Apple Demoes iOS 4.2 for iPad

Apple is set to release iOS 4.2 in November this year, however it’s an iPad only firmware and brings all the iOS 4 features such as printing, multitasking etc. to the iPad. The most interesting new feature is AirPlay, it allows you to stream music and video straight to your iPad over WiFi (with an iPad even acting as host for the new Apple TV).
As mentioned before printing has been brought to iOS 4 with the iPad using the Printer Center applet that sits in the dock and lets you manage print jobs.

FaceTime uses 3MB of Data/Minute

The folks over at 9to5mac have found that FaceTime uses just under 3MB of data per minute. To be able to use FaceTime over 3G you need to jailbreak your iPhone 4 and then download the My3G app from Cydia. Then you can ‘trick’ the iOS into thinking it’s on WiFi when it’s actually using the 3G cellular network. Obviously this has it’s upsides such as using FaceTime where ever you like or watching high quality YouTube videos on the go. Bear in mind if your using FaceTime on 3G then take into your bandwidth cap into consideration. On O2 in the UK currently most iPhone 4 users have a 500MB+ cap. So if your on the 500MB plan then you can use FaceTime on 3G for a total of around 2 1/2 hours a month, that’s just on FaceTime. So make sure if you are using FaceTime on 3G that you don’t use it too much.

Apple Announces iBook App for iPad

Apple today announced the iBook app for the iPad tablet device. It will offer books and content from many big names in publishing and also an interesting note is that it uses the ePub format, which is not proprietary, so is there a possiblity of creating your own books for the device if the content isn’t available on the store?

Apple has 4 big partners with the iPad: Penguin, Macmillion, Simon & Shuster and more. This will give a good start to the release of the iPad and it’s lineup of books.

Apple iPad Specs

The new Apple iPad specs:

16, 32 and 64GB models.
802.11n WiFi
.5 inches thin
1.5 pounds
9.7 inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
1024×768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi)
Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR
1GHz Apple Chip
Supports OpenGLS
Pixel Double to run app’s at double size or original.
Accelerometer
Compass
iBook (Apple’s eBook reader) [uses the ePub format for the iBook app, which means it’s open.]
3G
720p HD Video Playback
3.5-mm stereo headphone jack
$14.99 for 250MB of data
$29.99 for unlimited
Free use of AT&T WiFi Hotspots
No contract
International deals by June
iPad 3G models are unlocked
WiFi model shipping in 60 days, worldwide.
3G model shipping in 90 days.

Pricing (WiFi)

16GB $499 (£309)
32GB $599 (£370)
64GB $699 (£433)

Pricing (WiFi & 3G)

16GB $629 (£389)
32GB $729 (£451)
64GB $829 (£513)

Note: British prices have not been released by Apple yet and they are only converted from US Dollars to give people an idea of price.

Apple iPad Officially Announced

Steve Jobs has just officially announced the iPad, the tablet device which has been leaked recently is now a reality. And due to popular rumor it is in appearance an oversized iPhone/iPod Touch.

It runs a modified version of the iPhone OS and runs Mobile Safari as shown at the event, but with no Flash.

The iPad comes as follows:

16, 32 and 64GB models.
802.11n WiFi
.5 inches thin
1.5 pounds
9.7 inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
1024×768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi)
Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR
1GHz Apple Chip
Supports OpenGLS
Pixel Double to run app’s at double size or original.
Accelerometer
Compass
iBook (Apple’s eBook reader) [uses the ePub format for the iBook app, which means it’s open.]
3G
720p HD Video Playback
3.5-mm stereo headphone jack
$14.99 for 250MB of data
$29.99 for unlimited
Free use of AT&T WiFi Hotspots
No contract
International deals by June
iPad 3G models are unlocked
WiFi model shipping in 60 days, worldwide.
3G model shipping in 90 days.

Pricing (WiFi)

16GB $499 (£309)
32GB $599 (£370)
64GB $699 (£433)

Pricing (WiFi & 3G)

16GB $629 (£389)
32GB $729 (£451)
64GB $829 (£513)

Note: British prices have not been released by Apple yet and they are only converted from US Dollars to give people an idea of price.

Live Coverage Of Apple Event 27/1/2010

All times are at GMT (London).

5:48 PM: Everyone is getting seated and the event will start in 12 minutes.

6:00 PM: The lights have gone down.

6:02 PM: “We want to kick of 2010 by introducing a magical and revolutionary product today… but first I have a few updates.”

6:05 PM: “Next update, the app store. We have over 140,000 apps, and a few weeks ago we announced a user downloaded 3 billion apps.”

6:08 PM: “SO all of us use laptops and smartphones… the question has arisen; is there room for something in the middle. We’ve wondered for years as well — in order to create that category, they have to be far better at doing some key tasks… better than the laptop, better than the smartphone.”

