More thoughts on the iPad

With many tech blogs and news sites posting endless stream of anything iPad, I want to put my own 2 cents too. 😛

I’ve been thinking about how would I use the iPad. Usually one would buy something for a purpose. Apple is obviously hoping people would try to find a purpose to justify the iPad purchase.

1. An portable internet device for the home. Ever been wanting to view some websites while you’re taking a dump, while watching TV, or while lying on your bed? I’ve been doing it with my iPod Touch/iPhone, but obviously having a device with a larger screen like the iPad would make the experience better. The larger screen is also better to view videos. A netbook is a hassle due to their form factor. The issue with the iPad is how I would get my content on it. Currently, it seems that you have to sync the iPad with iTunes, just like iPods. Well, considering the small storage space on the iPad, this is an issue. Plus I don’t want to have all my videos in iTunes. I already have a Windows Home Server for all my videos. Apple should put the ability to stream content from a networked drive to the iPad. Alas, I don’t think it would be able to do that. Plus for the price, I’ll stick with my iPhone.

2. A camera companion on the go. Let’s say you’re traveling, and want to take tons of pictures while being able to view/back them up. Currently, a cheap solution is to bring a netbook with you. Most netbooks come with an SD slot where you can dump all your pictures to. The iPad with the SD card dongle might be a more portable solution. Problem is, again, the limited storage of the iPad (if you already fill it up with your music/videos, etc). Plus, the photos app is just a basic viewing app. I’m sure there will be many photo editing tools coming to the app store (already plenty for the iPhone), but it would be more seamless if Apple put iPhoto on the iPad.

3. As a backup internet device. As much as I like Comcast, it doesn’t have 100% uptime, and when it’s down, it’s really frustrating being offline. The iPad with 3G plus its prepaid wireless data plans seem to be a nice and cheaper way to have for a backup internet, vs paying $60 a month continuously for 3G data with a USB dongle. The dilemma is, I already have the iPhone (and I’m sure it’s the case for most people that are interested in the iPad). Now if only AT&T allow tethering on the iPhone, even with an additional fee, it will still be cheaper than spending money for the iPad. Alas, AT&T sux, and there’s no hint whether they would allow iPhone tethering in the US, ever. The iPad seems to be an expensive way to solve a simple problem.

So, yeah, it’s hard trying to find a use for the iPad. Now I’m sure once it’s released, there will be apps that change the way we think about it, but at this time, the iPad seems to have a lot of potential, yet at the same time feels too limited.

I’m curious that Apple might release the iPad simply as a training wheel for their future products, for people to get used to having multi-touch on a larger screen. I would imagine future iMacs and/or Macbooks would employ a multi-touch screen. Even better, imagine an iMac/Macbook that has an A4 equipped with iPhone OS built-in for instant-on usage, in addition to the traditional OS X and intel processor. Want to listen to music/check email quickly on your Macbook, instant-on to the iPhone OS. Want to do more stuff like picture/video editing, simply boot up to OS X. Yeah, that would be awesome! Hey, I just did a rumor for upcoming Apple products! I’m guessing Apple will see how successful (and probably how small/cool they can make the A4) the iPad is, and implement it to the iMac/Macbook in a couple of years.

 

The iPad is here.

Well, after countless of rumors, fake news, fake claims, photoshopped pictures, etc etc, Apple finally unveiled the long-awaited tablet, called the iPad. No, it’s not a pot of gold spitting out unicorns, it’s just an extra large iPod Touch, to put it simply. However, because many people were imagining the Apple tablet to be a pot of gold spitting out unicorns, there are currently a lot of negative feedback, especially from the haters (who are ironically frequent visitors of sites that tend to do a lot of Apple coverage, like engadget).

When Jobs announced the iPad, he stated that the function of the device are simply to be used for browsing, email, photos, video, music, games, and eBooks. Well, the iPhone/iPod Touch already do some of those, so, being a larger iPod Touch, the iPad will be more of a better experience in those things thanks to the bigger screen. Let’s stop here for a moment. A lot of people are wanting an actual tablet PC, with a full featured desktop OS, thus the negative feedbacks. Obviously that’s not what Jobs said the iPad would be, and in a way, Apple did the right thing. Tablet PCs are not new, and they never become mainstream. Why? Because they’re mostly just laptops with a touch screen running Windows. Apple approached this in a different way, from a consumer electronic perspective, not a computer. However, that doesn’t mean the iPad is the “Jesus tablet.” We’ll go over on some of the odd choices Apple made later.

