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My thoughts on iPhone 4 and iOS 4

I've been busy with my day job and really couldn't spend a lot of time ogling the iPhone announcements the other day. However, I did catch up on my reading of all the new things and watched a few of the videos and of course people expect me to weigh in on what I like or don't like about new tech gadgets So here goes:

 

iPhone 4 – What I'm excited about

From a new hardware perspective, I'm excited about the new smaller, thinner form factor and since I have yet to see the actual (retina) display I can't weigh in on it one way or the other. I'm sure it's great. I also welcome the faster speeds of the A4, longer battery life of the bigger battery and potential better call quality based on the new antenna layout/case design. I definitely welcome the new 5MP camera and LED flash as well as having both a front facing and rear facing camera. This was long over due! FaceTime looks cool, but I wonder how useful it will be since both people have to have iPhone 4s and be on WiFi. Still, it will be fun to try. The 720p video is definitely welcome! It may mean that I can actually give up my Kodak Zi8, which I love. What I love even more is carrying less devices.

 

iPhone 4 – What I'm a little disappointed about

Although I get the space constraint issues, I'm still disappointed that there's not a 64GB version. Maybe I won't care as much now that I have an iPad, but my 32GB iPhone 3GS is always within 1-5GBs of space remaining. So I was looking forward to not only a faster iPhone, but bigger storage too. Also I kinda wish that they didn't go to a MicroSIM as it means switching the SIM card between phones is going to be a little more challenging. I'll be testing an Android phone in the not too distant future and it would have been nice to be able to "easily" go between the two with the same SIM Card. This solution looks promising though.

 

iOS 4 – What I'm excited about

If you asked me to name the top 3 features I can't wait for they would be (in order): Folders! – I have TONS of Apps and believe it or not, I can't wait to get them under control from an organization standpoint with folders. I have all 11 screens full right now on my 3GS and I have to pick and choose which apps to delete when I want to add more because I refuse to let them slide into that black hole that is page 12. The second thing I have been dying for is the integrated inbox in Mail. I've been complaining about that since 2007. So 3 years later, I'm glad that someone at Apple realized that people have more than one email account and don't want to have to constantly go back back back to view a different inbox. The third thing that I'm excited about is mult-tiasking. Although it remains to be seen what really happens when an app is in the background, I still welcome the fact that it will at least return me to the app where I left off now with 3rd party apps.

 

iOS 4- What I'm disappointed about

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AT&T Pulls a Switcheroony – New Data Plans, no longer unlimited!

It seemed like only last week when I shared my 1st month of iPad data use with you all. I started out with the 250MB/month iPad plan knowing that I could always upgrade to the unlimited data plan if I needed to. Now it looks as if the unlimited plan is going away unless you act TODAY! Starting today, AT&T will start NEW data plans for ALL Smart phone devices (including iPad/iPhone). So if you already bought an iPad 3G and thought that you might some day want to go "UNLIMITED" for $29.99/month, then you better do it now, because starting today that plan goes away for NEW subscribers. Here's the break down:

 

The OLD Plans (prior to 6/7/2010) iPad – 250 MB/month $14.99/month Unlimited Data Plan $29.99/month
The OLD iPhone Plans iPhone 2G UNLIMITED+200 SMS  Data  $20/month iPhone 3G/3GS Unlimited Data $30/month (+$5/month for 200 SMS)
The NEW Data Plans starting TODAY for NEW accounts (iPhones too) DataPlus 200MB/month $15/month DataPro 2GB/month $25/month
Tethering your SmartPhone (iPhone with 4.0 software)   DataPro plan $25 + Tethering $20 = $45/month

 

 

While the prices are technically cheaper, Unlimited goes away! 2GB's sounds like a lot and it probably is for MOST people, but if you plan to stream video on your device 2GB in a month can be eaten up pretty quickly. These new plans now make it so that you have to monitor your usage closely. Luckily if you do go over, you're not charged a per kilobyte fee. Instead you'll be able to add on another block of usage for a set price (another 200MB for $15 or if you're on the DataPro plan you get another 1GB for $10). So again if you do a lot of streaming, your bill could be quite high. I should also mention that all of these NEW plans do come with FREE access to any AT&T WiFi hotspots.

No iPad to iPhone tethering, yet – According to AT&T, they have no problem with you tethering your iPad to your iPhone to share the iPhone's data connection. However, currently the iPad doesn't support it in it's OS and Apple says that the 4.0 OS update isn't coming to the iPad until the fall. So we may have to wait til then to see if the iPad will tether to the iPhone.

See the AT&T Plan details here on their site.

 

How much Data have I used on my iPhone or other smartphone?

Although you can look this info up on your device, I find the most accurate way is to dial *3282# from your phone and you'll get a text message with the break down of your current usage.

 

Don't think you're going to use that much data?

Maybe you won't, but here's some food for thought. If you're just doing normal surfing, email, etc. then you're probably fine. However, let's not forget that iTunes sells and rents MOVIES! The average movie size is 1.5GB. So if you rent a movie over 3G, you could quickly hit the limit of the DataPro plan and then start having to pay for additional 1GB blocks at $10 a pop before your next billing cycle. I know it's easy to say, "well don't do that. Download your movies while you're on WiFi." However, this wasn't an issue yesterday and now somehow makes the mobile platforms seem a little less fun.

