Smartphones, Apps and iStuff (iPhones etc)

[Your Funny Uncle]

Not to defend Apple, but RAM and flash memory (your micro SD card) are not the same thing. The new iPhones have 16GB or 32GB of flash memory to store your apps/music etc...

I just got an HTC Desire and that has 512MB of RAM too. Unlike the iPhone that has a fixed amount of flash memory the Desire has a micro SD slot and I got a 16GB card for mine... It's early days but I'm preferring the flexibility and customisability of Android. For those that prefer something to just WORK then they'll probably prefer the iPhone but I like to play around more...

[Flaffer]

funnily enough (well not really) but I was in Apples store in Cribbs Causeway yesterday, the iphone4 is a gorgeous bit of kit but Apples attempts to deal with the antenna issues were pretty poor. Steve Jobs is too arrogant to ever apologise and you can see the disdain he has for the media who have dared to criticise the device, he then goes on to say the same problem exists with some other phones, well sure that really excuses your own failings and let us not forget the iphone4 does tend to cost more than almost every comparable product out there. similarly the ipad (which I almost felt like buying yesterday after a quick play), in cold hard light of day it is a nice device, photos look great, games may well be better on big screen, ease of use is as great as its ever been on iphone/ipod touch but for what it does it is fantastically overpriced - Jobs arrogantly dismissed complaints over substantial price discrepancies between USA and other markets. C'mon 16,32 or 64 GB memory for a device such as this - its absolutely farcical - the ipod classic has 120 gb (and 160 gb iirc in the past), paying more for 3G - a device built for internet use like this should have 3g as standard, its like buying an expensive car and having to pay for satnav

[Dipso]

Six or seven years ago in Japan I had a cheap phone that was capable of video calls, live TV etc. It makes me laugh when I see all these features being presented as cutting edge when they have been around in the Far East for years already.

[Patrick Bateman]

I'm not an Apple basher exclusively, but the sooner people realise that they're being shafted by pretty much all technological companies, the sooner we'll all demand and expect cutting edge stuff immediately after discovery, and not 3 years down the line when we are being milked dry for feeble updates.

The problem is that Apple have successfully convinced the herd that their products are the sin qua non of technology, if not of life itself. I love my Sony mp4 player, and wouldn't trade it for a more fragile product which needed charging far more regularly like an iPod but then I'm not a gullible fashionista.

He looked even more of a corporate t*** than usual at that press conference, and as for the free case, I've seen better free gifts given away with the Beano. Still they could probably have sold an iCase for a couple of hundred quid to the usual wankers. Hi Stephen!

[redsock]

Not to defend Apple, but RAM and flash memory (your micro SD card) are not the same thing. The new iPhones have 16GB or 32GB of flash memory to store your apps/music etc...

Yeah I agree, it was a bad example, which I thought afterwards but was a little squiffy to go back and alter.

Six or seven years ago in Japan I had a cheap phone that was capable of video calls, live TV etc. It makes me laugh when I see all these features being presented as cutting edge when they have been around in the Far East for years already.

Absolutely! I was in Tokyo November 2000 and was amazed at the full colour animated displays on their mobiles.
I think I had a lowly Nokia 3210 back home with its monochrome display ....

[gregf]

Those phones in Japan were running Java, Sun's micro run everywhere language.
I was involved in support for NTT DoCoMo in Japan while working for Sun.
I did a little Java programming but was more a storage specialist by that stage.

Good tech often does not win ; I have seen it all ; life goes on.
So please no one think I am an Apple fan boy. Let's move on.

Apps are cross platform now. Synch-ing services and cloud services will be important.
Sun's motto in the 1980's was "the network is the computer" and I think that will be
even more true in the future.

The iPad may be overpriced and under specced. But it is a joy to use and shows
where things are headed.

[Blogo]

The new iPhone 4 has more than 100 features compared to previous versions. (I'm not an Apple fanboy.)

The new iPhone does more than just video calls. It has HD video recording/ 5 megapixel camera. It has double the amount of RAM (compared to 3GS), meaning that it will run much more fluid with the help of the better processor installed(A4 chip). It also has a retina display which is a gorgeous feature, the display has increased pixels making the pictures and text very clear/precise. I upgraded from 3G to iPhone 4 so there is a noticeable difference for me in speed and usability.

The iPad is very wishy washy. I may buy the next generation version (which hopefully will include retina display, better processor etc)

Don't you find it slightly amusing that the "new" features are actually things that could have been instigated on possibly the second or even first iteration of the iphone ?
Practically everything that is new (better resolution camera, screen, memory etc ... ) could easily have been on the last few generations of it ? (5 meg pixel cameras were out over seven years ago .... 512mb of RAM ?!? My ancient USB pendrive has that !!?! I recently bought a 16gig micro SD card for £8 retail, the technology is there, but Apple buyers will have to wait for iphone #7 for something like that .....)

