Revised iPhone 4 Antenna

 

We all know that Steve Jobs said that Apple would be giving out free covers, or bumpers to iPhone 4 users to help out with the antenna issue. Even though that Steve Jobs said that the iPhone 4 didn’t have a antenna issue. I have tested the antenna issue and it does affect it a bit, but if you are in a good coverage area it really doesn’t affect you too much. I still would like to get the revised iPhone 4 if they do release it after September 30, just when the free case program expires. A executive from a Mexico carrier Telcel, has claimed that they will be caring the new revised iPhone 4 after September 30. This is a really bad deal for all existing iPhone 4 users. This would not be good part for Apple if they did up date the iPhone 4 after September 30, unless they are going to replace everyone that complains with existing iPhone. In the other hand it is hard to believe that such executive from Telcel to give out so much information and know so much before they have the iPhone 4. I will be keeping my eye out on this, if indeed a revised iPhone 4 gets released, so I can change out my iPhone 4.

iPad Targus Stylus

 

 

 

Recently I happen to be at Best Buy store and ran into the Targus Stylus for the iPad, iPod Touch, and the iPhone. I had been using the Pogo Sketch Stylus, which has worked good. The only thing was that when inking with the Pogo, it wouldn’t be the best experience but that’s all I had to use and for me was better then the Dagi Stylus as well. I always said to myself, if someone would release a stylus with the tip sort of round, like your finger, but in a smaller version, and some how soft so that it can be like your finger pad. Well that’s what the Targus Stylus feels like. The tip is a soft rubber that feels very good when inking and works very well. Here is a quick video I did of the Targus Stylus, compared to the Pogo Stylus.

 

 

As you can see that the Targus stylus works well, and feels very nice and smooth on the iPad. Well at least in my opinion. I know that inking on the iPad is not for everyone, but for me it works for those notes that I need to take and then sync over, depending if I am using MobileNoter.

Here you can see that the Pogo Sketch tip is like a sponge like material and the Targus stylus is like a soft rubber material. Since the Pogo has the tip like a sponge, it makes it a little harder to do inking. Now my stylus choice is the Targus and have been using it over 4 days. The Targus stylus is little shorter than the Pogo, at first I thought that it would be a problem but it’s not. The other nice thing is that the Targus stylus is almost feels like a regular pen. I compared it to my Cross pen and they are almost the same in diameter. This makes it feel better in your hand when using it, to write down those notes. So for now the Targus will be my inking Stylus of choice.

iPhone 4G and BlackBerry Storm II

 

I was able to get of hold of a iPhone 4G on Wednesday the 23rd and compared it with my Storm II. I have to say that the iPhone 4G is well built and very sleek. You can also see that the Storm II is very well built as well. Both are about the same size in thickness and the iPhone is just a little bit larger than the Storm II. The iPhone is more responsive compared to the Storm II, and what I mean about this is that. When you just tap on a icon on the iPhone it opens up the app very quickly. The Storm II OS is kind of outdated, but it is still a solid OS in terms of getting things done for work. RIM does need to start to getting the OS 6.0 for BlackBerry going or else, they will see a decline in sales with the new iPhone and the Android OS smartphones; which is catching up to RIM.

 

Another thing going for the iPhone is, that there is so many apps in the iTunes store that you can install and use on the iPhone. You can almost find a app for anything to use on the iPhone. The reason I see this is that the iPhone is so popular, so many developers are out there developing apps for it. The BlackBerry App store is pretty solid and has its share of apps, but not as many. When I use the BlackBerry app store, its not as fast in finding apps. It is very slow in a way that sometimes I just don’t continue to look for a app using the BlackBerry app store. What I do is when I get a chance I just look it up on the computer and find the name of the app and search it to install on the BlackBerry. This brings me to another point. The Safari browser on the iPhone is so much better than on the Storm II, that I hardly use the browser on the BlackBerry. I use to carry my iPod Touch to actually use it for browsing and for apps that I have installed to be productive for work that I can’t use on the Storm II.

The display on the iPhone 4G is so clear compared to the Storm II. I opened up a PDF file and web page on the iPhone and I couldn’t believe how smooth and clear the display is. I really like my Storm II, but now that iOS 4 for iPhone is out and the new iPhone 4G, I can live without the apps that I use for work on the Storm II. I can always use a work around for the meantime on the iPhone.

The back of the iPhone is glass which makes it look sleek all the way around, but you can also see that the Storm II metal cover for the back and the chrome around makes it look just as sleek as the iPhone.

Another nice thing is the dual cameras on the iPhone. Right now you can only use the front facing camera for video conference with another iPhone 4G and has to be while on Wi-Fi. Hopefully if Apple doesn’t change this which I can already see this in a Jailbreak app to make the video conference work over the regular 3G data from the phone and not while on Wi-Fi.

Here you see the iPhone 4G with my iPad Wi-Fi + 3G. The iPhone 4G pretty much looks like a small iPad in some ways.   

Apple Submit Application for Solar Charging...

Apple has submitted a application for solar powering devices. They might not use this at the moment, but Apple always to manage to think 5 years ahead and this could be for the future iPhone, iPads, and iPod's. The photocells are inside, "By integrating both the touch sensors and the solar cell layers into the same stack-up, surface area on the portable device may be conserved," from the filing writing.

