Posts tagged apple

MMS vs E-Mail

NOTE: I’m going to do my best to not make this strictly about the iPhone…no promises, though.

After Apple released the iPhone, the complaints rolled in about it not having MMS (or Multimedia Messaging Service), as if it were absolutely necessary.  Which is ridiculous considering that most complaints about the iPhone came from the BlackBerry community (whom, up until recently, didn’t have 3G or a good MMS system themselves, so I don’t even know what they were complaining about) who’s phones were supposed to be used strictly for business…right?

Here’s the fun fact: e-mail and MMS do the same thing. There is no REAL difference. The biggest differences are that MMS works like SMS in that you can just input the recipient’s phone number and you’re good to go, and with MMS you’re limited on file sizes or the amount of information you can send.

That’s pretty much where it all ends. However, with e-mail, you’re able to have a hard copy on your computer, or wherever you might go and access your e-mail, thus making it much more portable than MMS itself. Of course, you could save the MMS attachment to your phone, and then send it via bluetooth to your computer, or maybe even forward the MMS to your e-mail. Which would be, in turn, pointless to boot, when it could have just been e-mailed straight to you.

A couple years ago, one could make the argument that not all phones have an e-mail capability. Which was true back then, but now, chances are that the phone that you’ve got in your pocket/hand/desk is ready to send and receive e-mails on the fly.

Now, don’t get me wrong, sending an MMS to a friend is much faster than sending them an e-mail, but it’s a whole different ball park when we’re in that much need for instant gratification than to wait a few minutes for an e-mail to come in.But when you’re limited to .5MB of data, and cameras are getting higher in quality on phones, you can’t really send much of anything good over MMS to youtube/facebook or whatever social media site you might be thinking of.

The Modern Cell Phone

If you’ve read this blog for any sort of time, or listened to my podcasts, you’d know that I’m an absolute iPhone fanatic. Needless to say, ever since I’ve aquired such a godly phone (as you know I would call it) I’ve had, more or less, blinders on toward other phones. I’m actually going to try to change that around, since I now know, more than ever, that it isn’t easy to keep an iPhone.

I began this slight of switchover in January, before I came back from my trip to Ohio and Chicago in buying myself a BlackBerry 8800, supposedly a great example for the brand RIM has made famous. I can say that I’m not exactly happy with it, and I’m making an attempt to reach out towards other phones.

Recently, I’ve become slightly financially unstable, and had to sell my iPhone 3G, smartly, I sold it to a good friend of mine, so I know it’ll be taken care of, the way I want it. So now, on amost a daily basis, I find myself searching around for a fine replacement.

Thanks to the iPhone, I’ve now come to need at lot from a phone:

  • QWERTY Keyboard
  • Internet Access (preferably 3G)
  • a camera
  • e-mail support
  • lots of memory
  • GPS
  • Applications (mainly for twitter, brightkite, loopt, Qik, things like that)
  • and Music playing

Looking at a lot fo the phones, this is too much for just a normal phone, but I can admit, yes, I have been absolutely spoiled with the iPhone. So, instead I’ve now just cut my list of requirements for a phone down to:

  • QWERTY Keyboard (seriously, T9 does NOT cut it)
  • a camera
  • e-mail support
  • and at least WAP support

So far, the BlackBerries are actually looking good in this arena, but unfortunately, and believe it or not, I’d prefer to be using a Windows Mobile device.

The journey marches forward…

(unless you’d like to give me your iPhone ;D)

WWDC 2009 Keynote Wrapup

This morning went over pretty well, in my professional opinion. Here’s what we saw:

  • Phil Schiller did a good job presenting
  • Snow Leopard $129 for new users $29 for Leopard users
  • iPhone 3.0 software to be released on June 19th
  • iPhone Tethering with certain carriers… AT&T not included :(
  • iPhone 3G is now $99
  • iPhone 3GS (for speed) is going to be released on June 19th
  • the 3GS is twice as fast as the 3G also with the HSDPA 7.5Mbps standard
  • 16GB 3GS will be $199, and 32GB for $299 both available in white and black
  • Upgrade fees DO apply for iPhone users.
  • No Steve Jobs :(

The Night Before WWDC 2009

Tomorrow is the grand opening for WWDC 2009. Us Macheads have been waiting for this for a little while. Especially the iPhone fans due to the rumors upon rumors of new iPhones.

