iPhone 3GS News, Updated MacBook Pros

Apple announces its third generation iPhone and some MacBook Pro updates

There has been tremendous buzz surrounding the follow-up to Apple’s hugely successful iPhone 3G. While the original iPhone put Apple on the map in the world of smartphones, it was the iPhone 3G’s lower price of entry and enhanced features/speed which put the smartphone over the top (and brought AT&T a wealth of new wireless subscribers). Together, there have been over 40 million iPhones and iPod touches sold around the world according to Apple.

Today at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, Apple introduced its third generation iPhone: the iPhone 3GS (the “S” stands for Speed). The latest iPhone confirms most of the rumors that have been swirling around for the past few months.

The iPhone 3GS is available in capacities of 16GB and 32GB – both will be available in black and white. The phone also features a new 3MP webcam (now capable of recording 30 fps video) on the back of the device. The iPhone 3GS also has the ability to edit videos directly on the device.

In addition, the new iPhone 3GS promises better battery life (see image to the right) despite the increased processing power. Speaking of processing power, Apple brags about 2x to 3.6x speed performance improvements over a wide range of apps.

Another new addition to the iPhone 3GS is the increase in data transfer speeds from 3.6Mbps to 7.2Mbps HSDPA. AG&T already announced plans to beef up its data networks to handle the faster transfer speeds.

Voice dialing is also coming to the iPhone 3GS – something that most other phones have already had for years. However, the voice commands also extend to other aspects of the iPhone 3GS like “previous track”, “play album” or “play songs by The Killers” within the Music app.

Other new hardware features include a built-in digital compass, Nike+ support, and hardware encryption.

As you may have already surmised, the iPhone 3GS is sporting OS 3.0 which was announced way back in March. IPhone OS 3.0 brings a wealth of new features including long-requested support for copy and paste, MMS, turn-by-turn directions, voice memo recording, Spotlight search, landscape email/notes/messaging, 3G tethering (via Bluetooth or USB), stereo Bluetooth (A2DP), peer-to-peer Bluetooth connectivity, and more. IPhone OS 3.0 will be available to download on June 17 (free for iPhone users, $9.95 for iPod touch users).

As expected, pricing for the new 16GB and 32GB iPhone 3GS will mirror the prices of the current 8GB and 16GB iPhone 3Gs: $199 and $299 respectively. To make things even more interesting, Apple is also discounting the price of the iPhone 3G (8GB model) to $99 to further expand its user base — the new price is effective today. The iPhone 3GS will be available June 17.

Apple also announced updates to its MacBook Pro lineup. The new 15” MacBook Pro is available with up to 3.06GHz dual core processor, 8GB of RAM, and up to a 500GB HDD (or 256GB SSD). It features a 7-hour runtime with its built-in battery. Interestingly, Apple has finally stepped into modern times by equipping the 15″ MacBook Pro with a Secure Digital (SD) slot.

The base system will retail for $1,699 with a 2.53GHz processor and integrated NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics, and ramp up quickly from there (with higher-tier models getting discrete NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics).

The 13″ aluminum MacBook was also updated to include an integrated battery, SD slot, and Firewire 800 — it is also now called a MacBook Pro. The base $1,199 system comes with 2GB of memory, a 2.26GHz processor, GeForce 9400M graphics, and a 160GB HDD. Stepping up to a 2.53GHz processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 250GB HDD will set you back $1,499. The new 13″ MacBook Pro also has battery life of up to 7 hours.

The other big addition is with the updated MacBook Air. The machine now retails for $1,499 in its base configuration (1.86GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB, 9400M, 120GB HDD) and $1,799 with a 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 9400M, and a 128GB SSD.

All of the new MacBooks are available to purchase today.

