Ian Winter

Apple have announced an event for September 9th which isn't a huge surprise. I also don't think this time that the releases anounced will be. Seems pretty likly that iTunes 8 will appear along with new iPods in some shape of form. An iPhone update would be welcome, mail on my 3G phone crashes regularly since the 2.0.2 update.

As for anything else, not really sure what they might announce. New iPhones, unlikely. Maybe Macbook Pros of Cinema Displays but they've been floating about for a while now.

Overall: Must try harder.

I have an original 2G iPhone and now have a 3G iPhone with work. I've been comparing the two and have some initial thoughts on what needs to get sorted.

The signal strength on the 3G phone is worse than the 2G one, but, only with 3G turned on. If you turn 3G off on O2's UK network the signal strength goes back to full. Also the 3G data speeds are seemingly only slightly faster than EDGE which is a disappointment.

Neither the 2G or 3G phones map "locate me" function works anymore and with the 3G iPhone I can't any sign that GPS exists at all again with this being one of the key new features and potential sell points for me to upgrade mine, a disappointment.

In both the Settings > Phone menu and the contact list on the 2G phone "My number" is displayed at the top which is quite handy, on the 3G phone there's no sign of that. It may be something I've not setup right but in side by side comparisons of menu's etc I can't spot it.

The screen on the 3G is definitely brighter and as reviews suggest slightly more yellow, doesn't really matter though as I think it looks better. Also the sound quality on the 3G is superior both in ear sound quality and volume and the speaker quality and volume.

Apple are in beta for 2.1 which I hope fixes these niggly things. Locate me not working and crappy 3G pick up could be O2's fault, but, it could be hardware or software. I'd lean to software and Apple as on the 2G with 1.1.4 locate me worked just fine.

As for MobileMe, well, after by 99 remaining days are up thanks to Apple for 2 lots of extra 30 days, I think I'll be ditching it. SpanningSync 2.0 is looking like the main contender at the moment.

According to the O2 store selected retail stores are getting limited stock tomorrow (Wednesday 16th July) and more by Friday 25th. I wonder how long the queue in Reading is already?

Whilst having the 3G and the ability to find myself, geographically speaking, I'm not it's worth it just yet. I might wait 6 months and see what Apple do.

When O2 said limited supply they really weren't kidding. If Apple seriously did under estimate demand they need to take a look at how they market. Spending a whole month saying, "the one you've been waiting for" and "it's coming, July 11" what did they really think would happen?

Anyway, I've got iPhone 2.0 firmware running on my 1st gen iPhone and it's nice. The apps are cool and the calendar changes along with multiple delete/move in email is really handy. The battery life is less with MobileMe running push hourly.

A couple of good, in depth reviews have now popped up. arstechnica.com and iLounge are the two best I've read.

I have to say I'm now not sure about it now. I was all for it, but, will Apple release another one in 6-9 months? Maybe.

Will I upgrade? Watch this space.

Now the Apple rumour mill is active at the quietest of times but the 3G iPhone stories keep on popping up. Good, cause, I want one (even though I already have a regular one)... anyway the latest story [via] suggests Apple have placed orders for 10M units and they may have OLED screens.

A day of updates.

Apple have finally announced that on March 6th they're going to talk about the iPhone roadmap and SDK [via]

LinkedIn have launched a new design for the site. A cross between Facebook & Flickr in my opinion.

Google Docs has a slight tweak to it's toolbar making it more MS Office esq. Google also launched Sites for Google Apps, online wiki from all accounts. Need to get myself a Google Apps account to check it out.

Other than causing me a huge amount of grief there doesn't seem to much at all in the latest firmware for the iPhone.

The update downloaded OK, installed OK, but when the iPhone restarted iTunes crashed and burnt. Restarted iTunes and plugged the iPhone back in and after a while it popped up. Next problem was it told me it was synced to another iTunes, which it wasn't, and wouldn't sync. Did a restore, but, nothing changed. Finally chose the erase and sync option and luckily it sorted it out. I think.

Now to sort my album art out so coverflow looks prettier :)

Amid the ever entertainment Apple rumour mill so long awaiting updates have today popped out. Updates to the Macbook and Macbook Pros.

Nothing massive really, the screens on the MBP's perhaps. Specs mainly.

This taken from Apple Gazette.

The Macbook Pro now features the same multi-touch trackpad featured on the Macbook Air, but neither the Macbooks nor the Macbook Pros feature any real significant cosmetic changes. The new MacBook Pro features the latest Intel Core 2 Duo technology with up to a 2.6 GHz processor with 6MB of shared L2 cache; up to 4GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory and up to a 300GB hard drive, plus NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with up to 512MB of video memory.

The MacBook lineup comes in three models and includes faster processors and larger hard drives across the line; white 2.1 GHz and 2.4 GHz models with 120GB or 160GB 5400 rpm hard drives and a black 2.4 GHz model with a 250GB 5400 rpm hard drive, previously only available as an option. The 2.4 GHz MacBook models ship with 2GB of memory standard, expandable up to 4GB across the line.

Steve Jobs announced it'd be out in February and so far no sign. The ever reliable rumour mill is churning as normal with Apple and ranges from a 3G version of the iPhone, a 1.1.4 firmware (seems logical to support the SDK) and a big Apple event to actually launch the SDK itself.

It will be good to get it out there, I think custom apps will make the iPhone even better than it is already and will allow people to fix things that are irritating. Like for instance about 5 taps to turn bluetooth on, not friendly when you want to turn in on before setting out on a car journey!

Got a text from O2 saying that my tariff is being upgraded... woo! Instead of 200 minutes I now have 600 and 500 texts from 200.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7217184.stm

Hopefully they'll release a 3G version and give us all discounted upgrades.