Mobile

Reviews and Rants

by hilzfuld on iPhone, Mac, Mobile, Random, Tech

Israel Apple Store Does Not Disappoint

As I posted yesterday, the first Apple store launched last night in Ramat Aviv, Israel. Unfortunately, I was unable to make it to the opening, but after checking out their online store, I can safely say that Apple has done it again.

My two concerns about the store were that it would not offer current products, I thought they would have last generation iPods and Macs, and that the prices would be insanely high, like most other imported products in Israel.

Well, it seems I was wrong on both counts. The new store offers the new generation iPods, including the accelerometer Nano and the just announced iPod touch. As for the prices, they could be better, but they are, in my opinion, pretty reasonable.

The new Nano (16GB) that goes for $200 in the U.S, is being sold here for 1000 Shekel. Now, with the current dollar (the dollar fluctuates around 1 dollar=3.5 Shekel), that is a lot, but I think after saving the headache of getting it shipped overseas, and taxes, and most importantly, getting Apple service in Israel, the price really is pretty decent. The new Touch (32GB) is selling for 2,150 Shekel (it is sold for $400 in the U.S), also not so bad.

However, the Macbooks and the iMac are a totally different story.  The top of the line iMac, which sells for $2200 (translated to around 8,000 Shekel) in the U.S, is being sold here for 11,700 Shekel. A little ridiculous if you ask me.

All in all, I will most definitely be buying my next iPod there, and of course, we are all waiting till Apple decides to sell their iPhones in Israel.

-Hillel

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by hilzfuld on iPhone, Mac, Marketing, Mobile, Tech

Apple Store Launching in Israel

Today’s biggest industry news, as far as I am concerned, is the Apple store launch in Ramat Aviv, Israel. According to reports (who am I kidding? There are no reports, I am talking about what was written on the designated Facebook group), the grand opening has been in planning for months, and the new store will offer the Israeli consumer the same experience provided in Apple stores around the world (I wish I knew what that meant first hand, but from what I heard, it is a fun one).

What is left now, is 2 things:

  • To get this store up to date with the most current Apple products (I know it has not opened yet, but I have a hunch that they will offer year-old products there), like the new iPhone for example.
  • Once the store is current, we need to somehow get Apple to sell their products at the same prices they are sold in the U.S. The fact that it is opening in Ramat Aviv is not a good sign (that is the Beverly Hills of Israel). A man can dream, can’t he?

OK well today’s opening is a big step forward, I am sure we will have a long way to go until we have an Apple store like in NYC, but I am still in a good mood today.

-Hillel

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by hilzfuld on iPhone, Mobile, Random, Software, Tech

Nokia Outdoes Itself with the E72 & E75

There is a new video that was just leaked of the not-yet-announced Nokia E72 and E75 handsets. I have two things to say about that.

  1. That would never happen with Apple’s products. I am not sure if this is a good thing on Nokia’s part or a bad thing, but Apple somehow manages to keep the leaked information about their new products to a minimum, until they are officially announced. Judging by the amount of hype surrounding Apple releases, Apple is doing something right.
  2. These phones both look pretty amazing, but nothing we have never seen before outside of Nokia. Then again, Nokia is a big enough player that when they release a new concept phone, it does not matter who has done it before, theirs is bound to be all that much better.

 You can watch the video here (watch it fast, Nokia has taken it off of Youtube 5 times, after it was posted by 5 different users. They are really not interested in people seeing this video.)

-Hillel

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by hilzfuld on iPhone, Mobile, Random, Software, Tech

Android’s Release

To shake things up a little, I thought I would write about the marketing aspect of this blog, an area that is usually more Aryeh’s thing, not mine.

I was just wondering if Google is really doing everything they can, to effectively market Android’s official release. Next Tuesday, Androidwill be introduced to the cellular world for the first time. A pretty big thing, no? I mean Google, that company that created a search engine for the Web, have now decided that they are entering the mobile industry with a revolutionary mobile operating system. You would think every tech news site would be overflowing with scoops about the Android event. 

Let’s review what we know about it. We know T-Mobile will be releasing the first Android phone, the Dream, next Tuesday, the 23rd. We know Android is supposed to be a huge deal, and present a true iPhone OS killer. Do we know why? What makes it so great? Yes, it is open source. Anything else?

