tech ronin

I think a 32gb iPhone is coming this year

I could be wrong, but I'm thinking Apple has got to do a 32gb iPhone. There is already a 16gb version as of February. There's a 32gb iPod touch. I'm thinking they wanted to reposition the iPhone as cheaper and they'll probably charge $399 for the 32gb version. Releasing that now spoils their cheaper message. That's all the evidence I have but it may stop me from buying a 16gb iPhone in July.

Update on July 8. Well, July 11 is coming soon and I still don't have any good evidence for a 32gb iPhone in September... that's going to make it tough to resist buying a 16gb iPhone Friday.

Update on July 10. No word on another iPhone 32gb. However, lots of people believe there will be one and that it is likely to be released in September when new iPods are announced. The other possible release date for such a phone is at the MacWorld Expo in January. A long, long time from now.

There have been rumors all along of a higher-end iPhone. All the early adopters will want one if they can afford it including me. Will it have a better camera? The lack of an upgrade to the camera in the 3G iPhone is one of the reasons I think there is a higher end version of the iPhone in the works.

One last thought. Apple got in big trouble when they dropped the price of the iPhone from $599 to $399 in September. They would get into big trouble if they release a better iPhone in September. But if we can just bring our iPhone 3G in and trade for a small restocking fee it would be OK.

iPhone Stocks and Weather apps need an upgrade

The bloom is off the rose of iPhone 1 by now. You must be able to drill down to get more details before being cast off to the big web for more info.

When I look at the weather, I need a lot more than the current temperature. How about an hour by hour forecast for the next few hours plus options for tomorrow?

I know, the current weather widget is almost glanceable but you have to tap first, by then you might as well see a little more info.

Yahoo!'s stock widget cries out for an ability to drill down. If my stock drops precipitously, I'll stop and look more carefully. I may well need to make a decision involving thousands of dollars. Earn your keep, iPhone!

The iPhone is a computer in my pocket with a high Rez touch screen. It is my always on, always with me real-time connection to the world. Don't limit it.

While you are at it, let me email screenshots of these widgets. My friends and stock broker are standing by.

[Check graphpaper.com circa Feb 08 for more on this]

Upgrade to the 3G iPhone? Pros and Cons

I think I will upgrade. Here's what I'm thinking:

Cons:
• $30/month data plan instead of current $20/month
• No free SMS messages, so add $5 more per mo for that
• I already have a perfectly good iPhone that still works
• I only use EDGE 10% of the time now. 3G replaces EDGE.
• I don't know how good 3G coverage will be in my area.
• 3G drains battery life at twice the speed
• What if a 32gb iPhone 2 is released in September?

Pros:
• 3G speeds may mean I use my iPhone more when away from wi-fi
• 3G speeds mean when there's no wi-fi, the experience is better
• GPS will make burgeoning location based services better
• Better reception
• You sound better to the people you are calling
• Much better audio from the speakers (according to Steve)
• Looks a little better with the new design
• The expensive data plan is about like other 3G plans
• I get the subsidized price after only 1 year on my previous plan
• 3G lets you receive calls while surfing the Net!
• Get to see what it's like to have the best 3G phone on the planet

Update: Good stuff you should read - hands on reviews out July 9:
Walt Mossberg, Wall Street Journal
Edward Baig, USA Today
David Pogue, New York Times

3G iPhone with GPS, MobileMe Analysis

More News:

0. Reception is noticeably better according to Gizmodo hands-on.

.5 "3G data on the maps and browser were only slightly slower than WiFi" - Gizmodo.

1. $30/month: for he AT&T 3G data plan. Keep in mind, 3G will cost you an extra $10/month. 1 year is $120. 2 years is $240. Also, I hear you don't get any free SMS messages (currently I get 200 free/mo.) I'll pay just because there will be times when I'm stuck away from wi-fi and want to get stuff done with relative speed.

2. $45/month for unlimited 3G data for business - assume that is for Exchange support

3. iPhone 3G is a tiny bit bigger 115.5 x 62.1 x 12.3 mm vs 115 x 61 x 11.6 mm. But it is "thinner feeling" according to Gizmodo.

4. iPhone 3G is ever so slightly lighter. 4.7 oz. or 133 grams vs 135 grams for 1st gen iPhone.

5. You have to sign a new 2 year contract to get these great prices. So that puts you at 3 more years if you bought on iPhone day 1. That means it will cost you about $175 to break a 2 year contract and then you pay another $300 if you want the cool 16 gb model.