6:10 PM: “We think we’ve got something that is better. And we call it the iPad.”

6:28 PM: “Let’s go back to the hardware.” .5 inches thin, 1.5 pounds — 9.7 inch IPS display

6:28 PM: Full capacitive multitouch

6:29 PM: “It’s powered by our own silicon. The 1GHz Apple A4 chip. It screams.”

6:29 PM: Available in 16GB, 32 and 64GB models.

6:29 PM: 802.11n WiFi, Speaker, Microphone, 30-pin connector and 10 hours of battery life, up to a month on standby. Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR.

6:54 PM: Apple eBook reader app called iBook.

6:55 PM: Apple uses the ePub format for the iBook app, which means it’s open.

7:13 PM: It syncs just like the iPhone and comes with 3G.

7:14 PM: $14.99 for 250MB of data or $29.99 for unlimited. Free use of AT&T WiFi Hotspots. No contract. International deals by June. iPad 3G models are unlocked.

7:17 PM: “WiFI plus 3G if you want it. So iPad. It’s phenomenal. Email is fantastic, best device for photos, great for music, great for video. It runs almost all of the 140k apps on the app store, as well as a whole new generation of apps.”

7:20 PM: “So $499 for 16GB of iPad. That’s our base model. 32GB is $599, 64GB is $799. 3G models cost an extra $130. $629, 729, and 829 with 3G.”

7:20 PM: “We will be shipping these in 60 days. 3G models will ship in 90 days.”

iPhone 4G To Have 802.11n WiFi?

A recent job opening which was posted on the Apple website may hint at the possibility of 802.11n WiFi in the next gen iPhone.

It has been suspected that the iPhone 4G would support 802.11n WiFi since the third generation iPod Touch was found to contain the Broadcom BCM4329 chip, capable of 802.11n (but only enabled for 802.11g). The job posting is looking for a software engineer specializing in WiFi protocols to join the iPhone tem.

The job specifications:
* Implementation of 802.11 a/b/g/n & related specifications.
* 802.11i/802.1x Security protocols
* Good understanding of wireless RF technologies & co-existence issues of 802.11 PHYs with other Wireless interfaces like Bluetooth.

BBC iPlayer App Finally Becoming Reality?

If you re-call my article from months ago, I suggested how the BBC need to make a native BBC iPlayer app and their latest press pack hints that this has finally begun.

The image shows the native app running on Wi-Fi, much like the website, which restricts you to only WiFi. It will be up to O2, Orange and Vodafone whether or not they will allow it to run on their 3G network. Little is known about the app, except what we can see from the images.

It appears to show a downloads section, meaning the possibility of downloading radio and TV to listen to when your not in WiFi, much like on the computer. This will probably have the same DRM which will delete it after so many days. The DRM on the media could have been the reason it’s took the BBC so long to develop the app as last time it was put on a portable device it wasn’t long until someone worked around it.

There still no confirmation of the native iPhone application but from these images we know that something is in the works.

Related:
iPhone Idea: BBC iPlayer App

Why Apple Need To Fix 3.0 Soon

With the vast collection of new features from the new iPhone OS 3.0, also came the vast amount of problems it’s causing.

As a 3.0 user myself I have been affected by some of these, such as the WiFi connectivity issues which have caused hundreds of users problems.
The battery life using 3.0, for some has dropped drastically and I have myself seen a bit of a drop in the batteries performance.
Destructive video editing on the iPhone 3GS. which Apple has fixed in 3.1. Also some unknown problem with 3.0 which causes the device to over heat and the battery to drop drastically as I experienced whilst using Qik to live stream a video.

These are just a few problems that 3.0 users are having and Apple really needs to sort these out, as a lot of people rely on there iPhone to last throughout the day, we don’t want it to be like the Palm Pre do we. Hopefully these will be fixed in 3.1 and anyone using the 3.1 Beta feel free to drop a comment on if any of these problems, or others, have been fixed or even maybe caused by that update.

WiFi Connectivity Problems Caused By iPhone OS 3.0

I for one have experienced connectivity problems with my iPhone 3G over WiFi. My signal is never as strong as it used to be and even in the house I get no connection where I used to get a connection, all this after the 3.0 update.

Hundreds of people have been complaining of these issues of the iDevice not connecting to WiFi, less signal strength or saying you have a WiFi connection when you don’t.

Apple if fully aware of the problem and will be working to fix it. Some people think that the 3.1 update will fix these issues but some people don’t agree with this so we will have to see. If anyone is using 3.1 Beta do you experience any of the WiFi problems?

Some people have came up with many solutions to try and fix this problem, but they don’t work, some people even tried putting there iDevice in the freezer.