The Four-eyed Journal » smartphones

Not yet – iPod/MP3 player killed by smartphones

jhay — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 00:00:37 +0000

Just when I was considering the idea of getting an iPod, Wired’s Gadget Lab raises the spectre that Apple may soon retire its venerable iPod device.

According to the piece by Christina Bonnington, iPod sales has been steadily declining since December 2008 when sales peaked at 22.7 million units sold.

The culprit is the smart phone be it an iPhone, a BlackBerry, an Android, Windows 7 Phone or a Nokia. Her observation does make sense, why get a dedicated device to do one thing when a smart phone can also do it and a lot more?

But I beg to differ. There’s a couple or more reasons why I’m thinking about getting an iPod. The top reasons are:

To conserve the battery on my LG Optimus One – It’s a given that Android devices are power-hungry gadgets, especially when the Wi-Fi is turned on.

Security when on the road – My current job forces me to go home at the most perilous times of the night, so commuting alone exposes me to street thugs, pick-pockets and possible road accidents involving half-awake drivers of jeepneys and long-haul trucks. Having only a smart phone in my pocket on one unlucky night with a thug would mean parting away with my hard-earned money and contacts to get home alive.

So the iPod would be a decoy or a ‘perishable item’ that will allow me to keep my phone and limbs.

One egg per basket – It would be a nightmare. My Android phone suffering a crash which could lead to the SD card being wiped clean or left in a corrupted state. It’s not just my music and well-arranged play lists that will go down the digital abyss but my apps, contacts and personal information as well.

Plus, I’ve never had an iPod before and I just want an MP3 player. Plain and simple.

So from these reasons alone, I think the chances of the iPod being retired by Apple soon would still be nill. Other users have other valid reasons as well. I guess then that not everyone will lay to rest their MP3 players to rest just yet. Smartphones may be taking over but it’s not the end of the road yet.

Has your smartphone replaced your iPod or MP3 player?

Image by Hdaniel licensed under Creative Commons By Attribution-ShareALike.

RIM Launches BlackBerry Bold 9780 Smartphone - Features BlackBerry 6 OS

jhay — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 01:29:18 +0000

Research in Motion has launched a new smartphone in its BlackBerry Bold line, the BlackBerry Bold 9780.

The smartphone has the following features/specifications:

624 MHz Processor
512 MB RAM
2.44 inches TFT screen @ 480 x 360 pixels w/ 65 536 colors
2GB microSD supports up to 32GB
Bluetooth v2.1
Wi-Fi: 802.11b, 802.11g
MicroUSB, USB 2.0
Tri-band 3G HSDPA networks: 2100MHz/1900MHz/850MHz
Tri-band UMTS networks: 2100/1900/850/800 MHz and 2100/1700/900 MHz
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks: 850/900/1800/1900MHz
Standby time: GSM-up to 22 days/528 hours, UMTS-up to 17 days/408 hours
Talk time: GSM-up to 6 hours, UMTS-up to 6 hours
Music playback time: up to 36 hours
3.5mm audio jack
Full QWERT keypad w/ Trackball
Video format support: MPEG4 Part 2 Simple Profile, H.263, WMV
Audio format support: MP3, MIDI, AMR-NB, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, WMA
5 MP camera (BlackBerry Bold 9780)
Flash
2X digital zoom
Video recording
Email support w/ Integrated Instant Messaging
Web-kit based browser
BlackBerry 6 OS

RIM is also hyped about the new BlackBerry 6 OS which sports a WebKit-based browser that allows for a more beautiful rendering of web pages and fluid navigation using the trackpad enabling tabbed and multi-site browsing.

RIM said that the 9780 will be available this November with T-Mobile offering it for $129.99 for a two-year contract. No word yet on when it would be available here in the Asia-Pacific region as neither for the price.

Windows Phone 7 Handset Lineup - Nine different phones from HTC, Dell, Samsung and LG Electronics

jhay — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 01:12:13 +0000

It’s out. Microsoft’s new mobile operating system Windows Phone 7 has just been unveiled. Tech pundits are saying Windows Phone 7 will have an uphill climb to carve itself a space in an already crowded mobile phone market.

To help it along, Microsoft has partnered with each major handset maker; HTC, LG, Dell, and Samsung are among the first to release new smartphones powered by Windows Phone 7. Check out the line up of handsets in the video below:

In the US and Europe, Microsoft has partnered with almost every mobile carrier to ensure that there would be plenty of providers to choose a Windows Phone 7 from: América Móvil, AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Movistar, O2, Orange, SFR, SingTel, Telstra, Telus, T-Mobile USA and Vodafone.

The official launch dates are November 8, 2010 in the North America, while October 21, 2010 for the European Union, the UK and France being the first to get theirs.

~~No official launch dates for Asia yet, but it’s expected to arrive by the year’s end or early 2011.~~

UPDATE: Windows Phone 7 has just been launched in the Asia-Pacific region with Singapore, New Zealand and Australia the first territories chosen as launch points by Microsoft.

Consumer Reports Warns Against Buying iPhone 4

jhay — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 02:09:49 +0000

Ever since Apple launched its iPhone 4 and the immediate user complaints about its faulty antenna, I knew something like this would soon happen:

When your finger or hand touches a spot on the phone’s lower left side — an easy thing, especially for lefties — the signal can significantly degrade enough to cause you to lose your connection altogether if you’re in an area with a weak signal. Due to this problem, we can’t recommend the iPhone 4.

This was the recommendation of Consumer Reports magazine who did an independent test to find out what’s really causing the iPhone 4′s frequent signal loss problem.

It’s not the poor signal from carriers, but the antenna itself that’s the root cause of the problem. Touching or covering the lower-left corner of the iPhone causes serious signal loss. Quick fixes like using specially designed cases or even using duck tape has been offered. Though it’s surprising that such a fundamental problem would plague an Apple product, more so the iPhone 4.

Of course Apple has promised a software fix but many analysts are still skeptical that it would cure the problem. Though it has not stopped the craze for the new iPhone 4 as many of my friends are itching to get their hands on it.

The iPhone 4 is still to be released here in the Philippines so there’s still no news any Pinoy iPhone 4 user complaining about the signal loss. So for now it’s a wait and see situation here.

As for me, I’m still saving up on a BlackBerry phone, sorry, not a real iPhone enthusiast here and it looks like it’s been a wise move so far.

Image by superstrikertwo