Apple iOS 5 Preview

iOS 5 is Apples new operating system with features that are exceeding two-hundred, this iOS is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad, iPad 2, and iPod Touch of both 3G and 4G. The new features in this iOS are iMessage, News Stand, Notification Center, Camera, Reminders, Photos, Twitter, Safari, PC Free, Mail, Calender, Multi-Tasking Gestures for iPad, Air- Play Mirroring for iPod 2, Wi-Fi Sync, Game Center and etc.,

iMessage : is a feature where we can send text messages using Wi-Fi or 3G from iPhone/ iPod Touch/ iPad to others having these devices. It also allows you to send photos, videos, contacts and locations, receive delivery receipts, read receipts which is optional, and other features like ellipsis points appear when you get a response to your message from others, a conversation begun in an iOS device can be ended on an other iOS device.

Newsstand : is a feature where it allows you to organize all your favorite magazines and newspapers for which you have subscribed. Subscriptions can also be made through App Store where you can search and also get the ratings for that particular magazine/ newspaper, and the newly subscribed appear on the newsstand automatically. It also updates your magazines/ newspapers including their latest outer cover when a new issue arrives.

Notification Center : is a feature where it organises all your notifications such as new email, text messages, friend requests and etc., to a single location which can be accessed while visiting any application, you can view them by sliding it down from the top of your screen, they also immediately disappear without interrupting while you work on different applications, and it also allows you to easily respond to notifications like a single swipe to listen to voicemails when the device is on lock screen mode.

Remainders : since this feature allows you to organize your to-do list with due dates and location it alerts you immediately while you reach that particular location, they also work with iCal, iCloud, and Outlook therefore an automatic updation is made to all your devices calendar.

Camera : Now you can access to camera app from lock screen with one tap, features like grid-lines, touch and  focus to lock a particular images focus and exposure, pinch to zoom, and take a snap by pressing the volume up button.

Photos : it includes features like Auto-Enhance, Red Eye Removal by making a single tap on the eye and double tap to undo it, crop, rotate within the photo app, and other features like a copy of the photo is sent to iPad automatically when taken with iPhone/ iCloud, organizing your photos in albums.

Safari : has been enhanced with features like Reading List where where it allows you to save your favorite articles/ pages for later reading and can be updated to all other iOS devices using iCloud, Tabbed browsing in iPad to shift between pages using tabs, and can read articles without any ads/ clutter.

Twitter : this feature allows you to tweet from your iOS devices, you can sign in through the settings given, add location,  and can tweet directly from photos, safari, youtube and etc., as twitter is integrated systemwide.

PC Free : this feature allows you to activate and set your iPhone/ iPod Touch/ iPad wirelessly therefore you need not have a PC or Mac for downloading free iOS software updates, editing photos, adding new email folder and etc., and can backup and restore your device with iCloud automatically.

Multi-Tasking Gestures : using four/ five fingers swipe the screen where you can view multi-tasking bar, pinch to restore to home screen, and swipe leftwards and rightwards to shift between apps.

Wi-Fi Sync : for wireless connection to your iOS device to your PC/ Mac, so that when your iOS device is connected to a power source it automatically syncs and backs up all new contents present to your iTunes.

Air Play Mirroring : as the feature now supports video mirroring streaming can be done wirelessly and securely from your iPad 2 to HDTV via Apple TV.

Mail : feature allows you to format the text which you type in your mail such as creating indents, bold, italics, underline, you can also rearrange the names in the address field, add/ delete folders, flag messages, search for any particular mails by typing the body of the message.

Calender : you can create an event by a single tap, organize your events such as add, view event attachments, delete and rename directly from calender app, adjust time and duration by dragging, and these events can also be shared and kept in sync with other iOS devices using iCloud.

Game Center : comes with even more Game Center features such as you can add a profile picture, get new friend recommendations depending on the games you play and the players, new overall achievement score to catch up with your opponents, find new games within the Game Center and etc.,

Blackberry Torch (9800) Review

Iphone 4 vs Blackberry Torch 9800 Review

Having never used a Blackberry, it was a tough decision for me to  go for the blackberry Torch in exchange of  iPhone 4.  With my iPhone 4 experience not being very bad and I was getting to like the High Resolution screen of iPhone 4. What mooted my decision for the switch was my quest to be on top of corporate email.

