Apple Does Something That Doesn't Grate On Naysayers

In order to sanitize the reviewing process for applications in the App Store, Apple has now made it a requirement to have bought the application to me reviewed before publishing the review.

Common sense really and about the least contoversial thing Apple have done this week. Of course the prospect of having to pay a few quid before slamming a rival app won't deter many unscrupulous developers, but it should get rid of most of the pointless 'this seems like a silly idea' reviews which plague the app store.

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iPhone Hardware Review: Griffin Wave Case

The Griffin Wave case is similar in concept to the IceBox Pro from Gear4, however the Wave has all the downsides of the IceBox Pro and then adds a few extra all of it's own.

The Wave comes on three pieces, a front and back shell which snap together to form the case itself and a polycarbonate screen protector which fits between the iPhone's screen and the case, giving a measure of protection. The first problem you will encounter is putting the thing together. It's fiendishly difficult and I recommend that you do it somewhere your iPhone will have a soft landing when if inevitably slips from your hands.

Once it's all assembled you'll then encounter the same interference patterns that effect the IceBox Pro, although made much worse by the ability of the screen protector to move about between phone ANC case. The openings do a poor job of sealing against dust, another black mark and it's clear that of the all-encompassing type of case this one is a poor example.

If you must have this style of protection then I'd highly recommend that you spend the extra eight quid and buy the Ice Box Pro.

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G1 Pre-launch Sellout

In a 'anything you can do' type attack on the iPhone T-Mobile have announced that the G1 handset has sold out its pre-order allocation.

There were only 60,000 units available though, so its not exactly surprising is it?

I suspect that we'll be hearing more on Android in the very near future, if not necessarily from T-Mobile or HTC.

Anyway its Microsoft and its licensees who have the most to worry about from the G1, which takes its functional cues from the near-standard WM handset reference design.

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iPhone Hardware Review: Gear4 IceBox Pro Case

I've has a chance to try a number of different cases for the iPhone 3G over the last couple of months, too many to round up into one review, so I'll do a short piece on each.

First up is the Gear4 IceBox Pro case. Differing from most iPhone cases this is a complete cover for the iPhone, two piece of clear plastic which slide together to seal the phone in a protective shell. The screen is covered as part of the case, however access through the plastic cover is as good as using the screen itself. The front face of the cover is about half the thickness of the rest of the case, however it should still be thick enough to absorb and spread the impact of most knocks, avoiding the risk of damage to the screen itself.

The case has cut-outs for all the controls, the camera and the iPhone's front-mounted sensors are not affected by the case at all. Fit of the various cut-outs is excellent and the case offers a good blend of protection and accessibility whilst not adversely affecting the portability of the iPhone.

There are a couple of 'howevers' to relate - one that might put you off an otherwise excellent case. The plastic screen sits on top of the iPhone's screen only by virtue of the close fitting size, there is nothing keeping the two in contact, which results in interference 'bubbles' appearing between the two when in use, which gets pretty annoying believe me. Secondly the cut-outs aren't a dust proof seal around the iPhone and in time dust builds up inside the case between the phone and the plastic. The sliding motion of the case back drags these specks across the back of the iPhone making tiny scores in the paint.

All in all I liked the IceBox Pro, but unless Gear4 can fix the problems above I couldn't honestly recommend you buy one.

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App Store Rejections Are News Because?

Shock, horror, Apple have been rejecting apps which break their SDK terms and conditions from the iPhone App Store. Exactly as they have said they would do ever since the original SDK was launched... the renegades.

Now some sites - mostly Windows Mobile sites it has to be said - have been making headlines out of these rejections as if to suggest that Apple are guilty of some draconian restriction of rights here.

Let's be clear, Apple's documentation restricts development in certain areas and Apple have not attempted to hide this at all. As a developer if you choose to play in the grey zone you run the risk of throwing that effort away.

No one is forced to buy an iPhone or any of the available software. Apple has set it's rules at a level which allows them to feel comfortable with handset reliability, which is surely the primary reason for buying a phone. Conversely Google are happy allowing access to anything on the Android platform - a model which has led to numerous problems on Windows Mobile phones in the past.

Each different approach has it's advantages and it's downside. You pay your money and you take your choice. Just stop moaning about Apple delivering on it's threats - it's about as relevant as headlines about traffic wardens and parking tickets and about as interesting too...

