3 posts tagged “ipod”

Alright, listen up geeks.  If you follow gadgets, you've most certainly heard the rumors circulating about the mythical Apple "iPhone".  The rumors have been slating the product launch for like the last two years, but no delivery yet to date.  However, the rumor activity has been increasing to a feverish pitch since July about a possible launch in January 2007.  Patents have been filed by Apple for various phone technologies and there have been some filings with the FCC which lends more credibility to these rumors. 

Last week, Kevin (Rose) and Alex of DiggNation gave their weekly videocast.  Interestingly enough, Alex was able to prode some top-secret information out of Kevin about the iPhone.  Kevin Rose, founder of Digg and all-around Apple fanatic, is a pretty reliable source when it comes to all things Apple due to his celeb status in the tech community and proximity to the Cupertino campus.  Hopefully, he didn't compromise a source at Apple with his statements.  Diggers quickly pushed the story to the top of Digg.

So here's the skinny if you don't have time to watch the video.  Apple iPhone to be launched in January 2007.  Models will be available for all North American network carriers (GSM, CDMA, TDMA).  Unclear if the initial handsets will support EV-DO or other broadband protocols.  There will be two models, 4Gb and 8Gb.  Pricing will be $249 and $449 respectively.  iTunes will be integrated into the device...did you really expect it not to be?  The device will have a dual-battery system.  One battery will power the media player and the other phone operation, so if you run down the battery with the iTunes, you're phone will still function.  The phone will offer a slide-out QWERTY keypad.   No word on OS X integration or additional functionality.

Personally, I have to agree with Alex (DiggNation).  The phone will need to sport more than basic phone functionality and iTunes to be successful.  I would like to see integration for email via POP3/SMTP, mobile Safari browser, and calendar/contacts synchronization with the desktop at the minimum.  However, regardless of these features, the product will be a big hit with Mac fans as there is limited compatibility for the Mac with current smartphone handsets (Treo, Blackberry, Palm, Symbian).

I've included the video of the November 30 DiggNation videocast for your viewing pleasure.  Enjoy and lets get those rumormills-a-churning!

Note:  There is some cursing and drinking in the video but nothing too risque or beyond PG-13.

Wow!  I got a surprise today when I opened my e-mail inbox.  The great guys over at CrunchGear, mentioned in an earlier post, launched a new Commenter Appreciation program/contest.  Blake Robinson dropped me an email to say that I was the first to be awarded in this new program.  Yes, my handle is webonics on the CrunchGear site.  I've been sent a new 1Gb iPod Shuffle 2nd-Generation and got a nice little post on the blog.  It seems a little weird since I just bought a Microsoft Zune, but the compact size of the iPod Shuffle will be fantastic for my workouts.  And the 2nd-Gen has a sweet new redesign.  Since I work on a Mac most of the time at work, the Shuffle will work great with my ever growing iTunes library.  Hopefully, I won't have to break-up any domestic disputes with those playas. Just wish I could move tracks from player (Zune) to player (iPod) easier.  But there's always 2007..lmao.

Basically, the CrunchGear crew select a community member for the award based on their participation and commenting on the site.  During a contest last summer, CrunchGear had a competition for making the 2000th comment on the site.  I didn't win.  But I apparently posted more than any other contributor.  Yeah, I tried to win then but it is a good site.  I think the site was at around 13,000 RSS subscribers then and its now over 33,000 subscribers after just a couple of months.  As with any blog or forum, there are some naysayers in the community that like to bitch-and-moan about everything.  I tend to post positively on the site and about the site...otherwise, I'd leave.  Apparently, the frequency of my posts and support for CrunchGear landed me the prize.

So, I'd like to thank the guys over at CrunchGear for their gift and recognition.  Crunch on.

Damn Paparazzi...just kidding, I really am humbled. :-)

Coming soon:  iPod Shuffle - 2nd Gen review.  Stay tuned.

I received my pre-ordered Zune last week. My initial reaction was to maybe send it back after reading some of the negative press on the device. But I decided what decent gadgetrati would do so without the official road test. So here’s what I’ve found with my experience.

The device itself is quite good compared to my experience with my former iPod. The interface is amazingly aesthetic, rich, and very usable. I love the FM tuner that also picks up digital information cast by upgraded stations. Its great to see the station call letters, FM channel, Station genre, Song and artist information. The Zune’s navigation d-pad works great and I prefer it over the iPod click wheel. The simplicity in the buttons and navigation make it easy for even the most novice user. The only con that I have found with the player itself is maybe the album art that becomes fuzzy when enlarged. However, this cover art is being downloaded from sources like the CDDB at a specific size that wasn’t necessarily designed for display at larger sizes. So I don’t necessarily fault the player and its easy to overlook as no one really watches cover art throughout the song track.

The real problems that I discovered with the device were the accompanying Zune Marketplace software. The installation took over an hour and required a system restart. You also cannot select which drive to install the software and it automatically installs to the drive the O/S is installed. After installation, I connected my Zune and the software recognized the player and displayed the appropriate model (color). On initial connection, the player requires a firmware update to enable the Wifi capabilities. I had big problems with the firmware update, it would start and then the application would not respond. I had to restart the software 4 times and finally the firmware update ran properly and completely. Unfortunately, after the update the software no longer recognized my player as connected (even though the device displayed “Connected”). I had to restart again. To complete the firmware update, you much create a name for your Zune device. To access the marketplace. you must create a Zune ID and Live ID. I already had a Live ID, but all these registrations could be annoying to another less patient user. Now into the marketplace, you have to purchase songs/albums through the use of this archaic points system. And its difficult to easily calculate how much you are paying for a particular album. Microsoft needs to overhaul this system entirely and implement a local currency model. Search and downloading tracks was seamless and quite good. Previewing tracks takes about 10 seconds versus my experiences of about 3-4 seconds on iTunes. The marketplace has the content but has the opportunity for enhancements such as listing most popular tracks by artists, reviews, etc. Although there is a charts section built-in. Another major oversight is the lack of video. There are no video downloads in the marketplace. I have to believe that this is something Microsoft is quickly working to resolve and complete the necessary deals with content providers. Synchronization to the device was quick, easy and no issues occurred.

All-in-all, the Zune device is great and works very well. The majority of issues are part of the Zune Marketplace software. That is good thing as the software can be easily updated and modified as necessary to accommodate its initial shortcomings. Microsoft has the opportunity to leverage their strengthen in software to fix and enhance the application to make the Zune device a viable option in the marketplace.