Let’s start chronologically with the keynote presentation.
First, we see Steve Jobs demoing Safari on the iPad. It shares the same gestures as Safari on the iPhone/iPod Touch. Jobs made it like it’s a new experience, but it’s not. We’re already tapping and “touching” the web, albeit on a smaller screen. Obviously it will be more pleasant doing it on a larger higher res screen, but not as groundbreaking as when multi-touch was first demoed on the first iPhone. I can see steam coming out from Jobs’ ears, seeing the empty boxes where a Flash animation/ads would’ve been when he demoed the various website. (He quickly zoomed in on a picture on National Geographic website when an empty plug-in box showed up the sides). Yeah, no Adobe Flash support, which imo is a good thing. A lot of the haters want Flash on the iPhone. Considering how lousy Adobe is, and with a lot of security issues with Flash, I’m glad Apple stays on their ground for not supporting Flash. HTML 5 FTW! Still funny though imagining what Steve was thinking when he’s demoing NYT websites with those empty plug-in boxes. LOL.

Next is email. It’s the similar email client as the one on the iPhone, with several UI tweaks when viewing the iPad on portrait or landscape mode. On landscape mode, you have the inbox and the preview pane side by side. Not bad, but then again, nothing too exciting either. No hint whether there will be a unified inbox or not. Considering it’s the same iPhone OS, my guess is not.

Oh, yeah, no multi-tasking, and no new way to switch apps. Just like the iPhone, you have to go back to the home screen to switch to another app. This can get annoying real fast on something like this. My guess is iPhone OS 4.0 is not fully ready yet. Why can’t Apple just buy Palm, and copy the way WebOS switch between apps using the ribbon.

Next, Photos. The photos app looks a lot like iPhoto (and you can guess the next version of iPhoto would share some of the looks). However, no skimming, which would be nice. Instead, you can pinch an album/event to show the pictures inside it. Nice eye candy, but skimming would be more efficient imo. In addition to viewing pictures, you can make slideshows too. Jobs showed the origami transition effect, which is very neat. Here’s the issue though, how do you get your pictures into the iPad? Wait, no camera? WTF? Yeah, no camera. This would be a no-brainer, but no, nada. You can sync your photos via iTunes from PC/Mac, but that is a really clunky way to get your pictures into the iPad. You can also import photos from an SD card/USB storage using the optional USB/SD card to dock connector adapter. I expect a fully functional iPhoto app for the iPad in the near future, as without editing capability, the current photo viewing functionality feels half-baked. Still, a built-in camera seems the more logical way. I’m guessing that will be for the next gen iPad.

Next, music. A big meh. Basically it’s like the iTunes store, except that it’s your own music. Jobs stated how nice it is to browse and play all your music collection. Wait, what? ALL your music collection? What’s the capacity of the iPad again, 16GB up to 64GB. WTF? If there’s 128GB model, then it would be fine, but 16GB? Puhlease. Apple better have some streaming functionality from iTunes on your desktop PC to the iPad. If not, this is just a big meh. The iPod app feels like a mini iTunes instead of an iPod. Small fonts galore for track and album titles. Annoying! Hopefully there’s a way to pick a larger font. Also, there better be a shuffle-by-album. If not, then the iPad fails at playing music vs a regular iPod nano/classic. Interesting enough, no coverflow? No HE-AAC support?

iTunes store, meh. Calendar, pretty nice. Heck, it seems better than iCal on OS X itself. Contacts also looks nice, better than the one on OS X. However, there’s no phone functionality on the iPad, something that I would want on this. Hopefully the contacts app can be seamless with VOIP apps. Maps is just an XL version of the Maps app on the iPhone. Still on Google maps, contrary to the rumors. A-GPS only on the 3G model, not the wifi only model. Youtube is nice, but since youtube’s content sucks major ass due to frequent copyright takedowns, I’m not too excited about this. Gimme streaming J-Dorama built-in on the iPad, then I’ll bite. 😛 Videos, well, nothing groundbreaking. The iPad’s screen resolution is only 1024×768, so no true 720p (although it does support 720p video playback), and not widescreen, so it’s not really an ideal movie viewing experience, contrary to what Jobs was trying to portray. Besides, I bet you have to sync movies with iTunes. Overall, Jobs didn’t explore too much details on these, other than trying to make it sound like the experience is new and exciting, while obviously it’s not.

Next, on to the hardware itself. As usual, the first thing Jobs said was how thin the iPad is. The big surprise here is, the fact that the iPad uses Apple’s own A4 chip. Wait, what? Apple made their own chip? Yeah, thanks to PA semi acquisition a while back. Imo this is a BIG HUGE news, that is overlooked by many people. I can see Apple using their own chip throughout their products. The next obvious one would be the iPhone and iPods, depending on how large the chip is. And then Apple TV! I can imagine the next Apple TV will be using Apple’s own chip. To put a further speculation, imagine Apple TV using the iPhone OS, complete with games. Voila, Apple’s gaming console. The possibilities are endless as Apple would be a huge CE company, capable of making a lot more products powered by this Apple chip. My next guess would be Apple making a real TV with this chip and Apple TV built-in.