I’ll post more info to Twitter, as it becomes available – twitter.com/stevenRobert

Apple OS Marketshare Growth

Apple Marketshare growth

The latest computing survey results from the University of Virginia’s freshman class show evidence of continued Apple marketshare growth in the higher education market (via Daring Fireball). The chart above shows that Apple has made steady gains since 2003 in the percentage of incoming UVA freshman who own a Mac. The latest year (2008) shows that 37% of incoming students owned a Mac while the percentage owning a Windows computer had shrunk to 62% from a peak of 96% in 2001. The growth tracks closely with the trend towards laptop ownership amongst the Virginia freshman.

In 2008, 99% of the incoming students owned a laptop. The data adds to a number of anecdotal reports that Apple has been making major strides in higher educational marketshare. Last year, Tim Cook confirmed that Apple had become the #1 laptop supplier in higher education for 2007.

iPhone 3.0 Tethering How To

After recently upgrading my iPhone to OS 3.0 I was interested in evaluating all the new features, esp. A2DP and tethering.  Since my car is in the shop, A2DP is going to have to wait a couple more days which left me some time to tinker with tethering.  

At first impression, os 3.0 is pretty slick, small subtle changes throughout the UI, you can activate spotlight search by swiping your finger right (as opposed to left to see additional applications screens.)  Several applications have been updated making them even more usable, stocks, mail (auto-rotate calendar) and of course, copy/paste.  One thing i did notice, the keyboard didn’t auto-rotate when working with calendar, which I have sync’d to our office exchange server, so it seems not everything got the keyboard auto-rotate update, at least not in the initial beta drop.

On to tethering, since it was not obvious (to me) how to enable and activate tethering, i reverted to the web and quickly discovered the link below which includes full details on how to get it setup!  I’ve included a few pics below to show you how it looks.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/03/19/complete-how-to-tethering-an-iphone-with-30-firmware/ – how to activate iPhone 3 tethering, step by step.

Or, you can skip the config file updates and just download this file, ATT_US.ipcc, (assuming your carrier is AT&T ) – then connect your iPhone to iTunes, option-click on the “Check for Updates” button, and select the ATT_US.ipcc file you just downloaded. Next, restart your iPhone.  After reboot, you then should be able pair your iPhone over Bluetooth by going to Settings-General-Network-Internet Tethering on the iPhone, and pair your iPhone with you Mac as you would with a normal Bluetooth device.  Once paired, click your blueTooth icon (on your mac) choose your iphone|Connect to Network – now you can surf the web using your iPhone and 3G!

iPhone OS 3 Highlights

Apple today hosted a preview event for its upcoming iPhone OS 3.0, highlighting a few of over 1,000 new APIs for developers and over 100 new features for users. Here are some of the highlights:

• In-App Purchasing: Allows developers to sell additional content from within applications. Highlighted uses include magazine subscriptions, eBooks, additional levels and items for games.
• Peer-to-Peer Connectivity: Find other devices running the app via Bonjour over Wi-Fi of Bluetooth. Good for gaming, but also other applications for sharing data.
• Third-Party Accessory Apps: Allowing accessory manufacturers to create applications to interface with their hardware accessories.
• Push Notification: Rather than using background processes that hamper battery life, utilize third-party server to push badge, text, and audio alerts from applications.
• Turn by Turn: Apple will allow developers to use CoreLocation for turn-by-turn GPS directions.
• Cut, Copy and Paste: Available across all apps. Shake to undo or redo (finally).
• Landscape keyboard: Available in all key applications, including Mail.
• MMS: Picture messaging now available.
• Voice Memos: Record notes, lectures, interviews, etc.
• Spotlight Search: Available across all applications. Systemwide search available from main home screen by flicking to the left.
• A2DP Bluetooth: Support for stereo bluetooth headsets (finally).

Tethering, another much-requested feature, was addressed in the Q&A section of the event. Apple is building the client side of tethering into OS 3.0, but cooperation from carriers is also required in order for it to be offered.

The new iPhone OS 3.0 is available to all registered iPhone developers today as a free beta. Full release to customers will be this summer. OS 3.0 will be free for all iPhone users and a $9.95 upgrade for all iPod touch users. Most features will be available for the first-generation iPhone, although hardware limitations will prevent some features, such as MMS and stereo Bluetooth, from being added to those devices. Meanwhile, Apple also revealed that Bluetooth support can be activated in the 2nd generation iPod Touches.

