iPhone 4

It wasn’t called the iPhone HD or the iPhone 4G, but that was about the only information the leaks had wrong. Thankfully there are many new and exciting elements to the new ‘iPhone 4′, but that is not what ‘Just the Bad Points’ is for. For that you’ll find many gushing websites all over the Web and you can read my extended opinions right here.

Instead JtBP is all about showing you what is wrong, contention, or downright bubble headed about products. The reasons you might not want to spend your hard earned cash on them. So before you commit to lengthy reviews here’s what you should be wary of with the new iPhone 4:

Just the Bad Points Review: Apple iPad

• Screen size still 3.5in despite rivals pushing to 3.7in and 4in
• Same ageing facia remains
• Move to micro SIM means regular SIM cards won’t fit
• Improved camera uses only LED flash not the superior Xenon Flash
• No 64GB version as widely expected (16GB/32GB only)
• Still no microSD slot or HDMI/DisplayPort
• Despite being thinner than the 3GS the iPhone 4 is slightly heavier
• Battery still cannot be removed in new design
• Bigger battery doesn’t extend standby time or video playback time
• Same limited codec support
• Photos still cannot be attached to existing emails
• Still no Adobe Flash support (and there likely never will be)
• Remains only available in black or white
• Faux multitasking whereby most apps are paused in the background (streaming audio aside) rather than allowed to run simultaneously

Apple iPad

Palm Pre (updated)

Given the devices’ UK launch today I’ve republished and updated this JtBP review for your perusal…

For once the hottest smartphone on the planet isn’t made by Apple. Even more incredibly it’s made by Palm, the comeback kid so far of 2009.  On TrustedReviews I have already guided you through the wonderful plus points of this handset but could there be any good reasons not to be buy it?

Read the Rules if you aren’t familiar with my already seemingly cult and contentious reviews’ system. In short, with JtBP I save the gushing praise for every other review you’ll read and bring you the bullet points on any potential deal breakers with something before you commit to the long winded waffle on your favourite sites/publications. It’s a time saver.

After I managed to grab more than an hour with this stunner here’s the JtBP review:

Just the Bad Points Review: Palm Pre

• It may be superbly innovative but at 138g the Palm Pre isn’t light
• The 3MP camera has above average image processing, but it hardly competes with dedicated camera phones
• The Palm Pre ‘App Catalog’ has made a slow start to life with very few apps and teething problems launching paid apps.
• The Pre is not compatible with previous Palm third party apps
• Lacking business support (office document compatibility, editing, etc) though Microsoft Exchange is there
• Battery life is poor with heavy use requiring two charges per day
• Build quality isn’t great with a cheap plastic finish and wobbling sliding mechanism
• The keyboard is neat, but the keys too compact if you have large fingers.
• No microSD/SDHC slot limiting you to 8GB of onboard memory. Why oh why?
• Video recording functionality is not ready in time for launch

Philips 21:9 Cinema HDTV

It’s perhaps the most radical development in home television since High Definition and Widescreen, Philips’ ground breaking 21:9 ‘Cinema’ promises to bring true cinema aspect ratios to our living rooms. Yet amongst all this excitement what are the reasons to be cautious?

The preamble: My cult and contentious reviews’ system. Designed as a time saver to highlight the potential deal breakers in a product before you commit to reading lengthy reviews on your favourites sites and/or magazines. For a more detailed description please read: the Rules

Just the Bad Points Review: Philips 21:9 Cinema

• While pixel mapping does support 16:9, 4:3 content inevitably has very thick vertical bars
• 21:9 name is mathematical approximation which may just further confuse public
• Will the industry support it? Currently only 60 per cent of DVDs and Blu-rays have a 21:9 mode
• At 20cm deep it’s not particularly slim
• Not LED backlit, it’s limited to CCFL
• 56in is only size on offer for now
• Ambilight Spectra implementation is sadly only three sided, not four
• Asking Price (4,000 euros)
• Launch not until June (time to save up?!)
• Rivals are expected to follow suit with 21:9 models of their own, so is it better to wait?
• Is it rarely wise to buy the first generation of anything…

Looking for more? My Philips 21:9 Cinema preview can be found at my usual TrustedReviews stomping ground.

Windows Phone Beta (WM 6.5)

While businesses still hold loyal to Windows Mobile there is no doubt it has lost end user credibility in recent years. So is the latest edition more than a fancy piece of rebranding?

The preamble: My cult and contentious reviews’ system. Designed as a time saver to highlight the potential deal breakers in a product before you commit to reading lengthy reviews on your favourites sites and/or magazines. For a more detailed description please read: the Rules

Just the Bad Points Review: Windows Phone Beta

This could take a while…

• Underneath Windows Phone is still built upon the same core as Windows Mobile 5, this is evolution not revolution
• The majority of changes are superficial designed to make it more finger friendly, such as the ‘honeycomb’ homescreen
• Despite this you are all too quickly back into Windows Mobile 6.1 layouts requiring use of a stylus (HTC has done better skinning with TouchFLO)
• Poor design: permanent vertical scroll bars remain eating up precision screen real estate despite touch & rocker scrolling
• IE Mobile may render pages better (and with Flash support) but the layout is still clumsy and fills up too much of the screen
• Windows Mobile Player has no Zune integration and no improvements from 6.1 making it just as useless and limited in codec support as its predecessor. This is not a natively media friendly operating system
• No multi-touch support
• Performance is slow with scrolling (particularly on the homescreen) choppy and apps slow to load (let’s hope this gets ironed out before the final release)
• No support for capacitive touchscreens as seen in the iPhone 3G, T-Mobile G1 and exciting Palm Pre, meaning a restriction to more imprecise and less responsive resistive touchscreens only
• The bigger onscreen virtual keyboard is troublesome because of this restriction
• Microsoft won’t offer Windows Mobile 6.1 users an update to Windows Phone directly, the decision is left to each individual network provider
• Windows Phone isn’t scheduled to arrive until Q4 2009 which means it will arrive after the Palm Pre, second generation Android handsets and the third generation iPhone