Okay, enough of the chip. The iPad comes in 3 storage size: 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. MAJOR LAME! Really? Only maxed out at 64GB? 128GB would be more reasonable, considering how Apple is trying to market this as a media device. 16GB is just sad. Heck, I have a 16GB iPod nano, and it’s just for music. I’m guessing Apple decided to scale back of the storage simply to not exceed the $999 price barrier. In short, it’s a marketing strategy, to advertise that their top-of-the-line iPad is still below $1000. Then there are the usual tech specs: Wifi n, Bluetooth, dock connector, speaker, microphone… oh wait. Microphone? This is odd. Why? Well, first, there’s no phone app, even on the models with 3G wireless connectivity. Second, no camera, no front facing camera, so no video conferencing. So, a microphone just for VOIP? My guess is that Apple will put in voice commands on the iPad, although that could contradict the supposedly more “intimate” interaction of multi-touch on the iPad. As for Bluetooth, I hope it’s not the crippled Bluetooth connection just like on the iPhone, meaning only for headsets. I want Bluetooth file transfer, or even better, Bluetooth tethering with an iPhone.

Next, Scott showing some apps, iPhone apps. Since the iPad uses the same iPhone OS, it is obviously compatible with all the current iPhone apps. In addition, the iPad can do pixel doubling so the iPhone app can be run full-screen. Big whoop. He demoed the facebook app. Heck, with the iPad, I can just go to the real facebook site. Games designed for the iPhone would run faster and smoother due to the faster processor, but obviously games designed specifically for the iPad would be better. The SDK with iPad simulator is also released. Imo another reason there’s a 60/90 days delay during this announcement and the scheduled iPad shipping date, is to allow some time for developers to make iPad-specific apps.

Next, some apps. First, Gameloft, with their FPS game. Really? FPS game is bad enough using a gamepad, now using a touch interface? Even worse, requiring some gestures (eg. 3 finger gesture just to open a door?)? Sorry, but keyboard + mouse FTW.

Second, New York Times. Yeah, even though Jobs showed that you can view the full NYT website with Safari, NYT is doing an app (probably because Jobs was not too happy with those empty Flash plug-in boxes, LOL). Some people are saying that the iPad will be the savior of the newspaper industry. NYT app shows some interactivity and even video playback. Pretty neat, and could entice some people to subscribe. However, considering I can get my news via simple RSS feeds… yeah.

Third, Brushes. Basically Paint on the iPad, with fingers. I’m sure this is a big deal for some people, but I’m no artist. The playback feature is really neat though.

4th, EA, with Need for Speed. If you think FPS is bad enough, yeah, trying to fiddle/touch the controls while playing a driving game doesn’t look fun at all. I’m sorry, but there are better game genres to show off the iPad. RTS, Adventure games, RPG, etc, not FPS or driving game. I’m guessing Apple just want to show off the graphics/processing power of the iPad.

5th, MLB. Imo sports apps like this may be one of the killer app as you can add a lot of interactivity while watching a game. Could be an awesome thing for sports fans. I couldn’t care less though. 😛

Steve returned to the stage to show iBooks (not to be confused with iBook, the pre-cursor to the Macbook), another HUGE news that slip by a lot of people. Apple is opening an eBook store, competing head to head with Amazon and the Kindle. iBooks app looks a LOT like Delicious Library. Typical Apple, the app has plenty of eye candy, especially with Steve showing how he’s flipping the book’s “page” partially back-n-forth. The fact that Apple is going to use epub format is also great news. Publishing companies are more archaic than the recording industry, clinging to DRM heavily. Hopefully Apple can change the market like they did with music. On Apple’s site, the iPad apparently has a voice over screen reader, something that the Amazon Kindle has, but got into a big fight with the publishers. Will Apple fare better? Steve surprisingly didn’t say anything about battery life, something that E-Ink-based devices will have a huge advantage. Plus, I don’t know if I can read a book for a prolonged period of time on an LCD screen. Not good for your eyes. The bigger news here is obviously Apple’s entry into the eBook market. I don’t think Amazon should be worried, as they already know something like this would happen, thus the Kindle app for the iPhone.

