It worked one minute, it was dead the next. Going to the Apple Store on Monday to get it fixed/replaced. Major bummer. I’m glad I kept my old iPhone.
Archive for the ‘Apple’ Category
My New iPhone 3GS is DEAD !!!
Saturday, July 18th, 2009iPhone 3GS Battery
Saturday, July 4th, 2009Yep, the battery in my new iPhone 3GS isn’t so great. It’s usually needing a charge before I go to bed which means having to keep a charging cable next to my recliner or making sure to give it some juice during the day at work. Here’s what the LA Times had to say:
IPhone 3GS owners bemoan its battery life. The many capabilities of Apple’s iPhone 3GS are also a drain on the device’s battery. Buyers are finding that the device has trouble making it through a workday without a rest stop at the electrical outlet…
…Repair company IFixit.com, which specializes in Apple products… dismantled the 3GS on the day it was released and found that the phone’s battery was about 15% smaller than the one in the original iPhone.
The new model is smaller and sleeker, however, and Apple may have sacrificed some battery capacity in favor of a lighter phone, analysts said.
Considering the fact that my old iPhone’s battery was dying is the reason I upgraded, this bums me out. But I still think the 3GS is a great phone.
My New iPhone 3G S – Not a Life Changer
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
My first generation iPhone was a real life changer when I got it. I loved it. It did things I hadn’t considered using a phone for. It was like always having a computer with me, as well as a phone and an iPod. It served me well until the battery quit holding a charge about two weeks prior to the launch of the new iPhone 3G S. I considered this pretty good timing. So I kept my old iPhone near a charger all day and prayed it would last. It did.
I received my new iPhone at about 10am PST on the launch day. I couldn’t wait to get home to set it up. I bought the 32GB model in black.
I’ll cut to the chase. The new phone is simply evolutionary. It’s faster than my old phone. It has WAY more storage (which is pretty sweet and solves my longest running complaint about my old iPhone). And it does a few more things, but nothing that makes my jaw drop. Turns out, after a few days with the new phone, it’s simply another iPhone that holds a charge and a lot more music. Nothing wrong with that, but not necessarily worth $300. And not a life changer.
I haven’t done much with the camera. Maybe that will improve my opinion somewhat. I don’t care about video.
Also, I was hoping that the reception and call quality would improve with my new iPhone. It didn’t. AT&T still sucks! I’m not a big fan of Verizon Wireless, but if they ever offer the iPhone, I’ll leave AT&T immediately. Even if it requires an early termination fee.
Here’s a link about the 3.0 software that comes on the iPhone.
Here’s a link to a review of the 3G S hardware.
I loved my old iPhone and I love my new iPhone even more because it holds most of my music. But my advice is that if you have a functioning iPhone 3G, I’d pass on the upgrade to the 3G S. If you have a first generation iPhone, maybe it’s worth the upgrade depending upon your priorities. But try installing the 3.0 software first. If you have ANY other phone, upgrade to an iPhone NOW. I’d actually recommend the $99 3G. It’s a MAJOR bargain.
Apple TV, part 3 (Boxee)
Sunday, February 1st, 2009I hooked up the Apple TV, accessed iTunes on my Mac mini, and synced my music from my mini to the Apple TV.
Next up was installing Boxee. Not quite as easy as the instructions made it out to be, but I still got it installed and working. There was some overscan on the video but the software has a really easy way to adjust the overscan, so no problem.
Hulu worked, though it listed videos that weren’t available anymore. That was annoying. ABC.com didn’t work, nor did Fox. That’s makes Boxee a lot less useful. Didn’t try You Tube.
I like the Apple TV’s implementation of Front Row for music much better than I like Boxee. I see Boxee as my avenue to Internet video. For that it works well. I had an episode of 24 running from Hulu. It looked great.
The Apple TV and Boxee are definitely worth it.
Apple TV, part 2
Friday, January 30th, 2009As I said earlier, the Apple TV is a breeze to setup. I’ve since loaded all of my music onto it. It took forever to load 65GB of tunes via Wi-Fi. But it’s done and it looks and sounds great. It operates pretty much just like Front Row on my Mac mini. So it’s a keeper. I’ve disconnected my mini from the TV and taken it downstairs to the office where it will replace my ancient mini-ITX project PC. My next step is to load my photos onto the Apple TV. Then I’m going to try out Boxee.
Apple TV
Sunday, January 25th, 2009
AT&T and the 1st Gen iPhone
Sunday, January 4th, 2009
If this is true, it goes a long way towards explaining why my service has degraded so much. I have a 1st gen iPhone on AT&T. I’m in the Bay Area. Here’s the story:
…Open for Business has learned that AT&T has been quietly sacrificing 2G signal strength in an effort to speed up the build out of its next generation 3G network…
…While previously the company had been primarily relying on the 850 MHz band that offers a more robust signal, including superior indoor reception, company technicians confirmed to OFB that transmitters for the 2G signal used by the original iPhone and most other handsets, including most AT&T offered BlackBerry and RAZR models, have been shifted to the weaker 1900 MHz band in some areas.
If this is true, AT&T really sucks.
Will Someone Please Buy TiVo?
Saturday, October 28th, 2006PVR Wire wrote an interesting post on Who will buy TiVo? Google, Yahoo or Microsoft?
Let me start this with the fact that I LOVE TiVo. However, the lack of a viable HD product has led me to use the PVR in the set-top box from Time Warner. I hate it, but I have no choice. None-the-less, I still have my TiVo which I use as a music server to get my tunes from my PC to my entertainment system. It’s slicker than anything else out there, trust me, I’ve tried them.
Now, on with my point. I want TiVo to survive. I think it has major opportunities that it has not been able to capitalize on:
- The set-top box that integrates audio, video, PCs, and the Internet in the living room.
- It could change the way that audio and video is monetized by content owners and distributors.
- It could change they way that audio and video is distributed by content owners – pay-per-view, video on demand, stored content that can be moved to various devices, etc.
I want this device BAD. PVR Wire has their arguments on who is most likely to buy TiVo – they believe it will be Yahoo or Google. I want it to be Yahoo or Apple. Yahoo seems to be able to integrate a variety of Internet content and could really use TiVo rather than screwing around with their own vaporware product. Apple would be great because they’d be able to avoid screwing up TiVo’s incredible UI (they might even be able to improve it) and they have done very well with integrating various types of content on various devices.
Whether it’s Yahoo or Apple, please let it happen.
