Tag iPhone

Entries 16 Total

Huawei Ascend P1

Jul 23, ’12 10:08 AM

I have been hearing alot about the Huawei Ascend P1 smartphone for months now and just recently began to wonder if there is anything about it worth looking into.

A Chinese derived phone is/was envitable considering China is where even Apple’s market-leading iPhones are manufactured and we all know hot innovations are always targets for imitation or advancement.

Google’s Android has made it simple for companies to enter the market and not have to build an OS platform or large developer base of apps.

Many of the quick reviews I have read about the Huawei have been relatively positive with a few criticisms. All in all it seems from a distance to be a very good first effort for a new player in the game.

I plan to work on obtaining a device to put to the test so I can report first hand.

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How much Smart Phone do we really need?

Jul 4, ’12 8:46 PM

We all seem to be reaching for the stars and chasing our tails hoping to luck up on the one phone that is the ultimate available answer to all our digital needs and desires.

Whenever we hear of another improvement or innovative step foward or new OS version we can’t wait to see if our current faithful phone can handle it or if we actually need to consider dumping it in favor of a newer and possibly more capable model or just straight up jump ship and move over to a totally different device, model, Mobile OS, equipment supplier, or broadband carrier.

My ultimate smartphone will be built or embedded into my favorite watch form factor.

The Pebble watch or iPod Nano are great first shot and may evolve into the phone of my dreams.  if I can nudge or inspire developers into going that way and doing that I will be one happy iWatch purchaser and user.

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Is Samsung Galaxy S III, the iPhone killer?

May 7, ’12 10:51 AM

This new smartphone looks like it may just the one to watch, especially  if Apple’s iPhone is not to your fancy. Competition is good, that will push the market leader to innovate to protect and inspire other would-be competitors to get on the stick if they want to play in this game.
At first glance the S III. Looks like an iPhone and that isn’t exactly where the simularities end.

The question that still needs to be answered by the marketplace, not pudits is whether it is the illusive “iPhone killer” everyone has been wishing, hoping and waiting for?

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The Pebble e-ink Watch is WAY COOL

May 3, ’12 7:59 AM

Pebble e-ink watches

 

I was wondering what all the excitement and fluster over the Peeple e-ink watch was all about. Then I did what a reporter should I went a level deeper and began researching it. Being a hard critic I was actually quite inpressed by the quality of design. Background: I am a watch fanatic. Starting with an early Bulova Accutron I own well over 57 slick watches. My latest is Apple’s Nano coversion to watch form factor through the addition of 3rd party watch bands and programmed watch faces and features.

I thought I was finished chasing my watch fetish having recently given away my now obsolete and unsupported Microsoft Spot watch (after failing to neet promises and potential and once thought to be the future of watches)

Lo and behold, the Peebble watch looks quite good. The real story here is that it is not the darling of big investors or deep pocket manufacturers or the offspring of some skunkworks. It is a $9 million dollar success of the Kickstarter program.

Enough for today! Over the next few weeks I will be researching the Pebble story and plan to do a deep review of the product when it becomes available.

The deeper level story is how good design can still add up to successful product in many overlooked sectors and how motivated consumers can support and invest in such development. Pebble is aimed at Android & iphone and is Kickstarter supported with currently 9 million dollars committed buy users.

“Hey tech industry, WAKE UP!  Apple has no corner on good design”.

I have to admit as a proponent of wearable technology I really want one and am willing to plunk down hard-earned cash. This should be proof that great design should win everytime. It should also put to shame the knuckleheads and lame brains that blew money on things like spot watches and all that other crap that pretended to be forward-thinking next generation watches and devices.

See the Kickstarter site for more info on Pebble

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Apple granted patent on using apps during calls.

Dec 21, ’11 9:09 AM

 

U.S. Patent Office

U.S. Patent Office

 

Apple was just granted a game changing patent for using apps while also on a call. This patent covers the process of switching between a call and an app and then back again on the popular iPhone.

It won’t be impossible for other manufacturers to develop other methods for switching between a call and apps that don’t violate this patent, but the existence of the patent will make it much harder for their solutions to be as smooth and elegant. It is believed by mobility industry watchers that this is a big deal that is certain to impact andslow the development of Apple’s competition in the smartphone market space.

At first glance this patent seems specific, while in fact it is actually pretty broad. Competitors will surely get busy working up alternative methods and creative workarounds but this particular patent is but another hurdle that may impede and stimey many of the leading iPhone challengers.

It seems that the new tactical business strategy is to build a whole wall of patents around hot new products to forstall and trip up competitive attacks.

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Apple hands HTC a minor setback

Dec 19, ’11 5:16 PM

Cupertino scored victory over Taiwan’s HTC by winning a patent victory. Apple claims HTC’s phones illegally use patented features found in the iPhone. Depending on how this plays out in court HTC may face an import ban at could have been the worst possible time.

