iPhone 4 Video Shot in the Park

by thomasfitzgerald on 18. Aug, 2010 in Apple, iPhone

Marley Park on iPhone from Thomas Fitzgerald on Vimeo.

A Trip Around Marley Park shot with the iPhone 4. This was more of an experiment to see what the quality was like, and it’s pretty good, for the most part.

The only problem I have with it is the lack of a stabiliser, which is pretty apparent. Considering all the motion sensors in the iPhone, I don’t see why they couldn’t implement it in software if they wanted. Still, for just quick shooting without any planning, I think it came out quite well considering. What do you think?

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Are Smartphone Market Share Numbers an Accurate Representation of the Market?

by thomasfitzgerald on 02. Aug, 2010 in Apple, iPhone

With the recent publication of the latest round of smartphone market share data, pundits will be undoubtedly jumping on the statistics that show Android having overtaken the both the iPhone and Blackberry in the US. While the numbers will be good news for those rooting for Android to destroy the iPhone, I have to wonder if the numbers are a good representation of the actual state of the market. Before you write this off as rampant fanboyism or an attempt to defend Apple at all cost, bear with me.

I have no doubt that the numbers are correct but I have two issues with the context in which they are framed. First of all they are pitting an entire group of manufacturers and brands against two individual companies. Rather than compare the sales of phones from individual manufacturers the people delivering these figures are grouping all Android phones and manufacturers under a single umbrella. They are comparing the sales of dozens of companies to the sale of one (or two). However, even though I don’t think this is a fair representation of the market, I can see why you would do this. It is after all a comparison of operating systems. But then, if you’re comparing platforms based on operating systems, why leave out a huge chunk of one OS, in other words iOS devices other than the iPhone?

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iPhone Antenna Issues outside The US? Not So Much.

by thomasfitzgerald on 30. Jul, 2010 in Apple, iPhone

There are two different reports in the news today about iPhone 4 reception in real world tests on networks in countries outside the US. Both note that there are no real issues with the Phone.

From Australia:

Is the antenna an issue? No it’s not. Have I dropped calls? No, I have not.

Have I noticed an impact on the device’s performance? No.

Now it would be impossible for me to test every single mobile reception area in Australia just as it would be unlikely any iPhone 4 user will use the device in every mobile reception area in Australia.

Here’s another report from Norway (translated by AppleInsider)

Amobil writer Finn Jarle Kvalheim added, ‘Consumer Reports goes far in asserting that the problems do not have anything to with the mobile network. But it is a fact that mobile networks in Norway are much more robust than AT&T’s network in the US.’

Olsen, who helped translate the story for AppleInsider, adds “I have myself tested the iPhone 4 and tried to replicate the signal loss close to one of Norway’s major towns without being able to get even one less bar.”

I’ll test in Ireland when I get mine, but I think this just reinforces the fact that this issue was blown out of all proportion. Remember, Consumer Reports couldn’t replicate this in the field either. Then again, some reliable people did have major issues, so it could be a frequency issue, as europe (I’m not sure about Australia) uses a different GSM frequency as the US. It’s interesting though.

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Android seen as long-term threat to iPhone? Numbers Don’t Add Up.

by thomasfitzgerald on 30. Jul, 2010 in Mac

From Electronista

The analyst points out that Android phones are already trumping the iPhone on a daily sales basis, moving about 160,000 units versus the iPhone’s 95,000. Around 120,000 of RIM’s BlackBerries are being sold each day.

there’s something about these numbers that don’t add up. Google’s been trumping that number (160,000 per day) for some time now and yet they haven’t overtaken Apple or RIM in terms of sales for the last two quarters, and if these numbers are accurate they should have by now, and yet market share numbers don’t put them any where near Apple yet. So what gives?

Could it be that the 160,000 number is “Activations” and not sales. I don’t know how it works on Android, butI’ve activated my iPhone at least 5 times since I bought it. Something is clearly not right here as those figures just don’t add up.

(Read Android seen as long-term threat to iPhone | Electronista.)

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If Phones Were Cars

by thomasfitzgerald on 13. Jul, 2010 in Apple, iPhone

Here’s an imaginary situation to ponder:

Imagine that some car company, let’s say Ford announces a new car. It’s a newly designed low cost sports car for the general public. It has numerous innovative designs but Ford is keen to publicise the new low profile tyre and wheel design designed to improve fuel efficiency. The car receives a generally good reception from the industry and before its release, Ford sends review models to the major Car magazines and Newspapers. The car gets a glowing report and reviewers consider it one of the best cars they’ve ever driven.

