by Isuru Wijeyaratne

The summer is a very special period in the USA. The nature looks alive, school kids have vacation and the summer blockbusters are out. But this summer was much looked forward to since few devices that we love to have or love to hate would come with a brand new looks. They were announced at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference which was held on the 8^th of June at the Moscone Center, San Francisco. There were few announcements that we expected to hear but yet they managed to impress nonetheless. Let me take you through the outcomes of the conference.

iPhone 3G S

This was very much in the cards so it was no surprise. Apple introduced its 3^rd generation iPhone named “iPhone 3G S” which is almost the mirror image of its predecessor the “iPhone 3G” but with a better CPU, improved camera and larger storage. So is it really worth buying? I’ll reserve my comments until we have a much thorough look.

The “S” in the “iPhone 3G S” refers to speed. Apple had to crank up the speed with a better CPU. The CPU speed seems to be at 600MHz and the internal RAM has increased to 256MB which is quite a support for the processor. The graphics chip has also being replaced by a newer version which would surely increase the user experience. If you keep the “iPhone 3G” and “iPhone 3G S” side by side, you would surely see a difference with reference to the speed. The “iPhone 3G S” would be much snappier with lower load times and quicker response times. But still it is not sure how long it will perform as the data load increases with time. But with the new graphics chip, 3D games that hoard the CPU would load much faster and perform much better.

Apple has changed to the material that is used for the display (which is the only change in the display) to protect against those fingerprints that never seem to go away. It would have being nice if they had increased the resolution rather than sticking to the 480x320 of the iPhone 3G screen.

iPhone camera had to change. It now has an acceptable 3 megapixel camera but the change is more significant at the software level. The new iPhone camera has autofocus and has also added a parlor trick where you can focus the image to an object of your choice just but touching it on the screen. I’m yet to see this trick in a point and shoot camera. Furthermore you can do video recording too. It is capable of giving a fantastic VGA output at 30 frames per second. You could also do your own video editing without going to your desktop. How cool is that?

The biggest change I have seen is the voice recognition feature. The user can dial contact in the phone or carryout specific instructions just through simple voice commands. If you are using your iPhone also as your iPod, there is a neat feature where you can play your favorite playlist or songs from a particular artist just through voice commands. But this particular feature has some irritating behavior where you have to activate voice control every time you need to use it. When you finish a particular task voice control is deactivated so you have to manually activate it. This is not appealing if you are driving or engaged in some other work.

A map is useless unless you have a sense of direction (but many do not have it). iPhone 3G S comes with a digital compass that allows the users to use “Google Maps” effectively. The map would rotate according to how you have held your iPhone so you would know exactly which way you should be heading.

Last but not the least which should be considered is the price. The 16GB version would cost $199 and 32GB version would cost you $299 for a two year contract. If you are currently within the 2 year contract of the iPhone 3G and if you want to get the new iPhone, it will cost you an additional $400.

What do you think? Personally iPhone never impressed me enough. I was expecting two different versions of iPhones where one would be a smaller (in form factor) version of the other. The design needs to change. Come on, I’m sure guys at Apple can give another decent design. Plus the features are not life altering. So if you own an iPhone I don’t see a credible reason to switch to the new. But if you don’t own one but craving to have an iPhone maybe this can be an option. Still you may weigh the options of owning the iPhone 3G from owning the iPhone 3G S because the predecessor just will cost you only $99. Choice is yours.

MacBook Pro

This is by far the most interesting announcement for me. The MacBook Pro line has bumped up its specs and they look elegant as they were always. Few teaks here and there in the specs may seem to be minor but that would be a huge performance boost. I’ll explain why. Apple is different because it not only produces the hardware but it also gives you the software. So the machine and the operating system are from the same company. So Apple has the liberty to change the operating system in a way such that it will bring the best performance in the machine. This is why sometimes a Mac with ordinary specs is able to outperform a high end PC. So let’s take a look at the new guys in town.

Apple introduced MacBook Pro machine in three screen sizes; 13-inch, 15-inch and 17-inch. All three have more or less the same unibody (which is the outer covering of the laptop), minor speed enhancements, and real nice glossy screens. The viewing angle of the screens has increased together with its color gamut. The dedicated audio-in jack has being sidelined to give room for SD card slots and FireWire 800. Apple has opted to keep the sealed-in batteries across all three laptops. Most of you might not be happy about it but Apple ensures that the battery will last for about 5 years which is much longer than how long a person would keep a laptop. If you still want to change to battery you can do so for a price of $129. If you choose to do it on your own, Apple does not void your warranty as long as you don’t break it. But with all of these features how well would these perform? Actually they are doing pretty well.

So if you buy a MacBook Pro I’m sure you would not regret it. I’m very happy with the products they have come out with. I’m very much looking forward to how these will perform when they are running the upcoming Apple operating system – Snow Leopard.

iPhone OS 3.0

Apple promised to undertake a major overhaul to its iPhone operating system. iPhone OS 3.0 is its third version where it is capable of much awaited features such as copy and paste, MMS, A2DP and universal spotlight search. It has opened up many features both to the general users and well as for the developers. As mentioned before the copy and paste functionality is a neat feature in the new operating system. OS 3.0 can copy and paste text and also images allowing the user to have the same flexibility that he would have on his Mac or PC. It also allows undo and redo options just by a shake of the phone. This operating system can also be downloaded to your iPod Touch which unlocks its Bluetooth capabilities. “Spotlight” is a search option that is newly available that searches the entire phone for matching files.

Talking about options for developers, the peer-to-peer Bluetooth connectivity allows the developers to create multiplayer games or other information sharing applications. Now the applications can directly call on “Google Maps” which may enhance the user experience together with its digital compass. Paid applications on the iPhone can be subscriber based which is great for the developers. OS 3.0 seems to have given many things to play with for the developer not much so much for the consumer. I believe the rational behind this is to grow the eco system around the iPhone allowing the consumers to choose on what kind of applications they choose to have. I think this could be the right way forward.

The absence of Steve Jobs doesn’t seem to have hurt Apple’s creativity. When the ball of creativity starts rolling, it will be hard to stop. I cannot say that I’m surprised with all what I have heard from the Apple’s WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) but at least they are meeting their expectations for now.

References -

Engadget.com

Image Sources

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/17/hows-the-iphone-os-3-0-upgrade-going-for-you/

http://www.engadget.com/photos/iphone-3g-s-unboxing-and-hands-on/2089934/

http://www.engadget.com/photos/iphone-3g-s-unboxing-and-hands-on/2088415/

http://www.engadget.com/photos/macbook-pro-family-photos/2073533/

http://www.engadget.com/photos/13-inch-macbook-pro-unboxing-and-hands-on/2073502/

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