About Me
Welcome to 22hundred.net. I'm Michael and I'm the guy behind this site. I build and maintain it as well
as creating the content for it. The content is directed at you so if there's anything you'd like to read
about please drop me a line over Twitter or Email, contact at 22hundred dot net.
If you have any questions about your new Windows or Apple computer, maybe Office is causing you headaches or you're just interested in
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then I'd be happy to try to help. Please just remember that I probably won't be able to answer questions about
specific hardware configurations.
For the record I'm a professional web and software developer so any questions on that field are also welcome.
Thanks for reading.
iPod, iMac and now iPadSo after all the hype and online chatter the iPad has now arrived. Reading many of the reactions online there does appear to be disappointment but personally I'm not all that surprised. Lets take a quick look at the predictions I made in my previous post.
1) The screen will be about 10.1 inches and will not be OLED
Actual - 10 inch screen this is not OLED so good start.
2) Price point of approximately £400.
Actual - We don't know the UK price yet but seeing as it's $499 in the US I would say this might be a good prediction too.
3) Simple and intuitive UI with sensor bed under the screen
Actual - The UI could not be more intuitive, it's the iPhone UI. Doesn't type like a Storm tho.
4) iWork, iPhone OS, iLife and iPhone App support.
Actual - Again pretty good you gotta say. iWork is on there and part of the iLife suite will be present, iTunes, Photo etc. We can also see that this runs a slightly more powerful version of the iPhone OS with backward compatibility with iPhone applications. The only thing not here was the online services which is a pity considering the iPad will have 3G.
5) 3G Connection and eBooks support
Actual - These were almost givens before the announcement but it's still another tick in the accurate prediction column. The iPad is an eBook, sorry iBook, reader and can have a 3G connection depending on the version you purchase.
I'm keen to see the device in the Apple Store and I would love to review a unit come it's release in 60 days, if anyone happens to be reading this from Apple I would be happy to review the iPad if you can spare a review unit :) It's great to see a new product from Apple and I don't feel disappointed in what I've seen but we'll wait until the reviews start to come in and until we can actual hold the iPad before judging it. Let's not forget that the iPhone was heavily criticized in the time between it was announced and it was released and the iPod was soundly bashed in 2001 on it's release so lets give Steve the benefit of the doubt and hold the judgements until it actually arrives in our hands.
Final Apple Tablet PredictionsWe're only a few hours away from Steve Jobs taking to the stage and introducing us to Apple's latest innovation. We can only assume at this point that this is going to be in a tablet form factor and after hearing that Apple store employees were going through confidential training today I can only assume that it's going to be available to purchase tomorrow or at least within the next few days. So what exactly will this device have? Well that's what I'm going to look at in this post.
The majority of rumors claim the screen will be OLED and about 10.1 inches. I do agree that it'll be 10.1 inches but this device is not quite a laptop and not an iPod/iPhone so the cost has to be low. This low cost, approximately £400 would be a realistic price point, requirement would mean that OLED is too expensive.
It has been claimed that the Tablet has a steep learning curve when it comes to user interaction. Is this true? Is this really the Apple approach? Look at the iPhone. This device was developed with pure ease in mind, same goes for OS X. Why would jobs suddenly decide to make things complicated for the Apple users? The height of the complication is likely to be multi touch, nothing like Magic Mouse I hope. I would love to see a screen something like the BlackBerry Storm but with a bed of sensors allowing anywhere on the screen to be pushed down and so creating a keyboard like feel.
The software is going to be interesting. Since the ordinary user really doesn't care about the OS on their portable devices I don't see Apple having a problem releasing an OS that is an expanded version of the iPhone OS. This would give it backward compatibility with existing iPhone applications but also allow it to take advantage of the added power that a tablet would have. The applications from Apple will be similar to the defaults on the Mac and iPhone. I can see them adding to the iWork and iLife suite to support more online services, perhaps even an online version of Pages, Keynote and Numbers through MobileMe and I sincerely hope to see a mobile version of these applications on Tablet and iPhone.
A big surprise will be a streaming version of iTunes offered as both a part of MobileMe but also independently. The user can store their music in the cloud using the Home Sharing functionality built into iTunes already. The Tablet will then be able to stream this music through it's 3G connection. The removal of DRM will make this service possible for music.
The final core selling point will be ebooks. We've seen with applications such as Stanza how popular these now are so it's expected that this device will partner with a number of major content providers to provide books, magazines and newspapers. It's been interesting to see how magazines such as Esquire and GQ have presented themselves on the iPhone over the last couple of months and I believe that this is a similar style to what we can expect tomorrow. Full magazines well presented and easily accessible.
No matter how many or few of these predictions turn out to be true I must say I would not like to be in Mr Jobs shoes tomorrow. The hype around this upcoming announcements has reached such an extent that even if this device is brought in on the back of unicorns being held aloft by God Himself I still can't see how it would be anything other than slightly disappointing. I hope to be proved wrong and I hope the price point is positioned well so I can buy one.
Why Are RIM Over Complicating The Touchscreen Blackberry?In recent years Blackberry have produced the Blackberry Storm and Storm 2, both sporting a large touchscreen with SurePress technology. There can be little doubt that this device is inspired by Apple's very successful iPhone but in making the Storm similar to iPhone's design I feel that RIM may have missed a great design opportunity. Find out why after the jump.
