Apple gave some crappy conference the other day, discussing the iPhone 4, and the problems it has. Specifically the antenna problem, with weak and dropping signal.

They acknowledge there is a problem, but did not recall the product. Instead, offer customers a free bumper, which is the plastic case you can buy for £25 which is a rip off anyway.

I cant stand companies like this. Its a top of the range phone, for a premium price, it obviously has a problem, and they wont say sorry, or do a proper recall. Sure, they are offering people a free piece of plastic, i think its an insult. They say they will give anyone a full refund if they arent happy, i wonder how many people actually get it.

I am so glad i havent got one yet….I imagine if this is a real problem they will have to come up with a new design, which means anyone who already has one and doesnt get a refund soon will loose out.

Of course the fanboys dont care, if they dont bigger fool them. If it was any other company there would be a recall or public outcry, simple as that.

If you are a geek you probably already know, if you are not then you may not care. The next iPhone was officially announced yesterday, the iPhone 4, or iPhone OS4, or whatever you care to call it (which will probably be ‘the new iPhone’).

It features a new design, its thinner and has a couple of nice new features. These would be the new 5mp camera with autofocus and LED flash, front facing camera which can be used for video calling, HD video recording (720p) and higher resolution display. Other features you may not notice or care about but are cool are the upgraded wifi to ‘n’, 3-axis giro, and a better battery life.

The battery is said to give 7 hours talktime on 3G, 14 hours on 2G, and a standby time of 300 hours. Internet use is an improved 6 hours on 3G and 10 hours on wifi, and music playback will give you upto 40 hours. Video playback will give you 10 hours.

The power behind the whole thing is an Apple A4 processor, the very same one as the iPad; So you have the power of an iPad in your pocket

The best thing is the release date. My contract for my iPhone runs out on 28th June. The new iPhone will be released in 5 countries on its initial release, and i am happy to say one of them is the UK, with a release date of 24th June. So, i may just get one Other countries it’s released in are USA, Germany, France and Japan.

So…What do you think of the iPad?

I purposely didnt write about them on the release day, i was waiting for the hype to die down. Apple have said that they have now sold 2 million of these in the 2 months they have been on sale for. Thats faster than the iPhone.

I still dont think i want one; I may get one, but thats a different matter They just dont do anything which hasnt already been done. I have an iPhone, and this is a bigger version. I dont use that in terms of the apps, or use it in any way in general, other than using it as a phone. I do check Twitter and Facebook on the go, and blog a bit, but that doesnt happen very often, and that fits into my pocket.

If you watch the F1 you have probably noticed in the past 2 races that Jake Humphrey walks around with one…That does make me want one

But i know that i will hardly use it, and it will gather dust. I have an iPhone, desktop and laptop. Where does this fit in?

I will definatly wait a while before getting one, if i get one. I will see what the other companies have to offer, Dell, H.P. and others are said to be bringing devices out.

The UK iPad price has now been announced, with no real suprise. My last guess was £399-£429, and the lower end was being really optimistic; and now we have confirmation that the base model will be £429.

16GB WiFi-only £429
32GB WiFi-only £499
64GB WiFi-only £599

16GB WiFi+3G £529
32GB WiFi+3G £599
64GB WiFi+3G £699

I might get one, but i doubt it. Why? Well it really is just a big iTouch/iPhone. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but i already have an iPhone, and will probably get the next generation one when its released, my contract runs out next month. There is no need to have a bigger version of this. Not only that, i dont use apps, not enough to justify buying this. I will wait it out, and maybe get whatever HP or Dell will be offering, which will be more of a computer than this. If i see a better reason to get an iPad then i will

If i were to go for one of these configurations i would get the 32gb WIFI, its only a little more than the base model, and is probably the best value for money at these pricepoints.

You can pre-order on Monday 10th May, with it supposedly being released later in the month…its already been delayed in the UK.

UPDATE: Release date is 28th May

If you are American, and a geek, then today you would of woke up from your wet dream. The Apple iPad was finally launched today.

No word yet on a UK release date, or even pricing.

Look at this guy, this is what an Apple Fanboy looks like.

So, If you are American, you can pre-order an iPad today. If you live anywhere else, you cant. Not only that, the price STILL has not been revealed for the UK or Europe. They claim a revolutionary price, but dont say what it is…

So what is your guess? Well its $499 (starting) in the U.S. If you were to convert it, that is £332, but we know things never work that way. My original guess was £349-399, i think i will change that to £399-429

I will probably get one, because, it is a cool gadget….But it is nothing more than that. I would never recommend one to a friend, but if i had spare cash and i was in the mood for a gadget, then this may be the one. It is just a large iphone/itouch, but like i say, still a cool gadget.

Its supposed to be coming to the UK in April, maybe they are waiting to see the response it gets in the U.S. before they market and sell it in Europe and the UK, to price it better; If its a big success, they can sell it for more; If its a flop, they can try to sell it for more, but it will fail and nobody will buy it.

The Apple store in Newcastle opens tomorrow. I dont know if i should bother to go. I was going to go, and wear a “I’m a P.C.” t-shirt, which would of been funny

I am not sure if i want to go, the first 1,500 people get a free Apple t-shirt, but they are saying that thousands of people from all over the country are coming, so that sort of puts me off. It is the first Apple store to open in the North East of England.