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Android Arrives, Packs Music Store

With all the leaks around the Android-based HTC Dream handset, officially unveiled as the T-Mobile G1 today, one surprise was still available for Google and T-Mobile execs to spring: the inclusion of the Amazon MP3 store on the device.

Feature for feature it looks like Google have matched the iPhone down the line, which given its unprecedented success isn't a bad model to be following.

Good points? Well the presence of a keyboard means those who aren't overly impressed by on-screen keyboards will be able to input into the device. The music store itself supports DRM-free tunes, for easy movement onto a PC or indeed any other device and a decent first crack at a mobile web browser, mimicking the iPhone's Safari with a little bit of the latest Opera for Windows Mobile thrown in for good measure. GMail push sync is another plus, although as far as I can tell there's no indication of support for GCal, Contacts or notes (which isn't the same as saying they don't exist)

Disappointments? The absence of video recording, A2DP Bluetooth stereo, a flash for the camera, a standard headphone socket or support for Exchange push email. There's no navigation software to go with the GPS either.

In summary this looks like Windows 98 compared to iPhone's OS X, the features are all there but no so elegantly put together or housed. Most of the iPhone's missing features are absent here too. Whether the open developer community will fix this remains to be seen. The Application Marketplace looks a double-edged sword - Google doesn't appear to be monitoring the upload of applications, meaning that applications with nefarious hidden features could make it through to devices in the wild. The Java based programming language should mean the rapid development of applications, although how that affects their relaibility also remains to be seen.

I suspect we'll remember today as the launch of a new platform rather than for the G1 itself, which I suspect will be overtaken by future hardware.

Microsoft have a real dilemna now however. Windows Mobile has been exposed as a less than convincing mobile OS and its likely that the smartphone market will start to pool around Blackberry, iPhone and Android. Windows Mobile 7 can't come soon enough (which meant today was a bad day to be announcing delays until mid-2009 for the new OS) Nokia will be looking over their shoulders too, as the new kids on the block start to savage their market share.

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More App Store Success Stories

Its seems like for all the negative noises that Apple's application publishing policy brings there's a success story that proves its worth jumping over some hurdles. Latest is the story of Trism, a Bejeweled clone written by Steve Detemer, who has announced profits of $250,000 since the app launched, with the app store on July 11th, just over two months ago.

That's going on for a thousand sales a day.

And an annual profit of $1.5m if sales continue at that level for the rest of the year.

Given the potential for iPhone apps I wonder how many people are still developing for other platforms? Well given that the UK App Store has grown to nearly four thousand applications since launch (a near 800% growth) I'm guessing not many.

Me? I'm off to learn Cocoa programming and grab myself a piece of that action!!!

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iMac, Ten Years On

Back in 1998 Apple was a company on the point of falling apart, with confusing products and an often accurate market perception as making strange, expensive computers and even stranger, more expensive peripherals. One day in August changed all that, when Steve Jobs (in suit and tie, as opposed to his later polo neck and jeans incarnation) unveiled the iMac, the computer which changed the world (in much the same way that the iPod and iPhone would later do).

Technically the Motorola G3 based iMac was a tour de force compared to its peers. The complete abandonment of all legacy peripheral connections and wholesale adoption of Intel's struggling USB standard was the beginning of an explosion of USB adoption from peripheral manufacturers. And Apple got USB right too, Mac OS 8's support for the standard reaching a level that Microsoft wouldn't achieve in Windows for another five years with the launch of XP. The iMac did the unthinkable and ditched the floppy drive too. Instead the machine came with a modem and ethernet port (on a consumer machine!) and was built for the internet generation. Sneakernet? No thanks.

The standout feature of the iMac was its design, which paid homage to the original Macintosh with its one box design. The brightly coloured but translucent plastic gave it a space age feel, looking nothing like the drab gray boxes we had come to expect. Detractors called it the Fisher Price of computers, but its non-threatening appearance drew in buyers who would have found a regular PC far too complicated. That reputation as the Easy PC was cemented by a set of memorable TV adverts voiced by Jeff Goldblum which made it quite clear how friendly this new machine was to use. As well as being friendly the iMac became trendy, as TV shows rushed to fill their office desks with the little blue boxes. Big companies put them on receptionists desks and parents bought them for their children.

It took just over a year to sell two million of the original iMac and the little friendly computer saved Apple with the revenues it generated. It stayed in production right up until 2003, when Apple laid it to rest after the launch of the G4 iMac - a flat screen suspended over a white dome by an 'anglepoise' style arm. Even then its spirit lived on in the education only eMac as late as 2006.