As I mentioned above, it really seems like it's beads to the natives, "give the punters a few more shiny gizmos to play with and they'll lap it up ..."
Of course, that's generally how business's work, but really Apple are taking the piss .......

As we've seen on the news today, Mssr Jobbs has admitted what a c*** up was made on the most basic aspect of the phone, i.e to make it actually function properly as a phone, you need to use a rubber band around the casing to hold the signal .....

I'm not an Apple basher exclusively, but the sooner people realise that they're being shafted by pretty much all technological companies, the sooner we'll all demand and expect cutting edge stuff immediately after discovery, and not 3 years down the line when we are being milked dry for feeble updates.

Yes, these features may have existed on previous phones however many were not in any way usable. I have to say, Apple have created a gorgeous kit which fluidly excutes
all these features. Oh and don't be confused memory and storage. It's clear you are referring to a pen drive which has 512mb of storage. Two different things, mate.

I think this antenna issue has been blown out of proportion, personally I haven't had any issues at all with the signal. Then again it may vary from location.

[Your Funny Uncle]

C'mon 16,32 or 64 GB memory for a device such as this - its absolutely farcical - the ipod classic has 120 gb (and 160 gb iirc in the past)

Again desptite the fact that I agree with you about Apple in general I feel the need to point out that you are not comparing apples with apples here. The iPods to which you refer were using hard disks, whereas iPads use solid state drives (flash memory). Solid state drives are much faster than traditional hard disks and have the major advantage of having no moving parts which is very useful in a portable device. They are however currently much more expensive per GB than hard drives so you get less storage space for your money.

[Deschanel]

Six or seven years ago in Japan I had a cheap phone that was capable of video calls, live TV etc. It makes me laugh when I see all these features being presented as cutting edge when they have been around in the Far East for years already.

Yes, it is so funny!! Why should anyone bother then, to improve pocket computers like iPhone, when we can all just move to Japan?

FWIW, I think videoconferencing on phones is dumb. In practice, a lot of looking up peoples' nostrils, a lot of absorbed dummies walking into traffic, streetlamps, other pedestrians.

[Dipso]

Six or seven years ago in Japan I had a cheap phone that was capable of video calls, live TV etc. It makes me laugh when I see all these features being presented as cutting edge when they have been around in the Far East for years already.

Yes, it is so funny!! Why should anyone bother then, to improve pocket computers like iPhone, when we can all just move to Japan?

My point was simply that the technology is not at all new. Many tens of millions of users in the Far East have had these capabilities as standard on their phones for years and have been quietly using them without media fanfare.

[Deschanel]

I got you, Dipso (and am very fond of you). If there is a device from Japan that can do all that the iPhone can, a pocket computer with full Internet capabilities, that can deliver it with the same elegant interface and hassle-free experience as the iPhone, I'd love to know why the world, and Gizmodo, and Engadget doesn't know of it. Videoconferencing is a minor thing, really.

[skyhigh]

Think you'll find that a lot of the technology available right now is beyond us as humans and companies will only release it slowly to us in order to let the biggest percentage of us access it.

[Your Funny Uncle]

I am still using Nuevasync as my synchronisation service http://www.Nuevasync.com
Any other people using a sync service ?

One thing i was really pleased with with my HTC Desire was the fact that just entering my google ID and password during initial setup meant that it automatically synced my phone with google mail, google calendar and google contacts, no need to set up anything. also giving it my flickr and facebook login meant that I could link facebook and flickr contacts with my normal contacts. All very cool.

[gregf]

Now, that's cool.
(now this is more interesting than a hardware argument)

But funnyunc, is that a full MS Exchange service, is it doing push email
and will it handle meeting invitations ? AFAIK the native Google sync service is
not as good as Nuevasync.

It's funny having push email going to the iPhone and iPad. There is a ding
then another ding as it goes to each device.

Will be interested to hear what you think on the Android OS.

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For folks who upgraded their iPhone 3G to iOS4 and it is running slow,
the issue is being reported in our paper (at last).
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/ipho ... 10ijp.html

There is a link to a downgrade procedure in this article but I can not promise it works.
I stayed on 313.

[Your Funny Uncle]

Hmmm... It has pinged a couple of times to let me know about new emails but I don't know how good it is. I actually turned off push email on my iPhone because I find it annoying. I'll check my emails when I want to. If you want to get in touch urgently call me or text me.