Next, Phil with iWork for the iPad. I don’t know. There’s a lot of questions here, not about the apps themselves as they look great but about the basic functionality you would expect. For example, printing a document/spreadsheet. There’s no USB port on the iPad. Will it be able to print to a networked printer directly? Via USB host with the USB to dock-connector dongle? If you have to export your work to a desktop first, then it’s super stupid. Then there’s Keynote. The obvious question is, is there video out? Turns out Apple has a dock-connector to VGA dongle for the iPad (which is ironic by itself considering Apple is focusing on mini display port on its computers). There’s an issue with the dongle itself, how do you connect to the AC adapter for long presentations? I’m guessing a dock connector splitter? As for iWork itself, this is the first time Apple unbundles iWork, meaning you purchase Pages, Numbers, and Keynote separately. $10 each. The touch interface seems tedious on Keynote, but maybe a pre-cursor for something larger like Microsoft’s surface (or iMac with multi-touch). The automatic word-wrap around a graphic on Pages look great. Numbers, meh. I haven’t used a word processor extensively out of school, let alone a spreadsheet or a presentation app. Another question would be, how do one export the created files out of the iPad? Syncing via iTunes? Emailing? Again, more reason for Bluetooth file transfer support.

Yes, the iPad syncs via iTunes, just like the iPhone. Sounds like iTunes will become more bloatier than ever.

Back to hardware, looks like Apple will have 2 versions of the iPad lineup. One with Wifi only, one with Wifi and 3G wireless. Looks like Apple realize that people would be furious if they have to pay more monthly bills and under contract, so the 3G data plan for the iPad will be prepaid (yay!), AND 3G iPads are unlocked out of the box (YAY!). There are 2 data plan, $15 for 250MB per month, or $30 for “unlimited.” My guess is unlimited means 5GB, since Apple is doing this with AT&T. The best part of this is of course, prepaid, meaning that you can just buy the 3G data plan when you actually need it, not having to pay for it continuously. Oh yeah, no Verizon, as Apple wants this to be an international model, thus GSM/HSDPA, not CDMA. Yeah, take that Verizon fanboys.

Now, the pricing. Jobs made a reference how people were speculating that the price will be $999, and dropped the bomb that the price of the iPad will be just $499. The crowd cheered. Wait, really? $499? Well, typical Apple, that is the lowest end model, the one that you don’t want. 16GB and wifi only. Add $100 for each bump in capacity (32GB for $599, 64GB for $699). That $499 doesn’t look that cheap anymore now does it. 😛 Having 3G connectivity and GPS adds $130 on top of those prices. So, the real price of the tablet that you will want is actually $829, for the 64GB model with wifi and 3G. Still lower than $999 (which is why we don’t see a 128GB model as Apple probably wants to stay below $999), but definitely not $499. It’s the typical Apple upselling/marketing strategy.

The wifi only models will ship in 60 days, and the wifi + 3G models will ship in 90 days. Why? In addition for regulatory issues, obviously this lag is to allow developers to have their apps ready when the iPad is shipping. As for accessories, I’m sure there are a lot of people drooling for the keyboard dock.

Lastly, a complementary making videos, a trend started with the unibody aluminum Macbooks. Oh, and a new tagling, “You just… DO!” LOL. Kinda lame. Apple is trying to portray how amazing and magical the iPad is. Yeah, that would work if we didn’t have the iPhone. Problem is, all this multi-touch stuff is not new anymore, so the newness of touching stuff is, well, getting stale. People already see Microsoft’s surface, and the various multi-touch capable PCs.

In the end, the bigger news here is not really the iPad, although that is the focus of most bloggers and tech journalists since it’s the unicorn. The big news are:
1. Apple having their own fast and low-powered chip ready for mass production.
2. Apple going into the eBook market.

So, is the iPad “magical” and “revolutionary”? Nope. Like I said, a lot of the fanciness is kinda stale due to the fact we already have multi-touch for a couple of years. The iPad seems to lack a lot of things, like a camera, front facing camera for video conferencing, a phone app (or at least an SMS app), multi-tasking, etc. It’s obvious the OS is not fully optimized for the iPad (small icons, sparse screen). A live widget like weather would be nice, like on Android phones. Should you get one? Well, I don’t think there’s a need for a tablet or iPad in the first place, outside specific industries. However, knowing Apple, I’m guessing we can see the price being pushed lower by the end of the year or so, so people would buy the iPad just because, and then contents and apps will follow suit.

Regardless whether you find a use for the iPad or not, it’s another new and shiny toy from Apple. Heck, the lure of prepaid 3G data is very tempting for a backup internet (since AT&T doesn’t seem to offer tethering for iPhone in the US, ever). Personally, I was hoping for unlocked iPhones instead of this, but obviously that is not happening. Hopefully we will see more information and specifics on features (eg. Bluetooth file transfer, Bluetooth tethering, VOIP, etc) as time goes, and maybe we will see the OS itself being optimized (or the iPad itself shipping with OS 4.0 instead). Nonetheless, I at least expect iLife, or at least iPhoto for the iPad in the near future.

