iPhone 4G: It’s Real Alright…
Tech blog Gizmodo posted an article along with photos/videos of the apparent iPhone 4G. This turns out that, it’s real, with Apple sending a formal request for return of the device, and photos now flooding the web, including Twitter, YouTube and of course the tech blogs.
So, want the proof? Here it is…
Let’s start with the basics, the phone’s design.
The design of the new iPhone 4G seems very industrial, with seems around the edging, which is metal, and now separated buttons. Also, the back of the device is either a solid piece of glass, or shiny thick plastic, this is a drastic improvement to the old curved back of the 3G & 3GS.
As the photo below shows, the 3GS sitting right next to the iPhone 4G, it’s quite shocking if you ask me, the sheer difference is huge. We’ve now got a much more streamlined phone, and a much nicer design, when you compare each version. Also notable, is that the screen seems to be darker, I don’t know if this is the photo, but it seems to me personally that the screen is of a much higher quality, which is always an improvement.
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XML Creator takes sides in on-going iPhone/Android Clash
Cnet reports today that Tim Bray, notable as the co-inventor of the technology XML (Extensible Markup Language), joins
the Google team working on Mobile operating system Android.
In doing so he re-affirms a long standing dislike of the Apple iPhone. He had this to say about the smartphone sensation and its creator:
“… a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord’s pleasure and fear his anger.”
This hiring by Google coincides with a distinct hotting up of what is becoming a very personal confrontation between the two companies. With Apple suing Android handset manufacturer HTC over numerous patents, and Google issuing statements to the effect that it will support its manufacturing partners.
Whether you are a fan of Android and Google, a staunch iPhone user, or just an interested consumer sitting on the sidelines – this particular competiton is and will continue to be one to watch.
After all, with Android based devices gaining almost 2/3 of the iPhone’s daily sales figures, the boys over in Cupertino must be feeling the heat.
Tweetie – Twitter in style ?
Tweetie is a new twitter client for Mac OS X & the iPhone, provided by the folks over at atebits.com. There is both a free (ad-supported) version of the client, and a premium one, which weighs in at $19.95 . That is quite a lot just to get rid of some very discrete ads, so I personally didn’t bother.
Upon first installing the program I’ll admit that I was very impressed with the look, feel and simplicity of the thing. Most mac users will agree that installed 3rd party software can often feel clunky, out of place, and unfinished when placed alongside the clean, brushed metal approach of OS X. This is emphatically not the case with Tweetie.
Perhaps it is because it is specifically designed for Mac that its user interface is well … more Apple than Apple! Whatever the reason though, my proverbial hat comes off too the designers behind tweetie – its stunning. What is more they have been able to capture some of that mac simplicity.
I hate to quote (often dubious) testimonials, but Wired magazine didn’t get it far wrong when they said “Tweetie’s interface is so clean you would think it came straight out of Apple headquarters.”
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Trouble at mill for latest member of “Cloud” family…
Swedish company Spotify has recieved much critical acclaim for its music streaming service over the last few months. With a new round of investment valuing it at $250 million, the start-up goes from strength to strength. 
I’m an unashamedly huge fan of spotify, which (for those of you who don’t know) is an itunes-esq desktop music client that uses a mixture of P2P/Direct streaming to place a library of over 3.5 millions tracks at the user’s disposal … virtually instantly. I’m not alone in this opinion either, and spotify has been widely welcomed, both by an internet community sick & tired of fighting the outdated business models and practices of Industry labels, and by proponents of the “Cloud” computing model that has gained so much media focus recently.
Perhaps the music labels too realise that spotify is a way of angling across the current of the increasingly powerful anti-copyright lobby ? The significant shares owned by labels such as Sony would seem to support this theory.
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We said Shun, not shoot…
I fear we may have to backtrack a little here. While I am gratified that the gunman above (patently an avid tbv reader ! see last post) took my advice to shun the iphone very seriously indeed – I have to say that his blunt nosed, macho and frankly stupid response has done nothing more than take a serious debate and discredit it, Allowing apple to shrug it off with the time honoured phrase : ‘There’s always one’.
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