Currently reading about Steve Jobs in the most recent edition of Macworld magazine that was delivered to me this morning.
There’s also a nice article at the end about Steve by Andy Ihnatko that I hadn’t read before.
We’ll Miss You Steve
As you probably already know, Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple a couple of days ago. This is sad news to everyone. The good news is that he is not leaving Apple altogether, as he is becoming the chairman of the Board. (Steve Jobs’s Letter, Apple PR announcement)
Personally I don’t think that Apple’s products or marketing are going to change at all - the company still has some great employees:
- Jony Ive - SVP of Industrial Design who has designed many of the Apple products including the iMac, iPhone and iPad
- Phil Schiller - SVP of worldwide product marketing
- Scott Forstall - SVP of iOS Software
- And of course, Tim Cook, the new CEO of Apple.
I hope Steve has a well-earned rest and hope to see him inputing in Apple projects in the future.
iPad
So the iPad has been released in America and will be released in the UK on 28th May. I am very excited. The prices of the iPad in the UK will be as follows: £429 for the 16GB, £499 for the 32GB and £599 for 64GB Wi-Fi models. The Wi-Fi + 3G models price at £529 for the 16GB, £599 for the 32GB and £699 for the 64GB version. There has been a lot of controversy over whether the iPad is being priced too high in the UK, as the 16GB Wi-Fi version in the US is $499 and in the UK it is £429, making UK Apple customers lose £90 when buying an iPad. Personally I think that the prices are a little steep than they should have been, but I still think this is an amazing product and I plan on buying the 16GB Wi-Fi version. I know a lot of people have been saying that the iPad is a big iPod Touch, and you’re right, it is! But that doesn’t mean it’s bad? There are so many things that I am going to do on my iPad that I would not have been able to do with my 2nd generation iPod Touch. First of all, iWork. This is going to be amazing for me. I’m always trying to do my homework on the family MacBook, but something always gets in the way. Somebody’s using the Macbook, and I can’t use my iPod Touch as the screen is too small. Now the iPad comes along. I can download Pages on the iPad for $9.99 (around £6.70). I can import Pages or Word documents from my computer and when I’m finished with my essay I can export it as a Word document so I can view and print it on my computer. People say that typing on the iPad will be very slow and not very good, but turn the iPad sideways, an you get a keyboard almost the size of the Apple Wireless keyboard. Making typing even easier is the Apple iPad case, allowing you to put the iPad on a slant, perfect for typing. Second of all, is iBooks. This is the new e-reader application for the iPad. You can read your books and purchase books from the iBooks Store. I’m not much of a reader myself, I get through the odd book every so often, but maybe I would read more if I was reading on something that I used all the time, and that held all my books. Finally, the iPad is a semi-replacement for a computer. I’m not saying that the iPad is a replacement for your computer (and it’s impossible for it to be anyway as you need to sync it to your computer to put music, movies, apps etc. on it) but it is a semi-replacement. It can do mostly all of the things you an do on your computer - surf the web, check emails, listen to music, watch movies, look at photos and use apps. Say you want to go away for the weekend but you need to take something to respond to emails at work while you are away. Without an iPad, you would have to lugg around your laptop (or take a netbook which would run out of battery in an hour) but for a weekend like this the iPad would be perfect to take away. It’s very compact, and very light (only 1.5 pounds). Overall, I think the iPad is absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to get my hands on one when it comes out!
Apple iPad
The Apple iPad was introduced to the public by Steve Jobs on 27th January 2010. Since then many people have been wondering whether it will actually sell when it is realeased in late March. Personally I think it’s great and I hope to get one but others have been saying that it’s just a big iPod as you can run all your iPod apps on it, the only difference is the bigger screen. You can buy the iPad with WiFi or with WiFi and 3G. Although 3G is very useful, I think it costs a little to much for me, especially as you have to pay $14.99 a month. You have a choice of 16, 32 or 64GB hard-drive on the iPad, basic model of 16GB hard-drive at $499 is very appealing to me. I am either going to get that one or the 32GB one at $599. UK pricing has yet to be announced. Apple have re-designed all of their basic apps that come as standard on the iPad, and they do look good. They’ve also added a books store called iBooks thy enables you to buy e-books directly onto your iPad. This device could very well be a good e-reader. The iPad has an LED back-lit display and 10 hours of battery life. The battery life may not be so accurate, we just don’t know. You can also download Pages, Numbers and Keynote, Apple’s iWork applications, onto the iPad for $9.99 each. Go to the Apple site for more information about iPad here. Here are some photos of the iPad:
Here is Apple’s iPad video:
This is an e4 spoof of the iPad: The ePad.
Tube Deluxe
I have been using the app London Tube by Presslite for a while now and it worked fine but I had heard lot about Tube Deluxe by Malcolm Barclay and thought I’d try it out. The app is much more sleek and looks nicer than the standard design of the London Tube app. I especially like the way the Tube Deluxe app shows you your route in itinerary form as well as map form. The depatures tab is also a nice feature. Unfortunately, as I have an iPod Touch and no 3G, I can only do this when connected to WI-FI, and thenefore not when i am out and about which is annoying. Overall the app is very nice and sleek and has some nice features which gives it an edge on the London Tube app. I now use this one instead of London Tube and have also purchased the London Bus app by Malcolm Barclay.
3.0 Update for iPhone/iPod Touch
I have bought the 3.0 firmware update for my iPod Touch and I’d thought I’d share a few thoughts about it:
- Spotlight. This is a very useful for searching through music, contacts and emails. I use it quite often.
- Cut, copy and paste. It’s a nice feature and I use it occasionally when I am copying things from Safari to Notes or something.
- The ability to buy TV shows and movies from the iTunes store. I love this because you don’t need to go to your computer and download from there - you can do it straight from your iPhone or iPod Touch.
- Shake to Shuffle. This is great - I loved it on the new iPod Nano Chromatic and I think it is great that Apple have included it in the update.
- Stereo Bluetooth. This means you can connect to your bluetooth headphones. The downside is that you can’t send files from one iPod touch to another. You also need a second-generation iPod touch for this feature.
Those are the main new features that I really use but there are lots more new features. These include: peer to peer gaming, landscape keyboard, parental controls, notes sync and safari improvements. The update is free for the iPhone but costs £5.99 for the iPod touch. If you want to download this update follow this link for the iPhone or this link for the iPod touch and follow the instructions.
