News tagged ‘review’

Apple has released their 4th preview of Xcode 4 to developers today. If you’re a developer go get it!

This is a pre-release version of Xcode 4, a major new release of Xcode for both Mac and iOS development. This release requires Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and includes the iOS SDK 4.1, to develop apps for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Please review the Release Notes and Readme before installing this software.

CNet reviewd the new Apple TV 2-nd generation. Here's what they think of it:

The good: Costs $99; rent movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store; 99-cent HD TV show rentals on some Fox and ABC shows; supports Netflix streaming; incredibly small design; outstanding user interface; can be controlled by iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch; streams music and videos from PCs and Macs running iTunes; promising future AirPlay functionality should be available in November.

The bad: Very limited selection of TV shows, especially compared with Amazon Video On Demand; confusion between what's available on Apple TV iTunes Store and PC-based iTunes store; doesn't support the full suite of media apps (Pandora, etc.) available on the iPhone and iPad; can't connect to older, pre-HDMI TVs.

The bottom line: The Apple TV's new low $99 price makes it an easy impulse buy for Apple fans looking to bring Netflix into the living room, but you may want to wait until more content--or Apple's forthcoming AirPlay update--becomes available.

Watch the video below:

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Apple’s website new preview page promises the release of iOS 4.2. in near future. Here’s what it says:

Look for iOS 4.2 coming in November for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.1

The footnote reads that the new platform will not be compatible with all the models, so it’s likely that iPod touch G1 and iPhone 2G will miss it out.

Apple hosted their media event today and announced a number of new products and updates:

• Apple announces all new iPod models:

1. iPod Shuffle with the new VoiceOver button on top, which allows users to hear the name of the currently playing song and to switch between songs, playlists or Genius Mixes- the iTunes feature
2. iPod Nano with multi-touch display and without Click Wheel, with built-in FM radio and new feature "Shake to Shuffle," giving music lovers the ability to shake their iPod Nano to shuffle to a new song in their music library
3. Thinner iPod Touch with Retina Display, forward-facing camera and Apple's A4 chip

• Apple introduces updated apple TV
• Apple releases iTunes 10 with 'Ping' Social Networking and Open/Minimize/Close buttons are vertically oriented
• Apple announces pending release of 4.1 and 4.2 preview
• The iPod Classic is still for sale but with no changes
• The new iPod Touch's back camera takes still photos at a disappointingly low 960x720 resolution
• The impressive game demo by Epic Games is now available on the App Store as a free download
• The new iPod nano has no camera and apparently can't play video any longer

Apple’s Special Event kicks off tomorrow, on Wednesday at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. This annual media event usually focuses on the iPod line, but recent rumors suggest that there might be other topics covered as well. Let’s see a brief summary of what we might expect tomorrow.

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iTunes users will be able to sample a minute of a song before purchasing. Currently, iTunes song samples are limited to 30 seconds.

The report said that the addition of more sample time is one of a number of expected changes to iTunes, aimed at helping users discover music. It is rumored that Apple will spend "a large part" of its 1st September  special event detailing how the new iTunes improves the user experience. But Apple is not expected to introduce a cloud-based iTunes service, which would allow users to stream music to devices such as the iPhone.

Electric Pig previews London's new huge Apple Store in Covent Garden. It looks like an Apple Mall, rather than just a store:

Recently tech journalist Stephen Fenech wrote an interesting iPhone 4 review for Australian Daily Telegraph. Besides saying that iPhone 4 is "a massive jump" in the smartphone industry, Fenech also tried to reproduce the antenna issue. To make sure his results are correct he used his phone on 6 different Australian carriers - Optus, Telstra, Vodafone and 3 other networks in different parts of Sydney. Here is his conclusion:

"I tried the 'death grip' on the bottom left while making test calls in areas I knew to have weaker reception and the times I did manage to reduce the signal bars... my calls were still not affected. The worst thing that happened was a web page I was loading timed out but after refreshing it came up fine. I even managed to watch a YouTube video over 3G while in the 'death grip.'"

Fenech also added that the "death grip" is unnatural and iPhone 4 call quality was significantly improved in comparison to iPhone 3GS.

After using two iPhones 4 for six weeks Wall Mossberg finally reviewed the newest Apple’s handset.

So, one phone was obtained by Mossberg personally, while the second was provided by Apple. Walt found that iPhone 4 works better than iPhone 3GS in those areas where there is a "strong AT&T coverage", but when it comes to weak coverage areas iPhone 3GS performs better, because it drops less calls and 'no service' status can be seen rarer. That became a reason for Mossberg to not recommend iPhone 4 with its limited AT&T data plans to people who "live, work or travel" in areas with poor reception signal.

Walt also found that the 'death-grip' issue is not a problem as it causes signal bars to fluctuate only and even to rise in some cases.

This week developers started receiving Microsoft’s test units, which will allow them to test the performance of their apps for WP7 instead of using an emulator. The test smartphones are produced by Samsung and LG and have a Technical Preview version of Windows Phone 7, and guys at NewsGeek decided to compare its browser speed with iPhone 3GS' that runs on iOS 4.

Since the difference in speed is so huge it is noted that both of the phones used 3G network (not Wi-Fi) and iPhone 3GS is a completely finished product, while Samsung's test unit is a prototype with an unfinished OS that is still in development.

Newsgeek also found Internet Explorer in the Windows Phone 7 to be "surprisingly competent and quick" though it was mostly built off of IE7's desktop version.

CNet specialists will show us what is Firefox Home for iPhone:

You can download Firefox Home for iPhone free of charge here.

Engadget reports about another hack made in the Book category of an iTunes App Store. 42 of the top 50 books now belong to a seller named Thuat Nguyen, whose company is written as “mycompany” and its site is www.home.com. Almost all of these books have been published in April and have little to no customer reviews or ratings. Though it is claimed that the books are available in English and Japanese language, people report they are actually appear to be in Vietnamese.

Engadget also claims that many people report about iTunes account hacking that became a reason of spending hundreds of dollars on above-mentioned books without any wish and permission of its owners. That cannot be a coincidence, so it is recommended that every Apple customer will check his purchase history in his Apple Account information.

Apple hasn’t yet commented on the situation.

Apple has published an official public letter of response to concerns about the iPhone 4 signaling problems. Some would say this is very nice and great. Others would complain this is just a cop out. Well, at least we see that Apple is aware of users' problems. Apple claims, that it's just a software problem of calculating how many bars of signal strength to display. Apple says there is no hardware problem.

Here it the full letter:

Dear iPhone 4 Users,

The iPhone 4 has been the most successful product launch in Apple’s history. It has been judged by reviewers around the world to be the best smartphone ever, and users have told us that they love it. So we were surprised when we read reports of reception problems, and we immediately began investigating them. Here is what we have learned.

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One of iPhone 4’s main design features is its front and black made entirely of glass which, according to Apple, is more resistant to scratches than ever. The company is so sure of the durability and strength of the new device’s glass that the only protection feature they are offering is bumpers for the edges, while the front and black are fully exposed.

According to some reviews from the iPhone 4’s new owners, the glass seems to be holding up quite well, and no effects were observed even after dropping the device. However, there are some new photos which prove that the situation is not as sunny as it is claimed to be.

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