Not much else to say, but head over to http://specialkolin.com/live around 1pm EST for my live coverage of the WWDC keynote brought to you by Phil Schiller, and hopefully a cameo by Steve Jobs!

SpecialKolin Sez Podcast – Episode 8

In this Episode:

  • Google Wave
  • iPhone Apps of the Week
  • WWDC Predictions
  • iPhone 3
  • Tablets?
  • Netbooks?
  • Steve Jobs?
  • Billy’s iPod Sh*ttle

Joining us:

Links:

Listen/Download Here!

iPhone 3.0 Beta – downgrade



The other day, iPhone 3.0 Beta was released. AWESOME improvements on the iPhone software, I can hardly wait.

I’m not a registered developer, nor do I have the money to become one just to get the 3.0 Beta. However, I was able to get my hands on the image for the Beta, and I installed it.

BIG MISTAKE!

For the most part of today (March 18th) I had a dead iPhone 3G and was using a BlackBerry 8800. Oh yeah, I was doing peachy. I tried everything to restore it back to 2.2.1, but it was IMPOSSIBLE. I even called tech support up (since my warranty wasn’t void…yet) and offered up my opening line to Charles: “heh, you’re going to laugh, but I did something really stupid”

I was on the phone with Charles for about an hour… we had NOTHING. He left me with a case number and me downloading iTunes again. The servers were going slow, so it would have been a 2 hour phone call by the time it was done. 

His solution went for nothing…but I managed to find my own method that worked.

  1. Reinstall iTunes (I don’t really know if this helps, but just in case)
  2. Put the iPhone into DFU mode (I ran the pwnagetool through just to make sure I got it all right…your screen should be blank)
  3. Restore to 2.0.1 (you can try any others… 2.2.1 wouldn’t work directly for me… leave comments below)
  4. Then Update back to 2.2.1
  5. if stuck in restore mode at any point, Quickpwn on my windows machine was able to get it out for me

Downsides were that I wasn’t really able to completely restore the backup that I had… and it would appear that my contacts are a bit off. 

I really would like to thank Charles from Apple iPhone tech support. He was really freaking awesome and definitely deserves a raise.

SpecialKolin Sez Podcast – Episode 5

In this episode:

  • McNugget Emergency
  • New iMac and Mac Mini
  • Cydia Store
  • iPhone Apps of the Week
  • Wireless Audio/Video
  • Interesting Finds
  • Billy’s got a Kindle
  • Contest?

Links:

Download/Listen to the Episode here!

Don’t forget to submit your topics here or e-mail them to podcast@specialkolin.com.

SpecialKolin Sez Podcast – Episode 4

In this episode:

  • LOTS OF GUESTS!
  • Facebook’s new terms of Terms of Service
  • MySpace’s status update
  • iPhone Apps of the week
  • iGerard’s voicemail
  • All about Netbooks
  • Billy’s Pageant experience

This Week’s guests:

Links:

Download/Listen to the Episode here!

SpecialKolin Sez Podcast – Episode 3

In This Episode:

  • New Mic!
  • Podcasts
  • Facebook Terms of Service
  • Job Hunting
  • Wedding Photography
  • Mac Mini and iPhone Rumors
  • “I am Richer!”
  • Next Episode?

Shouts to:

  • Catrina Macaragh
  • Carlos Falconi from Sacred Tuesday
  • Everett Freeze
  • Billy Hime

Links:

  • Sequential Pictures’ Pointless Podcast – http://sequentialpictures.com/podcast.html
  • The Apple Juice Show – http://www.applejuiceshow.com
  • VexedTech – http://www.vexedtech.com
  • Sacred Tuesday – http://www.myspace.com/sacredtuesday
  • My twitter – http://www.twitter.com/specialkolin

Don’t forget to leave topic suggestions in the comments or e-mail them to podcast@specialkolin.com

Download the Episode:

Question of the Day: iPhone Accessories

5256_large_accessoriesI tweeted this earlier today, but I’d like to ask it again.

What is your favorite iPhone or iPod Touch accessory, or which do you think is the best accessory for either of the devices?

Please leave your answers in the comments below.