Its no exaggeration to say that we wouldn't have the iPod, iPhone or any other Apple goodness today but for the little iMac. In 1997, prior to the iMac's arrival the company was bleeding money - losing close to a billion dollars and running out of funds to maintain that kind of performance. Yet in 1998 post iMac Apple turned in a near half billion dollar profit and hasn't looked back since. If you were inclined to take a punt on Apple shares just before the iMac's launch you'd have been buying in at around $11 a share. Today after two share splits that same share would be worth close to $700. If you bet on Steve Jobs and Apple back in 1998 he's made you a very rich man.

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iPhone 3G And EeePC Take Stuff Magazine Awards

Stuff Magazine's annual awards ceremony has seen the iPhone 3G and EeePC triumph in the Gadget of the Year category. The iPhone won the reader's choice award, whilst the Asus was the choice of the magazine's staff.

Not very surprising as both completely redefined their market segments and its hard to decide which has stirred up more reaction amongst competitors. The EeePC is now overwhelmed with mini-notebook rivals by everyone from HP and Dell through to MSI and Acer. The iPhone continues to stand head and shoulders above its competition, at least until next generation devices from Sony, HTC and Google start arriving.

Details of the awards can be found here.

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Creationism And The Downfall Of Michael Reiss

Michael Reiss, erstwhile director of education at the Royal Society, was pushed onto his own sword last week after making headlines asking for teachers to engage in discussion on creationism. Now I'm fairly sure that next to no-one really believes in intelligent design, creationism or the 100,000 year old planet here. Its not like we live in the Jesusland belt of middle America, after all. Even so, Professor Reiss's arguments that children from strong religious backgrounds who are indoctrinated with this belief should be able to be included in science lessons on evolution and their beliefs treated sympathetically don't strike me as the sort of religious extremism that it has been painted in the 'popular' press, nor for that matter amount to a resigning issue.

Skewering people who hold contradictory views is something that scientists should leave to the various churches - they're so much better at it. We certainly don't need scientists to start holding their theories and views as absolute truth beyond criticism or discussion, else science becomes another useless creed demanding blind faith in its followers.

Creationism is a world view that a small minority of people hold and nurture in their offspring. By education and discussion its possible that their children may be given the opportunity to consider more realistic world views. Lets hope the Royal Society learn something from this sorry episode.

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OQO Loses CEO

OQO's CEO Dennis Moore is CEO no longer, having left to form his own company. This is a real blow to the little PC company (that's the company who makes little PCs not... never mind I'm sure you get the idea).

Dennis was one of the companies best assets, a regular contributor to the OQOtalk forums and brought a refreshing blend of honesty and passion for the product. He wasn't afraid to admit when things had gone wrong and went to some personal effort to ensure that things were put right.

What this means for the company remains to be seen, but I'll be watching to see what Dennis' new venture turns out to be.

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Can HD Save Windows Mobile?

HTC is on a roll with new devices, the Touch Diamond and Pro; The new Dream and now adevice they've managed to keep quiet about all the way through it's development: the Touch HD.

It's exactly the sort of device I've been calling for on this blog and looks every inch an iPhone competitor in specifications at least.

The HD is about the same size as the iPhone and packs a slightly larger 3.8" 800 x 480 WVGA screen. That sort of screen size and resolution is getting close to the Nokia Internet Tablet area and will make WM6 a much more usable proposition.

However WM devices with this screen resolution are somewhat jinxed, the first, the Toshiba G900 was so badly flawed that most people who bought one are unlikely to ever buy another Toshiba product ever again. The Sony-Ericsson X1 is now six months late and still hasn't made it into the shops.

Somehow I suspect that the HD will avoid these pitfalls on the way to market, probably early next year.

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Android Arriving Next Week

T-Mobile and Google have all but confirmed a 23rd September arrival for the HTC Dream - likely to be badged the MDA G1 when it arrives in the shops in the US and UK in October.

I'm not expecting this to have as big an impact as the iPhone, not least because it will be seen as the geeks geek-phone. Whether it's good enough to carry the fight to Apple remains to be seen. What won't be up for debate will be how it reflects on Windows Mobile devices. After all HTC's WM phones have had more than. Few flaws historically, if the switch to Android cures them it looks bad for Microsoft, otherwise it suggests HTC just arent good at designing phones from scratch. We'll have to see which in the coming months...

