A shiny iPhone 3GS in 5 minutes flat!

It took me 3 days or so from the announcements to justify upgrading to the new iPhone. My old phone had a scratched screen, but I managed to sell it for £100 (perfect models are going for well over £200).

I checked with the local O2 store in Crewe and they confirmed they had 'plenty of stock' the day before the launch - I was there about 8.15am ready for the 9.02am opening - 3 others beat me to it, and by opening time there were about 10 of us in the queue.

Unlike the last upgrade, O2 weren't offering the option of extending your contract and getting 'upgrade pricing' - it was a choice of paying off my contract and starting a new one, or buying a PAYG and swapping my SIM over - I went with the later as no doubt there will be a new model next year.

I was out of the O2 store with a shiny new black 32GB in less than 5 minutes - and home to activate and sync by 9.10am - beating the meltdown of Apples activation servers nicely!

My first impressions are very good. The phone is a lot, lot faster and that makes it more fun to use. I'd had the 3.0 software for a few months as part of the beta so was well used to most of the new features.

The phone comes with a new tiny power adapter - it's basically a 13a plug with a USB socket. The headphones are the snazzy remote control ones introduced with the latest shuffle. The screen's new "anti-grease" coating is an good improvement.

But most of all the speed is the best new feature - and worth the upgrade.

Other news today is the revelation that Steve Jobs had a liver transplant - here's hoping he makes a speedy recovery and is soon back at the helm.

iPhone Speculation June 2009

The speculation about a potential new iPhone model that may or may not arrive this summer is growing enormously. Companies used to be good at hiding details of future products, and Apple were experts, but seemed to have failed in recent months to keep details of suppliers and future products quiet.

Some of the speculation will be just that, but it makes sense for a new model to come out this summer, and I suspect some of the speculation is true - it just seems to make sense:

• Higher resolution camera - 3.2 megapixels sound likely, up from 2, auto focus would be great but I suspect unlikely. It's likely video capture will be included.
• Faster processor - I've been testing beta's of OS 3 and anything faster would be good
• Electronic compass - the Android phones have it, and it's a very simple thing to add
• More memory - the switch to 16GB/32GB as options seems to make sense

There are a raft of other claims about this new model, but the above seem to be the most likely.

The next announcements from Apple will come on the 8th June at the WWDC (Developer Conference) - whether that's when they announce a new model remains to be seen. Steve Jobs is still off on sick leave, so other execs are doing the keynote. I'd love to see Jonny Ive doing it, but that's just because I think he's sexy as hell!!!

Apple may wait until Steve Jobs is back at the end of June (if it happens) to announce new models, and stick to discussing Snow Leopard at the WWDC.

iPhone 3G - a big leap forward, or a small step

I guess I wasn't quite as excited by the prospect of the iPhone 3G launch as I was by the original iPhone - despite all Apple's hype (yes I watched the webcast as soon as it was posted, and followed the various news sites carefully, especially Macrumors) the phone isn't actually that much different from the original phone. But then given how fantastic the original phone was, that didn't really matter.

As soon as the launch date was known I advertised my old iPhone for sale. It's only imperfection was a small dent in the bezel around the screen, and I easily sold it for £180 to someone at work (8GB model). The iPhone 3G upgrade to a 16GB model cost me £169 so I was happy.

The ordering process for the new release should have been slick, but O2 made a total mess of it - they allowed existing and new customers to pre-register interest and were supposed to allow existing customers to order first on the Monday before the release - in fact they allowed anyone to order so the web site crashed loads of times.

My brother wasn't an O2 customer, but got the text and managed to order by 8.30am. I finally managed to order around 12pm after many, many attempts - O2 ran out of stock shortly after.

My new phone was delivered by courier around 9.30am on Friday July 11th and was soon set up and working. My first impressions were the phone wasn't that different, the biggest physical change being the back of the phone - gone from flat aluminium to slightly convex plastic. It somehow feels better in your hand. The most obvious changes are:

• 3G - web browsing and email a lot faster, but battery life is impacted.
• GPS - maps now displays exactly were you are and locks onto your position incredibly quickly.
• iPhone software v2.0 (also available for the 1st gen iPhone) - access to the App store
• Slightly different case design and the headphone jack is no longer recessed.

The biggest change by far is the inclusion of the App store - the initial crop of Apps wasn't great but gradually more polished and impressive Apps are appearing, and prices have dropped on some of the established Apps. Apps worth a look are:

• Fring (new at the beginning of October) - a client for most of the messenger systems plus VOIP and Skype
• Super Monkey Ball - good example of how power the phone is
• Traffic UK - checks your location then displays relevant traffic information
• Sudoku (Free) - not worth paying for one of the others when this one is free

I've tried lots of the other free and paid for Apps, but these are the ones I use the most (except for pdaNet but that's the topic for another post - it also requires you to Jailbreak your phone!)

Despite the screen being the same as the original phone as far as I'm aware, I've recently managed to scratch mine - not as all happy but then the phone did fall out of my pocket and slide across a concrete floor, face down. Waiting for a Hong Kong company Brando Workshop to get some more stock in and ship me a replacement screen and iPod opening tools - all in for about £50 - not cheap but a lot cheaper than buying a new phone.

