After years of waiting Apple’s iPhone is finally out. Following is a summary of the iPhone (not to be confused with Linksys) features:

• Quadband GSM + EDGE
• Wifi Capability
• Thin form factor (11.6 mm)
• 3.5″ Touch screen with Multitouch capability, and a proximity sensor that disables the touch functionality when the phone is near your face.
• Runs a version of Mac OS X
• Features a full version of Safari browser (with Java capability) as well as iMail (with HTML editing ability)
• 2 Megapixel Camera
• Orientation sensor (tilts the screen depending on how you’re holding your phone)
• Visual on screen keyboard.

The iPhone also doubles as an iPod with a bigger screen and is capable of playing music, tv shows and movies. And just like any other Apple product; the interface is very intuitive. Here’s what we like

• Finger navigation and auto rotation of photos
• iChat like SMS Messaging
• Visual Contact List
• The ability to use Desktop Widgets!
• Internet software is capable of deciding whether to connect via EDGE or WiFi

What Impressed Us Most:
Google Earth running on the iPhone

What we didn’t like

• Battery life (5 hours)
• Available exclusively through Cingular
• No word on whether it would be able to sync with Windows/Office or not.
• Lack of built in GPS

Pricing:

• 8GB model - $599
• 4GB model - $499

Clearly iPhone sets the bar for everyone else. The fact that you can run Google Earth on your mobile now can open up a whole new world of possibilities, and unless HTC comes up with something better, my next phone will most probably be an iPhone. It’s a shame that it won’t be available right after the keynote (Submitted now to FCC Takes two months to clear, ships in June).

Are you itching to buy a high definition disc player but don’t know which format to go with? Given how long HDDVD and BluRay have been on the market you’d think we’d have a definitive format. 3 Years towards their intial introduction; picking a high definition player is still one of the most confusing purchasing decisions a consumer is faced with.

Up until now.

LG has just announced it will be launching the first dual format high definition disc player at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week; although there has been no word on pricing; we don’t expect high def to come with less than a 4 digit price tag. Details should be available on Sunday.

While a dual format player will lessen the cosumer’s worry about investing in the wrong format. It won’t make it any easier for content producers. If dual format players become the norm, studios will be faced with a quandary; continue to support both formats? Or release new and catalog content in just one of the disc formats; thereby foregoing support of those early adopters who bought into whichever disc format falls by the way side.

I guess time would tell…

I’d have to say Microsoft did a great job with their cryptic Origami Project campaign. The marketing buzz it created rivaled or perhaps surpassed that of Apple. For the past 3 weeks everyone spend their days searching, speculating and coming up with possible faux designs for the Origami.

Contrary to what several people thought, the product isn’t one bit disappointing! The Origami (previously Haiku) is an ultra mobile device that might soon replace or eliminate my need for my PDA.

According to a Channel 9 Video, the first devices will be running XP with a 800×480 native resolution on 7″ touch screen that is able to emulate higher resolutions. The touch screen is nothing short of brilliant! You can type using your thumbs (i digg the on screen keyboard), use the built in stylus or a bluetooth/usb keyboard.

The batteries are replaceable, and have an average run time of 3 hours which is a bit disappointing, but you cannot expect a lot more with a 1Ghz class CPU and Direct X 8 level graphics.

It comes with an ethernet jack, wireless connectivity, bluetooth 2.0, 2 built in mics for better voip on the go, VGA out, 2 USB ports in addition to a CF slot; I’m not sure if it’s CFIO which would allow EDGE, EVDO, UMTS connections to the internet when a hot spot is not available. As well as optional GPS and portable Digital TV modules! Impressive!

Portability and small form factor PCs are nothing new, last November i reviewed a similar device with a 5″ screen; now the main difference between UMPC and other devices currently on the market is the software that drives them. The Sony U50 ran on Windows XP Professional rather than Windows XP Tablet Edition, without a touch screen, you always had to lug the portable keyboard, the lack of platform specific APIs meant that no applications were designed for this device form factor/resolution.

