iPhone4idiots

So my flight back to Nashville is in an hour. Last night in Miami I swear at least half the people I listed to on the street or in a restaurant were speaking a foreign language. Note to self, make sure the boys take Spanish and don’t waste time with French, Latin or Chinese. Most of what I read on Apple and Tech blogs continues to be really positive on Siri. While I agree it’s the future, it’s really not that great at the moment. Yes, it’s helpful for driving in some respects, but it’s not like you can carry on a conversation with Siri. In fact, many times this weekend Siri didn’t get what I was saying exactly right. Whether I was dictating a note or trying to send a text. It’s good, but not great. You really can’t trust a lot of these blogs. Continue Reading…

For those of you who didn’t awake in the middle of the night to pre order the iPhone 4S (or were up like me but couldn’t order a no contract iPhone 4S) the question is what to do now? Reports are everywhere that pre orders were over one million the first 24 hours (and people thought demand was high for the Amazon Kindle Fire). Now pre orders are showing a shipping time of 1-2 weeks. If you are like me you don’t want to wait that long. Raido Shack and Target are selling them, but I wouldn’t go there. Sam’s Club has them as well, but I’m not a member. Best Buy is taking pre orders, but I went there personally and what most people aren’t reporting is that the pre order really doesn’t start until Saturday. Friday, Best Buy will sell all the iPhone 4S they get to whomever is lined up. I’m sure they will sell out quickly. Thus, your pre order will depend on what number you are and size and dates of future shipments they receive starting on Saturday. So, that’s really not an option for me either. Where to line up. That’s always the question. IMO, you are best off at the Apple Store. Continue Reading…

I’ve had ATT as my carrier for years. When Verizon finally got the iPhone, I posted an article saying you shouldn’t buy it because of lower data speeds and not being able to use voice and data at the same time. That said, you have to call BS when you smell it. Like when Apple released Ping or when Research in Motion released the 7′ Playbook. ATT is about to claim the iPhone 4S is a 4G phone and Apple is playing along. Check my article from two days ago. While it’s true that ATT’s GSM network is the only one to support the iPhone 4′S HSPA+ technology which is faster, it is not 4G. While twice as fast as 3G, it’s no where near 4G and I hope next year when Apple likely releases an LTE iPhone 5 Verizon and Sprint put ATT in their place. Heck, at that point they should market it as 5G since there is no truth in carrier advertising when it comes to data speeds.

Wow, it has been a frustrating Friday. I woke at 1:40 to start clicking the refresh button on Apple’s website. See in the past their website has gone live and started selling about ten minutes before the designated pre order time. No such luck for the iPhone 4S. 2:10 nothing – 2:20 nothing – 2:30 and I’m worried my mouse might die from all the clicking of the refresh button. I even went over to ATT but they weren’t selling either. Verizon’s site went live immediately, but it like ATT required a contract and I was searching for the no contract iPhone 4S. See I think there is a good chance I’ll be switching from ATT next year so I don’t want to be locked into a contract. 2:40 I hit refresh again and still the only thing I can order is a ”We’ll be back soon.” yellow post it note. Finally around 3:00 AM Apple’s site starts working. Well sort of. Many people on Twitter complained about getting kicked out half way though the order process. I’m disappointed, but not surprised to see I have to choose a contract. In my sleep deprived haze I decide to screw it and get a Sprint contract (it’s the cheapest). Well, no can do. Only existing Sprint customers are able to pre order. I called the Nashville Apple store this morning and they assured me that on Friday October 14, I will be able to buy a no contract iPhone 4S. Yes, the 16GB verison is $649, but I’m an idiot who will pay it. See you next Friday in line.

Tired of manually maximizing your little iPhone screen with two fingers to read texts better? Tired of your friends crowding around you to see that crazy video from last night? Or are you sick of having to watch Netflix movies on your iPod touch? Well, Apple has a solution to this irritation, as they show various iDevices with built-in pico projectors in their new patent.

