As you may have noticed, I really like Crumpler’s products. I just found out that a store that sells nothing but Crumpler products just opened in downtown Vancouver (corner of Richards & Cordova).
This is the next best thing to an Apple Store opening in Vancouver…and just as dangerous.
Check them out in person or online if you’re looking for a cool new messenger bag or backpack - especially for your laptop or camera gear as they have shapes and colours to fit just about anything you’d want to carry. They also have cool, Crumpler branded shopping bags, purses, wallets and even camera straps.
Oh and they are hiring too!
I was going to call this post “It’s been One Week…” but in light of the recent issues Barenaked Ladies frontman, Steven Paige is having, I decided to go for something else instead.
I’m not going to do a ‘full’ review since that’s been done to death already. I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on the differences between the ‘old’ and new iPhone, and some tips and tricks. Excuse the randomness of these observations.
The Screen Bezel
Physically, the two flavors of the iPhone (old and new that is) look very similar…except for the black bezel on the 3G model. It actually bugs me that it’s so wide compared to the 2G model. The original felt like the whole device was your screen. The new one just feels strange to see that wide black bezel. I’m sure I’ll get used to it but it’s just something I’ve noticed.
Battery life
First of all, battery life is quite a bit different than the first generation iPhone. Before, I’d normally get 2-3 days of battery life with wifi on, bluetooth off and Edge enabled. Now, it’s more like 1 to 1.5 days although I’ve charged it everyday. This is with wifi off (who needs wifi when you have 3G data), bluetooth off and ‘location services’ (the GPS function of the new iPhone) turned off - it only turns on when needed, like when you launch Google Maps but more on GPS in a bit. If you’re not using Mobile Me, you should also turn off Push as well as lengthening the amount of time between ‘fetches’ of your email which should improve your battery life a little.
Some of this battery experience can also be contributed to ’shiny new toy’ syndrome as it gets a lot of show and tell time since it’s so new. We’ll see how this plays out once things die down and normal usage starts happening.
The App Store
As I’ve suggested a number of times before, the App Store has proven to be the killer iPhone app. With over 500 titles available at launch, many of which are free, it’s been an amazing way to extend the usefulness of the iPhone. That’s not to say that all 500 apps are great as there is certainly some crap-ware. There are fortunately more than a few gems in there and I’ll highlight some of my favorites in a future post.
I currently use my US iTunes store account to get access to a bit more content than the Canadian store has to offer. At launch the US store had about 10 more pages of apps on offer. If you have the means, I highly recommend you setup a US account…you just need a gift card from the US to do so and you can put in any US address (choose an address in a state such as Oregon to avoid tax). No credit card needed. I’ve heard that you can’t create a credit card-less Canadian account if you want to buy apps though which is strange.
Keep up on the new releases via RSS - for the US Store at least.
iPhone ‘HotSpot’ access
One of the things that Rogers offered with their ‘value packs’ was unlimited wifi access at all their hotspots. Turns out this seems to work on any iPhone with the Mobile Safari browser (so all iPhones). They only look for the user agent string that Safari serves up. A little birdy told me that if you were to enable the ‘Developer’ menu in any version of Safari (like on your laptop for example via the bottom of the preferences screen), you would be able to choose the iPhone version of Mobile Safari as your user agent. This basically enables free wifi at just about every Canadian Starbucks for starters…haven’t had a chance to test this myself so YMMV and they could pull this at anytime.
Getting the 6gb data plans on 2G iPhones
For various reasons, people haven’t been able to upgrade to the 3G iPhone. Apparently later this month Rogers will have an option for people that aren’t eligible for a hardware upgrade to pay (thru the nose) for an iPhone. In the US, this seems to mean that the $199 8gb iPhone costs $499 and the $299 16gb model goes for $599. Pretty steep penalty for being an existing customer. So if you want to wait until you’re able to upgrade or are still happy with your 2G iPhone, you can simply call up Rogers and ask them to add the $30/6gb data plan to your current phone.
You can’t get Visual Voicemail working on it (at least at the moment on Rogers) but you should be able to get the data plan. The CSR may say that it’s not supported but it should work fine. You just need to put ‘internet.com’ into the APN setting in the Settings/General/Network/Edge screen. Leave the username/password section blank. There is a 3 year contract term if you do this but since this is basically unlimited data for an iPhone (AT&T’s ‘unlimited’ is soft capped at 5gb in the US), it’s a deal. You can cancel early for a $100 penalty. I’d also watch your billing the first few months to make sure they don’t incorrectly bill you for data.