6. Improved battery life. Sort of. You get 10 instead of 8 hours of 2G talk time and 5 hours of 3G talk time. Not sure why 3G matters when you are talking on the phone -- maybe it is operating in the background.

The Keynote finished up a couple hours ago. We now know that Apple will deliver the 3G iPhone on July 11th. It will sell for $199 for the 8 gb model and $299 for the 16 gb model. At that price, of course, I will buy one. I was prepared to spend $600 if I had to.

3G iPhone. First thing, Apple is delivering a cheap iPhone and it has 3G plus GPS. I wasn't expecting so much for so little. He is aggressively competing against smartphones: Nokia, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Treo. It is clear that Apple considers the success of the iPhone as the centerpiece of its business.

MobileMe. I'm very happy about the MobileMe announcement. DotMac is dead. Long live MobileMe. Same price $99 a year, but a lot more value. Now you get 20 gigs of storage instead of 10. That's pretty good certainly that will store some of my most important files plus backup my iPhone if I need it to.

"Think of MobileMe as 'Exchange for the rest of us,' Now users who are not part of an enterprise that runs Exchange can get the same push email, push calendars and push contacts that the big guys get." - Steve Jobs

More to follow. This article is a work in progress. I should have much more in the next few minutes. I'm going to watch the keynote and explore Apple's website.

Stevenote: 3G iPhone w/ GPS $199-299 July 11th

Check the Apple site for details. Here are highlights for the keynote.

1. iPhone 3G Introduced. GPS. "Location-based services are going to explode" says Steve. $199 for the 8 gb in black. $299 for 16 gb black or white. Improved audio. 1/2 the price. Same 2 megapixel camera.

2. iPhone 2.0 is $9.95 for the iPod touch. 3.5" display.

3. MobileMe replaces .Mac with 20 gigs of Storage $99/year. "Exchange for the rest of us." It works over the air to your iPhone and Macs and PCs. It's at www.me.com. Cool!!! Shows your iCal calendar exactly like it looks on your Mac. Photos will live update wirelessly to your gallery.me.com page. Mail looks like Mail except it is online. iPhone has a new Send to MobileMe button for your photos.

4. Full Microsoft and iWork support.

5. Push Notification Service to capture stuff while your app may not be active cuz you are using another app. This is to compensate for apps running one at a time. Available September.

6. Band - see pictured above : very cool Moo Cow Music thing called.

7. Native TypePad blogging application.

8. Super Monkeyball is launching day1 on the Appstore - hoping that's today. $9.99

9. Snow Leopard is real -- not available but will be talked about later in the keynote

[Photos via Engadget]

To Learn More, I recommend:

Tech Trader's keynote coverage

Engadget on the KeyNote Announcements

Authentic-looking-seeming 3G iPhones Red/Black

This may be the first true iPhone 3G reveal. These pix come from CrunchGear. See several photos there.

Bottom lines: (1) Colors: Black and Red, (2) 3G, (3) 2nd video camera, (4) Thinner! and (5) stereo speakers on back.

[Thanks to Bwana McCall on Plurk for the tip to the story]

Update 11:43 pm: Engadget says they think this is a fake.

Smaller iPhones Sound Reasonable to Me

According to iLounge, these may be the screens for the 2 new iPhones due for release next week. The larger one is a 3.2 inch screen - a bit smaller than the current iPhone's 3.5 inch screen. The smaller one is a 2.8 inch screen.

This all looks credible to me. We don't know, but higher screen resolutions for the same price are the norm from one year to the next. Apple likes to make each version of the iPod smaller, why not the iPhone?

If the new BlackBerry Bold can be 320 x 480 in a much smaller space (sideways), each of the two screens shown here could be at the 480 x 320 resolution. I'm guessing we would survive with slightly smaller type as long as applications get a bit better about increasing the size of the type when you rotate the screen from vertical to horizontal.

These could just be prototypes or trials or fakes. But what if they are the new iPhones?

There are a few reasons to believe that the iPhones will not be available until the end of the month, but there are more reasons like stock shortages pointing to availability as early as next week.

Which would you prefer? Some of us want a smaller size. Some us will be more moved by the capabilities of the iPhone than the small size. As a power-user, it will be hard to resist the larger iPhone if it is the only one to have 3G or GPS. I'll probably opt for the bigger size. I'm expecting the two devices to be Jr. and Sr., to be sort of a nano version at $249 or $299 and a full-size, full-featured version at about the current $399 price point.