As for future rumors, let’s get started before the analysts. 😛
1. Price drop of the iPad before 2010 holidays. Maybe together with the regular September/October event.
2. Next gen iPad would have a camera, or at least a front facing camera for video chat. Also iChat app will be released. It will have a larger screen while retaining the same size (less bezel).
3. iLife 2010 would share some UI looks as the iPad photo app.
4. iCal and Contacts on the next OS X would share the same look as the iPad version.
5. iPhone OS 4.0 will cost iPod Touch users yet another $10

Well, there you go, a long and winded overview of the most hyped product announcement event ever. Heck, imo the iPad release overshadow President Obama’s State of Union Address! LOL.

 

9/9/09 Apple Special Event impression

You can download the Special Event keynote from iTunes. I’ll be going through the keynote chronologically.
1. Steve Jobs appeared, alive and well, albeit super skinny. Once we go through the whole lackluster event, I think this is the biggest news of all.

2. Genius. Blah, who cares. I already pointed out in the past that Genius to me is stupid. Apple now put the Genius feature for apps. Will see how it goes. I don’t have the iPhone, so no ringtones for me. However, $1.29? Really? I thought it was 99c and you can make your own (this option is still available though). In short, ringtones are still a rip-off. Make your own and save your money.

3. iTunes 9. The new iTunes store does feel better than the old one. Definitely easier to navigate. The catch? No more shopping cart. So don’t just click happy as it’s all 1-click buy now. You have to utilize the wish list to simulate the old shopping cart (yeah, they said wish list is a requested feature, while what they did was renaming the shopping cart). iTunes LP is what cocktail becomes. It’s cool, but until they have iTunes LPs for Eurobeat artists like Dave Rodgers, I won’t be bothered. They also added Extras to movies, so your iTunes movie purchase is filled with non-useful content that you don’t care, like the DVD version. 😛

4. Syncing is much more granular now. Instead of having to make individual playlists for specific artists/genres to be synced, iTunes 9 have that option built-in. This is a nice addition. Syncing is also more granular with podcasts and videos, allowing you to specify certain podcasts/videos that you want in the device indefinitely.

5. iTunes 9 Home Sharing. This is a nice feature for those that have iTunes libraries scattered on different computers. Finally iTunes can automatically aggregate the library content between computers with couple of clicks. Very useful if you keep a library on a desktop and another on a laptop. The catch, you need iTunes account, and it only works for computers with the same iTunes account (so no copying music from friends/other family members). Yeah, the recording industry is not that stupid. Kudos to them to limit what you can do with your own content. Luckily, iTunes are now DRM free, so you can always do it the old-fashion way. Home Sharing just makes it a bit more convenient.

6. You can rearrange the App icons of your iPod Touch/iPhone from iTunes 9. Nice long-awaited feature, but I want folders to group certain apps instead of having pages of clutter. Oh well, maybe iTunes 10.

7. iPod Touch. The most disappointing and lackluster announcement. Everybody, including me, is expecting a new Touch with camera, and maybe GPS+compass. Phil went on and on about apps and games, something that everybody knows already. Dissing the PSP and DS won’t change the fact that the “new” Touch is NOT new. I guess the rumor that there’s production/manufacturing issues with the camera unit is true. So, Apple is focusing the Touch for gaming. Imo, wrong move. Without a significant hardware update, the ZuneHD with nVidia Tegra and 720p HD output + HD radio is a LOT more tempting for enthusiasts, especially Windows users.
So, what do Apple have? 8GB for $199 (the old 2G), 32GB for $299, and 64GB for $399. No camera. The 32 and 64GB version are said to be “faster” and support OpenGL ES 2.0, but no confirmation yet whether it has the same innards as the iPhone 3GS. Whatever, Tegra on the ZuneHD sounds better and better. For comparison, ZuneHD 16GB will be $219, and the 32GB will be $289. However you see it, if you’re a Windows user and looking for a new toy, the ZuneHD is extremely tempting and gives better value than the Touch, unless you’re on a Mac or you want apps.
Other than the ZuneHD, there is not much competition here though. Creative’s Zii is not out yet. Sony X series? That’s an even worse joke. 16GB for $299, and 32GB for $399 for a standalone MP3 player? I expect Sony to put the X series on clearance soon.
How did I do on my prediction? Well, I was wrong about most of it, only got the 2G 8GB for $199 right.
No Phil, the iPod Touch is not the best iPod yet as it cannot even do shuffle-by-album, something that the Classic and nano can do for ages. The Dell in the back pocket is cute though, something you copied from Sony’s Vaio P ad? 😛

8. iPod Classic survived! Really, a lot of bloggers, including me, expected Apple to axe the Classic. I didn’t even know there’s a 160GB hard-drive that thin yet. Oh well, this is good news for some people. Apple is the only one left that sells hard-drive based MP3 player. Microsoft already axed their hard-drive based Zunes. 160GB for $249. No drop in price as Apple knows they’re the only player in town now in this category. No new features either, not even the voice over, something that I predicted. Again, I missed the mark, only matching the price point of $249, simply because I was not aware of the thin 160GB being available.

