iTunes 7.7
“Use iTunes 7.7 to sync music, video, and more with iPhone 3G, and download applications from the iTunes Store exclusively designed for iPhone and iPod touch with software version 2.0 or later. Also use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home — a free download from the App Store.”
WWDC 2008
8GB model will cost £99 on the £30 & £35 tariff, and free on the £45 & £75 tariff. 16GB model, £159 on the £30 & £35, £59 on the £45 tariff and free on the £75 tariff. They will also be releasing a Pay-as-you-go version, pricing not yet available. Update: Previous owners will also be able to upgrade for free to the new model. Visit O2 for full details.
It’s also now available in white and black, the buttons are metal and the headphone socket is no longer recessed, making it easier to work with other headphones. Oh, and back is plactic now, which should help with reception I’ve read.
Not upgrading the camera seems a strange oversight. It still has the same 2 megapixel camera of the previous model, and no ability to record video, why? Many were also expecting a front facing camera, but that’s just an expectation, a good one mind. The problem is we still tend to go by the numbers and see 7mp as better than 2, just like the old days of the Mhz myth, we have the Megapixel myth:
“The megapixel myth was started by camera makers and swallowed hook, line and sinker by camera measurebators. Camera makers use the number of megapixels a camera has to hoodwink you into thinking it has something to do with camera quality.”
Really, unless you’re heavily cropping an image or planning on printing over A5, 2mp is probably fine. I’m not an Apple appologist, as it does seem rather dumb to have missed even adding 1 extra megapixel. Sure it’ll happen in the next revision, they probably were concentrating on 3G & GPS first. If you’re a serious photographer, you’re going to have a proper camera anyway.
David Pogue came to the same conclusions.
The only other missing feature it seems, is MMS (Multimedia Message Service), unless you’re waiting for that haptic feedback? They have improved Enterprise integration (which is interesting for those corporate chappies). My brother is planning on getting one, so I’ll see what he uses most, I’d suspect I’d be surfing mostly.
You can watch the new iPhone advert here.
Update: Apple have released a guided tour of the iPhone here.
Apple also launched MobileMe, a replacement for .Mac (itself a replacement of the free iTools, damn them!). MobileMe will push services like calendars, mail and contacts to the iPhone. As well as a suite of web based applications. It’s still going to cost you 20GB storage $49 - 40GB storage $99 annually. You can no doubt get these services for free elsewhere, perhaps less elegantly, but you pays your money... You can now watch a tour of the service here.
There was also some information on the next version of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. The OS appears to be laying foundations for the future, rather than adding flashy new features. Expected 2009.
Sadly, and I didn’t really expect it, there were no new Macs, specifically a new MacBook or MacBook Pro which is what I’m waiting for.
The keynote is available to watch here (but it’s a pretty dull one).
The iPhone has arrived (almost).
It will cost you £269 plus a monthly tariff of either £35, £45 or £55 but all plans offer free unlimited traffic (with a fair usage caveat) as well as access to The Cloud WiFi hot spots.
You'll be able to buy the iPhone from Apple, O2 and Car Phone Warehouse. No news on whether the Starbucks deal is coming to the UK anytime soon.
I'd still say wait for the next version, but if you wants it, you can now get it.
WWDC 2007 - Mac OS X 10.5: Leopard
Apple announced the near
final version of Mac OS X 10.5, otherwise known as
Leopard, they also let
developers have a copy at the conference. Steve Jobs showed
off 10 features out of the 300 new features in the
up-coming version, due to ship in October.
First, the entire OS is now 64-bit! Great, you’re
thinking? It should mean faster applications in
the long run, now you’re more impressed.
There will only be one version of the OS, 32-bit
applications were shown to work without any
problems.
This window is just like the other ones, this
window is just the same
The whole OS has a more unified look, rather than the
mix of brushed metal and Aqua etc. I did notice the
scroll bars still looked like the old Aqua ones,
perhaps this may change? You can of course get a more
unified look at the moment using Uno. The translucent top
menu is bound to have its lovers and haters, I
suppose it depends on if you can change it or not.