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Gates & Seinfeld = Very Funny

The second installment of the Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld Microsoft commercial is out and if you thought the first one was funny this one will be a riot. If you didn't find the first one funny (and apparently there's quite a few of you out there) then can I suggest psychiatric counselling?

You can view the new 'My Family' installment here, and ignoring the clever subtexts about family life, you'll find classic Seinfeld humour that happens to star Bill Gates (and does a great job of humanising him) and is paid for by Microsoft. What's not to like?

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iTunes 8 and Vista Don't Play Nicely

Or at least that's what some users are complaining, with the affected reporting the dreaded Windows Blue Screen Of Death when an iPod or iPhone is connected to their PC. Its an unfortunate problem, which follows a few slip-ups by the previously flawless Apple machine - the whole MobileMe experience and the unauthorised installation of Windows Safari by a previous iTunes update, for example.

Its doubly unfortunate for those users affected as iTunes 8 is a pre-requisite for the update to iPhone 2.1, something that promises to stamp on many of the bugs which have caused some users no end of problems.

I suspect the Mr Jobs will be stomping around in Cupertino looking for answers even as I write this.

This should probably be getting Steve Balmer off his backside at Redmond too, as it says little for the absolute stability of Windows Vista that an ill-performing application can bring the whole system down. Not that anyone on the Vista team won't have already been on the receiving end of numerous backside kickings... another one should serve to focus their minds a little bit better I have no doubt.

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Let's Rock: Apple Event Tomorrow To Launch... Something Special

The rumour mill has been buzzing all over the place in the run up to tomorrow's Apple event where we're being told to expect all kinds of various new services from Apple, whilst market analysts are desperately trying to temper the runaway expectations of those who gamble in the stock market.

How serious are the propositions we've seen?

Well the new iPod Nano is almost certainly on its way and given the number of differing sources showing a longer thinner device with a widescreen (well, tallscreen technically) its probably safe to assume that Steve Jobs will have a new Nano to pull from the hat. An update of MacBooks is also expected, however that jibes with the Let's Rock theme of the event, which doesn't fit with an update to the consumer laptop line, especially if the news would be buried by a bigger announcement.

For example the launch of an iTunes subscription service. Now this one has really split commentators with several scoffing at the rumour and then reversing their position to suggest its a given. I'm not sure this fits the Apple/iTunes sales model so well, however in the light of the Apple/Music labels battles over pricing and availability it could be an olive branch that keeps the music store going.

The launch of the iPhone 2.1 is also rumoured for tomorrow, with some fancy new features, unseen as they were stripped from the developers betas. I wouldn't be surprised to see the update arrive tomorrow, but I'll be happy to see it support the notification service which should allow IM and location services to work much more sensibly on the iPhone. Copy and paste would be a bonus too...

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Dream In The UK By Christmas

Or so a number of technology sites are suggesting. The Android powered-phone is expected to launch with T-Mobile in November and be in the shops as the G1 in time for a lucky few to pull one of their Christmas stockings.

Is this likely? I'm not that sure, after all T-Mobile's retail arm have been promising the arrival of the Vario IV (aka HTC Touch Pro) since early June and we're still no closer to being able to lay our grubby hands on one. Perhaps given the very similar nature of the two handsets and their almost identical functionality, T-Mobile has decided to ditch the Windows Mobile handset and plump for the Android powered one instead?

it would make sense given the failure of the Diamond and Touch Pro to approach the iPhone experience to attempt to build some marketing momentum behind the launch of the first serious iPhone competitor. And the company still has a varied line of Windows Mobile handsets should any users be under the mis-apprehension that this is a competitive OS in its current guise.

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App Store Review: Mocha VNC

Second iPhone app on my list to review is Mocha's VNC client. For those of you who don't know, VNC is an open-source piece of software which allows remote control of a desktop or server PC/Mac/Linux machine through a piece of software installed on the host and the client. Mocha's VNC client for the iPhone is available in two flavours: Lite (free) and the full version which runs to £3.49.

The difference between the two versions amounts to an extended ability to send key combinations and most specifically the CTRL ALT DEL sequence heavily used by Microsoft. Otherwise functionally they are identical.

VNC supports all the features which make using the iPhone such a joy, screen rotation works perfectly so you can access the host machine in whichever format most suits the task you are performing; pinch zooming allows you to readily switch between zoomed in mode for close inspection or full screen zoomed out to get an overview of how things look. Touch scrolling (the iPhone window on the host) or host scrolling (the application on the host) can be toggled as can the use of the standard and extended keyboards. All in all its as good as a remote control session can get on a screen on this size or resolution.