9. iPod Shuffle, the dreaded 3G Shuffle is sticking. Phil kept saying it’s the “easiest” iPod to use. Liar. Apple didn’t even bother to drop the price. It’s still the 4GB for $79, and only added 2GB for $59. Oh, how about an even more expensive piece of useless metal, 4GB stainless steel 3G Shuffle for $99. $99? Really Apple? For something that is barely usable? Let alone that, it’s not even gapless capable. Utter fail!
Let’s see the competitors:
-Sony’s new E series, not as tiny as the 3G Shuffle for sure, but it is much more usable, compatible with any OS, 8GB for $79, 16GB for $99. So, a tiny piece or metal for $99, or a usable MP3 player with screen and buttons, and 4 times the capacity for the same price. Which one would you pick? You have to be a super harcore Apple fanboy to choose the Shuffle.
-Sandisk Sansa Clip+, again, not as tiny as the 3G shuffle, but more usable due to a screen and buttons. 8GB for $69, 4GB for $49. Sure, it’s plastic instead of metal, but usability goes up 1000x with only half the price. Take that Apple! Really, Apple could be losing the low-end market here, a place where Apple is doing decently before with the 2G Shuffle.

10. The new 5G nano. So, the iPod that is getting a video camera is the nano, not the iPod Touch. Huh? Yeah, that’s what I said. I’m not really sure Apple’s strategy here. Steve Jobs said they’re targeting the Flip camcorder market. I don’t know if that’s a market the nano should be going though. The Flip market is going away anyway, as most of today’s compact point-n-shoot digicams at similar price point can also take videos (some even in HD), have better optics, optical zoom, and upgradeable memory. Oh, and they take much better pictures than the Flip. So, imo the Flip itself is not going to last long, and Apple wants to go in? The Touch is in a better position to have a video camera as it has the OS for video editing, picture/video uploading via wifi, and apps. The nano has nothing of those. Even worse, the video camera on the new nano cannot take pictures.
On the other hand, there are quite a few surprises. The video itself is 640×480 30fps. Not too shabby, although I wish Apple added widescreen resolution. Also, according to the new spec, the new nano supports HE-AAC. Well, that’s new. And yes, iTunes 9 allow ripping to HE-AAC now, max 80kbps. I think there’s something going on here. Apple wouldn’t just add this for no reason.
Now, the pricing. 8GB for $149, 16GB for $179. People that are not interested in the camera will look elsewhere, like Sony new E/S series (16GB E345 is $99, 16GB S545 is only $129). Even if you’re interested in the camera, you have to wonder how’s the video quality. No auto-focus? It’s clear that Apple added the cheapo camera to keep the premium pricing. Really, if Sony, a company that is not that smart in term of pricing their products, can sell a 16GB MP3 player for $99, I expect Apple to do better.

11. Norah Jones. No Beatles. Nuff said.

So, a pretty lackluster event. The biggest news is, Steve Jobs is alive and well. Apple is missing the mark on everything except the Classic. The 3G Shuffle is as useless as it was, and instead of price drop, Apple upped the premium. The nano, instead of being cheaper, got a questionable video camera, and no significant price drop. The Touch? Where should I begin? Nothing new, weak pricing and featureset vs the ZuneHD. Microsoft, this is your big chance to push the ZuneHD as much as possible. Even better, just drop the price point to $199 and $249 for the 16GB and 32GB ZuneHD respectively. That might give Steve Jobs a bit of headache. Oh, and where’s Mac support for the Zune? This is a rare chance for Microsoft to snag some Mac users. However, I doubt that MS is that smart (they cannot even put unicode fonts in the Zune).

Now, taking a step back, let’s take a look at the iPod Touch lineup. Did you notice something missing? Yeah, no 16GB! There a jump from 8GB to 32GB. I wonder what is going on here. I can speculate that, assuming the production problems is true, that Apple has to fill the gap quick, and put the 8GB 2G Touch back. The 16GB was reserved for the intended new Touch with camera. Also, in the end, Steve said “See you soon.” I’m guessing an October event, introducing the true 3G Touch with video camera, 16GB at $249 and 32GB at $349, filling the gaps nicely, co-existing with the current lineup. Voila! 🙂

There you go, my impression of the 9/9/09 Apple event, and with some analysis/rumor at the end to boot! 😛

 

Apple rumors?

Is it just me, or is Apple being more and more lenient, or maybe unable to control, the leaks and rumors for their new products? I remember in the past, nobody ever know what’s going on, let alone spy pics. Most of the rumors were false. Now, pretty much the rumors of the 4G nano, including iTunes 8 features, the spy pics, all turned up to be correct. In the past, there was the slim aluminum keyboard picture leak, then the 3G nano + new UI leak, and all were correct. Maybe Jobs health is affecting this? Hmmm.

