iPhone OS 4.0....so many win...

Over a hundred new features. That's what Steve Jobs said when he began talking about the iPhone's new OS coming this summer (this fall for the iPad). After scouring his hour long presentation twice I finally found out the most deserving items to outline and discuss.

There are going to be several past-due improvements:

For the camera: We're going to see a 5x-digital zoom for picture taking as well as tapping to focus during video-taking. We'll also see places tagged in pictures you take; i.e. Taking a picture in Tokyo, Japan will be tagged as having been taken in Tokyo, Japan.

There will be the ability to gift apps to other people

FINALLY be able to change the Home Screen background
The ability to hook up a bluetooth keyboard and on the same note as typing there will be a spell-checking feature.

Now with those minor features spoken for, let's get to the main part of the presentation: The Seven Tentpoles. These are to represent the biggest innovations and changes to the physical OS:

Tentpole #1: Multitasking - That's right folks. Multitasking.

1.      Double clicking the Home button is what is used to bring up the multitasking dock

·         Boasts less battery consumption

·         No "sluggishness" when switching apps

·         Allows for Task Completion; i.e. Flickr app takes a long time to upload pictures; now you can go to a different app while that task finishes without interrupting it.

·         Fast App Switching leaves the app you were just in at its exact position; i.e. you won't lose progress in games or apps such as Tap Tap Revenge.

2.      Background Audio

·         Distilled the 3^rd party services used to make music apps like Pandora and made them party of the OS.

·         Will be able to run Pandora while using other apps

·         Will be able to run Pandora in “iPod mode” when your phone is locked.

3.      Voice-over IP

·         Skype used to have to be on the whole time for you to make and receive calls; now you can receive calls while doing other things

·         Shows up as a red call bar (green for normal phone)

·         Calls come in even when phone is locked

4.       Background Notifications

·         Using apps like Tom Tom normally require you to have them open so you get their notifications but now you get them even when you’re using another app.

 Tentpole #2: FOLDERS!!! - Yay!

1. Organize your apps

·         Press on an app as if to move it, drag it on top of another app and it creates a folder.

·         Folders auto name based on contents but you can rename them

2.      Expands number of viewable apps

·          If every space on every page was taken by a folder, you could increase the number of viewable apps from 180 to 2,160.

Tentpole #3: Enhanced Mail

1.      Unified inbox for multiple email accounts

·         Quickly move between different inboxes if you don’t unify them

2.       Open attachments with apps

3.       Organize messages in thread form instead of individual messages

Tentpole #4: iBooks!

1.      Same UI as the iPad

2.      Same iBook store as the iPad

·         Buy once, read through all devices

·         Syncs pages and bookmarks

Tentpole #5: Enterprise

1.      80% of Fortune 100 Companies use iPhone/iPad for business.

·         Encryption for email

·         Mobile device management

·         Wireless app distribution

·         Multiple Exchange accounts

·         Compatibility with Exchange Server 2010 and SSL VPN

Tentpole #6: GAME CENTER!!! - XBL Arcade for Apple?

1.      More than 50,000 individual game titles for the iPhone/iPad

·         Normally connected through services like OpenFeint and Plus+ gamers don’t really have a set matchmaking system or leaderboards.

2.       Social Gaming Network

·         Invite friends

·         Matchmaking

·         Leaderboards

·         ACHIEVEMENTS!!!

·         Only a “preview” during OS 4; more supposed to arrive later

Tentpole #7: iAd: Not a bad idea IMO

1. Mobile Advertising facts

·         Avg. user spends roughly 30 minutes in apps a day.

·         Based on the number of apps downloaded and individual users there are about 1 Billion ad impressions daily

·         Helps devs with making money on “free” or cheap apps

·         iAd will give Devs up to 60% of revenue.

2.  Mobile Advertising on a whole new level

·         Normally ads in apps are bland and take you away from your current task in a game or place in a news feed.