The other nice thing about this particular data plan is that you can throw your sim in another phone and use it…it’s not ‘locked’ for use on an iPhone only. So if Nokia wanted to send me an N96, I’d be happy to play with it using my own sim and data plan.
Need a case?
As usual, one of my favorite shopping destinations is already stocked up with various cases for the 3G model with prices ranging from $8-20 depending on the style you like. Many 2G cases also still work with the 3G due to the very similar size and the give that a silicone case has. I’m also still using my DLO Hipcase with my 3G.
GPS
The GPS function of the iPhone 3G is pretty slick…even if there aren’t any turn by turn driving directions like what you’d find in a TomTom or Garmin GPS system. That’s not to say that it’s not a little buggy. For example, you can geo-tag your photos. When you upload them to Flickr, they automatically get plotted on a map (once you enable the preference in your profile at least). But sometimes the iPhone is a little off in it’s coordinates. Take for example this photo, taken at Spanish Banks, near UBC in Vancouver. Strangely not in Hulunbeier, Nei Mongol as Flickr shows. I’ve read a few things about a bug in the GPS software that Apple will fix in the next firmware update which is due out soon.
2.0 Firmware unlock status
Keep an eye on this site for updates on the jailbreak/unlock status to enable 2G iPhones access to the 2.0 firmware (including App Store) and eventually the ability to jailbreak/unlock the 3G iPhone. I still want to be able to use my iPhone while travelling in the US (using my AT&T Pay as you Go sim card). Somehow I don’t think Apple will allow apps like Customize onto the App Store (hope I’m wrong) so a jailbroken 3G phone will be a nice way to add this.
Money tight?
Don’t want to spend the bucks on an iPhone and a contract? Get a cheap iPod Touch and pretend as Buzz suggested. I want to make an ‘iPhone simulator’ for the Touch as a gag app so you can mess with your friends.
That’s all for now…more later.
Update: Added the App Store RSS feed link
Update 2: The 2.0 Pwnage tool has been released. I just successfully upgraded/jailbroke/unlocked my (now my wife’s) 1st gen iPhone. You need to download the restore/update file from Apple to use this tool. You should get a download only/download+install option - choose download only. You may also need a few bootloaders. More info on my new post about the 2.0 firmware.
This is a pretty clever (and well done) parody of the MacBook Air commercial featuring the ThinkPad X300.
It’s (the X300) definitely a decent ultraportable/subnotebook/fitsinanenvelope computer….it just doesn’t run OSX which is why I sold my eeePC.
via TUAW
As in I’ve had it for 12 hours….not a 12 hour long review….although there are a lot of pictures.
Obviously I haven’t had it long enough to really put it through it’s paces but here’s a bunch of photos and a few thoughts.
As with all Apple products, the packaging alone is a fantastic customer experience. The MBA comes in a box that reminds you of a board game….I’m not talking something from Parker Bros, but something more elegant. The box is sturdy dark cardboard. The lid has foam glued inside that at first glance looks like velvet. It’s always the little things that make it that much better.
Once you take the lid off, you’re greeted with the MBA in a black plastic tray with a little “Designed by Apple in California” tab that you use to lift the laptop out of the tray and access the other items hidden below. Despite this packaging and computer being Apple’s greenest device yet, the plastic tray has a recycling number 6 which at least around here, isn’t recyclable - maybe it is in California.
It’s deceiving at first how thin it is because you assume the plastic tray is deeper than it really is. You can see in the picture above, the MBA isn’t much thicker than the iPhone. Here’s the MBA snuggled up to the eeePC (both are flat on the table and flush with each other):
Of course since I had the MBA delivered to my office, there was a crowd of people anxious to see it. Some wondered why I didn’t just open it and why was I stopping to take pictures of the box. They now know why.
Once you pick it up, you immediately realize that it’s more solid than you’d expect and does have some weight to it. One big concern many have with the MBA is how fragile it might be because it’s so thin. It feels just as solid as my Powerbook G4 every did while at the same time being light as a feather. It feels well crafted, not unlike a high quality kitchen knife does.
Unlike other Apple laptops, there is not much to the underside of the MBA. There is no battery indicator light which is disappointing nor is there any way to lock up the laptop via lock port. I guess there was no secure place inside to make a lock point. The port door is also much more solid than I was expecting and definitely doesn’t feel like it would break off or stay open - it’s very solid.
The backlit keyboard is fantastic and just like the new keyboards that come with iMac’s and similar to what you find on a MacBook.
Once I got it home, the first thing I did was do a clean install of Leopard with the included install DVDs. The stock Leopard install on any new Mac actually has a lot of wasted stuff including 3.4gb of unneeded printer drivers, 1.8gb of language files. It also has 240mb of space wasted by iWeb. This gives me just about 63gb free with nothing else on it yet. Leopard and iLife take up a fair amount of space and removing those unnecessary files will help once I start using the MBA.
