Apple Ipod Nano
August 30th, 2008
Instead of the hard disk which is used in the iPod Classic, the Nano uses flash memory. This means there are no moving parts, making the iPod Nano resistant to skipping due to sudden movement.
The iPod Nano works with iTunes on Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows (third-party software is available for platforms that Apple does not support, such as Linux. It connects to the computer via the same proprietary dock connector as all models since the iPod 3rd Generation (with the exception of the iPod Shuffle), using USB 2.0. Although it uses the same connection as Apple's FireWire iPod Cable and can charge its battery over FireWire, the iPod Nano does not support synchronization over a FireWire connection. The iPod Nano includes a stop watch and a multiple time zone clock function. There is also a combination lock feature that makes use of the click wheel to lock the iPod, and serves to secure the user's calendar and contact information as well as the volume limit function.
Like previous iPod models, the first and second generation iPod Nano include some pre-installed games: Brick, Music Quiz, Parachute, and Solitaire. The third generation iPod Nano includes pre-installed games, but can also run games which Apple makes available for purchase in the iTunes Store. The three pre-installed games are variations on the Brick, Solitaire, and Music Quiz games found in the first and second-generation iPod nanos. Brick is now called Vortex and there is now a circular playing field. Solitaire is now called Klondike with minimal differences. Music Quiz now includes Movie and TV Show trivia along with a more aesthetically pleasing look.
Unlike the preceding iPod Mini, its battery is soldered to the printed circuit board of the device, making it harder to replace manually, although replacement batteries are readily available. The flash memory chips used are surface mount devices, making any attempt to upgrade the Nano's storage capacity impractical.
Unlike previous iPods, the iPod Nano does not synchronize or connect over FireWire. Also, the lack of the remote connector found on the top of many previous models means that a number of third-party accessories do not work with the iPod Nano. The first generation iPod Nano did not support voice recording; the second and third generation Nanos function with third-party recording attachments. It did not function with either Apple's iPod Camera Connector or other camera connectors from third-party manufacturers.
Apple updated the Nano again on September 5, 2007. The third-generation Nano features a 2-inch (51 mm) QVGA (320×240) screen and a shorter, wider, heavier design, with new colors. New features include browsing via Cover Flow, a new user interface, video playback, and support for new iPod Games. Users must repurchase games bought before a month prior to the debut of the new iPod as they are not supported. The Nano was announced in a 4 GB version at US$149 (UK£99.99) coming only in silver, and an 8 GB version at US$199 (UK£129.99) coming in silver, turquoise, mint green, black and Product Red. The battery lasts for approx. 24 hours on audio playback and approx. 5 hours on video playback. On January 22, 2008, Apple released a pink version of the 8GB iPod Nano.
Combining elements from previous generations of the iPod Nano, the third-generation Nano has an aluminum front plate and a stainless steel back plate. The Nano also sports a new Minimalistic hold switch, similar to the iPod shuffle's power switch, which has been moved to the bottom of the player. The 2-inch (51 mm) screen has the smallest dot pitch of any Apple product, having the same pixel count as the 2.5-inch (64 mm) display of the iPod Classic.
On October 6, 2007, Apple released a firmware update (1.0.2) via iTunes that is said to improve Cover Flow and yield faster menu navigation. The update was also released for the iPod Classic. On November 28, 2007, Apple released another firmware update (1.0.3) via iTunes, which included unspecified bugfixes. January 15, 2008 saw the release of version 1.1, which added support for iTunes movie rentals, music song lyrics support and included more unspecified bugfixes. In May 2008, Apple released update version 1.1.2. In July 2008, Apple released update 1.1.3.
Apple iPhone
June 29th, 2008
The iPhone's functions include those of a camera phone and portable media player (equivalent to the iPod) in addition to text messaging and visual voicemail. It also offers Internet services including e-mail, web browsing, and local Wi-Fi connectivity. The first generation phone hardware was quad-band GSM with EDGE; the second generation uses UMTS and HSDPA.