The main feature you’ll notice at first is the
new more 3D Dock, I’m not sure if it’s
any bigger or not, or even if I like it. They seemed
to make quite a deal that the dock
reflects,
I’m not
exactly how this is a feature or just more visual
noise. I suspect they’ll be 3rd party ways of
changing it back to the the old dock if it’s
not an option. I was hoping for a new launcher, along
the lines of Over Flow.
The dock does have a much welcomed feature; Stacks:
When you download from Safari, instead of defaulting
to the desktop, it’ll save to a stack, which
should mean we all have a lot more tidy desktops.
Clicking on a Stack will reveal its contents either
in a grid, or they’ll be fanned out above. To
get an idea, you can watch a demo here. I don’t know
if they’re only for the dock, it seems to me
being able to have them on the desktop itself
would be useful.
Leopard showing off its stacks
Stacks aren’t really a new feature, Apple has
had a patent on the idea for many years and was once
known as Piles (Such a shame they didn't stick with
that name).
The Finder has also been updated
with a much improved sidebar, somewhat like iTunes
and now you can view files in Cover Flow, just
like iTunes. I’m not sure how much I’d
use this feature, as I don’t tend to in
iTunes (other than to show off).
Thinking about it; it may turn out to be more useful
in the Finder than in iTunes. The Finder is made up
of many different document types of documents, which
should be instantly more apparent with the large
preview of Cover Flow, this may give a quicker visual
clue as to the file you’re looking for, rather
than in iTunes where it's really just one type of
file (cover art).
Spotlight can now search other machines on the
network, and it’s now more easy to share
content over the network and internet via .Mac. There
was no other mention of .Mac, really as I’ve no
intention of paying for .Mac I may never see the
internet sharing feature. .Mac really ought to be
free to my mind.
Quick Look is really a great new
feature that allows you to preview your documents
without having to open any application right from
the Finder.
A Quick Look
Steve also showed off the power
of
Core Animation and what 3rd party
developers could do with it.
We also saw the new built in backup solution
Time Machine again, you will be
able to back-up to a local drive, or a network
volume including one attached to an AirPort
Extreme. This has to be one of the best features
(even if you’ve seen it before). It amazes
me how many people still don’t back-up. Some
may think this dull, but if you’re one of
those people who has lost something critical,
you’ll love this.
It’s a Time Machine
Spaces was also shown again;
I’m still unsure if or how much I would use
it (I may turn around and love it), unlike
Dashboard, which I actually
have turned off for being just too
slow on a 12" PowerBook.
Dashboard did gain a new widget, and WebClip which
allows you to use any part of a website as a Widget.
I wonder how the websites feel about this? After-all,
you’re avoiding seeing any advertising.
Owners of Virtualization software must’ve
breathed a sigh of relief, as although
BootCamp will become standard
in the system, it’s not going to allow you
to run Windows software at the same time. Still a
need for Parallels or VMWare Fusion etc.. for some people
then.
iChat has gained some fun
theatre features, changing the background behind
you and PhotoBooth type effects. Pity with
firewalls, bandwidth etc. I’ve never really
managed to get video to work with iChat and yet
Yahoo! Messenger/Skype will just work. The Theatre
function looks to be the most useful, giving you
the ability to show documents, photos to people
you’re talking to.
The fun side of iChat. Help me Obi-Wan,
you’re my last hope.
I don’t know if the OS is resolution
independent for those of you with super high
resolution screens and there was no mention of the
system using Sun Microsystems ZFS files system, there
is a report saying they
won’t.
There was a little on the iPhone allowing developers to
create compatible Web 2 type applications via
Safari, but no standalone applications. I’d
imagine developers would be non-plussed by this
announcement.
No hardware of course, this really is a software
event. There will be those who will be underwhelmed,
and few more features we’d not seen in his 10
would’ve been nice, but; it’s still not
ready yet, who knows what else may come in the final
version in October?
People always expect a lot from Apple, they always
want that... one more thing... which I guess keeps
people coming back.