MarcForrest.com

Category: Apple

  • iPhone 4s launched & available in South Africa in December

    iPhone 4s launched & available in South Africa in December

    So tonight we heard all about the new iPhone4S that Apple launched at a small press briefing, with only 350 people attending. I followed the event live on the Engadget live blog, which was super awesome and kept up to date.

    While many people expected a iPhone5, we got to see the new iPhone 4s, which includes a couple of cool new additions to the current iPhone. Some of these cool new features include:

    • Well firstly we got to hear about how well Lion is doing (Love Lion) and then music & iPods. Interesting, the iOS operating system is now installed on over 250 million devices ! That’s quite a bit. Also 16 billion songs have been downloaded from iTunes
    • iOS5 & iCloud will be available on the 12th October. Free update
    • iPhone4S stays the same form factor, but now includes
      • A5 chip, which is the same as the iPad2. So effectivley a much faster phone
      • A new antenna system, which should hopefully help with all the crap dropped calls we have at the moment
      • An 8MP camera, which should iPhoneography a lot more interesting
      • 1080p Full HD video recording, which is also quite cool. Also has video stabilizing
      • Wireless Airplay. I have used this on the iPad2 with the Apple TV which is actually pretty cool and has loads of potential
      • iCloud. Coming 12 October. Let’s see how this one works
      • iOS5, which is also pretty cool. Lots of new cool features
      • Siri, which is a voice activated assitant. Hmm, not really sold on this one, and I don’t know so much about the limitations in South Africa. Let’s see
    • The iPhone4s will be available in the US on the 14th, and looks like we might see it here in around December
    Overall, not the most exciting Apple keynote we have ever had, but I guess we will just have to wait and see how this one works out. The APPL stock also took a bit of a dive and didn’t seem to recover. The pricing does not change for the US, so hopefully our pricing should stay the same. Added to that, the iPhone 4 will only now be available in a 8GB model.
    I’ll also be updating here with more news if I missed anything out. What do you think of the iPhone4S ? Lemme know in the comments below.

  • Apple’s ‘Let’s Talk iPhone’ keynote tonight – 7pm

     

    If you even midly interested in anything Apple you will know that the iPhone 5/4s announcment is taking place tonight at 7pm South African time. While there is NO official live video streaming, there always seems to be someone in the audience who has a cellphone and is live video streaming.

    I am going to be following the Engadget Live Blog, which always seems to be quick with their updates and also post some really good quality pics. The Gizmodo live blog is also pretty good.

    Also, you can listen to TWiT.tv, who offer some really good audio comments of the announcement. If you follow me on Twitter, I will be tweeting some thoughts & highlights as the event progresses.

    To get an idea of what we are in for, check out the Bandwidth Blog team’s take on what to expect with the iPhone 5.

    I can’t wait to see what is announced, and am really looking forward to it. Blog post up here as soon as we have all the info ;)

     

  • iMaverick iPad app – A total let down

     

    I am a big fan of South African developed apps. Actually, probably one of the biggest advocates of iPhone & iPad development in South Africa, if I have to be totally honest.

    But today, I downloaded the new iMaverick app (Free – Sorta). There has been loads of hype surrounding the app over the last couple of months, with huge noise being made about them giving you an iPad if you bought a subscription. Fair enough. I have no qualms with their business logic, but the iPad app itself is shocking.

    I don’t understand how Apple allowed it to go onto the app store like that, and given the hype surrounding the launch of iMaverick, I suppose I expected a lot more. Also given that the screenshots in the app store show one of their first editions (2nd Sep) it looks like the app has been probably been rejected once or twice. I been down this road :)

    Some of the things that I picked up on from a user interface & use experience point of view:

    • The app itself is 26MB !! This is huge, and won’t be able to be downloaded over a 3G connection. Anything over 20MB = WiFi. The content is mostly stored in the cloud, and only downloaded to your device on a daily basis, so the initial app size should be a lot smaller than 26MB. By comparison Angry Birds is only 19MB.
    • The app store description reads: “Africa’s first media tablet-only daily newspaper”. . . . . Yip. That’s it. Offers me absolutely no value as a potential subscriber to tell me about rates, or (probably the most important) that I actually NEED to be a subscriber to use the app. You have unlimited space here to tell people about your product. Use it. If I was a first time user looking on the app store for African News, and came across the iMaverick app, I would have NO idea what I needed to do. The screenshots also offer no visual assistance to show me what the app is about. Just a few covers of the PDF’s that we have been able to get, and that’s it.
    • Once the app has downloaded, and you open it in landscape, it auto rotates to portrait, and cuts off half the screen(small aesthetics)
    • The info screen then loads and doesn’t offer me anything in terms of pricing to sign up. I want to buy the subscription, and I just can’t. I suppose this is a finiky one, but the buttons look terrible. They the stock standard iOS buttons. Eeeuww
    • The “Intro Version” they offer you is from the 10th of September. Old news doesn’t help me. I should be able to read the latest edition, to make my appetite whet for more, more, more !!
    • Once you have exited the app, and come back in, that initial welcome message is gone. Can’t ever get back there, can’t even read my 10th of September edition again :( You can now see all the latest versions, but if you click on one of them, it comes up with an error message telling me “Alert – Not logged in” – Huh. Firstly change the “Alert” title and tell me what I need to do. Clicking ok takes me back to the page. Basically stuck.
    • I see there is an info button in the bottom right, so I click that, and it get taken to a login screen. Again, no info about what to do, or how I can buy a login, which seems like gold. There is no way to get back to the previous screen, leaving me highly frustrated. It does give me an option to mail iMaverick. Which I declined. Thanks. Hold app, delete button. Bye.

    All in all, a very frustrating app to use, and really hope the team at iMaverick do a V2, to try and fix some of these basic usability issues. /Rant Over

     

     

  • Instagram gets an awesome update in version 2.0

     

    Everyone’s favorite iPhone photo app, Instagram (iTunes link – FREE), got an awesome awesome update today. And the biggest thing for me, “Full res” output. You can now export your images at 1936×1936 on the iPhone 4 & 1536×1536 on the iPhone3GS which will make them ideal for printing etc.

    There are loads of other features that have been added, from the instagram blog post detailing the changes:

    Live filters – so fast, we let you see them live
    See the world through Instagram’s stunning effects before you even snap a photo. Simply select a filter, hold the camera up to the scene and see the world through Instagram’s visual effects. We’ve re-written your favorite Instagram filters to be over 200x faster so even after having taken a photo, switching between them takes no time at all. Get an in-depth look at the new camera UI.

    Four new filters
    You’ve asked for more, and we’re excited to provide four brand new filters: Amaro, Rise, Hudson, and Valencia. With these new filters, we continue the trend of turning regular photos into beautiful snapshots. What’s most exciting to us is that we’ve teamed up with @colerise, an extremely popular Instagrammer, to produce these new effects. Keep your eye out for more collaborations to come.

    Instant tilt-shift
    Selective blur over 100X faster than before. Pinch, pan and rotate tilt-shift to give your photos unparalleled depth of field with live preview included. Learn more about live tilt shift.

    High-resolution photos – 10x larger than before
    Clarity and detail with every shot. By far, the most requested feature from both pros and amateurs alike, we’ve increased our photo size from 612×612 to 1936×1936 on the iPhone 4 (1536×1536 on the iPhone3GS). You’ll capture beautiful moments in all their detailed glory. Read more about high-resolution Instagram photos.

    Borders now optional
    The creative flexibility you asked for. Turn every filter’s border on or off to fit the mood and aesthetic of the scene.

    One-click rotation
    Easily rotate photos within the camera. No more sideways photos. Use our simple controls to make sure you’ve got the right orientation every time.

    New icon
    We updated our app icon! It’s the same look, but with more depth and dimension.

    If you haven’t got instagram yet, I highly suggest taking a look at it, this really take iPhoneography to a whole new level !

  • Olloclip – The ultimate iPhone photography accessory

     

    I came across the Olloclip Lens set a while back while browsing around the net one night, and it looked amazing. At $70 it didn’t come in as a cheap accessory, so I ummed & ahhed about it, until I eventually caved in after I had some extra cash lying around in my PayPal.

    Macro Lens

    I am glad I did, and finally got to pick it up yesterday. WOW ! What an awesome little accesory. The Olloclip is essentially 3 extra lenses in 1 nifty device, and offers a Wide Angle, Fisheye & Macro Lens, withouth the need for a special case. It simply just fits over the camera lens.

    Wide Angle Lens

    I took a stroll to Gateway at lunch time to give it a run, and you can see some of the pics I took. I have to admit I am most blown away by the Macro Lens, and you will be amazed at what you can actually pick up using it. The Fisheye lens is also cool, and gives a distorted view at how we normally look at things.

    Fish Eye Lens

    If you looking for an extra little gadget to up your iPhoneography, I can highly recommend the Olloclip. Also check out their Facebook Page & Flickr Group for some awesome pics. The only downfall I can see here is that the Olloclip is specifically designed for the iPhone4, and with a “potential” iPhone5 around the corner, you may want to hang on if you looking to upgrade. Otherwise, well worth the cash !