I don’t know about you, but I personally can see this in a binder on one side and a wireless keyboard on another. I would no longer need to use paper, or lug a huge tablet PC to meetings. And with a price close to a Pocket PC Phone Edition (it sells for $599-$999), you can bet a Samsung Q1 will make its way to my hardware arsenal sometime soon.
For more on this:
Check out Gartenberg’s Analysis
Read Scobles Entry
Read the Origami Project Team Blog’s Debunking Myths Post
Go to Microsoft UMPC webpage

We’ll find out in a few

Surfing over to Origamiproject.com today reveals a less cryptic teaser hinting mobility and confirming speculations about the ultra mobile lifestyle tablet PC in the works. Rumor has it that the Origami project is the final version of the Haiku ultra-mobile PC showcased in WinHEC about a year ago.

Now the question is. Was it a coincidence that the 2nd installment of the teaser came after Apple’s somewhat disappointing annoucement? Would it have been different if Apple launched a video iPod? How will Microsoft market it? An entertainment device perhaps? The video insinuates that! You see the origami as a gaming device in one shot, a music and a video player in the next, and even as a Media Center Remote Control!

I personally think, and I could be wrong, that Microsoft will avoid direct confrontation with Apple and Market it as an All-In-One mobile device until it gets some traction.
Another question that’s lurking on my mind, and perhaps the biggest question of all, will it be built by Microsoft Hardware division, or outsourced to OEMs? Mice & Keyboards are one thing; a computing device is a whole another thing!

What’s your take on all of this?

Update: Intel seems to be running their own Origami Project website! Check it out at  http://www.umpc.com/. Ultra Mobile PC, hmm Mobile VIIV? [Via]

During the past week, I saw the blogosphere freak out as everyone held their breath for one of the most awaited annual events to occur- the Apple Special Event, presented by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. iRumors spread like fire (my favorite being the Mac Tablet iPod Video rumor, check out this video of how the fake was made), and even got a few seats here on Tech#, and speculations as to what Apple would unviel was discussed all around.

Now, the hour finally came, and I, a PC user, sat glued to my seat and completely preplexed, and read every single word that was blogged live until the Apple Special Event was concluded.

So what was in Jobs and Co’s magic pockets at their Apple ‘Fun’ Special Event 2006? Just to recap:

• Intel Mac Mini. The base model features an Intel Core Solo CPU — a single-processor, single-core CPU, but they are also introducing a Mac mini that features Intel’s Core Duo processor — the same kind of CPU that powers the iMac and MacBook Pro. The redesigned Mac mini features gigabit Ethernet, a total of four USB 2.0 ports, analog and SPDIF audio outputs and more. It is 2.5x - 3.2x faster than the original Mac mini.
  The new Mac mini also features Front Row, an application that makes it possible to view movies, listen to audio, watch music videos and more from your Mac, in full-screen, using an infrared remote control from across the room, making it a better home entertainment integration system.
• iTunes: One Billionth Download. Jobs recapped a recent event of import to Apple’s iTunes Music Store: The sale and download of its billionth song, “Ok, a billion sold, so we beat McDonald’s.”
• iPod Leather Cases. Apple is introducing $99 leather cases for the fifth-generation “video” iPod and ipod nano. Made of fine Italian leather, they incorporate a clever black ribbon that makes getting your iPod out a breeze.
  
• iPod Hi-Fi: Home Stereo. Reinvented. A three-driver system in one unit featuring an iPod dock on top. An auxiliary input rests in the back of the iPod Hi-Fi if you have an iPod shuffle. The device also ships with inserts designed to accommodate virtually all of Apple’s dockable iPod models.The speaker system includes two 80 millimeter (mm) mid-range drivers with a sealed acoustic suspension and a 130mm dual voice coil woofer featuring a ported bass reflex design, inside a sealed resin enclosure.
  The iPod Hi-Fi goes on sale today for $349.

You have to appreciate the cult that is Mac and how this makes things happen. Be it hackers like Maxxuss who spend their time getting OS X to boot up propperly on Intel white boxes; or enthusiasts who spend their extra hours photoshop(ing) possible new Mac products and perhaps inspire Mac or other companies to make those.

And last but not least, you have to appreciate hardware hackers who dream up new ways to use a product, whether it’s installing a car computer or simply reinventing it.