Unfortunately this is one area where the unique design and engineering behind the iPhone doesn't make it best in class. Windows Mobile large screen VGA phones with keyboards (Universal and Advantage primarily) and the Nokia N810 provide a much better remote desktop solution due to their higher resolutions and built-in keyboards.

However if you need a remote control solution for the iPhone then Mocha VNC does the job very well and is worth every penny of the (very reasonable) asking price.

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Android Winner Porting To iPhone

Eric Wijngaard of Holland was one of the big winners in the Google Android software challenge. How refreshingly ironic that his plans include porting his application (Picsay) to the iPhone. Although he will ensure the winning app does work on the shipping Android device first...

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Comes With Music, Comes With Restrictions

Nokia and The Carphone Warehouse have announced pre-registrations for the long-awaited Comes With Music Service. Having been announced as long ago as December this is the first actual manifestation of the Finnish giant's bizarrely funded music subscription service.

The deal reads like this: buy a Nokia Express Music Phone from The Carphone Warehouse on Pay As You Go for around £80 and get unlimited downloads from Nokia's music store. At the end of twelve months you have to buy another Nokia phone for £80 or lose access to the service. You will still be able to play all the tracks you have downloaded, although only on the PC or phone which was registered on the service. The tracks are available in DRM-heavy WMA and there are approximately two million of them to choose from.

Interestingly it appears that Nokia are giving away all the profits from the sales directly to the music industry - that surely can't be a sensible long term business strategy? Its clear that both Nokia and the music industry are running out of ideas to compete with iTunes and the iPhone/iPod combo. Throwing profits away to subsidise an already discredited business model has the air of desperation about it.

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Google Chrome Today

Google's oft-rumoured web browser becomes real later today with news that the internet search giant has decided to take on Microsoft's Internet Explorer head-on. Almost certainly a bid to keep its web apps business pushing forward I wonder whether this will be a taste of the mobile browser about to appear in Android? It seems like the only sensible move on Google's part, after all Mobile Safari benefits directly from OS X's full size Safari browser technology and is by far the most popular mobile browsing tool. Emulating this success must be a priority for the Android platform given its owner and sole reason for existing: to allow Google to generate advertising revenue anytime, anyplace.

Otherwise its not particularly great timing to launch a browser just at a time when people are leaving IE for Firefox in ever increasing numbers, muddying the market and perhaps stealing share from Firefox rather than IE.

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iPhone PAYG Prices Announced

O2 have confirmed iPhone PAYG availability for September 16th - which should boost sales further and keep the iPhone at the top of the tech pages. Interestingly the £350 cost of the phone works out to be a much better deal than the monthly contract over 18 months, working out to £410 for the phone and full web and wifi access - £229 less than the cheapest contract deal, leaving plenty over for PAYG calling/texting costs, especially if you choose one of O2's bolt on packages.

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Music Industry Still Wants To Sell Filler At Premium Rates

How many times have you bought an album and thought 'every track on here is quality'? No me neither. In fact it's fair to say that a large proportion of most albums is average quality at best. There are notable exceptions, but these are a rarity especially in these days of manufactured and rehashed bands.

The music industry is suffering because people are buying just the music they want and album sales are down as a result. This is causing some anger with iTunes as Apple doesn't allow sales of album only releases.

There are those who complain about the restrictions Apple place on sales within iTunes, but as a consumer I'm delighted that Apple allow me to buy exactly what I want without having to pay for the filler the music industry wants to dump on me.

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iPhone Fourth Most Popular Internet OS - Closing In On Linux

iPhone is beginning to transcend it's mobile device roots and approach desktop levels of Internet penetration. Figures for August released today by Net Applications of California show iPhones share of Internet traffic up from 0.3% to 0.48% a better than fifty percent increase. That's getting very close to third placed Linux's 0.92% and reflects one in every 200 network requests coming from an iPhone.

How far can this phenomenon go? I believe that this could be the start of an Internet access revolution. After all your mobile phone is available to you for much longer periods of the day and given high quality browsers on mobile phones and unlimited data plans it's hard to see anything else happening in the long run.

For now Apple users are seeing the most benefit and it wouldn't surprise me to see it become the third most popular Internet OS before this time next year.

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