When the car goes on general release however a popular car enthusiast blog, lets for the sake of argument call them Carzomo, receives a you tube video from a reader showing that if you drive over nails the tyre bursts. Upon seeing this, other readers of the blog who have also just bought the car decide to try it for themselves, and sure enough, if you drive the car over some nails the tyres burst. Carzomo declares that this is a design flaw with the new sports car’s low profile tyre design and the story is quickly picked up by other blogs and media outlets. A newspaper contacts Ford for a comment and they respond that all cars run the risk of having their tyres burst if you drive over nails, and that customers should avoid driving over nails.

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Did Gizmodo Get Revenge on Apple?

by thomasfitzgerald on 13. Jul, 2010 in Apple

A while ago the popular gadget blog Gizmodo had a story about a new cellphone with which some customers were having reception problems. Complaints from customers were “overflowing” the manufacturer’s support forums. Does this sound familiar? Yet this is not about the iPhone 4 and its infamous “death grip”. No, this is about the Google Nexus One. Back in January Nexus One owners were having terrible problems with reception. Some even joked: “So, does HTC stand for “Hard To Connect” now?” (referring to the Nexus One’s hardware manufacturer). There are pages and pages of disgruntled Nexus One customers complaining about the Phone’s reception problems, including the Phone dropping signal when held. Gizmodo themselves received images from readers showing how the phone had limited signal compared to other Android devices. With all this evidence from readers their conclusion:

“While the support thread is getting longer, and the whining louder, the evidence is still firmly anecdotal.”

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This weeks Apple “Controversy” is brought to you by….

by thomasfitzgerald on 13. Jul, 2010 in Mac

I bet you thought that the Consumer reports un-reccomending of the iPhone would be this week’s big Apple controversy (which seem to be a regular feature of the technology press these days), but no. It’s that Apple moderators removed discussions of the report from the Apple support discussions. Oh the horror I hear you say. It’s blatant censorship. Or as 9-5 mac puts it:

“Apple appears to be panicking in its reaction to the widely-reported antenna issue plaguing most iPhone 4s — in its latest maneuver to attempt to ‘unthink’ the problem, company moderators appeared to delete threads which referred to yesterday’s Consumer Reports findings — only to change their mind and open these discussions again a few hours later.”

Oh dear. Where to start. Here’s another one of those things that is blown out of all proportion, but of course, it’s such a loaded topic that daring to point this out labels you an instant fanboy, or even worse, an apologist. But what the hell, I’ve been labelled worse. You see, here’s the thing about the Apple support forums. They’re for support. In other words, for solving technical problems. Apple has been pretty clear about this on many many occasions and they regularly remove threads that are not about support issues, or are irrelevant to the thread they are posted in, but instead are discussing some blog post. It’s not because they are trying to cover up some issue, it’s because it is someone’s job and they don’t want to loose it. If you actually read some of them they’re not so explosive that they would have been worth covering up in the first place. Like I said, Apple does this on a regular basis. I suspect the forum moderators did this without thinking. It wasn’t a directive from Jobs or anyone else, it was the guys in some basement somewhere doing what they’re paid to do.

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Testing something on the blog, incase there’s downtime.

by thomasfitzgerald on 12. Jul, 2010 in Site News

I’m testing something on this blog later so if there’s some strangeness going on, here’s why. I’ve been doing a lot more with my Tumblr blog lately as it allows me to publish quick thoughts and links quicker than posting them here. Plus it keeps this for the more serious and in-depth stuff. However, I thought it would be nice if I could post a daily digest of the things I’ve been posting on tumblr here and I’ve found a WordPress plug in to do it, but I’m not sure if it’s going to work properly or if it’s just going to be hideous. Anyway, It should publish it’s first digest tonight some time so if things go pear shaped then that’s why! I’m using the “Digest Post”plug in. If anyone knows of a better option please let me know as this seems a bit finicky to configure.

[Update] It didn’t work, but at least it didn’t break anything.

[Update2] Trying it again with a different plug-in. Hopefully this will work a bit better

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