In what is seen as a limited legal victory for Apple, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that HTC violated only one of Apple’s, Calif.-based company’s patents. But that may enough to slow up the train but not derail it.

HTC responded quickly by agreeing to remove the feature in despite from all upcoming HTC phones soon. This means that ITC’s ruling will have very little practical effect.

ITC’s imposed import ban on only some of HTC’s products won’t take effect until April 19, 2012, giving HTC, Google, and partners a window of time to remove certain features or figure out technical work-arounds that don’t infringe on the patent.

Apple filed a complaint alleging that HTC violated 10 of its patents. In a preliminary ruling in June, an ITC administrative law judge found only two violations, and this latest ruling narrows the violation to only one of the original 10 patents.

Industry watchers believe that all of this will actually cause little or no disruption to HTC’s business in the U.S.”

HTC states this particular patent is a small UI experience (data tapping) and HTC will completely remove it from all of our phones soon.
This recent development is but a minor blow to HTC and may be a bit of a green light to other Android manufacturers. This may be an early round of an extensive litany of patent suits and counter suits among numerous parties. The outcomes of these skirmishes may determine the future of mobility as we know it.
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Recording Studio in your Pocket

Nov 22, ’11 2:16 PM
Tascam im2 on iphone

Tascam im2 on iphone

TASCAM’s iM2 turns your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch into a high-quality stereo recorder. It is in its essence a pair of condenser microphones, delivering the same high quality as TASCAM’s best-selling DR-series recorders. iM2 plugs directly into the dock connector of Apple devices.

The microphones are adjustable over 180 degrees for the best sound placement. The uni-directional elements are arranged in an AB pattern for detailed stereo imaging while capturing the ambience of your room.

Best of all the iM2 contains its own microphone preamp and analog-to-digital converter for low noise and great audio quality.

Other mics generally use the built-in iPhone preamp, whereas the iM2 can handle up to 125dB sound levels to capture the loudest concerts and instruments without distortion.

Full-featured recording

What makes it a studio? The iM2 has a stereo limiter to control sudden loud sounds and audio. Microphone levels are also adjustable from a knob on the side, so it it quick and easy to adjust.

iM2 is powered through the dock connector so thankfully no battery is required. A USB input is provided to charge your Apple iOS device for overly long recordings, either through a computer or TASCAM’s PS-P515U power adapter.

The iM2 works great with just about any recording app, including a built-in video camera. You can record stereo sound while you capturing hi-def video on your iPhone.

iM2 is a must for all levels of musicians who want to capture their world on iPhone or iPad without sacrifices in quality.

I have been a professional radio announcer, musician, voice-over talent, and studio engineer for many years and in my carefully considered opinion the iM2 is just about the perfect recording accessory for musicians at all skill levels coming in at a nice affordable price. Plus, you just known we all love our iPods, iPhones and iPads, not to mention Apple’s Garage Band and many of the great available apps.

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Apple’s Infrastructure Strategy

Oct 16, ’11 11:56 AM

Apple has in essense quietly built a system of infrastructures and support systems around all of the devices and products it produces.

This to me is exactly what I think Apple’s competitors have failed to either notice or respond to. These are also important and essential elements that engender the tremendous customer loyalty and confidence Apple now enjoys, and why other companies have such a hard time going up against Apple.

It is like a football team with the best training facilities, coaches, stadium and fans. They win games they should on paper lose and pack their stadium year after year with adoring fans that spring for season tickets. The city wins wins, as do the players and their agents, area vendors and businesses all profit as a result.

Examples:

  1. ITunes is the Infrastructure for iPods, iPhones, iPads and media on Macs.
  2. iCloud is set to become the infrastructure for itunes and those same devices.
  3. Apple stores are the retail infrastucture and consumer interface supporting everything Apple.
  4. Apple’s Developer network is the infrastructure supporting the many developers building great apps and software solutions.
  5. MacWorld though not an Apple production also supported the juncture of customers, developers and media.

Its all interconnected and self-supporting. Competitors can’t easily rally to pick off and compete against one disconnected part. It is almost as if Apple has circled their wagons and geared up for what is to come.

 

 

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iOS 5 is Alive and Ready to Download

Oct 12, ’11 9:09 AM

iOS 5

Even though you won’t have a brand spanking new iPhone 5 to show off as soon as you might have expected, Apple’s next level mobile OS, iOS 5 is now live and the download is available for eligible iPhones, iPads and iPad Touches.

This might be a very good time to do some prep:

Apple has just released their latest version of their mobile OS, iOS 5 and it is now available via download for the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad, and it is said to bring over 200 new features to those Apple iOS devices.

iOS 5 is compatible with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and the new iPhone 4S which will go on sale this Friday, plus the 3rd and 4th generation iPod Touch and the original iPad plus the new iPad 2.

iOS5 will dramatically impact the world of things Apple. Namely: iPhones, iPods and iPads by the addition of as many as 200 new and reworked features.

