The 3GS has been on the market for several weeks already. People have responded to it, some good, bad. Here are some notable stories from all over the web.

iPhone 3G S image courtesy of Apple

iPhone 3GS Helps AT&T generate its best sales day
According to AppleInsider’ story the iPhone 3GS helped AT&T achieve it’s best sales day ever. They even broke other records with the launch of the iPhone. Here’s an excerpt.

The leaked e-mail characterizes “iLaunch Day 2009,” its nickname for the June 19th iPhone 3GS release date, as the “best-ever sales day” and just second in terms of actual floor traffic. Many of its other sales-related records were also shattered at the same time, ranging from the number of upgrade eligibility checks made in a day to the sheer volume of orders taken through AT&T’s website.

3GS smokes competition in OpenGL Benchmarks (via Extreme Tech)

The new Apple iPhone 3GS feels fast, but it’s always good to see your feelings confirmed with hard numbers. Laszlo Kishonti, creator of the JBenchmark benchmark suite that I use on all Java-based phones, managed to install his GLBenchmark OpenGL benchmark onto both an iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G (please, don’t ask how) and watched the new model smoke the competition on low-level tests.

With great power comes… great electricity.. iPhone 3GS users complain about battery life (via LA Times)

Buyers are finding that the device, introduced two weeks ago, has trouble making it through a workday without a rest stop at the electrical outlet. It’s proving to be something of an Achilles’ heel on Apple Inc.’s flagship device, more than 1 million of which were sold in the first weekend.

The iPhone 3GS is hot! I mean literaly (via TMCnet)

The first known public account of the problem originated in France where one 16GB 3GS user noticed that his phone was hot during use. Later, the owner discovered that the white backing on the device had turned pink-toned near the spot where the battery is stored, the report said.

So there you go, some iPhone stories to help you decide if you really want one or if you’ve gotten one already, see if it was a good decision.

The new MacBook Pros now all come with sealed batteries. This was just once the territory of the mighty 17 inch model. Not anymore. The recent refresh brought that technology to its smaller siblings, the 15 inch and the recent addition to the MacBook Pro line-up the 13 inch.

MacBook Pro Family, Image courtesy of Apple Inc.

According to Walt Mossberg who had the chance to test both the 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pro and put it through the paces of his own battery test, both laptops performed well. The 13 inch lasted a slighty below the 5 hour mark while the 15 inch was 21 minutes above the 5 hour marker. This says well considering no power saving feature was turned on and the screen brightness was cranked up. In normal usage, expect battery life to be even slightly higher.

I for one was at first skeptical of the notion that I can’t replace the battery of my laptop. However looking back, ever since I’ve owned a laptop, I’ve never bought a spare battery. Hmmm… I guess I just like the thought that I could replace it if I wanted to. Mossberg cites in his article that only less than 5% of consumers actually buy spare batteries. This figure was from NPD, a research firm. I would believe that this figure is close to the truth.

I guess we just need to let go of our need to control things and trust that technology works. Apple was able to increase battery size and life in its MacBook Pro line of computers without adding weight or heft. I guess its a decent trade-off to the fact that you can’t replace it yourself. Apple also claims that their batteries will last up to 5 years. So by the time it’s time to change batteries it’s also time to change computers.

So we’ll see in the days to come if indeed sealed batteries are the way to go.

Ok, I am no MAC user and would never be, but I saw this article on computer magazine which read — “iWork ‘09 Can Take Care of Business”.

I was curious about the iWork and as such looked more into the offerings. The following are key items of the iWork ‘09:

Pages ‘09

This is the word document for iWork and is said to be an advanced tools for writing and easy page layouts. The main features include Full screen view, dynamic outlets, mail merge with numbers, enhanced template chooser, MathType and EndNote.

Numbers ‘09

This is equivalent to the Microsoft spreadsheet excel which has easy to use formulas, one click charts, and table categories. Key features include: Easy formulas, Formula list views, table categories, advanced charts, template chooser, and more ways to share.

Keynote ‘09

This is equivalent to the Microsoft presentation which has cinematic animations, transitions, and effects in Keynote to get you captivated. Key main features include: Magic move, theme chooser, more transitions, chart animations, keynote remote, and more ways to share.

Compatibility

The iWork can open and save Microsoft documents, word, excel, and powerpoint presentations.

Visit the official website for iWork.

Image from Apple.

iPhone software minus the gesture recognitions has pretty lame features like the lack of copy and paste, linear inbox of text messages and replies, search capability, etc.

The iPhone 3.0 already has a copy and paste functionality however; multi-tasking is not yet allowed. According to Apple, background processing decrease battery performance, it doesn’t allow the iPhone to go to sleep mode, doesn’t allow the iPhone to operate at the lowest power.

