3 screen resolution of 1024×768, when the minimum for a HD quality video is 1280×720. Not good enough, Apple! Only say that when you give the iPad 1280×960 screen, please.
But my biggest gripe of all, the one that really matters – the price. Thanks to the clueless American mortgage lenders who initially started this whole mess, the dollar to the pound is terrible, and while many thought my price predictions were too high, they were for the most part, pretty accurate (give or take a few tenner’s). The cheapest iPad will set you back £429 (which is roughly the same as an iPhone 3GS on pay as you go) – and If you don’t already have an iPhone, I know for sure which I’d get first.
So would I get one? Put it this way – If I was given one, I would be delighted, use it to it’s potential and love it. If I had to buy one at my own expense from hard earned cash? Not at that price I wouldn’t…
And after all, this summer I intend to buy myself a new iMac. Money needs to be saved for that!
In this post, I want to summarise the phones that I have had over the past few years. It’s amazing to see how things change over time!
Nokia 6100
This was my first ever phone. I was so excited! It was a hand-me-down from my mother, and after slipping in a cheap T-Mobile (just after they had changed from one2one!) pay as you go sim card – I was on my way! The phone was pretty decent too – colour screen, games, endless ringtones, etc. I was in love… until it dropped into a water bucket, and died.
Nokia 5140 (blue)
After my incident with the 6100, I decided to get the 5140. It had just been released, and was really popular because of it’s really durable body and strength. It was also marketed out at people who enjoyed outdoor activities (which, incidentally, I was at the time…). In terms of features, it had basically everything the 6100 had, but with a camera. I could only get the phone on the Orange network, so I got a new PASG sim from them.
Sony Ericsson K750i (silver)
After a good few years at Orange, we switched to Vodafone because they had a great business plan deal on that would suit the whole family – incidentally, we are still on the same contract today. Because of the new contract, we could pick virtually any phone, and naturally, I went for the best at the time – the 750i. I was mostly lured in my the insane 2MP camera (the best in 2005!), but about half way through the 18 month contract, the phone turned from being the best thing in the world, to the worst. Everything, and I mean… everything, just stopped working correctly – and I had to put up with this for at least another 8 months!
Nokia N95
This was the phone someone would dream about… and after becoming sick of Sony Ericsson’s dire reliability, I went back to Nokia and got wowed by the flippy screened N95. The specs and details with the phone simply were awesome – but it was just simply too big. It was actually a brick, the same materials used to build houses… I had an 18 month contract with the phone, but got so irritated half way through, I shoved the SIM card into my at-the-time girlfriends old phone, which I think was a Nokia 6000 series phone, similar to the 6100 and 5140 – but a bit weird looking!
Samsung Tocco
The third phone I got with Vodafone on the same contract was the Samsung Tocco. This thing was pretty nice – although it was a pity that the touchscreen wasn’t as responsive as I had hoped. This was my first touchscreen phone, and I was amazed by the concept… but let down a little. I had this little over a year, and just two weeks out of warranty, accidentally took it with me in my wetsuit when I went surfing. Not good!
Vodafone 521 (white)
Phone-less on holiday was becoming hell, so I had to buy myself a new handset quickly, and preferably cheap! I owned an iPod touch at the same time, and didn’t need any other functions other than the ability to send messages and make phone calls! The cheapest phone Vodafone had in their shop, was this, the 527 – a Sagem phone branded ‘Vodafone’ to match the network. It was all of £25. Why so cheap? Well, I’ll just put it out there for you – THIS IS THE WORST PHONE IN THE WORLD, EVER.
And that concludes my phone history. Until a few weeks time, when I’ll be getting an…
Apple iPhone 3GS 16GB (White)
The most epic phone ever. But my question is this – now that I’ll be switching to the iPhone, will I ever move away to another phone company? Or will I be iPhone outed for the rest of my life!?
Today I stumbled across this blog post, by a guy named Gary Hayes, and he has put together this fantastic flash embed widget that shows how more dependent social media is becoming around the world. Check it out:
In this post I will list the sites that I use to get extra code for great features on mine and other websites. All are pretty easy to use (just read the instructions on their websites) and you should be fine. Enjoy.
A nice library of an expanding collection of really pretty looking DHTML and Ajaz scripts from around the net. Lots of misc. scripts. Worth checking out if your fetching ideas.
I personally didn’t take a liking to this site, but you may enjoy it a little. It’s got some pretty cool animated header creators… and all the effects seem to be a little more basic than a few others I’ve seen.
Awesome blogger for web design. Check out the css/xhtml section of the blog for some great tutorials and scripts. Some nice animation with jQuery here.
Not so much a script library – but has some really good tutorials into making some really nice web 2.0 tabs, tooltips and other designs. I learn’t a bit from here.
For those of you that haven’t heard already, the iPhone 3G has only been a contract based phone – aimed at those who will use the phone lots.
However, Apple and O2 have now introduced the iPhone 3G as a Pay As You Go option, so users who don’t use a mobile phone massively can still get one themselves.
Prices for the handset are as follows:
8GB (black) – £342.50
16GB (black) – £391.45
16GB (white) – £391.45
And then O2 charge:
25p per min for the first 3 mins/day, then 5p per min for the rest of the day (although not to other UK networks)
10p per text message
15p per each call to voicemail
You get unlimited browsing for free for the first 12 months, the £10 per month thereafter (although this can be unsubscribed)
It sounds expensive, which it is, but if you are a heavy phone user, go for the contract which will turn out cheaper (believe it or not) in the long run.