The iOS 5 update should allow us to update no matter which iOS version we are on or which apps or music we have on our devices- that is if our hardware device is among those certified to be eligible.

iOS5 Update Eligible devices:

  • Third generation iPod Touch
  • fourth generation iPod Touch
  • iPhone 3GS
  • iPhone 4S
  • iPad
  • iPad 2

Prep steps to consider:

  • Get rid of years of accumulated crap and clutter
  • Sync or otherwise back up your data
  • Organize and make space
  • Dump apps you don’t use or need anymore
  • Trash or transfer music you don’t like or listen to
  • Trash or transfer photos no longer needed
  • Sort out Audiobooks, ebooks, video, audio and unused media

Our thanks to cnet’s Jason Parker and Kent German for the reminder and tips to prepare.

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iPhone: The day after

Oct 5, ’11 9:31 AM

The shear dissapointment is so palpable you could cut it with a knife. The backset commentary is rife throughout the whole Internet. Every pundit and tech reporter is tripping over their own feet trying to come up with new ways to say something unique or different about everything that went down at Apple HQ yesterday.

To sum up Apple’s conundrum, they did a really poor job of managing everyone’s expectations and this may present an opportunity for competitors.

Apple still has the opportunity to blow the smartphone world away in the near future by actually introducing a new iPhone 5, it is just that they didn’t come through with one yesterday.

Yes, they did do a song and dance around new iPhone 4 versions, features and pricing and talked up a free 3GS (with 2 year contract).

Read my report on the event here.

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APPLE: History repeats!

May 29, ’11 11:08 PM
Apple's mistake

Apple's mistake

Who would have known back in 1984 that Apple would rule the technology roost and have corporations around the planet trying to catch up, keep up or steal the spotlight.

For a company that started the race from the front, it is interesting that Apple is in a lead position they must maintain just to stay in the overcrowded race. At this point Apple has the financial resources, developer talent and the market momentum to remain dominant.

Apple is still trying to deal with the historic times that they made colossal strategic errors by lifting their skirt and enabling and empowering massive competition by inviting Microsoft at first and years later Google into their loop only to give away the long range future and create competitors that would offer Apple’s innovation to the whole computer industry leaving Apple to serve a proprietary marginalized niche. Microsoft’s infamous one year UI deal with Apple back at a time when “DOS was dead” allowed Microsoft to grab up the Mac’s user interface and give birth to windows. The rest is history. One would have hoped that Apple would have learned it’s lesson. Fast forward a few decades, Apple managed to do the impossible by surviving and thriving only to repeat the same mistake  with Google both of which I think were the two biggest businesses blunders ever. the rest  again is history. Future developments of the iPhone, iPad and MacBook products will finally determine just how this will all play out and shake out. This is an on-going epic story without a clear ending at this point, but my money, as always, is on Apple. If only for their style, design sense and leadership, and definitely not their long-term strategic partnership decisions. If not for those blunders right now Apple should be and would be ruling the digital world.

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AD: A $49 iPhone 3 GS? Yeah!

Apr 27, ’11 3:52 PM

Did my eyes and ears just deceive me? But I’d swear that I just saw an ad on cable TV that offered anApple 3 GS iPhones for $49.

If this is true and I don’t doubt it. I have a couple of questions. The first is, (1) is this merely a competitive strategy to grow the base of  iPhone ownership, or (2) are there just so many 3 GS iPhones left that they can afford to almost give them away? Either way this seems quite a blow to the many iPhone competitors out there that only thought they had to compete with a somewhat scarce iPhone 4 inventory. Now this! We should probably to see in a few short weeks what effect. if any, this will have on the market, with consumers and on the telecom industry in general. It may not even be a big deal. Without a doubt AT&T will likely be the biggest beneficiary attracting tons of new account sign ups and 2-year contracts.

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Apple: “If you don’t have an iPhone…You don’t!”

Apr 26, ’11 8:08 AM

Apple’s “If you don’t have an iPhone Ad”

The ad says “If you don’t have an iPhone, you don’t have an iPhone”

I interpret this as meaning there is something more about having an iPhone, it’s called status and cache, so you may have a smartphone that looks like an iPhone and does some of the things an iPhone does, but, without an iTunes App store, the developers base, doing iPod music functions with a retina display and in a thin cool design package  you really just don’t an iPhone, the very best available smartphone on the market.

That is a brag that should engage and enrage iPhone competitors and should also be taken as an “in your face” challenge to the many iPhone competitors.

With the many interesting new devices coming out we should probably look back at this bold statement a few months from now and we will view it as either hubris or a gauntlet thrown down and backed up.