Personally, I think if Google wants to really make a difference and have an impact on companies like Nokia/Symbian, Apple, and Microsoft, they are going to have to do a little more. How about some Web ads, YouTube demonstrations, or at least some impressive spy pics?
-Hillel

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by hilzfuld on iPhone, Mobile, Random, Software, Tech

HTC Touch HD Proves There is Still Where to Go

Just as I thought cellphones have maxed out with the Samsung INNOV8, HTC goes and proves me wrong with their just announced Touch HD. The Touch HD has a (are you sitting down?) 3.8 inch, 400×800 display. It has all the standard features (did I just call a phone with GPS and a 5 megapixel camera, standard?), such as HSDPA, a 5 megapixel shooter, and GPS. However, it is that amazing touch display that sets it apart from the rest.

Anyone that knows me can confirm that they have never heard me say this before, but I am speechless. It’s phones like this that make me forget that the iPhone even exists. I truly have nothing to add, the phone simply speaks for itself. Honestly, have you ever seen such a nice phone?

-Hillel

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by hilzfuld on Mobile, Tech

Samsung INNOV8- What’s Left?

Samsung recently released another truly amazing handset, which they refer to as the Samsung INNOV8 (get it? Innovate?). With the corny name and my resulting desire to hate the phone, I have to admit, they did a pretty amazing job with this phone. The specs are pretty much unprecedented, except for maybe the Sony Ericsson C905.

The INNOV8 boasts a ridiculous 8 megapixel camera, with crazy features that can only be found on high end digital cameras. These include geotagging, automatic panorama shooting, face detection, smile detection, and even blink detection to prevent photos of people blinking (is it just me, or have we come a REALLY long way with camera phones?).

I am not even going to mention all of the phone’s specs, just take any phone out there and the INNOV8 has all its specs. It also has a 16 million color display, stereo speakers, 8 or 16 GB of internal memory plus a Micro SD card slot (so for all you mathematically challenged people, the phone can hold 24 GB of memory with an 8 GB Micro SD card), download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps, Stereo Bluetooth, GPS, up to 8.5 hours of talk time, and did I mention an 8 megapixel camera, with a video camera that supports VGA at 30 frames per second and  QVGA at 120 frames per second.

This is all without even mentioning the handset’s great looks. It has a slider form factor, somewhat similar to that of the Nokia N95, only thinner and less toy looking. It really is one of the nicer phones out there.

I recently had a discussion with a friend, who claimed that there is no more room for cellphones to develop. He claimed that they might get faster or smaller, but there are no new ideas or features left to invent in the cellular market. At the time, I argued the point, but after reading about the INNOV8, I think he might just be right. I mean the thing has a freakin business card scanner.

-Hillel

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by hilzfuld on iPhone, Mobile, Random, Software, Tech

First Generation iPhone Sales on the Rise

In a surprising twist of events, first generation iPhone sales have been on the rise ever since the new iPhone 3G was announced. Even with its major flaws, such as the painful EDGE, awkward headphones jack, and others, which make it inferior to the new iPhone in many ways, people are buying second hand, first generation iPhones, and lots of them.

How do you explain this? Well, there can be a lot of explanations for this phenomenon. Engadget claims it is the fact that the first generation iPhone is easily cracked, which enables you to insert your non-AT&T sim card into the phone. Another contributing factor is the lack of a commitment to AT&T. I agree that both of these factors are making the original iPhone more attractive to consumers. However, with all the advantages that new iPhone offers, neither of these explanations would make ME get an old iPhone. So what is really pushing people to go out and buy the original iPhone?

To answer this question, we need to examine what made the iPhone so appealing to begin with. I have written on many occasions that even with the iPhone’s good looks and revolutionary touch interface, what really did it for me, is the fact that the iPhone simply works. With phones on the market like the N95 and N96, or the Omnia, what people loved about the iPhone is that it really worked, and well. It was easy and fun to use and actually did what it was supposed to do.

When the new iPhone was announced, people were really excited by all the enhancements, and just took it for granted that it would work as well as the first generation did. However, they soon found out that they were wrong. The new iPhone was buggy, very buggy. People complained about dropped calls and crashes, amongst many other things. This is something that was not present in the first generation.

In my opinion, people are more interested in a phone that actually works and responds fast, rather than one that has all the functions in the world, but none of them work like they should. This is what people complained about with Windows Mobile 5 and older version of Symbian as well. I am under the impression that both Windows Mobile and Symbian have improved their operating systems, but Apple, on the other hand, moved in the wrong direction.

Well, Apple recently released a new firmware update that is said to fix most of the bugs, I guess only time will tell.

-Hillel

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