By Gordon Kelly | 07 September 2010

Few handsets stir up as much debate as an iPhone, and the iPhone 4 is the most controversial model yet. So as the dust finally starts to settle we reflect on our first few months living with Apple’s latest assault on the smartphone market and answer: was all the fuss really worth it?

In short yes, but also no. The iPhone 4 is at turns thrilling and infuriating, brilliant and boneheaded, a vision of the future and a nostalgic nod to the past. It’s easy to see why there has been so much adulation… and so much anger.

Read on

The Repercussions of ‘Everything, Everywhere’

Gordon Kelly, 8 September

It all started exactly one year ago to the day. On 8 September 2009 T-Mobile and Orange announced they had agreed to merge their UK operations. The result: a new telecoms giant with 30m customers and a 37 per cent market share which left previous big hitters O2 (28 per cent) and Vodafone (25 per cent) looking decidedly small time.

12 months of OFT investigations and EC negotiations followed and on Monday newly created umbrella company Everything Everywhere announced customers would start seeing the deal’s first practical benefits with cross network sharing from 5 October. But is Everything Everywhere too good to be true? And just how are other networks going to react?

Read on…

I’ll be providing links to my freelance work over the coming weeks and first up is a project I am very proud to have been involved in: the BBC Ultimate Gadget Guide. Out now and priced at £3.99 it covers everything from picking the best HDTV and calibrating it, to choosing the right games console, camera, eBook reader and smartphone plus common sense guides such as how to surf, sell and buy safely online.

My specific contributions are an eight page smartphone guide and a six page guide to getting the right HD TV setup – the mag’s coverage feature. Both techies and novices should find useful tips, tricks and recommendations and you can buy it online now through the BBC Focus website.

JtBP is about showing you what is wrong, contentious, 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 reading lengthy reviews here’s what you should be wary of with Apple’s new iPods:

iPod touch (4th Generation)

• Cut down 0.7 megapixel camera (960 x 720 pixels) – pale imitation of 5MP camera on iPhone 4
• 8GB, 32GB & 64GB capacities are unchanged from last year’s models
• Omission of 16GB sweet spot a deliberate attempt not to detract from 16GB iPod nano
• Usual flaws of limited codec support, no storage expansion and 3G data remain – and will likely never be addressed

iPod nano (5th Generation)

• Not the mini iPod touch we had all hoped for
• Cut down iOS means no apps, no mobile iTunes store
• Video recording and playback removed completely
• Screen shrunk from 2.2 inches to 1.54 inches
• Price for 16GB nano comes within touching distance of an 8GB iPod touch
• What we hoped the shuffle would be, not the nano.

iPod shuffle (4th Generation)

• Backwards step from Apple returning to 2006 design
• Still no screen
• Twice the price of superior MP3 player with screen, the SanDisk Sansa Clip+
• Battery life still unremarkable: 15 hours audio playback
• Capacity same since February 2008, at just 2GB

Are Apple’s New iPods A Deliberate Botch Job?

On Tuesday Steve Jobs announced the next generation of iPods, a new shuffle, nano and iPod touch. Widespread predictions were largely spot on and brought the usual reaction of excitement fused with modest frustration and a general agreement that Apple’s infamous marketing hyperbole remains as strong as ever, despite the iPhone 4 antenna climb down. Since Tuesday, however, I’ve been hit with a nagging sense of irritation which you may or may not share: is everything Apple announced that day a botch job?

Certainly I don’t expect everyone to agree with this viewpoint and it would be a boring world if you all did. In fact our very own Andy Vandervell describes them as “pretty tantalising” and Hugo will mount a spirited defence of iTunes’ Ping on Monday so I’ve a fight on my hands. Then again, let’s see if you can follow my logic because Apple frequently receives a great deal of adulation and this time I’m not entirely convinced it’s deserved…

Read on

Link: The Onion

Source: TechFluff.tv

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

iPhone 4

• 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

Credit for the image and background research goes to Online MBA.

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