Well the keynote has just finished, and here are my brief first thoughts:
iTunes 8
Not as hyped as I would have thought it would have been (eg. no brand new interface, just new tile view). The Genius feature looks great and I cannot wait to have ago, but if I’m honest, it could just be a way for Apple to easily persuade you to buy more.
HD TV Shows look awesome, but, I don’t know if this is the case but only for US – where is a UK version? I’d love to get some BBC stuff in HD!
New iPod Nano
Well as all the leaked images showed us, it was announced… and… they look nice! I want one! And, in the UK it’s only £109 which is nice and cheap for an 8GB model.
I’m liking the choice of colours too! My fave is probably either red, black or orange. The accelerometer looks fantastic and cannot wait to try it out, just like the built in Genius and newish user interface.
iPod classic
Meh. It looks good and all that, but hang about!? ONLY 120GB? I don’t get why they discontinued a model so now you only have a choice of colours at a fixed price. Come on Apple, and this new version is £20 more expensive here than the old 80GB!
iPod touch
Again, sweeeeeeeeet. Nice and thin, 2.1 looks good, liking the built in Genius stuff. I’d love one of these, and especially at £169 which is a tenner less expensive than the classic for an 8GB model. Good to see Nike+ in there too.
I’d expect Apple to post a quicktime of the keynote later on today so us guys can watch, including the 2 ad’s and the awesome music from Jack Johnson.
… as the title describes, here is my prediction for the rough transcript of the Apple Media Event Keynote this Tuesday:
Steve walks on stage and welcomes the crowd, and gives a rant about how well Apple is doing at the moment, particularly in the Music (iPod & iTunes) sector.
Introduces iTunes – remarks how it is the best music player in the world – but says that it needs improvement to stay ahead of the market.
Welcomes iTunes 8.
Features include: New and more professional visualizers, revised user interface, better compatibility for iPod, icon artwork view, and more.
Gives iTunes 8 demo.
Also mentions iTunes Store – and confirms the release of TV Shows, Movie Rentals and more in far more countries than currently in.
Brings on Phil Shiller (or someone similar) to brag about how well iTunes is doing, and may cut a few pence/cents off cost of songs on iTunes.
Back to Steve, who moves onto the iPod. Best Music Player in the world… all that sort of stuff.
“And today, we are going to refresh the iPod line once again… [big roar] and we’re very excited about this.”
Starts with small – here’s some more colors for the iPod shuffle, and now only selling 2GB – 1GB is worthless now.
Introduces new iPod nano – mentions it goes back to 2G design, but has reasons for it… Pulls it out of his jeans pocket, shortly followed by revised iPod classic with same architecture (curved body, etc).
And new revision of iPod touch, bearing resemblance to recently released iPhone 3G (ie. thinner and plastic back and available in white), while also revealing a small price drop for the whole range.
Starts to churn everything down, but there is one more thing…
After all these new products, we haven’t actually seen inside the iPod’s and seen the software, and gives a demo of new features and user interface changes.
Says goodbye to everyone and leaves with some music artist to perform at the end.
So guys, remember it’s 10am start, San Francisco time – thats 6pm here in the UK BST. Hope you guys enjoy the keynote, and I’m sure many Tech sites on the web will be providing live feed coverage.
Remember above is just a guide – not actually what will happen! Don’t quote me on this!
As we all are aware – iPod updates are imminent, while MacRumors predicts 9th September and many images have been leaked – here’s my wish list for the future iPod nano / classic software / hardware – leave me a comment with your opinions!
1) Get rid of that new messed up menu with the album artwork (not the coverflow bit, thats awesome… i’m talking about the split screen bit)! Who knows what to replace it with.. it’s just using peoples iPod nanos with no album artwork is just so frustratingly ugly! Please Apple – do something about it!
2) Give iPod’s Bluetooth – this would allow users to wirelessly sync with their computers if they have Bluetooth hardware and software on their computer – it would also allow people to send pictures / music / podcast etc over the air to other iPod’s – I believe the Zune has this already, but finding someone with a Zune, let alone 2 people together with Zune’s is pretty difficult.
3) Revert to a taller design for the nano – not as wide as current – a please don’t go any more thinner – I would feel like snapping it every time!
4) Provide a wall plug charger in the box! I know this saves Apple money but if I ever go away without my laptop there’s no way I can charge my iPod unless I have my wall plug, which cost me £19 in the first place!
5) Bring the price of the iPod Touch down! If it gets below £99 / $199 like the iPhone… I’ll get one… as soon as it’s released. No questions asked.
6) Give the touch a smaller screen – I know this won’t happen because all the App developers would have to re-design their apps and everything, but come on… my touchscreen Samsung phone is smaller… and this is a music player not a phone!!
7) Make iTunes easier to understand when uploading pictures – trying to explain to my Mum how to do so was hell gone wrong, quite litterally.
My name is Moggy, and I moan. My interests are web design, graphic design, technology, Apple products, politics, media and geography. Plus a few other random things.
I hope you enjoy all my posts. If you do, why not pass the word onto a friend, leave a comment, subscribe to the RSS, or even get in touch with me?
Lots of love all you gorgeous people!
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