With all the excuse, Apple is one of the few companies that dictate what features would come into their products. Unlike Microsoft which dumps everything to users trying to become a vendor for everyone. Apple’s target market is at the high-end but it still doesn’t mean they can cut features as much as they want. Apple is using it’s branding power to silence critics, to silence their consumers and still glorify their products.

How about you? Do you wish the iPhone 3.0 has multi-tasking abilities?

Image from Apple.

With 1 million units sold in the first 3 days of its release, the iPhone 3G S, Apple’s newest version of the iPhone shows us that it’s still the one to beat. While the Palm Pre is an impressive smart phone, it still paled in comparison to the iPhone in terms of sales. The lines weren’t as long as the previous launches of the iPhone but this is partly due to Apple accepting reservations and orders online.

iPhone 3G S image courtesy of Apple

The new iPhone 3G S still looks pretty much the same as the iPhone 3G it follows. To the untrained eye they look exactly the same. Minor tell tale differences separate the new from the old. Details such as silver lettering that is similar to the Apple logo distinguish which is which. Also the iPhone 3G S is the only model with 32 GB of memory. So if you see 32 at the back, it’s a 3G S.

What’s under the hood is what matters. The 3G S boasts of a performance boost that is indeniable. It launches apps faster, performs tasks quicker and is just overall a much more responsive device. It also supports the OpenGL ES 2.0 standard that will allow better graphics performance. Games should see great improvement with the 3G S.

Apple knew to leave well enough alone. The design of the iPhone still makes it arguably the best looking smart phone around. It works so why change it. Instead Apple focused on the small things. Improving performance, software, and adding small touches.

The camera is now much beter with auto focus and the ability to take videos. It’s by far not the best in the market but it’s a step up. Besides you don’t get a smart phone just for it’s imaging capabilities. If you’re worried about that it’s best to get a dedicated camera.

The new 3.0 software which was downloaed over 6 million times already offers great improvements as well. Apple may have been really late in adding cut and paste but at least they did it right. I must say it’s easy to use and it does work. The landscape mode of the keyboard makes it easier for people with big fingers to type. MMS, text forwarding, etc.. All of this contribute to making the iPhone a much much better device.

While Apple faces stiff competition from the likes of Blackberry and now it seems from the likes of Palm as well, it still is in my opinion the smart phone to beat. Blackberry might have better business features but the iPhone is the overall winner. With 50,000 apps and counting available to you at the app store, it’s just the most flexible phone around.

This quote made its way to the press release stating that the iPhone 3G S sold a million units over the span of 3 days.

“Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With over 50,000 applications available from Apple’s revolutionary App Store, iPhone momentum is stronger than ever.”

Image: Wikimedia Commons

It’s from Steve Jobs. Couple that with the recent sighting of Steve Jobs at the Apple campus, does this mean that the Apple CEO is back to work? Well they did say that Jobs is set to return at Apple by the end of June. It is almost the end of June. Whether or not he’ll be coming back full time remains to be seen. It has been reported that Jobs underwent a liver transplant two months ago but is said to be doing fine.

Last June 8 Apple revamped it’s line of portable computers. The most significant change being the renaming of the aluminum MacBook to the MacBook Pro. So now there are 3 sizes for the MacBook Pro, the 13, 15 and 17 inch models. Reminiscent to the previous Powerbook line up. While this move is good, it leaves the MacBook line with only the white polycarbonate level. That’s it. One model, not even a variation of it. Just one.

MacBook image Courtesy of Apple

What does this mean? Why did Apple leave it as such? I think Apple has something up it’s sleeve. My guess is that the we’ll be seeing a new MacBook quite soon. It might be the “netbook” people have been clamoring about. A cheap, light mac that can compete with the netbooks being currently offered.

I don’t believe that Apple will just keep the MacBook at a single model. They’re neglecting a significant market if they did. The MacBook is primarily aimed at consumers and the MacBook Pros to well.. pros.

The Pro line-up is currently full and it’s looking great. The MacBook Air while it serves a niche market still has a wider range than the MacBook line that has a broader market. So I don’t think it will stay as is. Plus the white polycarbonate body is getting old and is in need of a refresh as well.

So let’s see what happens in the coming months.

The iPhone 3G S while highly, anticipated made it’s debut in a more subtle way than its predecessors. Gone are the long lines that used to be a fixture at Apple stores during the launch of the previous models. This was a result of Apple taking pre-orders for the iPhone, thus eliminating the need for people to camp out at the stores.

iPhone 3G S image courtesy of Apple

There were still people who camped out at stores. Just not in the volumes previously witnessed.

A couple of days ago, the 3.0 version of the iPhone OS was made available. This upgrade brings a lot of the feature of the 3G S to the previous models of the iPhone. The most sought after feature of the new OS is the addition of copy/paste. Finally! Welcome additions as well are SMS forwarding, tethering, spotlight search, etc.