 

One Touch

A music video that I made. 🙂

 

WWDC 2008

Streaming video is up at apple.com.

OK, here’s my take on the WWDC 08 keynote.
1. iPhone 2.0 firmware.
OK, just bring it out. It’s not coming out till July. My Palm Tungsten E is dying (battery & touch screen screwing up), and with the 2.0 firmware, I can easily use my iPod Touch as a replacement, since 1 app, the only app that I use on my Palm will be available for iPhone (epocrates).

The apps look amazing. You don’t see app development for Windows Mobile nor Symbian being marketed this way and hyped so much. Games are great, and hopefully we’ll see more fresh gaming idea, just like what Nintendo DS brought to the market.

Why apps are so great on the iPhone?
First, high res screen. Other phones from other manufactures usually use (very) low res screen, limiting the image quality and overall experience of the GUI, especially internet browsing. PMPs have high res screen already (Cowon A2/A3), and Apple has the unique position having the experience from iPods.
Second, processor speed. Other manufactures usually cut short in the processor used on their phones, usually using whatever cheapest processor they could find, resulting in slow UI response (like many Windows Mobile devices) to the point that it hampers the regular usage of the device. Even Nokia smartphones suffer from slow response and thus poor experience, even though Symbian has many apps.

The ugly side of this, $10 charge for iPod Touch users. WTF? We already had to pay for the previous firmware upgrade, now we have to pay more? In comparison, Sony adds new features in firmware upgrades for the PSP and PS3 multiple times, for free! MS adds new functionalities to the older Zune for free. Of course, I will bite and pay for this to have epocrates for my Touch. T_T

2. Mobile ME.
I thought the rumor was a joke. The name just doesn’t seem “cool.” It reminds me of Windows ME. What is it? It’s .Mac rebranded, refreshed, and redesigned to work across Mac, iPhones/Touch, and Windows. Windows? Well, most of it will be web based, and there’s support for outlook. So, it’s still $100 per year. It has more uniform interface with Mac OS’ own mail.app and iCal. 10GB storage is upgraded to 20GB. Sounds great? Well, consider that Microsoft offer Live Skydrive for free, and it has 5GB shareable storage space, so if all you want is online storage, nothing beats free. Plus Microsoft will have Live Mesh, which will be Mac compatible too. The upside of .Mac is syncing, and with outlook support, it might entice some people. I already like .Mac’s syncing across my iMac and Macbook, but the cost is just too hard to swallow. IMO Apple needs to offer at least a free Mobile ME with maybe only ~2GB storage space, something like that. When Live Mesh goes final, Apple needs to up the ante.

3. iPhone 3G
Finally, long awaited, the newer Jesus Phone. 3G support so people outside the US can think that iPhone is up-to-par with the various 3G phones already on the market. July 11th is the date.

When Jobs started announcing the features of iPhone 3G, it’s hilarious that the crowd are getting crazy over things like “flushed headphone jack.” LOL. GPS, I never use GPS before, so I don’t know if it matters. Battery life seems to be greatly improved (presumably with better power management).

70 countries. Singapore & Hong Kong, yay. Japan, wow. Ooops, not Indonesia, the place that usually gets the latest cellphones, but rampant with hackers and pirates. Are you afraid Apple? Wonder why.

Apple priced the 8GB iPhone 3G at $199. Plus, Jobs said Apple will set the price not to exceed $199 US in all those countries. WOW! This is BIG! Other manufactures usually have variable open prices outside the US (eg. Nokia latest model sometimes is sold at thousands of dollars at launch, then dropping down in price through time, and the cycle repeats). Now, there’s gotta be a catch for this price. Although we will see what will happen in those countries, Apple is still going to lock the iPhone 3G with AT&T in the US. WRONG MOVE!

I guess Apple has not been to SE Asia. Most phones sold there are unlocked, even phones sold under a contract. People in Asia like to switch phones & providers, especially if they’re traveling. IMO if Apple wants to be successful in Asia, without giving money away to hackers/unlockers, Apple needs to sell the iPhone 3G unlocked. So back to Indonesia, this is a place where they have the latest models from Nokia, etc, being sold, even before other countries like Singapore. The pirates will simply buy/smuggle the iPhone 3G from Singapore/Hong Kong, and unlock it. Nobody would bother buying the phone locked from the cell service provider.

Apple better be selling the iPhone 3G unlocked in Asia, and if they did, expect a flood of Americans/ebayers importing the phone. Moral of the story, just sell the phone unlocked, anywhere, period. Ditch AT&T. Apple has the upper hand anyway, AT&T is getting more business thanks to the iPhone, even from people that don’t like AT&T.

