Mobileography

Apple released all of their new stuff today, and it was mostly what we predicted a few days ago. Â People are feeling a bit let down, but I think that’s largely because most of the presentation had already leaked.

The only decent surprise was “genius”, which runs in iTunes and on your iPod/iPhone. Â This is the main new feature of iTunes 8, which was just released. Â Based on what you’re listening to, it will suggest other songs to play. Â This information will up loaded each week to Apply (opt-in, anonymized) to help improve the algorithm. Â I’m skeptical of how well it will work, but you never know.

Next was the revamped line of iPods, featuring the new iPod Nano. Â The main thing with it is that is looks like a second gen (tall and skinny) but plays video like the third gen. Â The leaked photo we showed you back in August proved to be the real thing.

It now comes with an accelerometer, to help it know when you’ve rotated the screen and so you can shake it to shuffle your playlist. Â $149 for the 8GB (available now), and $199 for the 16GB (available in the next few days).

They showed off some new app games for the iPhone and Touch, but nothing real exciting.

The iPhone and iPod Touch got the version 2.1 firmware, as expected. Â You can get it on Friday. According to Jobs, you’ll have “Fewer dropped calls, big battery life improvements. Â No crashes with Apps, backing up is faster.” Â No mention of Background Push Notification, so I guess they’re still have problems with that.

That’s really about it. Â I really thought we’d see some kind of Macbook refresh, but it didn’t materialize. Â I’m anxious to get home and try out iTunes 8. Â I’ll report back later with my thoughts on those.

admin Apple, Hardware, Software 2.1, Apple, iphone, ipod, itunes 8, shuffle, touch

Apple will host an event titled “Let’s Rock”, next Tuesday at 10am in San Francisco.

It’s expected that they’ll have some updates to the iPod line, as well as possibly an update to their MacBooks. Â We’ll find out on Tuesday.

admin Apple, Hardware Apple, event, ipod, macbook

Digg’s founder Kevin Rose loves to push out “rumors” about Apple products, and he’s rarely accurate. Still, he’s right from time to time, and it’s fun stuff to listen to.

His latest rumors:

• Revamp of entire iPod line.
• Small cosmetic changes to Touch, Nano to see significant redesign (see pic on the right).
• iPods to see fairly large price drops to distance itself from the $199 iPhone.
• iPod touch 2.1 software, iPhone to get update very soon after.
• iTunes 8.0 (”it’s a big update w/new features”).
• All of this coming in the next 2-3 weeks.

Most of it seems believable. Other sources have been whispering about new iPods, a price drop on the Touch makes perfect sense, and we know that Touch/iPhone 2.1 is coming next month.

In this case, Kevin might be dead accurate. We’ll find out soon.

admin Apple, Hardware iphone, ipod, itunes, touch

Thanks to some sharp eyes at iClarified, it appears that the 2.0 firmware could be coming out on June 27th. Apple’s Australian iPod touch page had some text that read “Shop for hundreds of applications made for iPod touch. Available June 27.”

The text has been removed, but you can see it in the image on the right.

admin Apple, Software firmware, iphone, ipod, touch, update

There’s been a ton of news today about the new iPhone, so I thought I’d try to give a brief summary:

The good

• July 11 release
• 3G, as expected.
• GPS. There are already some great looking applications to take advantage of it.
• $199 for the 8 gig model, $299 for the 16 gig. They both require a two-year contract from AT&T.
• 300 hours of standby time
• 5-6 hours of browsing
• 7 hours of video
• 24 hours of audio
• Talk time is 5-10, depending if you’re using 3G or not.
• A ton of new apps you can download.
• Slightly modified design — thinner body, more tapered edges
• Free upgrade to version 2.0 for existing iPhones, though they obviously won’t get 3G or GPS. $9.95 to upgrade your iPod Touch.

The bad

• Still no MMS. Why?
• No native video support, though I presume that you’ll be able to download an app to handle it.
• No 32 gig version.
• No front camera for live video chat, as was suggested in a few places.
• Same camera on the back. I was expecting an upgrade there.

All in all it looks to be a very solid update, but nothing remarkable. I was very impressed by the $199 price, but that’s tempered a bit now that I know it requires a two-year contract.

Now, do I try to get the new iPhone or do I keep using my N95?

admin AT&T, Apple, Hardware, Software 3g, Apple, camera, gps, iphone, ipod, mms, photo, video