With all the speculation about Apple introducing a Tablet Mac sometime in the future; the iTab team was set out on converting a batch of iBooks into tablets instead of waiting for Apple to introduce them and selling them on eBay.

The iTab is built by taking Apple’s excellent 12″ iBook laptop, taking the screen off, applying a touchscreen, then flipping the screen around and fastening it on. The whole thing is finished off by putting the leftover screen backing over the top of the iTab, giving it the “rounded white edges.” The image above is a very close approximation of what iTab should look like when constructed. The iTab is not built yet. We will build them as they are sold. And they are going on sell today! We are selling them one at a time, through eBay auctions.

Sounds sweet! But it has some drawbacks; lacking a hardware warantee is one; let’s face it Apple won’t fix a modded computer. It also doesn’t work with InkWell, Apple’s handwriting recognition software. Isn’t that what a tablet PC is all about? The company recommends purchasing Keystrokes, a widget that allows for onscreen text entry with text prediction; they should have at least bundled it in.On the other hand, the iTab has motion detection; which allows you to cetrain play games by simply moving the iTab up, down, left, or right.

So if you have $1500 USD to burn for a novelty computer that allows you to browse the web in the backyard, and look crazy as you’re playing a game. Headover to the iTab homepage and check out their eBay auction, they sold one out of those 100 so far. I wonder if they thought up a docking station so that you can dock in your Tablet Mac for some real typing, then take it with you to browse or just jot notes (i presume they would work on making it work with an ink software).

Personally I’m gonna wait for the Origami

[Video iPod faking video via The Raw Feed]

Sony Vaio: All Things Microsoft
Originally uploaded by Yazan Malakha.

I must admit I’m quite impressed, although I rarely am. I got my hands on this nice next generation toy earlier this morning; actually I had it for four days but I never bothered to check it out until today.

Now I should point out that this device is designed to be a media center on the go, and although it has built in Wifi, browsing can be quite difficult given the fact the device has no built in keyboard (it has a touch-sensitive screen, with an on screen keyboard, but I found it to be cumbersome), the resolution is way too high for a 5” screen, which can bother you while reading emails/long articles.

Navigation using the built in pointing stick was quite easy, although it takes a little bit of getting used to. DivX movies played perfectly in different lighting situations. The device runs hot, so you might want to wear oven mittens while holding in.

Few things I appreciated having built in were the SD/CD card readers and the single USB port. So you’re traveling somewhere sitting at a café with Wifi, you can pop out your CF card, pop into the Vaio and upload them straight to Flickr.

What impressed me most was the form factor/size. Imagine an Intel Celeron M 900 Mhz computer with 20Gb of diskspace, 512 MB of RAM, 20 GB HD, Wifi, SD/CF Readers, 5” screen all crammed into 6”x4” frame. Impressed?

Apple Macintosh Color Classic
Originally uploaded by Yazan Malakha.

Found on one of the basement shelves

I’ll check whether it’s still in a working condition during the weekend perhaps.

As you’re probably aware Nokia licensed Windows Media technology from Microsoft last February; in an attempt to build a widely distributed iPod class contender and squeeze out any major MP3 player out of business.

But why would Nokia choose one of its biggest competitors as an ally? If Nokia really wanted to go for market share in music, surely they would approach Apple? No doubt, Nokia tried and Apple nixed the idea.

But, why would Apple say no to a partnership with the world’s largest cell phone maker? If you consider the iPod as a platform for listening to music, the logical next step of the evolution is the cell phone? News started to surface on the internet about a possible iPod phone; the Motorola ROKR is set to launch next week.

Nokia rolls out approximately 690 million phones a year, Microsoft Windows Media is subscription based unlike iTunes, and 3G is out in the open and on the horizon at many countries. Given the customer loyalty Nokia has and Microsoft market-share; I think this can be a possible iPod Killer.

However, If there is one lesson CEO Steve Jobs has learned the hard way, it is that being first rarely pays in technology markets (remember Newton?). Part of the success of the iPod was exactly that it did not come first, and it is likely that Steve Jobs will play this game the same way.

For More:

• Microsoft and Nokia Collaborate to Help Ensure Consumers Can Enjoy Digital Music Anywhere
• ROKR or New iPod on September 7^th