The 9 cm (3.5 in) liquid crystal display (320×480 px at 6.3 px/mm (160 ppi)) HVGA touchscreen topped with optical-quality, scratch-resistant glass is specifically created for use with a finger, or multiple fingers for multi-touch sensing. Because the screen is a capacitive touchscreen, bare skin is required; a stylus or a normal glove prevents the necessary electrical conductivity.
Almost all input is given through the touch screen, which understands complex gestures using multi-touch. The iPhone user interface enables the user to move the content itself up or down by a touch-drag motion of the finger, much as one would freely slide or flick a playing card across a table with a finger. Zooming in and out of web pages and photos is accomplished by placing two fingers (e.g. thumb and forefinger) on the screen and spreading them farther apart or closer together, as if stretching or squeezing the image. Similarly, scrolling through a long list in a menu works as if the list is pasted on the outer surface of a wheel: the wheel can be "spun" by sliding a finger over the display from bottom to top (or vice versa). In either case, the list continues to move based on the flicking motion of the finger, slowly decelerating as if affected by friction. In this way, the interface simulates the physics of a real 3D object. There are other visual effects, such as horizontally sliding sub-selections and co-selections from right and left, vertically sliding system menus from the bottom (e.g. favorites, keyboard), and menus and widgets that turn around to allow settings to be configured on their back sides.
The display responds to three sensors. A proximity sensor shuts off the display and touchscreen when the iPhone is brought near the face to save battery power and to prevent inadvertent inputs from the user's face and ears. An ambient light sensor adjusts the display brightness which in turn saves battery power. A 3-axis accelerometer senses the orientation of the phone and changes the screen accordingly. Photo browsing, web browsing, and music playing support both upright and left or right widescreen orientations, while videos play in only one widescreen orientation.
A software update allowed the first generation iPhone to use cell towers and Wi-Fi networks to locate itself despite lacking a hardware GPS. The iPhone 3G includes A-GPS but also uses cell towers and Wi-Fi for location finding.
A single "home" hardware button below the display brings up the main menu. Subselections are made via the touchscreen. The iPhone utilizes a full-paged display, with context-specific submenus at the top and/or bottom of each page, sometimes depending on screen orientation. Detail pages display the equivalent of a "Back" button to return to the parent menu.
The iPhone has three physical switches on its sides: wake/sleep, volume up/down, and ringer on/off. These are made of plastic on the original iPhone but metal on the iPhone 3G. All other multimedia and phone operations are done via the touchscreen.
The iPhone features a built-in rechargeable battery that is not intended to be user-replaceable, similar to existing iPods, but dissimilar to most existing cellular phones. If the battery prematurely reaches the end of its life time, the phone can be returned to Apple and replaced for free while still in warranty, one year at purchase and extended to two years with AppleCare. The cost of having Apple provide a new battery and replace it when the iPhone is out of warranty is US$79 and US$6.95 for shipping.
Since July 2007 third party battery packs have been available at a much lower price than Apple's own battery replacement program. These kits often include a small screwdriver and an instruction leaflet, but as with many newer iPod models the battery has been soldered in. Therefore a soldering iron is required to install the new battery.
The original iPhone's battery was stated to be capable of providing up to seven hours of video, six hours of web browsing, eight hours of talk time, 24 hours of music or up to 250 hours on standby. Apple's site says that the battery life "is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity after 400 full charge and discharge cycles", which is comparable to the iPod batteries.
The iPhone 3G's battery is stated to be capable of providing up to seven hours of video, six hours of web browsing on Wi-Fi or five on 3G, ten hours of 2G talk time, or five on 3G, 24 hours of music, or 300 hours of standby.
The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a consumer advocate group, has sent a complaint to Apple and AT&T over the fee that consumers have to pay to have the battery replaced. Though the battery replacement service and its pricing was not made known to buyers until the day the product was launched, a similar service had been well established for the iPods by Apple and various third party service provide.