Read about the launch of the iPhone 3G S here. Apple’s official press release can be found here.

Apple Safari version 4 web browser is reported by the company to have been downloaded by 11 million times during the first three days from it’s release. According to the report, the browser was downloaded by 6 million times. Ok, my team downloaded this browser at least 5 times not because we want to use this browser, but because the client wants us to test the SharePoint site we are building for them on this browser.

Anyways, the browser first came out in public beta last February and Apple has been marketing this browser as the fastest browser in the world compared to Firefox and IE8.

Apple says that the browser is at least three times faster when loading HTML web pages against IE8 and Firefox. The company is touting their Nitro JavaScript engine that is around 8 times faster than IE 8 and 4 times faster than Firefox.

Testing our SharePoint sites across various browsers is already a pain, and another browser named Safari doesn’t put a smile on my face.

Download Safari.

Image from CNET.

Apple’s WWDC 2009 is underway and it opened with the keynote speech which featured some new Apple stuff. Below is a roundup of the notable items.

WWDC 2009 - Image courtesy of Apple

New MacBook Pro Lineup

I don’t think anyone saw this coming. At least not for this event. Apple just revamped it’s MacBook Pro line. Releasing an all new 15 inch MacBook Pro which now sports a similar battery to the 17 inch. Promising battery life of up to 7 hours. Another notable thing is the swapping out of the express slot with a SD card reader.

Another thing is that the MacBook Aluminum is now rebranded as the 13 inch MacBook Pro. It shares similar specs to it’s 15″ brother. The 13 inch model also now comes with a FW800 port.

What’s also outrageous (in a good way) is that the MacBook Pros prices have been reduced significantly. The 13″ starts at $1199 while the 15″ starts at $1699.

The white polycarbonate MacBook now remains as the only MacBook model available.

MacBook Air updated

Apple also updated MacBook Air models. The new entry level MacBook Air sports a 1.86 Ghz Core 2 Duo processor with a 120GB Hard drive while the higher end model has a 2.13 Ghz Core 2 Duo processor and a 128GB Solid State Drive. The 1.86 Ghz’s price starts at $1,499 while the 2.13 Ghz is priced at $1,799. Making both of them easily the most bang-for-buck MacBook Airs yet.

Snow Leopard

A preview of Snow Leopard was demoed during the keynote. What can I say except that I’m really excited to upgrade to Snow Leopard. Apple is also making it available to exisitng Leopard users for a low low $29 for a single user license and $49 for a Family Pack. Beat that Windows!

There are a lot of great features that come with Snow Leopard, such as a rewritten Finder, Expose controls via the dock and the new Quicktime X.

However with all of these refinements I think the most important of which is Exchange support. Sure, not all will agree but I think it’s the most important feature because it now allows Macs to really compete and penetrate the corporate market. Companies rely on Microsoft Exchange for their corporate communication needs and now the Mac can play with them. That means IT companies can now adopt Macs for some if not all of their users. That will significantly help improve market share for Apple.

iPhone 3G S and iPhone 3.0 OS

The iPhone and the iPhone 3.0 OS were the most anticipated announcements of the keynote. Apple previewed the new OS which I must say is getting better all the time. I can’t believe people are actually clapping and shouting with the announcement of the copy and past feature and MMS. It’s something that people have been really clamoring for. However true to Apple form, they won’t do something unless they can do it right. I think their version of copy and paste is good and will work really well with the iPhone interface.

The 3.0 software boasts of a 100 new features. I mentioned copy and paste, other notable features are spotlight search, new Safari, landscape version of the keyboard, better parental controls, the ability to record and send audio, voice control app, etc.

What I really liked was the “Find My iPhone” feature. This is available to iPhone users who are Mobile Me subscribers as well. In the event that you lose your iPhone, you can login to Mobile Me and send your iPhone a message. It will also tell you where your iPhone is. If in fact it has been stolen and not just misplaced, you can send it a command to erase all of your data. Some people are saying that there might be a privacy issue and that people can use it to track you without your knowledge, but this technology has already been embedded in most phones sold in the US which have built-in GPS chips to help authorities track people in case of emergencies. So this is not something that’s exclusive to the iPhone.

Some very cool demos were shown during the keynote albeit there were some malfunctions or mishaps that occured. I love medical app from AirStrip CC which allows doctors to monitor patients with a remote sensor. It feeds the iPhone the relevant data of the patient and can alert doctors when certain parameters are reached. I’ve always been a proponent of better technologies for health and medical services. This looks to really be a promising one.

All in all the WWDC keynore was great. Steve didn’t make an appearance though but it’s ok. It shows that Apple can exist and put on a good show even if he’s not there. It would have been better though but the other guys at Apple still did a good job.