Apples patent shows a few iDevices projecting video, images and text on walls. This is really nothing shocking new to tech lovers such as myself as many phones (mostly Asian brands) have already installed projectors into their mobile devices.  What separates Apple from the rest is their idea of including gestures which will allow you to interact with your projection and also communicate between two different iDevices. That explains the title of their patent “Project Display Shared Works.”

The gestures can be detected via touch screen or the devices camera, similar to the way the xbox kinect works. Knowing Apple and their reputation with display, this does look very promising. However, the pico projectors are known battery drainers and it’s projection isn’t very bright nor high in resolution. I wouldn’t count on this to be included in the  iPhone 5, which is coming this fall!

I’m sure you heard by now Steve Jobs has stepped down as CEO of Apple. He will take over as Chairman of the Board and remain and employee for the time being. I wasn’t gonna post on this as contrary to what some have written this isn’t shocking but expected. His cancer and failing health are well documented and the only thing surprising to me is that he’s continued on as long as he has. Sure the stock will drop tomorrow, but Apple will be fine. The iPhone 5 is still coming within 60 days and a high resolution iPad 3 and LTE iPhone 6 are both coming in 2012. Tim Cook, the new CEO, takes over a company steamrolling the competition and that will continue for at least the next 18 months. I fully anticipate Apple to continue to make beautiful products with the occasional fail (Apple TV and Ping come to mind). Jobs has to be given credit more than any other person for the iPhone and iPad. Two products that continue to change the world. For that he will live on forever and I for one am thankful.

Thinking of buying a new iPhone? You might want to wait as it’s extremely likely the iPhone 5 will finally be put on sale in the next 60 days. Apple hasn’t said anything officially, but all the signs are there. China Times reported Apple was testing 400,000 units, rumors abound that ATT and Apple are prepping employees and every analyst that follows Apple is saying either September or October. It’s about time. It’s been well over a year since the iPhone 4, the greatest length of time between iPhone releases ever. Even if you decide you don’t want an iPhone 5 you still might want to wait as the price of the iPhone 4 will drop $100-$150 with the release of the iPhone 5.  So what’s going to be new in the iPhone 5? Continue Reading…

Of course I’m sure you saw the news articles about how Apple has more cash than the US Government. It’s unreal and only growing at like $7 billion a quarter for at least the next 4-6 quarters. Yes, Apple enthusiast are on a roll. Could life get any better? Well how about research that showed users of Safari had a higher IQ than users of Internet Explorer. Continue Reading…

Like they have for years in most of the world, Apple is finally selling a factory unlocked iPhone in the United States. Now before you get excited this IMO is virtually useless. First, it is only the GSM model meaning it won’t work on Verizon or Sprint. Even worse, while it will make voice calls on T-Mobile, due to T-Mobile AWS frequencies 3G data won’t work on T-Mobile. Who would want an iPhone with no 3G data support? Thus, this “unlocked” iPhone doesn’t fully work with any of the big 4 United States carriers other than ATT. It is not different than a locked ATT iPhone 4 in that respect. Of course it is more expensive. Both black and white unlocked iPhone 4 will cost you $649 for the 16GB model and $749 for the 32GB. This is $50 more than a no contract iPhone 4 and $450 more than a two year contract subsidized iPhone 4! Now there is of course one advantage to the unlocked iPhone 4 – international travel. Continue Reading…

Apple is held the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco today. This is who’s who of developers and bloggers that is always filled with major product announcements. Even Steve Jobs is there despite all his health issues. So what did Apple announce? Well, before I get into OSX Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud, IMO one of the biggest news stories at this year’s event is what Apple didn’t announce. For the first time since it’s introduction there will not be a new iPhone released in June. The iPhone 2G, 3G, 3GS and iPhone 4 were all released in June. To me this just shows the next iPhone won’t offer a major upgrade. Sure they’ll add a few megapixels to the camera and maybe a second LED light on the back. Hopefully another major upgrade like removing the home button to allow for a larger display will be coming next year when I’ll be due to upgrade my iPhone 4. Look for the next iPhone to come this fall with the release of iOS 5 which is the most significant iOS update yet! More on that in post later today.