Apple's new hardware

[mean]

To be honest, I'd have a hard time recommending any netbook at the moment, although if you pressed me I'd point toward an Eee PC that:

1) Is large enough for your wife to be comfortable typing on. I find some of the smaller ones really difficult, but someone with more petite hands might be fine.

2) Does not run Windows 7 Starter.

3) Comes with or can be upgraded to at least 2 gigs of RAM.

Other than that, they're all pretty similar at this point. Most netbooks are powered by Intel Atoms, and in my opinion that CPU is lacking. My Nexus One phone running Android beats my friend's Eee PC running Eeebuntu NBR at many tasks, so I'm kind of sitting back and waiting to see what happens before I make a move.

[ignatius]

I'm on a Pre but am switching to Evo when it comes.   BTW, WiMAX/4g is rolled out in apparently most of the metro...

http://forum.androidcentral.com/htc-evo ... -test.html

[jdubwaldo]

Jobs has an answer for everything, doesn't he.  Linked from their homepage, which I was just browsing again debating about an iPad....

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

[mean]

Jobs makes some reasonable points, but personally I'd prefer to have a choice. If I want to occasionally use Flash, even if it is battery-sucking and crash-prone, I'd like to have the ability to do so.

[staubio]

I'm on a Pre but am switching to Evo when it comes.   BTW, WiMAX/4g is rolled out in apparently most of the metro...

http://forum.androidcentral.com/htc-evo ... -test.html

Getting mine on Friday. Early reviews are glowing with one notable exception: battery life. I've picked up a spare already.

[KCMax]

New iPhone coming on Monday?

A keynote address from Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, will start at 10 a.m. PT...

According to Gizmodo, the site that broke the story about the iPhone prototype after paying for the unreleased phone, the next-generation iPhone will have a front-facing camera, a higher-resolution screen, a camera flash and a larger battery.

It may be available as early as this summer.

[KCMax]

Live blog: Steve Jobs at Apple's WWDC 2010

10:35 - All the rumors are true. The new phone has the thinner, squared-off design we've seen in the leaked photos of the device, redesigned buttons, a front-facing camera, a flash on the rear camera, a secondary microphone for noise cancellation, and improved antennas integrated right into the design. 26% thinner than the iPhone 3GS: The thinnest smartphone ever, according to Jobs.

[KCPowercat]

Unimpressed with iphone4 especially the video chat only WiFi and to other iPhone. Even more pleased with my evo now.

[jdubwaldo]

What is the chance of iPhone4 on Sprint, ever?

[LenexatoKCMO]

What is the chance of iPhone4 on Sprint, ever?

Hard to believe MaBell would have introduced their crazy new Iphone data price scheme had there been much risk they were going to have to compete with the phone on other networks anytime soon. 

[bobbyhawks]

Hard to believe MaBell would have introduced their crazy new Iphone data price scheme had there been much risk they were going to have to compete with the phone on other networks anytime soon. 

Could be a pre-emptive attempt to clear up some of the bottleneck problems they have had in big markets.  A lot of the things announced for the iOS4 and new iphone will lead to even more bandwidth usage, and further problems/dissatisfaction with service could cripple them in the short term.  I think they figure it is better to hurt the "few" they claim use the most data vs. hurt everyone, but what they don't realize is that soon everyone will want to be able to upload 720p videos to youtube over their service provider.  This may have less to do with the iphone and more to do with their own insecurities as a network.

[LenexatoKCMO]

Could be a pre-emptive attempt to clear up some of the bottleneck problems they have had in big markets.  A lot of the things announced for the iOS4 and new iphone will lead to even more bandwidth usage, and further problems/dissatisfaction with service could cripple them in the short term.  I think they figure it is better to hurt the "few" they claim use the most data vs. hurt everyone, but what they don't realize is that soon everyone will want to be able to upload 720p videos to youtube over their service provider.  This may have less to do with the iphone and more to do with their own insecurities as a network.

I agree with most of what you said, but having a pricey, limited use data plan, on a crippled data network head to head against the same phone on a better data network, with cheaper, unlimited pricing would be way more devestating.  They would churn damn near every iphone sub as soon as their contract is up.  The only way they can compete with the iphone on other networks is to make it a value proposition, not with an uncompetitive data plan. 

[jdubwaldo]

I hear you - They also increased their cancellation fee pretty dramatically if I recall correctly, and are giving current subscribers the option to upgrade their existing 3G / 3GS under certain conditions to the 4 at the discounted price w/ a new 2 year contract.

I've got to think Apple is going to allow them to do this for 6 months or so, then offer the 4 on another network? 

I girl can dream.... 

[KC Kropf]

Getting mine on Friday. Early reviews are glowing with one notable exception: battery life. I've picked up a spare already.

I am sure you Android lovers already know this, but to help your battery concerns there is an app called 'Advanced Task Killer' which acts kinda like windows task manager.. you can run this to pull up all apps running in the background draining your battery... kill the ones you don't want running and save you some battery. 

[KCPowercat]

I'm making an Android thread.

[staubio]

One great thing about iPhone 4: it seems like they are standing down from the silly megapixel camera war. The Evo has an absurd 8MP camera, which really just means larger file sizes for crappy (though among the best I've seen on a camera phone) photos. By increasing the sensor size instead of cramming more pixels in, the iPhone 4's camera should be exceptional, as was the original iPhone's compared to the rest of the market.

I'm hopeful for you Apple adopters that Skype or Qik will allow video chat across different platforms so you can actually USE that front facing camera. Hopefully they will approve some apps for that.

The new display is beautiful, but at what point does it not matter anymore? I can't discern pixels on my WVGA screen, albeit the text is larger than I would like it to be since everything is blown up on the 4.3" Evo screen and you can't change font size on a system level. This is effectively the last step in the resolution war, since we couldn't see any more than this anyway, but I wonder how much different the experience will really be than plain old WVGA.

Very curious about how well multi-tasking works and if they can hold their battery claims. Steve was right about that: multitasking is tough on battery life.

It is a beautiful device, albeit all of that classic Apple bezel I don't care for.

Should be a fun summer of phone smack talk.

[KCMax]

Consumer Reports Throws iPhone 4 Under the Bus

Consumer Reports has confirmed what we already knew about iPhone 4 -- touching its external antenna produces noticeable reception problems -- but with that finding offered a damning conclusion: Don't buy this iPhone.

Waiting for my contract to expire to get a Droid.....

[mean]

Quoth ET, "Ouuuchhhh."

[DaveKCMO]

while this radio issue is indefensible, other OEMs churn out far too many devices for anyone to keep up with such an issue in the same way. a once-yearly update to a single device gets far more scrutiny. we've handled a LOT of stinkers from HTC, samsung, and motorola over the years -- makes no difference which OS, android included -- so no reason to think they're somehow exempt from similar issues. for example, i challenge you to find any samsung moment or behold II user who's happy with their hardware... same price point as the iPhone.

regardless, we're waiting to upgrade our 3G until this is resolved.

[mean]

I personally know 4 Moment users who are fine with the hardware (although peeved about the sad status of the 2.1 update--no new launcher, no new gallery, etc). I don't know any that are displeased with the hardware, though I imagine they're out there. Don't know anybody with a Behold II.