Apple - Introducing iPhone 4S

There is not a lot new about the iPhone 4S. The iPhone 4S only has two new hardware changes the A5 chip which is supposedly twice as fast as the previous iPhone chip and a 8 megapixel camera which has a redesigned lens with all new optics that will allow you to take great pictures no matter how much light you have or don't have. The IOS 5 does promise some interesting changes in the software like the cloud so all data including apps, music, pictures, documents and other data is pushed to each i device you have.

The most promising new feature in my opinion is the Siri voice command application included in the IOS 5 software. When I first heard about this software I didn't realize how powerful it really is until I saw the video.  You can actually ask it questions like about the weather and it will verbally answer you and you can also ask about the traffic and it will show you. I would be interested to see someone use this and see how good it actually is because who knows how much or if you have to train the application or how accurate it is in real life, and not in a video where they can do all the retakes they want.

The iPhone 4S seems promising and I am curious what the iPhone 5 will be able to do and what the hardware changes are going to be.

GPS Tracking Apps on Cell Phones

Quite while ago google released an app so you can track your friends and they can track you. This app is quite amazing it uses either GPS, Wi-Fi or cell tower technology to determine location. This app works on google android, Blackberry, IPod touch and IPhone. You do have to sign up with google to use this app.The app does give you the option whether to show your location and how detailed the location data is like if you just want the city your in displayed. Many cell phone companies have tracking applications for parents to track there children. The ability for parents to track their children may even encourage parents to get cell phones for their children. There is definitely a lot of potential with phone tracking applications and I'm sure it will get even more popular.

Bluetooth

Blue Tooth has been getting more and more popular lately due to laws in many states and provinces prohibiting talking on your cell phone while driving unless it is connected to a hands free system. Bluetooth has also become more popular because IPod touches now are Bluetooth enabled and can now wireless stream music. There are also other mp3 players that are Bluetooth enabled like the ZuneHD and the Sony X-Series Walkman. IPod touches and other Bluetooth enabled mp3 players can connect to Bluetooth enabled car stereos and head phones. There are also Bluetooth enabled laptops so things such as keyboards and printers can be connected wirelessly. Bluetooth is making it easier to connect devices and is great because you don't have to worry about cords that you would otherwise need to connect devices. I am sure in the future more devices that don't already have Bluetooth will have it. It would be great if one day DVD players, satellite receivers and cable boxes would be Bluetooth enabled so there wouldn't be a mess of cables behind televisions.

The First Cell Phone, Oh How Far We Have Come

Dyna-Tac



The first cell phone was invented by in 1973 by Dr. Martin Cooper. Dr. Martin Cooper worked for Motorola and worked on inventing portable products. Dr. Cooper and his team at Motorola made handheld radios for the Chicago police department. Then ten years later Dr. Cooper and his team made the first mobile phone, which was at the time called a portable phone which made more sense due to its enormous size compared to today's cell phones. There was also another company competing to make the first portable phone this other company was Bell labs. On April 3, 1973 Dr. Martin Cooper made the first cell phone call on a Motorola Dyna-Tac near the Manhattan Hilton Hotel in New York City. The phone call was rumored to be made to his rival Joel Engel who was the leader of the Bell Labs research team. The first cell phone was bulky  it was 2.5 pound, 5 inches wide, 9 inches long and 1.75 inches thick. The phone also had to be charged 10 hours for only talking 35 minutes. The first cell phone and many models after that could not send text messages and didn't even have screens. The cell phone was invented in 1973 but cell phone's didn't become popular until the late 1990 when they weren't bulky and had screens and better battery life.

 

Dr. Martin Cooper (inventor of first cell phone) with first cell phone (Dyna-Tac)



The Dyna-Tac dwarfs modern day cell phones



Game Centre Now Working!!!

Last night I noticed that farmville on my IPod touch is now working on game centre. I did reinstall farmville then went and loaded and played it. I then closed it and went to the game centre app and it showed up in the games which i didn't before. I don't know if it was the reinstall that got it working or the server. Here is a screen shots of farmville on game centre. I discussed game centre in my previous blog.

Face Time Future or Fad?

The IPhone four has come out a month or so ago and with it Face Time was released. Face Time is a "revolutionary application" in the words of apple but the truth is similar features have been on less popular phones that there hasn't been a huge hype about unlike the IPhone 4. Face Time lets the user video call someone using the IPhone 4's front facing camera. In the next few weeks Face Time will also be released on the new IPod touch 4. The commercials for the IPhone 4 were quite impressive and really showcased situations where the feature would come in handy. The truth is though that Face Time only works with  WiFi so it would only really come in handy mostly at home or at a cafe or somewhere else you can get WiFi access. It is not the kind of on the go application that some may think it is. There would be only some situations where this application would come in handy. You can also only use this application if the other person has an IPhone 4. This application might be more impressive if you can use it to talk to people on MSN or facebook via web cam.