This actually is a whole series of television ads in heavy rotation that stress the different aspects and advantages of iPhones that competitors don’t have or offer. I have seen it four times on ESPN while drafting this post.

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COOL APP: Bento 4 (Mac/iPad/iPhone)

Apr 14, ’11 10:58 AM
Bento

Bento

Although it is not really just an app in the latest sense but is actually more a full-blooded Application, Bento by Filemaker has found its way into my heart and into my core of essential applications for my journalism duties and general business productivity. I have been a Filemaker user about as long as I have used Macs, and since the very first versions I always thought Filemaker had potential and was very useful for building quick powerful (if not necessarily universal relational) database solutions. The power of Filemaker development and use is the rationale and business model that has lead to Filemaker’s launching of Bento now in its forh version. There is a very extensive depository of free templates available in the Bento Exchange allowing users to select from among a number of bite-sized business, organizational, education and productivity solutions to add to one’s Bento solution platform. This is actually a very creative approach that places the exceptional work of many filemaker developers in front of tons of new users.

Filemaker provides a program trial so you can see if you like it prior to purchase. Then if you do, the purchace price is reasonable enough to compel you to dive right in. Then you can begin explorign the Template Exchange to discover and download solutions that fit your workflow or needs. Once you start using Bento you will be surprised just how truly useful it can actually be and it will be hard to imagine how you got along without it.

I strongly applaud the Filemaker team for thinking outside the Bento Box and coming up with this approach. I only wish that other companies (especially in Cupertino) could be as creative and forward thinking.

The fact that you can go in and continue to customise and modify the templates by adding or deleting fields as you chose I think puts Bento into the realm of The Best.  On a scale of 1 to 10, I give Bento a firm 10, and a big “Right On” to the whole team that made it happen. Good Job!

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COOL FEATURE: Glasses Free 3D on iPad 2

Apr 11, ’11 3:26 PM

I was waiting and hoping to hear this when all of a sudden it was there before my eyes in a random article. Glasses-free 3D coming to the iPad 2.

The Text-Researchers in France have developed a technique for showing 3D on the screen of an iPad 2 without glasses and, more interestingly, without need of the accelerometer. The technique is based entirely on “head-tracking,” or using the movements of the user’s head as picked up by the front-facing camera, essentially turning the iPad’s camera into a basic Kinect-type device — which could have great implications for future 3D gaming on iOS devices with front-facing cameras, MacStories reports.

A demonstration video was created by Jeremie Francone and Laurence Nigay of the Laboratory of Informatics at the EHCI Research Group. The monocular 3D effect is easy to see in the video and easily shows off a spatially-aware display that could be used in a variety of ways, including (as seen at the end of the video) an expanded desktop. Other possibilities include previewing 3D renders in CAD program, adding depth to artwork such as comic books, and of course improving the gaming experience.

A full implementation perfecting this technology could blow away one of the primary advantages of Nintendo’s latest portable gaming console, the 3DS, which also uses glasses-free 3D. Apple may have an opportunity to implement the technology at the system level or as an API, bringing 3D gaming to future iPod Touch and iPhone devices.

 

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iPhone Killer: HTC Thunderbolt

Apr 2, ’11 9:46 AM

Apple’s got a real problem on its hands! Its called the HTC Thunderbolt.

I finally got my hands on an HTC Thunderbolt and the tenor of the positive feedback and stories are indeed true. It is a very good phone, If there really is an iPhone killer out there and that is not just a figment of an overzealous marketer’s imagination and hype, then the HTC Thunderbolt is about the closest I’ve seen from among all the hordes of pretenders and want-to-be’s to hit the market. HTC Thunderbolt’s are literally flying off the shelves of Verizon stores in numbers closely matching those of the iPhone 4.   Right off, the extra screen space impresses, but overall, the Thunderbolt’s functionality and full set of advanced smartphone features users are looking for in a new device doesn’t hurt. HTC has been in the business making good phones for quite a while now since they came out with the G1 and now they seem to have poured their experience, expertise and design talents into the new Thunderbolt and have a sure-fire hit on their hot hands. Recently, I get more web page hits for Thunderbolt info than for iPhone. Apple needs to listen for the footsteps coming up behind them and be on notice. It’s time for Cupertino to stand and deliver on a newly crafted next generation iPhone 5.

Thunderbolt chimes in with a nice hi-res 4.3″ screen, 8MP camera, LED flash, in-camera effects and a 720p HD camcorder, 4G uploads, Built-in DLNA connectivity to support your flatscreen. Thunderbolt functions as a mobile hotspot  turning your phone into a wireless router, providing Wi-Fi™ connections and 4G power to up to five devices. With a 1GHz Snapdragon Processor and Verizon’s 4G network users can expect robust performance.

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