And the choice of Blackberry Torch was simple considering that Blackberry 6 OS is only available on the Torch (with AT&T). Having mostly used Nokia’s till now , I was pleasantly surprised with the Blackberry Torch. First impression –  The touch screen + Full Keyboard  Blackberry Torch was pretty handy and was very responsive.

The gripe though was the lower resolution screen , but looked much better after changed the Home Screen which was having an archaic look. Getting used to the UI took some time , but once I arranged the icons the way I like, it was a breeze.

The first and foremost difference I noticed is the signal strength, with the iPhone I used to have 2 bars and many times had dropped calls within my living room inspite of being in the middle of the town, But after switching to the Torch I had 4-5 bars all the time, I never expected iPhone 4 to be that bad. I even tried otterbox defender with iPhone but to no avail.

When i switched from iPhone, I wasnt expecting a full application set available for the new (Blackberry 6.0) Blackberry Torch, but the phone came with a wide variety of free and preinstalled softwares like Word editors , Presentation Viewers, Adobe Reader , Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger , Mobile banking application, Youtube , couple of TV viewers and lot many.
But in terms of sheer numbers Blackberry App store cant compete with Apples’s App Store.

The UI is very intuitive and many of the options make it a dream come true. The configuration of Mail clients was zippy as you would expect I configured Gmail, Outlook Web mail (BIS) and a Blackberry Enterprise Server enabled mailbox. Both Gmail and BES mails are updated real time but there is a delay in BIS mails by a few minutes, which isn’t bad at all.

I had configured Gmail and WebMail through exchange but my Battery used to drained, but with the Blackberry Torch the juice runs for three days inspite of heavy usage.

In terms of Media features Iphone 4 definitely beats the Torch as one would expect, but the Audio Playback Quality of Blackberry 9800 is top notch and many times better than the iPhone. Screen Resolution though is a no contest with iPhone winning by a knockout punch. But then you dont need High definition screen for most of day today activities and in a 3.2 inch area.

Some extremely basic but very useful features like ability to define different alert settings for each Mail or Message and individually customize Profiles based on Time of the day are simply superb and very useful.

Blackberry Torch 9800 Specifications

Dimensions –  111 x 62 x 14.6 mm
Weight – 161 gm

Compared other top mobiles in Length x Width x Thickness

Nokia N97 – 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 (18.2 max) mm
Iphone 4 – 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3
Blackberry Torch – 111 x 62 x 14.6 mm

Iphone 4 weighs 137 gms, whereas the Torch weighs little more at 161 gms.

Resolution – 480 x 360 – 3.6 inch screen
Light Sensitive and Proximity Meter enabled screen.
512 MB onboard Memory + 4 GB card (supports upto 32 GB)
Full Touch Screen
Full Keyboard
Blackberry Trackpad
Screen changes orientation when needed automatically for most apps
Camera – 5.0 Mega Pixels with Autofocus and Image Stabilization
Video Camera – VGA.
GPS Enabled – Blackberry Maps.
Connectivity – WiFi – 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.0
Blackberry Enterprise Server over WiFi and Mobile Network
MPEG4 , MP3 , AAC , FLAC vorbis, WMA, WMV support.
3.5 mm Stereo Audio Jack
1300 mAH Battery.

Overall Im very pleased to have switched from iPhone to the Blackberry Torch will update after few more weeks of usage.

Steve Jobs too successful to accept iPhone 4 mistake ?

Steve Jobs on Friday was defiant as ever, only this time its after a long successful innings with iPhone series, Stoutly defending iPhone 4’s antenna issues, Jobs went on to demo a few rival phones which exhibit similar issues as that of iPhone.

It was silly of Mr Steve Jobs to cry foul on the media and blogs, considering the most of the success of Apple products have been based on the media frenzy. He wasn’t too happy that the antenna issue was overblown, but then isn’t iPhone itself overblown?

Well even Jobs complaining isn’t a big deal after all when you are out of options that’s what you do , but the effort Apple dedicated to finding out other phones having similar issues was the shocking part, the same could have been spent on providing a long term solution to the iPhone 4 antenna issue.

Whatever Apple announced on Friday was predicted on the very day of iPhone 4 launch, the real issue was why Apple was so slow in responding? afterall everyone knew it was hardware except for Mr Jobs. It isnt going to be easy for the Apple fan-boys if cupertino company continues this way.