Samsung Galaxy Tablet's

A few weeks ago, there was some leaked pictures of the Samsung Galaxy Tablet. Seems that they will be releasing 3 different sizes. A 7, 8, and a 10" models. The only bad thing is that they will be out sometime in December when all other tablets will also flood the internet. I think the early tablets will have a better chance, since many consumers will pick those up. As long as the tablets do have some good specs and are very usable. Most consumers will be looking at been able to play Netflix, Hulu, etc... and will be comparing to the iPad. So from some early previews from other talbets that are playing 720p video very nicely, we might see some good stuff. From the pictures it looks like it will be running Android OS and hopefully have access to the Market Place, with the newest Android OS.

JooJoo Table Now Running Windows 7

A JooJoo owner has managed to install Windows 7 on his JooJoo Tablet. From the video it seems to be running pretty nicely. Darkdavy mention that the JooJoo does run a little on the warm side, this is mostly due to the OS demand compare to the Linux built OS that it originally comes installed. The JooJoo Tablet that he is using has 4GB SSD and 1GB of RAM. It plays 720p video very smoothly and it is getting around 4 hours of battery life. Not bad for a Table that wasn't sold with Windows 7 on it, compare to other tablet that are only getting 2.5 hours of battery life running on the Atom 1.6GHz processor. Also the JooJoo Tablet is pretty close to the iPad in terms of thinness. I will have to keep a eye on this project and see how this turns out in the coming weeks. This might be what JooJoo needed to get the JooJoo noticed after it was released, not too many pre-ordered and some had canceled after the pre-order. The price for the JooJoo is $499.99 which is not bad but the iPad has more GB in comparison to the JooJoo. You do pay more for the iPad. Also a couple of things not working yet is the drivers for the accelerometer and 3G.

Viliv X10

 

Looks like Viliv might have another winner in its hands. Laptop magazine got some shots of the X10 and some video of the X10 running some smooth game and video. This will be a 10” tablet with 1366x768 screen resolution. This is the same resolution on my Ferrari One F02 with 11.6” screen. So it will be nice to be able to have such a high resolution. Also they mention about the X10 having USB, SD Card, HDMI, and web cam. That alone will be better than my iPad. Also from reading it claims to have a battery life of 10 hours. Not bad again. The current X10 is running Android 2.1, but Viliv is saying that the final product will have Android 2.2 Froyo. There is also a Windows 7 version of the X10 and Laptop Magazine got some pictures. We will have to keep a eye out for this nice little tablet in the coming weeks or months. Hopefully it won’t be months. The X10 looks pretty well done as in it could be ready to mass produce if they keep the design as the demo unit. Check out the video out at Laptop Magazine.

mSpot Streaming Service

 

 

For those that have a iPhone or iPod Touch with a MiFi or Overdrive,  youo will be able to stream movies directly to your mobile device. As long as you have 3G or Wi-Fi coverage. mSpot has been around for about a year, but you had to do it in your browser and wasn’t available on many handsets. The price of the videos range from $1.99 to $4.99 depending on the movie. Some of the older movies are even listed as free which nice if you find a old movie to watch while waiting for a flight. Of course the library of movies is no where near Netflix’s movies but at least now if you find a movie you want to watch you can stream it. The quality is not to bad over 3G and you can pause the movie if you want to and come back to it later. You can even start watching a movie on your PC and continue it on your iPhone later if you want or vice versa. This is pretty nice feature . Looks like a promising app for now, until Netflix is available for the iPhone. The Netflix app works great on the iPad.

Vaja Case for ZuneHD

 

My wife surprised me with the Vaja case for my Zune HD. I was not expecting the case at all, or any case for that matter.  I was totally shocked to see how nice and well built the case is. It fits like a glove.

You can see how nice the fit is here with the edges align nice and straight.

You slide the Zune HD from the bottom as you see here in the above picture. It doesn’t add any bulk to the Zune HD at all. This makes it even a better case.

  Just the side view of the Zune HD in the Vaja case.

Also the stitching on the Vaja case is well done. Every looks very well done. This is the back of the case. Overall I really like the case Vaja makes. This should protect my Zune HD from getting scratched up in my pocket, and add some class to my Zune HD as well.

Penultimate for the iPad update…

 

I have been using the Penultimate app on my iPad for quite awhile. I like how well it inks, but had to make sure that I didn’t put or lean with my palm on the screen or I would get a lot of vectoring or scribbles. Well now Penultimate has updated to 1.1 and have added a feature called “Wrist Protection” and what that does is that you are able to rest your palm on the screen to ink. This is not 100% but it is working great for my needs and taking notes. This just makes this app, much better to use for me. Hopefully in the next update they can really perfect the Wrist Protection and this will be a great app for inkers. This might feel like if the iPad had a active digitizer. Now if they can also add where you can import pictures into the notebook to mark up or even PDF’s, this will be one great app. So for now I will continue to use Penultimate to write down notes. After I take notes, I email them back to myself so that I can have them to attach to either a ToDo or appointment in Outlook.