 

What do you think of these New Plans?

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One Day Sale: Magellan Premium iPhone/iPod touch Car Kit

While I still think that these car kits cost more than they should, I must admit that the Magellan Car Kit (and Navigon App for iPhone AND iPod touch) is now my preferred Travel GPS! Amazon has the Magellan Premium Car Kit ON SALE for $99.99 (List Price $129.99). You can get it here for that price.

Speaking of Navigon Apps, Navigon still has their "MyRegion" Apps on sale for $15!!! Regular price is $29.99 so grab them here while you can. The Navigon GPS navigation Apps work great with the Magellan Car Kit and since they have the maps BUILT-IN, they don't require a data connection to use.

You can also check out my original video review of the Magellan Kit here:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTP34pSA6LU

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Multi-country Universal Power Strip

The more I travel internationally the more I realize that certain areas of the world haven't caught up to the "high tech business traveler" yet. I am painfully reminded of this in various hotels abroad. I know what you're thinking. No I'm not talking about Internet Connectivity. Actually for the most part 99% of the places I visit have in-room high speed internet (not always fast, but it's there). Actually I'm talking about a simpler problem. The problem of not enough outlets in the room! A couple of months ago I stayed at a Hilton in the UK and I was stunned that there was only ONE free outlet in the entire room. It was at the desk. So I had to pick and choose which devices to power/charge throughout the day/night. I kept thinking the whole time, "I really need a power strip." Actually I have a couple of mobile power strips by Kensington and Belkin that I love. However, they are for the US only. They have USB ports and plugging them in to a 240 volt outlet will FRY THEM (ask me how I know? 🙂 ) I could have gone to the local convenience store and probably picked up a power strip, but then the problem would be it would be for the UK styled plugs. What happens when I travel to a different location in Europe or elsewhere in the world and they have different plugs? So I resisted the temptation and just didn't buy anything. Well that was until recently.

On my last trip to India, I had a meeting with an Ad agency there and they had this very cool power strip in their conference room. It actually had multiple prong female adapters/plugs built-in to it. Also since it could handle the high voltage, you could plug it in in pretty much any country provided you had the proper prong adapter for the main cord. I knew right then and there this is what I needed, so I came back home and ordered this one. The only difference is that this one has a US styled plug on the end of the cord, which means I can use it here in the US without an adapter and when I travel abroad I can just put an adapter on it and use it in virtually any country that I may visit. This strip also cuts down on the number of adapters i need to carry. Since all of my gear has US styled plugs on them already, I only need to carry ONE adapter for each country/style to go on the end of the power strip that goes in the wall/outlet.

If you travel abroad frequently, you're going to want one. You can get it here for about $30. 

Here's the UK Style Adapter I use and here's the European style Adapter I use. Also here's the Universal Adapter I use when I'm not using the Power Strip. Lastly here is the Apple World Travel Adapter kit for all of your Apple devices/notebooks.

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I only used 171MBs of 3G data in the first month of iPad use

When I got my iPad WiFi+3G back on April 30th, I resisted signing up for the Unlimited 3G Data Plan ($29.99/month). Since there is no contract and you can upgrade or downgrade at any time I wanted to see if I could get by on the 250MB/month Plan ($14.99/month). My thought was "why pay more up front when you're not sure how much you're really going to use?". I was right! In the first month I used my iPad as much as I needed to/wanted to on 3G. The rest of the time I was on WiFi or traveling abroad and using it on WiFi. I only used 171MB in the first month. So technically I saved $14.99 by NOT doing the impulse thing and signing up for the Unlimited Plan right off the bat. Now that's not to say that I wan't have some months where I need more 3G data and if I do, I'll purchase more at that time. However, today I feel like I just saved $14.99 by not giving it to AT&T up front.

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Introducing the Photoshop CS5 “Knowledge Panel”

Photoshop CS5 Quietly Delivers the Knowledge Panel

That's right! If you have Photoshop CS5, you have a NEW Panel under Window->Extensions Called "Knowledge". This new panel pulls in industry experts to give you help and step-by-step instructions on completing various tasks in Photoshop. Best of all it's FREE and if you've been connected to the internet and have Photoshop CS5 open it's already there! Here are a few screen shots:

    

 

Speaking of Creating an HDR Image

Here's my Lightroom 3 to Photoshop CS5 HDR Pro workflow

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rab25UTe6HY

Thanks goes out to Scott Kelby and the Photoshop Guys for some GREAT HDR Pro settings.

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Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk 2010 is here!

It's time of year again and I'm excited to announce that once again I'll be leading a Detroit area photowalk on Saturday, July 24th, 2010. This year I'll be taking my group on a photowalk of the Detroit Zoo. As usual there are only a limited number of slots, so you should probably sign up NOW. You can do so here. If by the time you read this the walk has already filled up (we were first to fill up last year), go ahead and get on the wait list. Each year people sign up and then something comes up and they have to drop off. So if you're on the wait list you'll automatically be slotted in to the next available slot.

 

Terry's Personal Favorite

Not only are the photos once again competing for Scott Kelby's eye as his top picks, but I'll also award a prize or two for my personal favorites from this year's walk.

 

More details to come as we get closer.

 

Not in the Detroit area? No problem. This is a "worldwide" event. Check the site here to find the one closest to you.