The iPhone 4S

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My last post was written before the iPhone announcement. This post is my initial early reaction, or the part I like to refer to as “Before Simon explains to me why I’m wrong”.

The thing that makes me feel bad is that I know some of you have been waiting for this phone. I mean really waiting, over-running the end of your contracts, just to wait for the next iPhone, and this is what Apple have given you. They took an extra four months over this handset and came out with something that would have been slightly dated back in June, and is just a joke now.

There’s no doubt that the iPhone 4S is better than the iPhone 4. That’s what the S stands for – better. Unfortunately I just don’t think it’s better enough. Lets take a look at it. For starters there’s a 1GHz dual core A5 chip, which Apple fans will tell you is just as good as the 1.5GHz dual core chips that are now available in Android phones, and will certainly be better than the 2GHz quad core chips we’re expecting to see in Android phones at the beginning of 2012. There’s a new 8MP camera that will apparently be a great deal better than every other 8MP Android phone. The retina display remains the same, but I’m sure it will in some way be classed as better than the higher resolution and bigger screened Android phones.

There’s also the new voice control. You’ll be able to control all sorts of things on your iPhone just by talking to it. For me personally, voice control still lives in the “I’ll believe it when I see it” category of technology. The voice control in Android works brilliantly in nice quiet environments. The noisy environment of a car, which is the only place I ever want to use it, just causes too many problems for it to actually work. Right now I’m willing to bet that the iPhone will work just as well, but of course I’m happy to be proved wrong with that one. Working or not, I’m not a fan of voice control, but I’m sure there’ll be some people out there who love it and use it many times each day.

And that’s your lot for iPhone 4S specific features. There are new functions added to iOS 5, but being honest, they read like a list of new features for a two version old copy of Android. For example, iOS 5 will include Apple versions of Google Talk, Android Notifications, and extremely limited social network integration that only works with Twitter.

Remember, I love Apple products. I’m writing this post on a MacBook while watching something on the AppleTV. As I look up from the screen, there are at least three iPods in my field of vision. However I think the iPhone continues to be the Emperor’s new clothes. Only Apple can put out a phone with features and technical specs that match an eight month old Android handset, and have the world call it amazing.

On the 11th of this month, Google and Samsung are going to announce the next Android Nexus phone. Expect it to have at least an 8MP camera, 1280x720p 4.5″ screen, and 1.5GHz processor. It will also come with the next version of Android, which we don’t really know anything about yet, except that it will have all the features of iOS 5 that are already in there.

So should you buy the iPhone 4S? I really can’t think of a compelling reason to do so. Not even if you’ve got a load of iOS apps. Just take the £200 you were planning to spend on the iPhone, get yourself the Nexus phone instead, buy Android versions of all your iOS apps, and then spend the remaining £150 on a nice treat for yourself. On Tech It Or Leave It, I said that iOS and Android were just too close to each other to keep arguing over which was better. Now I’m going back on that to say that the Apple emperor is actually naked. He doesn’t really have new clothes, just his meat and two veg hanging out there for all to see.

 

 

The Next iPhone

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I don’t know what it’s going to be called, or what it’s going to do. We’ll all find out in a few hours. I won’t though. I went and bought theatre tickets for tonight so I’m going to pretty much miss the whole thing. Still, I think we’re going to see an amazing show, and I’ll be able to catch up on the news later. That means there won’t be a live strem from Simply Syndicated while the keynote is happening. I know you don’t care really, but one person did ask, so I thought I’d say it.

My personal prediction is for a cheaper version of the iPhone 4, maybe bumped up to being a 4S, and an iPhone 5, which will be an absolute beast with the A5 processor and something around a 4″ screen. It’ll probably have an 8MP camera which will be great. They will sell lots of them and people will like them. I doubt there will be any other things going off. They may well show off that voice recognition thing we’ve heard about, listen to the latest Tech It Or Leave It if you haven’t.

You might remember, a while ago, I said I was going to get the next iPhone when it came out. I didn’t wait, and ended up getting a Galaxy S 2. Will this iPhone make me regret that choice? At the moment, I don’t think so.

Meet The Kindle Fire – The BlackBerry Playbook Killer

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This is the Kindle Fire tablet from Amazon. It’s a brand new, top of the range, Kindle, tablet. It’s running Amazon’s own take on Android Gingerbread, has a 7″ screen, dual core processor, and most importantly of all, costs $199. It’s available for pre-order in the US right now.

Already some people are calling this the iPad killer, I am not. It isn’t an iPad killer. It looks very nice, and should they ever release it in the UK, I will probably buy one. But it’s not an iPad killer. As far as I’m concerned, that ship has sailed. The iPad will always be the definitive tablet computer, and the one that everyone wants, even people who settle for an Android tablet. At this point, nothing is going to kill it. However, I do think there is room for more than one tablet in the world, it’s just not at the top end.

OK so let’s imagine that we’re on our way to Comet to buy a tablet. We’d like an iPad because that’s the one we’ve seen on TV. We had an iPod, we’ve got a MacBook, and maybe we’ve got a few friends who have iPhones, so we know that Apple stuff is good and we like it. Unfortunately it’s a bit expensive for us at the moment, so we’re going to shop around a little bit. When we arrive at the shop, we see that not only are there iPads, but there are lots of other tablets available from other people. Clearly these other tablets aren’t as good as the iPad. When you compare them side by side, it’s obvious that the Android tablets have a long way to go. They are, without a doubt, a compromise. To make matters worse, they aren’t really any cheaper. The Motorolla Xoom is there are the same price as the iPad, so is the Galaxy Tab 10.1, and that horrid thing that Asus make. All of them look worse, work slower, and have a poorer selection of software than the iPad. It stands to reason that these other lesser tablets would be cheaper, but they aren’t.