If you look at the Bold 9700 and the iPhone when the keyboard is displayed then you'll notice that the display area is exactly the same. The icons used in the Bold OS would be very easy to press with a thumb of finger if that was possible......why isn't it? Why not simply make the Bold screen touch sensitive. Keep the physical keyboard for typing and, like Android devices, keep the trackball but allow people to select icons and move around text input using touch. Just think about using your Blackberry and discovering a typo earlier in your email. You simply touch the screen and the cursor moves to that point on the screen where you can make the change then touch the end of the message and continue typing on the physical keyboard.
Wouldn't this unite the great physical keyboards of the Blackberry with the strengths of the touch screen devices into one fantastic device. There is room in the Blackberry fold for such a hybrid device and I for one would be delighted to purchase it if it ever came on the market. Anyone agree that this is the kind of device we need to see from RIM?
Audible.co.uk Recommendation: The Second Coming Of Steve Jobs
This book can be found
here.
I'm going to start making recommendations from Audible.co.uk every once in a while. Leo Laporte has been making Audible.com recommendations through his TWiT and Windows Weekly podcasts for long time now but for those of us in Europe we can't access the TWiT free book and many times the book recommended does not appear on our version of Audible. So I am going to start making recommendations for Audible.co.uk.
My first recommendation is a book about the leader of Apple called The Second Coming Of Steve Jobs. The book covers Steve's career after he was ousted by John Scully and the Apple Board. It talks about his time in NeXT and the growth of Pixar and finally his triumphant return to the company he co-founded with Steve Wozniak.
This is an excellent book and is certainly up to the exceptionally high standards of Audible in regards to the presentation. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in either Steve Jobs or just an underdog story.
VNC Lite On TouchI'm trying out the VNC Lite application from Apple's app store. Recently I've been trying to make my laptops as easy to use as possible. This has involved trying to find a way to control them remotely.Apple's own remote app for controlling itunes is great but what about the OS itself? For example if I get an IM I need to get up to answer it. To solve this I got VNC Lite onto my touch.
It was extremely easy to set up and really only needed the IP and password. I got my full desktop and can access any applications. It even has a keyboard, I'm actually typing this through it and it works well. The delay, especially when hitting delete is a little annoying but otherwise this is a great app that does what it says on the tin. I've to try it now on XP and Vista but I've full confidence that it'll work well. From OS X viewpoint this is a great app and I highly recommend it.
4/5
The Samsung Tocco: So Close Yet So Far
Samsung's newest generation of touch phone had a great opportunity to be the iPhone alternative but unfortunately it falls too far short to be any real contender.
UI and Design
This is where the phone excels. The physical phone looks fantastic with it's glass screen and brushed metal finish. The UI is equally impressive and exceptionally easy to use. The menu is bright and a breath of fresh air in a world of black and silver. When entering text messages or emails, or any other text for that matter, you can choose between an onscreen QWERTY keyboard, a two letters per key keyboard or the more familiar 3 buttons per key keypad. The first of the drawbacks of the phone however appear when entering texts. I used the 3 letters keypad because it was the least fiddly but even then I often hit the wrong key and ended up sending texts that were only half finished. This can get frustrating but once you get used to the keypad the phone performs well. The haptic touch functionality works extremely well on the phone and when you hit a button on the interface you get a slight vibration from the phone which actually makes you feel that you're using a physical keypad. An excellent achievement by Samsung.
I can't finish a section on UI without mentioning the widget home screen. This screen allows you to use some built in shortcuts in an interesting way and is a great novelty. I liked the way new texts and messages displayed as a little widget on this home screen. I'm not sure if the novelty will wear off and this will turn into something to show off to your friends and that's all but I liked it while I used it.
UI and Design: 4/5
Functionality
Unfortunately this is where the phone runs into major problems. I used the phone as my main phone since I got it
and had no issues with messages. In the city centre it managed to pick up 3G with a strong signal. This meant that I had a great browsing experience even with the phones built in browser. You can download Opera Mini and this works nicely on the Tocco. However once I moved 1/2 a mile out of the city, where I was supposed to have a strong signal according to the coverage map, I lost 3G altogether and was stuck on a 2G connection. The experience was more painful and slow. This turned out to be an issue with the phone and not the network so if you want 3G then I would be cautious about choosing this phone.
Now the major flaw: phone calls. I made 2o calls on my Tocco and it managed to stay connected in 4 instances. It dropped 16 out of 20 calls and had a similar success rate with received calls. Remember this is supposed to be a phone and part of being a phone is making calls. For any parent out there considering a Tocco for their child this has the making of being a nightmare. The phone drops calls within the first 15 seconds. Any child phoning home and asking for a lift and suddenly the phone going dead during the call is a horrible flaw. According to 02 they have pulled the phone due to "major manufacturing issues" and this is one of those issues. Until this issue is fixed the phone is virtually useless as a phone.
Functionality: 2/5
Conclusion
The Tocco had the makings of being a great phone. For those people interested in a touch phone and not interested in the iPhone this could've been a great alternative. Unfortunately I cannot recommend it due to the dropping of calls and the inability to pick up 3G unless your sitting on top of the mobile mast. If Samsung get these issues fixed then this is certainly worth a look but until then I would urge people to consider something else.
Total Score: 3/5
Images from www.3g.co.uk