If, however, the rumor about AT&T subsidizing their store's iPhones and Apple selling them unlocked, we may see the Apple stores selling the larger iPhone unlocked for $499. Since iPhones are not flying off the shelves just now and RIM isn't seeming to be losing share yet to iPhone, Apple will want to be aggressive with their pricing. Stay tuned, more information is likely to leak between now and Steve's keynote address on June 9th.

MacBook + iPod touch for $995 = Awesome

Whoa! Any non-starving student in the market for a computer, would be a fool to pass up this deal. There could be a lot of new students all of a sudden. ;-)

Apple is making a bold competitive move just as the PC is at its weakest. To put it another way, Steve is going for the throat.

This bargain offer is a way for Apple to dabble in low cost computers without hurting the status of their brand. I'm checking out what it takes to qualify as a student ASAP.

The low-end MacBook has only one gig of RAM which is fine for normal casual computer use. However, if you are a heavy user especially of graphics, video or web browser with lots of apps running and tabs open, 1 gig isn't enough.

Other World Computing can fix you up with 4 gigs (a pair of 2 gb modules) for $95. You'll need to handle installation yourself or pay about $25 to your local third party Mac shop to have them install it for you.

Expect Apple to sell a boatload of MacBooks and help their installed base of iPod touches to boot.

Commenters Rights

I am all for commenters' rights and bloggers' rights. I don't believe that bloggers own comments. But with previous levels of technology, it has been the general practice that a blogger has the right to delete comments that are deemed inappropriate. I'm OK with that. What I would like, though, is for comments to have a life independent of a blog so that even if the blogger deletes the comment, the comment lives on.

I am eager to be able to start using an independently run commenting system on my TypePad blogs. The advantage of these systems from my point of view is that (1) it makes it easier for a commenter to follow conversations they've participated in and (2) it is easier for readers to follow up on the comments of people whose comments they want more of.

The third advantage I anticipate is that we will get a lot more commenting. Probably the biggest commenters on blogs are bloggers. Now a blogger can regard his comments as a form of microblogging akin to twitter comments. I've been wanting something like this for years. I hate making a comment on a blog and then knowing full well that I'll probably never get back to see what happened next in that conversation.

On the other hand, I have a great experience of commenting on Flickr where I can easily see my comments and any additional conversation that took place thereafter.

I write a lot and, when doing so, I am recording my thoughts. I place some value on those thoughts and ideas. I not only want to be able to reference my thoughts in the future (even when made as public comments), but a comment may serve as an ingredient in a future blog post or other writing project.

Here's hoping that TypePad implements Disqus which may be the best commenting service to date and looks like it would be a big improvement over what we have now. Of course, I can't go there unless there is a way to migrate all the existing comments made on my blogs to this system.

Actually, I should mention that if you are using TypePad's Advanced templates, you can already manually integrate Disqus. Besides the work of doing that integration, you will also have the drawback, as I have learned from firsthand experience, of losing most of the end-user-friendly features of TypePad when you go to the Advanced templates method. You are back to a lot of coding and I find that too labor-intensive for my taste.

One of the advantages of a service like TypePad is they will do most of the heavy lifting associated with integrations like this. That's why I use TypePad and foresake the flexibility I would get from Movable Type or Wordpress. TypePad, I hope you are listening.

Upcoming Mini iPhone + iPod touch option

One of the more credible iPhone rumors of late is that of a smaller, thinner plastic-covered iPhone with a 2.8" screen. I don't pretend to fore-knowledge about Apple's plans, but if this smaller iPhone happens, I would welcome it.

I plan to continue my combo iPhone + iPod touch approach. Here's why. I use my iPod touch about 80% and my iPhone 25%. The extra 5% is the overlap when I want to keep my place on one device while looking something up on the other.

iPod touch. I'm in a wi-fi hotspot about 90% of the time. Since the iPod touch surfs as well as the iPhone when wi-fi is available (and is thinner and lighter), I use it. I spare my iPhone battery and avoid missing calls which get routed directly to voicemail when I'm accessing the web from my iPhone.

iPhone. I use my iPhone for EDGE-based net access when wi-fi isn't available. I use it to take casual photos. I use it as a phone. And I use it to listen to podcasts while walking alone.  I also prefer it for listening to podcasts or music in my car because it switches so seamlessly between hands-free calls and content.

In this 2-device division of labor, I could see myself using a smaller, more elegant iPhone with 2.8" screen. The iPod touch needs as much screen as it can get. I will find a way to carry a larger iPod touch or iPod tablet if one becomes available since the screen real estate is so valuable.

Apple wants us to carry 2 Apple handhelds. My experience of using the iPhone and iPod touch together makes me look forward to fitting enthusiastically into their plans.