·         Now ads will be built to keep you in your place in the app

·         Will have more interactivity; i.e. downloads or sound bits

·         Will have more “emotion” than a typical plain text web ad

·         Will be in HTML 5 so videos will be embedded in the ads as well

3.  Bought out mobile ad company Quattro: “We are thrilled to let you know that Apple has acquired Quattro.” – Quattrowireless.com

Well thats about it for what was revealed at the conference. Also you should note that if you have an iPhone 3G or the original as well as the iPod Touch 2nd Gen or the original you won't be seeing all of these features due to the device's capabilities. So sad....oh well I get 'em all!!! I can't wait to multitask changing my background while playing EliminatePro while listening to Pandora while ignoring Skype calls while clicking a new movie ad and using that picture as my background. WOOT!

-Armand

HTC EVO 4G....can I trade in my iPhone?

You tend to hear a lot of negative comments towards touch screen phones that aren't iPhones; they have become the bar and have yet to be surpassed. "The touch is too slow" or "The keyboard isn't big enough", "Crap camera" or "The UI (user interface) is very unfriendly"; all familiar things you hear about the Droid or Blackberry Storm or Palms. Not the case with the HTC EVO 4G. I was legitimately impressed when I saw this phone in action thanks to Engadget's sneak peek of this marvel.
First and foremost, it will have a huge 4.3 inch LCD screen as compared to the iPhone's 3.5 inch. The keyboard is much larger and has cursor arrows for easier navigation through your composition. The UI on the EVO is great, very fluid, pull down menus and side scrolling are not glitchy at all from what I can tell as well. Get this now, it has two cameras. Seriously. One is an insanely huge 8 megapixel camera with flash that can take videos up to 720p! Its second camera is a front mounted 1.3 megapixel camera for those quick shots for your Facebook or whatever your fancy.

What's it run on you ask? Well let's see, just Android 2.1 with a Snapdragon QSD8650 1.0GHz processor, 1GB of built in memory and 512MB of RAM, that's what.

The phone even has a kick-stand. WTF? That's so awesome. Definitely helps when you just want to sit back at work and browse YouTube and such.

Here's a side-by-side with the iPhone and the Nexus One:

Definitely looking to hear more about this awesome piece of tech, according to Sprint "Summer" is the planned release window. Check out Engadget's article to see it in action with two videos and a gallery of comparison shots.

-Armand

Oh iPad...so sad....

I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't excited for the revealing of the iPad. I'd say that I was downright giddy when Steve Jobs called his little conference and began to introduce the iPad. I was giddy up until I saw it actually. And the more he talked about it, the less excited I became.

When I imagined the iPad, I had pictured this awesome slim tablet that had a camera and mic built into the front, Macromedia Flash capability, huge screen, multi-tasking and decent price point. What we all got was a giant iPod Touch.

There is actually little separating the iPad from the Touch. Key differences are the size and power behind it but it is no where near a computer. It has a 9.7 inch diagonal screen that will probably encounter more damage and cleaning issues that the iPhone or iPod Touch do. It utilizes Apple's groundbreaking multi-touch capabilities but it still has the same mini-dock and layout as its smaller counterparts. The battery on the other hand is amazing for the device; it sports a ten hour span for audio, video or just surfing the web and e-mails. Also, depending on whether you want just Wi-Fi or 3G + Wi-Fi is another matter, (AT&T I believe is the one doing the 3G plans separately.)

The price point I feel would be reasonable if it just had more...

Wi-Fi only

$499 - 16GB

$599 - 32GB

$699 - 64GB

Wi-Fi + 3G

$629 - 16GB

$729 - 32GB

$829 - 64GB

See? Not too bad but with the lack of current features I feel like the best idea is to wait until the 2nd generation of iPad is released.

LACK OF FLASH SUPPORT!!! Why don't you listen Apple? It works on your computers but you can't make it or let it work on your devices? I don't know how many sites I can't go to because there's no Flash on my phone. I could let go of all my other vices with this device if it had Flash. I would wait in line for two days if it had Flash support.

With a release date set in stone of April 3rd, I don't know what the initial wave is going to be like. There are always the typical Cult of Steve people who buy every device Apple puts out, there's the people who thoroughly enjoy Apple products and have the cash to nab one at the get go, there's the people who will get one when they have the dough so they look cool or the people like me who are horribly skeptical and question the product to make sure it fits my needs. In my honest opinion, I give the iPad a preview review of 2.5/5. Sorry Steve.

-Armand