Category: Apple

‘Mind the Gap’

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I can’t believe that Consumer Reports is still fired up about this:

The Verizon iPhone 4 has a problem that could cause the phone to drop calls, or be unable to place calls, in weak signal conditions, Consumer Reports engineers have found in lab tests.

[…]

Here’s a rundown of what we did and what we found in our tests: We subjected the Verizon iPhone 4 to a full complement of regular tests in order to add it to our smart-phone Ratings, available to subscribers. We also put it through the special tests we carried out last year on the AT&T iPhone 4 after a rash of consumer complaints about signal reception with that model. There has been no such outpouring of complaints about the Verizon version of the phone.

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OS X Lion Adds Recovery Partition

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David W. Martin at Cult of Mac:

Apple’s new Mac OS X Lion adds support for a recovery partition as part of the OS installation and while this may not seem important to most users — it is. Apple is making the tools and resources available to you that will allow you to perform disk repair and recoveries on your mobile Mac while on the road or on your desktop Mac at home. The utilities will be readily available and therefore you won’t have to go hunting for that always elusive DVD or USB stick.

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Back to the Basics

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David Chartier:

iOS and Mac OS X are symbiotic entities. When designing iOS, Apple distilled the Mac down to something pocketable, but the core concepts are there, such as an app-centric workflow, an always-accessible “home base” Dock, and a fierce pursuit of intuitive interfaces. After gaining knowledge and experience from nearly five years and four versions of iOS, Apple clearly felt that it’s time to return the favor in Lion. Apple is incorporating some of the fresh simplicity of iOS back into its point-and-click desktop computing platform that, at its conceptual core, is almost three decades old.

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The More Things Change...

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Joshua Topolsky, in his review of the Motorola Xoom, the first Honeycomb-powered tablet to hit the market:

The problem with the Xoom isn’t really about the core of the experience or the core of the hardware – it’s about the details. Too much in both the design (like those wonky buttons) or the software (like the feeling that this is all very much in beta) makes you wonder if this wasn’t rushed out to market in order to beat the next wave from Apple. Regardless, there isn’t much here for consumers right now. The Android Market is almost devoid of tablet applications, the OS feels buggy and unfinished, and the hardware has pain points that we find troubling. And that’s to say nothing of the pricing and carrier commitments being asked of first-time buyers.

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AASPs, ACNs and the Genius Bar

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Andrew Munchbach:

BGR has learned that the topic in question is a new, retail-based service being called Joint Venture. First rumored back in March of last year, Joint Venture is an extension of Apple’s current Genius Bar services that is aimed at small businesses and prosumers. Subscribers of the new service will be able to speak with a store-based Apple technician — lovingly referred to as Geniuses — over the phone for one-on-one consultation and troubleshooting, or they can request an on-site visit. Currently, Apple’s Geniuses are not allowed to provide support remotely via the phone or in-person outside of Apple’s retail locations.

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I Just *Got* FaceTime

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Maybe it’s because I’ve used video chat in the past on my Macs. Maybe it’s just because I just bought an iPhone 4 a few weeks ago. Maybe it’s because I’m a little dense sometimes. Whatever the reason, I just now came to realize what FaceTime is all about.

Right now, I’m sitting at the University of Memphis, cramming for a massive exam I have in the morning. My wife Merri just called me from her 4th-generation iPod touch, and I got to see and talk to her and our two kids, right from the palm of my hand. I could wave to our infant daughter, and see our two-year old son show me where his eyes, ears and nose are. Since I missed dinner with them, it was a great way to have just a moment to connect.

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A Simple Explanation

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Gruber, on Readability’s app rejection:

Maybe I’m missing something, but these guys claiming to be surprised and disappointed by Apple’s insistence on a 30 percent cut of subscriptions when their own business model is to take a 30 percent cut of subscriptions strikes me as rich. And how can they claim that Readability isn’t “serving up content”? That’s exactly what Readability does. What they’re pissed about is that Apple has the stronger hand. Readability needs Apple to publish an app in the App Store. Apple doesn’t need Readability.

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Tablets and Pencils

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Jon Stokes at Ars Technica:

Don’t get me wrong: I’ll always have a tablet in my life, just like I’ll always have pencils, pens, a laptop, a phone, a camera, etc. But until someone comes up with a tablet that can do something unique and special that nothing else in my life can do better — as opposed to a slightly truncated, more portable, or cheaper version of something I’m already doing with another tool — I’m probably over being truly excited about the new ones that come along.

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