Random Musings

The recent highly-publicized malarky around the iPhone4′s antenna has had some quirky side effects. On the downside, if you hold your €400 mobile phone the wrong way, it reverts back to being an iTouch. On the up side, you can now get a free bumper case from Apple (I was probably going to get one anyway), and you can now poke fun at Apple’s expense with Antenna-aid.

I first saw this on a Lifehacker post and it was easy to get and cheap enough so as to be a non-decision.

Phone arrived Friday – Antenna-aid arrived Monday – fortuitous timing.

As well as poking fun at Apple, it serves it’s function. No matter how tight my grip of death, with the sticker in place, I can’t bridge the 2 antennas (not antennae for radios apparantly).

If you’re interested either a) grab one of my remaining 5 off me, or b) go to their website at http://www.etsy.com/shop/Antennaid.

Another thing that I noticed while preparing the least interesting unboxing of all time was the EXIF data in the iPhone camera photos.

I couldn’t use my iPhone4 to take photos of my iPhone4 (mirrors aside), so I borrowed the girlfriends 3GS. The EXIF changes are interesting.

* this may differ, but on the 3 shots on each iPhone these were consistent
** as per *, 3 shots, same conditions, large differences in ISO-speed

It looks like the camera is improved in more than just Megapixels. Only time will tell. We seem to have finally caught up with the camera in my Nokia N95 of 2007.

While that was only mildly interesting, I noticed that the GPS data was in all 6 shots (from 2 phones). Windows handily has a “Remove Properties and Personal Information” button on the Image Properties dialog. Fat lot of use that did. I get “An error occurred when writing the property “Latitude” to the file ‘xyz.jpg’.

I’d be interested to hear if this is a PEBKAC issue (file was locked, or it’s easy to work around), or if this is a bit more incessant.

As it stands, I had to re-do the 6 images I posted to remove my GPS data. Thank you, once again, ImageMagick

I’ll update the blog with how the iPhone4 is holding up, and the bumper case too (if/when it arrives). So far, so good, I have a usable phone once more!

S.

I spent a few hours in the company of a new iPad last night. While I already consider myself a iConvert it was interesting to note the complete acceptance of the iPad by it’s new owner. The thing that was repeated several times was that “it just works” and there was not one mention of “how do I do XYZ”.

My family has been through multiple iterations of personal computing going back nearly 30 years. From the 8bit Commodore PET that I started my computing career on, through the middle ages of 8086 processors and dot matrix printers, early (floating-point buggy) P60 Pentiums, multi-screen behemoth’s, netbooks and the touch-screen age of Palm III/V, Dell Axim’s, iDevices and Android phones. I can safely say that we’ve had our fair share of cuts in walking close to the edge of technology. At each point along the way there was always something good and/or new to be exited about. VGA screens in the world of CGA, 28k modems in the world of dial-up Bulletin Boards and WAP access on bricks of mobile phones. But there was always a learning curve, a familiarization time, some sort of working out before the ease of use kicked in. Never in this long line of computing devices has something been taken in so quickly, and with such little resistance.

The iPad is it’s own killer app. The iPad can be picked up and instantly used. No familiarization, no quirky changes or setup, no menus or training. Just handled and used. It’s not without it’s pitfalls, a camera would be nice, as would external USB storage, or being able to tether it to my current 3G phone of choice. As long as you accept the features that it has now, and not the ones that you wish it had, it will be welcomed into any home.

While the device itself is creating a new niche for itself between the Lenovo Laptop and the iPhone/Blackberry, Apple have taken the lessons they learned from the iTouch and iPhone and kept usability at the forefront. It has fantastic industrial design and feels robust enough that you’re not scared to use it. When iOS 4 arrives and we have some rudimentary multitasking, it’ll add one more notch to the armory of this wonderful device.

Opponents of the iPad will extol the virtues of the Andriod OS and doubtlessly give a long list of why the impending arrival of Android tablets will be better than the iPad. To them I say it’s a personal choice, not a religious one. If I want something where I can tinker to it’s very core and play with the base features of a device, I’ll stick Linux on a laptop. For me the iPad has created a market for devices that just work, with ease, and that anyone can use.

If I wasn’t hell bent on getting an iPhone4 in the morning, I’d be hell bent on getting an iPad…. I’m hoping the new iPhone will placate that part of my brain that wants these things. At least until next months paycheck….

S.