Apple Newbie

Apple’s iPhone is a 2.5G quad band GSM phone that uses a touch screen interface. It performs the functions of a mobile phone, a camera, an da multimedia player, plus internet services such as e-mail, text messaging, web browsing, and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Many have expressed disappointment that the iPhone is not a 3G device, but Apple says it plans to make 3G phones in the future, and this first generation iPhone was designed to be 2.5G only because of battery consumption and 3G network maturity issues in the US.

In the US, the Apple iPhone is available from the Apple Store and from AT&T Mobility, formerly Cingular Wireless, with a price of US$499 for the 4 GB model and US$599 for the 8 GB model, based on a two-year service contract.

Despite most touch screen devices being designed for use with a stylus, the Apple iPhone’s touch screen has been specifically designed for use with fingers. Because of this, even if you want to use a normal stylus you would be unable to do so as the screen has been programmed to respond to touch by something with the physical properties of bare skin.

Keying in text is via a virtual keyboard on the touch screen which has automatic spell checking, word prediction and a dynamic dictionary which can learn new words. You control interface elements such as scrolling using special touch-drag-lift finger motions, like sliding a playing card across a table. Once you learn the various ways to touch the screen, using the Apple iPhone should be easy as Apple is known to be very good at user interface design.

The camera function uses a 2.0 megapixel camera at the back of the phone but this camera only takes photos with no video recording capability.

Being 2.5G, the fastest internet connectivity it can use is EDGE, supported on AT&T’s network. It uses a mobile version of Safari with special touch control features. The Apple iPhone’s email client supports HTML and can sync with Apple Mail, Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Entourage. It also supports IMAP and POP3, as well as special PushIMAP email from Yahoo that works similiarly to a BlackBerry.

The Apple iPhone runs a special mobile version of Mac OS X that takes up 700MB of space on the device. It supports Widgets like Stock and Weather Widgets.

Some specs:
* Screen size: 8.9 cm (3.5 in)
* Screen resolution: 320×480 pixels at 160 ppi
* Input method: Multi-touch screen interface (the “Home” button is the iPhone’s only physical front panel button)
* Operating System: OS X
* Storage: 4 or 8 GB Flash memory
* Quad band GSM (GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900)
* Wi-Fi (802.11b/802.11g), EDGE and Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
* 2 megapixel camera
* Built-in rechargeable, non-removable battery with up to 8 hours of talk, 6 hours of internet use, 7 hours of video playback and up to 24 hours of audio playback, lasting over 250 hours on standby.[31]
* Size: 115×61×11.6 mm (4.5×2.4×0.46 in)
* Weight: 135 g (4.8 oz)
* Digital SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) of 0.974 watts per kilogram[1][2]

Apple’s Airport Extreme Base Station is now on sale in the UK market, but the Airport EXtreme 802.11n Enabler software goes for an additional £1.25. This is because of US accountancy regulations.

“The nominal distribution fee for the 802.11n software is required in order for Apple to comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for revenue recognition, which generally require that we charge for significant feature enhancements, such as 802.11n, when added to previously purchased products,” Apple clarified.

The Apple Airport Extreme Base Station is based on 802.11n wireless, and can also hook up to 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g networks.

It is compatible with the following Macs:

1. MacBook Pro with Core 2 Duo
2. MacBook with Core 2 Duo
3. Mac Pro with Xeon and AirPort Extreme option
4. iMac with Core 2 Duo (except iMac 17-inch, 1.83GHz)

Links:
Apple Airport Extreme Base Station Tech Specs

Apple’s iBook and iMac ranges do not support screen spanning by default although it comes with a graphics chipset (ATI Radeon Mobility) that supports the feature. What’s screen spanning? It’s something like an extended desktop where your desktop area stretches across two monitors instead of both monitors displaying the same thing. They say once you’re used to dual displays you won’t go back. iBook and iMac users can actually experience this, with a tool called the Screen Spanning Doctor.

It involves hacking the Open Firmware to enable screen spanning support, a feature available on PowerMacs and PowerBooks.

BTW please don’t try this on notebooks that run other chipsets like the older ATI Rage, as it will screw up your hardware! The list of officially supported machines and machines that are not supported are available here.

Download the Screen Spanning Doctor by Rute Moeller

Looks like my Photoshop was pretty accurate, except the actual iSight lense is much smaller!

More updates later, kinda tied with stuff now.

Apple has confirmed the Mac Mini upgrade that I previously posted about, but there’s a catch to it. Because there’s alot of existing Mac Mini stock in the stores, the new Mac Mini boxes are labelled with the old specifications, with no hints as to which are the new ones and which are the old ones.

The way it is right now, getting an upgraded model or the previous specifications is a matter of luck.

Source: Yahoo

Apple’s filing for an integrated horizontal axis swiveling webcam gives us an insight into what Apple might add to their desktop and notebook lines.

AppleInsider says sources have reported sightings of iMac prototypes that feature a webcam. A built in webcam would be useful in this day where VOIP is getting hotter and hotter. With video talk getting more popular with 3G handphones, it’s only logical that with broadband connections, video phone calls using PC would be in demand. An iMac with a built-in iSight camera is logical and would definitely sell, since iChat AV 3.0 is one of the main features of Tiger.

With a little Photoshop magic, the camera equipped iMac might look like this…

The lense kind of spoils the clean look of the iMac so I don’t now how Apple’s designers (with far far more creative capability than me) would decide to integrate it. Also, I doubt the iMac’s webcam would have swivel capability as on a desktop there would not be much use for such a feature. But if they did… I wonder how they would implement it?

Wouldn’t it be great if it was true?

Been looking around the net for more Mac Mini information regarding the Mac Mini update rumour and found some interesting tidbits on the Mac Mini.
Continue reading »

Think Secret says the updated Mac Mini systems are already on the way to the retailers. Not sure when Malaysia will get these new ones.

So what are in the new Mac Mini line? The low-end Mac Mini will get a 1.33GHz G4 instead of the previous 1.25GHz one. The high-end Mac Mini will get a bump up to 1.5GHz from 1.42Ghz. Hard drives will be upgraded to 5400rpm. This is what particularly interests me. Would speed up the swap trashing and application loading.

The SuperDrive high-end model will get it’s 4 speed SuperDrive bumped up to a 8 speed model capable of writing dual-layer discs.

Prices are expected to remain the same.

The Mighty Mouse is a unique mouse by Apple and it’s the first mouse to come with more than a single button. Looks can be deceiving though, it looks like it has no buttons at all! All you can see on the mouse is a single scrollball device. Apple has implemented “buttons” via the use of touch pressure sensors. You can activate virtual buttons via touching the usual left and right mouse button areas and also activate the side buttons by squeezing the mouse. Unique huh?

Azul Adnan has posted a review of the Mighty Mouse over at myMUG. He gives it 4 out of 5. The Apple Mighty Mouse retails for RM200 here in Malaysia.

myMUG Apple Mighty Mouse Review