The genesis of the iPhone began with Apple CEO Steve Jobs' direction that Apple engineers investigate touchscreens. Apple created the device during a secretive and unprecedented collaboration with AT&T Mobility—Cingular Wireless at the time of the phone's inception—at a development cost of US$150 million by one estimate. During development, the iPhone was codenamed "Purple 2". The company rejected an early "design by committee" built with Motorola in favor of engineering a custom operating system and interface and building custom hardware.
The iPhone went on sale in the U.S. on June 29, 2007. Apple closed its stores at 2:00 PM local time to prepare for the 6:00 PM iPhone launch, while hundreds of customers lined up at stores nationwide. Apple sold 270,000 iPhones in the first 30 hours on launch weekend. The original iPhone is now available in five other countries: Ireland, the UK, France, Germany, and Austria.
On July 11, 2008, Apple will release the iPhone 3G in twenty-two countries, including the original six. Forty-eight more are expected to follow in the months afterwards. In the United States, purchasing the new phone will require signing a two year provider contract with AT&T.
While initially iPhones were only sold on the AT&T network with a SIM lock in place, various hackers have found methods to "unlock" the phone; more recently some carriers have started to sell unlocked iPhones. More than a quarter of iPhones sold in the United States were not registered with AT&T. Apple speculates that they were likely shipped overseas and unlocked.
On November 21, 2007, T-Mobile in Germany announced it would sell the phone unlocked and without a T-Mobile contract, caused by a preliminary injunction against T-Mobile put in place by their competitor, Vodafone. In Germany, a company is not allowed to lock the SIM card to itself. On December 4, 2007, a German court decided to grant T-Mobile exclusive rights to sell the iPhone with SIM lock, overturning the temporary injunction. In addition, T-Mobile will voluntarily offer to unlock customers' iPhone after the termination of the contract.
The iPhone normally prevents access to its media player and web features unless it has also been activated as a phone with an authorized carrier. On July 3, 2007, Jon Lech Johansen reported on his blog that he had successfully bypassed this requirement and unlocked the iPhone's other features with a combination of custom software and modification of the iTunes binary. He published the software and offsets for others to use.
Unlike the original, the 3G iPhone must be activated in the store.
But the most important and interesting part in my opinion, is that it's the first Apple phone ever. And it's very hard to look in the future and guess, what do they have planned.
Apple Ipod Touch
June 4th, 2008
All iPod touch models have included the applications Music, Videos, and Photos(collectively duplicating the standard functions of the iPod classic), iTunes (providing access to the iTunes Music Store), Safari, YouTube, Calendar, Contacts, Clock, Calculator, and Settings. Later models added Mail (accessing POP/IMAP/SMTP e-mail), Maps, Stocks, Notes, and Weather, which could also be added to the earlier models with the purchase of a software upgrade.
As supplied new, the iPod touch needs a connection to a computer for initial configuration. Officially, Apple requires iTunes to be installed on either a Mac OS X or Windows operating system based computer for configuring the iPod touch. On either operating system, the iPod touch must be connected through a USB 2.0 port on the computer. The first time the iPod touch is turned on, a "cable to iTunes" graphic will be displayed continuously until the iPod touch is connected to a computer running iTunes.
To use the iPod touch for buying products at the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store via Wi-Fi, an iTunes Store account must be created in iTunes and the account details then entered into the iPod.
The iPod touch is slimmer and lighter than the iPhone. It lacks some of the iPhone's features: access to any phone network, an internal speaker, a microphone, a camera, physical buttons for volume control, and Bluetooth capability. The iPod touch uses software-based volume controls which require users to double-tap the home button, bringing up an on-screen slider. They both have the same screen size (3.5 inches) and have the same processor and graphics chipset. The iPod touch is available in a model with 32GB of storage, compared to the the iPhone's maximum of 16GB.
Of course, all those huge lines of people, who wanted to get it in the first few weeks of sale dissapeared, but every music-addict has to atleast try the new player, because it's a real relovution!