That’s where the Kindle Fire comes in. If you’re buying a tablet and cost isn’t a factor, then you buy the iPad. If cost is very much a factor, then Motorolla, Sony, Samsung, and their friends, aren’t there to help you. If you’re buying based on cost then you’re buying based on this one rule, which tablet will do what you need it to for the lowest amount of money. That’s the Kindle Fire. It will play your movies, music and games. It’s your e-reader, it’s your portable games console, and it has Facebook!

Like I said, the Kindle Fire isn’t going to hurt the iPad. But the 7″ tablet from HTC is dead. The BlackBerry Playbook is dead. Everything that isn’t an iPad, is dead. Nobody at Apple lost any sleep over this device, but the team working on the new 7″ Galaxy Tab certainly will.

The part that amuses me the most, is that not only will this device seal the fate of the Playbook, but it is a Playbook. Really, it is made by the same people, comes out of the same factory, everything, it is a BlackBerry Playbook. Remember that RIM don’t own a factory that’s knocking out Playbooks all day, and Amazon don’t own one that makes Kindles. Instead there’s a guy in China who owns a factory that makes generic black tablets, and he sells them to RIM and Amazon who put their software and logo on it. Interesting then that the Kindle is selling for £199 and the cheapest I can get a Playbook for is £399, roughly $624.

The Fire is being sold as a gateway to Amazon’s media services like streaming movies and TV shows. The lack of those services outside of the US pretty much confirms that this will be a US only device until the streaming services are there to go with it. If this thing rolls out world wide, then Amazon are going to shift a lot of them.

Facebook Profile Changes

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It seems all there is to write about since this blog came back, is social networking. Oh well, when life gives you razorblades, you make a baseball bat with razorblades in it. (A special prize goes to the person who can tell me what film that’s from). Anyway, Facebook went and did all sorts of things, some of which are already live and in use on my own profile.

First of all there’s the Timeline. Not the amazing classic film, but a timeline of all the things you do on Facebook, and they hope, the entire internet. Users can scroll back through time and see all the pictures of your holiday that you posted, and they can see what you’ve been listening to on Spotify today, and what colour your pants are. I think the best way to describe it is by saying it’s a bit like Twitter, just with pictures, and too much other stuff. Really it’s just a new page layout for your profile, and is very unlikely to change social networking in the way some bloggers have been saying.

Then there’s Subscribers. I used to have my own personal Facebook profile, which I reserved for personal things. I’m not friends with anyone on FB that I’m not friends with in real life, much to the disappointment of many podcast listeners. My public persona was confined to a FB Page. The difference between a Page and a Profile was that somebody didn’t have to be your friend to follow the content on your Page, but they do have to be your friend to see what’s going on with your Profile. FB have flipped that around. Now people can subscribe to your Profile, without having to be your friend, and you can choose what those people get to see. I have now abandoned my Page and am running everything through my Profile (there’s a link to the right side of this page if you want to see it). This is also like Twitter, with a nice dose of Google+ built in.

Of the new features FB announced last week, those are the only two I have available to me at the moment, and so I can’t really comment on anything else. So far FB have taken some of the better features of Twitter and Google+, and just copied them. Can’t say I blame them, they are good ideas, and a better way of working things. I just don’t think they’re going to change the world.

Social Networking Etiquette Part 1

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My main problem with social networks, is that they make things simple for people who can’t work the internet. Can’t understand email? Then there’s Facebook messenger. Can’t work Flickr? Then there’s Facebook photos. Personally I’m of the belief that if you can’t be bothered to learn how the internet works, then you shouldn’t be spoiling it for the rest of us. Unfortunately, people don’t really think about how these social networks operate either. Let me give you a rough example of something I experienced the other day.

1. Person posts an opinion about a film they’re watching

2. People start to comment on that post, including me. Comments are about the film the original poster is watching.

3. A friend of the poster comes on to comment about the film, and for some reason ends their comment with “How are you anyway?”

4. A conversation between the poster and the last commenter begins, talking about their holidays, weddings, babies etc.

5. All of their conversation gets sent to my phone comment by comment, and I’m forced to read their talk of babies when all I did was say a film was shit.

So let me take you through social networking etiquette. In this lesson you should learn that comments on status updates, are for commenting on that particular status update. If you want to know how your friend is, send them a private message. Please remember that not all of their friends know you, or give even the slightest crap about your holiday or wedding plans. Better yet, remember that there is such a thing as email, and you can use it to chat all you like in total privacy, without annoying people who don’t know you. If you don’t have the email address of the person you’re trying to contact, perhaps they don’t really want to hear from you, just sayin’.

On Facebook Today

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On Facebook today, my friend Craig said

“Gonna jump on the Facebook Complaints Bandwaggon. “FFS Facebook!” There. Done.”

His comment is in reference to the new design of Facebook. My issue isn’t with the new design, but that Facebook classified that post as a “Top Story”. Now, I’m not here to comment on the content of Craig’s post, but I would like to say that no matter how you look at it, there’s simply no way that you could class it as a story. It’s a status update, it’s a comment, it’s a statement, but it’s not a story.

Now I look at my news feed, I see that nobody I follow has taken the time to write a story. Clearly we just aren’t using Facebook like they want us to.