Not unlocked, I’m not buying. Even worse, the rumor is that the iPhone 3G will have to be activated in store, in contrast of the first iPhone where users can activate it at home. Plus, it will have worse and more expensive data plans from AT&T. Yup, US cell providers can only go backwards, charging more for less service. Another reason for Apple to sell the iPhone unlocked if they really want to change the way the cellphone business is done. I guess the $10 upgrade fee for my Touch doesn’t sound too bad.

That’s it. No Fusion, no new Macs, no tablet. But hey, Steve casually mentioned OS X 10.6 called Snow Leopard. But of course they don’t want it to steal the thunder from the iPhone 3G. 10.6 already? And I just upgraded to Leopard… T_T

C’mon Apple, why is it so hard not selling the iPhone unlocked? Even if Apple sold the iPhone 3G unlocked for $100 more ($299 for 8GB), I’ll buy it right away. If Apple want to lock me to AT&T, then they are no better than those freebies locked phones. Asians want unlocked phones (if not, they’ll hack it anyway). Business users want unlocked phones (more economical when traveling by using local GSM providers and not giving AT&T $$$ for roaming charges). I want it unlocked. Apple, you’ve just missed plenty of customers.

 

Impulse buy, or not.

Yeah, I’m still talking about the stuff announced at Macworld. Steve Jobs was so good in presenting Apple’s new products that it makes you to want them just based on impulse. However, good thing is the Time Capsule and Macbook Air are on pre-order status, allowing me to cool down and reevaluate.

1. Time Capsule
As I said, I already have an HP Windows Home Server. 1 person at a Mac forum pointed out that the Time Capsule has no redundancy. He/she is right. Sure, Jobs said it has a server-grade hard-drive, but it’s still a hard-drive. I also don’t see a way to replace/upgrade the hard-drive form the Airport Extreme enclosure. On the other hand, my HP WHS has 3 empty slot to add hard-drives, and it has redundancy if there is more than 1 hard-drive. Another poster pointed out this app called iTimeMachine, which allows Time Machine to use a network disk as a backup disk without having to use the Time Capsule.

2. Macbook Air
Yeah, it looks awesome. However, let’s reevaluate the drawbacks that are not mentioned by Steve Jobs.
-Battery is not user replaceable. Yup, show me other laptops that has non-user-replaceable battery. None. This is a big issue if you want to keep the notebook for a while, or if there is a problem/recall on the battery. The Sony TZ has a removable battery that you can upgrade to achieve better battery life than the Macbook Air.
-No SD slot. I was expecting an SD slot. Jobs kept bashing the Sony TZ, but failed to mention that the TZ has a memory stick and SD slot. With Apple seems to focus on digital life, and the fact that most digicams/camcorders utilize SD card, this should be a no-brainer. The TZ has it, even the eeePC has it, but not a $3000 Macbook Air?

I wish the eeePC has more on-board storage. Wishing for cheaper SSD soon. Oh, and note for those that are interested in the Macbook Air. Currently based on the specs, it’s still using Merom Core 2 Duo processors. Intel is scheduled to release the small-form-factor low voltage Penryn in May 2008, so I expect a refresh by mid-year/before the end of this year.

Restraint will save your wallet. 🙂

Things that I want but not announced:
Where is my quad-core iMac? 😡 Today, I can configure a quad-core Dell XPS420 with 3GB of RAM sans monitor for less than $1000. Comparable iMacs only have dual-core and 1GB standard RAM. Well, I guess that’s because quad-core Penryn won’t be out till May 08.

Well, maybe WWDC 08, Penryn and quad-core iMacs, and Penryn Macbook Air.

 

Time Capsule + Macbook Air

Macworld 2008. Again, Apple just amazed me. There are 2 things I most probably get:

1. Time Capsule:
Looks like an Airport Extreme with a hard-drive in it. I guess this is Apple’s respond to Windows Home Server. I love my HP WHS machine, but of course it doesn’t interact with a Mac as well as PC. Although it hurts spending another $$, the $300 500GB version is tempting, considering you also get a wireless router. This would also solve my dilemma if I want to buy a new Mac and use Time Machine.

2. Macbook Air
Simply amazing. I thought the Sony Vaio TZ series are thin, yet the Macbook Air is even thinner! 3 punds, 0.16inch thick! Granted you loose the optical drive, but I have an old notebook, and for the past couple of years, the optical drive is never used sitting in a bag. 5 hours battery life. The Macbook Air will be an excellent traveling machine. The catch is, how much is it going to be with the 64GB SSD option? The Sony TZ is about $3000 with the SSD drive. Also, the 80GB hard-drive is the same hard-drive used in iPods, which is a slow 4200rpm.

The ugly:
Firmware update for the iPod Touch will cost you $20. WTF? That’s just lame, really lame.