(Added later...)

Unfortunately what I got was the screen, but in fact the touch panel in front of the screen is what was scratched. I inquired at the Manchester Apple store about getting it fixed, but they only offer replacements - £180! I'll wait for the new model no doubt due towards the middle of this year.

Updates coming soon - promise!...

I really must get some updates done on here, for no other reason than it's quite good fun!

So coming soon are:

iPhone 3G - thoughts, scratches and screen replacement (ouch)

iPhone 3G tethering - a 3G modem for no more cash

Freeview PVR's - TVonics versus Humax

Pure Evoke Flow - internet radio and more (arrived today!)

Will try and get the first two up in the next few days, the iPhone tethering is really excellent - posting this from my Macbook pro using the iPhone 3G as a modem and it works wonderfully.

Technology Update

Whilst doing a few checks this morning, I noticed that my blog wasn't available from my own domain - hardly a barrage of complaints as I rarely update it, but sorted it this morning and decided a post would be worthwhile to cover my latest technology purchases and wants!

I've been a big fan of Apple hardware and software for a few years. I still have my first iPod and as my current car has (really basic) iPod integration I keep it in the car hidden away in the cradle of the glovebox. The integration in the VW Passatt really IS basic (it shows the first 5 of your play lists as external CD's - no track info, nothing really!) but it's slightly easier than an iTrip and sounds better.

I was very keen to get my hands on an iPhone and couldn't imagine not having it now. Yes it's expensive - in the UK we're not used to pay much if anything for a mobile. The contract is not cheap either, but I was pleased that O2 recently increased the number of minutes/texts and allowed me to switch from the £45 a month to the £35 a month tariff - same number of texts/minutes I started with in November but now £10 cheaper.

I was one of the sad people who waited outside Carphone Warehouse to collect my phone. It was a fiasco - the Chip & Pin systems crashed and I'd much rather have gone to the Apple store, but CW was nearer and I was first in the queue in sleep Northwich!

The phone will really start to come into it's own in June once the firmware to support application development is released. I've downloaded the SDK and would love to say I'd written a cool application in Objective C, but haven't! - it's quite different to VB.Net and not easy to get your head around.

My main home machine is a 24" Aluminium iMac. It's a fantastic machine - fast, quiet and lovely to look at and use. I have a Macbook that's now 18 months old for mobile/lounge use - I considered upgrading to the latest model but can't justify it - the Macbook handles everything just fine. The Macbook Air looks fantastic but it's twice the price of my Macbook and slower.

If I need to run Windows at all (and the only thing I use it for is to VPN to work and connect to my SAP Systems) I run it in a Virtual Machine courtesy of Parallels - quick and easy.

Come to think of it, the iPhone was my last serious tech purchase, and that was back on the 9th November (oh and Leopard when it came out). I must be due something soon, but a new flat and impending move in are making me cautious - well fairly!

I came very close to buying an EEE Pc - I think it's great that laptop prices continue to plummet and the EEE looks great, but the 9" screen model will be a lot more usable. I still think it will struggle with XP and that Linux may be the better choice for a relatively low spec machine.

I've experimented with Vista - it's on my daugthers laptops, and I can run it on the Mac in Parallels, but I'm not a big fan and I'm disappointed it feels slower than XP. It's also annoying trying to find some things that have been moved. The raft of security and anti-spyware protection needed for Windows is annoying too - I don't currently need any at all on my Mac. On the girls' laptops I run Spysweeper and K9 Child Protection Software to keep them as safe as I can, with regular discussions about who they chat to and what information they give away.

Broadband in my current rental flat and for the new place is provided by O2. Their customer service has been excellent (and always UK based) and they got a line fault sorted far better than trying to get BT to sort it myself. The service is very fast (I get 10mbps +) and cheap.

That's about it. The Duet Music Player from Slim Devices / Logitech looks good, but I don't really need one, and later this year I'm sure the 3G iPhone will prove irresistible, but for now my techy needs are just about met!

Too cheap to be true? - £76 laptop - Medison Celebrity

There was a lot of coverage yesterday about a new manufacturer from Sweden offering a laptop with a reasonable spec for £76 ($150) - they had allegedly reduced the price as they'd bought a factory in Brazil, could manufacturer cheaply and were trying to compete with the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child project).

I tried to get on to the ordering site to check it out - it took some perseverance but did finally manage. After checking out the people taking the credit card details, they are definitely legit, just not so sure about the company selling the laptop!

I obviously hope it is real - it will be a useful extra machine, but hopefully if not the credit card merchant and the credit card company will have protected my £76 - what this space!

Medison £76 Laptop on Slashdot

Company website - offices in the UK?

Product Site - includes specs but not a lot else.

Update: I've just heard back from the company handling payments - they say they have no reason to doubt that it's a genuine offer, and don't release the payment to the supplier until I've received the good! Sounding a little more promising!

A bit about me...

Thought I'd finally get round to updating this site, and following a request from one of my daugthers - I've added a picture!