Since my MBA Superdrive hasn’t arrived yet (expecting it tomorrow), I had to use my ‘full size’ external DVD burner which worked no problem over USB.
Now that the install is complete and the Apple pr0n has been uploaded to Flickr, I’m going to go play with it.
Leave a comment if there is anything you want to know about it.
As I expected, my MacBook Air arrived today ahead of the projected shipping time and before my friend who ordered earlier than me and paid extra for faster shipping. I did have mine shipped to the office and he had it shipped to his house in Port Coquitlam so that may have been the difference.
More pictures and details later!
This could have been my video….thanks FedEx! Damn you and your slow boat plane to from China.
Update: Looks like he’s disabled embedding of the video. Here’s a direct link.
The internets are all abuzz with news (and video proof) that the latest firmware for the iPhone (and Touch as seen in the video) has been jailbroken…but the method hasn’t been released yet. Nor will it until after the forthcoming software developers kit (SDK for those in the know) is released in late February from Apple. Currently, it also appears to be a hardware modification to perform the jailbreak (ah, just like the old days) but a software version is sure to follow.
As far as I can tell, this new firmware is also not compatible with all the Turbo/Stealth SIM unlock methods too. I’m not sure if that’s just because you can’t jailbreak the new firmware (yet) or if Apple’s actually done something to lock out (heh) those SIM tricks.
So if you want an iPhone, you’d better be on your way to Seattle, Buffalo, or the closest Apple store to you and grab one before the stock gets updated with the new firmware in box or be prepared to sign up with AT&T or have a nice pretty box that you can’t even use as an iPod until sometime in February. Otherwise you will have to hit up Craigslist or ebay for one.
A friend sent word that you can now put a full linux desktop (KDE) on the Nokia N810 tablet. This was in an effort to convince me to buy an N810.
Check out the video and screenshots and the how to.
This is already a pretty sweet little device and this just makes it even more interesting.
I’ve dabbled with Linux for a long time and only recently started using it semi-full time on my eeePC.
Now while this IS pretty cool, I think I’ve spent my gadget money for awhile. Maybe Nokia’s Blogger Relations can hook me as I’d love to check one out.
So yesterday, I said to not buy anything from Apple because today they’d be possibly announcing some new products. Well they did indeed announce a few new things and I bought one of them, the MacBook Air:
It had been long rumoured that Apple would release a sub-notebook and I had guessed that it would fall (pricewise) between the MacBook and the MacBook Pro which it did. My guess was actually $1800 and it lists for $1799US. Strangely it’s STILL more in Canada despite the strong dollar (although slipping a little lately) coming in at $1899.
One of the expected rumours would be that it had a solid state drive (SSD) which means a flash memory based hard drive with no moving parts. It can come with that as an option (over $1000) which is pretty much in line with a similar drive Dell sells as an addon to one of their sub notebooks (the Apple tax in effect). I declined that option as it’s just not worth that much to me and would be cheaper to replace the moving-parts hard drive many times over instead. Plus, it’s a sure thing that SSD’s will drop in price as they become more mainstream and could potentially be swapped into the Air at a later point in time.
My ship date is February 6th with expected delivery by the 18th (just in time for Northern Voice and SXSW!) although past experience with Apple shipping is that these dates are always very conservative and it will most likely arrive much sooner. I also didn’t pay for the expedited shipping (an extra $23) since in the past, new products tended to ship as soon as they were ready so I may end up getting it as soon as a friend that paid for the faster shipping.
Let the MacBook Air race from China begin!
Expect more updates once I get it and some comparisions to current MacBook, Powerbooks and my (potentially for sale) eeePC.
I think I have a problem.
Is it weird for a guy to like gadget bags? I think I have a bag/pouch/container for just about everything gadget I own. I guess I like to protect my stuff. I especially like Crumpler bags.
The latest one I bought a few months back was the Crumpler Keystone which is a laptop and camera bag. It’s very light, small, heavily padded and perfect for running around taking pictures at geek events.
What else can I say, I love the bags that Crumpler makes and keep getting them anytime I see a new one (or get something that needs a bag). I wish there were more companies that cared this much about their products and had such a unique way of marketing them.
Sometimes they send me stuff too (I highly recommend you sign up for their newsletter):
Totally irreverent marketing (who else takes beer in trade for their products?), completely unusable but fun flash website and awesome containers/protectors for geek tech - what more could you want?
More of them of course!
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