Its also the opening of the new part of the Eldon Square, where it is situated.

Now we know about the iPad, we know the spec, we have an idea of the price, but WHO is the device marketed at?

the iPad has had lots of negativity and criticism directed to it from the Apple fanboys, in an Apple Internet forum around 70% of people said they would not be buying one…These are Apple fans, so how is it going to go down with the mainstream?

Engadget posted a comparison iPhone VS ipad for 3g, and the costs, and in their comparison the iPad worked out as a much cheaper device. This is NOT the case. They did not factor in 1 thing, the iPad is not a phone! A mobile phone is an essential device these days, and i doubt anyone would have an iPad without having a mobile phone.

So who will buy this device? What is it for? I really do not know. If you use a computer at home, you will be using either a desktop or a laptop. If you are traveling day-to-day for example on the bus, train, or to work and want light use you will use your iPhone or touch if you have 1. If you need something more powerful for travel, if you go on holiday or away for a few days you will use a laptop. It fits between a laptop, and a smartphone, but do we need something in between those? I dont think so.

iPad is Apple’s netbook? This was touched on at their event, but really, its not. A netbook is an inexpensive laptop, this is not. This is a large expensive itouch.

What you dont get

If you buy the WIFI version you do not get 3g (obviously) and do not get GPS. You also still do not get Flash, so cannot run flash apps or websites; There are plenty big websites running flash, for example the BBC, so you will not be able to get some of their media content. You also dont get texting and calls, which is obvious since its not a phone. If you go for the 3g version, there will be a monthly cost, and many current plans are for a fixed term (e.g. 12 months).

Check out my breakdown of the cost, i believe this is the only true comparison:

The iPhone Pay As You Go looks cheap here in comparison having a contract, but remember this does not include any calls, texts or anything like that. Simply free 3g access. My choice out of the 3 for price, is the iPhone on contract.

So the iPad is actually very expensive. Lets not forget, you have to factor in the cost of a mobile phone, as this isnt a phone whereas the iPhone obviously is! So even if you go for a free phone (which you wont, if you are geeky enough to have an iPad you will want a geeky phone) and contract at £30/month that is another £360/year on top of the iPad and its 3g usage. Even if the iPad is not at my predicted £499 cost, it is £250 MORE than the iPhone, and we know that it will not be £250 under £499.

So, after looking at all of this, considering all the good and bad points, what have i decided? I have decided that this is a cool gadget to have, but nothing more. It costs too much, it isnt going to replace something, and isnt going to be an addition to something either. There is no room in the market for this. You buy a laptop because you want/need a portable computer. You buy a mobile phone because you want a mobile phone. You buy an iPad because….There is no reason.

I have been thinking for a while about getting a SoundDock for my iPhone, as i listen to all my music through my PC via headphones. Bose are a brand known for their brilliant quality of sound products, and of course, they are very expensive.

2 Models which they do are the SoundDock 2 and the SoundDock 10. Both promise the best in sound quality, with the 10 being the flagship model.

The only problem i have with them is that i am so used to using my PC as an entertainment machine i would not use the sounddock.

Here are 2 models of SoundDock.

Earlier today Apple announced their tablet, which is officially called the iPad, and has already got an adopted name by some people of the iTampon

So what is it? Well its a 9.7″ screen which you can read ebooks, check emails, listen to music, watch video, play games, use applications…It is basically an iPhone/Touch, which has left people very disappointed.

Spec and price

There will be  WIFI only and a 3g+WIFI models available, which come with an Apple 1GHZ cpu, 16, 32 and 64GB Flash storage drives and Bluetooth. It comes in at only 1.5lbs in weight and is 0.5 inches thick. The battery seems impressive, which boasts 10 hours of usage, and claimed to have a month of standby juice. The price is the major stumbling block…

Announced prices for the U.S. market are split into 2, for the WIFI only and WIFI+3g models.

WIFI only – $499, $599, $699 For 16, 32, 64 GB Respectively
WIFI+3g – $629, $729, $829 For 16, 32, 64GB Respectively

Remember, if you go with a 3g model, you will not only have to pay this down for the device, you will also need a monthly subscription to 3G from a carrier.

For me, this is a big MISS

I will doubt very very much i will get 1 of these at those prices. Why? 2 massive reasons, the price, and i have this device already, its called an iPhone. This just looks like a really big iphone to me, and to alot of people. The buzz from everyone on twitter is the same, that this is, a larger iphone. So if you have an iphone, what does this bring to you? Apple, you need to give us a reason to buy your new toy, and i cant find one. The majority of Apple products have been a huge success in recent times, i really think this will be the first to fail, well i suppose that Macbook Air was a bit of a flop aswell It actually looks a little more square than i thought it would, it looks a bit “wrong” in MR Jobs’ hands.

Availability: It will be available in 60 days for the WIFI Only, and 90 days for the WIFI+3g (April/May)

UK Prices

These are yet to be announced, but i am going to go and guess these, see if i am right….

WIFI ONLY – £349-399, £449-499, £549-599 For 16, 32, 64GB Respectively
WIFI + 3g – £449-499, £549-599, £649-699 For 16, 32, 64GB Respectively

I put the lower “x49″ numbers in as they may feel a bit generous, but i doubt it So a mid range with 3g could cost almost £600! btw you cant just convert the dollars to pounds and assume that is the price, thats not how it works!