Apple has posted an iPhone OS 3.0 Preview page listing a few of the highlights. A video of today’s media event will also be posted to the page later today.

New iMac, Mini, Shuffle – and soon iPhone 3.0!?

Apple quietly releases updates to iMac and Mini, both of which have been overdue for a refresh.  I’ve personally been waiting for the iMac announcement, as my home computer has seen better days and I’d like to move to the iMac so I can run both osX and Vista, like I do on my macbookPro.  I’ve been patiently awaiting the annoucement for some time, probably since the fall, as rumors had surfaced about possible quad-core chips finding their way into the line, but nope – nothing really all that exciting about the refresh; still core2 duo (slightly faster than April 2008 release), more hard drive space, and more/faster memory (2bg vs. 1gb standard & 1,066MHz DDR3 RAM instead of the 800MHz DDR2 RAM in the previous iMac.)  Initial performance benefits suggest mild overall performance improvements, but not completely accross the board.  You can find the April 2008 models for about $200 less at macMall.com vs. the Apple March 2009 list ($1199.)  Budget shoppers/home users could probably get away with last years model and never notice a difference, I’m going to opt for the new model, slightly disappointed, but for a few extra bucks it should suffice my [wifes] home computer needs for some time..

News recently also references that Apple will be hosting a media event next week about iPhone 3.0, which has generated a lot of speculation about what might be coming in the new release.

BoyGeniusReport claims to have heard two possible features that would certainly make many iPhone users happy. They believe that iPhone 3.0 will introduce MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) and Tethering.

MMS would finally offer iPhone users the ability to send photos by way of SMS, and tethering would allow you to share your iPhone’s internet connection with your laptop computer. An alleged Steve Jobs email even confirmed that Apple had been working on a thethering solution, so it certainly seems feasible. BoyGeniusReport’s record, however, has been spotty, so we can’t be entirely confident of the report.

A more interesting report comes from John Gruber about his “guesses” for iPhone 3.0 from back at Macworld:

First, a new home screen app (a.k.a. SpringBoard), designed from the ground up for a system where users have a few dozen or more extra apps installed. Managing dozens of apps on the iPhone today is simply a pain in the ass. Second, maybe an answer to the question of where the background notification API is you know, the one we were told at WWDC to expect a few months ago, but which we haven’t heard a word about since. And maybe  pretty please, Mr. Forstall, with sugar on top copy and paste.

While Gruber labels this as his “wish list”, we have good reason to believe that these features will indeed be found in the iPhone 3.0 firmware. That could mean a better app-managing SpringBoard (with categories?), a solution to “push” notifications (background tasks?), and, yes… even copy and paste.

Finally, there has been evidence in the latest version of Snow Leopard’s CoreLocation framework (which is shared by the iPhone) that Apple is building in support for magnetometers, which could suggest the use of a digital compass in future devices, much like the Android G1.

Apple 3G iPhone unlocked

Well that didn’t take long.

Despite the best efforts of Apple and AT&T, it appears that the latest version of the iPhone has been unlocked via the same method as used on the original iPhone.

A Brazilian blog, TechGuru, posted the first report of it. Gizmodo checked it out, and said the method involves using a special SIM card adapter. It tricks the phone into thinking it’s on an approved network.

“This method forges the International Mobile Subscriber Identity, making the phone believe it’s working in the network in which it’s supposed to work,” Gizmodo writes.

The Brazilian group posted a video showing an unlocked handset making a phone call earlier this week. When interviewed, leader Breno MacMasi said that the company plans to charge between $250-375 to unlock iPhone 3G cell phones.

Separately, the group known as the iPhone Dev Team claims they have removed the controls that restrict independent applications from running on the iPhone. Termed ‘jailbreaking’, the process supposedly allows Apple-approved applications from the AppStore to run side-by-side with non-approved independent applications.